Celebrating Granny D

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Granny D
Granny D

Doris “Granny D” Haddock was a powerful force for clean elections, civic engagement, and democracy on the national stage. And she was certainly a well-known character in the Monadnock Region.

Please join the Coalition for Open Democracy; Granny D’s organization, PACE (Promoting Active Civic Engagement); and KSC’s Mason Library on Thursday, January 24, from 2–4:30 p.m. at the Alumni Recital Hall in the Redfern to celebrate the 103rd anniversary of Granny D’s birth and to remember her life and legacy.
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Pro Snowboard Announcer Nelson Wormstead ’05

For Alumni, Uncategorized
NelsonWormstead2
Nelson Wormstead ’05 at the X Games

You might say Nelson Wormstead ’05 is living his dream. For one, he married his KSC sweetheart, Crystal Moriarty ’05. And he’s the principal New England sales rep for Oakley, and he’s a professional announcer and TV commentator for snowboard competitions around the world. Oh, and he co-owns a snowboard wax company with professional snowboarder Pat Moore.

What does he do as an Oakley rep? “A typical day is getting out on the road and servicing my dealers,” Nelson explained. “I have just under 200 accounts in New England, and daily activities include filling sunglass and apparel orders, meeting with buyers and store owners, and creating events, sales contests, and advertising to help market Oakley within my territory.”
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Amy Sullivan ’89 Brings Effective Agricultural Practices to South Africa

For Alumni, Uncategorized
Amy Sullivan ’89 on the Zimbabwe side of Victoria Falls.
Amy Sullivan ’89 on the Zimbabwe side of Victoria Falls.

Keene State’s motto of “enter to learn, go forth to serve,” has had a profound effect on many of its students, Amy Sullivan ’89 among them. A few years after she graduated with a degree in Political Science, Amy joined the Peace Corps, arriving in Senegal in 1994 as an agricultural extension volunteer.

“I was attached to the Winrock Rice Productivity Enhancement Project that was meant to increase productivity of small-scale rice producers by introducing improved varieties, bred to be highly suited to local conditions,” Amy explained. “Women were the rice farmers in that part of the country, so they were my primary contacts, farmers, and connections. I had to learn enough of the local language, Fulani, in order to live and work and have some fun.”
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Parents Collaborate on Op-Ed for Restoring Higher Ed Funding

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Sue&Steve
Susan ’86 and Steve Fortier ’86, dedicated advocates for KSC.

Five University System parents joined forces last Sunday to support higher ed funding in the state. Susan ’86 (former Alumni Board president) and Steve Fortier ’86, alums and  parents of two KSC students, teamed with Jodi and Chris Broom, parents of two Plymouth State University graduates and a first-year student at PSU, and Greg Samuel, parent of two UNH students to write an op-ed piece, “Lawmakers must restore funding for higher education,” in the January 13 Nashua Telegraph.

Lauren Miller ’05 Selected for Dartmouth College Today

For Alumni, Uncategorized
Lauren Miller ’05
Lauren Miller ’05

Lauren Miller ’05, the assistant director of the MBA Program at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, has been selected to participate in the Dartmouth College Today program. Offered by the College’s Office of Human Resources, Dartmouth College Today is designed to provide participants with a comprehensive overview of Dartmouth’s goals, priorities, and programs. The program helps participants understand Dartmouth’s internal operations and its key administrators and examine complex issues affecting the institution.

George Barbor ’11 on How I Met Your Mother

For Alumni, Uncategorized
George Barber ’11
George Barber ’11 (Photo by Paul Smith)

Film production assistant, actor, freelance writer, and American Studies major George Barbor ’11 appeared in the Nov. 19th episode of CBS’s How I Met Your Mother.

George was also on the first Keene State Alumni panel in the fall of 2011, sharing his professional advice and experience with students and other alums. If you know George, drop him a line of congratulations.

