Posted on Jul 22, 2004

CO-CHAIR
PHILIP R. BEUTH '54
Naples, Fla.

Work: Retired president, Morning and Night Entertainment, Capital Cities/ABC-TV.

Degrees: B.A., English, Union, 1954

Undergraduate activities: Psi Upsilon, Frank Bailey Scholarship winner

CO-CHAIR

MARK L. WALSH '76
Chevy Chase, Md.

Work: Managing Partner, Ruxton Associates LLC, Washington, D.C.;
longtime technology and internet executive; former CEO, Air America, Inc.; former senior VP, America Online

Degrees: B.A., American studies, Union, 1976; M.B.A., marketing, Harvard, 1980
Undergraduate activities: Kappa Alpha, Social Committee, Glee Club, Mountebanks, varsity lacrosse, Block U

ROBERT F. CUMMINGS JR. '71
New York City

Work: Senior advisor, GSC Partners, New York, a private investment firm

Degrees: B.A., economics, Union, 1971; M.B.A., University of Chicago Business School, 1972

Undergraduate activities: Delta Upsilon; varsity golf, Block U

FRANK L. MESSA '73
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Work: Senior VP and senior partner, The Ayco Co., L.P., Albany, N.Y., a financial counseling firm

Degrees: B.A., political science, Union, 1973; J.D., Albany Law School, 1976
Undergraduate activities: Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, Albert Ingham Prize finalist

HANS P. BLACK '74
Westmount, Quebec

Work: International market strategist; chairman, Interinvest Consulting Corp., Montreal, a global money management firm; editor, Interinvest Review & Outlook; president, Hans P. Black Foundation

Degrees: B.S., biology, Union, 1974; M.D., McGill University, 1980
Undergraduate activities: Student government, International Relations and Political Forum, Sigma Phi, Pre-med Society, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude

VALERIE J. HOFFMAN '75
Chicago

Work: Equity Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, a national full-service law firm; has nationwide employment law
practice; also founded and heads a Chicago-based consulting group.

Degrees: B.A. history, Union, 1975; J.D., Boston College Law School, 1978
Undergraduate activities: Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, Bailey Cup winner, Freling H. Smith prize, Committee on Women member, year abroad at University of Edinburgh, Scotland

CHUCK DONOFRIO '77
Glen Arm, Md.

Work: President and CEO, Carton Donofrio Partners, Inc., Baltimore, a brand experience design firm

Degrees: B.A., English, Union, 1977; M.A., University of Montana, 1978
Undergraduate activities: Cum laude, Kappa Alpha president, Glee Club

JOHN J. KENNEDY '78
Stamford, Conn.

Work: Senior VP, Wirthlin Worldwide, New York City, a leading market research and consulting firm specializing in branding and communications

Degrees: B.A., political science and philosophy
Undergraduate activities: Chi Psi, varsity football, Big Brothers of Schenectady

ALAN Z. WHITE '85
Belvedere Tiburon, Calif., London, UK

Work: Managing
manager, European Operations, Immersion Corporation, Ltd., London; co-founder
and partner, Foghorn Ventures, LLC, a product capital fund

Degrees: B.S., applied math and economics, Union, 1985; M.B.A., Rochester Institute of Technology, 1987; M.S., M.I.T Sloan School, 1991
Undergraduate activities: Psi Upsilon, Concordiensis, theater

DOUGLASS E. KARP '97
Boston

Work: Project manager for development, New England Development Company (NED), Newton Center, Mass., a real estate development company

Degrees: B.S., liberal arts and social science, Union, 1997
Undergraduate activities: Chi Psi, Greece term abroad

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Posted on Jul 22, 2004

Alums unite to promote College

How does a product – or a college – cut through the daily bombardment of media messages in this hyper-information age of symbols and associations? How does it carve its own niche and promote itself in a compelling, focused way?

That's the challenge facing 10 Union alumni, members of the Communications and Promotions (CAP) committee, who themselves reflect what makes Union so outstanding.

The CAP committee was established to define and build awareness of Union's strengths and to position the College where it needs to be for future success.

“We want people to be excited about Union,” says Trustee Philip Beuth '54, who co-chairs the committee with Trustee Mark Walsh '76. “To maintain our status as a great learning institution, we have to be on top of things, toot our horn to the world about the quality of Union College and its history.”

“We're promoting our product,” says Walsh. “Among colleges today, the pursuit of talented seniors has never been more competitive.”

In addition to Beuth and Walsh, CAP members include Robert Cummings '71, Frank Messa '73, Hans Black '74, Valerie Hoffman '75, Chuck Donofrio '77, John Kennedy '78, Alan White '85 and Douglass Karp '97 (see bios, pages 2-5).

They are committed to raising the profile of the College and aligning the reality of what makes Union special with an appropriate and powerful public perception. After all, who better to appreciate the value of a Union education than those who've leveraged it to power their own success?

