Posted on Jun 11, 2009

We gather together for this Baccalaureate Ceremony in Memorial Chapel, a beloved space for many graduates of Union College. Memorial Chapel was completed in 1925 and was intended to honor Union alumni who had been killed in wars up to that time, especially the then recent conflict of World War I. Over the ensuing years, it has evolved into a place for remembering the passing of all graduates of the College and other members of the Union community. 

For this reason, each year at the Baccalaureate ceremony, we take time to honor those members of the Union family who died during the preceding year. We do so again today. Their names are listed in the program, and I would ask that you join me in remembering them, their many contributions, and their love of Union with a brief moment of silence.

Well, you are almost there! Within 24 hours, you will be graduates of Union College. No longer a “rising” sophomore, junior, or senior.  Tomorrow, you will receive your diploma from Union, what the words to Ode to Old Union – your school’s alma mater – describe as “a prize as fair as a god may wear.” You’ve probably wondered what a “dip” is when the Dutch Pipers sing those lyrics and thrust their arms forward. Well, you are getting one tomorrow!

The Baccalaureate Ceremony is said to have originated at Oxford University in 1432. Tradition has it that each Oxford graduate was expected to stand and deliver a sermon in Latin. You’ll be relieved to know that Union’s Baccalaureate does not require this. Instead, our Baccalaureate, held as it is each year in Memorial Chapel, is more of an opportunity to pause before you end your studies here and reflect on your time at Union and the future that awaits you.

How appropriate that we hold this Baccalaureate – a remembering ceremony – in Memorial Chapel. President Charles Alexander Richmond, Union’s 10^th president, built this structure to remember alumni who had lost their lives in World War I. The campus saw a good deal of construction during the Richmond administration. During his tenure, he oversaw construction of the Campus Center, Bailey and Butterfield Halls, the College’s main gate – Payne Gate – and Alumni Gymnasium (now Breazzano Fitness Center). But Memorial Chapel must have been particularly special to him for President Richmond had his ashes, along with those of his wife, Sarah, interred here. 

Those of you who gathered for the ceremonial handshake with members of the Class of 1959 in this very place just two weeks ago at ReUnion know what I mean when I say that this is a special place to our alumni as well. For these men (and they were all men in the Class of 1959), they remembered a year full of history. 

The year they received their “dip” from Union, Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as our 49^th and 50^th states, Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba, the Barbie Doll debuted, two monkeys (“Able” and “Miss Baker” were the first two living beings to return successfully from space travel, and, as Don McLean’s song lamented, their graduation year marked the “Day the Music Died” – when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Vallens and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash in Iowa. Memories of all these national and world events undoubtedly came back to them during their ReUnion weekend.

More importantly, memories of their times at Union rushed over them. Many of them recounted their visits to the President’s House, where then President Carter Davidson and his wife, Capitola, hosted parties for their daughter, Cynthia. One alumnus recounted sleeping over at the house after one of these parties, under the piano in the music room. Another could tell me precisely where the key used to wind one of the grandfather clocks was located – having used his height to do the Davidsons a favor. 

They recounted influential faculty who had awakened them to new ideas. They remembered mentors who had the insight and were courageous enough to urge them to change plans. They remembered staff who simply took time to care for them. They recounted games won or nearly won and seasons ended prematurely. They remembered being buffeted by winds around the Nott Memorial on a cold day. And, they remembered sitting on the lawn around the Nott Memorial, warming themselves in the early days of spring. 

They recounted roommates and close friends. They remembered good times and good conversations. They remembered changes that took place over their four years here that led to the person they were at the time of graduation, changes that, in many instances were changes for a lifetime; changes that still inform their approach to life 50 years later.

What will you remember about your time at Union? I suspect you will remember that in your senior year, America elected its first African-American President. I would wager that you will remember that the nation and world endured its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. You may well remember a men’s hockey season that posted the best record in the history of the program and a women’s volleyball team that posted more wins than any team in Union’s history. 

