KSC President Dr. Anne E. Huot and Keene Mayor Kendall Lane are forming a community commission to consider how the College and City of Keene might collaborate for the benefit of the City and the College community. Mayor Lane and President Huot will appoint the commission members, who will represent a range of perspectives. These members will be announced in December. A public session will be held in January, which will provide residents and community members with the chance to offer input into the charge of the commission.
Lt. Josué Román ’98 (left) and Gunner’s Mate Chief Wayne Gibson ’96 (right) with two Medal of Honor recipients, Don J. Jenkins and Gary B. Beikrich (in civilian clothes), on a unit range training day at GTMO.
When Lt. Josué Román ’98 reported aboard US Coast Guard Port Security Unit 301 in the fall of 2009, Gunner’s Mate Chief Wayne Gibson ’96, who has deployed to Kuwait & Iraq, had been there a year. But it wasn’t until Lt. Roman transferred from Assistant Boat Officer to Weapons Division Officer in 2012 that both men realized they were Keene State alums and that their time on campus overlapped.
Currently Lt. Roman and GMC Gibson are deployed until spring 2014, attached to the Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. In civilian life Lt. Roman works as a CPA in Concord, NH, and Chief Gibson works at Worthen Industries in Nashua as the Safety Manager, responsible for safety management of their five U.S. manufacturing plants.
Assistant Professor of Art Jonathan Gitelson is exhibiting his two-channel video installation, “Staring Contest” in the Chicago Photography Center’s November exhibit, Expanding the Frame, a show of video art. On they day following the show’s opening, Prof. Gitelson also participated in a panel discussion on the relationship between photography and video art.
In September, Prof. Gitleson had a solo exhibition, Halfway between Somewhere and Nowhere, at the University of Vermont, where he attended the opening reception, met with and critiqued advanced photography students, and gave a lecture on his work.
Thankful students, and the Annual Giving team leaders, Lindsay Taflas (center) and Lori Zaniboni (right)
Giving Tuesday, nationally recognized as the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, fell this year on December 3. The day offers a selfless response to the more indulgent shopping sprees on Black Friday and Cyber Monday by encouraging charitable giving and highlighting worthy causes.
For this Giving Tuesday, KSC’s Annual Giving team set itself the goal of collecting 100 donations of any amount, to any designation. President Anne Huot offered to donate an additional $1000 to support KSC students if the 100-donor goal was met. To put things in perspective, the team usually logs about 13 gifts per day. But, by 3 p.m. that afternoon, 100 generous members of the Keene State community had made donations. When she heard that, President Huot offered an additional $500 if the team could bring in an additional 50 donors. By 11:59 that evening, with help from the intrepid Phonathon callers, the team had logged 164 donations!
Giving Tuesday saw $19,127.12 in gifts come to Keene State in 24 hours. Those donations make a real difference in our students’ education.
Nelson Megna ’59, winner of AARP’s 2013 Andrus Award
Nelson Megna ’59 recently won AARP’s 2013 Andrus Award, named in honor of the organization’s founder Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus. The Andrus Award celebrates and honors people who make a difference in the lives of others, and is the most prestigious and visible award AARP can present to an individual. The organization claimed that Mr. Megna’s “extraordinary public service actively embodies Dr. Andrus’ motto ‘To Serve, Not To be Served.’”
KSC Alumni gathered in Portsmouth, NH, to connect with fellow alumni.
The Alumni Association has been on the move the past few months! We have been holding regional events all across the country. The first stop was in San Diego, where two separate events attracted locals (and one visiting alumna!). Our biggest KSC Connections event was in Boston—over 40 Keene State alumni and a few KSC parents showed up to connect with each other, and they got to meet KSC’s new President, Anne Huot. We also were in Portsmouth, NH, and last week we visited Westport, Conn. A fun tradition started a few years ago at gatherings—at the end of the event, everyone gathers for a photo in which they’re holding a Keene State College a banner, pennant, a copy of Keene State Today, or something else that boldly says “Keene State”! We have been able to capture these images at every location. You can check them out here.
