Posted on Sep 22, 2005

The Dutchmen football team stands 2-0 after an impressive, wild and wooly 22-14 victory at Muhlenberg. The host Mules have gone to the NCAA tournament three straight years, and had won each of the last two meetings by five points. But the strong play of Arcidiacono and his offensive mates, and the big plays of the defense, produced a huge road victory heading into the Liberty League opener at Rochester this week.

Arcidiacono rushed for 190 yards and a touchdown in earning Liberty League Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors. He had a 45-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and also had 17 yards on two receptions. The junior from Castleton, NY and Columbia High enters the game with the Yellowjackets ranked seventh in the nation in NCAA Division III rushing, averaging 163.5 yards per game. Later in the week, Arcidiacono received ECAC Division III Northwest Honorable Mention recognition.

“Thomas has been one of our most consistent players ever since he has gotten into the lineup since the middle of his freshman year,” stated Union Head Coach John Audino. “His toughness has been a great asset to our entire team, and he has developed into a great player.

“Remember,” Audino continued, “he is still only a junior and we look forward to coaching him the rest of his career.”

Union men's soccer coach Jeff Guinn has an Asset of his own, in senior defender Matt Acciani. The Cherry Hill, NJ and Cherry Hill East High product is this week's Liberty League Co-Defender of the Week. He anchored a Union defense that pitched two shutouts last week to help the team remain unbeaten in the last five games. In a scoreless double overtime battle against Medaille, the Dutchmen allowed 12 shots, and just five on goal. In the team's win against Worcester State, Acciani and the defense held the opposition to five shots, and just one on goal.

With the work of Acciani and his backfield mates, Union has allowed just three goals all season, and none in the second half or in overtime.

“I was thrilled that Matt won the defender of the week award,” said Guinn. “He has been a solid starter in the back for four years now. He and Ryan McAleese have been such a strong tandem, winning air balls, defending with abandon and providing a difficult wall for our opponents to pass.

“Matt is a winner, a vocal leader and a great leader by example,” Guinn stated. “He also typifies what Union's student-athletes are all about. He is a Union Scholar, a captain and starter for our team, and also a standout swimmer for Coach Scott Felix.”

Union is 4-1-1 entering league play this weekend, with a Friday game at Rensselaer and a Saturday showing at Vassar.

Indeed, Arcidiacono and Acciani should have made an appearance on Sesame Street when the Letter of the Day was “A.”

In other sports news, Union's cross country teams, idle last week, will return to the course Saturday at Williams College. The men and women's squads opened up the season on September 10 at Hamilton, and this week's meet will prepare Union for the Liberty League Championships at Hamilton on October 1.

Last week's schedule featured some solid squads, but the field hockey team is ready to face off the Liberty League schedule this weekend. Union hosts Hamilton Friday at 4 p.m. and St. Lawrence Saturday at 2 p.m. Junior forward Jessica Trotter (St. Louis, MO/John Burroughs) has five goals on the season, including two in Wednesday's loss at Utica. Elise Wakeland (Arundel, ME/Kennebunkport) has a 4.01 goals against average in the Dutchwomen nets.

The Union women's tennis team pulled out a very nice 5-4 road win at Oneonta on Tuesday, the second win of the season for the Dutchwomen. Freshman Brittany Miller (Scituate, MA/Scituate) was a victor in both singles and doubles in the team's triumph. She scored a 6-0, 6-1 singles win and teamed with Kathleen Rucci (Schenectady, NY/Guilderland) for a doubles victory by a score of 8-4. Miller and Sarah Stiles (Rochester, NY/Sutherland) each have two singles wins for the year. The ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) regional championships are at William Smith this weekend.

It felt good to be home for the Union women's volleyball team, which had played the first nine matches of the season off campus. Union has two victories, including a four-game home win over Utica, and three losses have gone the full five games. Julie LaSpina (Roslyn Heights, NY/Roslyn Heights) has a team-best 131 kills for the fall, while Dana De Biasio (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) leads the team with her 181 digs. Union will play Hamilton and Clarkson Saturday at Clarkson.

Coach Brian Speck's women's soccer team is now ranked #12 in the latest NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches Association of America) NCAA Division III poll. The Dutchwomen are 5-0-1, one of 11 undefeated teams in the top 25 entering the week. After a thrilling 0-0 double-overtime home tie vs. Rochester (the Dutchwomen were ranked #8 and UR #9 in the NSCAA poll), league play commences Friday at home against Rensselaer at 4 p.m. Saturday, Vassar comes to Geris Field for a 2 p.m. start. Cassandra Mariani (Boonton, NJ/Morris Catholic) has four goals and nine points and Julie Gawronski (Dunkirk, NY/Dunkirk) has an 0.86 goals against average.

Posted on Sep 22, 2005

Public health researcher Dr. Sue Goldie '84 has been awarded a $500,000 MacArthur grant “for genius and creativity” in applying decision science to find alternative interventions for viruses that are major public health problems.

