Posted on Sep 24, 1999

A cameraman captures the “sun's” reflection of

Ralph Alpher, distinguished research professor of physics, as he watches the

Orrery (a working model of the solar system) in the Nott Memorial on Friday.

Alpher, who developed the first mathematical model of the Big Bang theory,

was filmed last week by a crew from VPRO, a public television station in the

Netherlands that is preparing a show about him to be broadcast next month.

The cosmologist also was featured in the July issue of Discover

magazine.

Read More

Posted on Sep 24, 1999

A cameraman captures the “sun's” reflection of

Ralph Alpher, distinguished research professor of physics, as he watches the

Orrery (a working model of the solar system) in the Nott Memorial on Friday.

Alpher, who developed the first mathematical model of the Big Bang theory,

was filmed last week by a crew from VPRO, a public television station in the

Netherlands that is preparing a show about him to be broadcast next month.

The cosmologist also was featured in the July issue of Discover

magazine.

Read More

Posted on Sep 24, 1999

Mandeville Gallery in the Nott Memorial presents the

exhibition An Exact Spectacular – drawings by Ed Rogers and sculpture

by Henry Turner.

The opening reception is Tuesday, Sept. 28, at 4:30 p.m.

with curator David Greenberger, a writer, publisher and collector from

Greenwich, N.Y.

Included are about 120 drawings by Rogers and 49

small-scale wood sculptures by Turner. Both are “self-taught” or

“outsider” artists with no formal artistic training; their

motivation and frame of reference differ considerably from that of

mainstream, schooled artists. Both men are in their 70s; Rogers lives in a

nursing home near Boston, and Turner was last known to be living in

Schenectady.

Greenberger, called a “stand-up sociologist”

by Rolling Stone magazine, has spent two decades recording

observations and comments by nursing home residents and publishing them in

his magazine The Duplex Planet. He also has been a commentator on

National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

Read More

Posted on Sep 24, 1999

Thursday, Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m.

Nott Memorial.

Joseph Ellis, the Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke

College, on “Why Jefferson Lives: A Meditation on the Man and the

Myth.” His talk is the first of four this fall in the Perspectives at

the Nott lecture series.

Friday, Sept. 24, through Monday Sept. 27, 8 and 10 p.m.

Reamer Auditorium.

Film committee presents The General's Daughter.

Friday, Sept. 24, 8 p.m.

Memorial Chapel.

Pianist Boris Berezovsky returns with cellist Dmitry Yablonsky for pieces

by Bach, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov in the Schenectady Musuem-College

chamber series.

Thursday, Sept. 30, 7 p.m.

Reamer Auditorium.

Poet Sandra Maria Esteves, a founder of the Nuyorican poetry movement,

speaks on “Empowering Latin American Women.” Sponsored by

Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc.

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 4:30 p.m.

Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial.

Opening for An Exact Spectacular, drawings by Ed Rogers and sculpture

by Henry Turner with curator David Greenberger, writer, publisher,

performer, NPR commentator. Runs through Oct. 17.

Thursday, Sept. 30, noon to 4:30 p.m.

Memorial Fieldhouse.

21st annual Career Festival.

Thursday, Sept. 30, 12:30 p.m.

Reamer Auditorium.

General faculty meeting.

Thursday, Sept. 30, 4:30 to 6 p.m.

Arts 215.

Opening for “The Time Between Dogs and Wolves: Paintings and Field

Studies by Keith Jacobshagen and Harry Orlyk.” Through Oct. 15.

Through Oct. 10.

Social Sciences Lounge.

Exhibit of 17 abstract paintings by German artist Gerlinde Grossmann.

Read More

Posted on Sep 24, 1999

Joseph Ellis, the Ford Foundation Professor of History

at Mount Holyoke College, speaks on “Why Jefferson Lives: A

Meditation on the Man and the Myth” on Thursday, Sept. 23, at 7:30

p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

His talk is the first of four this fall in the

Perspectives at the Nott lecture series.

A nationally-recognized scholar of American history from

colonial times through the early decades of the republic, he is the author

of six books including American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas

Jefferson, winner of the 1997 National Book Award in Nonfiction.

The book has been the subject of great critical and

public interest as it explores the complexities of Jefferson's character

and the central role of his political philosophy in the American

experience.

Read More

Posted on Sep 24, 1999

Recent major grants will have an impact on the College's

science and engineering equipment, International Studies, Chinese language

and building renovation.

— The Kresge Foundation of

Michigan has awarded the College a $500,000 Kresge Science Initiative

grant for science and engineering equipment and for the establishment of

an endowment to maintain, upgrade and replace equipment. The grant

includes a challenge; the College must raise $1 million by December 2000,

for a total equipment endowment of $1.25 million.

Equipment to be acquired includes an open circuit wind

tunnel, fog generator and processor for use in civil and mechanical

engineering programs.

— The Andrew W. Mellon

Foundation of New York City has awarded a $400,000 grant to Union and

Hobart and William Smith Colleges to support a cooperative international

studies program.

The award will enable the colleges to achieve

administrative efficiencies, enhance students' access to off-campus

programs, and increase professional development, research and

collaborative teaching.

The four-year grant will support 15 to 20 collaborative

off-campus programs. Possible joint programs include terms in Latin

America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

— The Sherman Fairchild

Foundation of Maryland has awarded a grant of $500,000 to support

first-level science course laboratory equipment. Administered over five

years, the grant will enable the College to replace, upgrade and add

equipment in its four laboratory-based science departments: biology,

chemistry, geology and physics. Purchases will include dissecting and

compound microscopes, telescopes and an ion chromatograph (which provides

detailed analysis of water quality).

— The Henry Luce

Foundation of New York City has awarded a four-year grant of $271,104 in

support of East Asian Studies. The grant provides funds for the creation

of a tenure-track position in Chinese language, literature and culture as

well as $10,000 per year in program support. Megan Ferry has been hired as

the Luce assistant professor of Asian Studies.

— The Fred L. Emerson

Foundation of Auburn, N.Y., has awarded $500,000 to support the

Union-Schenectady Initiative (USI), the College's plan to revitalize the

College Park neighborhood west of campus. The grant will support the

purchase, renovation and furnishing of a building in the USI area; network

communications and wiring; and an endowment for maintenance and upgrades.

Union will raise $1.5 million by November 2001.

Read More