You may remember long discussions about changing the Student Forum constitution. I think you’ll remember that you helped volunteer at Minerva Games and provided countless hours of tutoring, helping young, impressionable and hungry minds imagine a better future. You’ll also likely remember that you helped build a new and better relationship between the College and the city; that you helped Union make progress toward a more sustainable future; and that, while you were here, Union became a more diverse and inclusive place. 

I am sure that you will remember your roommates and your friends – the close relationships you’ve built and enjoyed, and you will find wonder in the way in which they endured long after graduation. And, I know you will recall faculty and staff who – just as in the case of the Class of 1959 – made a difference in your life.

When prospective students are thinking Union as their college of choice, I tell them that they should consider this: in choosing Union, you are also choosing a lifetime membership. I mean that. Your relationship with Union will change tomorrow; there’s no mistaking or stopping that. But, your relationship with Union and all that it’s been to you need not be lost. Come out to alumni events when you get that card or email. I told you at the Senior dinner that recent classes attend in great numbers and I hope members of the Class of ’09 raise the bar even higher. 

Wherever you locate, find the nearest alumni club and become active. Come back for ReUnions, Homecomings and Alumni Symposia – while you may not feel like sitting in another class today, mark my work you will want to relive that experience in the future. Make the trip to Union when you see that a concert, game or theater performance is coming up that you would simply hate to miss. All these provide you with opportunities to stay connected with each other and with the school.

And when you are back on campus, take the tour, see what changes have been made. And be sure to return to Memorial Chapel. When you do, remember that you sat in this place, on a special weekend in June, and paused consider all that it meant to be a member of the Great Class of 2009.

Posted on Jun 11, 2009

Could we have asked for a better way to celebrate the accomplishments of the Class of 2009?

I want to thank our honorary degree recipients – Dr. Volcker and Dr. Perl – for being with us today. You both honor us by your presence and we are proud to count you among our own.

I would call your attention to the list of prize recipients, printed in the back pages of the Commencement Program. They received their awards at Prize Day but I would ask you to join me in recognizing them today with your applause.

I would also invite all the members of the Class of 2009 to stand, turn to your family and friends in attendance today, and join me in thanking them with applause for their love and support which prepared you for Union and sustained you the past four years.

Would all of you join me in thanking the members of the Union faculty who have shared their love of learning with you these past four years and especially Linda Almsted who is retiring this year.

I also want to thank Professor William Finlay, our Marshall, the members of the Commencement Committee as well as the entire Union staff for organizing this day, readying this beautiful campus, and preparing food that we will enjoy. They have approached this day as they approach every day, with devotion and care.

I invite all of you – graduates, friends, family members, faculty, staff, and administrators – to join the divisional receptions immediately following this ceremony. These divisional receptions offer a fine opportunity to affirm the bonds that have been forged.

Now please allow me a few words to our graduates. 

At the Senior Dinner on Tuesday evening, I told you that you should be proud of the many things that you’ve accomplished during your time here and proud of the ways in which you’ve inspired others during your four years at Union. You:

• successfully competed on ice, court, field, pool, and water, achieving remarkable success, setting school records and, every bit as importantly, you established a reputation for Union as home to the “student-citizen-athlete”
• were successful in SAE Baja, Model U.N. and other academic competitions
• focused our Greek organizations on the College’s Strategic Plan and, in turn, advanced us toward critical goals
• volunteered in Schenectady and across the region, awakening young minds, providing tax assistance to low income residents, and restoring hope
• raised funds for breast cancer research, victims of domestic violence, and victims of HIV/AIDS in Africa
• ran 5 kilometers – as part of Run, Ribs, and Reggae – to aid the search for a cancer cure
• helped build a Habitat House
• organized Minerva Games and a U-Care carnival
• went to Ethiopia – as Engineers without Borders – and developed plans to restore critical water resources to a village in need
• guided Schenectady students as they participated in the STEP competition, igniting a passion for science, technology, and engineering
• found sustainable solutions, building a green garden shed, developing and testing innovative rubberized sidewalks and hybrid wind turbines, and cultivating a garden that gives real meaning to the phrase “locally grown produce”
• helped victims of domestic violence in Cambodia and addressed the plight of people living in U.S./Mexican border towns
• committed yourselves to being citizens of the world and will go off to the far reaches of the globe as Minerva Fellows, teachers, and in other capacities with one central goal: to make life better for people who need you
• reminded us all of the virtues of religious and spiritual diversity and of the need to continually enlarge the educational table so that all can partake of its bounty
• helped reclaim the memory of Moses Viney, an escaped slave who found a home at Union College
• helped make Union a more inclusive and welcoming place for all members of our community

