If you’re planning to give a year-end gift to your alma mater, the new tax laws may affect you. The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 “provides a two-year retroactive extension of the IRA Charitable Rollover. Specifically, the new law reinstates the Rollover for 2010 and allows any eligible gifts made by January 31, 2011 to be treated as a 2010 donation and be used to satisfy the taxpayer’s minimum distribution requirement for 2010. The new expiration date for the Charitable Rollover is December 31, 2011.”

You can find more information at the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning website.

Poet and KSC English Professor William Doreski recently won the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition 2010 poetry award. Aesthetica is a British-based art and culture publication that explores both emerging and established contemporary arts and design. The annual competition received 4,000 entries, and one winner was chosen from each of three categories: Artwork & Photography, Fiction, and Poetry. Each winner received an award of £500 and an additional prize from Aesthetica’s competition partners. Winners and finalists have their work published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual.

Read more, including a link to “Your Sea Bass,” and more of Prof. Doreski’s poems.

OK, here’s an easy one. Where on campus have you seen this tasteful sign?

This, and other images as we add them, are on display in our Where’d I See That? gallery. If you can shed any light on this month’s mystery photo, please tape your answer to a mint-condition, 1909 S VDB penny and mail it to Newsline, Alumni Center, Keene State College, Keene, NH, 03435-1502, or use the “Comments” link below.

Last October, Irene Herold, Dean of Library at KSC, was one of two NH delegates who joined 116 other women from around the country at Vision 2020: An American Conversation about Women and Leadership.  The delegates to this national initiative gathered at Drexel University in Philadelphia to advance women’s equality by 2020. They spent three days in discussion and debate, generating hundreds of ideas on how to support women’s leadership. Each woman signed the “Declaration of Equality” and pledged to create action projects designed to give more women a voice in government, media, education, and business in their home states.

Read the story on the KSC news page.

The latest issue of Keene State Today just hit the streets. Read all about the latest and best that’s happening on campus, and what our amazing alums, faculty, and staff are up to; for example, the deep insight and scholarship that James Waller brings to the Holocaust and Genocide Studies program, the impact that the CELT (Center for Engagement, Learning, and Technology) office is having on education at KSC, how the Aspire program helped Kelly Fournier ’04 find the path to success, how Distinguished Teacher Beverly Ferrucci finds artistic expression in mathematics research, and much, much more. Don’t miss a thing!

In mid-November, nearly 40 local and national employers gathered in the lobby of the David F. Putnam Science Center to meet students and alumni who wanted to create a stronger presence in the job market. Sponsored by the Academic and Career Advising office, with strong support from the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations, the Career Connections job fair attracted representatives from many businesses, including the American Red Cross, the Social Security Administration, and the FBI.

Several KSC alums were there as representatives of participating companies. Those included Emily Tinkham and Deb Tisdale from Entergy Vermont Yankee in Vernon, VT; Andre Smith from Enterprise Holdings in Londonderry, NH; Scott Ettl from Gartner, Inc. in Stamford, CT; Sarah Vezzani and Charles Owusu from Liberty Mutual Insurance in Keene; Sherryl Bemis from Masiello Employment Services in Keene; Katherine Thomas from PC Connection in Keene; Peggy Madden from Peerless Insurance in Keene; Dominic Perkins from Savings Bank of Walpole, Keene; Jeremy Kullman and Scott Hogg from Skanska USA Building, Boston; former Alumni Director Mike Maher from the Student Conservation Association, Charlestown, NH; and Luca D’Italia from Waddell & Reed, Bedford, NH. Visit the Career Events page for a link to all the companies in attendance.

Several of the alumni representing companies offered valuable advice and contacts to student job seekers. The Alumni Association Career Support Committee had representatives at two tables to talk to the students, answer career-related questions, and encourage the students to join our recently established Alumni and Student Career Network on LinkedIn. This group was formed as a career network for students and alums where members can pose questions, initiate discussions and seek/provide career advice.