Aerogels–often referred to as frozen fog–have become an important part of the College's developing efforts in converging technology.
That effort received a major boost with the recent completion of a new lab, made possible by a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The new lab became fully operational this winter.
Aerogels are approximately ninety to ninety-nine percent air, which allows them to have the lowest density of any inorganic solid. These incredibly light nanostructures also have the lowest known thermal, electrical, and acoustical conductivities, and are excellent insulators. The challenge for researchers is to devise a manufacturing method that will make production of the material more cost effective; current applications are limited mostly to the space program, where aerogels have been used as an insulator on the Mars rover and to collect comet dust.
The interest in aerogels at the College began when Professor of Mechanical Engineering Ann Anderson and a former student, Ben Gauthier '02 (now a graduate student at Stanford), began experimenting. They set three goals”(1) to develop a firm understanding of the factors involved in the formation of aerogels and of current fabrication methods, and ultimately to develop a cost efficient fabrication method for large aerogel monoliths; (2) to optimize the aerogels for various properties, such as thermal conductivity, optical transparency, density, or mechanical strength; and (3) to demonstrate the remarkable properties of aerogels by incorporating them into the design of a product such as a solar cell.
Anderson now is working with a colleague from mechanical engineering, Professor Richard Wilk; Professors Mary Carroll and Michael Hagerman of the Chemistry Department; and mechanical engineering seniors Smitesh Bakrania and Matthew King, and chemistry senior Rebecca Wolfe. Bakrania and Wolfe are making aerogels the subject of their senior theses.
Most recently, the faculty and students discovered that using a thicker rubber gasket yields a quality aerogel in five hours (the old way took about twelve hours). The researchers attribute their success to a combination of hard work and an inventory problem at a local auto parts store.
“We have tried to be systematic but our latest breakthrough was more serendipitous than anything else,” said Anderson.
It turns out the thicker gasket was more compliant, Anderson said. It more evenly distributes the pressure and forms a better seal, making
a higher quality aerogel in
less time.
The team is producing aerogels in a hydraulic, heated press, where they combine a mixture of tetramethylorthosilicate, a catalyst, methanol, and water. The mixture gels and the “wet” gel is then brought to a “supercritical” phase in which there is no surface tension between the liquids and solids. At that point, the wet gel can be dried without degrading the solid matrix inherent in that form of aerogel.
The aerogel team meets weekly to discuss progress. The research is proceeding in two phases, the first focusing on finding improvements in the manufacturing process. The second phase”and the subject of Bakrania's and Wolfe's theses”will be characterizing the properties of the aerogels produced.
The team has applied for a patent on a process they call a “Fast Supercritical Extraction Technique for Simplified Aerogel Fabrication.”
Ask someone in academe to define “liberal education,” and you'll get variations on a few familiar themes:
Creative and independent thinking
The development of curious and inquisitive minds
A greater appreciation for complexity and difference
The ability to look at a problem in many ways, work through the challenges, and move ahead with confidence
Ask the alumni who got a liberal education at Union, and you might get the reply, “Look at my life.”
The alumni in the following story have taken paths that they did not expect, yet all say their years at Union made them well prepared for their adventures.
Jeffrey Hedquist '67
Jeffrey Hedquist '67
Jeffrey Hedquist's business card should read “Writer, Director, Producer, Actor, Announcer, Narrator, Spokesperson, Character.” Among the characters he's birthed are the world's most experienced traveler and a Bogart-like fellow named Nick Diamond, private eye. In fact, he's created dozens of characters, dialects, impersonations, and even talking animals. And you've probably heard his alternately mellow and comic voice in “person-on-the-street” commercials. Nationally, you can hear him on radio and TV for Goodyear, Ford, McDonald's, Time-Life, Dutch Boy Paint, Sunbeam, and the American Heart Association.
He counts among his success stories a humorous commercial promoting the Stamford (Connecticut) Downtown Shuttle, complete with sounds of car horns, balking engines, jackhammers, and even a car crash all synchronized to the Blue Danube Waltz. “Isn't it time you stopped dancing to the Stamford Commuter Waltz?” he exclaims at the end. Shuttle rider ship rose by 33 percent in three weeks.