We are grateful to you for all that you’ve done to support each other and to improve Union and the broader community during your years here.

Hopefully Union has done much for you. We hope that your time here has helped you find your own passion. We hope that you’ve had “ah-ha” moments and now understand the world in new ways. We hope your time at Union has deepened your love of learning and provided you with intellectual and social tools that will allow you to be successful in whatever you choose to be and do. 

And, we hope you carry with you memories, friendships, and commitments that will endure.   One word of advice: don’t take these relationships or your relationship to this College for granted. Work at nurturing and retaining the relationships you’ve developed. Stay in touch with each other. Stay in touch with faculty and staff here – people who made a difference in your life and who care about what happens to you. By staying in touch, you will not only keep relationships alive, you will ensure that Union remains part of your life.

It is impossible to spend four years at Union and not hear of the fabled accomplishments of those who graduated ahead of you. The “Union Notables” posters that now adorn the Library and the walls of College Park Hall, the statues and wall plaques, the portraits that hang across campus – all these should inspire as you contemplate the possibilities for your life.

I would like to close today’s Commencement ceremony and send you on your way, by paraphrasing the charge that Union’s first President, John Blair Smith, gave to Union students over 200 years ago: “as you leave this place, do so ready for a useful life.” No matter what you choose to do in the years ahead, remember that your academic lineage is a great one and your lineage beckons you to make a difference.

I look forward to welcoming you home to this special place many times in the years ahead. We all wish you the best, you sisters and brothers under the laws of Minerva, you daughters and sons of Union College. 

Godspeed.

Posted on Jun 10, 2009

Vincent Dotoli ’91 is an active listener, a skill he honed at Union in psychology Professor Suzie Benack’s adolescence and moral development courses. He is also the founder and architect of an innovative private academy for grade-school students near Central Park in Harlem.  

“Suzie Benack helped me hone my sense of where kids are coming from. It served me well as a teacher, and it goes on as an administrator. It’s empathy really. It’s the understanding of where someone else is coming from,” Dotoli said.

As the Harlem Academy finishes its fifth year, Dotoli is learning to re-apply his skill as an active listener. Sure, there are 74 students in grades one to five at the academy and about 20 new students set for next September. But the pupils are supported by an involved group of parents, teachers and donors. So, as head of school and chief architect of the academy, Dotoli has had to become a really active listener.

During the school year, Dotoli’s average work day begins at 7 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. But, at the Harlem Academy, the time investment is a two-way street.   

“We expect parents to be educational partners. We make sure we are regularly conferencing with them. We have parent workshops. We include them in our leadership committees,” Dotoli said. 

The framework for the academy was formed during Dotoli’s work as a graduate student in education administration at Columbia University, beginning in 2001. With help from advisor Edmund W. Gordon, the Harlem Academy and 12 first-grade pupils began classes in a rented studio near Columbia’s campus in September 2004. Since then, the academy has grown but the basic goal has remained: Provide top-notch grade-school education to qualifying children without regard to family financial resources by using a sliding tuition scale that ranges from $400 to $16,500.

