In Memoriam: Joyce Bridgeo Wick ’52

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Joyce Bridgeo Wick ’52

The Keene State community mourns the passing of Joyce Bridgeo Wick ’52, who left us on August 31, 2012. She was born in Manchester, Vermont, and earned her degree in education from what was then Keene Teachers College. She taught elementary school in Missouri, California, and Connecticut. After she married Paul L. Wick in 1962, the couple settled in Vernon, Connecticut, where they lived for four decades. After her husband died, Joyce relocated to Orlando, Florida.

Joyce traveled the US and the world, was a gourmet cook, and was active in her church. If you knew Joyce and would like to see photos of her life, please visit this online slide show.

Bev Kovacs Spaven ’65 in Japan on Educator Exchange

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The principal of Mukai Elementary School presented Bev (a doll collector) with a doll the principal’s mother made of Japanese paper.

Seven years ago, Bev Kovacs Spaven ’65, who now lives in Richmond, VA, first visited Richmond’s Sister City, Saitama, Japan, as part of a Little League cultural exchange.

“It has long been the dream of the Sister Cities to have an educator’s exchange,” Bev explained, and when the opportunity finally came, she was one of the first three chosen. “It is a wonderful learning experience from both ends,” Bev said. “I’m helping in the English classes in 4th–6th grades and sharing  my school and home life in Richmond with each grade level.”

The other teachers returned Stateside on August 9th, but Bev stayed until the 18th to do some extra sightseeing and visit her Japanese friends.  “I will also visit Ishinomaki for one night,” Bev said. “It’s one of the badly hit tsunami towns, where an American was killed—a young female teacher from Richmond. I will visit her school and the reading center that’s been set up in her memory. I’m sure it will be a heartfelt experience as they are still trying to clean up.”

Class of 2016 Moves In

For Parents
This new freshman moved in, and afterwards he and his family hit the Quad to refresh themselves with some of the delicious hot dogs provided by the folks at Res Life.

The Keene State College school year has begun! We were excited to welcome the students of the Class of 2016 as they unloaded cars and unpacked boxes. The Parents Association had a table in the Student Center again this year, and we were able to meet many new parents of KSC Students. It was great to see the parents just as excited at the students about being involved here at the college! As the first year students started orientation, parents attended information sessions and visited the Parents Association table and learned about the events, volunteer opportunities and picked up great giveaways!  There are some great pictures taken that day, check them out!

Parents were really excited that the Parents Association has more ways than ever to stay in touch with the college and one another. Alumni and Parent Relations has created a Keene State College Parents Facebook and a twitter account (Twitter handle @kscparents) to have up-to-date information about campus events, volunteer opportunities, and news regarding Keene State College. While those are great ways to stay connected, the best way for parents to learn about the campus and the Parents Association is to visit the KSC Parents web site!

Entrepreneurs Welcome!

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Entrepreneurs with great ideas for growing business all have one common need: access to capital. Recently, the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority (BFA) teamed up with Borealis Venture, a NH-based venture capital firm, to create a fund targeted exclusively for New Hampshire business—a first in New Hampshire. The BFA and Borealis are scheduling information sessions around the state to bring together potential funders, bankers, business development people, and entrepreneurs to learn more about the fund. Keene State College, as part of its efforts to promote business growth, is co-hosting one of these events. If you are in the Monadnock Region and have a growing business and would like to know more about the Granite Fund, please contact Daniel Henderson at 358-2121.

Robert S. Neuman at Keene State College 1972–1990

Mark Your Calendar
Beach Figure, 1965, Robert S. Neuman

Through most of September, the Carroll House Galleries (238 Main Street) will exhibit paintings by Robert S. Neuman, who taught art at KSC from 1972–1990. Neuman, an abstract painter, currently works and lives in the Boston area. He was the very first artist to exhibit at the prestigious Pace Gallery of NY when it first opened in Boston 50 years ago, and he has received Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships. He began teaching in 1952 and subsequently taught at several schools, including Brown, Harvard, and Keene State. He has shown widely and has work in major museums and private collections.
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Where’d I See That?

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OK, this did remind me of the cool flames painted on the hood of my ’57 Chevy BelAir. So where on campus is this?

If you think you know where, please write your answer on a piece of paper and stick it under the windshield wiper of a lovingly restored 1957 Chevy BelAir—with clear title—and park it outside the Newsline offices, 120 Alumni Center, 229 Main St., Keene, NH 03435. Or use the “comments” link, below.

WGS Students Launch Granny D Project

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From the 2007 oil painting, Portrait of Granny D, by Sissi Shattuck.

In the spring 2012 semester, 11 students in Assistant Professor Patricia Pedroza’s Women’s and Gender capstone course, which explores the question, “What is activism?” launched a project to explore local social activist Granny D’s work and legacy. Their basic intention was to gather a group of people together whose discussion would generate several perspectives on one topic—in this case, Granny D. The students collected oral histories from people who knew the iconic activist, and videotaped many of them. Once those video interviews are edited, they will be available on the project’s website, Catching up with Granny D.
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Profs Promote International Partnership

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Members of the Chamber Singers of Keene, including Heather Gilligan (fourth from left) and Paul Vincent and Sandra Howard (fourth and third from right) stand at the newly dedicated Keene-Platz in Einbeck, Germany, near the New Town Hall.