He always knew his destiny was on the stage or behind a mike. He says it all began in elementary school, confessing that he was “the bane of many teachers' existences, making mouth noises, wise-guy comments, doing what I could to win an audience over in the classroom.”
Then his dad, who had sung on the radio, taught him a few guitar chords, and Jeffrey's musical career was launched. He channeled his energy into less disruptive endeavors, such as singing in school assemblies and community talent shows. Performing one day on a radio show at age 16, someone told him he had a good voice for radio. It was not long before he took his first job on the air, hosting a rock-and-roll show on a 500-watt daytime station in Bristol, Connecticut.
So Hedquist didn't exactly get his start at Union College, but perhaps it was here where he began perfecting his craft. As an undergraduate, he helped resurrect the college's student-run radio station, wruc. Between terms, he worked at whatever radio jobs he could find–from newscasting to disk jockeying to reading the farm report. He even produced some commercials. Working summers at Albany's rock
station wptr and a classical show on wfly in Troy, he says, “I went from the Supremes in the morning to Gustav Mahler in the afternoon.”
Today he runs a successful, four-person production house, called Hedquist Productions, Inc., in a studio set on his own farmland in Fairfield, Iowa. Hedquist Productions also works with ten freelance writers, six composers, and an international talent pool of 6,000 voices. And he has earned nearly 700 advertising awards creating and producing commercials for companies like at&t Wireless, Motorola, Holland-America Lines, and The Body Shop.
Part of the time, he shares successful radio techniques with audiences across the country. “Being chosen as a featured presenter at the national conventions of the aaf, Retail Advertising Conference, rab, and National Association of Broadcasters have been some of the highlights of my speaking career. I just returned from delivering the keynote address at the national Holland radio conference in Amsterdam ”
Hedquist is a featured columnist for national publications such as Radio & Records, Radio and Production, Small Market Radio Newsletter, and AdGenius. “Now, if I could finish the books I'm working on–Radio Writers Block Busters and Life Is Like a Radio Commercial
–that would be some sort of culmination. My wife says my problem is I have too many careers!”
He's taught and directed at the National Audio Theatre Festival Summer Workshop for the past two years with audio luminaries such as Tom Lopez (zbs Productions) and David Ossman (Firesign Theatre)–“the high point of my radio/
education career.”
Hedquist is still an active songwriter, performing his acoustic originals throughout the Midwest. He's also in demand as a stand-up comic for corporations, where he customizes humor for each audience, including songs created for the occasion.
He's been farming organically since 1996 and is now converting his farm to native prairie seed production.
On Earth Day this past April, Hedquist was invited to host the Prairyerth Living Treasures of North America Heritage Awards, where he shared the stage with author and columnist Studs Terkel, folksinger Ella Jenkins, and environmentalist, folksinger, activist and educator Pete Seeger. “During the event, I sang some of my original songs as well as joining Seeger on some of his. This was pretty close to heaven for an old folkie like me.”
William Unterborn '84
As a youngster, William Unterborn '84 aspired to be a geologist, so we might not find his current career surprising–selling geologic, palentological, and natural history specimens.
But his journey there is yet another example of how a
liberal education can take you in many directions.
While attending Union, Unterborn participated in the Men's Glee Club and the Dutch Pipers. After graduating with a degree in English, he moved to New York City with some friends to pursue music. The spirit and the money ran out in a couple of months, and Unterborn's music career came to a halt.
The next step in his odyssey came when he was offered a managerial position at a Pier 1 imports store in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y. “It was not the road I had anticipated,” he says–but it does connect to his career.
After eight years as a Pier 1 manager, Unterborn became a district manager, then merchandising coordinator for World of Science, Inc., where he founded, designed, and managed the company's web operations. In September 2000, Natural Wonders, Inc., bought World of Science; in late December, Natural Wonders filed for bankruptcy; and by January 2001, Unterborn was out of a job.
It was a good time to remember the childhood advice he had always received from his family– “that you can do anything you want, and always strive to be the best that you can be.” After filing for unemployment, he took out a business loan, and by July 2001 he and a colleague from the World of Science joined forces and began their own business, called Collectology. This Internet-based business (www.collectology.com) sells geologic, palentological, and natural history specimens such as
fossils, meteorites, insects, seashells, skulls, scientific antiques, display reference materials, and equipment. The specimens are tracked and collected from experience and relationships built from World of Science. “It's a matter of networking,” says Unterborn.