“This school is built around a strong foundation of making sure the kids excel in reading, writing, critical thinking, mathematics and public speaking. It is a very traditional curriculum. What is unusual is that we are getting great results while the public schools around us are essentially failing,” Dotoli said.

Two-thirds of the academy’s students rank in the top 20 percent nationally in math skills. Half score in the top 20 percent in reading, according to Dotoli. The school fielded 400 inquires last year for 21 slots. Those statistics are evidence that Dotoli, a former teacher and administrator at two elite New England private schools, has helped transfer prep school basics to an accessible inner city academy.

But that work comes with a price tag. The academy’s annual budget of roughly $1.2 million is supported by 15 percent tuition and 85 percent annual fund.

“It’s a heavy lift,” Dotoli said.

But the academy has enjoyed corporate support from Van Wagner Communications, an outdoor advertisement company, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs and several philanthropic foundations.

Jennifer Prince is enrollment director at the academy and began working with Dotoli, who she reflexively calls “Mr. Dotoli,” in October 2004. She has seen him lead by example, saying, “We see him work so hard, so we want to work harder.”

But Prince agrees that hard work is only half the equation. Parents can be demanding. Teachers have ideas and often want to bring in new classroom programs to advance learning. Part of the academy’s success stems from Dotoli’s ability to listen and react, she said.

“He is always available to have those conversations with teachers and parents. It’s not just a conversation. He is going to do something with that. They appreciate that,” Prince said. “We feel like part of a growing school. It’s not just Mr. Dotoli doing in alone.”

As a student at Union, Dotoli was a Theta Delta Chi fraternity member, a psychology major and was active in the Schenectady Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. Aside from Benack, Dotoli counts English Professor Frank Gado’s course on the short story and history Professor Steven Sargent’s course dealing with the Scientific Revolution as formative courses.    

After graduation, Dotoli worked as a teacher or administrator in private schools in Maine, Rhode Island and, most recently, in Cambridge, Mass. at the 125-year-old Buckingham Browne & Nichols. But, as he recently told Forbes magazine, “Those students were going to be successful whether I was there or not.”

So, at age 31, he enrolled at Columbia and began work on a thesis project aimed at creating a private urban school that prized parental involvement and placed renewed emphasis on rigorous academic study in areas like math, composition, debate and critical thinking.    

“When I was at Union, we took courses that represented every discipline in the College’s curriculum. We had to take courses from all different areas. And being exposed to such a wide array of disciplines with high-quality instruction and the chance to acquire a real base of knowledge was critical to me as a teacher and administrator who wants to share a love of learning,” Dotoli said.

Posted on Jun 10, 2009

The College celebrated Founders Day in late February by recounting its role during the abolitionist movement and the Civil War and by unveiling a portrait painting of one of Union’s notable historical figures.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson, in the keynote address at Memorial Chapel, said the real character of the College was established by its longtime president, Eliphalet Nott. Though he never affiliated with the organized anti-slavery movement, Nott held strong anti-slavery convictions. McPherson is a professor emeritus at Princeton University and author of 11 books including Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, which received the Pulitzer Prize.

McPherson cited Nott’s baccalaureate address in 1811, in which he praised the British anti-slavery leaders who had abolished the African slave trade.

Their fame, Nott said, “I had rather inherit than Caesar’s.” McPherson noted that in the same speech, Nott, whose son and grandson were named after British abolitionists, predicted that “Africa will rise if there be any truth in God.”

McPherson, a Civil War historian and the George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of American History Emeritus at Princeton, paid homage to the hundreds of students and alumni who fought in the war, including 61 who died, as proof of the “devotion that the nation might experience a new birth of freedom.

“It is a record of which this institution may be justly proud.”

During the hour-long ceremony in Memorial Chapel, the College unveiled a portrait of Moses Viney, a runaway slave from Maryland who escaped to Schenectady on the Underground Railroad. Viney was a coachman, messenger and constant companion of Nott, who eventually secured his freedom. Viney was featured in the Old Union section in the Winter 2008 Union College magazine.

