Posted on Oct 7, 2009

Through Oct. 16
Schaffer Library
Thelma and Kenneth Lally Reading Room
Degas’ Contemporaries

Coinciding with the “Degas & Music” show currently on display at the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, N.Y., this exhibit features work from Union’s Permanent Collection by peers of famed French impressionist Edgar Degas.

Through Oct. 24
Nott Memorial
Mandeville Gallery
North by Northeast: Baskets and Beadwork from the Akwesasne Mohawk and Tuscarora

Selected pieces from a traveling exhibition curated by Kathleen Mundell, folklorist and director of Cultural Resources, a nonprofit organization that helps communities sustain local culture.

Through Nov. 8
Wikoff Student Gallery, Third Floor
Nott Memorial
Creatures in Stone and Steel by Claire Hendry Foster ’08

Features six sketches and four sculpture works by this recent alumna who creates sculptures as “a way to make the images and creatures of my imagination into a reality." Artist’s reception set for Friday, Oct. 16, 5–7 p.m. in conjunction with Art Night Schenectady.

Through Nov. 14
Visual Arts Building
Arts Atrium
Greg Eltringham, Paintings and Drawings

This exhibit features the work of Greg Eltringham, professor of painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga.

Through March 14
Schaffer Library Atrium
Union Notables

Union Notables celebrates the great men and women who have studied and worked at the College from its founding in 1795 to the present day. Every six months, a new group of three notables is featured. Currently featured are assistant professor and janitor Charles Frederick Chandler (1836-1925);  actor, playwright,  journalist and producer John Howard Payne (1791-1852); and College Librarian Ruth Anne Evans (1924-2001).

Through Dec. 20
Nott Memorial
Mandeville Gallery
“Reimagining the Distaff Toolkit”

This traveling exhibit curated by New Paltz, N.Y., independent curator and historian Rickie Solinger, featuring 36 works by 28 contemporary artists. Each work incorporates a tool that was important for women’s domestic labor in the past.

Posted on Oct 7, 2009

Thursday, Oct. 8, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / Fire Prevention Week and Public Safety Day / Local fire departments, law enforcement and other agencies join Campus Safety, Health Services, EMS and other campus groups in providing information on fire and personal safety; free blood pressure clinic. Sponsored by Union College Life Safety

Thursday, Oct. 8, 4:30 p.m. / Hale House, Everest Lounge / Philosophy Speaker Series presents Katja Vogt, professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and specialist in ancient philosophy, ethics and political philosophy, who will address: “Do Human Beings Have Non-Relative Value.” Vogt’s current book project, “The Ethics of Belief,” is motivated by the question of how best to understand the relationship between virtue and knowledge.

Thursday, Oct. 8, 4:30 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / The Michael S. Rapaport Ethics Across the Curriculum Initiative presents Rashi Fein on “Health Care Reform: Past, Present, and Future”; Fein is professor of economics and medicine, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard University 

Friday, Oct. 9, 1:50 p.m. / Taylor Music Center, Emerson Auditorium / Department of Music and IEF present Friday jazz concerts with Professor Tim Olsen and Friends, tracing the history of jazz; this week's concert is “Swing”; free admission

Friday, Oct. 9, 4 p.m. / College Park Field / Women’s soccer vs. RPI

Friday, Oct. 9, 4 p.m. / Viniar Athletic Center / Volleyball vs. Ithaca College

Friday, Oct. 9, 4 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Field hockey vs. Hamilton

Friday, Oct. 9, 6 p.m. / Viniar Athletic Center / Volleyball vs. SUNY Potsdam

Friday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m. / Messa Rink at Achilles Center / Men's hockey vs. University of Maine

Friday, Oct.9- Monday, Oct. 12, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film: “Transformers 2”

Saturday, Oct. 10, 10 a.m. / Viniar Athletic Center / Volleyball vs. SUNY Oneonta

Saturday, Oct. 10, 1p.m. / College Park Field / Field hockey vs. St. Lawrence

Saturday, Oct. 10, 2 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field/ Football vs. Hobart

Saturday, Oct. 10, 2 p.m. / Viniar Athletic Center / Volleyball vs. Lasell College

Saturday, Oct. 10, 4 p.m. / College Park Field / Women’s soccer vs. Vassar

Saturday, Oct. 10, 7 p.m. / Messa Rink at Achilles Center / Men's hockey vs. University of Maine

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 4p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Field hockey vs. Hartwick

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 4p.m. / Tennis courts / Women’s tennis vs. RPI

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m. / Old Chapel / Campus Diversity lecture “Get off Your Knees: John Robinson’s Story.” Congenital amputee John Robinson’s story teaches those without disabilities that, with the aid of a strong education and a few caring individuals, they can achieve great things.

