Posted on Feb 18, 2009

This weekend, Union joins other teams in the ECAC Hockey League for Pink at the Rink, an event dedicated to raising money for both the American Cancer Society and Hockey Coaches Care. 

“It has hit home for many of us in the Union hockey family throughout the year and previously,” said Claudia Asano, head women's ice hockey coach, who lost her mother to cancer several years ago. “Early in our season, we lost George Morrison, our volunteer coach, to brain cancer. We want to do all we can to stop this awful disease.” 

This is the second year Union is hosting the event with the league. Last year, Union raised nearly $12,000 for the campaign. 

“We wore pink jerseys and auctioned them online,” Asano said. “This year, the men are wearing black and pink jerseys for their game on Friday, Feb. 27, and we are using pink sticks this weekend. All the sticks and jerseys will be available for purchase online,”

To donate directly, make checks out to ECAC Hockey – Coaches vs. Cancer and send to Asano, or bring to the games at Messa Rink this weekend. On Friday, Feb. 20, the Union women play Colgate at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 21, Union faces off against Cornell at 4 p.m. 

“Show your support by wearing pink,” Asano says.

For its part, the Union College Bookstore is offering discounts off select pink merchandise through Saturday, Feb. 21.

For more on how Union hockey is helping to fight cancer, click here.

Posted on Feb 18, 2009

Posted on Feb 18, 2009

As part of Union’s 2009 Founders Day Series, the National Dance Troupe of Nigeria brings its dancing, drumming and acting talents to campus Friday, Feb. 27 for a free performance at 7 p.m. at the Nott Memorial.

The troupe also will meet with students, tour the campus and discuss its musical and cultural traditions.

The troupe’s 30 members perform ritual dance theater that embodies an ancestral past in which Nigerian deities, human spirits, animals, plants and elemental forces coexist in dramatic and comedic traditional stories.

The performances are noted for being energetic, colorful spectacles that use vibrant masks, costumes, drumming, song and chants to explore everyday and sacred beliefs in Nigerian culture.

The troupe is a division of the National Theatre of Nigeria. Under the direction of  Ahmed Yerima, it is on a brief but intensive goodwill tour of the United States after finally securing visas. The dancers will stop at numerous Midwestern universities and colleges and will conclude with performances in Texas and New York.

The event is co-sponsored by the President’s Office, Academic Affairs, Minerva Council, Green House Council, Modern Languages, UNITAS and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

For more information, contact Profs. Daniel Mosquera (mosquerd@union.edu), Cheikh Ndiaye (ndiayec@union.edu) or Megan Ferry (ferrym@union.edu),

Posted on Feb 18, 2009

The Hartford Courant featured Votto Vines Importing LLC, a family-owned company based in Cheshire, Conn.

The story cited the company's business plan, which was created by Stephen Votto '08. The plan won the College's annual Business Plan Competition last year.

To read the story, click here (registration may be required).

Posted on Feb 18, 2009

Kim Plofker, visiting assistant professor of mathematics, has published “Mathematics in India” (Princeton University Press).  The book draws on Plofker's work in India and elsewhere with Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian manuscripts in the mathematical sciences, surveying the development of Indian mathematical traditions from antiquity through the early modern period. The topics discussed include Indian ritual geometry, mathematical astronomy, early combinatorics, the origin of decimal place-value numerals, power series approximations to pi, and the social and historical context of Indian mathematicians' discoveries.

Interim Dean of Studies and Associate Professor of Russian Kristin Bidoshi recently published an article, “Beauty and the Beast à la Russe,” in the journal
Marvels and Tales. Bidoshi also presented a paper on her research on contemporary Albanian rites of passages at the American Folklore Society conference. At the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures conference, she chaired a panel on Anton Chekhov’s short stories and presented a paper on the use of multi-media in the beginning level Russian language classroom.

Works by Charles Steckler, professor of theater, are included in “On The Surface: Drawings,” a group exhibit at Clement Art Gallery in Troy, N.Y. An opening reception is set for Friday, Feb. 27, 6-9 p.m., as part of Troy Night Out. The show runs through. March 25.