Posted on Jun 6, 2003

When one alumnus jokingly complained that there was too much to do at ReUnion
weekend, another quipped, “You sound like me at Disneyland.
That's a good problem to have, isn't it?”

“This was a complete campus effort with faculty, students,
administrators, and over a dozen different departments involved,” said Nick Famulare '92, director of alumni
relations. “From dedications, to academic lectures, footraces, student
presentations, campus tours, ReUnion Class gifts over $24 million…it was
amazing. The Union spirit is alive and well.”

Here are some highlights of what many have called “the best ReUnion
ever”:

Alumni returned from all over the world – including one who traveled
11,000 miles from Singapore
– representing classes from 1932 to 2002.

Friday featured the dedication of Abbe Hall as the new Alumni
Center and offices for College Relations.
The restoration of the former Parker-Rice estate at 1148
Lenox Rd. was supported by gift from Robert '49 and
Virginia Abbe. Two rooms in Abbe Hall were dedicated to the classes that supported
their restoration: the Library to the Class of 1973 and the Conference Room to
the Class of 1953.

Also on Friday, the Garnet Guard luncheon in Jackson's
Garden was well received as Dean Tom McEvoy and students shared their thoughts
about the House System.

Saturday's alumni parade, which first took place in 1911,
featured all anniversary classes (1938 through 1998). The class of 1963 took
the Van Voast/Class of 1941 Cup for the class having the best costume in the
parade. The Class of 1953 took the Anable Cup for the largest number of
classmates in the alumni parade, the McClellan Cup for the greatest percentage
of classmates at ReUnion, and the Class of 1943 award
for the most outstanding ReUnion effort.

Sy Gluck '49, El Harp '53, and Frank Messa '73 received the
Alumni Gold Medals at the Alumni Convocation. Dan Lundquist,
vice president for admissions and financial aid, received the Alumni Council's
Meritorious Service Award.

ReUnion Classes presented President Roger Hull with gifts totaling
$24,318,328, which included a recent
gift of $20 million from John '38 and Jane Wold.

A number of alumni and students said they found the
traditional senior handshake very moving. A member of the class of 1953 wrote
in the 50th class directory that he had a fond memory of shaking the
hands of alumni from the class of 1903 during his senior handshake 50 years
earlier.

More than 60 alumni listened to Larry Lieberman '83, president,
4Ever Wild; Sara Friedman '98, stage manager; and Bob Bernhardt '73, music
director and conductor, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera talk about their
experiences in the entertainment industry. A presentation by Dick Steinbrenner
'58 on Schenectady's American
Locomotive Co. had standing room only.

Posted on May 30, 2003

It's a balancing act, this dean of students gig. Fred Alford
spends half his time explaining the College to the students, and the other half
explaining the students to the College.

Consider the Naked Nott Run. Alford must implore the offending
students to use discretion in what has become something of a rite of spring. At
the same time, though, he must feign shock and outrage to the employee who
witnesses the tradition during an early-morning stroll.

“I spend a lot of time trying to explain to people who lead better regulated lives that this kind of thing happens on campus,” he says.

Alford will soon be doing the explaining at Trinity
College in Hartford,
where he has accepted the dean of students job and where his daughter, Hascy,
will be a senior. Alford joined Union in 1987 as
assistant dean of students. He was promoted to dean of students in 1993.

“I
will miss Union tremendously,” he wrote in his resignation letter, “especially
the people who make working here so enjoyable – from Anna in Dutch Hollow, who
struggles to teach me Italian, to the charming but disheveled third-term senior
who prays for intervention from the Credit Fairy that he might graduate with
his class in three weeks. I will be lucky if Trinity is half as friendly or
interesting.”

“In
hundreds of ways, he has worked to improve student life here,” said President Roger
Hull in a campus e-mail. “I know he has always felt that the future of the
College rests, to a great extent, in the hands of students, and his encouragement
of their efforts has been influential in making this community stronger. In Union's
creation of a new social and residential life system, Fred also has been a
leading force. The advent of the House System is an exciting and important
initiative, and it will add a new dimension to campus life while retaining the
College's traditions.”

Of his time at Union, Alford says he
is especially proud of the changes that have happened in the residential
culture. An evaluation system for residence groups has transformed student
housing from a permanent entitlement to an earned privilege in which students
get housing at the pleasure of their peers. Among the milestones, Alford counts
the emergence of theme houses in the early 90s, the institution of sophomore
rush in 1998 and the House System in 2001. A range of students who are looking
for housing alternatives have “stepped up to take a stake in the place,” he
says.

