Dear Union Alumni:
Welcome to spring!
We recently concluded a busy and successful winter Board of Trustees meeting, and I left Schenectady optimistic about the direction in which the College is headed, despite the challenges facing much of higher education today – including Union.
Union’s Founders Day celebration is always a highlight of the winter board meetings and this year, we celebrated Union’s 231st birthday in style with an inspiring address from Federal Magistrate Judge and Union Trustee Judith Dein ’76. Judy reflected on her time at Union, which gave her the tools and courage to take the road less traveled. She also offered a spirited reminder to all of us that “life isn’t a straight line,” which makes the type of broad and deep education offered by Union more important than ever.
The week also was filled with committee meetings, where Trustees received valuable updates from members of the senior leadership team, and voted on important action items designed to help move the College forward.
Early signs of enrollment gains
Like many liberal arts colleges, Union’s enrollment has been challenged in recent years, but I am pleased to report that the early returns for this year’s class are positive. Domestic student applications are up significantly from last year and we completed a strong early decision period that saw deposits increase nearly 15 percent from the same time last year as of late February. Regular decision acceptance notifications went out in mid-March and while much work remains to be done this spring to land a robust class, our Admissions team – with help from their colleagues in Communications and Marketing and others around campus – are hard at work building on the strong start to the application year.
Improved fundraising performance
As of the time of the winter board meeting, donations to the Union annual fund this year were well ahead of last year’s pace and total gifts and pledges are more than double what we had received by the same time last year. I am deeply gratified by the ongoing support from our alumni and friends, but much work remains if we are going to reach our ambitious goals for the entire year. Our College Relations team has exciting plans for this year’s ADAY4U annual fund giving event on April 15-16, and I hope you will all join me in giving what you can to support the great work being done across the College.
In search of the next “Big Idea”
One of the most exciting initiatives that President Kiss has launched in her short tenure is “Union Forward,” a data and research-informed effort to unlock new ways to enhance the Union experience for our students. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the College has retained Art & Science, a premier higher education research firm, to identify and test a number of “big ideas” generated by faculty and staff, using predictive modeling to determine which ones offer the greatest potential to make Union stand above the competition and drive greater enrollment.
The research phase of the work – which includes surveying current and admitted students, along with those high school students who have applied to or inquired about Union and high school guidance counselors – is nearly complete. We expect to receive the first tranche of data this spring, followed by recommendations for programmatic changes by this fall with implementation to begin next year. President Kiss worked with Art & Science while she was at Agnes Scott College with very positive results and we are optimistic for similar success at Union.
Enhancing our campus footprint
If you’ve been on campus recently, you no doubt noticed an impressive construction site near the ISEC building. Our new ECSI (engineering and computer science) building is well underway, and the project is on schedule and on budget. The entire Union community owes Rich and Mary Templeton ’80 a huge debt of thanks, because without their incredible generosity this project would not be possible.
We also recently completed a successful first season of hockey at the new M&T Bank arena adjacent to campus. Not only does the facility provide our athletes and fans an experience worthy of a Division I program, but the move has also freed up valuable space on campus. The former campus ice rink has been replaced by all-turf indoor athletics space, christened Brooks Field in honor of Andy ’78, P’13 and Sana P’13 Brooks whose gift made the changes possible. Brooks Field provides our varsity athletes and club sports teams a space to practice and train year-round, and also will be a source of revenue to the College as a rental space for local youth sports competitions.
Record-breaking winter sports season
As you know, our students don’t just excel in the classroom, and I’m excited to share some highlights from our most successful winter athletics season in memory. Both our men’s and women’s basketball teams finished at the top of the Liberty League standings, with the women advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2004. Senior Jelena Perovic was named a Division III All-American, just the third Union women’s basketball player to be recognized in that fashion.
Junior Ashley Sheldon continued her outstanding Union career by placing third in the high jump at the national championship meet in March, breaking her own school record in the process. The effort earned her first-team All-American status, making her the first Union track and field athlete - female or male - to achieve that feat in more than 30 years.
Finally, junior hockey goalie Monja Wagner brought Union athletics to the world stage as a member of Switzerland’s Olympic squad that earned the bronze medal. If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend this wonderful video story on Monja, which captures the essence of what a Union education is all about.
Looking ahead
With the start of spring term this week, the College is heading into the home stretch in what has been another eventful year. Despite the challenging environment facing much of higher education, Union has plenty to cheer about and much to look forward to. As a reminder, our annual ReUnion Weekend is May 15-17. I look forward to seeing many of you as we celebrate a place that means so much to all of us.
And, as always, I offer my sincere appreciation to all the faculty and staff who work every day on behalf of our students, and to all our alumni who support the College in myriad ways.
Here’s to warmer days ahead.
Sincerely,
Jule Greifer Swidler ’79
Chair – Union College Board of Trustees