“We want positive momentum to surround the brand,” stresses Walsh. “Union does great things every day – and people have to know it. To energize the Union brand is something the College will do more of now, or it will become very expensive to catch up. What better audience to reach out to than the people who bought the product?”

FROM GAP TO CAP

CAP was launched last year when Union's development committee recognized “a real gap between the perception of what Union was and the quality experience it delivers,” noted Walsh. “You got an amazing institution, the whole package was absolutely first rate. But the outside world might say, 'Where is it?' We needed to start the ship turning toward a positive reinforcement.”

To establish perception benchmarks, CAP members launched an online survey, hosted focus groups and participated in one-on-one interviews with alumni of various decades.

“We tried to find out everything we could about what people think about Union,” said Beuth.

Questions ran the gamut from terms abroad and undergraduate research to social and residential life at Union. Conducted last spring, this first comprehensive survey of alumni in 35 years found that 92 percent of those polled were satisfied with their overall Union experience.

“We got a tremendous response,” Walsh says. “Approximately 5,000 alumni provided some very robust feedback.”

Even before analysis of the survey data had been completed, Union increased the number of on- and off-campus events and enhanced print and electronic publications to engage alumni and friends more effectively with Union.

“We have so many wonderful stories, so many things that are happening on campus in terms of the whole esprit de corps,” says Beuth. “We have to tell Union's stories.”

That's the next chapter in CAP's book: externalizing the information gleaned in the internal research phase to shape a perception that is more closely aligned with the reality of Union's unique qualities and strengths as a distinguished institution and leader in many fields.

BUILDING PRIDE

The CAP team is dedicated to clearly articulating the unique characteristics and spirit of the College – everything from its international programs and its commitment to academics, arts and athletics to the recent establishment of a converging technologies initiative.

“We hope to be really good about educating alumni that Union is doing good things,” says Beuth. “We want to leverage that pride to influence others who are in the college decision-making process that Union is the place to be.”

Therefore, enhancing Union's actual performance in recruiting and educating students is as important as touting the special qualities Union brings to this task.

“The most significant thing is to create an environment for the best possible education – to make Union a great, great place to be,” says Beuth. “We have to continue to provide the best opportunities to get the best caliber students in the class. We need to get great people and educate them – and hope they remain part of the Union family all their lives.”

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Posted on Jul 17, 2004

Rising to the Challenge

On June 6, we celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the Normandy landing, a
landing that was accomplished by what some said was “the greatest generation.”

Was it? I don't know. What I do know is that that generation clearly rose to the occasion.

I believe that today's students, too, will rise to the occasion. Whether as members of the military or members of their communities, I believe they will work hard to make a difference in the lives of their families and in the lives of those in their communities, their states, their nation, and their world. I believe that they will recognize that their reward will be the satisfaction that comes from putting others before self. And I believe that they will remember that they will be judged not only for the professional challenges they choose to tackle, but for the contributions to the intellectual and moral betterment
of the society in which they live.

Those thoughts came to me again this June, as I looked out at 500 young men and women in their caps and gowns, sitting in Library Plaza and waiting for their names to be called to receive their degrees. I know that graduation day has its melancholy moments-moments when both student and parent realize that a fundamental shift is taking place in their lives. For the most part, though, recognition of that change is a cause for great satisfaction and joy. Having been faced with challenges on many fronts-academic, social, physical-these about-to-be alumni have risen to the occasion again and again.

I'm particularly pleased that for so many of them the challenges have included working for the betterment of the campus and the surrounding community. This challenge is one that could be easily ignored amid papers to be written, exams to be taken, labs to be completed, and extracurricular activities to be enjoyed. Again this year, though, as for so many years, Union students made life better for those around them. In doing so, they made life more meaningful to themselves. As the Hebrew inscription on the dome of the Nott Memorial urges us all, “the day is short, the work is hard, the pay is ample, and God is urgent.”

This issue of the magazine takes note of some of our students' achievements. I wish we had the space to list the names of all the students who helped the local community through such efforts as the Relay for Life (a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society), Big Brothers-Big Sisters, UCare Day (an event that brings local children to Union for fun and feats of skill), canned food drives, tutoring efforts in area schools, and fundraisers such as one involving the Harlem Wizards that attracted 500 people from campus.

I also wish that we could list the names of all the students who volunteer at our Kenney Community Center, which is the centerpiece of the renovation to the College Park neighborhood. Let me cite just a few examples of what goes on in their small building:

• In the Homework Program, approximately twenty to thirty student volunteers tutor twenty third- and fourth- graders for fifteen to twenty hours a week.
• In the America Reads Program, two student program coordinators and fifteen to twenty volunteers provide one-on-one tutoring for some twenty youth ages five through twelve.
• The Girls Inc. Science Program, supported by Union volunteers, is offered one day per week for girls in grades four through six. Ten girls participate in interesting and time-consuming projects.
• The Studying Arithmetic in Literature (SAIL) Program involves three elementary schools, with thirty-five to fifty Union volunteers tutoring more than sixty third-and fourth-graders in reading and math.
• The Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP)
  provides after-school tutoring and Saturday workshops for thirty middle- and high-school students.

