Union in the Media

President David R. Harris joined city, county and state officials at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Mohawk Harbor Event Center. The $50 million, 97,178-square foot multi-purpose event center features a 2,200-seat ice hockey rink with capacity expanding to 3,600 for other sporting events, trade shows, special events and conventions. The College has negotiated a long-term lease with the developer for the arena to host the school’s Division I men’s and women’s hockey programs.

Among the media outlets on hand for the event were WAMC, Northeast Public Radio, the Times Union, Daily Gazette, WRGB and WTEN.

The event center is scheduled to be completed in time for both Garnet Chargers teams to play in their new home for the 2025-26 season.

WAMC, Northeast Public Radio, recently did a feature showcasing the Visual Arts Department 's classes that blend art and technology open to all: Digital Fabrication, Physical Computing and Real & Recorded Time.

Northeast Public Radio is a member of National Public Radio serving parts of seven northeastern states. These include New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

To listen to the piece, please visit the website.

Class of 1980 graduates Rich and Mary Templeton, whose $51 million gift announced in 2020 was the largest in Union’s history, have given another $40 million to strengthen the College’s distinctive integration of the liberal arts, engineering and computer science.

A number of media outlets mentioned the gift, including the Times Union, the Daily Gazette, the Albany Business Review , the Chronicle of Philanthropy and WNYT-13, the local NBC affiliate.

A subscription may be required to access the content from any of the outlets.

The news originally appeared on the College's website.

The Los Angeles Review of Books recently published an essay by Lori Marso, the Doris Zemurray Stone Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies.

Marso's essay reviews novelist Christine Smallwood's book about a classic Chantal Akerman film, “La Captive” to ask to whom, and to what, we are captive. Does making art in or about captivity move us towards freedom?

Marso is a regular contributor to The Los Angeles Review of Books.

To read Marso’s latest essay, visit the website.

Marso joined Union in 1997.

Chad Orzel, the R. Gordon Gould Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy and chair of the department, was quoted in a New York Times article, "Leap Day Wants a Little Respect."

A subscription may be required to access the article.

Orzel's most recent book is "A Brief History of Timekeeping: The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks.”

Orzel joined Union in 2001.

The Daily Gazette featured Donald Rodbell, the Jane and John Wold Professor of Geosciences, in its "Getting to Know" feature. A subscription may be required to access the article.

Rodbell, who joined Union in 1993, was recently awarded the Israel C. Russell Award of the Geological Society of America.

The award, given by the Geological Society of America Limnogeology Division, honors major achievements in limnogeology through contributions in research, teaching and service. Rodbell, also a recent Stillman Research Prize winner, has been studying and teaching about lake paleoclimate records for more than 30 years.

President David Harris shared his thoughts with Trusteeship magazine for an article titled, "Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Higher Education."

During his Convocation remarks last fall, Harris focused on AI as one of his themes.

Noting closing phrase of the College’s vision statement to develop “every student to lead with wisdom, empathy and courage, in ways large and small, now and across multiple tomorrows,” Harris said Union must lean into the ample opportunities offered by generative AI.

He asserted that Union has positioned itself to thrive in the complex and evolving environment.

“With the combination of liberal arts and computer science and engineering, our students will contemplate the ethics and practical generations of generative AI from a holistic and interdisciplinary perspective while developing the skills expected from future employers,” he said.

The Los Angeles Review of Books recently published an essay, "Burn Book: On “Priscilla” and Sofia Coppola’s White Girls" by Lori Marso, the Doris Zemurray Stone Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies.

Considering the fact that Coppola's films always feature beautiful, suffering white girls, Marso asks: "Can the white girl aesthetic be pried open? To move beyond it, must we burn it?"

To read Marso’s essay, visit the website.

Marso joined Union in 1997.

President David Harris and members of Schenectady Clergy Against Hate were recent guests on WAMC, Northeast Public Radio’s program, “The Roundtable.”

Harris, Rabbi Matthew Cutler, Congregation Gates of Heaven in Schenectady, and Rev. Amaury Tañón-Santos, executive director/CEO, Schenectady Community Ministries, previewed an upcoming event as part of the College’s Forum on Constructive Engagement.

Northeast Public Radio is a member of National Public Radio serving parts of seven northeastern states. These include New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

To listen to the conversation, please visit The Roundtable's website.