Be on the lookout for our 2014 travels. Right now, we are planning trips to Burlington, Florida, Indianapolis, New York City, and more. Also—during Winterfest (January 31 and February 1) we will have one of these events right here in Keene! Wonder if we are going to be in your area? Check out our upcoming events.
English faculty member and NH’s newest poet laureate, Alice Fogel (Will Wrobel photo)
English Lecturer Alice Fogel was recently named New Hampshire’s poet laureate. She begins her five-year term in January 2014 and will serve as an ambassador for all poets in New Hampshire and work to heighten the visibility and value of poetry in the state.
Her books include Be That Empty (2008), a national poetry bestseller, and Strange Terrain (2009), on how to appreciate poetry without “getting” it. Her newest book, Interval: Poems Based upon Bach’s Goldberg Variations, won the Nicholas Schaffner Award for Music in Literature, and is forthcoming from Schaffner Press.
Fogel joins an impressive list of former New Hampshire poets laureate that includes Walter Butts, Patricia Fargnoli, Marie Harris, Donald Hall, Cynthia Huntington, Jane Kenyon and Maxine Kumin.
Music Department Professor Emeritus and award-winning composer William D. Pardus has been awarded the Director’s Prize in the International Composers’ Competition, sponsored by the Longfellow Chorus of Portland, Maine, for his composition, Five Songs of the Sea, (for soprano voice and piano) which was part of a project of setting 10 Longfellow poems to music, with varied types of accompaniments.
Shari L. Bemis, associate professor of Computer Science and currently the assistant dean of the School of Sciences and Social Sciences, will step in to the interim dean’s role on January 1 and serve until Keene State selects a Provost and he or she assumes his or her responsibilities.
“Dr. Bemis’ demonstrated abilities and good work as assistant dean for the past three years made her my choice among several faculty in the school who stepped forward to help,” explained Gordon Leversee, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “I appreciate her willingness to take on these added responsibilities and anticipate relatively seamless transitions.”
Peter Ramsey ’76 (photo by Gary Samson, head of the Photography Department for the NH Institute of Arts)
Three KSC community members—Peter Ramsey ’76 and Thomas and Barbara Putnam—were recent recipients of the Governors Arts Awards, which recognize outstanding accomplishments in arts education, arts patronage, cultural access leadership, distinguished arts leadership, youth arts leadership, community impact, and lifetime achievement as artists. Governor Maggie Hassan presented the awards during a ceremony and reception at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, hosted by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, in November.
Peter Ramsey ’76, executive director of the Palace Theatre in Manchester, received the Community Impact Award for leading “the theatre through significant improvements to the facility and the creation of varied programming that ranges from showcasing nationally known artists to community-based productions.”
Thomas and Barbara Putnam (photo by Gary Samson, head of the Photography Department for the NH Institute of Arts)
Thomas and Barbara Putnam, whose generosity is apparent across the KSC campus, received the Individual Arts Patron Award for being “exceptional and generous arts patrons in every respect, supporting the arts with their time, their wisdom, and with funding both from their personal resources and through the Putnam Foundation.”
Keene State is proud of Peter Ramsey and the Putnams for the outstanding contributions they have made to the College, our community, and our state!
• Charlie ’67 and Christine Zoulias, regular 1909 Society members, have given $5000 to support the Nursing program and the new teaching lab project.
• Engelberth Construction has paid the first installment ($20K) on their very generous $100,000 pledge towards the new TDS Center. Pierre LeBlanc ’78 is president of Engelberth Construction, and this company has done many major projects on the KSC campus, including the TDS Center.
• Former USNH trustee Andy Lietz and his wife Donna have made a $2500 unrestricted gift to the College, thus continuing their 1909 Society membership.
