Posted on May 28, 1999

When Cecilia Oballe and Kris
Gernert-Dott '86 walk through the dark rooms of 243 Park Ave., a fire-damaged
two-story brick Victorian with plywood for windows, they see kids playing, laughing and
learning.

“It takes some vision to see this as a school,” Oballe admitted during a
recent walk through the building that she and Gernert-Dott plan to open this fall as the
Montessori Toddler's and Children's House. “But everybody says we can do
it.”

Encouraged by College officials, contractors, and especially parents, the pair are
moving ahead with plans to start two Montessori programs: one for toddlers 18 months to 3
years, another for pre-schoolers ages 3 to 5. The use was approved last week by the City
Planning Board. Work is expected to start shortly. The construction management firm is
Bast-Hatfield of Clifton Park, which the pair say enthusiastically embraced the project
and is renovating at a substantial discount.

Mostly through word-of-mouth, the Montessori Toddler's and Children's House
is almost fully enrolled at 30 students – 12 toddlers on the first floor, 18
pre-schoolers on the second – in morning sessions Tuesdays through Fridays. Oballe
and Gernert-Dott say they are considering offering an afternoon session. Plans are to have
a one-to-five instructor to student ratio for the toddlers, and a one-to-nine ratio for
preschoolers.

The possibility of the Montessori House presented itself as Oballe was looking to
expand the school she runs out of her Schenectady home. As the College was launching the
Union-Schenectady Initiative, a partnership to revitalize the “College Park”
neighborhood west of campus, Gernert-Dott approached Diane Blake, Union's vice
president for finance and administration, about a new home for the school.

“Things came together at the right time, so I encouraged them to explore it
because it fits so well with what we are trying to do in that neighborhood,” Blake
said. “I look at that neighborhood as a place that values education, and the
Montessori school fits right in with that.”

The College bought the building for a “reasonable price,” and has worked with
Oballe and Gernert-Dott to arrange for financing and renovation, Blake said.

As a number of parents have commented, the exterior of the brick building makes it look
like a school. Inside, even through the soot of a fire that appears to have caused only
superficial damage, the building looks inviting with its fireplaces, parlors and large
windows. A vacant lot on the building's south side will be used for parking, and the
back yard has plenty of room for a playground.

Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, left medicine in 1906 to start Casa di
Bambini (Children's House) for about 60 young children of working parents in
Rome. The premise of what has become the “Montessori Method” was simple:
children learn, with some assistance, by absorbing knowledge from their surroundings and
their interest in manipulating materials. Among Montessori's early American promoters
were Thomas Edison and Helen Keller.

Oballe, who is married to Union geology professor Donald Rodbell, is a certified
Montessori instructor. Gernert-Dott, associate dean of admissions at Union, plans to lend
her talents to both the Montessori School and the College's admissions office.

Photo above: 'Takes
some vision' – Cecilia Oballe, left, and Kris Gernert-Dott '86 (with
daughter Tori) stand before what will be the Montessori Toddler's and Children's
House at 243 Park Ave.

Posted on May 28, 1999

Thursday, May 27, 7 p.m.
Everest Lounge, Hale House
Edward F. Stanton, professor of Spanish at the University of Kentucky, on “Walking
Across Spain: The Camino de Santiago.”

Through Saturday, May 29, 8 p.m.
Yulman Theater.
Cabaret by Kander and Ebb, directed by Diane Sadak. Admission $7; students/seniors
$5. Call ext. 6545.

Friday, May 28, 12:15 p.m.
Science and Engineering, N 304
Physics colloquium with Janet Van Blerkom on “The Musical Sound.”

Friday, May 28, 7 p.m.
Memorial Chapel.
Dr. Sally Downham Miller on “Mourning and Dancing,” a talk on grieving the loss
of a loved one.

Friday, May 28, through Monday, May 31, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium.
Film committee presents A Civil Action.

Through May 30.
Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial.
Work by painter Stephen Pace on exhibit.

Thursday, June 3, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Reamer Center Patio.
Concert of original works by students of Prof. Tim Olsen's “Jazz Workshop”
class.

Through June 13.
Social Sciences Lounge.
Photographs by Michalena Skiados '99 from 1998 anthropology field study in Barbados.

Posted on May 28, 1999

A lecture by Edward Stanton on his 30-day pilgrimage on the Camino de
Santiago across Spain will have special meaning for Professors Victoria Martinez and
Louisa Matthew and their students. They will be hiking the famous trail this summer.

Stanton's talk on “Walking Across Spain: The Camino de Santiago”
is Thursday, May 27, at 7 p.m. in Hale House's Everest Lounge.

