The Keene State College community will hold a Celebration of Life for Vaughn West on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. on the Main Stage in the Redfern Arts Center. All family, friends, and students are invited to attend. Come celebrate the live of this beloved member of our community.
As colleges and universities throughout the US, including KSC, realize the value of global connection, service, and partnerships that engage the local and international community, two faculty members have co-authored a book to give practical advice and inspiration to this important trend. Through their work with the international field course, Global Engagement, that’s required of all honors students, Geography Professor Jo Beth Mullens and Associate Professor of Education Prudence Cuper realized that the stories they were hearing and witnessing showing how important these international experiences were for students and accompanying faculty were worth telling and examining.
They sent a proposal for a book, Fostering Global Citizenship Through Faculty-Led International Programs to Information Age Publishing and had a contract within 24 hours. Continue reading Professors’ Book on Global Citizenship Explores National Trend
The KSC Alumni Association awarded Dr. Susan Whittemore, professor of biology, its 2012 Distinguished Teacher Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching, encouragement of independent thinking, rapport with students, and effective student advising. Dr. Whittemore is the 42nd recipient of this distinctive honor.
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.
Continue reading Profs Promote International Partnership
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.
Continue reading Dr. Benaquist Receives Grant to Restore Long-Lost Guy-Blaché Film
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.
Assistant Art Professor Lynn Richardson is currently exhibiting her work in a special summer exhibition in North Adams, Mass., for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) in conjunction with the “Oh Canada” Exhibition (features work by more than 60 artists who hail from every province and nearly every territory in the country). Craig Leonard (Canadian Artist and Professor from the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design) and Prof. Richardson have solo installations on exhibit from June 28th–August 26th.
The special exhibit, “Lynn Richardson: Arctic Garden,” is at North Adams’ Downstreet Art Gallery 107 (107 Main St.) “With renewed debates over rights to waterways and Arctic shipping routes, Richardson believes a new era of colonization will soon begin,” noted the Gallery. “By using British colonialism as a metaphor for the potential exploitation of the Arctic, Richardson uses sound, motion, light, and the physicality of the assembled pieces aided in her concept to engage the viewer. Although her work is intended to be playful, even humorous, in order to soften the hard reality of the underlying message, it presents a critical examination of the ‘dichotomy between nature and our industry-driven culture and the devastating long-term effects our current courses of action will have on the environment.'”
The Keene State College community, and the larger world community of typographers, is saddened to learn of the passing of long-serving adjunct Art faculty member Daniel Carr at the end of June.
Professor Carr came to Keene State College in 1996 and taught Typography ever since. He was known as a kind-hearted talented member of our campus community who lived art and was very committed and connected with his students. In addition to his position at the college, Carr and longtime partner Julia Ferrari (also an adjunct faculty member) operated Golgonooza Letter Foundry & Press where they designed and printed fine press books exclusively with metal types. In 1999 Carr was elected a Master Typographic Punchcutter of France for his metal typeface Regulus.
ATypI’s Leipzig 2000 conference program included this biographical note:
Dan Carr is a punchcutter, type designer, poet and printer. His hand-cut typeface “Regulus” won him a Diplome de Maitre-graveur typographe awarded by the Maitre-graveur typographes francais. His digital typeface “Cheneau” was chosen for a judges’ choice award by the Type Directors Club in 2000. With his partner J. Ferrari he publishes, designs, and prints fine limited edition books. These books, set and printed with metal types cast at their atelier Golgonooza Letter Foundry & Press, are widely collected and exhibited. Gifts of the Leaves a book printed with Carr’s hand-cut “Regulus” was chosen as one of the top ten acquisitions of the last decade by Stanford University in California; it was also chosen for a special design binding by D. Glaister for the collection at the Hague this last year.
KSC has lost a rare treasure.
Two of KSC’s Education Department faculty members, associate professors Shirley McLoughlin and Deborah Merchant, have been awarded Fulbright Scholar Grants for 2012 and 2013.
Having two Fulbright scholars in the same year gives KSC serious bragging rights, according to Sally Southwick, associate director of Sponsored Projects and Research. “These are highly competitive national awards,” she explained. “Only about 800 are awarded each year, and they’re very prestigious to receive. Having two Fulbright scholars in one year will get KSC in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual list of ‘top producers.’ For our size and Carnegie classification, two awards is considered a great achievement and one that generally only top-tier private institutions can claim. We now have close to 10 faculty members who have received Fulbright awards.”
Continue reading Two Education Profs Earn Fulbrights
Each year, the American Democracy Project recognizes a Chief Academic Officer (or, in our case, a provost) for his or her leadership in institutionalizing civic engagement on their campus. The William Plater Award for Leadership in Civic Engagement highlights the critical role of the chief academic officer in advancing the civic mission of the campus through curricular reform, public advocacy, accountability for institutional citizenship, faculty development and recruitment, and partnerships with community organizations.
This year, the ADP aptly chose KSC’s provost, Mel Netzhammer, for the William Plater Award. Read all about it.
When current Keene State College President Helen Giles-Gee and Provost Mel Netzhammer announced earlier this spring that they would be leaving the College to pursue new professional opportunities, the University System of New Hampshire Board and the Keene State College community immediately took steps to fill those critical leadership positions.
Jay Kahn, current vice president for Finance and Planning, will serve as president for a one-year term, and Melinda Treadwell, current dean of Professional and Graduate Studies, will take over as provost for a two-year term. They will assume their new roles in July 2012 when the positions are vacated. Read more. …
To fill the vacancies that drs. Kahn and Treadwell will leave, the College has selected Karen House, current KSC associate vice president for Finance and Planning, to serve as vice president for Finance and Planning for a one-year term and Wayne Hartz, current associate professor for Safety and Occupational Health Applied Sciences to step into the role of interim dean of Professional and Graduate Studies. Read more. …
KSC has also chosen Dr. Andrew Harris as its new dean of Arts and Humanities. That position became open when Dr. Nona Fienberg decided to step down as dean to focus on her work in the newly formed Holocaust and Genocide Studies department. Dr. Harris will begin his work here on August 1st. Read more about Dr. