Posted on Sep 7, 2009

On Sunday, the College offcially welcomed the Class of 2013 to campus. A number of media were on hand to report on the students moving in.

To view a report aired by Channel 6, the local CBS affiliate, click here.

Below is the text of a story that appeared in The Daily Gazette, written by Lee Coleman:

SCHENECTADY — The 525 members of the Union College class of 2013 arrived on campus Sunday morning to register and move into their dorm rooms.

Students and parents carrying boxes and suitcases climbed up dorm stairways after the students registered.

“Things are going smoothly,” said Kate Schurick, dean of first year students. She said this year’s class is somewhat smaller than the average Union class of 560 students.

The first-year students and 21 transfer students registered in The Nott Memorial in the center of the historic campus.

They had their identification card photos taken and picked up fat envelopes filled with information about campus life and their academic schedules.

“It’s so pretty,” said Elizabeth Hackert of Ballston Spa about the Union campus. Cloudless, sunny weather in the mid-70s made the campus sparkle.

Hackert plans to study psychology at Union and will live on campus in the West College dorm even though she only lives about 45 minutes away.

“This brings back memories,” said Catherine Hackert, Elizabeth’s mother. She said she can clearly remember arriving at SUNY Potsdam as a freshman some 30 years ago.

“She’s away without being away,” Catherine Hackert said about her daughter going to college so close to home.

Elizabeth plans to play softball at Union. She played third base for the Ballston Spa High School softball team.

The freshmen and transfer students will attend three days of orientation and start classes Wednesday. The upper class students move in today and Tuesday.

A total of 41 upper class students volunteered to be orientation advisors to the 525 first-year students, Schurick said. She said these advisors spend all three days with groups of freshmen to help them adjust to campus life.

Nicholas Fleagle of Seattle, Wash., and his father, John, flew in from Seattle on Friday.

“We stopped in Chicago,” Fleagle said about his flight across the country.

Fleagle said he brought two suitcases and a backpack. The backpack was filled with electronic gear students enjoy, such as an X-Box game player.

Fleagle said he visited Union College in his sophomore year of high school and decided then he wanted to come across the country to study mechanical engineering at the private college of 2,300 students in downtown Schenectady.

He said he liked the concept that he would receive a “balanced” education at Union with some liberal arts courses, not just straight engineering courses.

Part of the registration process was signing up with college health services.

Barbara Lahey, the college’s medical director, said each student and each parent received a letter explaining measures to combat the pandemic H1N1 flu, known as swine flu.

“We are prepared for an outbreak of the flu, should it occur,” Lahey said.

The letters to the students and information on the college Web site explain how to prevent catching the flu.

“We urge students to use proper hand washing,” Lahey said. Other measures include keeping their hands away from their mouth and eyes.

Guidelines issued by the Center for Disease Control explain that if a student catches the H1N1 flu they are asked, if possible, to return to their home by private, as opposed to public, transportation.

Colleges across the country are telling their students ways to limit the spread of the flu.

Lahey said currently the H1N1 flu symptoms are mild with an average length of sickness between two and four days.

But health authorities fear that the pandemic flu virus could mutate and become much more virulent.

At Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs first-year students were also moving onto campus on Sunday. They have also been alerted to the H1N1 flu guidelines by the college’s health services department.

A total of 650 members of the Skidmore Class of 2013 will also be attending three days of orientation meetings, social gatherings and educational presentations before classes start Wednesday.

As many as 1,000 cars and other vehicles were expected on the Skidmore campus Sunday as parents dropped off their students for their first year at the private, liberal arts college on North Broadway.

Posted on Sep 7, 2009

The College recently conducted an emergency drill on campus with members of the Schenectady police and fire departments.

The purpose of the drill was to evaluate the College’s emergency preparedness and the response of area emergency organizations to a campus calamity.

A number of media representatives attended the drill.

To view a report from Capital News9, click here.

Posted on Sep 7, 2009

Union College ranked as the 15th best engineering program, according to the latest edition of U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges.

The college also came in 43rd among the magazine’s ranking of best liberal arts universities. Skidmore College ranked 46th in that category. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was ranked 42nd in the top national universities category.

