Christopher F. Chabris, an assistant professor of psychology, was featured twice recently in the Wall Street Journal.
Chabris wrote an op-ed. To read his piece, click here (registration may be required).
He also reviewed the book, "The Art of Choosing," by Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School, who recounts the story of her immigrant parents' wedding.
Charles Dickens visited Albany on two separate occasions, in 1842 and 1868. His trips are highlighted in a new exhibit at Schaffer Library, “Dickens in America.” The show coincides with a senior seminar on Dickens, taught by Harry Marten, the Edward E. Hale Jr. Professor of English. It also celebrates the library’s collection of early Dickens works, a recently acquired first edition of “A Christmas Carol,” and related materials from contemporaries of Dickens.
“Dickens in America” concluded with a staged reading of “A Christmas Carol” in the Nott Memorial. The program, featuring Union students and faculty, was directed by Patricia Culbert, senior artist-in-residence with the Theater and Dance Department.
To read about it in The Daily Gazette, click here.
Mansour Farhang, a political science professor at Bennington College and a leading expert on the Middle East, will discuss “The Sino-Iranian Relations,” on Monday, April 19, from 12:50 to 1:50 p.m. in Humanities 115.
Farhang will examine the Peoples Republic of China’s pursuit of its geostrategic and economic interests in Iran, and the extent to which China’s policies accommodate or hinder U.S. efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear program and regional ambitions.
Farhang served as revolutionary Iran's first ambassador to the United Nations, resigning in protest when the Khomeini regime refused to accept the U.N. Commission of Inquiry's recommendation to release American hostages in Teheran. Early in the Iran-Iraq war, he served as envoy in negotiations with international peace missions.
He is on the advisory board of Middle East Watch, a branch of Human Rights Watch. He is the author of “U.S.Imperialism: From the Spanish-American War to the Iranian Revolution”; and, with William Dorman, “The U.S. Press and Iran: Foreign Policy and the Journalism of Deference.”
His opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, and he serves as a regular commentator on the BBC and Radio France Internationale.
Farhang’s talk is sponsored by the Asian Studies Program and Thurston House.
U.S. Rep. Paul D. Tonko, a nationally recognized expert on energy issues, gave the keynote talk, “The Smart Grid: Who Should Control Our Energy Future?” at the third annual Alumni and Friends Symposium April 9 through 11 at the College.
A smart grid delivers electricity from producers to consumers using technology to optimize the use of less expensive power from alternative sources.
Congressman Tonko is a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor and serves on the subcommittees for Higher Education and Healthy Families and Communities. He is also a member of the Committee on Science and Technology. As a member of the New York State Assembly from 1983 to 2007, he served as chairman of a standing committee on energy; after leaving the Assembly, he was president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
Throughout the weekend, guests participated in a series of workshops to examine major issues surrounding America’s development and implementation of a smart electrical grid and propose solutions.
A panel discussion, “Implementing the Smart Grid,” featured David Pacyna ’83, senior vice president and general manager of Siemens Energy Inc.; Kannan Tinnium of General Electric Global Research; Martin Insogna, of the New York State Department of Public Service; Randy A. Bowers, New York Independent System Operator, Inc.; Mary E. Reidy, Smart Technology Center, National Grid; and Ron Ambrosio, IBM Global Research leader, Energy and Utilities Industry.
Richard H.K. Vietor ’67 presented a case study, “Cape Wind: Offshore Wind Energy in the U.S.A.” Vietor is the Paul Whiton Cherington Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and senior associate dean for the Asian Initiative.
Gary Cohen ’78, IBM general manager, Global Communications Sector, led a session, “Smart Grid Opportunities and Challenges.”
Last year’s symposium on health care reform featured Ezekiel Emanuel as keynote speaker. Now serving as a health care expert for the White House, he is the brother of Rahm, President Obama’s chief of staff.
The first Alumni and Friends Symposium, held in June 2007, was modeled after the “Moral Dilemmas of Governing” class led for many years by Byron Nichols. Twenty former students of Nichols, a popular political science professor from 1968 to 2008, returned to Union for a spirited discussion on the moral and political issues surrounding illegal immigration.
The program is designed to re-engage alumni in the intellectual life they enjoyed at Union.
Mark Mahoney, the winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, will discuss “Local Newspapers in a Changing Media Environment” Monday, April 19 from 3:05 to 4:45 p.m. in Social Sciences 016.
The talk by Mahoney, the editorial page editor of The Post Star (Glens Falls, N.Y.), is part of the Pizza and Politics series, which is sponsored by the Department of Political Science.
Mahoney was honored with journalism’s highest honor for “his relentless, down-to-earth editorials on the perils of local government secrecy, effectively admonishing citizens to uphold their right to know.”