Viney’s portrait was painted by Simmie Knox, a renowned African-American artist who painted the official White House portraits of former President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and other political and cultural figures, including childhood friend Hank Aaron. As a young man, Knox’s promising baseball career was cut short by an eye injury. During recovery he discovered a talent for drawing and painting and later earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in fine arts. 

President Stephen C. Ainlay praised Knox, who used a photograph from the College’s archives to complete the portrait. Borrowing the words of Jared Gourrier ’10, who spoke about Viney before the painting was uncovered, Ainlay told Knox he captured the “integrity, capability and intelligent humility” of one of the campus’s most central figures.

Founders Day commemorates the 214th anniversary of the granting of the College’s charter from the New York State Board of Regents.

Also at Founders Day, Daniel Frio, a history teacher at Wayland High School in Massachusetts, received the Gideon Hawley Teacher Recognition Award. Frio was nominated by Priscilla Wright ’12. The award is named for the 1809 graduate of Union who was New York state’s first superintendent of public education.

Seniors Adrienne Hart and Alexander Schlosberg received the Hollander Prize for Music. The pair provided a musical interlude, “All I Ask of You,” from Phantom of the Opera.

The Founders Day convocation was the first in a series of events to commemorate Union’s role in the abolitionist movement. The College hosted “The Underground Railroad, Its Legacies and Our Communities,” the eighth annual Underground Railroad History Conference, at College Park Hall in February.

In addition, a Schaffer Library exhibit, “Abolitionism and the Struggle for African-American Freedom: The Union College Experience,” chronicled the College’s involvement in the struggle for African-American freedom. It included an 18th century sermon against the keeping of “negros” by Union College President Jonathan Edwards the Younger, photographs of Moses Viney, and copies of Union’s African-American student newspapers from the 1970s.

Nott and the Civil War

Prior to the Civil War, President Eliphalet Nott opposed slavery and supported Abraham Lincoln’s bid for the presidency, yet publicly worked to quell the passionate debates flaring up between Southern and Northern students. Nott feared that such activities would stir passions that would set back the cause, or bring violence, according to author, historian and Founders Day speaker James M. McPherson.

McPherson outlined Nott’s views and highlighted pieces of the war’s impact on the College in a keynote speech in Memorial Chapel during Founders Day. As McPherson notes in the excerpt of his address printed here, 61 former Union College students and graduates died in Union service. Six died in service to the Confederate Army. 

Overall, nearly 570 one-time Union College students fought in the Civil War, according to the Encyclopedia of Union College History. Roughly 520 served in the Union Army or related military divisions and 46 served in the Confederate Army.

Keynote excerpts

Following are excerpts from McPherson’s address at Founders Day:

The real character of Union College was established by its fourth president, Eliphalet Nott, one of the most famous college presidents in the 19^th century whose 62-year tenure at Union will surely never be equaled.

Nott held strong anti-slavery convictions. In his Baccalaureate Address in 1811, [Nott] praised the British anti-slavery leaders who had succeeded, after a long struggle, in abolishing the African slave trade. Their fame, said Nott, “I had rather inherit than Ceasar’s.” In the same speech he predicted that, “Africa will rise if there be any truth in God.”

Yet Nott never affiliated with the organized anti-slavery movement. He considered himself a man of reason and rational discourse, while he believed that the abolitionists appealed to the passions of humankind and would only provoke a Southern and conservative backlash that would set back the anti-slavery cause. As president of an institution that depended on the support and goodwill of the community, he also felt that he must keep the militant abolitionists at bay. Union College had a substantial number of Southern students – more, evidently, than almost any other Northern college of its size.

Nott was fond of expounding upon what he called a “higher law” than the laws of man, which would ultimately bring slavery to an end. New York Senator William H. Seward, Union Class of 1820, made this “higher law” famous in his speech against the Compromise of 1850, in which he declared that “there is a higher law than the Constitution,” the law under which all man are free and equal in His sight.