In early July, three KSC faculty members—Professor of Holocaust Studies and History Paul Vincent, and Assistant Professors of Music Heather Gilligan and Sandra Howard—traveled with the Chamber Singers of Keene (CSK) to Einbeck, Germany, for a week of cultural exchange.
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Dr. Benaquist Receives Grant to Restore Long-Lost Guy-Blaché Film

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Announcement in the Jan. 13, 1912 edition of Moving Picture World.

Larry Benaquist, KSC film professor emeritus, has been awarded a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) to restore another of the films from the “Nelson Collection,” which are now in the possession of Keene State College. The film, Parson Sue, is the only known copy of a one-reel 1912 comedy by Alice Guy Blaché, who is the world’s first professional woman filmmaker and one of the key figures in the development of narrative film. The discovery of this long-lost film has already excited several film scholars and preservationists, so the film history spotlight will be on KSC when the film is ready to premier.
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Happy 100th, Doris McQuade Rebidue ’34!

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Doris McQuade Rebidue ’34. (Norma Walker photo)

Doris McQuade Rebidue celebrated her 100th birthday on July 31st, and was awarded a special KSC certificate for achieving that rare milestone. Doris graduated from what was then Keene Normal School in 1934 and started teaching is one-room schoolhouses in Lyndeborough. In 1949 she started teaching sixth grade in Milford and became one of the school’s first woman principals in 1958. She retired in 1978, and has traveled the world, visiting Australia, New Zealand, and Italy when she was 92. She still keeps busy, though she sticks a little closer to home these days, since she has a commitment to play cards twice a week.

Honors Students Visit Bosnia

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top row, l-r: Jessica Lulka, Johanna DeBari, Audrey Petiot, Eliza Smiley, Julia Oberst, Julia Dowling, Kristen Hunyadi, Allie Bedell, William Pearson
bottom row, l-r: Emina Jakupovic, Becca Brady, and Brittany Boscarino (Katie Conlon is missing from the photo).
Audrey Petiot, Julia Dowling, and Emina Jakupovic are all local volunteers at the Center for Peacebuilding in Sanski Most.

During the spring 2012 semester, 10 students in the Honors Program—Allie Bedell, Brittany Boscarino, Becca Brady, Katie Conlon, Johanna DeBari, Kristen Hunyadi, Jessica Lulka, Julia Oberst, William Pearson, and Eliza Smiley—took Associate Professor of Sociology Brian Green’s Honors Global Engagement course focusing on Bosnia-Herzegovina, in south-eastern Europe. They learned about Bosnia’s culture, its history, and the issues affecting the country today. Particular emphasis was placed on the late civil war from 1992–1995 and how that has altered the dynamics among the three major ethnic groups: the Serbs, the Croats, and the Bosniaks (Muslims).
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Brinda Charry Awarded Folger Fellowship

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Associate Professor of English Brinda Charry

Associate Professor of English Brinda Charry has been awarded a research fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. The Folger awards this competitive grant each year to Renaissance studies scholars. Dr. Charry will spend three months in the Folger archives researching eunuch slaves in the Renaissance period and their representation in early modern English drama.

Younger Students, but still Big Learning

For Parents
Kids experiment with engineering principles via a marble race they constructed in the Putnam Science Center courtyard. Photo by Casey August.

If you walk across campus on a sunny summer day, you might notice a difference in the students: They’re a lot younger. For the past several summers, KSC has opened its facilities and resources to grade-school and high-school kids who want to learn new academic, life, and sports skills, or to improve the ones they’ve already been working on.

KSC has a lot to offer kids. For one, there’s the Kids on Campus program, an educational day camp for children entering grades 1–8. “Our goal is to combine fun with learning, and get children comfortable with the college environment,” said Heather Jasmin, program coordinator for the Office of Continuing Education and Extended Studies. “Each class has no more than 14 children and is hands-on. Each is designed to give children the time for experimentation and exploration of topics that interest them.”
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The Holistic Path to a Horse’s Heart

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Kris Kokal stands with his horse at the family farm. The Kokal brothers’ business, HorseTenders, uses a holistic approach to building relationships with horses and their owners

It takes heart, determination, and dedication to create a business or to work with animals. Erik Kokal ’09, Kris Kokal, and Nik Kokal ’11, three brothers who attended Keene State College, have put plenty of these attributes into their horse training business, HorseTenders, and the HorseTenders Mustang Foundation.

Erik, the behind-the-scenes financials and  computer guy, and also works at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center as a counselor. Kris, a graduate of equine dentistry school and a certified farrier, is with the horses daily. Nik is entering his second year of veterinary school at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, but when he’s home, he spends every day with the horses. While each brother has a different role, each is vital to their business’ success.
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Where’d I See That?

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Here’s another easy one (though no one got last month’s, which was even easier!). No matter how long ago, or how recently, you’ve been on campus, you should be able to identify this:

If you think you know where this is, please write your answer on the back of a pair of tickets to the Capitol Steps (coming to KSC on Oct. 4) and send them to Newsline, 120 Alumni Center, 229 Main St., Keene, NH 03435. Or use the “comments” link, below.