Antonín Dvořάk’s delightful "Bagatelles for Piano, two Violins and Cello, Op. 47" will begin the evening, followed by some Czech Dances for solo piano by Bedřich Smetana, Bohuslav Martinú’s nostalgic “Three Madrigals” for violin and viola, and ending with Dvořάk’s popular "Quintet in A major for Piano, two Violins, Viola and Cello, B." 

Pianist Jeremy Denk made his debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall last season and is frequently a soloist with many major orchestras including the Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis and San Francisco Symphonies, the Philadelphia and Philharmonia (London) Orchestras. Denk is also highly regarded for his music blog, “Think Denk” which is frequently referenced by many in the music industry and press. In Feb. 2012, his article on recording the Ives Sonatas was published in The New Yorker. 

Violinist Erin Keefe was a 2006 Avery Fischer Career Grant recipient and recently took the grand prize in the Valsesia Musica and Torun international violin competitions, the Schadt Competition, and the Corpus Christi International String Competition. She was appointed as concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra in the fall of 2011. 

Violinist Arnaud Sussmann was a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has appeared as a soloist throughout the United States, Central America, Europe, and Asia, and at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Smithsonian Museum and the Louvre. 

Cellist Andrés Díaz was a 1998 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient who is also an award-winning recording artist. He is a popular performer with symphonies around the country and has played recitals at Alice Tully Hall, the Library of Congress, Jordan Hall, the Gardner Museum, the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena and the San Francisco Performances Series. 

Violist Paul Neubauer was appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at age 21 and is now an artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He is currently on the faculty at The Julliard School and Mannes College. 

Tickets are $20 per person. The Union community can attend for free. For information, call 518-388-6080 or click here. 

Tonko, D-Amsterdam, was invited by Union’s student chapter of Democracy Matters, a non-partisan student activist group that advocates for campaign finance reform.

“The topic is of particular interest to New York since Gov. Cuomo publicly backed campaign finance reform and public financing of elections,” said Gabriella Levine ’14, Democracy Matters campus leader. “We are looking forward to what Congressman Tonko has to say on this issue.”

The talk is free and open to the public.

Before he was elected to Congress, Tonko served as chairman and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and spent 16 years as chair of the Energy Committee in the New York State Assembly.

He recently formed the Mighty Waters Task Force, a group of 25 leaders from business, community and education, to develop a regional plan for waterfront development throughout the Capital Region. President Stephen C. Ainlay is a member of the Task Force’s Executive Committee and chairs the Research and Education Committee.

Bernard Lafayette, a Freedom Rider and minister who has worked tirelessly to promote civil rights, will come to campus Monday to detail his experiences during one of the nation's most tumultuous times. 

Lafayette’s talk, “Religion and the Civil Rights Movement,” is at 6 p.m. in the Nott Memorial. 

Working alongside such leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, Lafayette heralded the importance of nonviolent social change in America. He joined the Freedom Riders,  a group African-American and white civil rights activists who rode buses together protesting segregation. The riders were attacked in May of 1961 at a bus station in Montgomery, Ala. Lafayette narrowly escaped the attackers and went on to participate in many other nonviolent public protests, including the marches from Selma to Montgomery alongside King and others. 

He also was a member of the Nashville Student Movement and worked closely throughout the 1960s with groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Southern Christian Leadership Conference. 

He is currently a distinguished scholar-in-residence at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He also helped found the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island. In 2011, Lafayette published an opinion piece in the New York Times on his experience as a Freedom Rider. Read that by clicking here. 

The President’s Office, Africana Studies Department, Multicultural Affairs Office and Campus Diversity Office are co-sponsoring the event. 

Other campus events for Black History Month include a Civil Rights Movement movie screening at Green House. The shows include:

• Monday, Feb. 20, 9 p.m.: “Something the Lord Made” (2004)
• Monday, Feb. 27, 9 p.m.: “Ghosts of Mississippi” (1996) 

The Black Student Union is also hosting its 8th annual Black History Month Celebration Saturday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. in Old Chapel. The event will include special performances and a reception immediately following. 

