Martin Benjamin, William D. Williams Professor of Visual Arts Emeritus, is to be inducted into the Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Hall of Fame on March 27 at 6 p.m. at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs. With his first published photo of Bruce Springsteen at Albany’s Palace Theater in 1979, Benjamin embarked on a career of photographing hundreds of rock musicians. He is the author of Rock Shots, and his work has appeared in exhibits and media throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.

David Friedell, assistant professor of philosophy, is co-author (with Shen-yi Liao of the University of Puget Sound) of a paper, “How Statues Speak,” in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. The paper is about the meaning of Confederate statues. Friedell is currently a visiting fellow at Yale University.

Common Spirits, a special hand-stitched and bound edition of works by painter Walter Hatke, professor emeritus of visual arts, and poet Jordan Smith, the Edward E. Hale, Jr. Professor of English, has been released by fourColor Inc. of Niantic, Conn. The book is a compendium of several collaborations by the two faculty. The first collaboration featured Hatke’s “Hat-Key” series of paintings and Smith’s poems inspired by them. The second series includes works on paper (primarily watercolor, ink and colored pencil) derived from mementos Hatke gathered from Adirondack Mountain hikes, with Smith’s poems based on the works. They were featured in an exhibition, “What Came Home,” at Union’s Kelly Adirondack Center in 2019. “Common Spirits” was supported by the Humanities Faculty Research Fund.

Ellen Robertson, assistant professor of chemistry; Stephanie Curley, assistant professor of biomedical engineering; and Yijing Stehle, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, recently led a field trip to SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany. In attendance were students studying nanotechnology in CHM/ESC 224 and ESC 324, and students participating in research with faculty that synthesize and characterize novel nanomaterials (Profs. Robertson, Curley, Stehle, Rebecca Cortez and Chris Whitehead). On the trip, students and faculty toured silicon wafer fabrication facilities and other laboratories that conduct high impact nanoscience research."

Andrew Morris, associate professor of history, was quoted in an Associated Press story about the ethical questions raised when private sector donations support those fighting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There is a history of Americans fundraising, even fighting, in conflicts not involving the U.S., but generally the government discourages support that goes against U.S. foreign policy, Morris said. He notes that Japanese-American support of Japan before World War II was used as evidence of disloyalty during the internment of those communities after the attack on Pearl Harbor.