Posted on Sep 10, 1999

Augusta A. Schwab, a longtime trustee of the College, died Aug. 12 at her

home in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

A graduate of Smith College, she was involved in many community

activities in the Schenectady area before moving to Bryn Mawr in 1993,

including the local chapter of the American Red Cross, the Girls Club, the

Child Guidance Center, the Carver Community Center, the Junior League, and

the Fort Orange Garden Club.

She was elected to Union's board in 1978 and became a trustee emerita

in 1986. She was a devoted supporter of crew at Union, and one of the

College's racing shells is named the “Augusta A. Schwab” in her

honor.

Her family has extensive connections to the College. Her father, the Rev.

H. Laurence Achilles, former director of religious education at Union, was

the major benefactor of Achilles Rink. A brother, the late H. Laurence

Achilles, Jr., graduated from Union in 1938, and a grandson, Peter,

graduated in 1993.

Posted on Sep 10, 1999

Mandeville Gallery in the Nott Memorial presents the exhibition An

Exact Spectacular – drawings by Ed Rogers and sculpture by Henry Turner

through Oct. 17.

The show is curated by writer, publisher and collector David Greenberger

of Greenwich, N.Y.

Included are about 120 drawings by Rogers and 49 small-scale wood

sculptures by Turner. Both are “self-taught” or

“outsider” artists with no formal artistic training; their

motivation and frame of reference differ considerably from that of

mainstream, schooled artists. Both men are in their 70s; Rogers lives in a

nursing home near Boston, and Turner was last known to be living in

Schenectady.

Greenberger, called a “stand-up sociologist” by Rolling

Stone magazine, has spent two decades recording observations and

comments by nursing home residents and publishing them in his magazine The

Duplex Planet. He also has been a commentator on National Public Radio's

All Things Considered.

Posted on Sep 10, 1999

Ad hoc committees have been formed to consider the tenurability of four

assistant professors: James Adrian, chemistry; Roset Khosropour, physics;

Donald Rodbell, geology; and Stephen Schmidt, economics.

Members of the campus community wishing to offer written or oral

testimony on their teaching, scholarship or college service may contact the

chair or other committee members.

For Adrian, members are Brenda Johnson, mathematics; Leslie Hull,

chemistry; Ann Anderson, mechanical engineering; and Adrian Frazier,

English, committee chair (6207, fraziera@union.edu).

For Khosropour, members are Seyfollah Maleki, physics; David Hemmendinger,

EE/CS, Bonney MacDonald, English; and Susan Niefield, mathematics, committee

chair (6163, niefiels@union.edu).

For Rodbell, members are Ekram Hassib, EE/CS; Stephen Horton, biology;

Kurt Hollocher, geology; and Shelton Schmidt, economics, committee chair

(6218, schmidts@union.edu).

For Schmidt, members are Janet Anderson, chemistry; Clifford Brown,

political science; Eshragh Motahar, economics; and Sigrid Kellenter, modern

languages, committee chair (6212, kellents@union.edu).

Posted on Sep 10, 1999

The College welcomes 20 new faculty members this fall.

With others to be announced in upcoing issues, some of them are:

Rachel Brown, visiting instructor of philosophy, earned her Ph.D.

from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She specializes in political

theory, history of political theory and public affairs.

Quynh Chu-Lagraff, visiting assistant professor of biology, holds her

Ph.D. in molecular neurobiology at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at

the University of Illinois-Urbana. Her teaching and research interests

include molecular biology, cell biology and genetics.

Ian Condry, visiting instructor of anthropology, earned his Ph.D.

from Yale University. He has an interest in Japanese culture and society.

His fieldwork has included explorations of the rap music scene in Tokyo and

Nagano.

Valerie Davis-Manna, visiting assistant professor in the Graduate

Management Institute, earned her Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

with a dissertation on “Health Care Policy Implementation: Caregiver

Adoption of Restraint Minimization Policy in Nursing Homes.” She has

taught marketing and management courses at several institutions.

Posted on Sep 10, 1999

Besides the massive renovation of homes in College Park neighborhood,

facilities services staff and contractors have been plenty busy with

projects on the Union Grounds, according to David Grzybowski, director.

The Nott-Seward parking lot has walkways, lights, emergency phones,

improved drainage and yes … pavement with painted lines to keep everyone

parking in neat rows. The capacity is for 200 cars.

The tennis courts north of Lamont House are being resurfaced, with the

two closest to the corner of Humanities and Schaffer Library being returned

to green space, making the view from the library's south study area a

little more appealing, Grzybowski said.

The Lamont House parking lot has been completed after workers have buried

utility lines there.

Summer projects also have included:

— Renovation of Humanities basement to offices and classrooms,

moving modern languages faculty offices from 36 Union Ave.

— Painting of first-floor classrooms and corridors in Humanities

and Social Sciences.

— Conversion of a classroom to four offices in Social Sciences.

— A new elevator in the Reamer Campus Center.

— Preparation of Fero House to house 14 independent students. (AD

Phi, which was to occupy Fero, lost housing privileges for two years as a

result of vandalism.)

— The guest house at 1294 Lenox Rd. has been renovated for

Thurston House (the East Asian Studies theme house) with occupancy for 16

students.

Upcoming plans for this year include the restoration of Abbe Hall (the

former Parker-Rice estate) for use by College Relations, and the restoration

of 3 Library Lane (former Alpha Delta Phi house) for use by the Admissions.