UCALL
Online Registration Overview
Civic Engagement and Volunteerism: Making an Impact in Your Community
Monday, Sept. 28, 2026 (one-time event)
9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
College Park Hall Ballroom - in person only
Free and open to all
Join us for an inspiring session that explores how you can give back, make a difference and build meaningful connections!
This talk shines a light on highly impactful, lesser-known volunteer opportunities and service pathways that fit into a busy schedule. Discover how you can contribute to vital local work through:
- Local Government Service: Driving change right in your neighborhood
- Citizen Science: Contributing to real scientific research and environmental tracking
- Non-Profit Engagement: Supporting community-driven missions and organizations
- Political Service: Engaging with local advocacy and civic leadership
Whether you are looking to meet new people, build new skills or simply support your local community, this session will show you how to get involved with manageable time commitments. We will also discuss the powerful role educational institutions play in fostering civic responsibility.
Speaker: Dr. Ashok Ramasubramanian is the Dean of Engineering at Union College and a councilmember on the Niskayuna Town Board. A former Fulbright Scholar and an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State, he holds a Ph.D. from Dartmouth College. Alongside his technical research, his perspective on engineers entering public service was recently featured in Science Magazine.
Religious Fundamentalism
Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27, Nov. 3
9:30 to 11:30 A.M.
In-person, remote option via Zoom
‘Fundamentalism’ has been used to describe movements within a lot of different religious traditions: Christian Fundamentalism, Jewish Fundamentalism, Islamic Fundamentalism, Hindu Fundamentalism, for example. What does ‘fundamentalism’ mean? That’s one of the things we’ll be looking at in this course. Commonly people think of ‘fundamentalists’ as being narrow minded, distressed over the amount of social and religious change, unwilling to recognize the value of other religions (and diversity in general), distrustful of non-religious forms of knowledge (such as science), and potentially (or actually) violent in defense of their religious views. How accurate is this list of characteristics? Is a checklist a helpful way of identifying ‘fundamentalism?’
Fundamentalists might be viewed as trying to hold on to traditional religious teachings, values and practices in a world that’s rapidly changing and setting aside the things they hold most dear and which they believe serve as the basis for a good and cohesive society. We might therefore consider ‘fundamentalism’ to be a religiously based social movement that engages with and responds to the various forms of change that the modern world has wrought. As a modern religious movement, how does the study of ‘fundamentalism’ inform our understanding of the relationship between religion and society (including politics)? Does the comparative study of ‘fundamentalism’ in different religious traditions and societies help us understand more clearly this phenomenon in our own society?
The study of religion, society and fundamentalism gives us a lot to explore that’s relevant to our own society and to the wider world.
Speaker: Peter R. Bedford, John and Jane Wold Professor of Religious Studies, Union College
Coordinator: Cathy Lewis
The Beatles and Bob Dylan, 1965-1968
Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27, Nov. 3
1 to 3 P.M.
In-person, remote option via Zoom
The Beatles and Bob Dylan represent the pinnacle of Western pop culture achievement in the second half of the twentieth century. From 1965 to 1968 they were at the peak of their powers, their popularity, and their potential. We will focus on these years and how their achievements recast the possibilities of Western popular culture.
Week 1: Dylan: Roots in rock and folk, The Guthrie Enlightenment. Beatles: from "I Feel Fine" (pop energy) to "It's All Too Much" (psychedelia, Dylan)
Week 2: Dylan: Off to NYC. Reinventing Woody: topical song and civil rights. Joan B and Newport. Beatles: Good early songs, like "Help!" or "Hard Day's Night," segueing into "Yesterday," "Eleanor Rigby," etc.
Week 3: Dylan: The singer-songwriter emerges. I was so much older then. Pop goes the weasel. Beatles: Rubber Soul: What Bob did to them
Week 4: The return of rock and roll and blues and the beat of the Beats. Highway 61 and Newport revisited. Beatles: Revolver: influence on Bob, moving past Bob?
Week 5: Goin' up the country and down in the basement and all along the watchtower. (1967-68). Beatles: Sgt. Pepper: what Bob moved past. With a nod to White Album, Beatles "bringing it all back home."
Speakers: Hugh Jenkins, professor of English, and Jordan Smith, Edward Everett Hale Jr., Professor of English, Union College
Coordinator: Cathy Lewis
Topics in Science and Engineering
Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28, Nov. 4
9:30 - 11:30 A.M.
In-person, remote option via Zoom
Various speakers will present on topics of current interest in science and engineering.
Week 1: Mathias Vuille, UAlbany distinguished professor, takes a close look at the main impacts of climate change on our environment and focuses on how we might be able to reduce our vulnerability.