Goldie is associate professor of Health Decision Science at the Harvard School of Public Health. She develops computer-based models linking the biology of a disease and its epidemiology to outcomes in large populations. Her focus has been on three viruses: HIV, hepatitis and the human papilloma virus (HPV).

Goldie was one of 25 MacArthur Fellows named this week by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Other winners include a conservation biologist protecting endangered plants and animals of Madagascar; a sculptor integrating architecture and the optical effects of color and light; a pharmacist reducing drug errors in the healthcare industry; a violinmaker producing world-class instruments for the 21st century; a rare book preservationist; and a fisherman responding to increasing threats to the fishery ecosystem. For more, visit http://www.macfound.org.

Novelist Andrea Barrett '74 received a MacArthur “Genius Award” in 2001.

Posted on Sep 21, 2005

Lorene Cary, celebrated American author, will discuss the topics of her books and latest work, Black Ice, on Thursday, September 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the Nott Memorial at Union College.

Her talk, part of the College's Perspectives at the Nott lecture series, is free and open to the public.

Black Ice, Cary's latest novel, is a memoir of her years as the first black female student, and then teacher, at St. Paul's, a New England Boarding School. Race, the lives of women, education and growing up, are just a few of the themes in her novels.

She is also founder of the nonprofit program Art Sanctuary for African American Arts and Culture.

Cary has been given the Provost's Award for Distinguished Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania, and has been a contributing editor for Newsweek and an associate editor at TV Guide. She has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, American Visions, Essence, and the Philadelphia magazine.

After receiving her B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978, she won a Thouron Fellowship for British-U.S. student exchange and studied at Sussex University. She has received Doctorates in Humane Letters from Colby College in Maine, Keene State College in New Hampshire, and Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia.

Posted on Sep 20, 2005

Sept. 19, 2005

Tenor Ian Bostridge, and pianist Julius Drake bring their talents to the Union College Chamber Concert Series on Friday, September 30 at 8 p.m. in Union College's Memorial Chapel.

This all-Schubert program, A Schubert Lieder Abend, will not be performed in either New York City or Boston; the closest venues to the Capital Region are Washington D.C. and Toronto.

This concert marks the beginning of the 34th International Festival Chamber of Music. Since his sensational 1999 U.S. debut, Ian Bostridge, of Britain, has achieved international stardom on lieder, opera and oratorio. His numerous recordings for Hyperion and EMI have already achieved legendary status. According to the New York Times, “Bostridge is perhaps and surely the most intense of current British tenors.” His return with the outstanding pianist, Julius Drake, is an event not to be missed.

Also hailing from London, pianist Julius Drake, has worked with the world's leading vocal and instrumental artists, both in recital throughout Europe and America, and on disc. In recent seasons concerts have taken him to the Edinburgh, Munich, Schubertiade, Salzburg, and Tanglewood Festivals; to the Lincoln Centre, New York; the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus in Vienna; the Chatelet, Paris; the Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms in London; and tours to Australia, Korea and Japan.

Tickets may be purchased in advance for $25 for the general public and $10 for students; or at the door one hour before the performance. They are available at the College Facilities Building, call 388-6080.  For further information, call 372-3651 or visit the Union College website at www.union.edu</A.

Posted on Sep 20, 2005

Albany, NY (Sept. 20, 2005) –Union has been picked to finish 11th by both the coaches and media in this year's ECAC Hockey League women's preseason polls. The Dutchwomen received 10 points in the coaches poll and eight in the media poll. St. Lawrence was picked to finish first in the coaches poll with eight first place votes and 97 points while Harvard received two first place votes and 50 points as the favorite in the media poll. Both polls were released today as part of the league's annual media day event held at the Pepsi Arena.

In the coaches poll, Dartmouth came in behind St. Lawrence with 84 points and one first-place vote, while Harvard was third with 81 points and two first-place votes. Yale rounded out the top four with 68 points. The four teams all advanced to the ECACHL championship weekend last year, with Harvard winning the title. The Saints, Big Green, and Crimson also made up three of the four teams at the NCAA Frozen Four.

Claiming the No. 5 position on the poll was Brown with 61 points followed by Colgate with 57. Princeton came in at No. 7 with 55 points, followed by Clarkson (43), Quinnipiac (27), and Cornell in tenth with 22 points.

In the media poll St. Lawrence followed Harvard with 49 points and received two first-place votes. Dartmouth was third with 48 points and received one first-place vote. After that it was Brown (36), Princeton (35), and Yale (32) rounding out the top six. Colgate was picked seventh with 28 points followed by Clarkson (19), Quinnipiac (12), and Cornell (11) picked to finish 10th.

Union opens the season with a two-game set at Boston University on October 14th and 15th. League play begins the following week as the Dutchwomen host Clarkson for a pair of games on October 29th and 30th.