Posted on May 28, 2008

Below are award winners honored at the Alumni Convocation and the Engineering Awards Reception during ReUnion '08. The citiations printed below are excerpted from the Convocation program.

Alumni Gold Medals recognize alumni and faculty who have demonstrated distinguished service to the College.

John S. Wold `38        

John, it is no exaggeration to say that you grew up at Union. As the young son of Peter Wold, a professor of physics from 1920 to 1945, the campus was your playground. In fact, it was here, in a pile of discarded mineral samples outside of the geology building, that you discovered the field that would become your career. Not surprisingly, you became a student at Union, and the College’s second exchange scholar at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. You received a bachelor’s degree — in geology, of course — and went on to earn a master’s in geology from Cornell University, and an honorary degree from the University of Wyoming. Along the way, you married your sweetheart, Schenectady native Jane A. Pearson, and started a family. You have three children and eight grandchildren, one of whom, Joseph, is a member of Union’s class of 2010. You became a geologist and president of a number of mineral and oil firms in Casper, Wyoming. You also would become a leader in preserving natural resources of the American west, a U.S. Congressman and Wyoming State Representative. The American Heritage Foundation named you the “Wyoming Oil/Gas and Mineral Man of the 20th Century.” In 1999, Union presented you the Eliphalet Nott Medal, given to alumni who have attained distinction in their field. John, just as Union has made a difference for you, you have made a difference for Union. You have remained close to Union. Among your many roles, you are trustee emeritus, having served as a trustee from 1981 to 1990. You are also honorary chairman of the You Are Union fundraising campaign. Perhaps your greatest contribution came recently when you and Jane announced your support for a new building that will be the focal point for the intersection of disciplines and solidify Union’s role as a leader in the integration of science, engineering and the liberal arts. It is truly fitting that this building will bear the name of the man who grew up at Union, and went on to make a difference. John, it is a pleasure to recognize you for all that you have done for Union College. The Alumni Council is proud to present you with this Alumni Gold Medal, citation and certificate.

Dr. Robert B. Howe `58

Robert B. Howe `58 – In the early 1950s Union’s then-director of Admissions, Jonathan Pearson III, Class of 1942, travelled west along the Mohawk Valley for an appointment with a promising young man out of Little Falls, N.Y. That meeting opened the door to scholarship support and marked the start of a lifetime relationship with Union College. Since graduating from Union in 1958 and soon after Harvard Medical School, you’ve spent much of your career teaching and researching in the area of hematology at the University of Minnesota, where you’re a professor of medicine and associate dean for Faculty and Clinical Affairs. You have authored or co-authored more than 40 articles, earned a patent on a medical device and served as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. And yet your busy professional life has not hindered decades of involvement with Union. In 2005, your service was recognized with a Distinguished Alumni Award. Your Union resume includes: Chairman of the Ramee Circle Society, president of the Minneapolis Alumni Club, member of the alumni Physicians Advisory Board, Annual Fund Volunteer and former chairman of the Terrace Council, member of the Alumni Council and class representative. Along with your wife, Sondra, you presented, “Music, Medicine and Mozart” at ReUnion in 1998. Your recreational interests include sailing, karate and skiing. From those activities, to professional endeavors, to volunteer service, you truly do follow your personal motto, “Can’t is a four-letter word.” For you, no goal is deemed unachievable. In recognition of all that you have done for Union, the Alumni Council is proud to bestow upon you this Alumni Gold Medal, citation and certificate.

 

The Faculty Meritorious Service Award goes to a faculty member or member of the Union College community who has rendered exceptional service to the College.

