EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE



MINUTES

Union College Alumni Council

April 1, 2017

Meeting to Order

Council Vice-President Kate Stefanik Barry ‘01 called the meeting to order in Hale House at 9:45, following the committee meetings. President Susanna Ryan Berger ’99 is unable to attend.

Moment of Silence

A moment of silence was observed for William Delaney ‘52. He was a long-time member of the Alumni Council, and an active fundraiser for Union. He was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity, where he was President.

Minutes of the October 22, 2016 Meeting

There was a motion to approve the minutes, which was seconded and approved unanimously.

President Stephen Ainlay’s Presentation

President Ainlay introduced Strom Thacker, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty. He follows Therese McCarty, who has returned to being a member of the teaching faculty at Union. Vice President Thacker is an expert on Latin America. Dr. Thacker received his undergraduate degree from Pomona College where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and developed what he calls “a deep and abiding affection for and lifelong passion for the liberal arts.” He received his MA. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He previously served as Professor of International Relations and Political Science in the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. At Boston University he was responsible for varied curricula ranging from neurosciences to social sciences.

The biggest news relates to the Science and Engineering building. The Board of Trustees voted in February to move ahead with the building, which has been on the design table since 2006. The Wold Center was truly the first phase of the project. The teaching of science has changed so that we need this new facility, which will be built in phases to minimize disruption to student life and academics. The building will retain the character of the Ramee plan and will include important green spaces.

Vice President Thacker stated that the future of colleges is in integrating science and engineering with liberal arts, so this building is truly exciting. It includes common spaces for students to gather and to work with faculty. Teaching labs are next to offices, classroom space, and research labs enhancing the flow of students and faculty and of ideas and research.

The Science and Engineering Center will complete the renovation of the academic buildings on campus. There have been fourteen new or totally renovated buildings in the last ten years. The Feigenbaum Center for Visual Arts is important as the nature of making art has changed. It is a much safer environment with facilities for removing vapors, protecting eyes, and the like. It highlights digital art methods. There are 3D design studios. Similarly, the Wold Center has 3D printers for designers. These facilities enable Union to offer an unparalleled education. We will have the best science and engineering facility for a liberal arts college. No other institution in the country offers music for scientists and engineering for arts students in the way we do. To be liberally education, you must be exposed to engineering and technology. Integrating the liberal arts and technology is a very expensive way to educate.

Union co-sponsored a talk entitled “The Big Trends Shaping the World Today: Economics, Technology and Geopolitics” by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman in February at Proctors. He recently published Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations. One of the themes is the accelerated development of technology; he cites Gordon Moore’s law of the speed of technology capacity development. Examples of this are the Cloud, smart cars, and Smartphones.

We must preserve a sense of history, while maintaining technological relevancy. The building of the Science and Engineering Center is a huge reputational opportunity. The Return on Investment for the building is shown in the record number of applications to Union, the record number of Early Decision applications, or the slight majority of women applying Early Decision. Most recently, Union was ranked #5 among the top STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) schools for women (USA Today College Guide 2017). We have an increase in student diversity and in numbers of international students. These are all indications of our making the right investments.

This is Union’s most expensive project, as it is going to cost $100 million, including a $10 million endowment for maintenance. Union has raised over $50 million of the cost as of today. Union’s obstacle is always resources. We fight to compete with schools having larger endowments and annual funds. We are efficient, spending far less on administrative costs per student than other schools.

Regarding athletics, we are proud that Union’s Basketball team won the Liberty League title. Hockey player Mike Vecchione was one of three finalists competing for this year’s Hobey Baker Award. The hockey team made its fifth NCAA Division I Tournament appearance this weekend when it competed against Penn State, a team with literally hundreds of millions of dollars more in resources than our team has.

President Ainlay talked about the drop in endowment in 2016, important because it means a drop in income. The investment committee of the Board of Trustees works with Gerber Taylor, an independent advisory firm to maximize short-term and long-term returns. We need our investments to outperform those of other colleges. In past years, we have been in the top ten percent for performance, but in 2016 our funds were over-correlated.

We are challenged by state government. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Excelsior Scholarship program giving $6500 in free tuition on top of the existing tax-payer supported subsidy to all students of state colleges will over-penalize the private colleges. Governor Nelson Rockefeller supported the Tuition Assistance Program that gave money to families selecting either private or state institutions. The Excelsior program can be the death knell for private colleges already struggling.

The changes in federal immigration procedures are also a challenge. Faculty travel is affected. Students here on green cards are affected. President Ainlay issued a statement saying the college will protect and support those affected by the travel ban.

Students and their families choose Union for the curriculum and for the ethos of coming together for civil discourse and civil capacity for dialog. We are a beacon for dialog and for integrated curriculum. He is proud to be the President of Union College.

