The Facilities Services Department received the 2008 Effective and Innovative Practices Award from APPA Leadership in Educational Facilities for its Excellence Program. Accepting the $4,000 award, sponsored by Sodexho USA, at the annual conference in San Antonio, Texas, were: Alan Kratzke, senior night cleaner, College Park Hall; Tom Litts, supervisor of electrical trades; Rich Patierne, manager of Building Services; Loren Rucinski, director of Facilities and Planning; and Raffaella Viscusi, senior day cleaner. In addition, last month Facilities gave a presentation on its award-winning program at ERAPPA, the Eastern Region annual meeting of APPA, in Baltimore. Presenters were Mike Connelly, supervisor of structural trades; Diana Mirabile, buyer and scheduling coordinator; Patierne; and Rucinski.
Jay Newman, the R. Gordon Gould Professor of Physics, has authored a textbook, “Physics of the Life Sciences,” recently published by Springer. The full-color text, which has its origins in a course developed at Union, is designed to show the fundamental connections between physics and modern biology and medicine. With more than 900 photos and drawings to illustrate the principles and applications of physics and a large collection of homework problems for students, the 700-page book is designed for a two- semester or trimester course in introductory physics. The text fills a large niche in providing an interdisciplinary book for those who study physics at the college/university level.
“Fanfare for a River,” an orchestral work by Hilary Tann, the John Howard Payne Professor of Music, will be included in “Hidden Gems: Mohawk Valley Vistas” Sunday, Oct. 19 at 3 p.m. at Proctors Theater. Tann’s work will be performed by local pianist Allen Yu in a program by the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra that highlights the Schenectady region. The program features photochoreography by nationally acclaimed James Westwater on giant screens above the stage.
A column by President Stephen C. Ainlay on “Education and Religious Fluency” was featured in the Albany Times Union Saturday, Oct. 12. The piece was adapted from his address, titled “Religious Fluency: Notes on Competency in the 21st Century,” at the Capital Region Theological Center’s recent sixth anniversary celebration. In the piece, Ainlay makes distinctions between religious literacy and fluency and argues that the demands of global citizenship dictate that people develop religious fluency.