Christopher F. Chabris, an assistant professor of psychology, was part of the first team of researchers to examine differences of broad cognitive ability in primates within a single species.
The research was led by scientists at Harvard University.
Chabris joined Union in the fall of 2007. He earned his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University, where he was a research associate and lecturer.
To read about the study, click here (registration may be required).
Read MoreThe Saratogian did an article about Colonel William F. Fox, a member of the Class of 1860. Fox is widely considered as the father of the New York state nursery program.
To read the article, click here (registration may be required).
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Paul A. Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve and head of President Obama’s economic recovery advisory panel, was the featured speaker at Union’s 215th commencement.
Approximately 500 students in the Class of 2009 received their degrees during the ceremony Sunday, June 14, on Hull Plaza.
The address by Volcker, who has called the global economic slump one of the worst in history, came at a time when college students head into a marketplace that has lost 5.7 million jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007.
To read the Times Union's account of the speech, click here (registration may be required).
To read the account in the Daily Gazette, click here (registration may be rquired).
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Union is strengthening its commitment to providing financial assistance to students with its recent decision to participate in the GI Bill’s Yellow Ribbon Program. In conjunction with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, the College will fund up to two full-tuition scholarships for eligible individuals each year.
This program is new to colleges and universities. Union will allow transfer students to apply for admission until August 1 if they’re interested in attending during the 2009-2010 academic year. Admission to Union is highly competitive, so students need to gain admittance in order to qualify for the benefit at the College.
The Yellow Ribbon Program encourages colleges to partner with the Department of Veteran Affairs, which will help provide funding up to the highest public, in-state, undergraduate tuition. Union will be providing approximately $30,000 of institutional funding per student to help with this initiative.
This program is a provision of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008. Veterans who are eligible were on active duty for at least 36 months since Sept. 10, 2001 or served 30 continuous days before being honorably discharged.
An estimated 71 independent colleges and universities in New York have joined this effort to support veterans pursuing higher education opportunities. The participation of private, not-for-profit schools here exceeds that of any other state.
For more information on the Yellow Ribbon Program or transfer admission to Union College, please contact Senior Associate Dean of Admission Vernon Castillo at castillv@union.edu or (518) 388-8719.
Read MoreOne of Union’s most important figures is about to be afforded recognition long overdue. Friday afternoon at 6 p.m. in Vale Cemetery, a tombstone commemorating the burial place and life of Moses Viney will be unveiled.
Viney, a runaway slave from Maryland who escaped to Schenectady on the Underground Railroad, was a coachman and messenger at Union. During his time here he became the constant companion of longtime College President Eliphalet Nott, who eventually secured his freedom.
“The Vale Cemetery staff recently brought to our attention that Moses Viney was buried in the Ancestral Plot, but there was no tombstone for him,” said Gretchel Hathaway Tyson, senior director of Campus Diversity and Affirmative Action.
Union raised funds to erect a tombstone for Viney, whose unmarked grave was identified using the cemetery’s Ancestral Plot map. The stone will also honor and recognize Viney’s wife, Anna.
“It is always necessary to document where a person is buried in order to maintain history,” Tyson said. “In addition, in this instance, we must also correct a wrong – segregating individuals and not ensuring their ancestors could indentify them.”
The Ancestral Plot was formerly known as the Colored Plot. Like Viney, many of the people buried there lack proper monuments, though there are good records denoting who rests where.
“Vale Cemetery administrators have applied for grants to build a memorial with the names of each individual, but with no success,” Tyson said. “Union’s Multicultural Greek Council has decided to raise funds for a grand memorial, which will be presented in the 2010 winter term.”
The Council is being aided in its efforts by Vale Cemetery, the College’s Campus Operations Office, Hamilton Hill volunteers and Mary J. Nosal Memorials of Schenectady.
Tyson, for her part, is happy to see so many different parties working together on this project.
“Union is part of Schenectady’s history and Schenectady is part of Union’s history,” Tyson said. “Through endeavors like this, we must continue to explore, identify and acknowledge the rich history that both these entities bring to our local community.”
Viney’s tombstone unveiling is part of Schenectady County’s Juneteenth celebration. From its origination in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, Juneteenth is the oldest national celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. It is traditionally observed on June 19.
Those wishing to attend Friday’s ceremony may drive to the cemetery themselves, or take a trolley from Old Chapel Circle at 5:30 p.m. An old fashioned ice cream social will be held immediately following the event.
Read MoreJames Hidalgo ’10 entered Union at about the same time Stephen C. Ainlay became College president in 2006. Hidalgo, of New York City, was one of several members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity who recently gave Ainlay the prestigious Sphinx Award for his efforts to improve campus diversity.
“We, as a chapter, feel that President Ainlay deserved it. From the time that he has come to campus, he has made diversity initiatives a priority and has shown multicultural clubs on campus great support,” said Hidalgo, who serves as the fraternity’s secretary. “He has also been receptive to the issues and concerns of multicultural clubs on campus. He is very accessible as president of the College.”
Alpha Phi Alpha, a historically black fraternity with a 26-year history at Union, also cited Ainlay’s support of the Posse Scholars program, as well as his creation of a senior-staff position that deals solely with campus diversity and affirmative action. The Union fraternity chapter, called Pi Pi, gives two Sphinx awards each year, one to a faculty member and one to a student.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive this award,” Ainlay said. “I know the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha and hold them in high regard. They themselves have made so many contributions to Union. Their judgment that I have contributed to building community and advancing diversity at Union means so much to me.”
The Sphinx Award is given to individuals whom the fraternity believes have rendered the greatest service to the College community. Cybil Tribie ’11, an active volunteer and student leader, was given the student award at a ceremony in late May.
The Posse Scholars program is, under Ainlay’s leadership, entering its fourth year at Union. Posse students earn merit-based tuition scholarships through a process run by The Posse Foundation in Boston, which recruits groups of deserving students from ethnically diverse backgrounds to attend selective schools like Union, Hamilton College and Bryn Mawr College.
In February 2008, Ainlay created the senior director for Campus Diversity and Affirmative Action role and named Gretchel Hathaway Tyson to the position. In September 2008, the College named Karen Ferrer-Muñiz as the new director of Multicultural Affairs. Both roles are aimed at improving diversity on campus and supporting community outreach programs.
“We really value community service and the people who are trying to help the community, especially those who are not in a position to help themselves,” Hidalgo said.
Alpha Phi Alpha focuses on public service, leadership and scholarship. The fraternity claims civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and nearly all presidents of black colleges as members. There is a network of chapters at U.S. schools stemming from the seminal chapter founded at Cornell University in 1906, which was then the first African-American fraternity in the United States.
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