Andy Soucy ’72 Leads Londonderry Marching Lancers to 2nd Obama Inauguration

For Alumni, Uncategorized
Andy Soucy ’72 (photo courtesy of James Chesebrough)
Andy Soucy ’72 (photo courtesy of James Chesebrough)

Under the directorship of Andy Soucy ’72, the Londonderry High School Marching Band has racked up an impressive array of awards and guest performances. For example, they’ve toured Beijing, China, and represented New Hampshire in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade four times. Each March, they travel to New York City to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. And on the 21st of this month, the Lancers have been invited to Washington, DC, to perform at President Obama’s inauguration—for the second time. The band was also invited to Obama’s first swearing in ceremony four years ago.
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FAFSA Day at KSC—Free Help Filling out the FAFSA

For Parents, Mark Your Calendar

FinancialAidOn January 27, from 1–4 p.m. in Rhodes Hall, room S121, the KSC Financial Aid Office is sponsoring FAFSA Day, where anyone from the local community can come get FREE assistance completing the FAFSA.

What to bring:

  1. FASFA PIN
  2. Your most recent tax return
  3. Your Social Security #’s
  4. Your driver’s license
  5. 2012 W-2
  6. 2012 untaxed income records
  7. 2012 bank statements
  8. 2012 business and investment records
  9. Your alien registration card [if you are not a US citizen]

If you don’t have the 2012 versions of these documents, bring your most recent versions.

Note: This event is open to the general public and any college applicants, not just Keene State applicants! Come get FREE assistance to help complete the FAFSA. Parking will be available in the visitor lot on Wyman Way.

President Kahn on NHPR’s The Exchange

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KSC Interim President Jay Kahn
KSC Interim President Jay Kahn

New Hampshire’s University system has faced huge cuts in recent years, forcing everyone with a stake in public higher education to think long and hard about strategies to provide a quality education in these times of limited financial resources. NH Public Radio’s The Exchange with Laura Knoy addressed this issue on December 21 in a segment entitled “Public Universities Ponder Their Future.” The guests on the program were KSC Interim President Jay Kahn; columnist Richard Vedder, author of a recent article for Bloomberg about funding for universities; and Tom Horgan, president and CEO at the New Hampshire College & University Council. Check out what they had to say on the future of public university funding.

Where’d I See That?

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OK, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what this is. So this is more of a “Photo of the Month” post. Extra points if you know where it was taken. Photo courtesy of Campus Safety Officer Mike Gomez.

Where'd

If you think you know where this long-forgotten and pedalling-efficiency-challenged bike is, write your answer on the “sold” tag on a Honda HS1336iAS snow blower and send it to to Newsline, 120 Alumni Center, 229 Main St., Keene, NH 03435. Or use the “comments” link, below.

Where’d I See That?

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Last month, the challenge in our “Where’d I See That” photo was to guess what was missing, and we promised to tell the rest of the story this month. So here goes:

The Alumni Gateway, missing its distinctive finial.

The finial was gone from the right column of the Alumni Gateway in front of Parker Hall. Back in September, some dastardly vandals had broken this historical feature off. (So it wasn’t exactly a surprise that Director of Campus Safety Amanda Warman, who must have investigated the crime, was the first one to answer the puzzle.)

When Assistant Director of Physical Plant Bud Winsor looked into replacing the finial, he was dismayed to learn that no one in the area could duplicate it. That was a serious dilemma—the gateway is one of the College’s most distinctive architectural features. It was like a tooth was missing in the College’s charming smile.

The column now, perfectly restored to its former glory.

But serendipity was to have a hand. One of the grounds crew was having lunch at a downtown Keene eatery when Ed Dimeco approached him. Ed used to have a local business making ornamental objects out of cement, and he’s the one who made the original finials. Ed mentioned that he still had the molds and asked if Keene State might want them.

With the original molds and some expert cement work, the column was soon restored to its former glory and replaced by Bud and his crew this mild December morning. Like the bard said, “All’s well that ends well!”

