Posted on Nov 10, 2009

Assistant Professor of English Brian Hauser has published an excerpt from his memoir-in-progress in the latest issue of “Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Art of Persuasion.” Tentatively titled “Mission: Improbable,” the memoir details the year (2002-2003) he spent on active duty with military intelligence. View the excerpt here.   

Chris Duncan, professor of sculpture, recently took part in the third annual “Meltdown” at the National Casting Center at Alfred University, one of the nation’s top academic foundry facilities. The all-day public event includes a pour of thousands of pounds of hot metal into molds. Two of Duncan’s students, Carley Jacobson ’10 and Jacob Pet ’12,  participated in the Inter-Collegiate Iron Pour at Salem Art Works in Salem, N.Y., last month.  
 

Pilar Moyano, professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies, will be speaking at an international conference at the University of Tehran in Iran Nov. 16-18. She was invited to participate in the event, which focuses on Iran-Europe/Spain cultural dialogue, by the World Studies Center and the Institute for North American and European Studies at the university. She will present a paper that represents a historical and transcultural exploration, through Muslim women’s literature, of the literal and metaphorical meanings of the veil. 

Carol Weisse, professor of psychology and director of Health Professions, traveled to South Africa to visit two hospices with the hope of establishing service learning opportunities for students. She and five other local hospice workers offered a “Care for the Caregivers” workshop to 45 South Coast Hospice staff members. During the trip, Weisse was able to accompany hospice workers as they traveled into rural villages to check on HIV+ patients in their home care program. In addition, she visited Tapologo Hospice in Rustenburg. Two students, Lily Cudmore ’11 and Malebogo Thlajoane ’11, have plans to conduct Independent Study Abroad coursework at Tapologo in the spring term.
 

Peter Bedford, the John and Jane Wold Professor of Religious Studies, delivered a lecture at the Yale Divinity School this month at the invitation of the Divinity School and the Judaic Studies program. The lecture, titled “Colonial Politics in Achaemenid Judah,” was the subject of a seminar led by Prof. Bedford the following day in the Workshop on Ancient Societies, a new interdisciplinary seminar that draws together scholars from a variety of Yale's departments and schools that share an interest in the study of antiquity.

A new book by Teresa Meade, the Florence B. Sherwood Professor of History and Culture and director of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, examines the diverse and interlocking experiences of people of indigenous, African and European backgrounds from the onset of independence until today. Due out in December, “A History of Modern Latin America: 1800 to the Present” is a textbook in the Wiley-Blackwell “Concise History of the World” series. It intersperses accounts of the lives of prominent figures with those of ordinary people and emphasizes gender’s role in influencing political and economic change and shaping cultural identity. The book contains a photograph taken in Cuba by Professor of Visual Arts Martin Benjamin and four photos taken in Buenos Aires by Nancy Borowick ’07.

Tina Lincer, associate director of Communications, is taking part in the Memoir Project of the Arts Center of the Capital Region this month. Lincer joins a dozen other local writers in a public reading of their personal narratives at the center, located in Troy.

This term, for the second straight year, a group of Union students volunteered at Camp Erin, which helps young people ages 6-17 grieve over a death of a family member or loved one. As part of a 10-year grant awarded to Schenectady Community Hospice from the Moyer Foundation, the Kenney Community Center worked with Hospice to select the students, who participated in a weekend-long experience that combines traditional camp activities with bereavement education and emotional support. The Moyer Foundation partners with local hospice and grief counseling organizations in the communities where the camps exist. The 15 Union students who served as buddies at the Fowler Camp and Retreat Center in Lake Sacandaga, N.Y., this fall are: Afrin Nuzhad ’11, Alexandra Dumitrescu ’10, Ashley Gilman ’10, Chenele Mclean ’12, Edward Burnham ’11, Emily Cassello ’12, Jessica Wenger ’10, Julia Mayne ’10, Kathleen Jordan ’12, Leah Pepe ’11, James Cernik ’12, Rebecca Yolowitz ’10, Sarah Gagnon ’12, Zoe Blatt ’12 and Camille Mori ’10. For more photos, go to:www.flickr.com/CampErinAlbany 
 

Posted on Nov 6, 2009

Posted on Nov 6, 2009

Emanuel Ax is a pianist renowned for his poetic temperament, unsurpassed virtuosity and exceptionally diverse performing capacity. On Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 8 p.m., he will give his fifth Chamber Concert Series performance.

During the show, Ax will present Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy, Op. 61, Mazurkas, Op. 41 and 56, and Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise, Op. 22. He will also play portions of Schumann’s Fantasiestucke and Fantasy.

Born in Lvov, Poland, Ax captured public attention when he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in 1974. A year later, he went on to win the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, and four years after that, he clinched the coveted Avery Fisher Prize.

Ax, who studied at The Julliard School, has also been honored for his recorded releases. The second and third volumes in his cycle of Haydn’s piano sonatas received Grammy awards, as did his series of recordings with cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Ax’s special projects for the current season include performances with pianist Yefim Bronfman and a solo recital tour in North America and Europe. He will also return to several orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony.

During his 2004-2005 season, Ax contributed to a BBC documentary commemorating the Holocaust. It aired on the 60^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and was awarded an International Emmy.

The musician, who lives in New York City with his wife, the pianist Yoko Nozaki, and their two children, is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

General admission tickets cost $25, though area students may attend for $10. The show is free to members of the Union community.

For more information, call (518) 388-6080. For a complete Series schedule, click here.

Posted on Nov 5, 2009

John E. Kelly III ’76, senior vice president and director of research at IBM, is this year’s recipient of the Robert N. Noyce Award, the semiconductor industry`s highest honor, it was announced today.

The award is presented annually by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) to recognize outstanding contributions to the microelectronics industry.

“Innovation is the lifeblood of the semiconductor industry,” said John Daane, president, chairman and chief executive officer of Altera Corporation and chairman of the SIA. “John Kelly has played a very important role in driving innovation in microelectronics. Recognizing that most basic research is carried out at our universities, he has also made important contributions to training the scientists and engineers of the future.”

Kelly joined IBM in 1980. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Union in 1976, a master’s in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1978 and his doctorate in materials engineering from RPI in 1980. He also received an honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Union Graduate College.

An avid supporter of Union, he has been a member of the College’s Board of Trustees since 2003.

In 2006, the College dedicated the John E. Kelly III ’76 Digital Arts Lab. Kelly had earmarked part of his contribution to the College’s $250 million “You are Union” campaign for support of the digital arts program, an interdisciplinary endeavor between the departments of Visual Arts and Computer Science.

Posted on Nov 4, 2009

President Stephen C. Ainlay left Feigenbaum Hall and took to the classroom on Tuesday to lecture on a topic that first drew him into the field of sociology.

“Religion is something I became fascinated with as a way to explain how people live in the world,” he told a group of 60 students from combined introductory sociology classes of professors David Cotter, Melinda Goldner and Linda Relyea.

A sociologist by training, Ainlay has lectured and written extensively on topics including aging, entrepreneurship, blindness and religion, in particular in the Mennonite community.

Urging students to imagine themselves in the role of stranger and make objective observations, he said, “There isn’t a place in the world that has been occupied by humans where you don’t find the influence of religion.”

He cited a number of examples – including the Parthenon in Athens, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and the white clapboard churches at the center of many New England villages – to illustrate the centrality of religion.

“When you go into any community, you will see a suggestion that religion is important,” he said.

Even at Union, one of the oldest non-denominational colleges in the country, Memorial Chapel was the site of mandatory chapel as recently as the 1960s.