The campus community gathered in Memorial Chapel for Founders Day to celebrate the 222nd anniversary of the College’s charter. It was also an occasion to celebrate another milestone: the 200th anniversary of Union’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter, Alpha of New York.
The keynote speaker was Frederick M. Lawrence, secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. A former president of Brandeis University, Lawrence is a leading expert on civil rights, freedom of expression and bias crimes.
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For most, it was their first time working in oil. But students in Assistant Professor of Visual Arts Laini Nemett’s Painting in Oil class delved deeply into understanding the centuries-old medium and learning how to manipulate it on canvas.
Painting still life, figures and interior/exterior spaces, they explored basic principles of design and color theory. Their efforts are visible in “Color Principle: Painting in Oil,” on view in the Wikoff Student Gallery at the Nott Memorial.
The artists include Steven Apolo ’18, Hein Htet Aung ’20, Ari Bennett ’18, Emily Dahlstrom ’18, Lauren Elder ’19, Jackie Feingold ’19, Emily Fiore ’18, Yi Ting Paung ’17, Josh Price ’18, Yuhe Zhou ’17 and Yuanqing Zhu ’17.
Looking at historical and contemporary artists as points of reference, this intro-level class exposes students to a range of painting principles focusing on color, including complementary contrast, local versus perceived color, temperature shifts of light and shadow on the human form, and contrasting light from interior and exterior spaces.
“Stylistic differences arose naturally as each artist spent more time with the medium,” Nemett said. “The exciting results of this exploration are as varied as the voices of those who painted them.”
The featured works on canvas are from an assignment based on the concept of collage in which the students were asked to portray space, both real and imagined, using this two-dimensional medium.
“The resulting artworks provide new perspectives and ways to configure space, unique to the frame of reference and frame of mind of the individual artist,” Nemett said.
For instance, Feingold’s illusionistic and surreal composition challenges an ingrained, physical deference for traditional perspectives.
Elder’s long, horizontal piece, “Escaping Oppression,” was created for a final project that focused on the concept of social consciousness.
The work “illustrates the emergence and hopeful resolution of anthropomorphized societal issues, such as sexism, racism and homophobia,” Elder said.
The Hagen String Quartet performs on Sunday, February 26 at 3:00 p.m. in Memorial Chapel.
The series welcomes the celebrated Hagen String Quartet, which tours the United States infrequently, for its highly-anticipated series debut. The Quartet performs Beethoven’s Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2, Bartók’s Quartet No. 3, and Dvořák’s Quartet in A-flat Major, Op. 105.
The unprecedented three-decade career of the Hagen Quartet began in 1981. Its early years, marked by a series of prizes in chamber music competitions and an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon that was to produce around forty-five CDs over the following twenty years, enabled the group to work its way through the virtually unlimited quartet repertoire from which the distinctive profile of the Hagens has emerged.
Collaborations with artists such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt and György Kurtág are as important to the Hagen Quartet as its concert appearances with performers including Maurizio Pollini, Mitsuko Uchida, Sabine Meyer, Krystian Zimerman, Heinrich Schiff and Jörg Widmann. The Hagen Quartet also works closely with composers of its own generation, whether by reviving existing works or by commissioning and premiering new pieces. As teachers and mentors at the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Hochschule in Basel, as well as in international master classes, the quartet’s members pass on their wealth of experience to their younger colleagues.
This year’s ADAY4U was another fundraising event for the record books.
While numbers are still being finalized, the day topped 2,403 donors to the College – the most donors in a single day in Union’s history.
For every gift made to the College on Wednesday, trustees matched each gift with an additional $200. Including the trustee match, Union
secured over $1 million for the institution. Gifts during the one-day challenge made without a specific designation benefit Union’s Annual Fund.
“Yet again, the Union community rallied to show their tremendous support,” said Terri Cerveny, vice president of College Relations. “We are so grateful for the many who gave to the College and encouraged their fellow alumni, parents, students, faculty, and staff to join them. This truly shows the strength of our community.”
Support to the College included donations and posts to social media. An event in Reamer Campus Center drew students, faculty and staff to donate and also received giveaways. Also, alumni in three cities – Boston, New York City and Schenectady – held cake and champagne celebrations for ADAY4U.
This is the fourth challenge of its kind. Last year, Union topped 2,200 donors, raising nearly $1.09 million in 24 hours.
A course by Rachel Magin '14, a doctoral student in the Psychology Lab at Indiana State University, was recently featured on NPR's All Things Considered. The class, designed for children with high-functioning autism, teaches students about social skills and reading/expressing body language through improvisational theater.
During her time at Union, Magin participated in Steinmetz Symposium, Outing Club, Jewish Student Union-Hillel, and spent a term abroad in Cambodia.
John Wold ’38, a devoted son of Union whose generosity has transformed the College, and a pioneering geologist whose vision changed the mining industry, died Feb. 19, 2017, in Casper, Wyo. He was 100.
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John Wold ’38, a devoted son of Union whose generosity has transformed the College, and a pioneering geologist whose vision changed the mining industry, died Feb. 19, 2017, in Casper, Wyo. He was 100.
Wold, also an accomplished politician, was born Aug, 31, 1916, in East Orange, N.J. But he grew up at Union College, a place that sparked his love of geology long before he was ever a student.
