Monthly Archives: March 2011

Looking for Career Help? Look to the Alumni Office

March 28, 2011For Parents, Uncategorized

Are you like me and have no idea where to go with your degree or even your overall life after graduation? Do you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with nightmares of unemployment, resumes, and elusive interviews? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, the Alumni Office is creating a mentoring program that could be a big help.

I had the pleasure of speaking recently with Scott Ettle ’96, one of those generous alums who’s offered to do some career counseling for other alums and current students. Let me say, five minutes into my conversation with him, he had me feeling uplifted and confident about my prospects.

Continue reading Looking for Career Help? Look to the Alumni Office →

President Giles-Gee Honored as Woman of Courage and Conviction

March 25, 2011Uncategorized

KSC President Dr. Helen Giles-Gee is among seven women whom the National Council of Negro Women Greater Boston Section (NCNW) has honored with its 2010 Women of Courage and Conviction Awards.

The award seeks to honor women who uphold the spirit and vision of Dorothy Height (1912–2010), a women’s rights and civil rights activist who served as president of NCNW for 40 years, and her mentor, NCNW founder Mary McLeod Bethune (1875–1955). McLeod was an American educator and civil rights leader who worked as an advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Continue reading President Giles-Gee Honored as Woman of Courage and Conviction →

21 Athletes on LEC Winter All-Academic Team

March 25, 2011Uncategorizedsports, Student Standouts

Twenty-one KSC student athletes have earned spots on the 2010–11 Little East Conference All-Academic Teams. How did they make the cut? The student athletes must be enrolled at KSC for a full academic year, be at least a sophomore academically and athletically, have a cumulative grade point average of a 3.3, and be a full-time member of a varsity sport.
Continue reading 21 Athletes on LEC Winter All-Academic Team →

Adam Skibek ’07 Reaches New Heights

March 25, 2011Uncategorizedsports

Adam Skibek ’07 helps a friend reach for the stars. (Photo courtesy of Shaquille O'Neal)

Adam Skibek ’07 worked in KSC’s Sports Information Office after graduation and then headed down to Springfield College to pursue a master’s degree in sports management. He’s spending this spring in an internship with the Boston Celtics’ department of corporate partnerships and business development, which got him entrance to Shaquille O’Neal’s 39th birthday celebration at the Boston Children’s Museum recently.

Part of the celebration had Adam hoisting a young Museum attendee on his shoulders so she could mark Shaq’s height on an oversized ruler. And the photo, which you can see here, made it onto the cover of the Boston Globe sports page.

You never can tell just how high our alums might reach.

More information. …

Residence Halls Win KSC “School of the Year”

March 23, 2011Uncategorized

A residence hall is much more than just a place to sleep—KSC’s res halls offer students engaging and creative programs to keep them connected to campus life, and to their educational goals. And we’re not the only ones who think so. The Northeast Association of College and University Residence Halls (NEACURH) recently named the Keene State College Residence Hall Organization “School of the Year” at NEACURH’s Mini No-Frills conference at New York University.

The award recognizes outstanding achievements on the campus level by a residence hall organization and associated groups, as well as regional and national contributions. It is the highest honor a NEACURH member school can receive. NEACURH is the regional branch of NACURH. According to the NACURH website, “NACURH is considered to be the largest student run organization in the world,” bringing together over 400 schools from around the world. “NACURH promotes living on campus as an integral part of the college experience, and strives to provide resources to help member schools create the ultimate residence hall environment and experience.” Continue reading Residence Halls Win KSC “School of the Year” →

Norm Fisk to Lead RCAM

March 23, 2011Uncategorized

After conducting a comprehensive search, the Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing at Keene State College (RCAM) has named Norm Fisk (PE) as its Executive Director. Launched in February 2010, RCAM is a dynamic partnership between Keene State College, the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce, the Keene School District, and River Valley Community College. The Center’s mission is work with businesses and educators to help train highly skilled professionals to meet the needs of the many manufacturing companies that are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit skilled employees in New Hampshire.

Mr. Fisk has more than 20 years’ experience in a wide array of manufacturing and engineering enterprises throughout New England. He has also taught at Keene State College for more than fifteen years as an adjunct instructor. This combination of academic and industry experience fit the profile, needs, and direction of RCAM perfectly.

More information. …

James Berkey ’01 Appointed to Thompson Writing Program

March 22, 2011UncategorizedAlumni achievers

Remember James Berkey ’01? He went from KSC to complete his PhD in the American Studies Program at Indiana University last year. (He titled his dissertation “Imperial Correspondence: Soldiers, Writing, and the Imperial Quotidian during the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars.”) Now he’s received a three-year postdoctoral appointment to the Thompson Writing Program at Duke University. That’s impressive! Drop him a note of congratulations (the “Comments” link is below).

SURF’s up for Deena Snoke this Summer

March 21, 2011Uncategorizedbiology, Student Standouts

SURFing can be pretty competitive, especially when SURF stands for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program at Dartmouth this summer, and you’re competing against 300 top students across the country for one of 6–8 spots. Those spots provide research experience in the laboratory of one of Dartmouth’s principal investigators in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program.

