2008 Woodie Awards
First Lady of New York Silda Spitzer to speak at Union
John Nobrega
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: News
New York's First Lady, Mrs. Silda Wall Spitzer, will be on campus as the keynote speaker at "Building Community: A Conversation About Schenectady's Future." Union will be hosting the event slated for April 1 at College Park Hall. The event will be open to all students and begins with breakfast at 8:30 a.m.
The event is an attempt to facilitate greater discussion among local political leaders, business owners, representatives of Union College and students in the revitalization of Schenectady and the region.
In her "I Live New York Summit" held last September at SUNY Cortland, First Lady Spitzer addressed several issues regarding the brain drain facing Upstate New York communities, including Schenectady.
The event seeks to find answers as to how to help revitalize upstate New York. Questions which the event sought to address included how to create more jobs, how to facilitate the connection of recent college graduates with local employers and what incentives can be put in place to attract businesses to move to the region.
The event also seeks to answer questions regarding how local communities can be strengthened by young people taking a more active role in the community, as well as how young people benefit from greater civic participation in the community.
Mrs. Spitzer's address at Union will likewise focus on such issues surrounding the Schenectady community, as well as recent initiatives towards revitalizing the city. According to Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Ron Bucinell, one area of Mrs. Spitzer's address will naturally be "the necessity of keeping the intellectual wealth represented by students in upstate New York."
Bucinell has been instrumental in the planning of the event, as have seniors and co-founders of the Union-Schenectady Alliance, Josh DeBartolo and Steve Walker and their advisor, Professor of Economics Hal Fried.
Walker states, "I'm thrilled to see the First Lady speak and can't wait for the first of April. It's a touch early in the morning, but it will be more than worthwhile. She's been doing a great amount of work to revitalize upstate New York, so this will be a great opportunity for every student to come down and see how she's going about it. Hopefully the professors around campus will cancel class that morning so everyone can make it."
The event is an attempt to facilitate greater discussion among local political leaders, business owners, representatives of Union College and students in the revitalization of Schenectady and the region.
In her "I Live New York Summit" held last September at SUNY Cortland, First Lady Spitzer addressed several issues regarding the brain drain facing Upstate New York communities, including Schenectady.
The event seeks to find answers as to how to help revitalize upstate New York. Questions which the event sought to address included how to create more jobs, how to facilitate the connection of recent college graduates with local employers and what incentives can be put in place to attract businesses to move to the region.
The event also seeks to answer questions regarding how local communities can be strengthened by young people taking a more active role in the community, as well as how young people benefit from greater civic participation in the community.
Mrs. Spitzer's address at Union will likewise focus on such issues surrounding the Schenectady community, as well as recent initiatives towards revitalizing the city. According to Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Ron Bucinell, one area of Mrs. Spitzer's address will naturally be "the necessity of keeping the intellectual wealth represented by students in upstate New York."
Bucinell has been instrumental in the planning of the event, as have seniors and co-founders of the Union-Schenectady Alliance, Josh DeBartolo and Steve Walker and their advisor, Professor of Economics Hal Fried.
Walker states, "I'm thrilled to see the First Lady speak and can't wait for the first of April. It's a touch early in the morning, but it will be more than worthwhile. She's been doing a great amount of work to revitalize upstate New York, so this will be a great opportunity for every student to come down and see how she's going about it. Hopefully the professors around campus will cancel class that morning so everyone can make it."
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