the classes
SUPPORTIVE TEACHERS MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
A
few weeks before he came to deliver the Founders Day address, Alfred Sommer ’63 sat down with his yearbook to remember his professors. A biology major and history minor who would serve as editor-in-chief of Concordiensis, Sommer was an engaged student whose “think-outside-the-box” style was first nurtured by a host of Union faculty. Among those he recalled: • Clifford Pierce, psychology, encouraged Sommer to investigate his hunch that students who took an interest test a second time would answer questions in a more socially acceptable way. His research, which would never be published, confirmed Sommer’s theory. • William Winne, biology, a “down to earth and hysterical professor” who during class studies in Jackson’s Garden calmly assured students that fecal matter left by dogs was part of the natural environment. • Henry Butzel and Ray Rappaport, biology, original and cutting-edge researchers, asked Sommer to assist in their lab. • Hans Hainebach, a modest and reticent professor of German, became a personal friend of Sommer and his future wife, Jill. • President Carter Davidson, austere and serious, always kept his door open. “I could always see him in there with all the books,” Sommer recalls. “It all looked so serious.” • C. William Huntley, the dean, was approachable and business-like. • Egbert Bacon, chemistry, wrote the book on quantitative analytical inorganic chemistry. Sommer, who admits to taking sloppy measurements, tried in vain to use the philosophy of compensating errors to arrive at the right answer. • Leonard Clark, chair of biology, gave Sommer access to an old GE x-ray machine on which he did a research project. • Joseph Finkelstein, history, and John Bradbury, English, encouraged Sommer in independent research projects. • Myron Weaver, the college doctor, drove a Cadillac, a detail not missed by some pre-med students. Sommer, less interested in the car, asked him questions about the medical profession. “These were wonderful, simple personal relationships,” Sommer said. “And they were possible only because Union was such a small place.”
34 | UNION COLLEGE Spring 2014
1961
1962
CLASS CORRESPONDENT
CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Bill Condon 1365 Van Antwerp Road Apt. I-91 Niskayuna, N.Y. 12309 bcond041@nycap.rr.com (518) 382-1096
Ollie R. Bunch 441 Stub Hollow Road New Hartford, Conn. 06057-2513
The Potsdam College Foundation recently welcomed William Kirchgasser to the Board of Trustees. William holds a master’s degree and doctorate from Cornell University. He was also a Fulbright-Hay postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hull in Yorkshire, England. William joined the SUNY Potsdam faculty in 1969, going on to serve as the chair of the Department of Geology from 1985 to 2000, before retiring in 2004. As a professor emeritus, he donated his extensive collection of fossils from around the world, which he gathered throughout his 40-year teaching career, to the College. The W.T. Kirchgasser Fossils Collection consists of several hundred invertebrate fossils, and parts are displayed on a rotating basis in the geology museum in Timerman Hall. Bill Reaman writes, “With the passing of Bob Morgan in February, Howie Adams and members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity thought that a contribution to the Class of 1961 Scholarship Fund in memory of Bob would be a way to honor Bob and his love of Union. For the 50th ReUnion Yearbook, Bob stated, “without Union I would not be here and would not have it any other way.” Contributions to the scholarship should be sent to Diane Brisnehan (brisnehd@union.edu) in the Alumni Office. Bob is further remembered on pg. 52.
1963 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
George Ball 6929 Country Line Road Wayland, N.Y. 14572-9553 gball@frontiernet.net
1964 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Anton Warde 36 Two Lights Rd. Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107 wardea@union.edu Martin Goldberg writes, “I am pleased to announce that we have published ‘Predicting Operating Room Case Load: An Aid to Resource Allocation’ in Vol. 2, No. 4 of the Journal of Hospital Administration. The full paper is available (www.sciedu.ca/journal/ index.php/jha/issue/view/149) in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF).”
1965 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Jon Lechevet, Ph.D. 206 Cross Road Edmeston, N.Y. 13335-2610 jnlechevet@verizon.net
1966 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Antonio F. Vianna 7152 Tanager Drive Carlsbad, Calif. 92011-5033 simpatico1@juno.com Peter Kissinger, a professor of chemistry, was recently awarded the Outstanding Commercialization Award for Purdue University faculty. The honor is given annually to a faculty member in recognition of outstanding contributions to, and success with, commercializing Purdue