Week 2: Kristopher Williams, coordinator of the Capital Region Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM), will summarize the factors of forest resilience, the nature of the major threats and current and evolving scientifically valid solutions to mitigate threats, especially from invasive species, and promote sustainability.
Week 3: Ashraf Ghaly, Union College Carl B. Jansen Professor of Engineering, discusses the importance of the nation’s infrastructure and how maintaining it will require effective policies, clever planning and establishing of priorities.
Week 4: Ashraf Ghaly returns to explain the importance of understanding “virtual water,” water that is not physically contained in a final product, but that was used to produce it.
Week 5: Aubrey Hillman, UAlbany associate professor, describes how sediment records from lakes can archive information about the environment and can provide much needed context for some of the present-day environmental challenges that the world faces.
Coordinators: Michael Davi and John Gansfuss
The Origins of American Society
Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28, Nov. 4
1 - 3 P.M.
In-person, remote option via Zoom
This course is about the history of European colonization of the New World, with a specific focus on the British colonies. While the thirteen British colonies in what is now the United States went on to form a union and declare independence from England, the other British colonies (in present day Canada and the Caribbean) did not “secede” from the mother country. This course seeks to understand the similarities and differences among these British colonies (in terms of religion, economics, labor systems and demographics) and to explain why some of these colonies banded together to fight for independence, while others did not.
Speaker: Ken Aslakson, associate professor of history, Union College
Coordinators: Willy Lund and Jeff Rothman
Great Social Movements
Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
9:30 - 11:30 A.M.
In-person, remote option via Zoom
Explore the forces that have shaped—and continue to shape—our world. This five-session course examines pivotal social movements, from the labor and women’s rights movements to climate activism and the anti-war protests of the 1960s. We’ll also consider how technology is transforming the way movements emerge and gain momentum today. Through historical context and firsthand perspectives, this course offers a deeper understanding of collective action and its lasting impact.
Week 1: The Democratic Socialism Movement – Gabriel Hetland, associate professor of Africana, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies, UAlbany, will discuss the limits, possibilities and contradictions of the project of democratic socialism in the United States. The talk will use the Mamdani administration as a case study for understanding the broader democratic socialist movement in the United States.
Week 2: The Labor Movement - Catherine Haag, retired social studies teacher and education specialist, NYSED Office of Assessment, will discuss the different methods workers used to curb the harsher effects of industrialization, placing Schenectady’s labor history in the national context.
Week 3: The Women’s Rights Movement – Lauren Kozakiewicz, lecturer, History Department, UAlbany, will look at how the environment in the 1960s made women’s demands for political and cultural change possible, at the variety of voices carrying ideas forward, and at some of the successes and disappointments experienced by these activists.
Week 4: The Times They Are A-Changing: Protest Movements of the 1960s – Eleanor Stein, climate activist and educator, UAlbany, will explore the anti-war and civil rights protests of the 1960s. Almost 60 years later, are there lessons for today?
Week 5: The Role of Technology in Social Movements – Raymond Brescia, Hon. Harold R. Tyler Chair in Law & Technology, Albany Law School, will discuss how technology shapes social revolutions, exploring the interdependent relationship between communications technologies and social change.
Coordinators: Angela Dominelli and Rose Greene
Polls, Politics and Power: The 2026 Midterms
Register here
Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Nov 12
1- 3 P.M.
In-person, remote option via Zoom
The 2026 U.S. midterm elections are poised to be among the most consequential in recent memory. With rising energy costs, ongoing international tensions and debates over the economy, public policy and America’s role in the world, voters will face important choices with far-reaching implications. At the same time, congressional redistricting in several states could significantly influence the balance of power in both the House and Senate.
Longtime UCALL favorite, Union College Professor Cliff Brown returns to guide participants through this rapidly evolving political landscape. Drawing on his extensive expertise in political polling, campaign strategy, voter behavior and election analytics, Brown will provide insightful and engaging analysis that goes beyond the headlines.
Known for his thoughtful, balanced and often witty commentary, Brown helps audiences better understand the forces, personalities and issues shaping American politics today. Each session will include lively discussion and audience Q&A.
Join us for this timely and stimulating opportunity to deepen your understanding of the trends, issues and electoral dynamics that will shape the 2026 midterm elections.
Speaker: Cliff Brown, Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Government, Union College
Coordinator: Michael Davi
For additional course details and speaker bios, please visit our online registration page.
Schedule subject to change.
Register and pay for membership and courses online: www.union.edu/ucall. For more information or to register, email ucall@union.edu