Come to Southeastern Regional Educational Services Center (SERESC), 29 Commerce Drive, Bedford, NH at 1 p.m., Tuesday, May 17th, to celebrate the life of Claude Leavitt ’51, a teacher, coach, athlete, official, and administrator who died last January. Join family, friends, and classmates in remembering Claude’s passions, and pay tribute to the legacy he has left his family, friends, and New Hampshire’s public education and athletic communities.
A Proud Owl Yet, McNair is also Maine’s Poet Laureate
On April 20th, 2011, Maine Gov. Paul LePage installed Wesley McNair ’63 as the state’s fourth poet laureate. Recently retired from the University of Maine at Farmington, where he co-founded and directed the Creative Writing Program, McNair plans to use his new status to bring poetry back into everyday life, as it was in days gone by.
McNair grew up in Claremont, NH, attended KSC, and taught high school and at Colby-Sawyer before moving to Maine in 1986. His latest book is Lovers of the Lost: New & Selected Poems, and he has received many awards for his creative work. His work has appeared on NPR’s Weekend Edition and The Writer’s Almanac, with Garrison Keillor; two editions of The Best American Poetry; and more than 50 anthologies. He has authored or edited 18 books, including poetry, nonfiction, and anthologies.
Alumni: Send in Your Ballots
What do Blake Richards ’71, Gail Rowe ’79, Jonathan Leach ’85, Charles Owasu ’99, Ben Wheeler ’05, Valerie Nettleton ’05, and Christine Williams ’11 all have in common? They’re dedicated alums who have stepped up and volunteered to serve on the Alumni Association Board of Directors. And there’s also Robert Baines ’68 and Steve Fortier ’86, who have offered to serve KSC on the USNH Board of Trustees. These are all great people who very much want to be a proactive part of the Alumni Association and KSC.
Amanda Benware ’09 Earns Math Teaching Award
Amanda Benware ’09 received the Fernand J. Prevost Mathematics Teaching Award from the New Hampshire Teachers of Mathematics (NHTM). The award is given annually to a beginning New Hampshire mathematics teacher with no more than three years’ experience but who has demonstrated an excellent commitment and ability to teach mathematics. The Prevost Teaching Award had been awarded for the past 17 years, and Amanda is the ninth Keene State alum to receive the award. Amanda teaches at Bedford High School. Beverly Ferrucci (mathematics) was her mentor here at KSC. Dr. Ferrucci has mentored all nine winners.
Seeking an Employment Opportunity? Check out JobWISE
Did you know that Academic and Career Advising (in the Elliot Center) maintains JobWISE, its own online job website? If you’re an alum or a student, check out its variety of job and internships listings. New opportunities across many fields are listed a weekly, including links to employers’ websites and application information.
Employers tell us they’ve found excellent candidates through posting to the site. KSC alumni are among the many employers who list positions on JobWISE.
If you are an employer with a job or internship opportunity you’d like to post, visit the employer page to submit your information. Listings expire after six weeks, but you can renew them as often as you like.
In Memoriam: Ranger Curran
Keene State College mourns the passing of Ranger Curran, Sr., 92, who inspired students in Keene State’s Management program from 1982 until his retirement in 1996. Students in his classes benefitted as much by his real-world experience as from his educational credentials.
Dr. Curran was a World War II fighter pilot, logging 340 combat hours and winning the Distinguished Flying Cross among other medals. In 2002, he was inducted into the Air National Guard Hall of Fame for his participation on the nation’s first jet precision acrobatic team, “The Minute Men.” Colonel Curran retired from the Air Force at age 45 and went on to earn a PhD in Management from the University of Georgia. An avid athlete, Dr. Curran was a Golden Gloves boxer, played football for Worcester Polytech, coached the US Air Force boxing team, and played squash and tennis well into his eighties.
Those wishing to commemorate Dr. Curran are invited to donate to Hospice at HCS, 312 Marlboro St., Keene, NH 03431.
Alumni Art Exhibit at Carroll House
Four KSC alumni artists—Kevin Cahill ’79, Jane El Simpson ’80, Adam Bernard ’00, and David Donovan ’07—will have their excellent work on display at the Carroll House Gallery through Reunion weekend, closing on Monday, June 6. Come on in and check it out!
The Carroll House Gallery is on Main Street, next to the Alumni Center. Support for this exhibit is provided by the Homeland Foundation, the KSC Pepsi Partnership Grant, and the KSC Development Office.
The News(line) Heard Round the World
A new feature in the software that lets us send the monthly email notification that there’s new info in Newsline displays a world map that shows where those emails are being opened. As you might expect, most of our readers are concentrated in the Northeast, but we’ve also got readers scattered across the globe. The pins in the map mark where Newsline is being read. There are also pins in Tokyo, Beijing, and Auckland, NZ, but the map just couldn’t show that large a view. The word is out!
Are you a far-flung reader? Drop us a line, por favor!
Where’d I See That?
Where were you in 1960? (Percy Faith’s Theme from “A Summer Place” was the #1 song.) If you were on campus, you might have seen this block placed. Remember where it is? Of course, there’s that old saying, “If you remember the ’60s. …”
If you think you’ve got the answer, please tape it to a roof rack for a 2008 VW Rabbit (official Newsline staff car) and send it to Newsline, 229 Main St., Keene, NH 03435, or use the “comments” link below.
