Posted on Oct 11, 2010

Counseling Center Director Marcus Hotaling was recently quoted in a story in The Sunday Gazette about cyberbullying.

Hotaling is the mental health chair of the American College Health Association. He joined Union in fall 2007.

To read the story, click here (registration may be required).

Posted on Oct 7, 2010

Eight Union students were among more than 50 students gathered at Colgate University recently for a day-long Student Diversity Leadership Conference sponsored by the New York Six Liberal Arts Consortium.

A cooperative venture of upstate liberal arts schools, the consortium includes Union, Colgate, Hamilton, Hobart and William Smith, St. Lawrence and Skidmore.

“It was great opportunity for the students to explore their own campus diversity issues and to see what other institutions are doing,” said Karen Ferrer-Muñiz, Union’s director of Multicultural Affairs, who accompanied the Union group.

The conference featured a keynote address by Michael Benitez, Jr., a social justice educator, speaker and activist-scholar, whose work integrates hip hop pedagogy, academic inquiry and personal experience. He addressed such issues as diversity leadership, student advising and retention, student empowerment, and in- and out-of-the-classroom experiences.

“Diversity is a journey, not a destination,” Benitez said. “You don’t reach a place called ‘diversity’ and end your journey. Diversity is an intentional process that requires patience.”

For Ryan Owen ’11, the opportunity to exchange ideas with his peers “was a very valuable experience. I learned a lot from everyone there, and I gained a new appreciation for Union. We have a lot of good things in place, and the conference opened my eyes to new ways to take advantage of the resources at our disposal.”

Other Union students at the conference included Tanya Alexander ’13, Georgia Swan-Ambrose ’11, Sarayfah Bolling ’11, Yamelva Rosario ’13, Helena-Jasmine Sowah ’13, Kadiatou (Katie) Tubman ’13 and Elite William ’13.

This was the first major event sponsored by the New York Six, which will sponsor a number of diversity programs for its members’ faculty and staff this year, culminating in a diversity summit.

Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the consortium is designed to facilitate collaboration among its member institutions. The six schools share expertise and resources, enhancing opportunities for students, faculty, and staff while reducing the colleges’ individual and collective operating and capital costs.

Posted on Oct 7, 2010

Rebecca Koopmann ’89, professor of physics and astronomy, Katelyn O'Brien ’11 and Ana Paolo Mikler ’12 traveled to Arecibo Observatory over the summer to carry out a six-night observing run to record radio emission from hydrogen gas in galaxies located up to 750 million light-years away. The observatory, part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, hosts the world’s largest and most sensitive telescope reflector, spanning more than 1,000 feet in diameter. The Union team’s work is part of the ongoing ALFALFA (Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA, where ALFA is the name of the detector used in the observations) survey, a seven-year project headed by Riccardo Giovanelli of Cornell University. Koopmann and colleagues at Colgate and Georgia Southern received a five-year NSF grant to facilitate student involvement in the project.  During the recent observing run, Koopmann trained Mikler, O’Brien and six other team faculty and student observers from Hartwick College and St. Mary's College of California in observing and data reduction techniques. The observing run was the culmination of Mikler’s and O'Brien’s summer research projects involving the study of gas and star formation properties of a dense group of galaxies. O'Brien is continuing this work as her senior thesis.

Anastasia Pease, vsiting assistant professor of English, will deliver a presentation titled “Teaching Bioethics in Literature Courses” at the conference of the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum, hosted by Union on Oct. 7-9.

Brian Hauser, assistant professor of film studies, won the 2010 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival Screenwriting Competition for his feature-length screenplay, “Cult Flick.” Hauser’s short screenplay, “The Curfew,” has also garnered attention at multiple festivals this year, including 2011 Slamdance (semi-finalist), 2010 Creative World Awards (honorable mention/second place), 2010 SoCal Film Festival (semi-finalist) and the 2010 Golden Brad Awards (top 75 shorts).

Posted on Oct 7, 2010

More than 300 high school students and 500 visitors overall are expected on campus Monday, Oct. 11 to learn about what Union has to offer prospective members of the Class of 2015.

The Fall Open House includes sessions on Union’s international programs, research, financial aid, and tours of academic and athletic facilities. Students will be able to sit in on a number of classes.

The day will start with a welcome at Memorial Chapel by President Stephen C. Ainlay.

“To accommodate our guests and faculty for lunch, we will have a tent on Rugby Field, which is new this year,” said Admissions Director Ann Fleming Brown. “The Columbus Day open house is quite a tradition and has helped hundreds of students to make Union their first choice.”

For more information and a schedule of events, visit http://www.union.edu/Admissions.

Posted on Oct 6, 2010

Three Korean master performers will give a concert in Emerson Hall, Taylor Music Center, Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 6 p.m.

The concert will feature You Sook Jung, an award-winning traditional vocalist specializing in pansori (a narrative song form); Seungmin Cha, one of the most influential experimental daegeum (transverse bamboo flute) artists; and Yewon Kim, a professional gayageum (12-string zither) player. They will perform under the direction of Dr. Ju Yong Ha.

The event is free and open to the public.

Posted on Oct 6, 2010

Union’s annual community service outreach, John Calvin Toll Day, is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 9. This year marks a new direction for the longstanding tradition, named after an alumnus from Union’s first graduating class.

After partnering with the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation the past several years, students will now work directly with community organizations, 9 a.m.-noon.

“Many groups are eager for extra help during these tough economic times, especially nonprofits that have been hit hard and are struggling,” said Angela Tatem, director of the Kenney Community Center, which organizes the event each fall. “We’re forging new relationships between the College and organizations that help the underserved of our community.”

Volunteers and staff at the various organizations will give students an overview of their mission and needs before directing them to projects ranging from cleaning up storage pantries to bowling with senior citizens.

“We hope that those who take part in Saturday’s event will be further compelled to continue volunteering at these organizations,” Tatem said. “From Union’s past record, we’re certain this will be the case.”

Organizations partnering with Union this weekend include the Animal Protective Foundation, Bethesda House, Boys and Girls Club, Children of Our Community Open to Achievement (COCOA House), City Mission, Damien Center, Emmanuel Friedens Church, First United Methodist Church, Habitat for Humanity, H4H Restore, Glendale Nursing Home, Schaffer Heights (residence for the elderly), Schenectady County Public Library, Schenectady Museum, Vale Cemetery, Vale Park, and Weed and Seed.

Students will register as individuals or part of a group. Participating groups include AEPi, Black Students Union, Bronner House, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Lambda Pi Chi, Phi Iota Alpha, Tri Delta, Sigma Delta Tau and Webster House.

John Calvin Toll, who graduated in 1799, was the great-great-grandfather of the late Al Hill ’46, of Buffalo. Hill, an active alumnus and volunteer, and his wife, Perrie, created a fund to encourage Union students to undertake volunteer service.

For more information, contact Janet Sweeney at the Kenney Community Center, 388-6609; sweeneyj@union.edu.