Posted on Apr 21, 2010

Thursday, April 22, 7-8:30 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Discussion with the Diversity Doctor, Patrick Swift, on promoting widespread peace in a post-9/11 world. Co-sponsored by UNITAS, Multifaith Council, Student Forum and the Office of Multicultural Affairs in conjunction with CoExist Day. Swift is a faculty member at NYU Langone Medical Center, with dual faculty appointments in Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, and previously served as president of the New York Academy of Traumatic Brain Injury. A firm advocate for interfaith discussion, he is the author of the award-winning book, “One Mountain, Many Paths.” The first 100 people to arrive will receive a free signed copy of Dr. Swift’s book.  

Friday, April 23-Saturday, April 24 / College Park Hall / 102nd Topical Symposium, Modern Nuclear Applications, "Medicine, Power and Non-Proliferation,"  the New York and New England section day-long meetings of the American Physical Society spring meeting. Friday afternoon welcome by Therese McCarty, the Stephen J. and Diane K. Ciesinski Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Samuel Amanuel, assistant professor of physics. Friday evening (7:30-8:30 p.m.) talk by Mark Walker, the John Bigelow Professor of History, on "The German Physical Society and National Socialism." For information, visit www.nyssaps.org  

Friday, April 23, 4 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Women’s lacrosse vs. Clarkson University

Friday, April 23 – Monday, April 26, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film series: "The Lovely Bones"

Saturday, April 24, noon / Frank Bailey Field / Men’s lacrosse vs. Clarkson University

Saturday, April 24, 1 p.m. / Central Park / Baseball vs. Clarkson University (DH)

Saturday, April 24, 2-5 p.m. / Ozone House / Ozone and TDX present the 2^nd Annual Earth Day BBQ

Saturday, April 24, 3 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Women’s lacrosse vs. St. Lawrence University

Saturday, April 24, 8 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Chamber Concert Series presents Jeremy Denk performing J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Charles Ives’s Sonata No. 1

Sunday, April 25, noon / Central Park / Baseball vs. Clarkson University (DH)

Monday, April 26, 12:50-1:50 p.m. / Everest Lounge / The Michael S. Rapaport Ethics Across the Curriculum Initiative and The Committee on Teaching workshop, "Re-Introducing an Honor Code at Union College," presented by the student-faculty Subcommittee on Academic Integrity; RSVP to Amy Bloom, blooma@union.edu or ext. 8386

Monday, April 26, 4-6 p.m. / Schaffer Library, Phi Beta Kappa Room / Session 1: “Introduction and A Theory of Justice,” part of a three-day seminar on John Rawls; led by Rawls expert Jon Mandle of the University at Albany and Union philosophers Peter Murray, visiting assistant professor, Philosophy; Leo Zaibert, associate professor and chair, and Marc Wunderlich (one of Rawls’ former students), visiting assistant professor, Philosophy; Robert Baker will moderate.

Tuesday, April 27, 12:50-1:50 p.m. / Schaffer Library, Phi Beta Kappa Room / Session 2: “Rawls, Nozick and Wilt Chamberlain: Do Athletes Deserve Enormous Salaries?” Presenters: Jon Mandle of the University at Albany and Mark Wunderlich, visiting assistant professor, Philosophy; RSVP to Amy Bloom, blooma@union.edu or ext. 8386

Tuesday, April 27, 3:30 p.m. / Alexander Field / Softball vs. SUNY Oswego (DH). Support Strike Out Cancer efforts by wearing purple to the game. The team will accept donations in Reamer Campus Center Friday and Monday during the common hour, with donations to benefit the American Cancer Society

Tuesday, April 27, 4-6 p.m. / Schaffer Library, Phi Beta Kappa Room / Session 3: Public Reasoning Revisited: Fanaticism and Democracy; Presenter: Jon Mandle of the University at Albany, RSVP to Amy Bloom, blooma@union.edu or ext. 8386

Wednesday, April 28, 12:50-1:50 p.m. / Schaffer Library, Phi Beta Kappa Room / Session 4: “International Ethics: A Critique and Discussion of the Law of Peoples.” Presenters: Leo Zaibert, associate professor and chair, Philosophy, and Peter Murray, visiting assistant professor, Philosophy. RSVP to Amy Bloom, blooma@union.edu, ext. 8386

Wednesday, April 28, 7 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Presidential Forum on Diversity Series presents Marlee Matlin, Academy Award-winning actress and leading advocate for the deaf community, speaking on “Nobody's Perfect: Achieving Inclusion, Diversity and Access."