Thomas C. Werner, the Florence B. Sherwood Professor of Physical Sciences

Tom, since you joined Union in 1971, you have been instrumental in securing Union’s place as a national leader in undergraduate research. You have been more than a teacher. You have been a collaborator, responsible for directing projects in which students become colleagues. The vast number of papers in which students are listed as co-authors is but one tribute to your success. Others include the dozens of student presentations at national conferences, and the large number of students, launched by your dedication and passion, who have gone on to pursue advanced degrees in chemistry. As a longtime member and former chair of the board of governors of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, you twice co-chaired Union’s hosting of NCUR, the largest national conference of its kind. In 1991, you helped establish the Steinmetz Symposium, now a well-known annual exposition of student scholarly, research and creative achievement. In 2002 you received the American Chemical Society’s Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution, for your contributions to chemistry and the development of students. You have secured a number of grants. Among them, Union’s NSF-AIRE award, a $500,000 grant for the promotion of undergraduate research. Despite your busy schedule as a teacher and researcher (and fisherman) you have given generously of your time to College service. Your many roles have included chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, faculty member of the Board of Trustees, and co-chair, with the late Christie Sorum, of the Academic Reputation Committee. What’s more, you have been a frequent and popular speaker on the alumni club circuit, sharing your interesting research in drug detection. Most recently, you have been sharing your experience as a collaborator with the UCLA Olympic Analytical Lab, a facility made famous by investigations of the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes. Tom, you recently added the word emeritus to your title, but – except for missing the occasional meeting – you show no signs of retirement. We wish you and Mary all the best. Tom, for all you have done for the College and the alumni, it is my pleasure to present you with the Faculty Meritorious Service Award.

 

The Special Appreciation Award recognizes service and unwavering loyalty to Union College and to the Alumni Council

Thomas C. Gutenberger, Vice President for College Relations

On a warm afternoon in August 1999, the President introduced the new Vice President for College Relations as “a young guy with a lot of energy.” “Young guy?” we all thought to ourselves. Try “kid.” You could have passed for a student. A few years later, you’ve retained at least some of your youthful looks. But as for the energy, that seems to have grown along with the College’s friend-raising and fundraising goals. A college like Union relies on the generosity of friends. You have played a key role in maintaining and building the friendships that are so important now and in the future. To get a sense for your legacy, we can tally up a few things. Under your leadership over $160 million in cash has been received, new buildings include: Grant Hall, Abbe Hall, Becker Career Center, Five Minerva Houses, Taylor Music Center, Messa Rink and Breazzano Fitness Center, over 15,741 alumni have made a gift, alumni clubs have increased from 2 to 28, you have made over 1,000 personal visits with alumni – logging in excess of 300,000 miles on behalf of the Union. Lest we think all your energy was on behalf of the College, we need to remember that somehow you and Linda managed to find time to have four kids — Morgan, Casey, Egan, and Corey. Tom, it has been our privilege to have you at Union – and everywhere on Union’s behalf – these last nine years. As you begin your next chapter at your alma mater, the University of Richmond, we wish you and your family all the best. It is my pleasure, on behalf of the Alumni Council, to thank you for your service with this Special Appreciation Award.

 

Engineering Alumni Awards go to alumni who are working as dynamic leaders and who show a commitment to their profession and community.

The 2008 award recipients are: Leslie Hill ’63, of Albuquerque, N.M. was given the Dean's Award; Herbert Freeman ’47 of Cranbury, N.J. was given the Gold Award – Electrical Engineering; Yvonne Turchetti ’02, of Red Hook, N.Y. was given the Silver Award – Electrical Engineering; David Duchscherer ’67, of Grand Island, N.Y. was given the Gold Award – Civil Engineering; Mary McKay ’98, of Ballston Spa, N.Y was given the Silver Award – Civil Engineering; Alexander Gelston ’68, of Skaneateles, N.Y., was given the Gold Award – Mechanical Engineering; Smitesh Bakrania ’03, of Ann Arbor, Mich., was given the Silver Award – Mechanical Engineering.

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Posted on May 28, 2008

Thursday, May 29 / ReUnion Weekend

Thursday, May 29 – Saturday, May 31, 8 p.m. / Morton and Helen Yulman Theater / Play, William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” 

Thursday, May 29, 12:45 p.m. / Olin 115 / Biology Department Seminar Series presents Dr. Mark Napier M.D., Albany Medical Center, on “Epidemiology and genetics of lung cancer”

Thursday, May 29, 12:45 p.m. / Olin 106 / Chemistry Department Seminar Series presents Desiree Plata, Graduate Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, on “Co-Products of Carbon Nanotube Synthesis: Emerging Contaminants Associated with Nanomaterial Revolution”

Thursday May 29, 12:50 p.m. / Social Sciences 104 / Maureen Hsia ’07 presents photographs and discusses her travels and schooling in Egypt and Syria over the last year.