Guest director David Girard has assembled a cast of 16 students: Robyn Belt ’14 in the key role of Edna, Carla Duval ’14, Catherine Elliott ’12, Rachel Feingold ’12, Daniel Franc ’15, Joe Kiernan ’13, Jacob LaRocca ’12, Elizabeth Magas ’15, Dave Masterson ’14, Chris Paine ’12, Daniel Pallies ’15, Lauren Resnikoff ’15, Jasmine Roth ’13, Sam Rubiner ‘12, Ryan Semerad ’13 and Jaclyn Toop ’12.

“Waiting for Lefty’ shows small, powerful glimpses into peoples’ lives during the Depression,” said Feingold. “It tells multiple stories of peoples’ struggles during this time. All matters in life that shouldn’t be affected by money, such as love and marriage, are depicted because of the lack of money and work.”

In addition, she said, some of the play’s power comes from the fact that “cast members sit in the audience, so viewers become very close and intimate with the actors.”

Appearing in 1935 at the height of the Great Depression, “Waiting for Lefty” was wildly popular with critics and the American public, bringing its playwright sudden fame. Widely staged throughout the country, it illuminated such fraught issues as worker solidarity, labor relations, class strife and the realities of war, as well as the daily struggles, disappointments and “unwavering optimism” of the great masses.

“This optimism is an incomparably American trait and was something Odets was adept at making the most of,” said Girard in his theater notes about the play. “When ‘Waiting for Lefty’ hit the stage, there was a hungry group of performers and audiences ready for what Odets’ play had to offer. Given the political anxiety of the era, his timing couldn’t have been more prescient.”

In the late 1930’s, Girard said, “‘Waiting for Lefty’ became a rallying cry for unions and their blue-collar brethren nationwide. The work was consistently revived during periods of perceived American social injustice, including the 1960s and‘80s… and once again, we find ourselves in an era of social inequality.”   

Tickets for the play are $7 for the Union community, alumni and area seniors, and $10 general admission. For reservations, call the Yulman Theater Box Office at ext. 6545.

Written and performed by Marjuan Canady, the play has been featured at colleges and in theaters nationwide, with Canady receiving the 2010 Harlem Stage Fund for New Work Grant. Canady was inspired by the people and neighborhoods in New York City, and she transforms herself into 10 diverse characters, each of whom personifies a different concern or voice of black women worldwide.

“We hope this performance will be eye-opening to the Union community and bring new perspectives,” said Helena-Jasmine Sowah ’13, Womyn’s Union president.

The performance is co-sponsored by Africana Studies, American Studies, Beuth House, the Black Student Union, UNITAS, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Representatives of the YWCA of Schenectady will be on hand during the performance to collect donations that will go toward programs that benefit women and children.

The concert is free and open to the public.

It will perform a diverse repertoire of spirituals, a song in Spanish and contemporary and modern gospel music.

A non-denominational group that promotes self-expression through the singing of contemporary and traditional religious songs, the Heavenly Voices has performed at a variety of campus and community events, including last month’s New York State Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Memorial Observance in Albany.

Members include Lora Sulay ’12 and Elite Williams ’12, co-presidents; Ackeem Hill ’12, vice president; Suraiyah Abdul-Wahab ’12, secretary; Gretchel Hathaway, faculty advisor; and Lynny Walters, musical director.

Han and Finckel will open the program with Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 58. Setzer will join them for Mendelssohn’s two celebrated piano trios - Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 49, and Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 66. 

Appearing on the series for the twentieth occasion, David Finckel and Wu Han are at the forefront of today’s musical scene. Artistic Directors of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and of Music@Menlo (which they founded), the married duo have been lauded for their insightful performances and innovative approach to music. They energized the recording industry by launching classical music’s first musician-directed and internet-based recording company ArtistLed in 1997. 

Finckel, the founding cellist of the renowned Emerson String Quartet welcomes his colleague Philip Setzer (first violinist of the Quartet) for Mendelssohn’s dynamic piano trios. Setzer has a storied career in the Emerson Quartet which won the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant among many other honors.  He was a bronze medal winner in the Queen Elisabeth Competition and participates regularly at prestigious venues such as the Marlboro Music Festival and the Aspen Festival. 

