Know an alum who has given incredible amounts of time and talent to support KSC? Or a recent grad who deserves recognition for their career or civic accomplishments? The KSC Alumni Association is proud to honor our amazing graduates and is now accepting applications for the following awards:
Check the awards pages for more information and a nomination form, and submit your nomination by February 15. The Alumni Association will present its awards at its Annual Luncheon, June 5, 2010.
If you’ve got a favorite professor – you know, the one who helped shape your life – nominate him or her for the 2010 Distinguished Teacher Award. The deadline for Distinguished Teacher nominations is April 17.
You’re always welcome on campus, and never more so than during Reunion, when we really roll out the red carpet and do our best to host a great party. Reunion this year is June 4, 5, and 6, so mark your calendar and start making plans!
Is your class celebrating its 10th, 25th, or 50th reunion? Your classmates are likely planning special gatherings and dinners to celebrate. Relive the good old days by booking a room in one of our classic dorms like Huntress or Fiske, or experience a couple of nights in our new dorms by booking a spot in one of the Pondside III suites.
Keep checking the Reunion webpage for updated info and online registration. And be sure to block the first weekend in June 2010 as “Save for Keene”!
From the time she was in grade school, Harriet Richardson Ames knew she wanted to teach. Through the grace and generosity of the local women’s club, the Barnstead Parade, N.H., native got the money to attend her first year at Keene Normal School. She earned her two-year teaching certificate in 1931 and went off to pursue her dream, eventually landing a position she loved as a teaching principal at the Memorial School in Pittsfield, NH. She taught first grade there for over 20 years until she began to lose her eyesight to cataracts, which forced her to retire in 1971.
Throughout her teaching career, Harriet continued to take classes at UNH, Plymouth State College, and Keene State College to improve herself professionally. She always wanted a B.Ed., and asked during one of her last classes at KSC what she would need to do to complete her degree. The College told her that she just needed to take one course in public speaking. “I was already going around talking to panels; the ladies’ circles had me come, the Rotary had me come – I was already doing public speaking,” Harriet recalled in a interview Film Professor Larry Benaquist recorded when she was 98. Though she wanted to complete that last course, her eyesight was already failing, and she realized she’d have to retire, so she never took that last step.
“She was such a lovely person,” Dr. Benaquist said, “and a beloved teacher. She had a bureau full of letters and testimonies from her former students.”
When Harried celebrated her 100th birthday on January 2, 2010, Norma Walker ’51 visited her to deliver a certificate from KSC President Helen Giles-Gee honoring Harriet’s centenarian status. Harriet’s health was failing, and she was under Hospice care. Norma mentioned that the KSC Advancement Office had recently come across Harriet’s course records and was working to see if the College could award her a B.Ed. “Harriet was so moved that she started to cry,” Norma said. “She asked me if I would read the diploma at her funeral if she didn’t live long enough to accept it herself.”
However, the wheels were turning. Word of Harriet’s dying wish reached President Giles-Gee, who requested that the offices of the provost and registrar act quickly to see if Harriet had done the work to earn the degree. After a flurry of calls to the institutions where she had taken courses to verify her credits and professional experience, Keene State determined that, yes, Harriet Richardson Ames had indeed completed the requirements for a Bachelor of Education, and the degree was granted. This was not an honorary degree; Harriet was reviewed through the same process every KSC student goes through – the College made no special exceptions for her, save speeding up the verification process. Norma; Sean Gillery ’89, from the Development Office; and Kay MacLean, from the Alumni & Parent Relations Office, drove the document to Harriet’s bedside on Friday, January 22. Harriet died the next day.
Norma recalled that, during one of her earlier visits, “Harriet said she was perturbed with God because he wouldn’t take her when she wanted to go.” Fortunately, Harriet held on long enough to learn that she’d been granted her dying wish.
Her memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday Feb. 9, at Havenwood in Concord, N.H. (33 Christian Ave., phone: 603-224-5363).
If you remember Harriet, please leave us a comment about her.
In this video, recorded by Larry Benaquist and edited by Kevin Sweet, Harriet explains why she never took the last step to finish her degree.
The dust has settled, the votes have been counted, and the 2003–04 Owl men’s basketball team has been selected as KSC’s Team of the Decade. This team, which captured the program’s first Little East Conference championship and advanced to the “Elite Eight” of the NCAA tournament, received 207 first-place votes in the Athletic Department’s online poll.
The 2008–09 men’s swim team, which placed third in the ECAC Division III championship and won a first-ever NEISDA title, took second place in the poll, and the NEISDA and LEC champion 2008–09 women’s swim team came in third.
Were you an athlete on one of these outstanding teams? Were you a fan? Use the “comments” link below to give us your opinion.
The New Hampshire Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (NEAHPERD), has named Andy Bohannon ’94 Outstanding Recreational Professional of the Year for his efforts in promoting healthy living and reducing childhood obesity in the Monadnock Region. Andy is the director of Parks, Recreation, and Cemeteries for the City of Keene; a member of Advocates for Healthy Youth; and an organizer of the CATCH Kids’ Club, an after-school program at the Keene Recreation Center that encourages kids to exercise and eat healthy foods. Due to Andy’s success with the CATCH Club, the program is being implemented in 57 other New Hampshire locations.
Keene State College will be commemorating its 40th year of sponsoring women’s basketball on Saturday, January 23, at Spaulding Gym, when the Owls host the Beacons of UMass-Boston.
If you were a former women’s player or coach, or if you contributed to the program’s growth in any way, KSC extends you a special invitation to attend. Players and coaches will be introduced at halftime of the women’s game and are invited to a post-game social at the Night Owl Café.
Saturday, January 23, 2010 Women: Keene State vs. UMass-Boston, 1 p.m.