Thursday, May 29, 4:30 p.m. / Phi Beta Kappa Room, Schafer Library / Philosophy Speakers Series presents, “The Straw and the Camel’s Back: Contextual Solutions to the Paradox of the Heep”

Thursday, May 29, 7 p.m. / Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium / Installation of Peter Bedford as the John and Jane Wold Professor of Religious Studies and inaugural Wold Lecture on “Religion and Violence,” given by John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale University

Friday, May 30, 12:40 p.m. / Science and Engineering Building, room N304 / Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Series presents, Smitesh Bakrania ’03, University of Michigan, on “Combustion synthesis of tin dioxide nanocomposites for gas sensing applications”

Friday, May 30, 2 p.m. /  Phi Beta Kappa Room, Schaffer Library / Jeremy Dibbell ’04, former editor of the Concordiensis and Bailey Prize winner, will discuss Union’s first library collection.

Friday, May 30, 8 p.m. / Fred L. Emerson Auditorium / Alumni Writer Series presents cartoonist and editor of the “Nightlife” section of The New Yorker, John Donohue ’90

Friday, May 30 – Monday, June 2, 8 & 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / “The Other Boleyn Girl”

Friday, May 30, 8 p.m. / Emerson Auditorium / John Donohue, cartoonist and editor of “Nightlife”

Saturday, May 31, 11 a.m. / Wold House / Brunch with John Donohue

Saturday, May 31, 1 p.m. / Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium / Senior voice recital by Elizabeth Ruddle, soprano.

Saturday, May 31, 3 p.m. / Jackson's Garden, north side of the Hans Groot’s Kill / Reception for the “Pendulum Labyrinth” exhibit

Sunday, June 1 / ReUnion Weekend

Sunday, June 1, 2 p.m. / Morton and Helen Yulman Theater / Play, William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” 

Sunday, June 1, 3 p.m. / Emerson Foundation Auditorium, Taylor Music Center / Union College Choir will perform music from Bach, Haydn, Rutter, Scarlatti and Seiber

Monday, June 2, 5 p.m. / Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium in Taylor Music Center / Student recital

Monday, June 2, 2:30 p.m. / Olin Rotunda / Students in the Chemistry 240 “Quantitative Analysis” class will present posters from the “Water Project” including results from analyzing samples of bottled water and streams among others.

Tuesday, June 3, 10 a.m. / Students in the Chemistry 240 “Quantitative Analysis” class will present posters from the “Water Project” including results from analyzing samples of bottled water and streams among others.

Tuesday, June 3, 5 p.m. / Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium / Students in the instrumental chamber music class will perform.

Tuesday, June 3, 10 p.m. / West 207 / 30 Days Series Presents: “Working in a Coal Mine”

Wednesday, June 4, 5:30 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Keyboard Extravaganza featuring students taking piano and organ instruction.

Thursday, June 5, 4 p.m. / Outside Butterfield Hall / Dedication Ceremony honoring Senator Hugh Farley for his assistance obtaining the $1.7 million SuperPower, Inc. grant for renovations and laboratory equipment purchases.

Friday, June 5, 5:30 p.m. / Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium / Joint voice recitalby soprano Adrienne Hart ’09, tenor Alex Schlosberg ’09 and bass Benjamin Bauer ’08.

Friday, June 6 – Monday, June 9, 8 & 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / Film – “Vantage point”

Saturday, June 7, 2 p.m. / Burns Atrium Art Gallery / “Senior Art Exhibition” Artists’ Reception

Saturday, June 7, 3 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / “Wizard of Oz”

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Posted on May 28, 2008

A tweedy English professor and a future U.S. congressman forged a friendship at Union in 1948 that lasted four decades and helped shape a legendary political career.

In 1956 Schenectady Mayor Sam Stratton ran a stakeout to bust a gambling ring running in the shadow of City Hall. Stratton took as his partner in that stakeout a former colleague and close friend, Bill Murphy, who was then an associate professor of English at Union.