He finds the meteorites especially fascinating. “They have pedigrees; there are stories behind them all,” he says, pointing to a meteorite that has chips of red paint from a car it hit in the driveway of a New York woman's house. Another meteorite is estimated to be more than 4.5 billion years old. “That's older than the sun–it boggles the mind.”
Unterborn also organizes geological field trips. On his most recent trip, he led an expedition to some streambeds in western New York. “Everyone came away with some nice specimens.” By this spring he hopes to expand his field trips out west.
Collectology is not the
only business that Unterborn oversees.
“My wife and I traveled to Britain and always stayed at b&b's,” he says. “We dreamed of running one ourselves.” In 1998, the dream came true. Unterborn became a three-time champion on the popular game show “Jeopardy” and he used his $31,899 in winnings to buy a Victorian house in Palmyra, N.Y., which he opened as
Libertyhouse Bed and Breakfast (www.libertyhousebb.com).
Unterborn also does voiceover work for radio commercials and corporate video narration, serves as chairman of the local planning board, and–shades of his experience at Union–he is beginning to sing once again for some friends of his in a band.
Clearly, Unterborn has pursued his interests, and then some. “I really like the fact that I'm my own boss.”
Bill Unterborn remembers the childhood advice
he always received from his family– “that you
can do anything you want, and always strive
to be the best that you can be.”
Steven Glazer '85
Steven Glazer '85
After traveling the world, and years of moving around, Steven Glazer '85 has found his
home in the small Vermont town of Thetford, where he works as a professional treasure hunt maker.
Glazer has transformed the 150-year-old British tradition of letterboxing into Valley Quest, a program that helps children and adults learn more about the natural and cultural history of their region. As the director of Valley Quest, Glazer teams with community members to research local sites, write poetry, draw maps, create riddle-like clues, and finally put all the pieces together in a public, installed treasure hunt that the larger community can enjoy.
“The kids learn that you can really read the world, and that our communities are embedded with clues, stories, and knowledge,” he says. More than 1,000 children, adults, students, and historical society members have contributed to the creation of these quests, and the 125 hunts now stretch across forty towns in the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire.
This is not the career he once envisioned. An English major, Glazer earned his M.A. at the University of Chicago and thought he would become an English professor. Searching for a job, he had a chance meeting with a man who had just returned from a three-year traveling experience in China.
Glazer was inspired; after a year of working long hours and several odd jobs at a time, he and his wife, Stacy Helfand Glazer '86, quit their jobs and traveled to places such as Nepal, Tibet, Thailand, Indonesia, Burma, and China. In an eleven-month span, they each spent a mere $3,300 (including airfare), while seeking to live on the same level as the people they were visiting. They sometimes slept in corncribs, on straw mattresses, and on mud floors, and they quickly realized that “heat, toilets, and running water are luxuries,” says Glazer. “It's a shame that we had to travel all the way to Nepal to learn that.”
Back in America, Glazer became an administrative assistant at the School of Sacred Arts in New York City, an organization seeking to teach and preserve sacred art traditions such as calligraphy, manuscript illumination, and icon painting. In 1990, he and his wife moved to Boulder, Colo., where he began a seven-year stay at the Naropa Institute, a university devoted to a spiritual and intellectual environment. A highlight of his time there was a four-day conference in which nature, spirit, and the practice of contemporary education were discussed; the Dalai Lama was one of the attendees. Glazer transformed the conference into a book, The Heart of Learning–
Spirituality in Education.
In 1997, Glazer became co-founder and managing director of Living Education in Patagonia, Ariz., an organization committed to exploring, teaching, and patterning place-based education. Two years later he connected with Vital Communities, a nonprofit organization in White River Junction, Vt. As Glazer read the job description of the Valley Quest Coordinator, he said to himself, “Wow, I can be a treasure hunt maker! I don't even have to go to Nepal!”