• Big Brothers-Big Sisters, our biggest student program, provides mentors for at-risk youth and UCARE, a student volunteer outreach group, assists individual students and student groups in identifying volunteer opportunities in the
  community. Projects include tutoring at the public library, volunteering at the Northeast Parent and Child Society, planting trees for Re-Tree
  Schenectady, and assisting in after-school programs at the Hamilton Arts Center.

Each year, I conclude my Commencement remarks to the seniors with the same words-Make a difference; do well and do good! It is gratifying to know that many have already done so, and it is reassuring to believe, as I do, that they will rise to the unknown challenges ahead, just as an earlier generation rose to the challenge of Normandy.

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Posted on Jul 17, 2004

The Union Bookshelf regularly features new books written
by (or about) alumni and
other members of the Union community. If you're an author and would like to be included in a future issue, please send
us a copy of the book as well as your publisher's news release. Our address is Office of Communications, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308.

Daniel M. Paine '63

Elevated Work Platforms
and Scaffolding : Job Site
Safety Manual by Matthew J. Burkart, Michael McCann, Daniel M. Paine, Matthew Burkart, Jim Lapping, Daniel Paine, and Michael Joye

McGraw-Hill Professional;

ISBN 0071414932, $89.95
Nowhere is construction site safety more at a premium than on elevated work platforms and scaffoldings. Elevated Work Platforms: Job Site Safety Manual demonstrates how to keep these areas as accident-free as possible. Written with authority by construction site safety experts, this heavily-illustrated reference promotes safety through knowledge, correct equipment usage, and the careful application of construction regulations and standards. The manual is ideal for architects, engineers, contractors, and attorneys.

Antonio F. Vianna '66

Talking Rain
1st Books Library,
ISBN 1414066481, $10.74
When Tony Vianna, a human resources executive, isn't
writing management articles for trade journals, he creates mystery novels that pull the reader right in. The backdrop for his most recent yarn, Talking Rain, is a twenty-year-old murder case that sent a man to death row. However, it appears that the case is anything but “closed.” When the convicted killer's wife walks into a police station and confesses to the murder, the police are incredulous. But when people who had been involved in the
case start to die, she gets the authorities' rapt attention,
particularly that of police detective Jack Bogle.
Rewind twenty years ago to the violent death of a university professor. Mix in an academic rivalry, problem gambling, an alleged affair, and a callow policewoman and her not-quite-ex boyfriend who was the lead reporter at the time of the crime. As they rake over the cold embers of the murder and investigate new evidence, the clock on death row continues to tick.

Vincent M.
Bonventre '70

Streams of Tendency on the New York Court: Ideological and Jurisprudential Patterns in the Judges' Voting and Opinions

William S. Hein & Co., Inc., $75
Vincent Bonventre, a prominent judicial scholar and noted expert on the New York Court of Appeals, examines the judges' voting and opinions in nearly 400 divided public law cases from 1987 through 2001 and uncovers how the jurisprudential values and outlooks of individual judges have shaped the court's decisions. Highly readable, this book will be of interest to attorneys, judges, legal scholars, academics, or anyone curious about the judicial process in general.

A member of Albany Law School's faculty since 1990, Bonventre is widely quoted and published on judicial decision making, state constitutional law, criminal and civil rights, legal ethics, and the New York Court of Appeals. He is founder and director of the Center for Judicial Process, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization devoted to the interdisciplinary research and study of courts and judges. He is the editor of Government, Law, & Policy Journal (New York State Bar Association) and State
Constitutional Commentary.

The book can be ordered
by contacting W.S. Hein by phone 800-828-7571, fax
716-883-8100, e-mail heincite@ wshein.com, or
at www.wshein.com.

Jim McCord

Professor of English, Union College

Approaching Winter Solstice
Cobtree Press, Aylesford,
Kent, England
Approaching Winter Solstice is
a selection of twenty-eight poems by Jim McCord, professor of English at the College. The poems have been described as “closely observed encounters with an ordinary world suddenly rendered extraordinary through attentive eye and ear.” Subjects include the delights of small wonders around house and garden, the loving and difficult presences of mother and father, meditations on loss, illness, and death, artifacts, art, and architecture. Whether set in New York State, England, Greece, or Italy, they remind the reader that even when looking into
the heart of darkening light, man as maker can still the beauty of continuance. The book was designed, illustrated, and printed by Anthony Smith. Copies are available from the printer and the author.