They used Murphy’s car because Stratton’s beat-up old station wagon would have been easily recognized. The first night they simply observed the comings and goings at a boarded-up building on North Jay Street about a mile from Union’s campus. The second night, they were joined by a TV cameraman and his wife in Murphy’s car.

The night’s events are recounted by writer Wilbur Cross in Samuel S. Stratton: A Story of Political Gumption, published by Heineman in 1964.

Cross quotes Murphy:

“… all at once the lights of [a foreign car] flashed on and it came zooming out of the lot and across the intersection directly toward us. ‘Damn it,’ I said, ‘now they’ve spotted us cold.’ But Sam and the TV man immediately ducked down out of sight, crammed in the narrow space between the front and back seat. I grabbed the wife and we pretended to be necking.

“This could be some thug hired to use violence to protect the gamblers. We drove down the street. The car followed for a while, then apparently decided that we really were a couple of neckers.”

Stratton headed to City Hall and called the police, reporting that he’d been working late and needed a ride home. When a squad car arrived, he got in and asked them to drive to the gambling den and to call for some reserves. Outside, Stratton met Murphy and the pair joined police in a raid that found about 40 men gathered around a craps table. What followed, according to Cross’s book, was a series of botched interviews that yielded only petty gambling charges.

But the raid solidified Stratton’s reputation as a no-nonsense politico who stuck to his campaign promise to clean up the city. And it showed Murphy to be a true and loyal friend who shared Stratton’s sense of adventure.

A political union

Murphy and Stratton met in the fall of 1948 at an opening faculty meeting. Stratton had come to Union and his native Schenectady as a two-year sabbatical replacement for philosophy professors Harold Larrabee and Philip Stanley.

But he had no plans to make a career as an academic, Murphy said. Though he had not lived in the city since childhood, Stratton maintained contact and chose Schenectady as the launching pad for a political career.

When they met, Murphy, starting his third year at Union, had taken a political flier of his own, a run for Congress in which he later described himself as a “sacrificial lamb in a hopeless contest” against a popular Republican incumbent, Bernard “Pat” Kearney. Surveying the political landscape the summer before he arrived at Union, Stratton wrote to Larrabee: “I see that a member of the English department is running for Congress. Is he serious about politics or just a nice guy who’s willing to take the rap?”

Murphy’s new friend soon volunteered to manage his campaign. “I welcomed Sam with open arms,” Murphy said. “He was a whirlwind and a driving campaign manager. We were out ringing doorbells in Canajoharie until the polls closed. Sam wouldn’t go home if there was a possibility of getting one more vote.”

The candidate lost, badly, as Murphy recalls, but the experience gave Stratton a close look at the Republican machine and introduced him to important Democratic leaders.

In 1949, when Democratic leaders sought to reward Murphy with an endorsement for Schenectady City Council, the would-be candidate “made the wisest decision of my life and also the best one. I said, ‘If you want to win, you’ll put Sam up.’” Murphy managed Stratton’s winning campaign.

So began a legendary political career in which Stratton would become Schenectady mayor and later serve 30 years in U.S. House of Representatives. Stratton was elected with ease in the mostly Republican “submarine” district. A rare Democrat with hawkish leanings, he served on the powerful House Armed Services Committee. He made unsuccessful bids for a U.S. Senate seat and the governorship of New York. Stratton died in 1990 at the age of 73.

Shared interests beyond politics

Theirs was a friendship borne of mutual passions for intellectual discourse and politics. Murphy recalls the pair spending hours discussing the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, Stratton’s specialty, or Gulliver’s Travels, which Murphy regards as one of the greatest books ever written. They also spent considerable time surveying opportunities for one or the other’s political ambitions.

Stratton was an indefatigable campaigner who traveled for hours at a time throughout his 150-mile wide district to hold “open-air office hours,” attend a funeral or covered-dish supper, or wander through a county fair to meet with constituents, most of whom he seemed to know by first name. On the way, he would type press releases or take catnaps. Murphy often drove.

By all accounts, Stratton had charisma to spare. “Everybody who met him, liked him,” Murphy said. “He was very articulate and good looking.” Vin DeBaun ’47, a friend of both men who arranged campaign events for Stratton in the Finger Lakes, said, “Sam had a way of lighting up a room.”

