A talk celebrating the Erie Canal as it turns 200 is one of the highlights offered by the Union College Academy for Lifelong Learning this spring.
“The Erie Canal at 200: Its impact on New York State, the Nation and Schenectady” will feature guest speakers Brian U. Stratton, director of the New York State Canal Corporation, and Brad L. Utter, curator and senior historian, New York State Museum.
The College has a rich history with the canal: A student designed some of the original bridges, and a team of students and professors is currently working to restore several historic locks.
Students work on restoring the Erie Canal Lock 23 historic site in Rotterdam, N.Y. in fall 2023.
In 2000, the College celebrated the 175th anniversary of the canal’s opening with an exhibit that drew more than 10,000 visitors to the Nott Memorial. A highlight was a concert by folk singer and Union alum George Ward, who recorded an album of Erie Canal songs in 1982, “Oh! That Low Bridge.”
A number of Union faculty members are teaching UCALL classes this spring. The other topics and faculty are:
- Religious Freedom: A Comparative History, with Peter Bedford, the John and Jane Wold Professor of Religious Studies
- Lasting Favorites in Opera, with Josef Schmee, the Kenneth B. Sharpe Professor of Management Emeritus
- Disruption in Society, with Deidre Hill-Butler, professor of sociology
- Topics in Science, with Luke Dosiek, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Nick Webb, associate professor of computer science; Chad Orzel, the R. Gordon Gould Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy; and Francis Wilkin, senior lecturer in physics and astronomy
Additional courses, including a storytelling workshop and Faith in Films, are being taught by community leaders.
Classes begin April 1. All classes will be held in Reamer Auditorium or College Park Hall, with the option to join remotely via Zoom. For more information and to register online, visit the UCALL website, or contact ucall@union.edu or Director Valerie D’Amario at (518) 388-6072.
For more than three decades, retirees and other community members have come to campus to participate in UCALL.
Offering non-credit courses taught by retired and current Union faculty, along with area experts, the program aims to “provide opportunities for intellectual development, cultural stimulation and social interaction for adults through courses, excursions and special events.”
UCALL was created in 1988 by Arnold Gussin, dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies, at the suggestion of Charles Van Wormer ’36.