Emily Haft Bloom '85

Burgers Every Way

Stewart, Tabori & Chang publisher
ISBN 158479352, $13.97 (Amazon)
'Tis the season-for burgers traditional and exotic. Get
out and fire up the barbecue because Emily Haft Bloom, a freelance writer and regular contributor to Parents magazine, has published Burgers Every Way. With carb-conscious and protein-focused Americans, Bloom offers up a burger for every plate.

Her book is a compendium of 100 recipes for burgers that go beyond beef. A variety of delectations may be created from chicken, turkey, lamb, fish, and veggie variations. The ingredients are easy to find and she includes accompanying beverage suggestions and interesting side dishes, sauces, and condiments (Pineapple Chutney, anyone?). From haute cuisine to low cholesterol, some of the enticing recipes include orange-flavored shredded duck, grilled lamb, big kahuna tuna, and portobello mushroom. Indeed, she has elevated the humble hamburger to new gustatory heights. Along with the recipes and absolutely beautiful photos, Bloom provides a brief history of the hamburger (yes, the American hamburger's grandfather was indeed from Germany) and some very sensible information about food safety.

All in all, this slim volume (less than 100 pages) is a delightful, valuable addition
for the serious gourmand and
a gentle, user-friendly companion to those intimidated/ bewildered by the culinary arts.

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Posted on Jul 17, 2004

Recent gifts, grants, and bequests received by the College include:

• A distribution from a trust established by the late James S. Parsons '19, upon the death of the trust's income beneficiary.
• An unrestricted bequest from the estate of Barbara McCarty in memory of her husband, Spencer L. McCarty '29.
• An unrestricted distribution from the estate of Babette L. Roth, widow of Henry B. Roth '30.
• Proceeds of a charitable gift annuity were added to the Kenneth N. Mathes '35 Endowed Fund for Engineering Students on Terms Abroad upon the death of Mr. Mathes.
• Upon the death of Renate Fitch, widow of Hugh F. Fitch '36, the College received the proceeds of a life insurance policy, a charitable gift annuity, and a pooled life income fund. These gifts are all unrestricted.
• An unrestricted bequest from the estate of Morris Weintraub '41.
• An unrestricted distribution from a pooled life income fund upon the death of Avery J. Beer '42.
• An unrestricted partial distribution from the estate of William E. Fasake '48.
• Randolph W. Meyer '57 established a charitable gift annuity that will ultimately be used to establish both the Randolph W. Meyer '57 Endowment Fund and the Michael B. Meyer '57 Endowment Fund. Randolph and Michael are brothers.
• Les Trachtman '77 made a generous contribution to the Arthur Vash Fund through the Eliphalet Nott Society. Members of the society pledge a minimum of two percent of their equity in an enterprise in which they are founder, principal, lender, or investor. At the time their company goes public or is sold, they contribute the portion of their stock that was pledged to the College as a gift. Les's company, Trancentive, Inc., a leading provider of solutions for employee stock plans, was sold to Computershare, an Australian company. Les is remaining with Computershare as the head of the global share plans business. He earned an electrical engineering degree and continues to stay very involved with the College's entrepreneurial programs and education.
• An unrestricted distribution from the estate of Mary Hyde Eccles, who received an honorary degree in 1979.

A change in the Report of Gifts

The traditional Report of Gifts will be distributed in a new way this year. Look for it with your class letter, which will be mailed in the fall. Each class will receive a list of their donors by gift category. You will also be able to view your class list through your class web page, found under the Alumni heading on the College's website (www.union.edu).

Mark Rosenthal Prize established

The College recently received the following letter:

Mark Rosenthal '76, husband of Linda Rosenthal and father of Brian and David, died in September of 2002.

Mark graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical school and became a renowned cardiologist, practicing in Dresher, Pa., outside of Philadelphia. His accomplishments at Union followed him throughout his medical career, but more importantly, also as a community activist, father and husband. Anyone who knew Mark knew that his sense of humor, keen mind, and untiring commitment to everything he pursued made him a special person, and I was fortunate to have been his friend. He was simply a great person whose very presence made the College community a better place.

After discussions with Linda at the College, I have given thought about how to honor Mark's memory. In recognition of what a special person he was, in coordination with the College Relations Office, I have asked that the Mark Rosenthal '76 Memorial Senior Prize be established at Union. This prize will be awarded each year to a graduate who by his or her community service made the College community a better place.

I have volunteered to begin the funding for this memorial, and am asking any of our contemporaries and/or Mark's friends to consider contributions of whatever size you feel appropriate. If we are able to raise $25,000, the annual prize can become permanently endowed. I hope we are successful in reaching the necessary goal.

Please send your check (payable to Union College) or pledge to Kathy Quinn, Office of College Relations, 807 Union Street, Schenectady, NY 12308.

Thanks.

Steven Loren '77 Highland Park, III.

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