Union College spokesman Phil Wajda said in a statement that Union became the first liberal arts college to offer engineering in 1845. Also, for the past two years it has hosted a national symposium on engineering and the liberal arts. The conference has attracted leaders from top schools including Princeton, Dartmouth, Harvard, Smith, Lafayette and the U.S. Military Academy.

Wajda added that the college believes such rankings and lists are just one measure of a school’s educational programs, and that prospective students should visit the campus. An RPI spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Skidmore spokeswoman Andrea Wise said the college has been on the list for a number of years, and she believed it ranked slightly higher this year. She also encouraged students to visit the campus.

The University at Albany was included in the third grouping of national universities ranked 134 through 190. Compilers of the rankings did not break out specific numbers for this group.

Spokesman Karl Luntta said the university agrees with the magazine’s assessment.

 “The freshmen class we’re welcoming next week comes from the largest applicant pool the university has ever had, recognition of the excellence of our academic programs,” he said. “It is one of the most academically accomplished and ethnically diverse classes in recent history.”

The university admitted 47 percent of a record 22,286 applications. A total of 22 percent of the class of 2013 graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Also, nearly one-third of students are from a minority.

The Sage Colleges was in the third grouping of liberal arts schools ranked 127 to 187. A college official could not be reached for comment.

This is the 26th year the magazine has compiled the rankings. Harvard and Princetown are tied atop the list.

The magazine ranks the colleges based on graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, financial resources, student selectivity, alumni giving and a peer survey, according to the U.S. News & World Report Web site. 

Posted on Sep 7, 2009

Ad hoc committees are reviewing the tenure of two professors: George Bizer, Psychology, and Laurie Tyler, Chemistry. Members of the Union Community may submit written comments on their teaching, service or scholarship to committee members. Committees are:

George Bizer: Alan Taylor, Mathematics, committee chair (ext. 6197, taylora@union.edu); Lorraine Cox, Visual Arts; Thomas Jewell, Engineering; and Linda Stanhope, Psychology

Laurie Tyler: Rebecca Surman, Physics, committee chair (ext. 6649, surmanr@union.edu); James Adrian, Chemistry; Ann Anderson, Mechanical Engineering; and Harry Marten, English.

Posted on Sep 7, 2009

Valerie Barr, professor of Computer Science and department chair, recently gave two presentations at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference and also served on the academic advisory committee. The annual gathering, the largest technical conference of its kind for women, recognizes the significant role women play in defining technology used to solve social issues. A member of the Association of Computing Machinery’s Council on Women in Computing, Barr also runs a scholarship program for women interested in attending research conferences.

An essay by Judith Gardner Ainlay on the role of presidential spouses was featured in a recent edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Ainlay, the wife of Union President Stephen C. Ainlay, is the College’s director of Special Institutional Relations and plays a major role in fundraising and other key College initiatives. Previously, she coordinated an interdisciplinary undergraduate program in gerontology studies for a consortium of five colleges in Worcester, Mass.  

Eric McDowell, sports information director, was one of five professionals inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame at the 2009 San Antonio Convention in June. The award recognizes service and professionalism in the business. 

Frank Wicks, professor of mechanical engineering, was featured in a July 10 story by Associated Press writer William Kates about the 50th anniversary of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Wicks shared his recollections about working on the construction project as a teenager after graduating from Massena High School in 1957. Stretching 265 miles along the U.S. border with Canada from Montreal to Lake Ontario, the seaway has been hailed as one of North America’s top engineering feats. The AP story appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times.  

Thomas Perry ’09, the 2009 Daggett Prize winner, is this year’s winner of the Astronomical Society of New York Undergraduate Research Prize. Currently a Minerva Fellow in Uganda, he will receive his prize and give an invited talk at an Astronomical Society of New York conference when he returns.

Mark Walker, the John Bigelow Professor of History and department chair, will present “Nazi Science? Racial Hygiene, Autarky and Weapons of Mass Destruction” as part of a “Town & Gown” lecture Tuesday, Sept. 15, 7-8 p.m. in the McChesney Room at the Schenectady County Public Library on Clinton Street.