(Former players and coaches will be recognized at halftime. )
Men: Keene State vs. UMass-Boston, 3 p.m.
(Players- and coaches-only reception at halftime. )
Post-Game Reception from 5–7 p.m. in the Night Owl Café (Young Student Center)
Brent Elwell , Keene native and huge KSC sports fan, died Tuesday morning, January 5, from heart failure after a life-long battle with cancer. He was 33.
Diagnosed with leukemia and heart problems when he was 3 years old, Brent stopped growing at 4’9″, due to the radiation treatments he received. But that sure never stopped his growing involvement with KSC sports. That was his passion, and any fan who attended any Owl athletic event was likely to see Brent, helping out somewhere on the sidelines.
Besides working and volunteering regularly over the years at KSC sporting events, Brent worked in various positions on campus, from helping in the mailroom 15 years ago to his most recent job in the bookstore.
Calling hours will be from 4–7 p.m. on Saturday, January 9, at the Fletcher Funeral Home (33 Marlboro St.), and the funeral will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the United Church of Christ (23 Central Square), followed by a reception in the church parlor.
If you knew Brent, please use the “comments” link below to tell us about your experience.
With the 2000–09 decade coming to a close, the Keene State College Sports Information Department invites you to help pick the top Owl team of the past 10 years. We have created a list of teams, with their highlights, from each of Keene State’s 18 programs from 2000–09. Please use our online survey form to cast your vote for the greatest Keene State College team of the decade!
You can vote up through Jan. 17, 2010; we’ll announce the results on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
U.S. News & World Report is telling the world what we already knew: KSC is a well-regarded and affordable college with lots of small classes. Budget-conscious students can get a great education here and never be lost in a sea of other students or be just a number on some professor’s computer grading system. But we already knew that.
And don’t forget: U.S. News & World Report has listed KSC on its 2010 list of America’s Best Colleges.
The Redfern Arts Center is one of 31 semifinalists in the 2010 Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program. Each semifinalist will be given $7,000 to help develop a project concept for the final selection process. Up to 10 one- to two-year project grants, ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 each, will be awarded in August 2010 to college- and university-based presenters from among these semifinalists.
The Association of Performing Arts Presenters initiated The Creative Campus Innovations Grant program to support performance-based projects on American campuses that exhibit the importance of the arts to the educational, service, and scholarly missions of the academy and that fully integrate the performing arts into the life of the academy and the community.
Please check out our new video, featuring alumni, students, and staff. The video’s just over nine minutes long; take a look, then come back here and let us know what you think. Who did you recognize? How does it reflect your KSC experience?
(The link above takes you to the standard high-definition version. If you have a slower connection, or want closed captioning, or both, there are other viewing options available at that site.)
Alum Jon Sharpe ’98 from United Staging and Rigging will hold a rigging workshop on December 11 at 1 p.m. for students and interested theater and dance alumni. Jon has been with USR for ten years and will share his considerable expertise in this highly technical field.
The National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) recently announced its picks for its All-America team, and two Owls were on it. Carly Benning, a senior from Brewster, Mass., was named to the second-team, while Erin Dallas, a senior from Marlow, N.H., was a third-team selection. She was also named to the first-team of the womensfieldhockey.com All-America squad.
A first-time All-American, Benning led the Little East Conference in points (58) and goals (27). She had a knack for netting the decisive score this season, notching game-winning goals in 14 of Keene State’s 18 victories, and is the seventh Owl to reach the coveted 100-point career milestone.
Dallas becomes the first player in the program’s history to become a three-time All-American. She earned first-team honors the past two seasons as a midfielder and was recognized for her skill on defense this season. She is the first student-athlete in the history of the Little East to be honored as both the Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year in her career and is a three-time first-team All-Region and All-LEC pick.
How would you like to enrich your life? Learn a new language? Pick up some new career skills? Take up painting or drawing? Study a subject simply because you love it?
Check out KSC’s Continuing Education and Extended Studies programs. In just two lessons a week for six weeks, these online, noncredit courses can help you get where you want to be. Classes begin monthly with the next set of ed2go courses running December 9, 2009, to January 29, 2010.
If you’re in the area and looking for a reason to get back on campus while giving back to the community, here’s your chance!
The KSC Thanksgiving Basket Drive is on; it’s the annual push to ask the entire KSC community to help put together baskets for this holiday season. The collection of Thanksgiving Baskets will be on Monday, November 23, in the West Dining Area of the Young Student Center, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
KSC contributions are distributed to families with children under 5 years of age in local communities. Last year, this effort collected a record 158 baskets! As of October 23, local organizations had received over 1,700 requests for Thanksgiving baskets, and that number is expected to increase.
New this year, there will be donation boxes set up in the Gym, Library, Science Center, and Student Center until the day of the drive for gently used winter outerwear and additional last minute food items to be donated to the Community Kitchen.
If you are interested in participating in this event, need more information, suggested menu items, or pledge forms, contact KSC Human Resources at 603-358-2406.
Sixteen non-art-major students from Richard Carlson’s Color Design and Painting, an Integrative Studies Perspective course, produced a colorful, abstract mural that was unveiled this month in the classroom area hallway of the newly renovated Huntress Hall. The students were asked to consider several site-specific design factors, including the lobby’s shape, current wall colors, pedestrian traffic flow, and the history and techniques of other wall paintings, as they created the mural. They did a great job – the next time you’re on campus, take some time to check it out.
Brent Elwell , Keene native and huge KSC sports fan, died Tuesday morning, January 5, from heart failure after a life-long battle with cancer. He was 33.
With the 2000–09 decade coming to a close, the Keene State College Sports Information Department invites you to help pick the top Owl team of the past 10 years. We have created a list of teams, with their highlights, from each of Keene State’s 18 programs from 2000–09. Please use 