Robert Sussman ’67 said that he is a five-year engineering/liberal arts graduate, referring to the earlier discussion. He asked what is being done to minimize the disruption to our students of construction, mindful that student experiences affect donations later when those students are alumni. Ainlay said that fundraising is teaching people the value of the project. When you explain the value of the project, they are willing to contribute. He further noted that Union is very aware of avoiding disruption; students will begin to feel reward with each phase of the project. Don Bentrovato ’69 commented that medical knowledge grows exponentially every 3-5 years. Thus, we should promote the fact that Union prepares you to be a student for the rest of his/her life. Engineers can become lawyers and law students can become pre-med students at Union. Ainlay said that a prime example of that is Franklin Giddings, an engineering student at Union, who because a prominent sociologist in his time. Anders Carlson ’66 asked whether Civil Engineering will be offered in the new facility; Ainlay said that we have moved to offering biomedical engineering and environmental engineering and that we have civil engineers on our faculty teaching courses in civil engineering.

Thomas Torello’s Presentation

Torello is the Chief Communications Officer, as of July 1916. His goal is the communication of the value of Union’s education. He showed an excellent video of Kyra DeTone ’16 as she worked with Professor Mary Carroll of the Chemistry Department in her studies of the chemistry of pigments in oil paint, which ultimately resulted in an internship at the Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is a wonderful example of the value of being able to integrate the arts and sciences.

He has three categories of communications available to him. There are owned channels including Union’s website, the publications, direct mail, e-mail, and social media. There are earned channels including public relations and media relations. There is paid advertising, which we use minimally.

Highlights of our publications are the alumni magazine and the report of President Ainlay’s ten years at Union. He repurposes pieces (e.g. pages from the President’s report become bulletins for admissions). Highlights of e-mail communications are “Beyond the Blue Gate” for alumni and “A View from the Nott” for parents. His “clients” are the College Relations, the President’s Office, the Admissions Office, and the Athletics department.

The Website is the most important part of owned media; we get 2.5 million visits in a year. A redesign is being launched with new content management. It is very important to have an effective website, since 50% of the prospective students conduct the college search on their Smartphones. Social Media is huge for us, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Earned media channels cannot be controlled as they are partly a function of the other news of the day occurring at the same time our story is coming out. Earned media include newspapers like The Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Forbes, and Yahoo – they provide us about $16.2 equivalent worth of advertising. These channels don’t include our sports publicity, but that is a critical area for us, as well.

We publicize our students’ achievements in their hometown newspapers. This is done in an organized manner to drive communications with each achievement. Social media publicity is very targeted, pushing content to audiences most likely to be receptive based on what we know about their social media usage.

Torello concluded with a video on student experiences in internships in Silicon Valley.

Alexander Dolcimascolo ’17, Student Trustee

Dolcimascolo gave a presentation highlighting various areas of achievement. He told of Union’s athletic achievements. He told what the Student Forum is focusing on, including Green Fee Initiatives (Bike Sharing and wind turbines), a Social Norms Campaign with the Wicker Wellness Center, and student safety initiatives (e.g. increased lighting in two areas of the campus).

He then reported on areas of student interest. Students are concerned about recent events regarding immigration. They are concerned about water safety (recent water samples revealed some water fountains that were areas of concern and needed to have filters installed). Union is striving to have 100% of the students living on campus. Union has recently selected a new dining service, who rebranded themselves under the name “Union Hospitality” as they use their business on Union’s campus as a flagship for future business. Surveys still show that faculty and students have negative feelings about fraternities and sororities. Freshmen feel pressured to join for sophomore year in order to have the full Union experience.

Committee Reports

Nominating Committee

Robert Pezzano ’72 reported for his committee.

Alumni Gold Medal Nominees

Dominick Famulare ’92, Jason Oshins ’87, and Drena Webster Root ‘87

Faculty Meritorious Award Nominees

Professor Charles Steckler

There was a motion to approve the report, which was seconded, and approved unanimously.

Finance Committee – Marna Redding showed the financial statements to the group. There was a motion to approve the budget, which was seconded and approved unanimously.

Admissions Committee – Kate Barry ’01 presented the report. Abbey Massoud-Tastor ’07 is our liaison. We had record numbers of applicants this year. There are efforts to increase the yield from the accepted students. Committee members write letters to accepted students.

Regional Clubs Committee – Vin Mattone ’06 is the chair. The goal of the clubs is engagement of people at the alumni level. Founders’ Day on February 22nd was very successful in engaging alumni. There were seventy-five events from July through March of this year, with over 5000 attendees. There are four regional clubs – Capital Region, NYC, Boston, and Washington DC. We want events in order to establish connections.

Careers Committee – Marna Redding presented the report. She cited the success of the Brazen platform for networking. She cited mentoring programs, including a program where Union students are paired with GE employees in STEM fields.

New Business

Don Bentrovato ’69 suggested having an athletics committee again. Discussion centered around having athletic reports at the meetings and/or having an ad hoc committee. The Executive Committee will discuss options.

Adjournment –

There was a motion to adjourn the Council at approximately 12:45, pending the singing of the Alma Mater. It was unanimously approved.

The next meeting is October 21, 2017.

Respectfully submitted,

Karen Huggins ‘77 – Secretary

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