Dear Union Alumni,
Greetings from Schenectady!
Snow still blankets campus as we sprint toward the end of winter term. But temperatures are predicted to rise into the 60s next week. Spring is on the way!
This February marked Union College’s 231st birthday. We celebrated Founder’s Day with a marvelous address by Judge Judy Dein ’76, and I also recently had the pleasure of participating in Heritage Sunday at First Reformed Church of Schenectady, the congregation that spearheaded Union’s establishment.
These occasions prompted me to learn more about the process of Union’s creation, and I was struck by the stalwart persistence of our founders, who weathered numerous frustrations and setbacks over 16 long years before they succeeded in securing a college charter from the New York Regents. They were also willing to adapt and evolve, abandoning their original idea of a Dutch Reformed institution to embrace a broader and more inclusive vision of Union as America’s first non-denominational college.
That spirit of resilience, innovation and adaptation, of bridging boundaries in pursuit of a fresh vision of a useful liberal education, has defined many chapters in Union’s history. It continues to inspire us today.
We are invoking that spirit this year as we identify and test “Big Ideas” for positioning Union College to enable us to grow enrollment and stand out from our competition. We also embrace that spirit when we supplement the skills our students gain in the classroom by offering career-focused micro-credentials, or when we explore and debate how to prepare Union graduates to succeed and lead with wisdom, empathy and courage in the age of AI.
We are also inspired by all of YOU – our alumni who make us so proud with all the ways you have leveraged your Union education to excel, lead and make a difference. I have loved connecting with alumni over these past eight months and experiencing your passionate commitment to Union. Highlights have included events in Boston and New York as well as a fabulous evening in Florida featuring the legendary Professor Steve Berk, whose lecture on Cuba was a tour de force of erudition, eloquence, insight and humor. I look forward to many more opportunities to get to know our alumni community, starting with ReUnion 2026 this May!
Every day, our students inspire me with their diverse talents. From cutting-edge undergraduate research projects and entrepreneurial ventures to impressive student-choreographed dances, they demonstrate a commitment to excellence. I am excited for our civil and environmental engineers who, after a two-decade hiatus, are once again competing in the Upstate NY-Canada Regional Steel Bridge competition, joining our other competitive engineering teams at Union.
Speaking of long-awaited success, we are all so proud of our women’s basketball team, which won the Liberty League championship for the first time since 2004 (before most of today’s players were born) and earned a coveted NCAA tournament berth today against Smith College.
On the ice, both of our hockey teams have provided memorable moments this year. Our men's team enters its first-round ECAC playoff game this weekend against Brown as one of the hottest teams in the league, and the women’s ice hockey upset No. 12 Clarkson for only the second time in program history. Both men’s and women’s hockey also produced an ESPN SportCenter ‘Top 10’ moment with Brandon Buhr’s incredible midair shot on goal to clinch the Mayor’s Cup and Emma Rhéaume’s astonishing Houdini-style save in the Clarkson game.
Last but certainly not least, all of us are thrilled to celebrate Union’s latest Olympian, ice hockey player Monja Wagner ’27, who won a bronze medal with the Swiss National team.
School spirit was also impressively on display last weekend, when 240 students and a few staff members – including yours truly – participated in The Dip, a plunge into ice cold water outside of the Reamer Center. This decade-old tradition raises funds for a scholarship (more than $3,800 this year) in memory of Kristen Shinebarger, the daughter of a former Union staff member who succumbed to cancer. In my case, what my inaugural Dip lacked in grace and skill (it most definitely lacked both) it made up for in dogged persistence to get to the bottom of the slide and fall into the water…. My small, ungainly tribute to the persistence of our founders!
As we head into springtime, we are focused on recruiting Union’s Class of 2030 and finishing strong on our fundraising year. This year, we will be holding admissions yield events in Westchester, Boston and Princeton. I am grateful to all the faculty, staff and alumni who go the extra mile to help us attract students, and to each and every one of you who makes a gift to Union and helps keep us strong. Thank U!
Warmly,
Elizabeth
