Posted on Jan 5, 2011

In early December, Union received a major commitment to the college – a $1 million gift that will provide scholarships for students over the next four years.

The gift is from Goldman Sachs Gives, the firm’s donor-advised fund. Through Goldman Sachs Gives, the firm’s partners recommend a part of their overall compensation to non-profit and charitable organizations.

The donation was made at the recommendation of David Viniar '76, the chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs. A member of the College's Board of Trustees, Viniar is a generous benefactor to the school.

“Union College provided me with an outstanding education that was the foundation of my career,” Viniar said. “We hope this gift from Goldman Sachs Gives will help students enter and complete college and open opportunities for years to come.”

The gift will allow the College to award up to $250,000 for need-based scholarships to some members of the Class of 2014. These scholarships will continue in subsequent years until the gift is spent.

The College meets 100 percent of demonstrated financial need for all students. The average need-based scholarship at Union is $29,000.

“This gift allows us to help even more of our students and their families, particularly those who have been hurt by the economic downturn,” said Matt Malatesta, vice president for Admissions, Financial Aid and Enrollment.

“For Union to continue to attract the best and brightest, it’s critical that we find ways to support students during these difficult economic times,” said President Stephen C. Ainlay. “We are extremely grateful for this gift from Goldman Sachs Gives, which will help us in our mission to make a college education more affordable for those who choose Union.”

Established in 2007, Goldman Sachs Gives enables Goldman Sachs and its people to leverage their donations to charities in the communities where they live and work, or elsewhere around the globe. The focus of this contribution is on those areas that have been proven to be fundamental to creating jobs and economic growth, building and stabilizing communities, honoring service and veterans and increasing educational opportunities.

Posted on Jan 4, 2011

Research Professor of Philosophy Raymond Martin will be an interviewed panelist in the New York Academy of Sciences’ six-part (December through May) interdisciplinary series: “Perspectives on the Self: Conversations on Identity and Consciousness.” On the panel with Martin will be historian Gerald Izenberg and sociologist Nobert Wiley. This session, titled “Me, Myself, and I: The Rise of the Modern Self,” will be held Jan. 27. For more on the series, go to www.nyas.org/self. On another front, Martin's review essay, "Let Many Flowers Bloom," on historian Allan Megill’s Historical Knowledge, Historical Error: A Contemporary Guide to Practice, has appeared in a recent issue of the journal History and Theory.

Michael Vineyard, the Frank and Marie Louise Bailey Professor of Physics, Colin Gleason ’11 and Chad Harrington ’11 attended the fall meeting of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society in Santa Fe, N.M.. The students presented posters at the Conference Experience for Undergraduates Poster Session on research performed in the Union College Ion-Beam Analysis Laboratory (UCIBAL). Gleason’s poster was titled “Particle-Induced X-Ray Emission Analysis of Atmospheric Aerosols,” and Harrington presented “Ion-Beam Analysis of Airborne Pollution.” Other UCIBAL research team members that were co-authors on the posters are Scott LaBrake, senior lecturer of physics and accelerator manager, Katie Schuff ’12, Maria Battaglia ’12, Robert Moore ’12 and Colin Turley ’13. Gleason and Harrington received competitive awards for travel and lodging from the American Physical Society to attend the meeting.

Gretchel Hathaway, senior director of Campus Diversity and Affirmative Action, and Victoria Brooks, director of Religious and Spiritual Life, presented a workshop at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) fall conference on “Facing the Divides: Diversity, Learning and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence.” Their presentation, which centered on the theme, “Fostering Identity, Civility and Democratic Classrooms,” was titled “Conceptualizing Religion in Student Intellectual and Social Life.” Addressing the sensitive nature of dialogues around religion in student social and academic arenas. Hathaway and Brooks recommended strategies for developing intellectually stimulating dialogue around religious differences. 

Hilary Tann’s saxophone quartet, “Some of the Silence,” is on tour in the UK, performed by the Lunar Saxophone Quartet. November saw the launch of the quartet on CD (“These Visions,” Signum Classics) at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, Wales. “Some of the Silence” is inspired by a John Stevenson haiku: A deep gorge / some of the silence / is me. In addition, there will be an all-Tann concert March 21 at the Eastman School of Music's Women in Music 2011 Festival (http://www.esm.rochester.edu/wmf/). Tann is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music. 

William Finlay, chair of the Theater and Dance Department, choreographed the fights in “A Christmas Story,” which recently ended a six-week run at Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany. This stage adaptation of the modern movie classic, based on the book by Jean Shepherd, was by Philip Grecian.

Jennifer Matsue participated in the recent Society of Ethnomusicology conference in Los Angeles, where she organized and chaired the session, “Taiko: Transforming Tradition in Contemporary Japanese Performance at Home and Abroad,” and delivered the paper, “Beating to One's Own Drum: Establishing a Tradition of Taiko Drumming in Kyoto.” She was elected as incoming chair of the Popular Music Section of the society, the largest national organization devoted to the study of popular music.

Work by Christine Henseler, associate professor of Spanish and Hispanic studies, was recently referenced in The Washington Post’s “The Leadership Playlist” as a “must see.” In addition, Henseler’s article, “Spanish Mutant Fictioneers: Of Mutants, Mutant Fiction and Media Mutations,” is included in the December issue of CiberLetras.