Stanton, professor of Spanish at the University of Kentucky and author Road of Stars
to Santiago, found his journey a life-changing experience. “My life was in a
shambles, I felt exhausted by work, my marriage was foundering,” he said. “When
finally I had the time to make the journey, I prepared my backpack, found a walking staff,
flew to Spain and took to the road. I knew what I was fleeing from, not what I was
seeking. The Camino would teach me that and many other things.”

The area is rich with history. Thousands of pilgrims teemed along the Camino in
search of the remission of sins thought to be the prize for reaching Compostela. James A.
Mitchener calls the route to Santiago the best in Spain and one of the finest anywhere. He
says of Stanton, “Edward Stanton has joined this host of believers and recounts his
adventures with stylish conviction.”

Posted on May 28, 1999

It's sort of a good news-bad news thing.

First the bad news (for some): Campus Safety has a new system that will assist with
swift and efficient enforcement of parking violations. The Automated Issuance Management
System (AIMS) uses a palmtop computer, operated by an officer in the field who writes the
tickets. At the end of the shift, that information is uploaded – quickly and
accurately – to the computer system.

Now the good news (for all): the officer writing the tickets will be driving a
“samaritan” van, complete with jumper cables, air compressor and a variety of
tools. So, you can get a hand with things like jumping your car's dead battery or
filling up a low tire (they won't change tires) when you're in a hurry to get
home for dinner.

Or, you can get a lesson in parking rules and some help in starting your car all
at the same time.

Posted on May 28, 1999

John Sowa, professor of chemistry, has written a first-hand
narrative of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident for the newsletter of the
Health Physics Society. Sowa was at a science conference in nearby Hershey with a group of
Union students during the 1979 accident. “A Union student was calmed by a TV shot of
workers moving around without shirts,” he wrote. “'They must know how much
radiation is around the plant and being shirtless, it must be OK.' I breathed a sigh
of relief.”

Martin Strosberg, professor of management in GMI, recently presented a paper
titled “Health Care Resource Allocation in the Post-Communist Baltic States” at
a conference on medical ethics held in Riga, Latvia. The conference was sponsored by the
Albert Schweitzer Institute for the Humanities in collaboration with the Soros Foundation.

Carol Weisse, associate professor of psychology and director of health
professions, and students Kafi Nsombi Sanders '99 and Beth Wierzbieniec
'99 offered a workshop to Scotia-Glenville middle school students titled
“What's in a Name? When Racism Hurts” as part of their Diversity Awareness
Day Program on May 18. The interactional program was geared to make students aware of
stereotypes generated by different names. They presented findings from Sanders'
senior thesis project illustrating how doctors may be treating patients differently based
on their race, and worked with students to generate ideas for preventing such biases in
the health care profession.

Robert Sharlet, Chauncey Winters Professor of Political Science, recently
delivered papers at two international conferences. In April, he presented
“Constitutional Law Reform in the Post-Soviet States” at Yale Law School for a
conference on “Promoting Legal Reform in the Former Soviet Union.” He also gave
one of the opening keynote addresses. Conference proceedings are being translated into
Russian, and will be published electronically. In May, he presented “Russia's
Second Constitutional Court: Politics, Law and Stability” at the University of
California at Berkeley for a conference on “Russia on the Eve of the Twenty-First
Century: Stability or Disorder?” held under the auspices of a Carnegie Corporation
grant won by the research team for purposes of the conference and a forthcoming book.

Posted on May 28, 1999

The Intellectual Enrichment Grants program distributed $55,000 this year
to a number of imaginative and creative proposals. From Trish Williams, committee
coordinator, here is a sampling:

— Classics Club (matched by IEF) to purchase a 488-volume set of classical works
to be used collaboratively by departments in Humanities;

— Mountebanks for the production of a murder-mystery dinner theater;

— Reading by playwright Katie Ambrosio of her work, “Cracked Pieces,”
based on twins in a local drug rehabilitation center;

— Shakti and ALAS for celebration of Diwali (Indian New Year);

— Dinner and reception with Corey Cokes, poetry slam winner;

— “Taste of the Tropics,” various types of food and drinks from the
Caribbean;

— Student Activities reception with College trustees during Winter Carnival;

— Chess Club rematch of student v. professor tournament;

— Prof. Carol Weisse and students for travel to Brain and Behavior Symposium;

— Campus-wide leadership conference;

— Prof. George Butterstein and students in comparative vertebrate anatomy class
for trip to the Museum of Natural History;

— International Film Festival, to host six films and discussions.