Posted on Jul 27, 2004

19 area girls spend two weeks on campus with faculty, engineers

An innovative summer camp designed to interest girls in careers in engineering is running this year from July 18-30 at Union College with 19 area high school students.

During the two-week EDGE Program (Educating Girls for Engineering), participants will work with professors on a number of engineering-related projects. The major project has to do with re-engineering toys and electronic devices to be used by severely disabled children. At the start of the camp, the girls visited patients at Schenectady's Northwoods at Hilltop brain injury rehabilitation center to see first-hand the daily challenges disabled children face.

Girls were chosen for the program through a rigorous application process. Northrop Grumman Corporation is the program's sponsor. Karen Williams, associate professor of biology, is directing the program.

In addition to the engineering projects, participants receive instruction on communication and public speaking to assist in the presentation of their ideas. They also participate in off-campus trips to engineering firms, a luncheon at the dean's house and a dinner with practicing women engineers from the area.

“Recognizing that diversity is defined, appropriately, in many ways by gender, geography or ethnicity, the EDGE program welcomes girls from across the Capital Region to experience real engineering and to enjoy what life at college offers,” said Union College President Roger Hull.

“We focused on something they could embrace immediately,” said Robert Balmer, dean of engineering and computer science, of the idea to aim the program at helping disabled children. “Certainly, I think that for girls of this age and children in need there is a natural affinity.”

Women constitute 51 percent of the U.S. population and 46 percent of the U.S. labor force. However, among recent graduates (1990 and later), women represent only 8 to 9 percent of the engineering labor force. While women constitute a high percentage of some science occupations — more than half of all psychologists (63 percent) and sociologists (55 percent) are women — their participation in physics and engineering remains small.

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Posted on Jul 23, 2004

Union College was voted Best College Campus in Metroland newspaper's annual “Best of the Capital Region” contest. Editors of the weekly alternative paper vote for their favorites in numerous categories, including best pizza, best scenic drive, best park (won by Schenectady's Central Park, by the way), and even best cemetery.

Union's campus was called “immaculate,” “beautifully kept,” and “impressive,” to name a few of the many compliments in the paper. It went on to say, “The campus also has some of our region's most impressive architecture on display, including the recently refurbished Schaffer Library, the expansive new F.W. Olin Center science building and, in the center of it all, the only hexadecagonal-that's 16-sided-building in the northern hemisphere, the Nott Memorial.”

Also honored was the Mandeville Gallery in the Nott as one of the best
college galleries. Curator Rachel Seligman was noted for her “savvy
leadership.” In addition, Metroland said, faculty shows in the
Mandeville Gallery “outdo the competition in their comprehensiveness.”

For a complete listing of “the bests” and to read the complete piece on Union, visit http://www.metroland.net/guides/2004_best_of/best_of_people.htm.

For the Mandeville Gallery piece and others in the arts, go to
http://www.metroland.net/guides/2004_best_of/best_of_arts.htm.

Posted on Jul 22, 2004

Tackle this: A few facts about Union football

• Opening drive: Union football kicked off in 1886, a year after President Chester A. Arthur (Class of 1848) finished his term.
• Scoreboard: Since 1982, Union's Fighting Dutchmen have compiled a dominating record of 177-49-0 – a winning percentage of .783.
• Title team: The Dutchmen have been invited to nine NCAA tournaments. They've also captured five ECAC titles.
• Going deep: The team boasts five perfect regular season records and 23 consecutive non-losing seasons.
• Crosstown rivals: The 118-year-old gridiron battle for the Dutchman's Shoes Trophy between Union and Rensselaer is the oldest collegiate football rivalry in New York state.
• Pigskin vets: The oldest alums in the Fighting Dutchmen Gridiron Club are Charlie Snow and Dick Roberts, Class of 1950.
• Top of the line(men): Two of the first five athletes inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame were football players Ken Whalen '49 and Rich Romer '88.
• In the trenches: Frank Bailey Field is named for the Class of 1885 alum who was a longstanding College trustee, treasurer and benefactor. The $1.7 million stadium complex, inaugurated in 2002, seats 1,500.
• Fall kickoff: The Dutchmen will face off against Kings Point during Homecoming Weekend this fall.

Posted on Jul 22, 2004

California Cowboy Mark Milano '74: At Home on the Range…

There's a little bit of cowboy in every American. In the case of Mark Milano '74, there's a whole lot of cowboy. This Union alum went West, combining his passion for the outdoors with a successful petroleum business and blazing trails – literally – as a 21st century cowboy and oilman.

These days, you'll find him roaming on horseback, protecting 26,000 acres of ranch land in California's Tehachapi Mountains, while also running his $200 million-a-year company, Paramount Petroleum Corporation.

“My passion for ranching affords me the opportunity to be with horses, one of the most magnificent animals on earth,” he says. “The people I work with are down-to-earth, hard-working cowboys who accept relatively low pay but have great respect for the land, nature, their cattle and their fellow man.”

Milano graduated from Union with a B.S. in chemistry and biology and a love of nature and how the world works inspired by ecology Professor Carl George. Determined never to work in the “big, bad world of business,” he moved to a remote one-room schoolhouse, grew zucchini and did odd jobs.

