There’s nothing like the element of surprise – especially when the surprise comes in the form of two bequests that will make a real difference to deserving Keene State students.

Recently, KSC received two unexpected gifts: one from emeritus faculty Peter Batchelder, who taught German here until 1981, and one from Dorothea Kitlan, who worked on campus from the late 1960s to the mid ’80s and received her BA as a non-traditional student in 1972.

Prof. Batchelder, who died in 2007, lived in Alstead Center, N.H., and had supported the arts at KSC with his previous gifts. His recent estate bequest has established the Peter H. Batchelder Scholarship for the Humanities, which provides recognition and financial assistance, awarded annually for a maximum two-year period, to a Keene State College student enrolled in the School of Arts and Humanities, with preference given to students majoring in French, German, or philosophy.

Dorothea Kitlan’s bequest is the second largest in KSC history and has established the Dorothea A. Kitlan Scholarship Fund for students expressing financial need. Ms. Kitlan, who died in 2009, had been living in Port Charlotte, Fla., and, back in the 1970s had been a board member for the Keene Endowment Association, an independent charitable entity established to provide assistance to deserving KSC students. When she retired from Keene State, she was the director of the Curriculum Materials Library at the Mason Library.

We are delighted to receive these two very special gifts. They will provide critical support for deserving students (always a wonderful thing), and we’re very proud to know that two people who have been closely involved with the work we do here remember KSC so fondly and are so committed to support that important work.

We’re planning to do more detailed profiles of Ms. Kitlan and Prof. Batchelder in the next few months, and we’d love to have your input. If you remember either of these remarkable people, please share your stories with us via the “comments” link below. If you have photos you can send us, we would love to see them. Please send digital photos to alumni@keene.edu. You can send print photos (please include your name and address if you’d like them returned) to

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