Posted on Mar 29, 2009

Former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean will speak Monday, April 13, at 7 p.m. in Memorial Chapel.

Dean’s lecture is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m. Seating is limited and priority will be given to members of the campus community.

In January, Dean stepped down after four years as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Dean was the architect of the “50-state strategy,” in which Democrats compete for votes in traditionally Republican states. The strategy played a role in helping Barack Obama to a landslide win in November.

Dean recently joined the Washington law and lobbying firm, McKenna Long & Aldridge, as a consultant. He will serve as a strategic adviser to its health care and energy clients.

He also returned to Democracy for America, the political action committee he founded nearly five years ago.

The former governor sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. But many experts believe his campaign was derailed, in part, by his infamous “scream speech” after the Iowa caucuses. Dean insists the speech did not cost him the nomination.

“The scream speech is not why I didn't win the presidency,” he recently told an audience at Brown University. “I didn't win the presidency because I came in third (in the Iowa caucuses) when I was supposed to come in first.”

Dean’s name continues to surface for a possible Cabinet position in the Obama administration.

This is the second straight year the Speakers Forum has sponsored a lecture featuring a former presidential candidate. Exactly one year before Dean’s scheduled talk, Mike Huckabee addressed a packed house in Memorial Chapel. Huckabee had sought the 2008 Republican nomination.

Posted on Mar 27, 2009

The Albers siblings have been making music together since they were toddlers studying violin with their mother, Ellie LeRoux. On Friday, April 3 at 8 p.m., The Albers Trio returns to Memorial Chapel for its second Chamber Concert Series performance.

General admission tickets cost $20, though area students may attend for $10. The concert is free to the Union community.

The group, which features three sisters, includes violinist Laura Albers, violist Rebecca Albers and cellist Julie Albers. At their upcoming performance, the three women will present portions of Beethoven’s Serenade in D, Hindemith’s Trio No. 2, and Mozart’s Divertimento in E flat.

Laura received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from The Cleveland Institute of Music and The Julliard School. She is the associate concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera.

Rebecca also attended Julliard, earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music there. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, Mich. as a member of the Phoenix Quartet.

Julie studied at The Cleveland Institute of Music and made her orchestral debut at age 17 with the Cleveland Orchestra. She has received various awards, including the grand prize in South Korea’s Gyeongnam International Music Competition and second prize in Munich’s Internationaler Musikwettbewerbes der ARD.

Posted on Mar 24, 2009

The College will host the first conference on the physical aspects of the Mohawk River watershed on Friday, March 27, in the Olin Center.

The daylong symposium features about 30 presentations on topics including flooding, ecosystem analysis, water quality, sediment yield, watershed management and the future of the watershed. More than 100 participants are expected, including registered scientists, engineers and other professionals and students. The conference is not open to the public.

The Mohawk River watershed is a unique and distinctive drainage basin that has major tributaries that empty part of the Adirondacks to the north and part of the Catskill Mountains to the south. The main trunk of the river occupies a natural topographic gap in the Appalachian mountain chain, which provides a unique and distinctive link between Atlantic and the interior of the continent. This aspect of the geography of the river played a crucial role in the westward expansion by early settlers and eventually was the primary reason the Erie Canal was positioned, in part, along the spine of this key waterway.

Flooding on the Mohawk and its tributaries has been a major concern. A number of talks will address recent flooding and advances in monitoring and understanding flood processes. There will also be an overview of the dynamics of ice jamming in the lower Mohawk River, which dramatically affects the Stockade neighborhood in Schenectady.

The keynote address, “Drums and Bums along the Mohawk,” will be given by Robert H. Boyle of Cooperstown, founder of Riverkeeper and the Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research. Boyle, named by Audubon Magazine as one of the 100 Champions of Conservation for the 20th century, will discuss using science and the law to protect the natural resources of the watershed from predatory interests.

The conference was organized by John Garver, Geology Department chair, and Jaclyn Cockburn, visiting assistant professor of Geology.

For more information, including a schedule of presentations, click here.

Posted on Mar 24, 2009

A memorial fund has been established at Union in honor of Daniel P. Richardson, a campus safety officer who died earlier this month.

The fund will benefit Richardson’s wife, Laura, and their daughters, Hannah, 5, and Emma, 3.

Richardson, 31, joined Union in October 2006 and is remembered fondly by family, friends and co-workers.

"Daniel became a great friend to many of us in the Campus Safety department," said Chris Hayen, the acting director of the department. "Daniel understood mutual respect and team effort. He was one of those people who made coming to work a pleasure. He was a special person and is missed."

Said Records Coordinator Pamela Rew , “I met Daniel at a previous job, where we worked together as a team in loss prevention. It didn’t take long before him and his wife and me and my husband were doing things together outside of work.

“He was a dear friend to me – the best, a mold broken. I am blessed to have known him and his wife all these years.”

Those wishing to make a donation should contact Sue Murtlow in Campus Safety at 388-6358.

Posted on Mar 23, 2009

Unlike most 30-somethings, Stella didn’t cringe when the camera came out. He (yes, he) actually pushed his face closer, investigating the lens hopefully. The Canon didn’t turn out to be tasty, though, so Stella ignored it for the rest of the photographer’s visit.

His attention wasn’t wandering for long, though, as there’s always something happening in Amy Kelley’s biology lab in the Science and Engineering building. It’s here that Stella, a charismatic African spur thigh tortoise, spends his days poking around precociously and basking in the glow of human affection.

