Posted on Jun 29, 2010

The value of a Union education is among the best in the country and tops in New York state, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek study of the career earnings of college graduates.

Union ranked 13^th nationally among 554 U.S. schools in terms of the net return on investment (ROI) and number one in New York, according to the study by PayScale, a Seattle-based compensation analysis firm.

The 30-year ROI for a Union graduate is $1.26 million – or 11.7 percent annualized – according to the study published this week. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was first with a 30-year net ROI of $1.69 million, or 12.6 percent annualized.

Each school’s ROI was calculated using pay reports from 1.4 million college graduates with no advanced degrees.

“We hope this report will provide parents, as well as current and prospective college students, crucial financial information about college selection,” said Dr. Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at PayScale. “The data should also help as students weigh the options of entering the job market after high school or attending a four-year university.”

To view Union’s profile in the study, click here.

To read the full story, click here.

To read about the study in the Wall Street Journal, click here.

Posted on Jun 22, 2010

Assistant Psychology Professor Christopher Chabris was recently interviewed by Joe Donahue, host of The Roundtable on WAMC, Northeast Public Radio. Northeast Public Radio is a member of National Public Radio serving parts of seven northeastern states. These include New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

Chabris and Daniel J. Simons, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, recently released their new book, “The Invisible Gorilla, And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us.” 

Published by Crown, the book tackles “six everyday illusions that profoundly influence our lives,” the authors write: “the illusions of attention, memory, confidence, knowledge, cause, and potential.”

To listen to the interview, click here.

Posted on Jun 22, 2010

Approximately 500 students in the Class of 2010 received their degrees during the College’s 216th commencement on Hull Plaza Sunday, June 13.

The featured speaker was Alan Horn, president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. Horn, who received an honorary doctor of fine arts degree, graduated from Union with a degree in economics in 1964.

To read about the ceremony in the Times Union (including a photo gallery), click here.

For coverage in The Daily Gazette, click here.

Posted on Jun 17, 2010

In honor of Juneteenth, a nationwide celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation, a program will be held in Vale Cemetery on Friday, June 18 at 6 p.m.

The event takes place in the Ancestral Burial Ground section and includes oratory and song, featuring a performance by Walter Simkins. Simkins portrays runaway slave Moses Viney, who escaped north from Maryland on the Underground Railroad. He became a chauffeur and close personal friend to Eliphalet Nott, then the president of Union College.

An ice cream social follows the program, which officially marks the opening of the 10^th annual Juneteenth celebration presented by Hamilton Hill Arts Center. The festivities continue on Saturday and Sunday in Schenectady’s Central Park with workshops, vendors, arts and crafts for children, and activities for the whole family.

Juneteenth is the oldest, nationally celebrated commemoration of the abolition of slavery. Originally held in Galveston, Texas in 1865, the annual observance of June 19^th as the African American Emancipation Day has become tradition across the country.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, call Hamilton Hill at 346-1262.

Posted on Jun 11, 2010

A group of Union students recently gave a makeover to the bedroom of a terminally ill teenager through a program called "Healing Spaces."

To view a clip of their project, click here.