• KSC’s Grant and Contract Administrator, Susan Ericson-West, on behalf of the West family, has made a gift of $10,000 in memory of her husband, Vaughn West. This unrestricted gift will be used in the Theatre and Dance department.
• We’re also finalizing a number of very significant gifts-in-kind that support of the Nursing Lab project. Look for these details in the near future.
OK, somebody’s got to know what this is. (You guys haven’t been too impressive lately, so here’s an easy one.) If you think you know what/where this is (when it’s there), please write your answer on the inside of a passenger-side front fender for a 1994 Toyota truck and send it to Newsline, 120 Alumni Center, 229 Main St., Keene, NH 03435. Or use the “comments” link, below.
Dr. Burchsted (center) discusses dam ecology with student researchers Sylvana Maione (l) and Brian Vose (r) and Lake Sunapee Protective Association Executive Director and Water Quality & Watershed Steward Robert Wood ’92 (far r). (Mark Reynolds photo)
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Denise Burchsted may be new on campus, but she’s already got her students involved in a research project that will provide important information to the City of Keene. Not long ago, the NH Department of Environmental Services inspected the Faulkner and Colony Dam on the Ashuelot River near West St. and determined that the city must either repair the dam or take it out. Either choice will cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many environmentalists want the dam removed, to return the river to what they consider its natural, free-flowing state. Many local historic preservationists want the dam restored as an important part of our cultural heritage. Obviously, the city has a difficult and expensive decision to make; one that it cannot ignore. Doing nothing is not an option.
But, there’s hope! The city could hardly have found a professional with more expertise and experience than Dr. Burchsted to look at the dam and offer advice on the decision Keene has to make. She is a licensed professional engineer specializing in water resources, she’s the New Hampshire director for the New England Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration, and her research of rivers is funded by agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As an engineer and aquatic scientist, she’s conducted several dam-removal and other river-restoration projects.
“There is a movement nationally and internationally to remove these old dams that no longer serve an economic purpose,” Dr. Burchsted explained. “They prevent fish from swimming up and down the river. They break the life cycle of anadromous fish—fish from the ocean that swim upriver to spawn—which kills them completely. Historically, that would include salmon, shad, eel (which travel from freshwater to salt to spawn), but also freshwater fish that travel as part of their life cycle. So a free-flowing river is critical to the health of the fish.” According to the NH Department of Environmental Services, the Ashuelot is currently included in the Connecticut River Anadromous Fish Restoration Program for smelt rearing. “A lot of dams that aren’t serving a function are being taken down to help create this important connection between upstream and downstream,” Dr. Burchsted said. “The Homestead Woolen Mills Dam downstream in W. Swanzey was removed in 2010. There are hydropower dams at the mouth of the Ashuelot, but those will have fish passages on them.”
However, Dr. Burchsted is not so ready to say that it’s a good idea to remove the dam. “‘Good’ is relative. I always tell my students that there’s no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ The answer is ‘It depends.’ It always depends on your perspective, and this is the crux of what we’re studying. There are some people who would indeed say removing the dam is a good thing. If you’re a fish, it’s probably a good thing, but, again, that depends. If you’re someone who cares about preserving historical landmarks, it’s a really bad thing. This story is playing out all over the country and in other parts of the world.” Built sometime around 1777 to power nearby mills, the Faulkner and Colony Dam is part of our cultural heritage, and destroying it upsets people who value this heritage. And now that the dam has been here for so many years, it’s created its own ecosystem. The dam supports a lot of upstream wetlands, and those would be disturbed if the dam were removed.
Envirnomental Studies students Sylvana Maione and Nikki Leeman conducting research at the Faulkner and Colony Dam (Denise Burchsted photo).
