Union in the Media

In 1961, Schaffer Library opened its doors on the Union campus, the first permanent home for the College’s vast collection of books, periodicals and treasured documents. Before that, the library shared space in the Nott Memorial and other places on campus.

To help celebrate the 50th anniversary, library staff is planning a series of events for the remainder of the year.

Bob Soules, director of the Becker Career Center, was interviewed recently by the Times Union about job prospects for graduates in the semiconductor industry.

A sediment core from a South American lake revealed a steady, sharp drop in crucial monsoon rainfall since 1900, leading to the driest conditions in 1,000 years as of 2007 and threatening tropical populations with water shortages, according to a team of researchers, which includes Donald Rodbell, chair of the Geology Department.

A 2,300-year climate record University of Pittsburgh researchers recovered from an Andes Mountains lake reveals that as temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere rise, the planet’s densely populated tropical regions will most likely experience severe water shortages as the crucial summer monsoons become drier. The Pitt team found that equatorial regions of South America already are receiving less rainfall than at any point in the past millennium.

The researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS) that a nearly 6-foot-long sediment core from Laguna Pumacocha in Peru contains the most detailed geochemical record of tropical climate fluctuations yet uncovered. The core shows pronounced dry and wet phases of the South American summer monsoons and corresponds with existing geological data of precipitation changes in the surrounding regions.

Rodbell was the co-designer of the study.

To read the full story in Science Daily, click here.

The Daily Gazette recently profiled Schuyler Smith, an 18-year-old homeschooler who has attended classes at Union since the seventh grade.

Smith was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar - an honor given to two seniors from each state who excel academically.

The article mentions the influence two Union professors had on Smith while here - William Zwicker and Rebecca Koopman.

Union recently received a $500,000 gift from Goldman Sachs Gives, which when combined with a previous gift of $1 million brings total support by Goldman Sachs Gives for need-based scholarships to $1.5 million over the past 12 months.

Goldman Sachs Gives is a donor-advised fund. The firm’s partners make recommendations to Goldman Sachs Gives that support non-profit and charitable organizations around the world.

The donation was made at the recommendation of David Viniar '76 and his wife, Susan. David is the chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs and a member of the College's Board of Trustees.

Read about the gift in the Business Review (registration may be required).

Union College has entered into an agreement with the private conservation group Protect the Adirondacks! (PROTECT) to purchase a building complex in nearby Niskayuna that includes the former home of the noted Adirondack conservationist Paul Schaefer (1908-1996) and a modern addition that houses the Adirondack Research Library.

To read a story in the Times Union, click here.

For the second straight year, Union is included among the country’s most environmentally responsible colleges, according to The Princeton Review’s 2011 “Guide to Green Colleges.” The free guide, produced in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, includes schools that have “demonstrated an above average commitment to sustainability in terms of campus infrastructure, activities and initiatives.”

Union recently hosted the 11th annual Rube Goldberg Engineering Competition at Memorial Fieldhouse.

The contest is named for the late Rube Goldberg, an engineer and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist. His cartoons, depicting “inventions” that epitomized “man’s capacity for exerting maximum effort to accomplish minimal results,” appeared in thousands of daily newspapers between 1914 and 1964.

Teams of middle and high school students had to build a machine that could plant a tree.

James N. Hedrick, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was the contest chair. The competition was coordinated by the Engineering program. Other event sponsors include GE Volunteers, KAPL, Bechtel and the Schenectady Museum.

The Daily Gazette

Baruch Samuel Blumberg ‘46, whose work led to an effective hepatitis B vaccine and earned him a Nobel Prize in Medicine, died Tuesday, April 5, after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 85.

Blumberg was expected to return to campus for ReUnion weekend next month to deliver the keynote address at the dedication of the Peter Irving Wold Center, a $22 million, three-story, 35,000-square-foot research and education facility.

He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors in physics at Union in 1946, and received an honorary doctor of laws from the College in 1977.

In October 2007, Blumberg was among the first group to be featured in Union Notables, a rotating exhibit in Schaffer Library that celebrates the great men and women who have studied at Union over two centuries and gone on to make leading contributions in their fields.

Dozens of Newspapers and publications around the world published an obituary on Blumberg, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.

Charles Steckler, professor of theater and resident scenic designer, is the featured artist in a solo exhibition, “Charles Steckler: Sketcher Recalls,” at The Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy. The show features a selection of 24 pen and ink drawings from Steckler’s series, Per Passa il Tempo, meaning passing of time. The exhibit runs through April 22 in the President’s Gallery.

To read about the exhibit in the Times Union, click here.