Individual tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for students. Members of the Union community can attend for free. For information, call 388-6080 or click here.

But terpsichorean enthusiasts, take heart: The Dance Experience Show will be presented Friday, March 2 at 6 p.m. in the Dance Studio of the Visual Arts Building. 

Created by dance faculty and students, it features an hour of intricate moves, music and rhythms by some 30 students in Dance Program Director Miryam Moutillet’s Dance Experience class.

Other highlights include works by Ballet III practicum students and the Union College Dance Team, and a solo and Broadway and jazz pieces choreographed by Instructor Marcus Rogers. 

The event is free and open to the campus community, with a reception in the Burns Arts Atrium following the performance. 

And mark your calendars now for the Spring Dance Concert, to be held May 23-26 at Yulman Theater. With a large cast, original choreography and live, electronic music, this year’s concert is a French fantasy titled “PARIS DANSE.” More details to come.

Revkin's talk, "Building a Knowosphere to Conserve Our Only Sphere" begins at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

The theme of this year’s interdisciplinary series is “New York’s Energy Future.” The series is sponsored by the Environmental Science, Policy and Engineering (ESPE) program, with support from the Mellon Foundation.

A noted science journalist, Revkin also blogs on sustainability issues at The New York Times Dot Earth, as well as teaches at Pace University. He presents an optimistic, yet realistic, exploration of ways to fill the information and innovation gaps left by shrinking mainstream media, a divisive blogosphere and strangled public budgets.

He proposes that nurturing the 'knowosphere,' which is the fast-spreading global sheath of ways to share and shape ideas, will enhance public understanding of the increasingly human-dominated planet and foster constructive discussion and action aimed at fitting our infinite aspirations on this finite planet.

The 15th annual Speaker Series kicked off Jan. 18 with a talk by William Schlesinger, a prominent carbon biogeochemist and president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y. Frank Abate, vice president of Renewable Energy at General Electric in Schenectady, was also a featured speaker. 

The final speaker in the series (also at the Nott, 7 p.m.):

Wednesday, Feb. 29: Kathleen Segerson, professor of economics at the University of Connecticut and a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advistory Board. Segerson’s research focuses on the incentive effects of alternative environmental policy instruments, including applications in groundwater contamination, hazardous waste management, workplace accidents, land use regulation, climate change and nonpoint pollution from agriculture.

The 5,508 students who applied for 575 slots in the Class of 2016 represent an increase of 7 percent from a year ago and a 4 percent jump from the previous record of 5,271 who sought admission to the Class of 2012. This marks the third time in Union’s history that applications have surpassed the 5,000 mark.

The sharp rise in applications comes at a time when major publications like Bloomberg’s Businessweek, Forbes and Kiplinger’s have ranked the College as among the leading liberal arts schools in the country with a top return on investment. The College’s profile also has been boosted with programs and faculty research prominently featured in national publications such as the New York Times, USA Today, Chronicle of Higher Education and Time.

“The landscape of college admissions has changed significantly in the past few years,” said Matt Malatesta ’91, vice president for Admissions, Financial Aid and Enrollment. “Value is of critical importance in people’s college search, which is why Union is doing so well.”

The College also saw a 25 percent increase in students who made Union their first choice by applying through early decision admission. Early decision applications are considered twice a year. Students applying under early decision have made a commitment to attend Union if they are accepted.

The unpredictable economy also resulted in a sizeable number of applicants indicating they will apply for financial aid. Union is committed to meeting the full financial need of all admitted students. The average need-based scholarship at Union is $29,000, and the average merit scholarship is $10,000.

The great track record of Union’s graduates, coupled with the access to great professors and real practical opportunities on campus and around the world, makes the College an attractive option to a wide variety of students, Malatesta noted.

For Olivia Maynard, a senior at St. Martin’s Episcopal School near New Orleans, the decision to attend Union was sealed after she visited campus last summer. Maynard was accepted through early decision.

