If you’ve been climbing over the snow piles on campus, or venting your frustration when you find half the spaces in the parking lot taken up with mounds of plowed snow, you’ll appreciate this contraption. It’s the new KSC ice-melting machine. It’s been a couple of years in the making, but it’s finally perfected and on the job of removing much of the campus’ excess snow.

It sprang from a demonstration at the City of Keene that Bud Windsor, assistant director, Physical Plant, attended. He saw a machine that allowed cities to melt much of the snow that was plowed into huge piles that then either had to be trucked away or left perhaps for months hogging valuable real estate. Bud realized that the College could sure use such a machine, but the cost was prohibitive: nearly a quarter of a million dollars!

So he brought a brochure back to campus, and the guys at the plumbing and heat plant departments started building one. Forget the $250K — they had an axle and a dump truck bed, and bought and scrounged a few more parts and built the machine for somewhere around $30K. That’s quite a savings, and another great example of KSC’s Yankee frugality and do-it-yourself ethic.

According to Bill Rymes, supervisor-Plumbing/Heating Physical Plant, the melter can easily liquefy 25 2.5-yard bucket loads of packed snow per day, reducing much of the expensive trucking that had to be done in the past. Now, the snow is turned into pretty clean water that goes down the storm drain, instead of adding to the burden at the City’s snow dump. Better schedule your sugar-on-snow party while there’s still some left!

Members of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) spent a weekend in November at the Alumni Center for their Regional Operations Committee Meeting. Members came from throughout the Northeast, and the group included KSC Safety Studies alums Amanda Vogel ’07, from the Central Mass. Safety Council, and Kristin Hoffman ’88, principal specialist at Pfizer; KSC professors Wayne Hartz, Larry McDonald, and David May; and six student presenters:

• Jacqueline Ayers talked about her SeaWorld internship.
• Josh Besnoff, Rho Kappa Sigma (National Safety Honor Society) President, used video clips to discuss his construction internship and attendance at a national safety conference.
• Katherine Burke, RSK Vice President, discussed her personal experience of texting while driving and how that experience plus course work is motivating action at KSC.
• Stephanie Rocha transferred to KSC and told a marvelous story of her journey to Safety Studies.
• Mike Araujo discussed his internship with Skanska construction in Boston.
• Brendon McCarthy, President of the ASSE Student Chapter, served as MC and tour guide and discussed the students’ focus on the hazards of texting while driving. Check out their YouTube video.

McCarthy and Prof. Hartz led a tour of the campus on Sunday morning, visiting Butterfield, reviewing KSC’s program and planned building renovation.

Prof. Hartz noted that Richard Pollock, CSP, Sr. Vice President of the ASSE, and Dr. Robert McClay, ASSE Regional Vice President Region VII, attended both days of the meeting and were enthusiastic in their praise of the student presentations. He also said that Tom Nolan, ASSE Regional Coordinator and Past President, ASSE Granite State Chapter (which sponsors the student chapter) and weekend organizer, mentioned that “this was the best regional meeting they have ever had. Period. To a person, each attendee commented that the best part of the weekend were the students and their presentations.” Go KSC!

Parents: Don’t Text While (Your Kids are) Driving!

Safety Studies Professor Wayne Hartz pointed out that studies indicate that parents initiate over 50% of their children’s text traffic. A driver who’s also texting takes his or her eyes off the road an average of three seconds per text. At 65 mph, that means that the car travels 100 yards while the driver isn’t watching the road ahead. So, parents, think before you text: Am I encouraging my kid to read this text while he or she is driving?

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.

Economics adjunct faculty member John Hackett died at his Keene home on Thursday, November 18. Dr. Hackett joined the KSC faculty in 2004 after a distinguished career in economics and taught a variety of courses, from intro sections to those on public policy, financial economics, and financial analysis. He also contributed to the Integrative Studies Program through a course in quantitative literacy. His earlier professional life included positions as CFO of Cummins Engine Co, Assistant Vice President and Economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Managing General Partner of CID Equity Partners of Indianapolis (a venture capital company that he helped organize), and board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and various publicly traded companies. He was VP of Finance and Administration at Indiana University-Bloomington, where he also served as an adjunct member of the faculty of the Department of Economics. 

Dr. Hackett authored or co-authored books, chapters, and articles on economic and corporate finance. He wrote Race to the Bottom, a fictional history of the rise and decline of a Midwestern company and its community.

He was a member of the Board of Directors of New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) and served on the Board of Trustees of Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan. He also served on the Visioning Committee for the Master Plan for the city of Keene.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts be made in memory of Dr. Hackett to the Leelanau Conservancy, 105 North First Street, Leland, Michigan 49654, or to the Indiana Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, 620 Ohio Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, or to Hospice at Home Healthcare and Community Services, 312 Marlborough Street, Keene, NH 03431.

The wheel of the College’s master plan is still turning, and now it’s time for renovations to begin on Butterfield Hall and the Adams Technology Building. According to VP for Finance and Planning Jay Kahn, work will begin on them in the summer of 2011 and continue for a year, thanks to help from USNH. Although the College realized a few years ago that these buildings were in need of upgrade, others, including Fiske, Huntress, and the MAC, were put on the list first.

Butterfield Hall and Adams Technology Building include facilities for the Safety and Occupational Health Applied Sciences, Sustainable Product Design 
and Innovation, and Architecture departments. Butterfield also houses the National Grange Mutual (NGM) Safety Center.

Read all about it in the Equinox.