Posted on Mar 16, 2009

 

Greetings from Union, where we are approaching the end of winter term and looking forward to spring, one of the most beautiful times of year on campus.

Residence halls close Friday, March 20, and after a well-deserved break, students will be welcomed back to their dorms Sunday, March 29, with classes beginning Monday, March 30.

In the spring, many things will be blooming. Please mark your calendar now for Steinmetz Symposium and Prize Day Weekend, May 1-2. This wonderful weekend begins on Friday with the Charles Proteus Steinmetz Symposium on student creative, scholarly and research achievement. We encourage family members and friends to take part in this Union tradition, which highlights the work of our talented students. For more information, visit http://www.union.edu/steinmetz. Saturday’s festivities also include Prize Day, our recognition of student achievements during the academic year. A reception will follow.

It’s an honor

Community service extolled:

Union recently was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for exemplary service to the local community. The award was announced in Washington, D.C. by the Corporation for National and Community Service during the annual conference of the American Council on Education. The honor roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement.

Garnet and green: The College’s U Sustain initiative won an Environmental Excellence Award from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The annual awards recognize organizations across the state that promote environmentally sustainable practices.

Innovation at work: Two Union College librarians, Bruce Connolly and Gail Golderman, recently received the College Libraries Section ProQuest Innovation in College Librarianship Award for 2009 from the Association of College and Research Libraries. They were commended for their creative and innovative use of iTunes and other student-centric software applications in teaching, marketing the library’s collections, and supporting multiculturalism and diversity on campus.

A Union milestone

The College will celebrate its 215th anniversary in 2010, and the offices of Multicultural Affairs and Campus Diversity are planning a special project to include the entire campus community. Everyone is invited to donate a piece of fabric (a square patch) that will represent your family background – your culture, beliefs, history and values. For more information or help in creating a patch, or to be a project volunteer, contact Karen Ferrer-Muñiz, director of Multicultural Affairs, at (518) 388-6030 (ferrerk@union.edu) or Judi Gordon (gordonj@union.edu). They are collecting fabric and patches through March 30.

 

The Parent Fund

Help us “March Forward” into spring. The Union Board of Trustees has challenged the Union College community to a six-week participation challenge to secure 2,500 new donors. This is a successive challenge in three parts. If all donor goals are met between March 1 and April 15, the Board will donate $300,000 dollars to the Annual Fund.

As manager of the Parent Fund, I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity. Participation is vital to the success of the challenge, so gifts at any level count. Learn more at www.union.edu/marchforward. Please be one of the donors to help us reach our goal. Questions? E-mail Carol Shotzbarger ’08, Parent Fund manager, at shotzbac@union.edu. To donate online, visit https://www.union.edu/Parents/.

Volunteer opportunities

Union offers many ways for parents and families to stay active in their children’s education, and two special opportunities will soon open. My role as chair of the Parents Association will come to an end in June, as will Vivian Falco’s role as chair of the Parents Fund. We – our children and the entire campus community – are richer for your involvement.

Please consider volunteering your time for these important positions. I can assure you that the rewards are plentiful. Contact Lisa Mason at masonl@union.edu or Carol Shotzbarger at shotzbac@union.edu for details.

As always, please feel free to contact me at Parents_Association@union.edu with any concerns. 

And for complete coverage of Union activities throughout the year, please visit www.union.edu/News

Best regards,

Karen Dumonet, Vanessa ’07 and Sebastian ‘09

Chair, Parents Association