Posted on Oct 21, 2009

Thursday, Oct. 22, 4:30 p.m. / Schaffer Library, Phi Beta Kappa Room / Philosophy Speaker Series presents Australian National University/NYU’s David Chalmers: “The Extended Mind Revisited”

Thursday, Oct. 22, 4:30-5:30 p.m.  / Old Chapel, third floor / Open House for new director of International Programs Lara Atkins and unveiling of the program’s new location  

Thursday, Oct. 22, 6:30-8 p.m. / Visual Arts Building, Dance Studio / Open rehearsal, RUBBERBANDance Group, in residence at Union courtesy of the Stephanie C. Davis Dance Residency

Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m. / The Nott / The Ecological Crisis through the Lens of Faith: Claiming Earth as Common Ground,"  talk by Andrea Cohen-Kiener, director of the InterReligious Eco-Justice Network, a faith based- initiative in environmental theology and practice, and spiritual leader of Congregation Pnai Or of Central Connecticut. Sponsored by the LaMont Preacher’s Fund, Hillel, Multifaith Council, Campus Protestant Ministry and Wold House.

Friday, Oct. 23, 1:50 p.m. / Emerson Auditorium in the Taylor Music Center / Union College Department of Music and IEF present: Friday Jazz with professor Tim Olsen & Friends, “Bebop”; free admission

Friday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m. / Messa Rink at Achilles Center / Men’s ice hockey vs. American International College

Friday, Oct. 23-Monday, Oct. 26, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film: "The Ugly Truth" 

Saturday, Oct. 24, 1 p.m. / College Park Field / Men’s soccer vs. Hamilton

Saturday, Oct. 24, 7 p.m. / Messa Rink at Achilles Center / Men’s ice hockey vs. Sacred Heart University

Sunday, Oct. 25, 1 p.m. / College Park Field / Men’s soccer vs. Hobart

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 6 p.m. / Viniar Athletic Center / Volleyball vs. SUNY Oneonta 

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 8 p.m. / Taylor Music Center, Emerson Auditorium / Orisirisi,  performance of African folklore and drumming, featuring Don Harrell '75 and his wife, Adetutu, with stories and songs from Adetutu's native Nigeria and other areas of Africa

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 8 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Chamber Concert Series: “Trio Cavatina” 

Thursday, Oct. 29, 4:30 p.m. / Phi Beta Kappa Room, Schaffer Library / Philosophy Speaker Series presents Amherst College’s Nishi Shah on “The Limits of Normative Detachment”

Friday, Oct. 30- Monday Nov. 2, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / Film: “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Saturday, Oct. 31, 1 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Football vs. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Saturday, Oct. 31, 1 p.m. / College Park Field / Men’s soccer vs. Skidmore

Saturday, Oct. 31, 5 p.m. / College Park Field / Women’s soccer vs. Elms

Posted on Oct 21, 2009

Lara Atkins remembers well a time she called home from Florence, Italy.

“I’m not coming back,” she recalls telling her parents during a junior semester abroad. “I’m just not.”

Fortunately, her parents indulged her new passion for Italian culture and language. She stayed the next semester and the following summer before returning to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for her senior year. Bolstered by the experience, she added a third major, Italian cultural studies, to her other two in political science and history. She also refocused herself toward a career aimed at getting students to study abroad.

“That was formative for me,” she said. “It really opened my eyes to the world around me.”

Atkins has joined the College as the new director of International Programs. She succeeds Prof. William Thomas, who will resume teaching after a sabbatical.

“Union does a fantastic job of getting students to study abroad in large numbers,” she said, “and there is strong institutional support for International Programs. That’s one of the things that really attracted me to Union.”

She also is impressed with the diversity of programs and the academic quality of the students. “They are articulate and aware of the importance of studying abroad,” she said.

Atkins most recently served as interim director and assistant director of International Programs at SUNY Cortland. At Cortland, she administered all aspects of 25 study abroad programs in 14 countries and worked to develop dual-diploma programs in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the United Kingdom. 

Besides her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, she has a Certificate of Corsi Signoli in Paleontology, Cultural Anthropology, and the Italian Political System from the University of Florence, Italy; a professional certificate in Museum Studies from New York University; and an M.A. in Classical Archeology from Florida State University.