“John Wold was a remarkable person and Mrs. Ainlay and I feel so very fortunate to have known him and to have called him friend,” said President Stephen C. Ainlay. “He was the embodiment of what it means to be loyal son or daughter of Union. In John's case, he literally grew up on the Union campus and his commitment to the College knew no bounds.
"John and his wife, Jane, were warm, vibrant, engaging, intellectually curious, and took great interest in all things Union. They both believed in the power of education and the special capacity of Union College to change lives for the better. To say they both will be missed is an understatement.”
A self-described “campus kid,” his father, Peter I. Wold, led Union’s Physics Department from 1920-1945. During that time, the family lived in North College, in the building that is now Wold House (one of the College’s seven
Jane and John Wold '38 at the dedication of the Peter Irving Wold Center in May 2011.
Minerva Houses). On his daily walks home from school, young Wold habitually visited the spot where old geology specimens were discarded.
“I would paw through those samples and eventually built up a pretty nice collection of materials from around the world,” Wold told the Union College alumni magazine in 2003. “That dump was one of the first things that got me interested in geology.”
Wold played hockey at Union, was a St. Andrew’s University Exchange Scholar, and a member of Terrace Council, the Sigma Xi science honor society and Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.
Wold’s time on campus helped foster a bond between the man and his alma mater that would last a lifetime, and inspire a generosity that has transformed Union College.
In summer 2016, Wold gave a $5 million gift in memory of his wife, Jane, who died Nov. 18, 2015, at the age of 92. The couple had been married 70 years.
Together, they gave an earlier gift of $20 million, the largest in Union’s history. It made possible the Peter Irving Wold Center, a 35,000-square-foot state-of-the-art research and education center named for John’s father. The gift also established the John and Jane Wold Professorship in Religious Studies, supported Wold House, and established the John and Jane Wold Professorship in Geology.
Wold held a master’s of science in geology from Cornell University and was founder and president of Wold Oil Properties, Inc. A trustee emeritus at Union, he was a former Republican U.S. Congressman (1969-71). He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, first as a consulting physicist and later as a gunnery officer.
A dedicated philanthropist, he supported science and science education at the likes of Casper College, Casey Eye Institute (macular degeneration research), the University of Wyoming and Cornell University.
The Wolds were recognized by the city of Casper, Wyo., in 2014 for their support of the Wold Family Arena, an ice rink at the Casper Events Center. At the dedication ceremony, Athletic Director James McLaughlin and Men’s Ice Hockey Coach Rick Bennett presented Wold with a ring to commemorate Union’s national championship earlier that year.
Wold was also instrumental in the exploration and development of the second largest talc mine in North America, and the production of trona, a source of soda ash widely used in manufacturing, in southeastern Wyoming. His interest in coal gasification in the Powder River Basin unlocked millions of tons of coal that were otherwise too deep to mine economically. He explored business ventures in nearly all extractive industries including coal, oil and gas, soda ash and uranium.
Jane and John Wold '38, with from left, Trustee John E. Kelly III '76, President Stephen C. Ainlay and Trustee Frank L. Messa '73 at the dedication of the Peter Irving Wold Center in May 2011.
In 2015, Wold received the Energy Pioneer Award from the Wyoming Natural Gas Fair Association, just one of numerous recognitions of his career in the energy industry.
Union recognized Wold’s visionary achievements much earlier. In 1999, he received the Eliphalet Nott Medal, which honors the perseverance of distinguished alumni who have attained great distinction in their fields. In 2008, Union bestowed an honorary doctor of science degree on Wold.
Wold visited campus last June for an early 100th birthday party hosted by students in Wold House.
Survivors include his sons Peter and Jack; daughter, Priscilla Longfield; and a number of grandchildren, including Joseph Wold ’10.
Karen Liberman Smith ’87, senior vice president at Olympus Scientific Solutions, will speak on Monday, Feb. 20, during common lunch in the Nott Memorial.
Smith, an electrical engineering major at Union, is in charge of her company’s non-destructive testing and analytical instrument business units.
She also holds an MBA from Clark University.
Her talk is sponsored by the Alumni Speaker Series.
Troy Grosenick '14 was recently featured in the Times Union newspaper.
The story focused on his professional hockey career – he’s a goaltender with the San Jose Barracuda – and his continuing close-knit friendships with former Union teammates. At Union, Grosenick played hockey, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and participated in Steinmetz Symposium.
Jillmarie Murphy, associate professor of English, presented a paper at the Nineteenth-Century Studies Association Conference in Charleston, SC. “Memory and Displaced Bodies in Leonora Sansay's Secret History; or, the Horrors of Saint Domingo,” focused on the third chapter of her forthcoming book, Attachment, Place, and Otherness in Nineteenth-Century American Literature: New Materialist Representations.Learn more about it here.
Also, Romantic Mediations: Media Theory and British Romanticism, a book by Andrew Burkett, assistant professor of English, was featured on the Scholar’s Choice table at the conference. Learn more about the book here.
Christine Henseler, professor of Spanish, gave a presentation at the American Association of Colleges & Universities. “On Being Portal: Breaking Us Out of Our Habituated Ways of Thinking” addressed how moving outside disciplinary and cultural boundaries can provide opportunities in higher education.