In a way, we should not be surprised at the path Glazer has taken. Back in 1983, when he was on a term abroad in England, he researched the remnants of the Industrial
Revolution–mines, railways, canals–to put together the mystery of how Bathstone moved from Bath to London. He says the term contributed to his lifelong fascination with acquiring knowledge by exploring the clues the past has left behind.
Glazer hopes that others across the country will create their own community treasure hunts. “Every place has disappearing elders and local cultures,” he says. “We need to remember who we are, where we are, and where we come from–and carry this into the present.”
Steven Glazer hopes that
others across the country will create their own community treasure hunts. “Every place has disappearing elders and local cultures,” he says. “We need to remember who we are, where we are, and where we come from–and carry
this into the present.”
Tim Smith '94
Tim Smith '94
Since graduation, Tim Smith '94 has studied with notable primitive skills and survival instructors around the U.S. and Canada, earned his M.Ed. from the University of North Texas, become a Registered Maine Guide, and acquired the title of a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician.
Now, he has fulfilled his search for the perfect job by creating Jack Mountain Bushcraft and Guide Service.
Smith, a New Hampshire native who always felt that exploring the outdoors was “second nature” for him,
managed to sneak in some hikes in the Adirondacks while at Union. Immediately after graduation, he used a free airline ticket to go to Alaska.
There he met a fellow outdoor enthusiast and was invited to participate in a 30-day primitive living skills practicum in the bush. At the end of the practicum Smith was invited to return to Alaska and stay awhile. After flying back to New Hampshire, Smith bought a twelve-foot travel trailer for $500 and pulled it to Alaska, via the Trans-Canada and Alaska highways. He spent two years in Alaska, fishing and exploring the wilderness while washing windows for his primary income.
The experience sparked Smith's interest in making a living out of the wilderness, and when he returned to the East Coast he looked up Dan Fisher, a friend and lobsterman who also ran a wilderness school in Brunswick, Maine.
Smith began teaching with Fisher. A year later, Smith created his own wilderness school, Jack Mountain Bushcraft and Guide Service, in Wolfeboro, N.H., where he teaches primitive and traditional outdoor skills ranging from mammal tracking to winter survival, and also guides multi-day canoe and snowshoe trips.
In the winter of 2002, Fisher and Smith began their “Earth Skills Semester Program,” which puts students in the proper environment to learn with hands-on experience. Smith says the “low tech, high skill” program teaches students to live on the earth “like it is their home, which it is. They come to us not really knowing anything about the natural world and leave feeling much more at home.”
The students live in a large shelter made from gathered natural materials. They learn how to find wild foods and medicines; how to track, canoe, and snowshoe; and how to make musical instruments, soap, and anything else “required to live well.” They also maintain daily journals; create portfolios of crafts and skills; and research final projects, which complement their total outdoor experiences.
In its first semester, five students came from around the country. Smith is expanding the program in 2003, with winter/spring, summer, and fall semester programs.
Smith has also found time to create his “tongue in cheek” online business newsletter, The Moose Dung Gazette.
The newsletter includes journal entries from various outdoor excursions; information about courses, outdoor gear, and supplies; and anecdotal information and stories on animal and plant life. The newsletter is posted on the Internet bimonthly (www.jackmtn.com), and
runs as a column in his local newspaper.
Tim Smith, a New Hampshire
native who always felt
that exploring the outdoors
was “second nature” for
him, managed to sneak in some hikes in the Adirondacks while at Union. Immediately after graduation, he used
a free airline ticket to go
to Alaska.
Jillian Shanebrook '91
Jillian Shanebrook '91
Jillian Shanebrook can trace
her Far East odyssey to her childhood.
“As far back as I can remember, I dreamed about the Far East and a way of life so different from my own,” she says.
So, when the time came for her to go on a Union Term Abroad, it probably was inevitable that she would head for Japan. And, since she came from academe (her father, Dick, taught mechanical engineering at the College for thirty-five years), it may have been inevitable that she thought of becoming a professor.
