Best-selling novelist Andrea
Barrett '74, who won the National Book Award for Ship Fever, was featured on Garrison Keillor's “Writers Almanac” on
Tuesday, Nov. 16.
“It's the birthday of the novelist Andrea Barrett, born
in Boston, Massachusetts (1954). She is known for
writing about botanists, oceanographers and geologists in novels such as The Forms of Water (1993) and The Voyage of the Narwhal (1998),”
Keillor said on his daily public radio program of literature and history.
“She grew up on Cape
Cod, and spent most of her time near the ocean, fascinated by sea
life. She decided to study biology [at Union College]
and went on to study zoology in graduate school.
“At some point, she decided she
was more interested in history than biology, and started studying medieval
religion. It was while she was writing papers about the Spanish Inquisition
that she realized she should be a writer. She said, 'I'd go to the library and
pull out everything, fill my room and become obsessed with the shape and the
texture of the paper, and the way the words look, trying to make it all
dramatic. At some point I realized: 'Hey, this isn't history, and I'm not a
scholar.'”
SCHENECTADY,
N.Y.-Senior forward Brittany Cressman capped a brilliant career by scoring a
pair of goals to lift Union to a 2-0 victory over Plattsburgh in the
championship game of the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Upstate New York
women's soccer tournament on College Park Field.
It was the first-ever ECAC title for the Dutchwomen.
Cressman, who had
an assist in the Dutchwomen's 3-1 semi-final win over Rochester, was named the
event's Most Valuable Player. The
Duxbury, Massachusetts, native, who earlier this months was named the Liberty
League's Player of the Year, finished second on Union's all-time scoring list
with 49 goals, 43 assists and 141 points.
Her 43 career assists are also a team record as is the 18 helpers she
had this year. Cressman finished this
year as the Dutchwomen's leading scorer with 16 goals and 50 points.
Cressman picked up her fourth game-winner of the season when
she scored an unassisted tally with 2:58 left in the first half. She put the game away with 9:55 remaining in
the season by converting Jen Ondash's pass.
Junior goaltender Julie Gawronski tied her own record (set
last year) by picking up her 19th win of the season against two
losses and a tie. The win was the 44th
of her career while the shutout was a single-season standard of 15 and her
record-setting 25th overall. The
Dunkirk, New York, finished with five saves.
Senior Kaleen McCool had six saves for the Cardinals, who
finished at 16-6-0.
Students and faculty have spent
much of the last week analyzing the presidential election and wondering about
the future. On Monday morning, Union students had a chance to hear what their
counterparts in France
thought, thanks to a trans-Atlantic teleconference dubbed the “French
Connection.”
“I thought it was a fascinating
experience, some of the most intellectual conversation I've had,” said Leigh
Ann Holterman '07, a double major in psychology and French who is planning to
study in Renne. “You don't often get a chance to hear another side of the world
view.”
The brainchild of Prof. Andy
Feffer, the 80-minute session connected a dozen Union students with 18 French
peers at the Universite de Haute Bretagne in Rennes, France.
Union's
students came mostly from Feffer's “History of the 60's” course and from Prof.
Michelle Chilcoat's French literature class. The French students were in
English and American studies programs. Most students on both sides were Kerry
supporters. The exchange, in English, covered other topics including the
economy, the war in Iraq,
energy consumption, religion and politics, and the balance of world power.
The session was introduced by
Keith Martin, a professor at Rennes
and a coordinator of the Union-Rennes exchange, who showed several headlines
from French tabloids lamenting the re-election of George W. Bush.
The French students began the conversation,
most expressing disappointment over the election results. “I don't understand
how you could have elected him for four more years,” one French student said.
Another French student asked whether the nation's support for Bush was
reflective of the youth vote.
It was not, a Union student
replied, adding “our generation did not turn out the vote for Kerry.” Another
Union student said, “The Republicans worked just as hard for support.”
Next, the conversation turned to
politics and religion, a French student asking, “How does Bush, being a
religious man, make him a good [political leader]?” A Union student responded
that being a religious person does not make Bush a leader, but he has succeeded
in making political issues into religious ones that appeal to a broad part of
the electorate.
On the economy, a French student
asked if Americans believe that political leaders affect the economy: “Did Bush
simply not have economic trends in his favor?” Some Union students answered
that presidents inherit economic conditions from their predecessors. Some
argued that market forces largely dictate the economy. One student said that
while a war can give a boost, Bush lost the opportunity to reinvigorate the
economy by giving contracts to only one company, Haliburton.
Students in France said
they felt the balance of power had tipped too far in one direction. “Be
afraid,” quipped a Union student. “Be very afraid.”
Students on both sides agreed
about the importance of involvement in the political process and said the
election and teleconference had heightened their awareness. “I'm more
interested in politics after this election and it makes me want to see if I can
change the system as a whole,” a Union student said.
A Union computer science major,
citing the problem of electronic voting fraud, said “Someday, I can have an
impact on that. I've been politicized in that way.”
“Previous to this year, I'd never been very interested in
politics,” said Katie Crosby '07. “However, I feel a new excitement and
eagerness to learn about it and contribute. I've written three times on weblog
and I've gotten [a French student's] email address to ask him some questions.”
One student said he was taken with
the impact the U.S.
election seemed to have on the French. “Some [French students] felt that they
had a large stake in this election, that it would influence them as much as the
average American,” said Charles George '05.
