Early Sprouts recently expanded its initiative from working with preschool age children to also children in kindergarten through 6th grade participating in afterschool programs. In the afterschool setting, Early Sprouts continues to focus on nutrition by engaging children in gardening, exploring, and cooking fresh produce. However, a new addition has been incorporating activities that also foster math, science, and art skills.

Dr. Beverly Ferrucci and her fourth-year math students graciously partnered with the Early Sprouts team to create fun and engaging math activities that utilized the Early Sprouts vegetables. For example, children explore the connection between the size of a squash and the number of seeds it contains, determine the volume of a bell pepper by measuring how much water it holds, and calculate the perimeter of a room using green beans.

Keene State College senior art major Rachel Mangean was voted the winner of the People’s Choice Award for Coral Reef Warming, a sculpture displayed in the Emerging Art exhibit, presented by the KSC Art Department through Saturday, May 5, at the Thorne.

During the first weeks of the annual Keene State art students’ exhibition, visitors were invited to vote for their favorite work of art. Mangean won the majority of the 395 votes cast. She will receive a $100 cash award from the Friends of the Thorne along with a People’s Choice Commendation.

The ceramic, wire, and fabric sculpture installation shows the effects of coral bleaching caused by acidification of the oceans. The piece replicates the brilliant colors of a living color reef and then fades into the gray and white colors of a dying reef. Mangean, who has never seen live coral in the ocean, learned about this ecosystem during a biology class at Keene State. She now belongs to an international Coral Reef Alliance that works to save coral reefs throughout the world.

Mangean is one of 13 B.A. and 11 B.F.A. students who will be graduating May 6 whose works are on display in Emerging Art.

Over the summer there may be some pockets of time where the faculty and staff of the TDS Department may be hard to get ahold of.

Starting the week of July 2, Ralston Street offices and classrooms will be shut down to all students, staff, and faculty.

The week of Aug 6-10, the faculty and staff who are located on the second floor of Elliot Hall will be moving out and into the New TDS Center. At this time, the Ralston Street faculty will be able to move into their TDS Center offices as well.

Over the summer, the most effective way to reach TDS faculty will be via e-mail. If you are having trouble reaching a member of the department, please contact Deb Williams, the Administrative Assistant for TDS, at dwilliams2@keene.edu or X82875.

Dr. Ferrucci was selected from a pool of more than 500 applicants by a committee comprised of representatives from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the Mathematical Association of America, the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges, the American Mathematical Society, and the U.S. National Commission on Mathematics Instruction. She will serve as the editor of the Congress’s international research publication that will be published jointly by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Mathematical Association of America.

Got a project from your department you’d like to share across campus? That’s what we’re here for. Send your stories to campusnews@keene.edu.

Over the course of this semester, the Women’s & Gender Studies Capstone worked on a “Granny D” Oral History Project to document the stories of the many New Hampshire citizens and activists who worked and campaigned with Doris “Granny D” Haddock for campaign finance reform and social justice.

This project was completed under the guidance of Patricia Pedroza and supported by the expertise of College Archivist Rodney Obien from and technology assistance by Judy Brophy, CELT.

The class designed a website as the visual product of this project and would like to offer it as a community resource: visit their work at https://sites.google.com/site/civicengagement2012/.

Tomorrow, Friday, the gym will be open 6 a.m.-2 p.m. (closing early due to Spring Honors Convocation being held in rec gym). There will be no pool hours on Friday. The Recreation Center will be closed on Saturday, May 5, and Sunday, May 6.

Summer hours for the Recreation Center will begin on Monday, May 7.
The hours are:

• Monday-Thursday, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.
• Friday, 6 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Saturday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

Pool hours are tentatively scheduled to begin on May 7 and are:

• Monday-Friday, noon-1 p.m.
• Monday-Thursday, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

The Recreation Center is closed on Sundays in the summer and will also be closed on Monday, May 28 and Wednesday, July 4, for school-observed holidays.

The summer group fitness class schedule will be posted on the web page by the end of finals week and will begin on May 7 as well.

Summer Recreation Center memberships are available for all faculty, staff, and spouses/domestic partners (benefits-eligible faculty and staff may use the Wellness Connection benefit to pay for their membership) and the cost is $80 for May-August. Walking Track/Aerobics memberships are available for $50 for the summer as well as the Spaulding Gym, pool and racquetball court membership for no charge. All membership options are available to faculty, staff, and spouses/domestic partners and sign-ups can be done at the front desk of the Recreation Center.

Any current facility member utilizing the Wellness Connection benefit and needs to put their membership on hold for the summer due to medical issues or off their appointment must email Lynne Andrews, landrews@keene.edu at the beginning of the month they wish to put their membership on hold. The minimum work-out requirement for the Wellness Connection program remains the same during the summer and members are encouraged to promptly complete their workout log sheet at the end of each month to ensure that they fulfill this requirement.

When Keene State College transitioned from a three credit course model to a four credit course model, a temporary change was made to the number of credits that a student could take at the full-time tuition rate. The college allowed students to take up to 20 credits at the full-time tuition rate; anything over 20 credits was considered an overload of credits and was billed on a per-credit basis based on residency. This temporary maximum credit load (within the full-time tuition price) of 20 credits will change to 18 credits beginning in the spring 2013 semester. Students enrolled in 19 or more credits will be charged for those overload credits at the in-state tuition rate per credit, regardless of where the student resides.

This change to an 18-credit maximum will help to ensure that resources are being paid for by students who use them, and it will help to balance student workloads, encouraging students to get the most benefit from their academic experience at Keene State.

Keene State College Art Professor Peter Roos has an exhibit of dance photographs on display through Friday, May 18, in the lobby of the Redfern Arts Center on the Keene State campus. Roos took the photographs for the poster to publicize “An Evening of Dance,” KSC’s annual modern dance concert performed April 18 to 21 in the Main Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center.

The photographs “are a result of a wonderful collaboration between two gifted dance professors in the Theatre and Dance program at Keene State College, talented student dancers and myself,” explained Roos. “It has been my pleasure to work with Professors William Seigh and Marcia Murdock since 2003 to create posters for this annual event.”

This year, he used strobe lights to illuminate the stage and create multiple exposure ghost images so it appears that the dancers are leaping and twirling as they would during the concert.

Roos’s professional work is primarily in the medium of oil painting. In recent years he has widened his studio work to include encaustic wax painting and digital photography. His creative work has been exhibited in galleries in Chicago, the Sazama Gallery; the Swope Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana; and at the Bedford Museum in Bedford, Connecticut.

As the Nursing Program begins the enrollment of its second class at Keene State, we are pleased to share that 166 admitted students have been extended offers, with the hope of admitting 60 students, to study in our program during the 2012-13 year.

We also want to clarify that the Nursing program is holding classes across campus where space is available, and labs are being conducted at River Valley Community College close by, on Washington Street. The Nursing program will not be utilizing facilities in the soon-to-be-completed TDS Center. If any questions arise about this, please do not hesitate to contact our department. We look forward to continuing to build our program with a strong student base in the upcoming school year.