When KSC sophomore Deena Snoke mentioned to Prof. Susan Whittemore that she was looking for an internship this summer, Dr. Whittemore suggested she apply for the SURF program at Dartmouth. Snoke did, and got a spot! She’ll be be doing research in a neurobiology lab.

“I know that I will return with ideas that I will be able to apply in the lab and share with my peers here at KSC, and I can’t wait to learn from the distinguished faculty at Dartmouth College. Overall, I am so excited to be attending and representing Keene State College at the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship,” Snoke, a member of Beta Beta Beta (the national biological honors society) and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, said.

The program offers a number of career-development activities, including a free Kaplan GRE prep course and a chance to interact with members of our admissions committee and Dartmouth graduate students. It also includes a stipend, a free room, and a food allowance.

This is quite an accomplishment. Use the “comments” link below to tell Snoke how proud you are of her.

KSC Chamber Singers Compete in Together in Song

March 21, 2011Mark Your Calendar

The KSC Chamber Singers, under the direction of Dr. Elaine Broad Ginsberg, participated recently in Together in Song, a competition that WGBY, the PBS station out of Springfield, MA, is hosting. This community-minded program celebrates the choral tradition of western New England in five categories: children’s choirs, high school choruses, college ensembles, small adult groups, and large adult ensembles. The Together in Song series first aired on March 19, and the KSC Chamber Singers will be featured in the program broadcast this Saturday, March 26, at 8 p.m., and again at 8:30 p.m.

This 10-part series is presented each Saturday, concluding on April 16. A panel of judges, as well as the viewing audience, will select four semi finalists from each category. All semi finalists will perform at the Together in Song Festival in downtown Springfield on April 30 and May 1. All performances will be broadcast live on WGBY.

Cognitive Dissonance Comes to Carroll House

March 21, 2011Mark Your Calendarart

Connecticut College art professor Gregory Bailey will bring his sculptural installation, Cognitive Dissonance 3/1 to the Carroll House Gallery from March 24–April 16. Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that refers to the discomfort felt when new information or events conflict with your preconceived notions or beliefs.

Prior to the opening, the artist will offer a lecture at noon on Wednesday, March 23, in the Thorne-Sagendorph Conference Room, and there will be a reception for the exhibit opening on Thursday, March 24, from 4–6 p.m. at the Carroll House Gallery.

Continue reading Cognitive Dissonance Comes to Carroll House →

Granny D’s Archives Come to KSC

March 17, 2011Uncategorized

A bust of political activist Doris “Granny D” Haddock with her iconic vest and plumed hat, all now part of KSC's Granny D Collection, flanked by Ruth Meyer of the NH Coalition for Open Democracy, and Granny D’s son, Jim Haddock of Dublin, NH. — A bust of political activist Doris “Granny D” Haddock with her iconic vest and plumed hat, all now part of KSC's Granny D Collection, flanked by Ruth Meyer of the NH Coalition for Open Democracy, and Granny D’s son, Jim Haddock of Dublin, NH (who passed away on March 31).

NH Governor John Lynch proclaimed March 10, 2011, as “Remembering Granny D Day” in the state, in honor of Doris “Granny D” Haddock’s unrelenting advocacy for such issues as campaign finance reform, civic education, and environmental protection and her U.S. Senate run at the age of 94. During her long and productive life, she amassed an extraordinary archive of letters, photographs, and memorabilia that chronicle her work as an activist and organizer, including her journal from her famous walk across the US, the campaign reform banner she carried, and a pair of her iconic campaign shoes.

Her archives are being donated to KSC. The Granny D Collection will be a cornerstone of the Mason Library’s New Hampshire Social Justice Collection, intended to be actively used by students, scholars, and citizens, who will not just look at the collection but work with the archival items to develop new scholarly and community-based work. The NH Social Justice Collection also includes holdings relating to the civil rights worker and Episcopal seminarian Jonathan M. Daniels, Christine Sweeney and her landmark civil rights case, NH Senator Junie Blaisdell, and the work of the socially conscious NH filmmaker Louis de Rochemont.

More information. …

Class of ’61—It’s Your Special Reunion

March 16, 2011Mark Your Calendar, Uncategorized

The Class of 1961 will be celebrating its 50^th Reunion this summer, and the excitement of reconnecting and coming back to the campus is starting to build. Registration starts at noon on Friday, June 3rd, at the Student Center. Or you can get an early start on Reunion with the traditional hike up Monadnock that morning at 9:30 a.m. (meet at the main entrance to the park). Or join the KSC Golf Classic at 11 at Brentwood.

Make sure you’re on campus by noon on on Saturday, the 4th, as bagpiper Robert Dinwoodie ’61 leads you and the rest of the Class of ’61 in the parade of classes down Apian Way and into the Alumni Association Annual Awards luncheon. There, you and all your classmates will receive your Golden Circle Society Medallions—not to mention the old classmates and good friends you’ll be reconnecting with.

Continue reading Class of ’61—It’s Your Special Reunion →

Where’d I See That?

March 15, 2011Uncategorized

Last month’s challenge was a good one, and we didn’t receive a single guess. Pretty dismal. Let’s try something maybe a little easier. Anyone out there know where this inscription is?

If you think you know, please write your answer in erasable marker on a Trek Madone 6 series road bike and ship it to Newsline, 229 Main St., Keene, NH 03435, or use the “comments” link below.