“As the tour guide took us around and spoke of the Minerva system and the sense of community it engenders, it just felt right,” said Maynard, whose father Ben graduated from Union in 1984. “As he further spoke about interdisciplinary fields, I imagined how I could meld my love of literature into not only a major but also various topics of study.”

Regular decision letters will be sent by April 1. Accepted students have until May 1 to commit.

Sixteen teams consisting of five students each face off in a “Jeopardy-style” round robin competition. The winning team receives an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the National Science Bowl in April.

Each team is mentored by representatives from a dozen institutions, including Union, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University at Albany, Fulton Montgomery Community College, University of Buffalo and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Union’s STEP program is run through the Kenney Community Center. The College’s two teams are coached by Son Nguyen ’14 and Zoralys Molina ’13. In addition, nearly 70 volunteers from Union will serve as moderators, judges, timekeepers and scorekeepers.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of STEP, which encourages historically underrepresented students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. It’s also the third straight year Union has hosted the regional competition. STEP is sponsored in part by the New York State Department of Education. 

The opening round begins at 9:15 a.m., with the final round scheduled to get under way at 3:45 p.m. Awards will be presented at 4:15 p.m.

For more information on the National Science Bowl, click here. 

“The Dickens Bicentennial” on the first floor atrium of Schaffer Library includes selected editions of the author's novels and writings from Special Collections, along with news articles, photos and web resources marking the date. The exhibit, curated by Courtney Seymour, head of Collection Development at Schaffer, runs through Feb. 14.

Dickens’ cultural legacy is a source of pride at Union. Since 2008, Dickens House, one of the College’s 13 theme houses, has hosted events based on the author’s literary works and themes.

And in 2010, the library hosted an exhibit, “Dickens in America,” to commemorate the author’s two stateside tours, when Dickens was greeted like a rock star and ticket scalpers feasted on an adoring public. Featured in the exhibit was a thank-you note from Dickens to John Bigelow, Class of 1835, for copies of Bigelow’s just-published biography of Benjamin Franklin. Bigelow is the subject of his own exhibit at Schaffer, “Remembered First Citizen.” To learn more, click here.

Finally, those with a sweet spot for Dickens can celebrate his birthday during the Tuesday Common Hour program beginning at 12:50 in Olin Auditorium. Schaffer Library will supply cupcakes for the talk by Ellen Borkwoski, chief information officer.

Brianne Fennessy, Brittany Gilbert, Jacob LaRocca and Katie Schuff are competing in the prestigious competition, designed to send exceptional students on a journey of self-discovery and personal challenge.

The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program offers a one-year grant to graduating college students “of unusual promise” to study independently outside the United States. The stipend for individual award winners is $25,000.

“The Watson Fellowship is an extraordinary opportunity for our students and a great privilege for us,” said visual arts professor David Ogawa, chair of Union’s Watson Fellowship Committee. “It makes it possible for students to explore the passions they have developed here at Union.”

Union’s Watson committee also includes Maggie Tongue, director of Postgraduate Fellowships, and professors Seyffie Maleki (Physics), Cheikh Ndiaye (Modern Languages and Literatures), Brad Bruno (Mechanical Engineering) and Elizabeth Garland (Anthropology), a former Watson Fellow.

Following are the Class of 2012 members who were nominated by the committee, with a brief description of their projects. The Watson Foundation will interview the candidates in early February, with decisions made in mid-March.

BRIANNE FENNESSY

Hometown: Bedford, N.Y. 

Major:  Sociology

Minors: German; Women’s and Gender Studies 

Activities: Big Brothers Big Sisters; Tri Delta; UCope peer educator; Sociology Club co-president

Project: “Reproductive Rights, Maternal Healthcare and Women's Empowerment"

Description: Fennessy is interested in exploring reproductive choices, access and realities faced by women across different cultures to show how these choices relate to the empowerment and progression of women in their respective societies. “Reproductive health is a key element of a women’s autonomy,” Fennessy says. To learn about cross-cultural perceptions of femininity, maternity and reproduction, she would work with women and various health care providers in Ecuador, India, South Africa and Uganda.