Wednesday, April 28, 7 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Men’s lacrosse vs. Vassar College

Thursday, April 29, 3 p.m. / Central Park / Baseball vs. Southern Vermont College

Thursday, April 29, 4:30 p.m. / Everest Lounge / Philosophy Speaker Series presents Howard McGary of Howard University, “Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Reparations”

Thursday, April 29, 3 p.m. / Central Park / Baseball vs. Southern Vermont College

Friday, April 30, 8 p.m. / Emerson Hall / Fernando Altamura, piano; music by Albéniz, Vine, Rautavaara, Dutilleux, and others

Friday, April 30-Monday, May 3, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film: “Youth in Revolt”

Sunday, May 2, noon / Central Park / Baseball vs. Skidmore College (DH)

Sunday May 2, 3 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Ensemble Pastourelle: Corine Salon, soprano and Friends; music by Spohr, Ravel, Debussy and others

Posted on Apr 21, 2010

Ben Jacobson ’67 was recently honored for a major gift to the local YMCA.

To read the story in The Daily Gazette, click here (registration may be required).

Posted on Apr 20, 2010

Melissa McDonald ’10, an interdepartmental anthropology and political science major, has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Moldova.

Stephen Po-Chedley ’08 and Joseph Martel ’08 recently were awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships. In addition, honorable mentions went to Jeffery Dalton ’04, Michael Bono ’09, Kate Langwig ’08 and Allison Drake ’04. The program supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in the U.S. and abroad. 

Chad Orzel, associate professor of physics, was a recent guest on WAMC, Northeast Public Radio, speaking about his new book, “How to Teach Physics to Your Dog.” Northeast Public Radio is a member of National Public Radio, serving parts of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

“Challenges in Managing Virtual Teams,” an article by Rudy Nydegger and his daughter, Liesl Nydegger, has been published in the Journal of Business and Economic Research. Nydegger is professor of psychology and of management and psychology at Union Graduate College, and his daughter is a doctoral student in the School of Community and Global Health at Claremont Graduate University. 

Christopher F. Chabris, an assistant professor of psychology, was featured twice recently in the Wall Street Journal. Chabris wrote an op-ed; to read, click here (registration may be required). He also reviewed the book, “The Art of Choosing,” by Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School. To read the review, click here.

Posted on Apr 20, 2010

The 2010 Steinmetz Student Visual Arts Exhibition is now open in the Burns Arts Atruim Gallery in the Visual Arts Building.

It features 75 works from all areas of the Visual Arts Department selected by faculty members over the course of the academic year. In all, the works of 45 students are included, from courses ranging from introductory through advanced levels.

Faculty curators include: Kevin Bubriski (photography), Chris Duncan (drawing, sculpture, 3D design), Chris Harvey (digital art, digital animation), Walter Hatke (drawing, painting) and Sandy Wimer (drawing, printmaking, design).  

“This exhibit features the best and most accomplished works from each of our visual arts disciplines,” says Frank Rapant, photo lab/gallery technician. 

The exhibit runs through May 9. Some highlights include Jiri Matousek's "Minute Day," in which the artist made a picture a minute for an entire day and has laid it out in filmstrip style, "Portrait of Kimmo Rosenthal" by Clarissa Amaral '11 and a series of untitled watercolors by Hilary Zelson '11.

Also on display in the building is work by the Bittleman Prize recipient, Bianca Germain ’10, in the second floor corridor gallery.  

Posted on Apr 20, 2010

Union is among the country’s most environmentally responsible colleges, according to The Princeton Review’s first “Guide to Green Colleges.”

The free guide, produced in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, includes schools who have “demonstrated an above average commitment to sustainability in terms of campus infrastructure, activities and initiatives.”

Published in time for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on Thursday, April 22, the guide is based on a survey of hundreds of colleges nationwide. Data examined include institutional commitment to LEED building certification, environmental literacy programs, formal sustainability committees, use of renewable energy resources, recycling and conservation programs, and more.

The 286 colleges were selected based on “green rating” scores they received in summer 2009 in The Princeton Review’s online profiles and annual guidebooks. Union received a rating of 85 (on a scale of 60-99) in The Princeton Review’s Best 371 Colleges. All of the campuses in the green guide were rated in the 80th percentile or higher.

Union was cited for the work of its U Sustain Committee, made up of about 70 environmentally and socially concerned students, faculty and staff who steward the College’s sustainability initiatives.

Among the highlights are the College’s Presidential Green Grants, aimed at supporting environmentally sustainable projects at Union; Octopus’s Garden, Union’s organic community garden; and the school’s commitment to wind power.

In 2007, President Stephen C. Ainlay was among the first to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), pledging to formally work on reducing, and eventually eliminating, campus global warming emissions.

“Students and their parents are becoming more and more interested in learning about and attending colleges and universities that practice, teach and support environmental responsibility,” said Robert Franek, senior vice president and publisher, The Princeton Review.

“According to our recent College Hope & Worries Survey, 64 percent of college applicants and their parents said having information about a school’s commitment to the environment would impact their decision to apply to or attend it. We created this guide to help them evaluate how institutions like Union focus on environmental responsibility so that they can make informed decisions as they move through the college assessment and application process.”

To download the free guide, including Union’s profile, click here.

To learn more about the College’s sustainability efforts, click here.