Posted on Apr 14, 2009

One of this week’s highlights is the Annual Steinmetz Student Art Exhibition, featuring 114 works by 55 studio arts students.

The exhibition is open now through Monday, May 4 in the Arts Atrium Gallery. It showcases a variety of art, from drawings and prints to photographs and digital art. Sculptures, oils, watercolors and electronic works will also be on display.

Faculty members sponsoring works from their areas of expertise are Martin Benjamin (traditional and digital photography), Chris Duncan (sculpture and 3-D design), Walter Hatke (painting), Fernando Orellana (digital and electronic art), and Sandy Wimer (2-D design, printmaking and drawing). The exhibit was installed by Frank Rapant of the Visual Arts Department.

An Artists’ Reception will be held Tuesday, April 28 in the gallery from 4-6 p.m.

Posted on Apr 14, 2009

APRIL 16-26

Thursday, April 16, 4 p.m. / Tennis Courts / Men’s Tennis vs. RPI
Thursday, April 16, 4:30 p.m. / Schaffer Library, Phi Beta Kappa Room / Philosophy Speaker Series presents: Sarah Buss of University of Michigan on “Autonomous Action: Self-Expression in the Passive Mode”

Thursday, April 16, 7 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Patrick Kuhse presents: “From Prison to Prominence: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things”

Thursday, April 16 – Monday, June 1 / Wikoff Student Gallery / “LGBTQ: A Union Perspective” exhibit

Friday, April 17, 5-9 p.m. / Mandeville Gallery and Downtown Schenectady Establishments / Art Night Schenectady   
Friday, April 17, 7:30 p.m. / Olin Center Auditorium / Film: East Asian Studies presents “Tokyo Story,” a film dealing with strained parent-offspring relationships 
Friday, April 17 – Monday, April 20, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Friday, April 17, 4-6 p.m. / Wikoff Student Gallery / Opening Reception / “LGBTQ: A Union Perspective” exhibit / Clancy Slack ’11, manager of Iris House, is reception speaker

Saturday, April 18, noon / Central Park / Baseball vs. RPI (DH)

Sunday, April 19, 9 a.m. / Union Boathouse / Women’s Crew vs. Skidmore and St. Lawrence

Sunday, April 19, 9 a.m. / Union Boathouse / Men’s Crew vs. Skidmore and St. Lawrence

Monday, April 20, 6 p.m. / F.W.Olin Center Auditorium / “Parasite to Sybiont” lecture by Ken Rinaldo and Amy Youngs, with reception, in conjunction with “Dynamic Equilibrium" exhibit at the Mandeville Gallery

Monday, April 20, 7 p.m. / The Nott Memorial / The 2009 Presidential Forum on Diversity presents guest speaker Anthony Rapp, star of “Rent” and author of “Without You.” Rapp will be presenting his lecture: “Diversity and Being True to Yourself”

Tuesday, April 21, 3:30 p.m. / Alexander Field /Softball vs. Hamilton (DH)

Tuesday, April 21, 1-1:50 p.m. / Taylor Music Center, Emerson Hall / “Composing for the Voice,” lecture-demonstration by renowned mezzo-soprano Patricia Green; free and open to the public  

Tuesday, April 21, 4 p.m. / Tennis Courts / Men’s Tennis vs. Hartwick

Tuesday, April 21, 4 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Women’s Lacrosse vs. Nazareth

Tuesday, April 21, 7 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Theoretical physicist and writer Alan Lightman presents “The Novelist as Physicist”

Wednesday, April 22, 4 p.m. / Central Park / Baseball vs. SUNYIT

Thursday, April 23, 4 p.m. / Tennis Courts / Women’s Tennis vs. RPI

Friday, April 24, 4 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Women’s Lacrosse vs. Hamilton

Friday, April 24 – Monday, April 27, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / “Uninvited”

Saturday, April 25, 1 p.m. / Alexander Field / Softball vs. Skidmore (DH)

Saturday, April 25, 7 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Women’s Lacrosse vs. William Smith

Saturday, April 25, 2 p.m. / Central Park / Baseball vs. St. Lawrence (DH)

Saturday, April 25, 7 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Men’s Lacrosse vs. RPI

Sunday, April 26, noon / Central Park / Baseball vs. St. Lawrence (DH)

UPCOMING:

Thursday, April 30, 2-3 p.m. / Visual Arts Building, Room 215 / Photographer Shelby Lee Adams, guest artist, will speak and show his work before critiquing student photography.