He admits he was feeling adrift when a friend urged him to apply for a marketing position with Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO).

“I had no business background. ARCO was very understaffed so I wound up with massive responsibilities.” He learned a lot quickly and, to his own surprise, succeeded.

A short stint in ARCO's internal audit department to broaden his business background proved less successful. “I was working at a supervisory level and was very uncomfortable doing auditing. I thought people were mispronouncing when they said 'debit.' I thought they meant debt.”

He earned an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University after returning to ARCO's crude oil and products supply and marketing department. Before long, he took another leap into the unknown when presented with the chance to open a West Coast office of an Enron crude oil trading subsidiary.

“I started with nothing, and it was scary. Fear is a great motivator. It led me to work hard and figure it out.”

In 1993, Milano and three partners purchased Paramount Petroleum of Los Angeles after it had twice gone bankrupt. The former ecology student and reluctant auditor helped grow the company to its current stature as the leading manufacturer and marketer of asphalt for paving and roofing materials in the five western states, with a 55,000-barrel-a-day refinery, more than 400 employees and operations in eight states.

He is proud that the Environmental Defense Fund, not generally considered friendly to refiners, has ranked Paramount one of the nation's Top 10 cleanest refineries for the past six years. This year, the company also received awards on the local, state and federal levels for its outstanding community service.

An avid hiker and fly fisherman in addition to horseman, Milano divides his time between his Paramount offices and his ranch, where he lives with his wife, Jessie, three dogs, some horses and “lots of friends.”

Says Milano, “I love raising cattle, fixing fence, riding and roping, coming full circle to the kinds of things I loved to do before I got my first real job. It's a fascinating piece of American history, but this way of life is dwindling as centuries-old ranchland is sold for commercial development.

“The mystique of the cowboy is very romantic. I wish I had 50 more years to get better at it.”

…And on campus

Mark Milano may have gone West, but his heart remains lassoed by powerful connections made back East. His best friends are roommate Dennis Walker '74 and Dennis' wife, Nancy (Nelson) Walker '74, with whom he has attended College ReUnions. His interest in community involvement began when he and Nancy Walker launched a Big Brothers Big Sisters program on campus. “Union was outstanding for me as a living and learning environment,” Milano said. “I came from a small town and was very shy, but I felt very comfortable in that small community.”

Posted on Jul 22, 2004

Class of 1954: Celebrates Good Times

It's nicknamed “The Sunroom” – a bright, cozy space on the main floor of Abbe Hall – and the Class of 1954 is raising $50,000 to endow it.

“We all have fond memories of the campus on sun-filled afternoons,” said Class President Tony Tartaglia. Added Class ReUnion Volunteer Richard Herman: “We were happy to give a gift that was memorable, and this is a unique opportunity – a cheerful, sunny room that lends itself to small meetings. Everyone is very excited about Abbe Hall.”

The giving history of this class – the first post-war class without a large contingent of WWII veterans – certainly qualifies as memorable. Phil Beuth donated the library atrium and William Burns also has been very generous in his giving.

The Class of 1954 was “the first that was overwhelmingly made up of young high school graduates,” noted Tartaglia. “There was a bond, as a class, right from the start of the four-day orientation camp at Pilot Knob. We were a wonderful, close-knit class that developed a real camaraderie that has lasted for many years.”

Class of 1974: Where They Belong

The Great Room is the gathering place, the heart, of South College. The class is working to raise $125,000 in support of the renovation of the room.

“We wanted to do something tangible and worthwhile to rally our class and come up with an increased amount of giving, beyond what we usually do, as part of our ReUnion year,” said Class Giving Co-Chair Dick Samuels. “We thought it was particularly worthwhile, given the positive experiences and sense of belonging that will be engendered through the house system, and the amount seemed an appropriate and achievable goal.”

“If our gift helps Union improve its competitive position and adds to the social environment of school at the same time,” said Class President Jim Brennan, “the students will be the winners and we will be proud to have assisted.”

To help increase participation in the project, Dr. Hans and Janet Dwyer Black offered a match of up to $25,000 in gifts, regardless of size, for several months preceding ReUnion.

Class of 1979: Matches Up

ReUnion volunteer Jim Lippman wants his Class of 1979 classmates to become donors alongside him, and he wants them to attend ReUnion.

To make both prospects more appealing, Lippman will donate a match for every new gift – that is, a gift by any classmate who didn't give last year. He'll also match every increase in gifts by past donors this year.

He has allocated $100,000 for these matching gifts, which includes $50,000 that he already has committed.

Such encouragement is not new for Lippman, who earlier challenged his fellow alums on the 15th and 20th anniversaries of their graduation.

“I have a long history at Union,” said Lippman. “I'm a legacy; my dad was Class of 1950; my brother, Class of 1982.” His father's best friends, and his own, he noted, are from Union.

“Based on my love of Union, I wanted to create some stimulus for giving money,” he said. “Almost more important than raising money is to get people to come back for ReUnion.”

Lippman's work in this arena is far from complete. Never one to miss an opportunity to advance his alma mater, he recently took part in a phone-a-thon in New York City, along with two ReUnion chairs, Class Giving chair, and other class volunteers. They raised $18,000 in a single night.