BRITTANY GILBERT

Hometown: North Kingstown, R.I.,

Major: Visual arts

Minors: French, art history

Activities: Mandeville Gallery assistant; co-captain, Women’s Tennis; Student-Athlete Advisory Committee; Outing Club

Project: “Landscape Impressions: Chasing the Light”

Description: Gilbert is fascinated by how landscapes are transformed by light, weather and the seasons. “Oil painting and the plein-air movement have always been an integral part of my life,” says Gilbert, whose paintings are on view through Feb. 19 at the Wikoff Student Gallery in the Nott Memorial. “The best way to capture a scene is to personally experience it with all your senses.” Gilbert would like to hone her technique and open a cross-cultural dialogue with other artists in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, England, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and Tanzania. “Taking Western artistic practices to other cultures to compare them to local artistic traditions will give me a new perspective on the world,” she says.

JACOB LaROCCA 

Hometown: Surry, N.H.

Major: Electrical engineering

Activities: President and founder, the Nott Noisemakers; Union hockey pep band; general manager and technical director, WRUC; Jazz Ensemble and Orchestra; Brass Ensemble; Intervarsity Christian Fellowship

Project: “Tapping into Hackerspaces”

Description: LaRocca is passionate about electronics and music. His many creations include MIDI, or digital, tap dancing shoes, which he hopes to patent one day. (MIDI is a standard method of representing musical notes.) LaRocca proposes a Watson year that would take him to hackerspaces, or community labs, all over the world to explore the connections among technology, music and dance. “At any one hackerspace, hundreds of inventors, builders, computer geniuses, hobbyists and artists share their knowledge, tools and experience,” he says. “These are the perfect settings in which to develop my shoes and other musical instruments and inventions, and also collaborate with others on their projects.” LaRocca proposes traveling to Argentina, England, India and Japan.

KATIE SCHUFF 

Hometown: Albany, N.Y.

Major: Math

Activities: Symposium House; Democracy Matters

Project: “Inspiring Students with Stories of Resilience”

Description: “Sometimes we all need an extra push, a dose of motivation from something outside of ourselves,” says Schuff, who plans a career as a teacher and would like to collect narratives from people of different cultures and backgrounds as a lesson in overcoming adversity. “Resilience plays a critical role in education,” she says. “Stories of resilience are empowering and humbling.” Schuff’s Watson year would take her to Panama, Guatemala, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Chile.

Debbie joined Union in 1992 as a Dining Services staffer in Dutch Hollow. She served as secretary and receptionist in Athletics from 1997 until she joined Financial Aid in 2003.

Friends in Financial Aid are remembering her good humor and positive attitude during the office’s busiest times. They also recall her nurturing approach with both students and colleagues. “She treated all of us like family, whether she was bringing in hot baked muffins or bringing us home for dinner,” said Linda Parker, director of Financial Aid. “She will be fondly remembered and cherished as a wonderful friend, and an inspiration for all of us who had the opportunity to work with her.”

Survivors include her husband of 40 years, Giovanni; three sons, Luigi, Angelo and Dante; three daughters, Alisa, Vanessa and Giuliana; and four grandchildren.

Funeral services will be Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, at 10 a.m. at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Saratoga Rd., Glenville. Calling hours are Wednesday, 5 to 8 p.m. at Glenville Funeral Home, 9 Glenridge Rd.

To read the full obituary, visit here.

Russo has written seven novels, including Mohawk, Bridge of Sighs and Empire Falls, which won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Christian Science Monitor called it “the last great novel of the 20th century,” and the book was also adapted into an HBO mini-series starring Paul Newman, Ed Harris and Helen Hunt. Russo is also the author of Nobody’s Fool, which was adapted for the screen, starring Newman. His recent novel was 2009’s That Old Cape Magic. A collection of short stories, The Whore’s Child, was published in 2002.

Russo grew up in nearby Gloversville, less than an hour from campus. Those small-town roots run deep in the characters and sense of place in many of his novels, which have garnered high praise for their portrayal of blue collar America. A critic for the Chicago Tribune wrote of Empire Falls, “[Russo] brilliantly evokes the economic and emotional depression of a failing town, a place where even the weather is debilitating and the inhabitants seem to struggle merely to stay in place.”

