Posted on Sep 10, 2010

The latest Union Notables exhibit features a Hollywood studio chief (Alan Horn), a scientific researcher (Theodore W. Berger) and a politician and founding trustee of the College (Joseph Christopher Yates).

The exhibit, which runs through February, is now open in the Thelma and Kenneth Lally Reading Room of Schaffer Library.

As president and COO of Warner Bros. since 1999, Horn brought the unforgettable characters of the Harry Potter series from the pages of J. K. Rowling’s novels to the big screen.

After graduating from Union in 1964 with a degree in economics, Horn served nearly five years in the U.S. Air Force, achieving the rank of captain. Following that, he received his Master of Business Administration, awarded with distinction, from Harvard Business School.

Under Horn’s leadership, Warner Bros. has produced some of the studio’s most popular and profitable movies, including the six films to date in the Harry Potter series, which in September 2007 became the most successful motion picture franchise in history. For the Notables exhibit, Horn lent the College a wand used in the latest film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.”

The featured speaker at Union’s 2010 commencement, where he received an honorary doctor of fine arts degree, Horn told his audience to “be a person of character. Integrity and honor are everything. Actions define your character, and your character will define the kind of life you have.”

Berger is in the business of engineering replacement parts for the brain. His work on developing implantable neural prostheses is helping to move the fields of bioengineering, neuroscience and medicine to a whole new level.

The David Packard Professor of Engineering, professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurobiology and director of the Center for Neural Engineering at the University of Southern California, Berger graduated summa cum laude from Union in 1972. He majored in math and psychology and was awarded the Catlin Prize for best scholastic record. 

He went on to Harvard University to study the relationships between brain function and behavior. While there, he and another graduate student made a discovery on the brain basis of classical conditioning; their paper was published in Science. In 1997, Berger became director of the Center for Neural Engineering at USC, an organization that helps to unite faculty with cross-disciplinary interests in neuroscience, engineering, and medicine.

Berger has acknowledged Union’s role in his success: “The vast majority of courses required written exams and reports—you really learned how to think and to write. All were very problem oriented: You had to conceptualize a problem, formulate a solution, research your solution, and evaluate it. Professors were really good at selecting key problems in society and science; they all thought very deeply about their field and were able to distill key problems in that area. And they presented the problems in such a way that you became a partner in finding a solution.”

Yates became the first mayor of Schenectady in 1798, at the age of 30. He also served as a New York State Senator. In 1808 he became a judge of the New York State Supreme Court, where he served for 15 years. He was the youngest member of the original board of trustees of Union, serving from 1795 until his death in 1837. Yates and his fellow board members persevered in their effort to found a college in Schenectady in the face of challenges from the nearby community of Albany, and helped shaped the nature and character of the College as it is known today.

The exhibit features a letter Yates wrote concerning the formation of Union, along with the record of votes cast for him for governor in Schenectady’s second ward and a mayoral re-election letter from 1807.

“Union Notables” is an ongoing, rotating exhibit that features three outstanding individuals connected to the College. A new group of "notables" is featured every six months. 

When a new group “notables” is installed, the preceding “notables” are given a permanent home elsewhere on campus.

For more information on “Union Notables,” click here.

Posted on Sep 10, 2010

Alexandra Stone ’12 of San Diego has been named a Grinspoon-MZ Foundation Israel Advocacy Intern at Union for the school year.

She is one of 33 students chosen from 30 colleges and universities throughout North America who will spend the year promoting Israel at their campuses. The interns help connect students to Israeli culture, history and politics by developing initiatives and programs based on their interests and the respective needs and culture of their schools.

Stone joined a number of other Grinspoon interns at a training session in Baltimore in mid-August.

“The training was an eye-opening learning experience,” said Stone, who looks forward to helping “promote Israel in a more positive light.”

At Union, where she is majoring in political science and is involved with philanthropy at Beuth House, Stone will work closely with Hillel director Bonnie Cramer. Last year, Union College Hillel was designated a Small and Mighty Campus of Excellence by the national organization.

The Harold Grinspoon Foundation was founded by Springfield, Mass. real estate entrepreneur Harold Grinspoon, who serves on the board of the Birthright Israel Foundation. He and his wife, Diane Troderman, have been active for many years on the board of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.

