Union in the Media

Taylor Time! is delighted to welcome distinguished violinist, Madeleine Mitchell, as the featured performer, Monday October 26.

Accompanied by Prof. Palma Catravas, Mitchell will present a winning program of British music, including works by Delius and Elgar. These short Taylor Time! concerts, designed to fit your schedule, take place in Emerson Auditorium from 5 to 5:50 p.m. each Monday.

Madeleine Mitchell is a Professor of Music at the Royal College of Music in London and has performed in some 50 countries. Her discography contains many widely acclaimed recordings. She is a concerto soloist and 2015/16 engagements include China, Vienna, the Elgar Violin Concerto in Russia, and a new violin concerto written especially for her with the National Orchestra of Wales. She has been described by The Times as "one of Britain's liveliest musical forces (and) foremost violinists".

Hundreds of members of the Union community, including Greek organizations and student clubs, helped spruce up the city and surrounding area Saturday, Oct. 17, for the 21st annual John Calvin Toll Day.

Union recently hosted the 2015 Haiku North America Conference.

The event featured workshops and performances from over 100 haiku poets, editors and publishers. Hilary Tann, the John Howard Payne Professor of Music and chair of the department, was instrumental in bringing the conference to the College.

To read a front page story in the Times Union, click here.

Valerie Barr, professor of computer science, gave two talks last week. The first was at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on “Disciplinary Thinking, Computational Doing: Promoting Interdisciplinary Computing While Transforming Computer Science Enrollments.” The talk was jointly sponsored by the STEM Education Institute and the university’s Computer Science Department. Her second talk was at Hofstra University titled, “The Toy Aisle Still Matters: The State of Women in STEM.” The talk was organized by Hofstra’s Women’s Studies Program.

An article by Christine Henseler, professor of Spanish and chair of the Modern Languages Department, was published by CCTV, a news media outlet in China. The piece is titled “Chinese Should Recognize True Value of Liberal Arts Education.”

Lewis Davis, professor of economics, presented a paper on "Political Economy of Growth with a Taste for Status" at the Liberal Arts Colleges Development Economics Conference at Lafayette College on Sept. 10. The paper shows that concerns over social status may lead to the adoption of growth-retarding policies in societies with oligarchic or populist political systems.

Joseph Johnson, director of Writing Programs, gave a lecture, "Thoreau and the Liberal Arts: Transcendental Higher Learning for the Twenty-First Century," at St. Michael’s College. His talk was part of the college’s Humanities Center Lecture Series.

Stephen Romero, associate professor of psychology, was a featured speaker this summer for students in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Summer Internship Program at the National Institute of Health. Romero, an alumnus of the program, spoke on his experience with the NIH and also gave a talk, “Career Plasticity Leads to Studying Neuronal Plasticity.”

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After relentlessly pursuing his interest in auto racing and German engineering, David Merkel ’06 is now a member of the Porsche Motorsport North America track support team.

The group of engineers provides comprehensive technical assistance to Porsche customer teams in a variety of North American sports car racing series, including the International Motor Sports Association-sanctioned Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama and Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences released a series of studies on the employability and earnings of those who majored in the humanities.

The Academy also included an essay by Christine Henseler, professor of Spanish and chair of the Modern Languages Department.

To read an article on Inside Higher Ed, click here.

Professor Carol Weisse, director of Health Professions, and Rhona Beaton, assistant director of Health Professions, presented “Developing Service-based Learning Opportunities that Promote Reflection and Interprofessional Communication,” an interactive session that was telecast nationally at the annual meeting of the Northeast Association of Advisors to the Health Professions. Beaton described her community placements for students, including new sites for chiropractic medicine, physical therapy and dentistry. Beaton and Weisse also offered a workshop, “Developing and Implementing an MCAT Review Course to Incorporate the New Foundational Concepts.” Weisse also presented a poster “Engaging Students in End of Life Care: Cultivating a Community of Compassionate Caregivers” with Kathryn Martin '17and Dr. Geri Aitken '88. In addition, Weisse was awarded the conference’s Buck Hill ’68 Award for her work promoting better advising of health professions students and her initiatives engaging students in hospice work.

Scott Kirkton, associate professor of biology, has received a $380,000 National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Award for the acquisition of a high-resolution micro-computed tomography system. This project will enhance the work of the College’s STEM programs by leading students through exciting, hands-on µCT imaging with associated 3-D printing modules.

Ann Anderson, the Agnes S. MacDonald Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Mary Carroll ‘86, professor of chemistry, with co-author Leah Smith ‘14 have published a paper, "Preparation of vanadia-containing aerogels by rapid supercritical extraction for applications in catalysis." It will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology. The National Science Foundation supported the experiments described in the paper. Smith is currently in the Materials Science and Engineering graduate program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

An article by Andrew Huisman, assistant professor of chemistry, was recently published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions. The piece is titled, “Viscous Organic Aerosol Particles in the Upper Troposphere: Diffusivity-Controlled Water Uptake and Ice Nucleation.”

Assistant Professor Andrew Burkett's book, Romantic Mediations: Media Theory and British Romanticism, is under contract with SUNY Press. The book investigates the ways in which Romantic imaginative literature and art become transformed by incipient media systems such as negative-positive photography, phonography, moving images and digital media.

Work by Martin Benjamin, the William D. Williams Professor of Visual Arts, will be on display at Vicolo dell’Oro in Firenze, Italy. The collection of photographs, titled “A.R.T. – American Road Trips,” won LIFE Magazine’s Bicentennial Photography Contest in 1973 in the professional category. The exhibit runs Oct. 2-22.

Samuel Amanuel, associate professor of physics and astronomy, presented a paper on heat of fusion of nano crystals at the fifth European conference on crystal growth held in Bologna, Italy. Alex Clain ‘15 and Caleb Novins ‘15 are co-authors of the paper.

Dan Amira ’07 is part of a team of writers that won an Emmy earlier this week.

The award, for outstanding writing for a variety series, recognizes their work on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Dan was also a member of the writing team nominated in 2014, in the same category for the same show. Prior to joining “The Daily Show” in January 2014, Dan was senior editor, online, at New York Magazine.

At Union, Dan was active, involved in initiatives like Pizza & Politics. His father, Don Amira ’75, is also an alumnus. For a complete list of Emmy winners, click here.

The College recently completed a renovation of its Rathskeller, which sustained heavy damage after a flood in July 2014.

To read about it in the Times Union, click here.

To learn more from Union's news site, click here.