After graduating with honors, she began a fellowship in the Asian Studies program at the University of Michigan, with an eye on earning a Ph.D. and going into college teaching. When funding evaporated, she switched to economics. After earning two master's degrees, one in Asian Studies, the other in economic development, she decided she needed a respite from school and longed for an adventure in Asia. Because she wanted to stay in the Far East long enough to get a sense of everyday life, she applied for a Peace Corps-like program at Princeton. Accepted, she was given a one-year assignment to teach English to Indonesian students in the city of Yogyakarta, on Java.
It was, she recalls, a wonderful assignment–“a dream life, paradise, full of cultural opportunities”–and she lived comfortably on her
$200 a month stipend.
Although Indonesia is a Muslim country, life was not as constrained for her as it might have been in the Middle East. She freely explored the city, and soon found that her height (5'7″) and looks were attracting stares. A fashion designer invited her to model in a show. That first job, which paid $10, was quickly followed by others, and she began to model regularly on weekends while continuing to teach during the week. By the end of a year, she had traveled throughout Asia, appeared on numerous magazine covers, been a “spokesmodel” for several advertisers, been offered a “Charlie's Angels” type of role in a film, and was going to star in an exercise video.
But then the Far East econ-
omy took a nosedive, job offers began to disappear, and she decided to return to America to direct an English as a Second Language program in Portland, Ore. Although she made a few trips back to Indonesia for modeling assignments
(“The dichotomy was interesting. Here in America, I was taking the bus to work, and there I was a celebrity.”), six years ago she moved to Brooklyn, where she now is an adjunct professor of English as a Second Language at Brooklyn College.
The adventure isn't entirely over, though. Out of her experience came a book (Model: Life Behind the Makeup), and she now combines teaching with book promotion tours, which have taken her all the way to Australia. And she still does a little modeling, traveling to China this January.
Does she hand out advice along with autographs?
Yes, she does. “If you think you have an adventure in you, go for it. I'm just glad Union had such a great Terms Abroad program. It really nurtured
my whole experience.”
From Model: Life Behind the Makeup
As far back as I can remember,
I have dreamed about the Far East; of wet-green rice paddies, fragrances of jasmine and lemongrass, bold empresses, jade mines and bamboo groves. I was charmed by stories of orchid-scented nights, Buddhist monks dressed in saffron robes, and clandestine opium lairs. Little did I know that my fascination with Asia would lead me into the world of international modeling…
James “Kenny” Scott '00
As if to disprove the adage that lightning never strikes twice in the same place, James “Kenny” Scott has followed
a path eerily similar to Jill Shanebrook's.
Scott, a slim six-footer, went on his Term Abroad shortly after finishing the 1998 cross-country season. At his host college, Bond University in Queensland, Australia, he
met people from all over the world but struck up a special friendship with an Australian student who, as we shall
see, played a key role in his modeling adventure.
Back at Union, Kenny, a history major, began work on his thesis while beginning to think about life after Union. But the night before his oral defense, his thesis (on a computer disk) was stolen. “I couldn't concentrate on anything except recreating the thesis, and I did a lot of extra work in the spring to catch up,” he says, proudly adding that he eventually got an A minus. “So after graduation I just went home to Buffalo and got a job in a bank.”
Meanwhile, that Australian friend had been offered a job teaching English in Japan, and she began to e-mail Scott, urging him to come to Japan to teach.
“I decided I had nothing to lose, so I worked hard, saved money, got a job interview in Toronto, and was offered a teaching job in Tokyo.”
Kenny arrived in Japan in January 2001, with modest goals–learn Japanese and work for a year. Like Jill Shanebrook, though, he found that his looks would take him in another direction.
A fellow in his Japanese class asked him if he had thought about modeling, saying Japanese agencies were always searching for a “foreign” look. On his day off, Scott visited eight or nine agencies, and within a week had his first job, portraying a runner in a documentary being made about the 1964 Olympics in Japan.
At about the same time he met another teacher, this one a struggling photographer who took hundreds of shots of Scott and created a portfolio that both could use. Scott, portfolio in hand, went back to the agencies, and it didn't take long before his phone began to ring regularly with offers for modeling and acting jobs. He was in a fashion show, posed for commercials and ads, appeared on a CD cover, did music videos, and was a character in a movie called “Gun Crazy,” released in Japan last May. In the last few months he has been working in “Gun Crazy 3” as the number-two man in a terrorist group. He says he has a lot of lines, gets to look nasty, and will be listed sixth in the cast credits.