Work and play

“Part of being dean is to cross the boundary between what we
do for work and what we do for play,” says Alford, a participant in intramurals
and the annual Student Forum dodge ball game. An accomplished guitarist and
singer, he has often performed folk music solo and with faculty and students at
coffeehouses and assemblies.

“It is like the difference between being captain and coach of a sports
team,” he says. “There are times when [the students] need to know that you
are the alpha dog.”

Alford and his wife, Jocelyn, have been frequent hosts of
students at their College-owned home on Lenox Road.
When a group of Chinese visitors joined the Alford family for Thanksgiving
dinner, the language barrier put a crimp in the exchange. Finally, Alford's
mother announced, “I'm going outside for a cigarette. Would anyone care to join
me?” A flurry of hands shot into the air, and “they spent the rest of the
evening with my mother in nicotine bliss,” he recalls.

He recalls participating in an event that took place when
the Idol was moved to Achilles Rink to make room for the F.W.
Olin Center.
During a ceremony that was part pagan ritual and part pep rally, Prof. Scott
Scullion read a speech, in Latin, that praised the “painted trollop” as the
protector of Union. The students chanted back, in Latin.
“All the reporters seemed impressed that we all spoke Latin,” Alford recalls.

Alford himself admits to breaking the rules only once, while
teaching his son, Sam, now 15, to ride his bike. A newspaper photographer
captured the father-son moment on the artificial turf at Frank Bailey Field and
the image appeared in the next day's paper. Dick Sakala, then the director of
athletics, wrote a note to Alford advising that he would be facing conduct
charges for breaking the rules at the field, where signs clearly prohibit bike
riding.

Alford says a lot of people think he has the worst job on
campus, charged with worrying about the welfare of the entire student body. He
disagrees, and explains that he has learned to put it in perspective. “People ask, 'How do you put your head down on a Saturday
night knowing there are 2,000 students on campus?' You don't think about it,”
he says. “You assume that everything will be alright and you act calmly when it's not.”

 'Very approachable'

Alford, well known for using obscure metaphors and
references to movies and music, estimates that he has had more than 13,000 student meetings, nearly all under good circumstances.

“I think he's done a great job,” says Katrina Tentor '03,
editor emeritus of Concordiensis. “He's
very approachable, which is why so many students like him. It takes a special
someone to sit with random students and find out what they think about things.
He's truly interested in what people have to say.”

And from Andrew McCabe '03,
president of Student Forum, who had weekly meetings with the dean, “I learned a
lot, and yes, it often came in the form of a metaphor. It was a tremendous help to
get his take on things.”

McCabe and a number of other students remarked that
the House System will be Alford's legacy.

“He has the best interest of all the students at heart –
Greeks, independents, athletes – and he makes the campus enjoyable for everyone,”
says Angie DeSilva '03 who (with Emily Sweeney '03)  has recruited Alford's support and
participation on the Relay for Life charity event. “He is really devoted to
what he does.”

Believing in mistakes

Of the times when he had to meet with students under
unpleasant circumstances, he says, “It is impossible to be dean of students and
not believe that people can learn from their mistakes.”

Several years ago, a student whom Alford had earlier
dismissed wrote, “One might think that being thrown out of school for a second
time would be somewhat devastating … but it is also strangely liberating.” The
student went on to describe how the experience had caused him to pursue his
passion for acting. He ended the letter, “May you never have to deal with
another student like me.”

Alford responded, “While yours was not the kind of education
we describe in our admissions brochures … it is apparent that you learned
much.” And he objected to the student's final phrase: “If I don't come across
more students like you, I don't want to be a dean.”

Posted on May 30, 2003

The more than 1,400 alumni and guests returning to campus
for ReUnion this weekend will find something new: a home
of their own at 1128 Lenox Rd.

The College will dedicate the historic Parker-Rice estate as
Abbe Hall, the new Alumni Center
and home of College Relations. Built in 1900 by Edwin W. Rice, former president
of General Electric Co. and trustee of the College from 1906 to 1935, the
building was donated to the College by the Parker-Rice family in 1976. The
restoration was made possible by a gift from Robert T. '49 and Virginia O.
Abbe.