“One of the things I’m pushing my class to think about—and this is a very difficult concept for people to grasp—is that prior to the dam being constructed, it’s highly probable that the river was full of natural dams, such as beaver dams and log jams,” Dr. Burchsted said. “Historically, the river probably was not free flowing. Before people constructed the dams, other things would have dammed the river, either things that fell in on their own, during spring floods for example, or that beaver placed there. And the fish evolved in this type of ecosystem. Those are the conditions that they expect. The fish require still water as well as fast water. They need the flowing water to reproduce, but their young also need a safe place to grow and they all need places to hide during floods when the river is too fast and dangerous. Ecologically speaking, the dam is a complete barrier and is problematic. Ecologically speaking, it ‘should’ be modified. But how that can best be done in order to protect some of these other habitats that are also important is a big question, and that’s what I’m pushing my students to think about. It’s a complex ecosystem that requires complex considerations.”
Dr. Burchsted studied naturally occurring dams as she worked towards her PhD, and she believes that the Ashuelot likely had plenty of natural obstructions before the first human settlers showed up. “We talk so much about what’s ‘natural,'” she noted. “The river is ‘naturally free flowing,’ and the dam is ‘not natural,’ as though humans aren’t part of nature, but if you want to set up this dualism where humans are unnatural and places without humans are natural, and you go away from where the people are, the rivers are clogged with dams—far more than we have in the cities. There are many more dams on those sections of river that are not controlled by people. Where you find the beaver dams, especially in New England and here in New Hampshire were the systems are acidic and somewhat poor, is where you find the fish. That’s where they eat, and that’s where they find shelter during floods, and that’s where the young grow and hide from predators. Natural dams are essential for thriving fisheries.
“I would bet that, before settlement, Keene was an area of open riparian forest with lots of marshes all across what is now the city, and the rivers would move a lot from year to year as beaver dams and other natural impoundments changed the course of the water flow. Then a big flood would come through and blow some of the obstructions out. That kind of environment is extremely fertile, which would attract settlers. It’s perfect for growing crops and pasturing cattle. But you can’t maintain a permanent homestead if the river keeps moving around on you, so you start controlling the river. They would fill in the marsh and control the channel, dropping the river level to drain more land. So removing the Faulkner and Colony Dam will in no way return the river to a pristine, natural state. If anything, it is continuing this progression of dropping the water table, which is unnatural.”
Dr Burchsted’s point is that the problem is complex, and both the environmentalists and the historic preservationists have valid arguments that need to be considered. By having her students delve into the issues and offer research data on which to base a decision, they can provide critical information to the City of Keene so that it can pursue the best course regarding the dam. “I’m hoping that we can clarify the issues that the city needs to think about if they pursue dam removal, so they’ll be clearer about what impact it will have on the wetlands, for example,” Dr. Burchsted explained. “Ultimately, it’s a social decision, and we want to provide a list of the concerns. My ideal is to suggest one or two alternatives, a little more of a middle-road option that might be more ‘natural,’ so it doesn’t have to be a ‘yes-dam/no-dam’ choice between two opposites. There are things you can do to a dam besides just take the whole thing out. I’m hoping that, as a class, we can come up with other possibilities.” And something that, hopefully, will have most people in Keene feeling like they made the right choice.
Brad Stubenhaus (at the computer) points out some of his findings on planarians to Emily Neverett and Dr. Pellettieri.
Since the days of the proverbial story of Issac Newton “discovering” gravity when a falling apple hit him on the head, it’s long been known that important scientific discoveries often happen quite unexpectedly. A finding in Assistant Professor Jason Pellettieri’sStem Cells and Regeneration course may well be one such event. The course explores basic scientific concepts and ethical issues in the fields of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, so Dr. Pellettieri has the students investigate the effects of environmental variables on regeneration in planarians (Schmidtea mediterranea), aquatic flatworms with a remarkable ability to regrow lost body parts.