Eliphalet Nott could not have agreed more with his former student. Perhaps that is why he looked the other way when the Philomathean Society invited Wendell Phillips, the most radical of abolitionists, to speak in 1854 at the same time the College Trustees were meeting to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Nott’s installation as president. Nott was quite clever about manifesting his anti-slavery attitudes by indirection.

By 1860, Nott was no longer confident that slaves would be disenthralled by the diffusion of science or the progress of society. As Southern states prepared to secede after Abraham Lincoln’s election as president in 1860, Nott wrote to a friend, “that odious bondage may have to be swept away in blood.”

It was indeed swept away in blood during the next five years. Union College alumni and students made an important contribution to Union victory in the war, but at great cost to the College. The war reduced enrollment by half as many students enlisted, led by the few Southern students still remaining in 1860, who departed for their home states after Lincoln’s election. Combined with a series of strokes suffered by Nott … the College was devastated by the war and took a long time to recover. Sixty-one Union College alumni and students, including 23 from the classes of 1861 to 1864, gave this last full measure of devotion so that the nation might experience a new birth of freedom. It is a record of which this institution may be justly proud. 

Dispatch from the battlefield 

In addition to McPherson’s remarks, Union College magazine pulled from the College archives several Civil War personal items belonging to Maj. Charles E. Pease, Class of 1856, and member of the Army of the Potomac.

In April 1865, Pease carried the terms of surrender drafted by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, which led to the formal meeting between the two at the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. Pease is one of several notable Union men to serve in the war, including Maj. Gen Daniel Butterfield, Class of 1844 and composer of “Taps,” and Maj. Henry Reed Rathbone, Class of 1857, who grappled with John Wilkes Booth during the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre.

The College’s Special Collections houses Pease’s uniform patches, a War Department appointment as a Union Army officer, and a letter from Pease to his wife, Kitty, about an incident on Feb. 6, 1865. On that day, Pease’s horse was shot and wounded as he rode. He later recovered the bullet that felled his horse, which is shown here with his letter.

Pease volunteered for the Union Army in September 1861 and served until the war’s end in 1865. After a series of promotions, he became a major under the command of Gen. George Mead. Pease was at Grant’s Appomattox headquarters when a letter from Lee addressed to the “General Commanding of the Armies of the United States” was delivered, according to March 27, 1886 obituary in the New York Tribune. Pease and two others set out at night and tracked Grant down near the site of the Battle of Five Forks. Grant selected Pease to join him at the famous meeting with Lee at the Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865.

According to the Tribune obituary, Lee sketched a path for Pease to ride from the courthouse to Grant’s headquarters to deliver news of the surrender.  

“The shortest way led through Rebel lines and Lee rapidly penciled a pass and gave it to the major, who rode back through the discomfited army and was the first to announce the long-hoped-for tidings to the Army of the Potomac,” reads a March 27, 1886 obituary in the N.Y. Tribune: 

In the letter held in the College archives, Pease wrote:

My dear Kitty,

I have just come in from a hard days work and fight safe and sound. My horse was shot under me and I had many narrow escapes but fortunately escaped – was fighting six hours and have been in the saddle since daylight. So that’s [why] I am not in very good condition to write but thought I would just write you a letter before I went to bed. Fred Tremaine of Albany was hit and is feared fatally wounded and our loss in officers and men has been severe. I will write you more soon. I pray you are well and that one of your good letters will reach me soon.

