Union’s new prayer and meditation room is now available in Reamer Campus Center, Room 205. The space is set aside for individual and small group prayer and is open whenever the building is open. All are welcome.
There are sacred texts, prayer rugs, prayer cushions and other articles designed to enhance religious observance. It is requested that shoes be removed before walking on the area rug.
The Campus Community is invited to participate in the dedication of the prayer room on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m.
Paul LeClerc, president and chief executive officer of the New York Public Library, Kathy Magliato ’85, one of the few female cardiothoracic surgeons in the world, and Kelly M. Williams ’86, a global financial executive, have joined the College's Board of Trustees.
Paul LeClerc, president of the New York Public Library
LeClerc has been with the New York Public Library since 1993. He was a professor of French at Union from 1966 through 1979 and chair of Modern Languages from 1971 through 1977. From 1988 to 1993, he was president of Hunter College in New York City. Last February, he received Union’s inaugural John Bigelow Medal, which recognizes friends of the College who have contributed to the advancement of humanity. He received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Union in 1997.
LeClerc is a scholar of 18th-century French literature and the author or co-editor of five volumes on writers of the French Enlightenment. He is a trustee of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, and a director of the National Book Foundation and the American Academy in Rome.
Kathy E. Magliato '85
Magliato, the director of Women’s Cardiac Services at Saint John’s Medical Center in Santa Monica, Calif., is at the forefront of a national campaign to promote awareness of heart disease in women. She is the former head of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center artificial heart program. At Union, Magliato earned a bachelor’s degree cum laude in chemistry and biology. She comes from a family of Union graduates, including her father, Nicholas Magliato, Sr. ’58, late uncle Frank J. Magliato '56 and sister Nancy (Magliato) Jensen '81.
Kelly M. Williams ’86 is the managing director of Credit Suisse First Boston’s Asset Management Division and Union College Trustee.
Williams is the managing director of Credit Suisse First Boston’s Asset Management Division, which includes part of the Union endowment and more than $8 billion of U.S. investments in roughly 450 private equity funds. Williams earned a law degree from New York University in 1989 and spent her early career in global finance law at Prudential. She was inducted into the New York City YWCA’s Academy of Women Leaders in 2007. At Union, she earned a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in political science and mathematics.
The chairman of the board is Frank L. Messa ’73 of Saratoga Springs. Messa retired in 2005 as senior vice president for International Strategies of Ayco Co., a Saratoga Springs-based financial services and planning firm that was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2003.
John Bigelow (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress and dated between 1855-1865.) Union College magazine, spring 2008
The third Union Notables exhibit, now open in Schaffer Library Atrium, features these three individuals: John Bigelow, Class of 1835; Sue J. Goldie, ’84; and Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Union faculty member from 1902 to 1923.
Bigelow, a lawyer and statesman born in Malden-on-Hudson, N.Y., was instrumental in the establishment of the New York Public Library. He also was actively involved in the Democratic Party and a strong supporter of abolition.
From 1849 to 1861, he was one of the editors and co-owners of the New York Evening Post. At Union, he was a member of tthe Sigma Phi Societyand the Philomathean Society (literary group).
Sue Goldie
Goldie, a public health researcher; was awarded a MacArthur grant in 2005 “for genius and creativity” in applying decision science to find alternative interventions for viruses that are major public health problems.
With a major in biology from Union, she went on to earn her M.D. from Albany Medical College and M.P.H. from Harvard University. She is currently associate professor of health policy and decision science in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Charles Proteus Steinmetz
Steinmetz (1865-1923), a native of Breslau, Prussia (now Wroclaw, Poland), made significant contributions to the development of electricity as an engineer and inventor, holding more than 200 patents in his lifetime.
He taught electrical engineering and applied physics at Union, wishing for his students “the spirit of divine discontent, for without it the world would stand still.” Also a chief General Electric engineer, he was widely regarded as the leading electrical engineer in the United States in his time. Each year, Union students honor his memory through the Steinmetz Symposium of creative, scholarly and research achievement.
The current Notables installation will remain up through March 24. For more information, go to: www.union.edu/Notables
Good weather, great company, terrific surroundings. Get ready for Homecoming & Family Weekend.
With skies predicted to be sunny, and more than 1,500 alumni, families, friends and guests geared for a campus visit, this weekend is shaping up to be a winner.
Fall 2006, Nott Memorial, Foliage
Among the events scheduled Friday, Oct. 17 through Sunday, Oct. 19 are a welcome reception from President Stephen C. Ainlay Friday afternoon in the Nott Memorial, where student summer research posters will be on view; a volunteer appreciation dinner; Garnet Guard luncheon; and legacy reception.
On Saturday at 1 p.m., the Fighting Dutchmen will be back in action in Frank Bailey Stadium against St. Lawrence University.
Other highlights: Barry DiBernardo ’80 (parent of Cristi DiBernardo ’11) will lecture on lasers in cosmetic surgery, and Phi Delta Theta will mark its 125th year on campus with an anniversary dinner and reunion.
“This weekend reflects the spirit and pride of Union,” said Nick Famulare ’92, director of Alumni Relations. “We expect a wonderful fall weekend for the entire Union family.”
For a complete schedule of Homecoming & Family Weekend events, click here.
The winning tick: Presented by Palma Catravas and Kathleen LoGiudice, of the Electrical Engineering and Biology Departments, using Union’s scanning electron microscope (SEM).
The image was selected as a semifinalist in the 2008 International Science and
Beautiful lacy wreath? Or killer fungus?
The scientific truth is not immediately apparent in a startling image of the leg of a tick presented by Palma Catravas and Kathleen LoGiudice of the Electrical Engineering and Biology departments, using Union’s scanning electron microscope (SEM).
The image was selected as a semifinalist in the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the journal Science in the Photographs/Pictures category.
Their entry, “A Parasite Engulfed,” provides an unusual view of the black-legged tick, or Ixodes scapularis, being consumed by a fungus.
In a description accompanying the image, the collaborators wrote, “The somewhat sinister looking leg of this tick is unexpectedly adorned by what appears to be a beautiful lacy wreath. Upon closer observation, however, it becomes clear that the seemingly innocuous lace is the aggressor, a fungus that has apparently killed the tick and now shrouds it in death.”
The image is of particular interest to entomologists and disease ecologists who are looking at certain fungi as possible biological agents that may control populations of ticks that cause Lyme disease. Such imaging also could help biologists learn more about how the fungus kills the tick.
“I love the art-science connection – the idea of using microscopy tools not only as part of research or inquiry, but from the artistic side, as well,” Catravas mused.
In setting up the image, Catravas and LoGiudice found that the visual character of material changed substantially with magnification.
“With the tick magnified beyond identification, the image spoke of lilting grace,” she said. “By contrast, low magnification images turned macabre, with the tick often enveloped in a thick mat of tangled hyphae.”
The SEM is used to acquire high resolution images using an electron beam instead of light. The College purchased the state-of-the-art instrument after receiving an NSF award of nearly $300,000 last year.
Another SEM image by Catravas and LoGiudice, also of a tick (not ensnared in fungus) appears in the photo gallery of the October 2008 issue of the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America.
The two began collaborating via a course Catravas co-teaches with Michael Hagerman (Chemistry) and Brian Cohen (Biology), titled Frontiers of Nanotechnology, in which the students receive hands-on experience with microscopy tools.
“We’re working on incorporating the SEM into the course rather than simply exploring theoretically how it works,” Catravas said. “For that you need exciting samples, and Kathleen’s ticks are some of the best teaching samples.”
