Union’s faculty, staff and students are often mentioned in local, national and international media outlets. Among the outlets that have highlighted Union include the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, U.S. News and World Report, MONEY and the Associated Press.
Content on Union’s news site has been honored by the Council for the Advancement of Secondary Education (CASE).
For most, it was their first time working in oil. But students in Assistant Professor of Visual Arts Laini Nemett’s Painting in Oil class delved deeply into understanding the centuries-old medium and learning how to manipulate it on canvas.
Painting still life, figures and interior/exterior spaces, they explored basic principles of design and color theory. Their efforts are visible in “Color Principle: Painting in Oil,” on view in the Wikoff Student Gallery at the Nott Memorial.
The artists include Steven Apolo ’18, Hein Htet Aung ’20, Ari Bennett ’18, Emily Dahlstrom ’18, Lauren Elder ’19, Jackie Feingold ’19, Emily Fiore ’18, Yi Ting Paung ’17, Josh Price ’18, Yuhe Zhou ’17 and Yuanqing Zhu ’17.
Looking at historical and contemporary artists as points of reference, this intro-level class exposes students to a range of painting principles focusing on color, including complementary contrast, local versus perceived color, temperature shifts of light and shadow on the human form, and contrasting light from interior and exterior spaces.
“Stylistic differences arose naturally as each artist spent more time with the medium,” Nemett said. “The exciting results of this exploration are as varied as the voices of those who painted them.”
The featured works on canvas are from an assignment based on the concept of collage in which the students were asked to portray space, both real and imagined, using this two-dimensional medium.
“The resulting artworks provide new perspectives and ways to configure space, unique to the frame of reference and frame of mind of the individual artist,” Nemett said.
For instance, Feingold’s illusionistic and surreal composition challenges an ingrained, physical deference for traditional perspectives.
Elder’s long, horizontal piece, “Escaping Oppression,” was created for a final project that focused on the concept of social consciousness.
The work “illustrates the emergence and hopeful resolution of anthropomorphized societal issues, such as sexism, racism and homophobia,” Elder said.
A course by Rachel Magin '14, a doctoral student in the Psychology Lab at Indiana State University, was recently featured on NPR's All Things Considered. The class, designed for children with high-functioning autism, teaches students about social skills and reading/expressing body language through improvisational theater.
During her time at Union, Magin participated in Steinmetz Symposium, Outing Club, Jewish Student Union-Hillel, and spent a term abroad in Cambodia.
John Wold ’38, a devoted son of Union whose generosity has transformed the College, and a pioneering geologist whose vision changed the mining industry, died Feb. 19, 2017, in Casper, Wyo. He was 100.
To read an obituary in the Daily Gazette, click here (subscription may be required).
Karen Liberman Smith ’87, senior vice president at Olympus Scientific Solutions, will speak on Monday, Feb. 20, during common lunch in the Nott Memorial.
Smith, an electrical engineering major at Union, is in charge of her company’s non-destructive testing and analytical instrument business units.
She also holds an MBA from Clark University.
Her talk is sponsored by the Alumni Speaker Series.
Troy Grosenick '14 was recently featured in the Times Union newspaper.
The story focused on his professional hockey career – he’s a goaltender with the San Jose Barracuda – and his continuing close-knit friendships with former Union teammates. At Union, Grosenick played hockey, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and participated in Steinmetz Symposium.
John Wold ’38, a devoted son of Union whose generosity has transformed the College, and a pioneering geologist whose vision changed the mining industry, died Feb. 19, 2017, in Casper, Wyo. He was 100.
Wold, also an accomplished politician, was born Aug, 31, 1916, in East Orange, N.J. But he grew up at Union College, a place that sparked his love of geology long before he was ever a student.
“John Wold was a remarkable person and Mrs. Ainlay and I feel so very fortunate to have known him and to have called him friend,” said President Stephen C. Ainlay. “He was the embodiment of what it means to be loyal son or daughter of Union. In John's case, he literally grew up on the Union campus and his commitment to the College knew no bounds.
"John and his wife, Jane, were warm, vibrant, engaging, intellectually curious, and took great interest in all things Union. They both believed in the power of education and the special capacity of Union College to change lives for the better. To say they both will be missed is an understatement.”