At opening convocation in the fall, President Stephen C. Ainlay focused on the theme of place, and urged the campus community to appreciate the College’s location in the Mohawk Valley and the breadth of opportunities that affords.

“Richard Russo’s novels are both rich in character development and in descriptions of community life in upstate New York,” Ainlay said. “Given the focus of this year, we could not have a better speaker to discuss the importance of place identity as we celebrate the granting of our charter by the state.”

Russo earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s in fine arts and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. A retired faculty member of Colby College, Russo lives in Camden, Maine, with his wife.

Also at Founders Day, the College will present the Gideon Hawley Teacher Recognition Award to Samuel J. Salamone ’00, a chemistry teacher at Little Falls (N.Y.) High School. He was nominated by A. Richard Harris '14, a biology major from Little Falls. The award, named for the 1809 graduate of Union who was New York state’s first superintendent of public education, is given to secondary school teachers who have had a continuing influence on the academic life of Union students.

Past speakers at Founders Day have included Deborah Bial, founder and president of the Posse Foundation; Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson; Paul LeClerc, retired president and chief executive officer of the New York Public Library and a former professor at Union; and Ira M. Rutkow ’70, a surgeon and author whose writing has focused on the history of American medicine.

• AAH336 - Contemporary Art – Lorraine Cox – Discussion of artists engaged with environmental issues tied to water consumption and distribution (recycling)
• Advanced Ceramics – Nancy Niefield - Think about water as a design element in a vessel (that holds at least a pint of water) or a sculpture or a wall piece. 
• ANT248 - Sustainable Culture – Liz Garland –  Discussion about water as a factor in Middle East political conflict, and also about water and economic development in island nations. In conjunction with the class on islands, Garland will screen a short film, "Sun Come Up," about the Carteret Islands, which are in the processes of being swallowed up by the sea as a result of climate change – the people there are actively seeking a new homeland. 
• ANT283 - People and Cultures of Latin America – Alvaro Jarrin – Screening of the film "Even the Rain" which chronicles the protests against the privatization of water in Bolivia.  
• BIO101 – Introduction to Biology – Nicole Theodosiou – Photosynthesis, including water relations. 
• BIO101 - Introduction to Biology – Barbara Pytel – Discussion of plastic water bottles. 
• BIO102 – Introduction to Biology – Jen Bishop – Short presentation of a current topic related to water. 
• BIO102 – Introduction to Biology – Kathleen LoGiudice - Short presentation of a current topic related to water. 
• BIO102 - Introduction to Biology Labs – Aquatic Ecology lab. 
• CHEM - STEM Scholars Research Seminar – Visit to Niskayuna Wastewater Treatment Plant. 
• CHEM101 – Introduction to Chemistry – Laura MacManus-Spencer – Short presentation of a current topic related to water. 
• CHM351 - Physical Chemistry – Janet Anderson - One lecture on the hydrophobic effect: the thermodynamics of solutes in water.
• CHM382 - Biochemistry: Structure and Catalysis – Kristin Fox - A discussion of the interaction between biomolecules and water and the importance of water for function. 
• CSC234 - Data Visualization – Valerie Barr – Lab assignment to visualize an issue related to water use, water bottle waste, etc.
• ECO101 – Intro to Economics – Tomas Dvorak - Discussion on water as a “common resource.” The term “common resource” has a specific meaning in economics. It refers to a good that has two characteristic: it is rival in consumption, i.e. if you consume it, I can’t; and it is non-excludable, i.e. if anyone has access to it. Markets do not work well in these situations. Water is an example of a “common resource.” 
• ECO226 – Financial Markets – Brad Lewis - A financial fiasco including outright corruption and "sophisticated" financial strategies that has caused the price of water and sewer service in Jefferson County, Alabama to hit $300 a month for some people--in a state in which rainfall is normally no problem.
• EGL100—1 - Intro to Poetry - Katherine Lynes – Project assignment involving water. 
• EGL101 - Intro to Fiction - April Selley - Three stories that we will discuss in class deal with rivers: Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," Conrad's “Heart of Darkness” and Twain's “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” 
• EGL299 - The Power of Words - Anastasia Pease – The students will watch TED talks and videos about potable water sources, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Japanese tsunami. An article, "The Whole Fracking Enchilada," will also be discussed.
• EGL 304 - Junior Seminar: Crane, Norris, and Dreiser – Jillmarie Murphy – Discussion on "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane. It deals with a group of shipwrecked individuals who eventually swim to safety; however, the most fit member of the group, the oiler, winds up drowning as they all attempt to swim to shore. The class will also start reading "An American Tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser, which covers the 1904 murder/drowning of Grace Brown on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks. 
• ENS100 – Intro to Environmental Studies - Jeff Corbin – Water delivery and wastewater treatment (lecture and lab). 
• ENS250 - Water Resources and the Environment – Tom Jewel – Several discussions of water technology and issues.
• FYP – Anastasia Pease - TED talks and videos about potable water sources, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Japanese tsunami. 
• FYP – Tom Jewel – Water is a central theme of this course. 
• GEO106 – Our Restless Oceans – David Gilliken - Covering circulation and ocean structure, ocean surface currents, and waves during water week. Also possible public slide-show of garbage in remote areas in Bahamas.
• GEO254 - Global Climate Change – Anouk Verheyden-Gilliken – Seminar by Dr. Mimi Katz (RPI) Antarctic Circumpolar Current Evolution and its Impact on Climate and Global Ocean Circulation. 
• GEO301 - Lakes and Environmental Change – Don Rodbell – Whole course covers water issues.
• MER331 - Fluid Mechanics – Ann Anderson – Half of the course focused on water; there will be a special thing for water week, to be determined. 
• RUS201 - Intermediate Russian – Anastasia Pease – The students will watch TED talks and videos about potable water sources, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Japanese tsunami.
• SOC260 - Population and Society – Janet Grigsby - Discussion as part of a unit on mortality examining the role of access to clean water in reducing mortality. Students will read Bob Wells’ great piece on the mortality transition in Schenectady, which includes the story of the switch from drinking the Mohawk. Also, WHO/UNICEF’s 2010 report on improving access to safe water worldwide. Students are also being required to include an assessment of safe water access in the country studies they are doing for their term projects. 
• SRS200-04 - Unpacking Hurricane Katrina SRS - Janet Grigsby – This course is all about Hurricane Katrina, and therefore about water in many, many ways. A highlight that this is world water week and try to list all the ways we are dealing with water as an issue in the course – e.g., the nature of flood damage, wetlands loss, problems of levees, water quality when you live downstream from ‘cancer alley’, etc.