Friday, May 1, 3:30 p.m. / Alexander Field / Softball vs. RPI (DH)

Friday, May 1 – Monday, May 4, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / “Gran Torino”

Saturday, May 2, 1 p.m. / Central Park / Baseball vs. Vassar (DH)

Sunday, May 3, 1 p.m. / Alexander Field / Softball vs. St. Lawrence (DH)

Friday, May 8 – Monday, May 11, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / “The International”

Friday, May 15 – Monday, May 18, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / “He’s Just Not That Into You”

Posted on Apr 14, 2009

The second annual “LGBTQ: A Union Perspective” exhibit opens today in the Nott Memorial’s Wikoff Student Gallery.

The exhibit runs through Monday, June 1 and broadly explores issues that surround the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at Union and beyond.

Artists include Visual Arts Professor Martin Benjamin, Eric A. Brooks ‘11, Bui-Duy Thanh Mai ‘11, Ajay Major ‘12, Michael Montesano ‘09, Emmaline Payette ‘09, Alex Porter ‘12, Juneui Soh ‘10 and Lisa Vallee ‘10.

An opening reception will be held Friday in the Wikoff Gallery from 4-6 p.m. Prizes will be awarded for “Best of Show,” “Juror’s Choice,” and “Honorable Mention.” Clancy Slack ’11, manager of Iris House, will be the featured speaker.

Posted on Apr 14, 2009

Anthony Rapp, star of the acclaimed musical, “Rent,” and an advocate for AIDS, LGBT and poverty issues, will speak Monday, April 20, at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

Rapp will speak on “Diversity and Being True to Yourself.” The talk, part of the Presidential Forum on Diversity series, is free and open to the public.

Rapp is best known for originating the role of Mark Cohen in the Tony Award-winning rock opera “Rent,” which tells the story of struggling young artists and musicians in New York City during the early days of the AIDS crisis. The play was inspired by Puccini’s opera, “La Bohème.”

He is also the author of the 2006 bestseller, “Without You: a Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical “Rent.” The novel details Rapp’s experiences during Rent’s original run and  his personal struggle with losing his mother to cancer.

At Union, Rapp will explore the role that the 12-year Broadway hit has played in bringing LGBT, AIDS and poverty issues into the national spotlight. He also will describe the loss of his friend and “Rent” playwright, Jonathan Larson, and his mother’s struggles.

Rapp’s other credits include numerous Broadway, shows, major motion pictures and television series. He serves on the board of the non-profit organization “Friends In Deed,” which provides emotional support for anyone dealing with a diagnosis of AIDS, cancer or other life-threatening physical illnesses.

A reception and book signing will follow Rapp’s talk.

After his appearance at Union, Rapp is scheduled to return to Schenectady later this summer during “Rent’s” run at Proctors Theatre July 28 to Aug. 2. Tickets for those shows go on sale Friday, May 1.

For ticket information, call (518) 346-6204.

Posted on Apr 10, 2009

Shlomo Molla, the sole Ethiopian Jewish member of the Israeli Knesset, will speak at Union Sunday, April 19, at 11:30 a.m. in the Nott Memorial.

Molla will discuss his rise to international power against considerable odds, the state of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel today and his visions for the future of his people. 

Molla became a member of the Israeli Parliament affiliated with the Kadima party in February 2008. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections.

One of 11 children, he was born in a small rural Jewish village in Ethiopia's Gondar province, where neighboring non-Jews believed that the Jews were “devils who had tails” and bullied them. Molla’s father, the village judge, farmed a small plot of land. Their home had no electricity or running water but Molla was religious, studying Torah on a daily basis while yearning to be in Jerusalem. 

Molla attended a Jewish high school run by the American Joint Distribution Committee. In 1983, at 16, he learned that Jews from the Tigre province, 700 kilometers away, were being taken, in secret, to Israel via Sudan. 

He departed with 15 friends on a terrifying journey to Israel, where he was taken to an absorption center in Tzfat. He attended high school in Haifa and became an officer in the Israeli Defense Forces. He later graduated from the Bar Ilan University School of Social Work and obtained an LLB degree from Ono Academic College.

In 1991, Mossa volunteered with the Jewish Agency during Operation Solomon.  He also served as director of the Tiberius Absorption Center, supervisor for the Absorption Centers and Ulpanim in the northern kibbutzim and director for the Unit for Ethiopian Immigration and Absorption for the Jewish Agency.

Mossa is married and has three children. The family lives in Rishon Letzion.

Sunday’s event is sponsored by Hillel, the President's Office, AEPi and the departments of History, Political Science and Sociology.