Screening of Metropolis with Alloy Orchestra Wins $1000 Grant

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Director of the Redfern Arts Center Shannon Mayers has secured a $1,000 grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts to fund outreach efforts around the screening of Fritz Lang’s 1927 futuristic epic, The Complete Metropolis, in the Alumni Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. on January 30. Boston’s Alloy Orchestra, which film critic Roger Ebert calls “the best in the world at accompanying silent films,” will provide their unique and brilliant music for the film. This internationally-known trio blend their distinctive mix of clarinet, accordion, electronics, and junk-metal percussion to highlight the film’s dramatic effect. In addition to the public performance, the Alloy Orchestra will provide a public workshop about live music and silent films. There will be an exhibit of silent-film posters in the Redfern lobby.

Honors Students Attend Conference

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(L–R) Jessica Lulka, Rebecca Rieger, Honors Director Margaret Walsh, and Krista Sullivan

Seven KSC honors students presented at the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference on November 17th in Boston. Three students from the 2012 Honors Global Engagement course, Jessica Lulka, Rebecca Rieger, and Krista Sullivan, discussed the different meanings of global citizenship as part of an “idea exchange.” The honors travel courses to Bosnia and Nicaragua in 2012 provided them with intercultural experiences and new perspectives. What knowledge, language, and skills do students need to participate in a complex and interdependent world? The students presented their own suggestions for expanding educational programs and connecting across borders.

(L–R, front row) Alex Claus, Rebecca Lazinsk, Jillian Tomaselli, and Hannah Walker. (Back row) Education Professor Pru Cuper

Four seniors in the Honors Program, Alex Claus, Rebecca Lazinsk, Jillian Tomaselli, and Hannah Walker, presented “Narratives, Connections, and Contributions: Using Case Study Research in an Honors Senior Seminar” at the conference. They shared the research they conducted in this fall’s capstone. With each student serving as his or her own case, participants explain their research questions, data tables, and interdisciplinary frameworks they used to examine their own growth and development since entering college.

Professor Pru Cuper (Education) and Honors Director Margaret Walsh (Sociology) collaborated with the students.

2nd Time Around: KSC Wins LEC Presidents Cup

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KSC Interim President Jay Kahn and Director of Athletics John Ratliff with the coveted 2011–2012 Presidents Cup.

Keene State College has won the Little East Conference Presidents Cup for the second year in a row. The Owls recorded a cumulative grade point average of 3.06 to become the first institution to earn the Conference’s academic award in consecutive years. The Presidents Cup trophy measures the highest cumulative grade-point average of all institutions in the LEC. Each athletic department calculates its student-athletes’ cumulative grade-point average in the conference’s 19 championship sponsored sports. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Plymouth State University, and Western Connecticut State University completed the top-half of the 2011–12 Little East Presidents Cup standings in a three-way tie for second place with a 2.96 cumulative grade-point average.

Twelve of Keene State’s 16 conference-sponsored sports teams produced a cumulative grade point average that was greater than a 3.0. In addition to Keene State’s academic success, the Owls have raised the past 12 Little East Commissioners Cups, which is awarded to the top athletic performing institution in the conference.

Read more. …

‘Tis the Season for Alumni Awards Nominations

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Former education faculty member Raymond Jobin ’63 (second from left) receiving the 2011 Outstanding Service Award.

The Alumni Association is accepting nominations for four of its prestigious awards:

  • The Alumni Achievement Award — given to one whose professional achievement in his/her chosen field brings honor to him or herself and Keene State College. Recipients must be bona fide alumni of Keene State College.
  • The Sprague Drenan Award — given to one whose participation in and support of alumni activities and events is worthy of recognition.
  • The Alumni Inspiration Award — recognizes the exceptional accomplishments of an alumnus/na who graduated from Keene State College not more than 15 years prior to the year of the award.
  • The Outstanding Service Award — given to an individual or organization that has provided outstanding service to Keene State College through leadership, commitment, and influence in programs and activities of the College. Recipients may be alumni, staff, faculty, friends, or associates of Keene State College.

If you know of an alum who deserves one of these awards, please let us know; we’re currently accepting nominations for this year’s recipients. Visit the Alumni Awards page to see a list of past honorees, to review the criteria, and to download the nomination form. The deadline is February 8th.