The building dedication will be Friday, May 30, at 4:30 p.m.

With registrations running about 31 percent ahead of last
year, ReUnion is on pace to be one of the largest in the College's history,
second only to the Bicentennial event in 1995, according to Nick Famulare '92,
director of alumni relations.

“Between a record-high 100 alumni volunteers and a strong
and varied program, there is tremendous interest in this year's ReUnion,”
he said. “We have alumni from the Classes of 1935 through 2002 and from as far
away as Sweden
and Singapore.”

The weekend, which celebrates the traditions of the College,
will have some of the traditional events: barbecues, tours, class dinners, the
alumni parade and convocation

Other highlights include the annual Alumni Golf Outing with
golf tips from Greg Midland '96, associate editor of Golf magazine (Friday, 8 a.m., Edison Club); “Forecasting the 2004 Presidential
Election” with Prof. Richard Fox (Friday, 11:15 a.m., Becker Career Center);
The American Locomotive Co. – A Centennial Remembrance with Dick Steinbrenner '58, who has written a book on ALCO (Friday, 3 p.m., Olin 106); and the dedication of a memorial from the V-5/V-12 unit to alumni lost in the Civil War (Saturday, 3 p.m., Memorial Chapel).

For more details, visit: http://www.union.edu/reunion

Posted on May 30, 2003

As part of
its ongoing efforts to provide alumni with essential online services, Union has re-launched an expanded online
alumni community. The new community (available at http://www.union.edu/Alumni) provides a more
useful and secure online alumni directory, free lifetime email accounts, online
class notes, and a number of other services.

More than
5,000 alumni have already signed up for the new community, and feedback has
been positive, according to Nick Famulare, director of alumni relations.

 “Online
services are the next step in the ongoing evolution of alumni relations at Union. As more alumni get online, the web
is becoming a great way for alumni to keep in touch with each other and with Union,” said Famulare.

To become a
member of the online community, alumni can simply request an account online.
Some areas of the community, such as the alumni directory, are
password-protected for security purposes. Alumni can also control how much of
their contact information is displayed through the directory.

Posted on May 30, 2003

Julia Maher '03 is another one of
those prodigious achievers with a small-town New England
background. She hails from Owls Head, Maine
– population 1,600. Maybe it's the benefits of growing up breathing sea air or
living where the pace is a bit slower – whatever it is, Julia has certainly
left her imprimatur on Union.

Maher, an English major, minored in
East Asian Studies and was a tutor at the Writing
Center. She also performed with
Idol Minds improv group. She wrote a commentary on Allen Ginsberg's Tear Gas Rag during a “Deadheads”
seminar and is a contributing writer for the Concordiensis.

At Prize Day, Maher walked away
with an armful. She is the 2003 recipient of the William F. Allen Essay Prize;
William H. Bloom, M.D., and Jonathan R. Bloom Poetry Prize; the David Brind
Memorial Prize in English; and the Phi Beta Kappa Award.

Maher said the most enduring impact
of her four years at Union will be the relationships she
cultivated with her professors. She said that since Union
is a small college, she had opportunities to work closely with her professors
and get the personal attention she desired, unlike her friends who attended
large universities. “They [the faculty] are amazing people,” she said.

Her immediate post-graduation plans
are on hold due to SARS – she hoped to teach English in China
and attend Nanjing Normal
University to study Chinese.
Ultimately, she plans to earn a doctorate so she can teach English and comparative
literature on the college level.

Maher's love of literature is
rivaled only by her love of writing – critical writing for the intellectual
stimulation and challenge; and poetry, an outlet for her creative energies.

Perhaps most telling is her senior
honors thesis, “The Overpassing Marriage of Speaking and Hearing within William
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and Absalom! Absalom!” In Faulkner's richly
textured works, Maher explored dialect and the basic need for communication – a
concept she herself has mastered very well indeed.

Posted on May 30, 2003

The German program at Union College has reopened a chapter of
Delta Phi Alpha, the German National Honor Society. This year, 10 students of
German Studies from Union College were accepted into the society
due to their excellent academic credentials. The students are: Joshua Dubs,
Christina de Gersdorff, Xilong
He, Anna Hurst, Michael Jessup, Nicole McConvery,
Joseph Salamone, Christopher Sponsler,
Karla Strobel and Allison Sturma.