The MZ Foundation, a private grant-making foundation in Oakland, Calif., is dedicated to empowering organizations that address anti-Semitism at all levels of society.

Grinspoon Israel Advocacy Interns have come from campuses as diverse as the University of Michigan, Simmons College and Washington University.

“This is an outstanding leadership opportunity for our young people,” said Cramer. “Through their knowledge of and passion for Israeli culture and concerns, interns have the ability to have a profound impact on their campus communities.”

Posted on Sep 10, 2010

For a rare and fascinating look at pages from early 20th and late 19th century student engineering portfolios, drop in at the Wikoff Student Gallery.

“Another dimension,” curated by Exhibitions Assistant Kara Jefts, is an exhibition of hand-drafted descriptive geometry drawings selected from the Schaffer Library Special Collections holdings of Union College student portfolios.

“While helping to catalog and organize oversize items over the summer, I felt lucky to have access to so many amazing documents,” Jefts said. “Some are really quite beautiful, and they’re also attractive from a cross-disciplinary perspective. I was excited to share them with the whole campus community.”

As Jefts noted, the carefully constructed drawings in “Another Dimension” suggest that “the technical precision of mathematics and visual arts provides for many overlaps.”

Among the alumni represented in the show are H.P. King, Class of 1873, Vincent Allen Sheals, Class of 1921, and E.S. Godfrey, Class of 1880.

The exhibition, which runs through Sept. 26, was made possible through support from Schaffer Library Special Collections and the Mandeville Gallery, with special thanks to David Lublin.

For more information, click here.

Posted on Sep 8, 2010

What’s going on at Union?

Check out the central campus calendar at calendar.union.edu to learn about events and activities, and submit event requests to the Calendar if you want publicity. 

Introduced last spring, the online calendar was designed to be a one-stop, user-friendly resource for the campus community. You can: view and search events by different categories; see events and deadlines by day, week or month; download events to your personal calendar; subscribe to a particular category of interest; view Athletics events, which feed automatically from the Athletics calendar.

Anyone can submit requests through the “Submit Events” link in the upper right corner.

Questions? Send to calendar@union.edu.

Posted on Sep 7, 2010

President Stephen C. Ainlay welcomed students, faculty and staff to the 2010-11 academic year during Union’s opening convocation in Memorial Chapel Tuesday.

Painting a portrait of a campus filled with the key ingredients for success – including outstanding people, programs and physical spaces, Ainlay said, “Let us all make the most of the remarkable community, the remarkable environment, the remarkable opportunities that we have.”

With this fall ushering in the 40^th anniversary of co-education at Union, he praised the men and women who make Union special.

“We live and work in a campus environment consistently judged as one of the best,” he observed. “We have a breadth of study envied by many… (and) we operate in an environment to which most institutions of higher learning can only dream and aspire.” 

Noting that Union’s Capital Campaign recently surpassed $200 million, he said, “The success of the campaign and the generosity of our supporters have allowed Union to move ahead when others have had to pause.”

To read the text of President Ainlay’s speech, click here.

The convocation to celebrate the College’s 216th year opened with remarks from William A. Finlay, College marshal and professor of Theater and Dance; Mark Walsh ’76, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees; Mark Walker, the John Bigelow Professor of History and chair of the Faculty Executive Committee; and Andrew Churchill ’11, Student Forum president.

Therese A. McCarty, the Stephen J. and Diane K. Ciesinski Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, announced the Stillman Prize for Excellence in Teaching. This year’s recipient was Laurie Tyler, associate professor of chemistry. The prize was created by David I. Stillman ’72, Abbott Stillman ’69 and Allan Stillman in honor of Abraham Stillman, father and grandfather. It is given annually to a faculty member to encourage outstanding teaching.

McCarty also recognized the 676 students who made Dean’s List last year. Their names are on a plaque that will be displayed in Reamer Campus Center.

Sonika Raj ’13 gave a vocal performance of "Amor, preparami" from Il Pompeo by Alessandro Scarlatti. She received the Hollander Prize in Music, established by Lawrence J. Hollander, dean of engineering emeritus.

Accompanied on organ by Professor of Music Dianne McMullen, the Class of 2014 led Ode to Ole Union.