"Union Notables" on display in Schaffer Library
Andrea Barrett '74 is featured in the new "Union Notables" exhibit. |
A writer, a physician and a politician are the first to be featured in “Union Notables,” a new exhibit which recently opened in the atrium of Schaffer Library.
The rotating exhibit will feature three outstanding alumni every six months. The current group includes Andrea Barrett ’74, Baruch Samuel Blumberg ’46 and William Henry Seward, class of 1820.
Barrett graduated from Union with a degree in biology and pursued zoology and medieval history before writing fiction in earnest. In 1996, she received a National Book Award for “Ship Fever,” a collection of short stories. Her other top writing prizes include a Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize and two O. Henry awards. Another story collection, “Servants of the Map,” was a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Blumberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1976 for his pioneering work in studying the origin and dissemination of Hepatitis A and B.
During his career, Seward served as New York State governor, U.S. senator and secretary of state under Abraham Lincoln. Seward helped write and sign the "Emancipation Proclamation," and is perhaps best known for engineering the $7.2 million United States purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867.
William Henry Seward, class of 1820, who served as Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State. |
When each new group of “Union Notables” is installed, the preceding alumni will be relocated to a permanent home elsewhere on campus.
The initial group of "notables" will remain on display through Feb. 29, 2008. The next group will feature Phil Robinson ’71, screenwriter and director of "Field of Dreams," "Sneakers" and "Sum of All Fears;" Gordon Gould ’41, inventor of the laser; and Lewis Henry Morgan, class of 1840, who is considered by many to be the father of modern American anthropology. That group will be on display from March 1, 2008, through Aug. 31, 2008.
The exhibit is sponsored by the President’s Office, the Mandeville Gallery and the Union College Notables Committee.
View more "Union Notables."