Stratton, a natural speaker, was at home on both radio and television; before he got into politics full time, and to make ends meet, he was a news commentator and took on the persona of “Sagebrush Sam,” a harmonica-playing cowboy on a children’s TV show. (“The Republicans thought it was wonderful that Stratton could demean himself this way,” Murphy recalls. “What they didn’t realize was that 10 years later all these kids voted for Sam.”)

Stratton left Union in 1950, the end of his two-year contract as a sabbatical replacement.

Though it was Stratton who rose to political prominence, Murphy was very active. After his loss in the 1948 Congressional race, he made bids for state Senate in 1956, and state Assembly in 1959, both unsuccessful. He was appointed by Stratton in 1956 to fill an unexpired term on the Schenectady County Board of Supervisors. He was a member and chairman of the Schenectady Municipal Housing Authority, which, with Stratton, had instituted a policy of desegregation in the city’s public housing. Murphy served on the New York State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He was part of the mayor’s “kitchen cabinet,” and later, a part-time staffer in the Congressman’s Schenectady and Washington offices.

Murphy bristles at the suggestion that he was “the man behind Sam Stratton,” as a newspaper story once claimed. “Sam, who was then in Congress, was naturally upset that it should come out [in a newspaper] that I was the Svengali behind his career, and I was angry as hell about it.” So, the next time he was on TV, Stratton said, “I’m my own man and I don’t listen to anyone else.” Murphy suggested the rebuttal and wrote the copy, “perhaps the only thing I ever wrote for Sam Stratton.”

In 1966, Murphy became less active politically to devote time to a scholarly treatment of one of Ireland’s most distinguished families, the Yeats family. In 1978 he published Prodigal Father: The Life of John Butler Yeats, which the next year was one of five finalists for the National Book Award for a biography. He later published a companion book, Family Secrets: William Butler Yeats and His Relatives, which The New York Times described as one of the finest biographies of the Yeats family.

But he always stayed close to Stratton and politics remained a hobby.

A family affair

When Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton last fall presented Murphy with the city’s highest honors, the Patroon Award, many were surprised to hear the mayor refer to Murphy as “Uncle Bill.”

“This is a close family friendship that has endured through the years,” said Brian Stratton.

Indeed the families are still close, spending time at each other’s Schenectady homes and at Murphy’s summer home in Nova Scotia and Stratton’s vacation home in Mariaville Lake, west of Schenectady. The connection continues with Murphy and his wife, Harriet, a retired teacher, as frequent visitors of the mayor and his family.

The younger Stratton had this year expressed interest in the open Congressional seat once held by his father, but decided not to run in mid- February. He said he plans to stay as mayor, and will undoubtedly turn to Murphy for advice. “Bill is a gentle advisor, saying ‘your father would have done this,’” the mayor said. “My father, from whom I got a lot of my gumption, would have been more direct.”

Murphy, recalling Sam Stratton in an entry of the Encyclopedia of Union College History (edited by Wayne Somers ’62), writes, “His wide-ranging mind was both speculative and pragmatic. The public saw mostly the latter side. His friends saw both.”

Stratton, signing the title page of the Cross book for Murphy’s parents, wrote: “To Mr. and Mrs. Murphy—With appreciation and warm thanks for the loan of their able, energetic and talented son, whose advice, counsel and loyal help really made these events possible.”   

Murphy, 91, earned a doctoral degree from Harvard University, where he taught English before serving with the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II. He arrived at Union in 1946 as an assistant professor of English. He was named associate professor in 1948, full professor in 1960, and became the Thomas Lamont Professor in 1978. He retired in 1983 and four years later received the Faculty Meritorious Service Award from the Alumni Council. He and his wife keep homes in Schenectady, Nova Scotia and Florida.  

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Posted on May 27, 2008

Prospective students and their families spent their Memorial Day holiday on campus trying to get a jump on the college admissions process.

The annual Junior Jump Start, sponsored by the Office of Admissions, included meetings with faculty, staff and current students, a tour of the campus and an up-close look at the College’s selling points.

“As juniors, you need to realize that time passes quickly and begin to think about closing out your high school careers and thinking toward your futures,” said Miles Kueffner ’09. "You need to realize you’re an integral part of the selection process. Just as colleges are figuring out if they want to choose you, you need to determine if you choose them.”