“He’s very popular, and he’s a big hit on campus tours,” said Kelley, who cares for Stella with fellow life science specialist Peg Angie. “Union employees bring their families to see Stella.”

While the turtle’s moniker causes a bit of he-she confusion for visitors, it makes a good story.

“In 2005, we got a call from a man who asked if we wanted a tortoise,” Kelley said. “So when he came to us, he was a pet and had already been named Stella.”

“No one knew he was actually male,” she added, chuckling. “We do now, but the name just kind of stuck.”

Stella, who weighs in at about 32 pounds, wears a golden brown and light mahogany shell that’s 13 inches wide and 18 inches long. While that probably makes him one of the biggest turtles most people have ever seen, Stella’s small by African spur thigh standards.

“He’s not even close to full-grown,” Kelley said, picking Stella up gently. “African spur thighs are the third largest tortoise species in the world – they can weigh up to 150 pounds.”

While Stella has plenty of room to grow and thrive here at Union, Kelley admits he can be a challenge sometimes.

“In most situations, these tortoises do not make good pets. They’re not litter-box trained and they get huge,” she said. “Zoos are over-run with them because people don’t realize this.

“These turtles really belong in the wild.”

But since Stella can’t easily be re-introduced to his native habitat in the Southern Sahara desert, Kelley and Angie do their best to make him feel at home.

“Every day he’s here wandering around the lab for exercise, and at night, he hangs out in a kiddie pool of hay that’s equipped with special lights and a heating pad,” Kelley said. “His diet consists primarily of organic hay since his digestive system is designed for nutrient-poor desert grasses, but Stella also gets fresh greens like romaine lettuce and kale everyday.”

Stella’s comfortable life here at Union isn’t just good for him; it’s also good for students.

“The biology department feels it’s important to have living things,” Kelley said. “Living things are what inspire people to learn about biology.”

Posted on Mar 16, 2009

Greetings from Union, where we are approaching the end of winter term and looking forward to spring, one of the most beautiful times of year on campus.

Residence halls close Friday, March 20, and after a well-deserved break, students will be welcomed back to their dorms Sunday, March 29, with classes beginning Monday, March 30.

In the spring, many things will be blooming. Please mark your calendar now for Steinmetz Symposium and Prize Day Weekend, May 1-2. This wonderful weekend begins on Friday with the Charles Proteus Steinmetz Symposium on student creative, scholarly and research achievement. We encourage family members and friends to take part in this Union tradition, which highlights the work of our talented students. For more information, visit http://www.union.edu/steinmetz. Saturday’s festivities also include Prize Day, our recognition of student achievements during the academic year. A reception will follow.

It’s an honor

Community service extolled:

Union recently was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for exemplary service to the local community. The award was announced in Washington, D.C. by the Corporation for National and Community Service during the annual conference of the American Council on Education. The honor roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement.

Garnet and green: The College’s U Sustain initiative won an Environmental Excellence Award from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The annual awards recognize organizations across the state that promote environmentally sustainable practices.

Innovation at work: Two Union College librarians, Bruce Connolly and Gail Golderman, recently received the College Libraries Section ProQuest Innovation in College Librarianship Award for 2009 from the Association of College and Research Libraries. They were commended for their creative and innovative use of iTunes and other student-centric software applications in teaching, marketing the library’s collections, and supporting multiculturalism and diversity on campus.

A Union milestone

The College will celebrate its 215th anniversary in 2010, and the offices of Multicultural Affairs and Campus Diversity are planning a special project to include the entire campus community. Everyone is invited to donate a piece of fabric (a square patch) that will represent your family background – your culture, beliefs, history and values. For more information or help in creating a patch, or to be a project volunteer, contact Karen Ferrer-Muñiz, director of Multicultural Affairs, at (518) 388-6030 (ferrerk@union.edu) or Judi Gordon (gordonj@union.edu). They are collecting fabric and patches through March 30.

The Parent Fund

Help us “March Forward” into spring. The Union Board of Trustees has challenged the Union College community to a six-week participation challenge to secure 2,500 new donors. This is a successive challenge in three parts. If all donor goals are met between March 1 and April 15, the Board will donate $300,000 dollars to the Annual Fund.

As manager of the Parent Fund, I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity. Participation is vital to the success of the challenge, so gifts at any level count. Learn more at www.union.edu/marchforward. Please be one of the donors to help us reach our goal. Questions? E-mail Carol Shotzbarger ’08, Parent Fund manager, at shotzbac@union.edu. To donate online, visit https://www.union.edu/Parents/.

Volunteer opportunities

Union offers many ways for parents and families to stay active in their children’s education, and two special opportunities will soon open. My role as chair of the Parents Association will come to an end in June, as will Vivian Falco’s role as chair of the Parents Fund. We – our children and the entire campus community – are richer for your involvement.

Please consider volunteering your time for these important positions. I can assure you that the rewards are plentiful. Contact Lisa Mason at masonl@union.edu or Carol Shotzbarger at shotzbac@union.edu for details.

As always, please feel free to contact me at Parents_Association@union.edu with any concerns. 

And for complete coverage of Union activities throughout the year, please visit www.union.edu/News

Best regards,

Karen Dumonet, Vanessa ’07 and Sebastian ‘09

Chair, Parents Association