Tomas Dvorak’s class will discuss water as an economic common resource.

Barbara Pytel’s biology class will discuss the heated debate over plastic water bottles.

These are just some of the events that are part of U-Sustain’s Water Week, which starts Monday. The campus will be overflowing with events to help bring awareness to political, environmental and economic water-related issues. 

Events will run throughout the week, with professors integrating water issues into their classes. Click here for a full listing of classes with discussions and film screenings.

"This series of events was initially motivated by U-Sustain's efforts to reduce the use of bottled water on campus, but it has moved far beyond such environmental issues to include all academic areas,” said Jeff Corbin, assistant professor of biology. 

This week, he said, is about the importance of water in science, economics, public policy, society, arts, literature, engineering and many other disciplines. “It is a subject that truly integrates our curriculum,” Corbin said. 

Water Week events include: 

• Monday - noon -2 p.m.: Screening of “Story of Stuff” bottled water video outside Upper Class Dining Hall 
• Tuesday – 12:50 p.m.: Tuesday Common Hour Forum discussion of campus alternatives to disposable bottles; poetry readings; update on an Engineers Without Borders water project in Ethiopia; and more in Olin Auditorium 
• Wednesday – 12:50 p.m.: Pizza and Politics discussion on hydraulic fracturing with Cara Lee from The Nature Conservancy in Olin Auditorium
• 5 p.m.: Geology Department Colloquium featuring Miriam Katz of RPI on “Antarctic Circumpolar Current Evolution and its Impact on Climate and Global Ocean Circulation” in Olin Auditorium
• Thursday – 12:50 p.m.: Taste testing of tap water versus designer bottled water in Reamer Campus Center
• Friday – Ozone Café open; no sales of bottled water on campus 

Also throughout the week, the campus community can sign a pledge to avoid the use of disposable water bottles, and special deals on reusable bottles will be offered in the Bookstore. 