Therese McCarty, the Stephen J. and Diane K. Ciesinski Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, pointed to the success of Union seniors such as Stephen Po-Chedley and Naazia Husain, in helping prospective students understand their options.

“As you’re choosing your institution,” McCarty said, “think about what you want to accomplish in your short time there, and be sure the colleges you’re visiting will allow you to achieve those goals.”

One student who was impressed with all Union has to offer was Lisa Lawrence of Ballston Spa High School. Lawrence, who is interested in science, lacrosse and newspaper writing, loves the campus architecture and plans to apply early decision

Monday's event wasn't limited to juniors. Sophomore Jeremy Philipson traveled from Utica with his father, Gary Philipson '79, to explore the engineering program. "A class in computer-integrated manufacturing interested me, and I wanted to see what Union had to offer," said Philipson. 

In all, the campus welcomed 437 visitors Monday; 173 of them prospective students.

“This is the largest turnout we’ve had in 10 years for this program,” said Lilia Tiemann, who coordinates the event. “We are off and running in high gear towards recruiting a great Class of 2013.”

The deadline for early decision is Nov. 15; regular decision applications are due by Jan. 15, 2009.

For more information, visit http://www.union.edu/Admissions

           

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Posted on May 27, 2008

The recent 2008 Union Athletics Senior Appreciation Dinner recognized the achievements of 87 seniors and other individuals at College Park Hall.

Featured were five teams represented in NCAA team or individual post-season events; five teams in ECAC tournaments (including a championship); six All-Americans; six Liberty League Players of the Year; and five league Coaching Staffs of the Year.

Union also produced: 164 all-league academic performers; three Academic All-District selections; a Watson Fellowship recipient; 64 league all stars; 15 region all-stars; a New York State Women’s Collegiate Scholar Athlete; and the first female two-time All-American in Union’s track & field history.

Director of Athletics Jim McLaughlin ’93 presided over the evening, which included remarks from President Stephen C. Ainlay, the presentation of athletic appreciation awards, and recognition of athletic prizes.

The Athletics Appreciation Award went to Senior Associate Director of Athletics Bill Scanlon, who is retiring after 38 years of service to the College. Scanlon is the winningest coach in Union’s men’s basketball history.

The seniors who spoke on behalf of their classmates were soccer and lacrosse player Caitlin Cuozzo; lacrosse player Keri Messa; soccer and track and field competitor Stanley Pietrak; men’s crew and track and field competitor Andrew Krauss; soccer and track and field athlete Bridget Duffy; and Cassandra Denefrio of the crew team.

For complete details of the awards ceremonies, click here.

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Posted on May 27, 2008

 

Former exchange students gauge the impact of a year at Union in the early 1960s

A surgeon from Uruguay, a philosophy professor from the Netherlands, a computer engineer from Germany and a former United Nations interpreter from France met in Spain in June 2007. The four men were on vacation and reminiscing about another adventure in a foreign land: three trimesters at Union in 1961 and 1962. Federico Schneeberger is a general surgeon Evangelic Hospital of Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Klaus Rittman is a computer engineering consultant and former IBM employee living in Stuttgart, Germany. Erik Krabbe is a leading scholar in the field of logic and argumentation and is in his last year as professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Claude Echard is a retired United Nations interpreter living in Geneva after years of moving to U.N. outposts around the globe. The four reunited in Barcelona and later reflected on the impact of their year at Union. They financed their Union education with a combination of scholarships from the Institute of International Education, the Fulbright Commission and lodging from a host of fraternities including Phi Gamma Delta, Sigma Phi and Alpha Delta Phi. Union has for many decades provided a range of study abroad opportunities for students. But that is just half the equation. On average, there are 30 international students from nations ranging from the Czech Republic and Japan studying at Union each year.  