“I still teach full time, so my modeling is done on my days off,” he says. “It's sure taken a toll on my social life, but the money is great and I'm getting a lot of experience.”
So much experience, in fact, that when his teaching contract is up he plans to pursue acting, perhaps in Japan, perhaps back in New York or Los Angeles.
“Sure, I know that on most jobs I'm the token black guy, but it's been a great experience,” he says.
Some roles played by Kenny Scott in Japan:
street fighter in a music video, intelligence officer in a movie, baseball commentator on a variety TV show, Tiger Woods for a cable company commercial, nasa researcher for a life insurance company commercial, soccer player in
a fashion show, friend at a wedding in a Fuji film ad, businessman in an office
supply catalog, face in the crowd for a Toshiba ad.
On the surface, the afternoon of July 18, 1830, looked like an ordinary commencement day in the early life of the College. A father was seated among parents and friends, watching his son and seventy-four other students graduate.
But he wasn't just any father, and his son was not just any son.
The father was William James of Albany, the wealthiest man in this part of the country, and his son was Henry James, Sr.
At the time, William James virtually owned the Union campus-collateral against a huge loan he had made to President Eliphalet Nott to bail out the economically-troubled college in the late 1820s. And his son was ending a college career so unhappy that he later discouraged his two sons, William and Henry, Jr., from coming to Union.
William James and Nott, both can-do, practical, pragmatic, and public-spirited men, had known one another for many years, ever since Nott had been pastor of the James family's church-First Presbyterian-in Albany.
William didn't start life as a wealthy pillar of the community. In 1793, at the age of eighteen, he came to the United States from his parents' farm in northern Ireland. As was the case with many young men of the time, he was lured by opportunity in the new nation.
William settled in Albany, where the northernmost docks of the Hudson River, and therefore promising markets, were located. On the shores of the Hudson, he established a store-a place with a constant supply of goods-and he made it possible for customers to buy on credit. Both were marketing innovations in those days.
In 1820, he and a business partner formed the North River Steamboat Company, and he became a backer of the Erie Canal, counting DeWitt Clinton among his friends. When the canal opened on Nov. 2, 1825, the chief address of the day, delivered at the Capitol, was by William James.
As the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal, Albany boomed, doubling in size during the 1820s and becoming one of the largest cities in the country. William's real estate investments made him wealthy, and he was able to buy (for $30,000) what was then the entire town of Syracuse. The most lucrative part of the town was the Salina Salt Company. Since salt was used in those days to preserve meat, William's fortune was assured.
Unlike his father, Henry James, Sr. (born in Albany in 1811) was an introvert. Partly crippled in an accident when he was thirteen, Henry had a life of constant struggle-against his father, against higher education, against organized religion, against ideas of the time and inner demons as well.
He entered Union as a junior, with a lot of remedial work to do, and his academic career had its ups and downs. Alfred Habegger, in The Father: A Life of Henry James, Sr. (1994, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux), describes Henry's second year like this:
“During Henry's disgraceful fall 1829 term at Union College, William got one of his powerful associates, Archibald McIntyre, to write a letter begging him to come to his senses. Similarly, in 1821, after Henry's older half brother, Rev. William, had gone abroad for an extended period of rest and study, he received a letter from another of the father's cronies, Eliphalet Nott, president of Union College, advising the young man to sustain the 'honour of your family' and urging numerous moral maxims a la Polonius. It was almost as if the father wanted to guide his children without risking any involvement with them.”
The sensitive young man missed prayers regularly, ran up a huge laundry bill, and used his father's credit for “laundry, learning, oysters, cigars-and at the end of June, with examinations looming, he apparently took off for Ballston and its spa.” Worse, he was apparently addicted to alcohol from a young age. “No wonder,” he wrote, “that when I emerged from my sick-room, & went to college, I was hopelessly addicted to the vice. In college matters became very much worse with me and by the time I left it I was looked upon as an utter victim to intemperance.”