Friday, Oct. 16, 5- 9 p.m. / Mandeville Gallery and downtown Schenectady venues / Art Night Schenectady

Friday, Oct.16- Monday, Oct. 19, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film: “Funny People”

Sunday, Oct. 18, 1 p.m. / College Park Field / Field hockey vs. St. Joseph University

Sunday, Oct. 18, 3 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / 38^th Concert Series kicks off with Emerson String Quartet

Monday, Oct. 19, 1p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Field hockey vs. St. Joseph

Monday, Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m. / Humanities Room 019 / The English Department presents a poetry reading by Irish poet Paula Meehan 

Monday, Oct. 19, 8 p.m. / Taylor Music Center / Bach’s “The Art of Fugue” ; Johann Sebastian Bach’s last work, performed by duo-pianists John Gillock and Dean Kauffman; presented in conjunction with the Eastern New York Chapter of the American Guild of Organists; open to public, general admission, $20

Posted on Oct 6, 2009

They’re street-savvy, with urban energy and elegance to spare, and they’ve exploded onto the international dance scene in recent years with a unique movement vocabulary that fuses elements of hip-hop, ballet and modern dance.

Members of the Montreal-based RUBBERBANDance Group (RBDG) come to campus this month for a dance residency that includes a master class and open rehearsal and culminates in a performance at The Egg, Center for the Performing Arts in Albany.

The master class for advanced students will be held Wednesday, Oct. 21, with a free open rehearsal Thursday, Oct. 22. Both will take place in the dance studio in the Visual Arts Building from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

On Friday, Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. at the Egg, the troupe will present “Loan Sharking,” a collection of works through commissions by hip-hop and contemporary dance festivals in Canada, Europe and the United States.

Sponsored by the Theater and Dance Department, the residency is made possible by a gift from Sue and Gus Davis ’59 in memory of their daughter, Stephanie C. Davis, a modern dancer.

Founded in 2002, RBDG is a collective of dancers with ballet or street dance backgrounds, known for including theatrical interpretation, improvisation and film projections in their work. It is directed by Los Angeles native Victor Quijada, who earned the name “Rubberband” from his elastic hip-hop body. Before starting his own troupe, Quijada danced for such notables as Twyla Tharp, Eliot Feld and the Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal.

The Los Angeles Times has called Quijada “an authentic, serious new voice in dance,” who has “taken the energy and virtuosity of street dancing and married it to the formal structures of concert dance… with a probing sense of musicality, a respect for the individuality of his dancers and an ability to evoke meaningful character interaction.”

The Boston Globe has remarked on the dancers’ “dazzling combination of controlled athleticism, power, and grace.” 

Union students, faculty and staff are invited to attend the Egg performance free of charge.

Beginning Oct. 12, a limited numbers of tickets will be available on first-come, first-serve basis with a Union ID. They may be picked up at the Yulman Theatre Box Office weekdays, 12:30-1:30 p.m. and at the Visual Arts Building Office, 2:30-4 p.m.

Free round-trip transportation will be provided, with buses leaving for the Empire State Plaza in Albany from the Nott/Seward parking lot at 7 p.m.

Posted on Oct 5, 2009

Union’s own Chester A. Arthur, Class of 1848 and the country’s 21st president, was honored Monday on the 180^th anniversary of his birth.

The New York National Guard placed a wreath at Arthur’s grave in Albany Rural Cemetery, followed by the presentation of colors. The United States military traditionally lays a wreath at the graves of U.S. presidents on their birthday.

The son of a Baptist minister, Arthur grew up in Union Village, N.Y. (Greenwich). In 1845 he entered Union College, where he was a member of Psi Upsilon and the Delphian Institute debating society. He was elected into Phi Beta Kappa his senior year.

A Republican, Arthur held several positions in New York state government and was nominated to be James Garfield’s vice president in 1880. He was sworn in as president on Sept. 20, 1881, a day after Garfield died from a gunshot wound.

Known as the “The Gentleman Boss” and the “Dude President” for his sense of style, Arthur died from a kidney ailment on Nov. 18, 1886, a year-and-a-half after leaving office, at his home in New York City. He is buried near his wife in Menands, N.Y., some 20 miles from his alma mater. His grave site remains the most visited spot in the cemetery.

The College houses a number of artifacts and other memorabilia from Arthur’s days as a student, along with other items such as a walnut and leather writing desk (rumored to have a secret liquor cabinet) used by President Stephen C. Ainlay.

The Chester Arthur statue stands outside the gate of Jackson’s Garden.

Posted on Oct 2, 2009

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, Union welcomes a man of incredible talent with an amazing story to share. At 7 p.m. in Old Chapel, John Robinson will deliver the Campus Diversity Lecture. His talk is titled “Get Off Your Knees: The John Robinson Story.”

Robinson, director of corporate support for WMHT television and radio, was born a congenital amputee. At three feet, nine inches tall, he has no hands, his arms stop at his elbows and his lower legs are attached to his hips without knees. When Robinson was a child, his parents worried about whether he’d be able to attend school or support himself as an adult.

Yet through remarkable talent, tenacity and faith, Robinson has succeeded in business and life. He plays golf, drives a car and happily enjoys many experiences other people often take for granted.

People with disabilities are one of America’s most vulnerable populations, and as a group, face obstacles in everyday life that seem insurmountable. Robinson’s story teaches individuals – with and without disabilities – that anything is possible with a strong education and supportive friends and family.

The lecture, which comes during National Disability Awareness Month, is sponsored by the Union College President’s Office, the Campus Diversity Office, Multicultural Affairs, Student Support Services and Sorum House.

For more information on Robinson, click here.