GERMANY

Klaus Rittmann

The academic year I spent at Union College was the most valuable experience in my education. Within one year I acquired more insight, knowledge and information than ever before or after. Union gave me the chance to meet people from different cultures and backgrounds. From that time on, thanks to the excellent faculty at the College, I had a much better appreciation of world events. I finished my academic studies in Germany with a master’s degree in mathematics in the early 1960s. Then I joined IBM, where I stayed for 28 years. I worked on projects related to software development. I spent several years in the United States, Switzerland and Belgium, before settling down in Germany. Since 1984 I have also been lecturing regularly at the University for Applied Sciences in Stuttgart, Germany. After leaving IBM in the 1990s, I continued working in the computer field as an independent consultant. I was born in Pforzheim, Germany. I have been married for 40 years and have two children and one grandchild. I believe I was able to teach them the value of traveling and meeting with other people in order to further mutual understanding and peace.  

URUGUAY

Dr. Federico Schneeberger

My scholarship to Union gave me a new experience. I was able to participate in the daily life of an American educational institution. It was very significant for us to compete successfully with the student community at Union; that we could be on the Dean’s List proved that we were competitive. Being in a small city gave us the chance to communicate more easily with the local community. We became junior ambassadors of our own countries for local groups and associations. So, as a result, I managed to get to know Americans quite well and they in turn showed a great interest in learning about our realities. Also, they opened up intellectually to us. Even if, from a purely academic point of view, what I learned at Union was not essential for my career in medicine, my study of the English language, which I started at Union, and completed here in Montevideo, was useful. I finished my studies in Uruguay and later became a general surgeon, a job which I still perform today. In 1970 I got married and went on to raise a large family with six children. I will always feel gratitude to Union College for the valuable experience.

THE NETHERLANDS

Erik Krabbe

I was granted a scholarship by Union College and hospitality by the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, as well as a Fulbright travel grant. I spent a full year studying the liberal arts. That year has been extremely valuable for me. It helped me to extend my experience by getting to know another culture and another language. More specifically, it was at Union that I developed a taste for academic life and respect for academic standards. Also, the year at Union gave me the opportunity to study various fields simultaneously (something unknown in the Netherlands), and thus decide on what field to take up. At Union I took courses in English, American civilization, economics, American drama and philosophy. Professor Paul Kurtz’s excellent introduction to philosophy course made me decide to pursue philosophy. However, being also fond of mathematics, and in order to be able to earn a living, I also took up math. I studied these fields at the University of Amsterdam, focusing more and more on logic. I did so for a number of years, taking degrees in 1966 and 1972. In 1976 I married my wife, Tineke. Our daughter was born in 1977 and in 1990 we adopted a student from Somalia as our son. During the academic year 1987–88, I was a fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences and working on a joint project with the Canadian philosopher Douglas N. Walton. There we conducted research that ultimately led to a book on dialogue theory: Commitment in Dialogue: Basic Concepts of Interpersonal Reasoning (State University of New York Press, 1995). Since 1988 I have been an associate professor at the University of Groningen, teaching both philosophical and mathematical logic and theory of argumentation. In 1995 I was appointed full professor and named to a special chair for philosophical theory of argumentation. At present I am close to retirement, but hope for some more years to be supervising dissertations and to remain active in research and editing. No doubt, Union College has greatly contributed to my education, which has resulted in many happy years of teaching and research.

FRANCE

Claude Echard

I shall always be thankful to Union College for having given me a unique chance to make my dream of becoming a United Nations interpreter come true. Without learning the language and the culture with those who speak it, being an interpreter would have been impossible. At Union I studied government, sociology, Russian and several other humanities. I lived at the Sigma Phi fraternity and played on the soccer team. I enjoyed the Rathkeller’s nighttime activities and traveled around the country. About nine years after leaving Union, I was recruited by the United Nations, where I worked from 1970 until my retirement in 2000. The United Nations was an environment which was in harmony with the values I had learned at Union College. For 20 years my work took me to U.N. headquarters in places like New York City and Geneva. In the late 1980s, as the Cold War came to an end, I joined U.N. peacekeeping operations and went into the field as a political affairs officer, first to Namibia, then to El Salvador and finally to the former Yugoslavia. I live in Geneva with my wife. Our children have married (both born in Mount Kisco, N.Y.) and live nearby in Belgium. All this would have been totally different had it not been for the generosity and open-mindedness of some individuals at Union who greeted me, taught me, and introduced me to a world which seemed inaccessible.

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