Union in the Media

In an article on Forbes.com about how to develop future technical leaders, Tom Gillis cites Union’s “Symposium on Engineering & Liberal Education.”

Last spring, leaders from nearly two dozen schools attended the fourth annual conference. Among the participants: Princeton, Dartmouth, Binghamton, Lafayette, Smith, Trinity and MIT. The symposium explored the impact of integration on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Past symposia have focused on how engineering contributes to a liberal education, the importance of a liberal education for engineers and exploration of the intellectual relationship between engineering and the liberal arts. The annual symposium has attracted national media attention, including The Chronicle of Higher Education.

In 1845, Union became the first liberal arts college to offer engineering. With the addition of projects such as the recently opened $22 million Peter Irving Wold Center, with its emphasis on interdisciplinary study, the College is reshaping what it means to liberally educate students in the 21st century.

To read the article on Forbes.com, click here.

The campus community paused to reflect Sunday on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks with a day of remembrance, “Building Bridges toward Better Understanding.”

More than 100 faculty, staff and students gathered in the Nott Memorial for the 30-minute event. Students were barely older than nine or 10 at the time of the attacks, but a handful shared their thoughts on the horrible tragedy and the lessons that could be learned.

Sunday’s event was organized by Viki Brooks, director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and campus Protestant minister, and Gretchel Hathaway, senior director of Campus Diversity and Affirmative Action.

To read about the event in the Daily Gazette, click here.

Kate White '72, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, was recently featured in Daily Front Row. White discussed juggling the job of running a magazine with her other passion - writing mystery novels.

John Garver, professor of geology, was recently quoted in the Daily Gazette about local flooding concerns after Hurricane Irene.

For the last three years, Garver has helped organize an annual conference on the physical aspects of the Mohawk River watershed at Union. The daylong features nearly two dozen presentations on topics including flooding, ecosystem analysis, water quality, and the management and future of the watershed.

To read the Gazette story, click here.

A study by Cay Anderson-Hanley, assistant professor of psychology, on the cognitive benefits of low-intensity strengthening exercise for older adults, was recently published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology.

The study was mentioned in an article in Real Simple magazine.

Assistant Professor Brad Hays of Political Science was a recent guest on "Congressional Corner" on WAMC, Northeast Public Radio. 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.

Jeff Wilkin - The Daily Gazette

The Daily Gazette recently featured the new exhibit at the Mandeville Gallery, “Pulp Fiction Paintings: Selections from the Robert Lesser Collection.” The show, which runs through Sept. 25, features works made as covers for the pulp fiction genre of the 1930’s and 1940’s, which included adventure, mystery, science fiction, war stories and westerns.

A new survey conducted in part by Assistant Psychology Professor Christopher Chabris reveals that many people in the U.S. – in some cases a substantial majority – think that memory is more powerful, objective and reliable than it actually is. Their ideas are at odds with decades of scientific research.

The results of the survey and a comparison to expert opinion appear in a paper in the journal PLoS ONE.

“This is the first large-scale, nationally representative survey of the U.S. population to measure intuitive beliefs about how memory works,” said University of Illinois psychology professor Daniel Simons, who led the study with Chabris. Simons and Chabris conducted the survey during research for their book, “The Invisible Gorilla,” which explores commonly held (and often incorrect) beliefs about memory and perception.

The survey received extensive national publicity, including U.S News and World Report, ABC News and MSNBC.

Zoe Oxley, associate professor of political science, was recently quoted in the Times Union about the importance of campaign signs, especially in small local races.

To read the story, click here.

Assistant Professor Brad Hays of Political Science was a recent guest on "Congressional Corner" on WAMC, Northeast Public Radio. 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.