Feffer said the idea for the
teleconference was developed about four years ago with help from Doug Klein,
director of the Center for Converging Technology, and support from the Keck
Foundation. Other contributors to the project include Charles Batson, assistant
professor of French; Bob Balmer, dean of engineering; and Ann Longwell,
professor of English on the University
of Rennes Law Faculty.
Feffer sees the teleconference as
a way to connect students from different perspectives, and he is considering
using the teleconferences as part of a bigger project in Franco-American
studies. This kind of trans-Atlantic communication “happens a lot with
[professional] conferences, but not much with classes,” he said.
“This has a lot of potential,” Feffer said,
acknowledging the challenge of fitting it into teaching plans. “What we're
aiming for is to connect once a year an American studies class with French
students.”
A global look at environmentalism.
A modern day epic journey in ancient lands. A lute-playing trek through Central Asia.
Those are the topics of three
seniors chosen as finalists by the campus committee for the coveted Watson
Fellowship.
Erin Kane, Maximilian Seel and
Adam Grode were being interviewed on campus this week by a national
representative of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. The winners of the $22,000
travel-study grants will be announced in March.
Forty-three Union students have received Watson Fellowships since the program began in 1969.
Kane, of Southington,
Conn., has proposed “Environmentalism
Abroad: The Natural World in the Global Community” to focus on differences and
similarities in how individuals and societies relate to and understand the
natural environment. She would like to travel to New
Zealand, Ecuador,
South Africa, India and Ireland
to consider how, along with the U.S.,
those nations can share effective environmental efforts.
The campus Watson committee cited
Kane's background in geology and psychology. “This mixture of physical and
social sciences will give her a unique perspective on the issues involved in
conservation and resource management in the countries she will visit,” the
committee wrote of her. “She has done geological field work in several parts of
the world, and is a seasoned traveler. She is also an award-winning
photographer and an artist, with an interest in preserving the environment not
just physically, but in visual images as well.”
Seel, of Houghton, Mich., proposes
“A Modern Epic Journey through the Ancient Lands of Classical Myth,” which
would take him to sites in ancient Greece and Rome to “follow the footsteps of
the gods and heroes of classical mythology to bring alive the texts and
language pronounced by many to be dead,” he said. Besides using his journeys to
follow Roman and Greek myth, he plans to use his knowledge in Latin to
transform his journal entries into a modern-day English and Latin epic poem.
“The idea of a college student
taking an “epic” journey may seem outlandish at first, but for Max,
this represents a long-standing dream, and one for which he is very well
suited,” the committee report said. “Max has a deep affinity for the classical
myths, and takes an uncommon joy in working with the intricacies of their
language and forms.
“The ancient themes speak strongly
to Max, and he brings them to bear on modern problems in vibrant ways.
“Anyone who can make writing Latin
poetry and reading it aloud his passion, while still remaining well liked by
all, is truly someone to be reckoned with.
Grode, from Philadelphia, has proposed “Long-necked Lutes from Baku
to Bishkek: A Musical Journey in Central Asia.” This would have him travel along the
Silk Road in Central Asia, a route not just of commerce but of musical styles and
instruments developed from centuries of cultural syncretism. He plans to travel
to five Central Asian countries and, by learning to play the long-necked lute
indigenous to each, lay a foundation for understanding the region's rich
culture and musical heritage.
The campus committee cited Grode's
record of making his own path, starting the Arabic Workshop for 20 Union
students interested in studying the language, creating his own major in
Eurasian studies.
“He uses his music as a means of
developing connections with others,” the committee said. “He has done this to
good effect during a previous trip to Russia
and another to China.
In each case, his interest in the traditional music of those cultures gained
him access to social environments that normally would not be available to
western tourists.
“Faculty members who have worked
with Adam all note that if anyone can have a successful year in the former Soviet Republics
of Central Europe, he will. “
The campus Watson committee
consists of Joyce Madancy, history; Charles Batson, modern languages; Ann
Anderson, mechanical engineering; and Davide Cervone, mathematics (committee chair).
Last year, Nori Lupfer of West
Lebanon, N.H., was named a Watson Fellow. An accomplished aerial freestyle skier who competed at
the international level and performed on three tours with the Ringling
Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus, she studied “Circuses and Stunts:
Photography of Entertainment in Motion.” The adventure took her to Brazil, Switzerland,
France, Slovenia, Italy,
the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark,
Czech Republic
and Russia.
Hans-Friedrich
Mueller, professor and chair of classics,
published “Nocturni coetus in 494
BC” in Augusto augurio: Rerum humanarum et divinarum commentationes in honorem Jerzy Linderski,
(ed. C. F. Konrad, Stuttgart, pp. 77-88) and “La reglamentacio/n
nocturna en la antigua
Roma,” in Nova Tellus
(22 2004: 122-139). These articles investigate legal and religious aspects to
nocturnal assembly in ancient Rome, and
represent part of a continuing project on the social construction of night in
ancient Rome.
Carol S. Weisse, director of health professions, has written an article, “The
Influence of Experimenter Race and Gender on Pain Reporting: Does Racial or
Gender Concordance Matter?” to be published in a special issue on pain and
disparities of the journal Pain Medicine. The article is co-authored by
two Union alums Kemoy Foster '01, a student at Harvard Law School, and Beth Fisher '00 who works at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill.