Posted on Jan 4, 2011

Seventeen young and exceptionally talented string musicians, many Marlboro-trained, will take to the stage on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 3 p.m. in Memorial Chapel when the East Coast Chamber Orchestra – ECCO – makes its third Concert Series appearance in Memorial Chapel.

In a unique blend of orchestral ensemble power and chamber music intimacy, ECCO will perform selections by Ginastera, Shostakovich, Janacek and Corelli/Geminiani (arr. M. Wianko).

ECCO was founded in 2001 by soloists, principals in major orchestras and chamber musicians of the younger generation. All are graduates of top conservatories and music schools, including Curtis, Juilliard and the New England Conservatory, and many are Young Concert Artists and Concert Artists Guild winners.

Operating without a conductor, ECCO was built on democratic principles with a focus on pure music-making. The members’ novel approach, commitment and passion have created one of the most exciting orchestral ensembles in the world today.

“These youthful players are helping form classical music's future,” according to the Washington Post.

The ensemble’s inaugural U.S. tour in 2006, including an appearance at the Kennedy Center, was received with standing ovations and high accolades. ECCO began touring internationally in 2007 with a performance at the Seoul Music Festival and Academy in Korea. This season will mark another milestone as the group makes its first commercial recording.

Tickets are free for the Union community; $20 general admission and $8 for area students. For more information, call 388-6080 or visit http://www.union.edu/ConcertSeries.

Posted on Jan 3, 2011

Nareh Arghamanyan is described by Musical America writer and fellow pianist Harris Goldsmith as a “major, major, major talent” who places audiences under the “spell of (her) magnificent artist(ry).” On Sunday, Jan. 23 at 3 p.m., Union will host a performance by this 21-year-old Armenian musician. Her program includes selections by Rameau, Brahms, Rachmaninov and Liszt.

A recognized talent from an early age, Arghamanyan was eight when she began her studies with Alexander Gurgenov at the Tchaikovsky Music School for Talented Children. She was also the youngest student ever to be admitted to the University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna, entering in 2004.

Arghamanyan has performed with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Mont Blanc Symphony France and the Armenian Philharmonic, with planned appearances this season from Vienna to Vancouver. Winning the Montreal International Music Competition in 2008 further confirmed her place as one of today’s finest young pianists. Arghamanyan had previously earned first place wins at the 2007 Jose Roca International Competition in Valencia and the 2005 Josef Dichler Piano Competition in Vienna.

A participant at the 2009 Marlboro Music Festival, she will return again this year. Arghamanyan is no stranger to second appearances; a debut at the San Francisco Performances last season was followed by another invitation to their “Young Master Series” in 2011.

The Analekta label recently released Arghamanyan’s highly praised recording of the Rachmaninov 2^nd sonata and Liszt B minor sonata. 

The show is open to the public and free to members of the Union community. General admission tickets are $20, though area students may attend for $8. For a complete list of this season’s concerts, click here.

Posted on Jan 3, 2011

Images from the acclaimed “Echolilia,” a recent project of photographs and limited edition book from Schenectady native Timothy Archibald that directs the lens on his son’s autism, will be featured in the Photography Invitational Exhibition 2011, opening today, Jan. 3, at the Burns Arts Atrium in the Visual Arts Building.

Also included are works by Clarissa Amaral ’11 and Raymond Felix of Troy.

The show was conceived and curated by professor Martin Benjamin, with installation by Frank Rapant, Union exhibition technician.

“My feeling of utter frustration and powerlessness started this project,” Archibald told New York Times writer Jane Gross, who recently featured “Echolilia” in an article titled “Son and Father Pierce Autism’s Veil.”

Echolilia is the technical term for the copying of sounds and sentences common in verbal children who suffer from some form of autism.

An award-winning commercial and editorial photographer who graduated from Penn State, Archibald worked closely with Benjamin while visiting Union photography classes when he was in middle and high school. His brother, James, Class of 1981, worked as the photo lab tech.

Archibald’s portfolio includes work for Discover and Time magazines as well as such corporate clients as Apple and Skittles. His book, published in June by Echo Press, is a result of many hours of collaboration with his son, Elijah, in their family’s home outside San Francisco. “He has always fetishized objects,” Archibald said in the Times.“They are iconic to him.’’

“It’s always great to connect with Tim, whose ‘Echolilia’ project I’ve been following through his blog,” said Benjamin. “Now it’s getting national attention, so it is very fortunate timing for Union to have and host his work.”

A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Amaral created “Union Faces,” a series of close-up portraits of Union staff, students, faculty and administrators, conceived during a color digital photography class. Benjamin produced the large-scale prints specifically for this installation.

Amaral is an interdisciplinary major in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and visual arts, with minors in French and film studies. Her interest in photography grew from her intrigue with pictures taken by her stepfather, a professional submarine photographer. Amaral cites lighting and retouching as the tools to translating close-up everyday expressions into images that appeal to “the 21^st century eye.”

Felix, who teaches at the University at Albany, is exhibiting a series of self-portraits, titled “Self-Evidence,” addressing issues of likeness and identity.

He received his BFA in painting and photography from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and an MFA from UAlbany. His work is included in several collections, including the Albany Institute of History and Art and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

The Atrium Gallery show is sponsored by the Department of Visual Arts and runs through March 11.