William wanted his son to study law, but Henry had other ideas, dropping out of Union and running off to New York City and then to Boston. Perhaps his motivation was his father's insistence that he not leave college. In any case, in Boston, he took a proofreading job, but it didn't take him long to realize that this was hardly independence. He was persuaded to come back to Union for his final semester. He graduated at nineteen, nowhere near the top of the class.
Though he never gained his father's approval, Henry got enough of an inheritance that he was able to live, guiltily, in leisure. He pursued mysticism and philosophy-both foreign to his businessman father-and rejected his father's Presbyterianism, turning instead to the teaching of Swedish Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. A man of impulse, he moved his family, including sons William and Henry and daughter Alice, back and forth between the U.S. and Europe, resulting in a peripatetic life for the family.
As a revolutionary social thinker and philosopher, Henry hobnobbed with figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau,
Bronson Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. He advanced many daring opinions, such as an endorsement of free love. Not surprisingly, he found himself at the center of many controversies and embarrassments. He wrote fourteen books on logic, science, and religion, but since logic wasn't his strong suit, his books were largely unreadable. He was, as one writer said, a “curiously gifted man”-an unrealized artist (a legacy to his son, Henry) and unrealized scientist (a legacy to his son, William).
Some of the traits of the two early patriarchs-father and grandfather-played themselves out in the sons. The senior William's desire to
create something from scratch, for example, parallels his grandson William's creation of an entire school of philosophy based on pragmatism. And, of course, the “restless intellectuality” of Henry, Sr., was a legacy to Henry, Jr., who introduced into American fiction the complexities and contradictions of human character in the psychological novel. (Alice, the only daughter, intellectually sharp yet repressed, never seized any opportunities to compete with her brothers. Her grief found outlet in neurotic illness.)
At one time, William and Henry, Jr., assumed that they would follow their father and go to college at Union. In fact, they once visited the campus with their father. But Henry, Sr., was against college in principle. Wrote William in a letter to a Union friend: “When I left Schenectady, it was with the almost certainty of becoming a fellow man with you at Union College. When I spoke to my father about it, I found that he was not in favor of my going to any college whatsoever. He says colleges are hot-beds of corruption where it is impossible to learn anything.”
Liquori, a junior who is majoring in German and Spanish, is also a volunteer firefighter, and that page may send her racing to her car for a quick trip to the fire station.
Liquori is one of thirty-eight volunteer firefighters for the John McClane Hose Company in the small town of Rexford, just outside of Schenectady. When not studying or giving campus tours for the Admissions Office or playing on the College's volleyball and softball teams, she can be found working on her “Basic Firefighting” course.
Liquori says she has been interested in volunteer firefighting for as long as she can remember, and her interest increased when she had an internship with the Niskayuna Police Department during her senior year of high school.
A volunteer since last April, Liquori says she is still learning about fighting fires. “While I'm at school, I don't leave practice or class for calls, but any other time, I leave as soon as I can,” she says. “I'm only ten minutes away, so I can be there almost immediately.”
Once on the scene, Liquori helps hook up the hoses and evaluates the situation. Sometimes she helps direct traffic or acts as an extra person in the event of a medical emergency. She has to finish her training before she can actually go into a fire.
That's not to say Liquori hasn't experienced first-hand what a fire is like. “My first big call came on a Tuesday night around 10:30 p.m. after one of our drills. I had just gotten home and my pager went off. I ended up going on the second truck to the scene. Even though the first truck was able to handle the fire, the rush I got from just being there and knowing that I could help was amazing.”
Because of the size of Rexford (about 2,000 people), the station averages only about 125 calls per year, and Liquori is just one of five women volunteers. Ed Lessard, captain of the Rexford Fire District, speaks highly of the young volunteer. “Kirin is an asset to our company. Though often busy with her other commitments of sports and academics, she is a very involved firefighter.”
Those who know Liquori best know that this is typical of her. “There aren't too many people who are surprised when I introduce the idea that I am a volunteer firefighter. My friends and family have all been really supportive,” she adds.
Liquori will hang up her uniform for a few months this spring while she is in Germany on her second term abroad. As far as future plans go, this firefighter wants to remain close to the business. “I am interested in a career in law enforcement,” she says, “specifically with the FBI.”
It looks like she'll be wearing a badge for a long time.