“You can chop an adult planarian into hundreds of pieces and almost every piece will regenerate a complete new individual in just over a week, so these animals make ideal experimental subjects for non-science majors,” Dr. Pellettieri explained. “A few years ago, one group of students in the course found that prolonged sunlight exposure led to complete depigmentation of regenerating animals. Planarians are normally dark brown in color, but the sunlight-exposed animals turned completely white. Brad Stubenhaus, a student researcher in my lab, conducted a series of follow-up experiments that showed depigmentation can be triggered by intense visible light.” Therefore, Dr. Pellettieri applied for, and received, a $64,456 NH-INBRE grant to continue this important research.
A normal number of pigment cells is critical for human health. Skin melanocytes, for example, normally provide protection from the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, but stimulate the growth of too many melanocytes, and you’re a candidate for melanoma. You also need the right amount of retinal pigment epithelium cells to have normal eyesight. Losing these cells causes age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness. These conditions are increasing and effective treatments remain limited, so research that adds to the scientific knowledge of factors impacting pigment cell survival is vital.
Dr. Pellettieri and his students have succeeded in reproducing the depigmentation phenomenon under controlled conditions in the lab, and he will use the INBRE grant to determine how visible light exposure causes depigmentation at a cellular and molecular level. “Our preliminary data suggest that planarian pigment cells die when exposed to bright visible light for extended periods of time,” he said. “We think this is due to the generation of harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can damage many different parts of the cell, including DNA.”
Other researchers have demonstrated that melanin, the pigment in human skin, generates ROS when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and this effect has been linked to melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. “That very important work adds to a large body of literature documenting the adverse effects of UV exposure, but we know relatively little about the effects of intense visible light on pigment cells,” Dr. Pellettieri said. “Our INBRE-funded research is addressing that gap in our knowledge. It’s always important to be cautious when trying to establish possible connections between research in lab animals and human biology, but if our results indicate that visible light can cause damage to pigment cells through the generation of ROS, this might raise some interesting questions about possible harmful effects of prolonged exposure to bright visible light (of course that wouldn’t be a problem for all of us living in New Hampshire most of the time!).”
Two other students, Emily Neverett and Jeanne LaFortune, are now working on this project with Stubenhaus. “They’ve already generated some very interesting data and, although we have a ways to go with this research, we think we’re on the right track in terms of our hypotheses about how depigmentation occurs,” said Dr. Pellettieri. “Brad and Emily both received funding from INBRE to support their research on this project over the summer, along with J.P. Dustin, who is doing research on a new project in my lab. INBRE has been tremendously helpful in allowing me to set up an undergraduate research program here at Keene State. Mentoring research students is an extremely rewarding part of my job and it’s really gratifying to receive support for that work.”
Christina Bourbeau ’10, MS, ATC (photo courtesy of Christina Bourbeau)
Talk about upward trajectory! After Christina Bourbeau ’10 earned a degree in Athletic Training from KSC, she headed to the University of Hawaii to pursue a master’s degree in the discipline. Then she worked for a year in southern California as an athletic trainer and was selected for a prestigious and competitive Sports Medicine Athletic Training Fellowship at the Steadman Clinic in Colorado, where she’ll be working with Olympic athletes.
“I am very fortunate to be an athletic training fellow at the Steadman Clinic!” Bourbeau exclaimed. “This is a huge opportunity, as it is a very competitive fellowship program for certified athletic trainers. Each year, the Steadman Clinic offers five to seven positions for certified athletic trainers to work in the orthopedic hospital and train to become physician extender athletic trainers. This is a year-long fellowship, and we go through rotations with each surgeon in the Steadman Clinic, giving us the opportunity to work with some of the best orthopedic surgeons in the nation. While we are here, we become certified orthopedic technologists (after we pass our national exam) and we obtain ‘scrub’ privileges so we can assist in the operating room. Additionally, we have a lot of outreach opportunities to work as traditional athletic trainers at local high schools; we also provide sports medicine coverage at events that come to Vail, including the GoPro Games, Dew Tour, and USA Pro Cycling Challenge, and we travel with the US Ski and Snowboard teams whether it’s to Europe, Canada, or locally at Copper Mountain. Professionally, this is one of the best opportunities I could have ever accepted at this point in my life.”