Atkins will host an open house Thursday, Oct. 22, 4:30-5:30 p.m. in the new location for International Programs, third floor Old Chapel.

“I look forward to supporting Union’s programs,” she said, “and I welcome faculty and students to share their thoughts.”

Posted on Oct 20, 2009

From a tour of Union’s plot at Vale Cemetery to a costume parade, Homecoming and Family Weekend will be a Halloween affair.

The event will feature a great lineup of events for all ages including a costume parade for kids during Saturday's football game, a haunted house, great guest speakers and a range of sporting events. Rival RPI will be on hand for a Friday night hockey game and Saturday afternoon gridiron battle.

“This weekend reflects the spirit and pride of Union,” said Nick Famulare ’92, director of Alumni Relations. “We expect a colorful fall weekend and invite families and alumni to get into the Halloween spirit.”

For a complete list of events, visit the Homecoming and Family Weekend schedule of events.

The Vale Cemetery tour will kick off Friday at 2 p.m., departing from the Old Chapel Circle. The tour of the gated plot, which includes Eliphalet Nott’s grave and is located about a mile from campus, will be led by Frank Taormina ’50.

The costume parade will begin at halftime of the football game against RPI, set to begin at 1 p.m. at Frank Bailey Field. Costumed trick-or-treaters (ages 15 and under) will parade in around the football field after gathering near Messa Rink.

After the game, students of Gamma Phi Beta sorority and Sigma Phi fraternity will transform Hickock House into a haunted abode filled with thrills and chills for all ages.

The weekend’s featured alumni speakers include:

Friday at 1:45 p.m., Wold House: Philip Alcabes ’76, author of "Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to the Avian Flu," looks at how scientists write about historical epidemics.

Friday at 3 p.m., Breazzano House: Co-authors Mickey Bradley ’87 and Daniel Gordon ’87 discuss their recent book, “Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends and Eerie Events.”

Saturday at 10:30 a.m., Sorum House: Jamie Gorman ’95, owner of Only Nine Apparel, details how she launched a successful brand in the competitive fashion industry.

Posted on Oct 19, 2009

The famed Emerson String Quartet  kicked off the Chamber Concert Series Sunday with their 27th appearance in Memorial Chapel.

The quartet features violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, cellist David Finckel and violist Lawrence Dutton. During their appearance, the musicians played Haydn’s “The Seven Last Words” and Dvorak’s Quartet in F, Op. 96 “American.”

To read a review of the concert in the Times Union, click here.

Posted on Oct 15, 2009

Books, amalgams of paper, glue and ink, are powerful things. They can evoke responses so passionate that the works themselves are hailed as masterpieces or derided as harmful and banished from stores, libraries and classrooms.

Earlier this fall, Banned Books Week celebrated the freedom we have to read and the importance of the First Amendment. As in year’s past, it also drew attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted book-bannings across the United States.

To mark this annual effort, students, professors and librarians gathered in Wold House recently for a dinner and discussion. The event, which was sponsored by Dickens House, a theme house for literature lovers, revealed that some Union students are personally familiar with this type of censorship.

“My experience with banned books was in my senior year of high school, when my English teacher taught “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne,” recalled Katie O’Connor ’10 of Dickens House. “She got in a lot of trouble from the school for teaching a book that featured the theme of adultery, and she was not allowed to teach the novel after that term.”

O’Connor was joined in Wold House by about 15 other students, Reference Librarian/Associate Professor Donna Burton, Engineering Professor Mohammad Mafi, College Librarian Tom McFadden and Visiting Professor of Mathematics Kim Plofker. Together, they discussed a wide range of topics, including the differences between graphic movies and graphic novels, and the differences between banning books for political reasons versus banning books for sexual explicitness or excessive violence.

“It was a great event, with plenty of lively debate,” O’Connor said. “Several people brought up some interesting points, and the conversation was spirited and engaging. I continued thinking about the topics even after I left the dinner.”

Burton believes discussions like these are inherently valuable.

“Intellectual freedom is a cornerstone of academic life,” she said. “The College is an excellent venue in which to discuss censorship and its ramifications.”