Showcasing Scholarly and Creative Activity at Union
The 18th Annual Steinmetz Symposium will be held on Friday and Saturday, May 2 and 3, 2008.
More than 400 Union College students -- about 18% of the student body! -- presented, performed, or displayed artwork at the 2007 Steinmetz Symposium.
Every year during Union's spring trimester, the College comes together to celebrate campus-wide scholarly activity and research. The Steinmetz Symposium, held every year since 1991, is designed to showcase advancements made by undergraduate researchers through oral, dance, music, art and poster sessions and to provide dialogue between the presenters and the rest of the campus. One of the primary foci of the symposium is the presentation of senior capstone projects and thesis work. The symposium coincides with the spring Parent's Weekend and begins on a Friday, the only weekday in Union 's entire academic calendar in which classes are cancelled.
Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923) was "the most widely known professor ever a member of the Union College faculty." Steinmetz served as the Chief Consulting Engineer of the General Electric Company and was widely regarded as the leading electrical engineer in the United States . He nonetheless took charge of Union 's new electrical engineering curriculum, serving as Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from 1902 until his death in 1923. Far from merely lending his name to the endeavor, Steinmetz served actively as a lecturer in both undergraduate and post-graduate courses. He wished for his students "the spirit of divine discontent, for without it the world would stand still."
Union is proud to dedicate the Charles Proteus Steinmetz Symposium on Student Creative, Scholarly and Research Achievement to the memory of this scholar, teacher, and practitioner.