Union in the Media

A new exhibit in the Mandeville Gallery, “Of Weeds and Wildness: Nature in Black & White,” was recently featured in the Daily Gazette.

The exhibit, which opened Jan. 13 and runs through March 13, features 17 contemporary artists working in black and white to explore the natural world.

Their art encompasses a range of styles, approaches and mediums, including photographs, prints, drawings and digital works.

The College celebrated Founders Day Thursday, Feb. 24, with an emphasis on preserving its role as a leader and innovator at a time when the value of a liberal arts education is under attack.

In her keynote address, noted author and philosopher Martha Nussbaum praised the College for its pioneering role, stating “its core, throughout its history, has been the idea of liberal arts education, including an emphasis on writing, ethical reasoning, historical study, and courses in literature, civilization and foreign languages.”

Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, is a passionate advocate for the liberal arts and the author of numerous books, including “Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities” (Princeton University Press, 2010).

For President's Day, Time Warner Cable's YNN did a feature on U.S. presidents with a link to the Capital Region. Included was Union’s own Chester A. Arthur, Class of 1848 and the country’s 21st president.

The College houses a number of artifacts and other memorabilia from Arthur’s days as a student, along with other items such as a walnut and leather writing desk used by President Ainlay. The Chester Arthur statue stands outside the gate to Jackson’s Garden.

A new exhibit in the Mandeville Gallery, “Of Weeds and Wildness: Nature in Black & White,” was featured on the cover of the Preview section of the Times Union.

The exhibit, which opened Jan. 13 and runs through March 13, features 17 contemporary artists working in black and white to explore the natural world.

Their art encompasses a range of styles, approaches and mediums, including photographs, prints, drawings and digital works.

Dozens of high school students from around the state competed in the STEP (Science and Technology Entry Program) Regional Science Bowl Saturday at College Park Hall.

The keynote speaker was Quintin Bullock, president of Schenectady County Community College.

STEP encourages historically underrepresented students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. The Science Bowl is a “Jeopardy”-style contest in which teams compete in several rounds. Each squad is mentored by one of about a dozen institutions, including Union, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University at Albany and Syracuse University.

Union’s STEP program is run through the Kenney Community Center. The College’s two teams are coached by Denly Lettsome ’11 and Emilia Strzalkowska ’11, with assistance from Chris Vargas ’11. In addition, nearly 50 Union students will volunteer as moderators, judges, timekeepers and scorekeepers.

For the second time in its history, applications to Union surpassed the 5,000 mark.

The 5,064 students who applied for a spot in the Class of 2015 represent an increase of 4 percent from a year ago, when 4,874 students sought admission to Union. And this year’s applications approached the record 5,271 received for the Class of 2012.

Antonio Gutierrez '10, a member of Union's first group of Posse Scholars, was recently featured in the Boston Globe. The Posse Foundation was established in 1989 and has sites in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C. It selects extraordinary young people with leadership potential who excel academically, but may be overlooked by the traditional college selection process.

Rebecca Cortez, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has co-authored papers with colleagues at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Northern Illinois University and the University of Albany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. “Local transport properties, morphology, and microstructure of ZnO decorated SiO2 nanoparticles,” was published in the journal Nanotechnology, and “Investigation of the drain current shift in ZnO thin film transistors” was published in the Journal of Applied Physics. The atomic force microscopy research completed at Union College for these efforts was supported by a National Science Foundation grant. Additional support for the ZnO thin film transistor characterization was provided by Union’s Faculty Research Fund.

Research Professor of Philosophy Raymond Martin will be an interviewed panelist in the New York Academy of Sciences’ six-part interdisciplinary series, “Perspectives on the Self: Conversations on Identity and Consciousness.” Joining him on the panel are historian Gerald Izenberg and sociologist Nobert Wiley. This session, titled “Me, Myself, and I: The Rise of the Modern Self,” will be held in New York City Jan. 27. In addition, Martin’s review essay, “Let Many Flowers Bloom,” on historian Allan Megill’s “Historical Knowledge, Historical Error: A Contemporary Guide to Practice,” appeared in a recent issue of the journal History and Theory.

Michael Vineyard, the Frank and Marie Louise Bailey Professor of Physics and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, gave a talk titled “Rutherford Back-Scattering Experiment in the First-Year Seminar at Union College” at the 2011 winter meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers in Jacksonville, Fla. The meeting celebrated 100 years of nuclear physics that began with the discovery of the atomic nucleus in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford. Scott LaBrake, senior lecturer and accelerator manager, was co-author of the paper.

“Morning in Tunisia,” an article by Michele Angrist, associate professor of political science, appears in the current issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, which is published by the Council on Foreign Relations. Angrist is editor of “Politics and Society in the Contemporary Middle East” and co-editor of “Authoritarianism in the Middle East Regimes and Resistance.”

The recent performance of “Hijabi Monologues: The Women Under the Head Scarves,” a play that examines a simple piece of clothing and the complex reactions to it in the U.S., was mentioned in the Times Union blog, "Muslim Women."

This powerful storytelling experience is designed to create a space for American Muslim women to share experiences, use their voices and connect with others.

Michele Angrist, associate professor of political science, has a piece in the current issue of Foreign Affairs magazine about the uprising in Tunisia, "Morning in Tunisia."

Angrist is editor of "Politics and Society in the Contemporary Middle East" and co-editor of "Authoritarianism in the Middle East Regimes and Resistance."