            As ever yours,

            Charley     

Posted on Jun 8, 2009

Dear Parents,

Well, it’s happened again; we’ve reached the end of the Union school calendar. This year has flown by. Our students have officially finished with classes, and our seniors, my Sebastian among them, are preparing for Commencement on Sunday, June 14. Ceremonies begin at 10 a.m., with the academic procession – lots of wonderful pomp and circumstance – beginning at 9:30. For the complete schedule of events, please go to http://www.union.edu/Commencement/ 

This is not only the last newsletter of the academic year, it is my final newsletter as Parents Association chairperson, as my son begins his next life phase upon graduation. It has been a pleasure being part of my children’s college experience. I will hand over the reins to Julia Blanchard, mother of Nick ’10 and Ellen ’12, who is eager to begin her work with our Union parents. You will have an opportunity to meet Julia at the Parents Association Open House on campus during Homecoming and Family Weekend, set for Oct. 30-Nov.1.

And now, some news from campus:

From Athletics:
The Athletics Department is hosting the 13^th Annual Friends of Union Golf Outing, Monday, Aug. 10, at the Edison Club in Rexford, N.Y. (8:30 a.m. shotgun start). The $135 per player or $500 per foursome includes green fees, cart, gifts, continental breakfast prior to start, post-play barbecue, prizes, hole-in-one and longest drive competition. Register online at www.UnionAthletics.com or call (518) 833-6284
 

From College Relations:
This year’s ReUnion Weekend, May 28-31, was a major success, bringing 1,500 visitors to campus for the annual celebration of Union’s graduates. A groundbreaking ceremony for Lippman Hall and talks by Warner Bros. CEO Alan Horn ’64, “Family Guy” writer Chris Sheridan ’89 and “Night Court”

creative executive Scott Siegler ’69 were among the weekend highlights.

A $3 million gift from Jim Lippman ’79 and his wife, Linda, will support a major renovation of the Social Sciences building. The new Lippman Hall, named in honor of Jim Lippman’s father, Robert G. Lippman ’50, will include “smart classrooms” that employ state-of-the-art technology.

 From the Computer Science Department:
The National Science Foundation has awarded the CS Department a summer supplement to the grant, "Creating a Campus-Wide Computation Initiative." Union professors will work with two faculty members from Bard High School Early College in New York City as they incorporate computation into existing courses and consider whether Union’s introductory CS courses would be suitable for their setting.

In addition, the department welcomes two new faculty members to campus in September. John Rieffel joins the College after he completes post-doctoral studies at Tufts University in the biomimetics laboratory. He works in soft robotics (among other applications, those robots that might travel inside you to carry out various kinds of medical exams). At Union, Prof. Rieffel will collaborate with biology and bioengineering faculty and students. Andrea Tartaro will come to campus after completing her Ph.D. in computer science and communication studies at Northwestern University. She currently works on innovative technology tools for children with special needs. Prof. Tartaro will contribute to human computer interaction work, and build connections to our psychology and neuroscience faculty and students.

From Vivian Falco (Peter ’09), chair of The Parent Fund Corner:
“I would like to congratulate the Class of 2009 on their approaching graduation. I would also like to extend best wishes to the Classes of 2010, 2011 and 2012 for the upcoming academic year as you explore the many opportunities available to you at Union. As Peter will be graduating with the Class of 2009, this will be my final submission as Parent Fund Chair. I have enjoyed the opportunity to meet with so many parents of students at Union College. I am even more pleased to report the 2008-2009 Parent Fund is at 82 percent of the participation goal and 65 percent of the dollar goal.

“There is still time to participate and contribute. The fund year ends June 30. If you were planning on giving a gift to the College this year, please do so before the end of the month. You may donate online at www.union.edu/parent_gift. Every gesture supports the faculty, staff and students that make Union College a wonderful place to work learn, and live.  If you have questions about the Parent Fund, please visit www.union.edu/parents or contact Carol Shotzbarger ’08, fund manager, at (518) 388-6175. Thank you.”

Finally, thank you for all your support throughout these years. I have enjoyed getting to know so many of you and hope we can stay in touch over the coming months. Have a wonderful summer, best wishes to our seniors as they move forward, and I wish the best to all students returning to Union in the fall.

                                                            It has been a pleasure,

                                                            Karen Dumonet, Vanessa ’07 and Sebastian ‘09

                                                            Chair, Parents Association