A self-described “campus kid,” his father, Peter I. Wold, led Union’s Physics Department from 1920-1945. During that time, the family lived in North College, in the building that is now Wold House (one of the College’s seven
Jane and John Wold '38 at the dedication of the Peter Irving Wold Center in May 2011.
Minerva Houses). On his daily walks home from school, young Wold habitually visited the spot where old geology specimens were discarded.
“I would paw through those samples and eventually built up a pretty nice collection of materials from around the world,” Wold told the Union College alumni magazine in 2003. “That dump was one of the first things that got me interested in geology.”
Wold played hockey at Union, was a St. Andrew’s University Exchange Scholar, and a member of Terrace Council, the Sigma Xi science honor society and Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.
Wold’s time on campus helped foster a bond between the man and his alma mater that would last a lifetime, and inspire a generosity that has transformed Union College.
In summer 2016, Wold gave a $5 million gift in memory of his wife, Jane, who died Nov. 18, 2015, at the age of 92. The couple had been married 70 years.
Together, they gave an earlier gift of $20 million, the largest in Union’s history. It made possible the Peter Irving Wold Center, a 35,000-square-foot state-of-the-art research and education center named for John’s father. The gift also established the John and Jane Wold Professorship in Religious Studies, supported Wold House, and established the John and Jane Wold Professorship in Geology.
Wold held a master’s of science in geology from Cornell University and was founder and president of Wold Oil Properties, Inc. A trustee emeritus at Union, he was a former Republican U.S. Congressman (1969-71). He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, first as a consulting physicist and later as a gunnery officer.
A dedicated philanthropist, he supported science and science education at the likes of Casper College, Casey Eye Institute (macular degeneration research), the University of Wyoming and Cornell University.
The Wolds were recognized by the city of Casper, Wyo., in 2014 for their support of the Wold Family Arena, an ice rink at the Casper Events Center. At the dedication ceremony, Athletic Director James McLaughlin and Men’s Ice Hockey Coach Rick Bennett presented Wold with a ring to commemorate Union’s national championship earlier that year.
Wold was also instrumental in the exploration and development of the second largest talc mine in North America, and the production of trona, a source of soda ash widely used in manufacturing, in southeastern Wyoming. His interest in coal gasification in the Powder River Basin unlocked millions of tons of coal that were otherwise too deep to mine economically. He explored business ventures in nearly all extractive industries including coal, oil and gas, soda ash and uranium.
Jane and John Wold '38, with from left, Trustee John E. Kelly III '76, President Stephen C. Ainlay and Trustee Frank L. Messa '73 at the dedication of the Peter Irving Wold Center in May 2011.
In 2015, Wold received the Energy Pioneer Award from the Wyoming Natural Gas Fair Association, just one of numerous recognitions of his career in the energy industry.
Union recognized Wold’s visionary achievements much earlier. In 1999, he received the Eliphalet Nott Medal, which honors the perseverance of distinguished alumni who have attained great distinction in their fields. In 2008, Union bestowed an honorary doctor of science degree on Wold.
Wold visited campus last June for an early 100th birthday party hosted by students in Wold House.
Survivors include his sons Peter and Jack; daughter, Priscilla Longfield; and a number of grandchildren, including Joseph Wold ’10.
Jillmarie Murphy, associate professor of English, presented a paper at the Nineteenth-Century Studies Association Conference in Charleston, SC. “Memory and Displaced Bodies in Leonora Sansay's Secret History; or, the Horrors of Saint Domingo,” focused on the third chapter of her forthcoming book, Attachment, Place, and Otherness in Nineteenth-Century American Literature: New Materialist Representations.Learn more about it here.
Also, Romantic Mediations: Media Theory and British Romanticism, a book by Andrew Burkett, assistant professor of English, was featured on the Scholar’s Choice table at the conference. Learn more about the book here.
Christine Henseler, professor of Spanish, gave a presentation at the American Association of Colleges & Universities. “On Being Portal: Breaking Us Out of Our Habituated Ways of Thinking” addressed how moving outside disciplinary and cultural boundaries can provide opportunities in higher education.
Brad Karp '81, chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, was recently featured in Bloomberg Law. The profile focused on the course of his law career. Today, Karp's clients include major banks such as Citigroup and the National Football League, and he continues to practice while growing the firm, which was the second most profitable in the U.S. in 2016.
During his time at Union, Karp majored in political science, and was involved with Block U and Golf Club.