Christina, enjoying the active lifestyle of Vail, CO–fulfilling another of her life’s goals! (photo courtesy of Christina Bourbeau)
“While I am here, I hope to learn as much as I can from all of the sports medicine professionals I work with. I hope to publish some research and to give back to the athletic training profession by sharing my research at national meetings. Also, I want to enjoy the active lifestyle of Vail, Colo., and explore as much as I can.”
And where does her training at Keene State fit into all of this? “KSC played a huge role in preparing me for a position like this one,” she said. “My foundation of athletic training skills and knowledge all began there. The clinical opportunities offered during my time as an undergrad introduced me to the various routes I could take after becoming a certified athletic trainer. My education at KSC allowed me to obtain a graduate assistant position at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, which in turn provided me with the education I needed to be a competitive applicant for the Steadman Clinic fellowship position.”
You can get a great education at Keene State—in the classroom and in places outside the classroom. Like in basements. At least, that was Dan Hunt ’00’s experience. He came to KSC in ’96, planning to study music performance. But then he took a computer mapping class and decided to switch to a degree in Geography, figuring that map making might be a more lucrative career than music.
But his love for music never wavered, and he fell in with a band called Brown Factory, playing drums and “spending several weekend nights sweating in the basement of 80 Roxbury (among other places),” he recalled. “Those guys were incredible and really helped form the player I am today. We would play marathon shows that would end up being heralded as the greatest party ever thrown or the biggest disaster you ever saw. Either way, I learned so much about groove, dynamics, and stamina on the drums. Things I wouldn’t have necessarily learned with a Music degree.”
When he graduated in 2000 with a BA in geography, he headed to Portland, Maine, and found work as a Geographic Information Systems Specialist for an environmental engineering firm there. And he continued to play drums nearly every night.
He moved around the country some, working for engineering firms and city planners making maps, eventually settling in Portland, Oregon. “I loved the work and it kept me from starving,” Dan explained. “But I always saw music as my number one career. I played nearly every chance I got and never turned down a gig, no matter what it was.” Everywhere he lived, he played and toured with various bands, including Arthur and Yu, Broken Social Scene, Iron and Wine, and Album Leaf. He found out through his local drum shop that Neko Case needed a drummer. “I threw my name in a hat, auditioned, and got the gig!”
“Since then, I’ve been playing full time with Neko, so no more maps. My first show was in Barcelona in front of 5,000 people, and its been a whirlwind ever since. We’re currently touring on her new album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You. I’ll be out over the next year and a half touring all of the States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.”
Does he ever look back? You bet: “Chris Cusack, Jo Beth Mullens, and Elaine Hartwick were among my most inspirational professors at KSC,” Dan remembered. “In the Music Department, I still have fond memories of Don Baldini and Ted Mann. I miss all those folks!”
Here’s Dan and the Neko Case gang playing a Tiny Desk Concert at NPR at Halloween (in costume, of course):
And here’s Dan, soloing at the Portland Drum Fair:
KSC President Dr. Anne E. Huot and Keene Mayor Kendall Lane are forming a community commission to consider how the College and City of Keene might collaborate for the benefit of the City and the College community. Mayor Lane and President Huot will appoint the commission members, who will represent a range of perspectives. These members will be announced in December. A public session will be held in January, which will provide residents and community members with the chance to offer input into the charge of the commission.
OK, somebody’s got to know what this is. (You guys haven’t been too impressive lately, so here’s an easy one.) If you think you know what/where this is (when it’s there), please write your answer on the inside of a passenger-side front fender for a 1994 Toyota truck and send it to Newsline, 120 Alumni Center, 229 Main St., Keene, NH 03435. Or use the “comments” link, below.