Four Students Exhibit at the VCP
Four students—Andrew Hodgdon (film), Corey Stein (film production and critical studies, art minor), Elizabeth Mindemann (history, writing minor), and Andrew Strattner (graphic design)—from Jonathan Gitelson’s Photography I class have their work in the Vermont Center for Photography’s juried exhibit, What Matters About Photography. Exhibitors include established professionals, amateurs, and students from all over New England.
The exhibit will be on display until May 1, so make sure you get to the VCP (49 Flat St., Brattleboro, VT) to see the show. For more information, contact the VCP: 802-251-6051 or info@vcphoto.org.
KSC Needs Your Advocacy
You may have heard that the NH House of Representatives recently passed a budget that cuts 45% of the funds normally allocated to higher education. If cuts that deep are approved by the state Senate, the consequences for KSC, and every other school in the state university system, are grim. NH ranks 50th in support for public higher education as measured in per capita spending, and only 11% of KSC’s operating budget comes from state funds; however, the House’s proposal, HB 1, removes $6 million from the revenue the College depends on to do its work.
KSC has always maintained a very lean and frugal operation, doing the best with the limited resources we have, so a cut of $6 million is crippling. The options for making up the loss might require drastic measures. It could make it increasingly difficult to serve those students who need us most and who depend on public higher education for the training to become contributing members of society.
Keene State College works diligently to provide a fine education and excellent opportunity to every student who comes here, and we are proud of the positive impact we make and the students we produce. Our good work is felt far and wide. We hope that you share our commitment and ask that you write to your state Senator and ask him or her to preserve the investment in higher education that the state has traditionally made. Please write to your local newspaper and let your neighbors know how you feel, too. You can find your state Senator on this list.
The KSC Advocates site offers lots of information about the budget and tips for writing to your legislator and other avenues of advocating for our institution. Thank you for standing up for Keene State College, and the importance of public higher education in New Hampshire!
Noted Character Actor to Introduce Historic Keene Film
Carleton Carpenter, one of the stars of the 1949 film, Lost Boundaries, will be in Keene on Monday, April 18th, at 7 p.m., to introduce a screening of the film and answer audience questions afterward. Lost Boundaries, produced by two-time Academy Award winner and New Hampshire resident Louis de Rochemont, was a ground-breaking film, one of the earliest post-war Hollywood films to depict African Americans as real subjects.
The film is based on the true story of the light-skinned African American doctor Albert Johnston who, with his family, moved to Keene and passed for white until his heritage was discovered during a Navy background check at the outbreak of the second world war. Shot in New Hampshire and Maine and starring Mel Ferrer, Beatrice Pearson, and Carleton Carpenter, Lost Boundaries won a Cannes Film Festival award and a New York Times award and played in midtown Manhattan for six months.
Continue reading Noted Character Actor to Introduce Historic Keene Film
Class of ’86 Turns 25!
Class of ’86ers—this Reunion is a big one (your 25th), and there are big plans to celebrate. Mark your calendar now to get back to campus the first weekend in June (3–5) to recapture the fun you had back in the day. And this time, you won’t have to give a thought to that exam you haven’t studied for, or that paper you still have to write.
Be here for the welcome back dinner and social on Friday night. On Saturday, put on your flip flops and bring the whole family to Oya Hill from 2–4 p.m. for food and entertainment. But save room for more fun, because your class is holding a social at 4:30 in the Alumni Center.
Keene State College Student Film Festival
Film is a complex medium—it requires a lot of planning, effort, creativity, and technical wizardry. Film makers must master scriptwriting, camera techniques, sound design, lighting, directing, and editing. And they’ve got to hold casting calls and pick just the right actors. And figure out how to pay for it all.
On Saturday, April 30, the KSC Film Studies Department invites you to the Mabel Brown Room in the Student Center to view the best student films of the academic year.
Here’s the schedule:
1–3:30 p.m. — Selected Student Shorts
3:30–5 p.m. — Reception / Break
5–7 p.m. — Senior Film Projects
Admission is free and the public is most welcome. You’ll see some amazing young talent.
Katie Jordan is a SPY
Safety Studies alum Katie Jordan ’06 has been recognized as the Granite State Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Region VIII Safety Professional of the Year (SPY). She has been recognized previously as the Granite State Chapter SPY and New England Area SPY and continues to be acknowledged for the exemplary work she has done for the chapter and for the profession. Jordan is currently an Environmental Health & Safety Specialist at Osram Sylvania in Hillsborough, NH.
Science Center Courtyard Wins 2011 BSLA Honor Award in College and University Design
Their amazing design of the courtyard in KSC’s David F. Putnam Science Center has won Dirtworks, PC, one of two Honor Awards in College and University Design from the Boston Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (BSLA). The courtyard is a mix of the aesthetic and the educational—a space where people can walk through a microcosm of New Hampshire’s botanical and geological diversity. As Dirtworks says, “Enclosed on four sides by a dynamic three-story brick and glass building, the courtyard is aesthetically pleasing, functional, and responsive to the college’s commitment to service learning.”