Joining our firefighter, Kirin Liquori, in her volunteer efforts is the Union College Emergency Medical Service-UCEMS.
The student volunteers in UCEMS work in conjunction with
the Campus Safety Office to help students, faculty members, alumni, and others who need immediate medical attention. The group has about forty student volunteers-half of them certified EMTs, the other half with CPR or first aid training-and it covers hockey, football, and rugby games; campus formals; Parents'/Alumni weekend; Commencement; and any other extracurricular activities that require their service. UCEMS crews are on duty on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
One of the primary benefits of UCEMS is a fast response time. Rene Kerner '03, the director of UCEMS, notes that when Campus Safety officers respond to a medical emergency, they must call Mohawk Ambulance and the Schenectady Fire Department. UCEMS can respond immediately.”
Most of the calls UCEMS receives fall into two categories-medical calls (i.e., sickness or alcohol-related incidents) and traumas, such as a broken leg or head injury at a rugby game. UCEMS averages about 100 calls per year, with Fall and Spring the busiest terms.
As you would expect, UCEMS demands a big time commitment.
Josh Bock '03, a shift supervisor for the group, says EMTs work two to three shifts per term and are also required to ride with the Rotterdam Ambulance Service at certain times to gain extra experience. Supervisors work many more shifts because there are only a few EMTs who have sufficient experience to qualify as shift supervisors; UCEMS members who are not EMTs work less, usually one shift a term, and take shifts to provide support to the EMTs when necessary.
UCEMS interviews about thirty prospective volunteers each year. According to Kerner, the group looks for members who are responsible students who will be committed to the organization and who have a strong desire to help. Students have to be “team players” and should have an obvious desire to help the student body. It also helps if applicants have an interest in medicine, although premedicine or biology majors do not constitute a majority of the group's members. Bock
says he joined because “I had some experience in EMS work,
and I thought that it would be a great way to contribute to campus and to help students in need.”
Stephen Ritterbush, managing partner of Fairfax Partners,
has been named to Union College's Board of Trustees, it was
announced by Stephen Ciesinski, chairman of Union's Board of Trustees.
Ritterbush earned bachelor's degrees in civil engineering
and political science from Union in 1968.
“I am delighted to welcome Steve Ritterbush back to his alma mater,” Ciesinski said. “His leadership and experience will serve
the board and this College very well. I look forward to working closely with
him to advance Union College.”
“The undergraduate degrees I
received from Union provided a great bedrock for my career, and the bonds of friendship
forged there remain important to this day,” Ritterbush said. “I am personally
excited to become a trustee during this important period of growth and
opportunity for the College.”
Ritterbush is a partner at
Fairfax Partners in Vienna, Va., a
private equity investment firm. Ritterbush has founded more than 25 companies
including ISR Solutions, the world's largest privately
held security systems integration company, and AppNet
Systems, Inc., a company that provided a variety of web-based services ranging
from inventory management to web page design, that ultimately was sold to an
internet service provider. Currently, he is chairman of HealthAspex,
a third party benefits administration company and serves as president and CEO
of TRAXUS Technologies, a supply chain systems integration and security
company.
With Johnson & Johnson,
Ritterbush formed two investment partnerships that nurtured the growth of
medical device and drug technology companies. Today, two of the portfolio companies
are Indigo Medical, a Johnson & Johnson-owned company and a leading
developer of less invasive laser surgery; and CollaGenex
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading developer of drugs for dental and
dermatological diseases.
Besides his Union degrees, Ritterbush
also earned a master's of science degree in oceanography from the Department of
Geophysics at the University of Hawaii, and a
master's degree in law and diplomacy and a Ph.D. in international economics
from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University. Ritterbush
was also a Rockefeller Foundation fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University. While at Union he
studied at the University of Stockholm, Sweden, in
1968.
Ritterbush serves on the Dean's
Council at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and is
a director of the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute.
As a student at Union, he was
active in the All College Council, a class officer (president for three years),
and a member of WRUC, the College radio station. A captain of Union's
lacrosse team, he is remembered for scoring five goals in a season finale 13-9
win over RPI, while his broken hand was in a cast. He also scored 4 goals and 3
assists in Union's 12-7 win over Syracuse in 1966.
