The Union-Schenectady Alliance is teaming up Phi Delta Theta, a local restaurant and others to raise awareness of the devastation in Dulac, La. in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill.
During halftime of Saturday’s football game between Union and Salisbury University, 10 students will face off in an eating contest featuring the New Orleans specialty, the muffuletta sandwich.
In addition, as part of their regular grilling charity fundraiser, the brothers of Phi Delta Theta will feature a Louisiana-themed game day. Samples of muffuletta sandwiches will be available. Donations will be accepted, with proceeds going to the Dulac Community Center.
Students, faculty and staff have worked with the center for the past five years as part of Union’s Community Service mini-term in Louisiana. The mini-term grew out of trips students took on part of their December break to help rebuild parts of New Orleans damaged or destroyed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Some participants will be on hand Saturday to discuss their experiences.
Food for the event is provided by Dining Services and Café Nola, a Schenectady restaurant specializing in Cajun cuisine.
There will be a panel discussion for the “Critical Stitch” exhibition currently on view in the Mandeville Gallery today (Oct. 21) at 4 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.
The panel includes three distinguished exhibition artists with national and international recognition, including work in important public and private collections and representation with major galleries in New York, Los Angles and San Francisco.
The fourth participant is Elissa Auther, professor of art history at the University of Colorado and author of “String, Felt and Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in Contemporary Art.” Her forthcoming book is titled “The Countercultural Experiment: Consciousness and Encounters at the Edge of Art.”
For more information about the exhibit, click here.
For the past year, a group of faculty, students and staff have been working to create a Union College time capsule for the new Peter Wold Center for Science and Engineering. One segment will be opened at a special 2062 ReUnion 50 years after the capsule’s dedication in 2012; the other will be unveiled 100 years after the dedication.
“We know where it will go and what it will look like; all we need is the stuff inside,” says Lexie Crosby ’12.
She and other members of the Time Capsule Committee are asking members of the Union community to make their mark on history. The committee is handing out special archival paper designed to stand the test of time “so you can write a letter to your future self.”
Photographers may also submit photos to the capsule. Photos should have a resolution of 3264×2448, 8 megapixels (most digital cameras meet this requirement), and can be submitted electronically to uniontimecapsule@gmail.com. Other questions? Contact Crosby at crosbya@union.edu.
Noted author, journalist and feminist Rebecca Walker will speak Thursday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.
Rebecca Walker
Walker will discuss “The End of Feminism: Why Feminism as We Know it Must Transform.” The talk, part of the Presidential Forum on Diversity series, is free and open to the public.
Walker, author of the best-selling memoir “Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self,” has written extensively on race, gender politics and the changing face of contemporary American feminism.
Her mother, Alice, is the acclaimed African-American author who won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for The Color Purple. The two became estranged following the publication of the younger Walker’s memoir and their differing views of feminism, among other issues. Her second memoir, “Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood after a Lifetime of Ambivalence,” chronicles the arrival of her son, Tenzin, in December 2004.
Walker’s anthology, “To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism,” has become a staple of women’s studies programs. Her most recent anthology was 2009’s “One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk About Polyamory, Open Adoption, Mixed Marriage, Househusbandry, Single Motherhood, and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love.”
Time magazine named Walker one of the 50 most influential leaders of her generation. She is a contributor to Newsweek and several other magazines. Her essays have appeared in Glamour, Real Simple and Child. She has appeared on “The Today Show,” “Charlie Rose,” CNN, ABC News, “Good Morning America” and “Oprah.”
The College is celebrating the 40th anniversary of co-education at Union, and diversity programs will focus on women and their unique contributions to society. Earlier, author Awista Ayub talked about her efforts to unite Afghani women through sports.
Frank M. Calabria, who taught psychology at Union for 24 years and had lifelong passions for creative teaching, ballroom dancing and classical guitar, died Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010 at his Wendell Avenue home. He was 86.
Calabria was a charismatic professor whose creative teaching style often involved movement, and his classes were in high demand. Colleagues this week recalled his enthusiasm for involving students – and faculty – in experiential learning exercises that illustrated psychological principles.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from City College of New York, and a Ph.D. degree from New York University. He taught at Albany State University and Russell Sage College before joining Union in 1966. He retired in 1989, but maintained a private practice in psychotherapy and continued to write for academic and popular audiences.
He wrote two books, "Dance of the Sleepwalkers"(1993, Bowling Green State University Popular Press) about the dance marathon fad of the 1920s and 1930s, and his memoir, "Let It Be Dance: My Life Story" (2001, Writers Club Press). He wrote an article, “The Dance Marathon Craze,” in the summer 1976 issue of the Journal of Popular Culture. As a popular young professor who was well in tune with student attitudes, he wrote a lengthy piece, “The College Scene: What’s Happening Now?” for the Fall 1967 edition of Symposium, then the College magazine.
Calabria met his wife, Angela, 54 years ago at the Byrnes & Swanson dance studio in his native Brooklyn, where he was a dance instructor and she, a student. He also taught ballroom dance at the local USO, Dance of America conventions and various studios.
The couple had a dance studio in their home, and they frequently gave demonstrations at College events. They were featured recently in a Times-Union profile video, available here.
Calabria served in World War II as an athletic instructor and was decorated with a victory medal, good conduct medal and American Theatre Service medal. As a child, he was confined to a wheelchair for a year, but as a teenager went on to start a body building club.
“Frank had such vitality and zest for life,” recalled Linda Stanhope, professor of psychology. “When I first came to Union, he used to stop by my office and tell me stories about what it was like to teach psychology during the 1960s and 70s, when he taught a popular course called 'Creativity' (which he taught in a very creative way). He really emphasized making his classes personally meaningful to the students, and always encouraged new faculty members to try to do the same, a lesson I took to heart. I will always remember Frank and his lovely wife, Angela, dancing at President Ainlay’s inaugural ball; they were a vision.”
“Frank was one of the people with whom I went to dinner during my job interview some 25 years ago,” said Kenneth DeBono, the Gilbert R. Livingston Professor of the Behavioral Sciences. “His enthusiasm for Union, for the Psychology Department, and for life in general, weighed heavily in my decision to continue my career at Union.”
Angela and Frank Calabria
Professor of psychology and Chair Suzie Benack added, “Frank had a free and infectious spirit; his energy, joie de vivre, and ever-present warm smile enlivened the Psychology Department for many years. He taught a series of enormously popular courses that combined psychology and the arts, especially psychology through literature and dance. He did what would today be called interdisciplinary and 'embodied' teaching, engaging students in movement and creative activities that exemplified psychological principles. Frank taught about the importance of maintaining a sense of wonder, openness and enthusiasm across the lifespan, and he demonstrated to all of us what that meant.”
In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons, Carl ’80 and Mark; and two daughters, Alissa (Calabria ’84) Quinn and Mayela Harris.
A memorial service is set for Sunday, October 24, at 3 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady, 1221 Wendell Ave. The family will receive friends and family following the memorial service at their home. Contributions may be made to the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady.