A picture of the 16-sided building graces the month of May. Snapped by Carolina J. Wierzbowski of Schenectady using a Canon EOS Rebel T1i, the photo depicts the Nott at 9:30 p.m. on July 14, 2011. She grew up near the campus and was always impressed with the Nott.

"It's a beautiful building," said Wierzbowski, 42, who works for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. She has been taking pictures for about 10 years, focusing primarily on nature photography. 

Wierzbowski entered her photo of the Nott in the 12th annual National Historic Landmark Photo Contest, which encourages the selection of unique landmarks and unusual points of view. The photo received an honorable mention.

“There is a back story to each of the photo contest entries,” said Alexandra Lord of the National Park Service’s National Historic Landmarks Program. “The contest is a fun, interesting and educational way to share the history and heritage surrounding America’s national historic landmarks.”

The Nott was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and to the list of National Historic Landmarks in 1986.

The centerpiece of campus, the building is one of America’s most distinctive examples of High Victorian Gothic architecture. Dating to 1875, it is used for lectures, conferences, readings, special events, and exhibits in the Mandeville Gallery and Wikoff Student Gallery, with a popular study area on the third floor. In the 19th century, Eliphalet Nott was Union’s president for 62 years, the longest tenure of any American college president.

To view Wierzbowski’s photo and the other winners, click here.

To learn more about the history of the Nott, click here.

Abate’s talk, “The Future of Alternative Energy,” begins at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

The theme of this year’s interdisciplinary series is “New York’s Energy Future.” The series is sponsored by the Environmental Science, Policy and Engineering (ESPE) program, with support from the Mellon Foundation.

Since November 2005, Abate has headed one of the leading global providers of wind and solar energy products and support services. With manufacturing and assembly facilities in the U.S, Germany, Spain, China and Canada, the company’s current renewable product portfolio includes wind turbines with rated capacities ranging from 1.5 to 3.6 megawatts, and solar electric power systems for on- and off-grid applications.

Prior to his current role, Abate was vice president of technology for GE Energy's power-generation segment, which includes gas, steam, wind, solar and hydro-turbine generators, gasification technologies and integrated gasification combined cycle.

The 15th annual Speaker Series kicked off Jan. 18 with a talk by William Schlesinger, a prominent carbon biogeochemist and president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y.

Future speakers in the series (all at the Nott, 7 p.m.):

Wednesday, Feb. 15: Frank Murray, president and CEO of New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)

Thursday, Feb. 23: Andrew Revkin, an environmental journalist for the New York Times and author of the blog, Dot Earth, where he reports on natural resources, the environment, climate change and sustainability.
 
Wednesday, Feb. 29: Kathleen Segerson, professor of economics at the University of Connecticut and a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advistory Board. Segerson’s research focuses on the incentive effects of alternative environmental policy instruments, including applications in groundwater contamination, hazardous waste management, workplace accidents, land use regulation, climate change and nonpoint pollution from agriculture.

The extended three-hour program with two intermissions will include all six of Bach’s masterful cello suites first brought to the world’s attention over 100 years ago by the legendary Pablo Casals. Shao will be performing on a cello once owned and played by Casals and made by Honore Derazey. The program was last performed on the series 30 years ago by Anner Blysma. 

A winner of top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions, Shao returns to the series for a solo performance after her many Sophie Shao and Friends appearances over the years. This season, she makes recital appearances in New York, Philadelphia and Middlebury and will premiere a new concerto written for her by legendary film composer Howard Shore with the American Symphony Orchestra. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, she is an alumna of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia where she studied with David Soyer. She then pursued studies with Aldo Parisot, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Yale College and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. 

Individual tickets are $20 per person. The campus community can attend for free. For information, call 388-6080 or go to the Concert Series website.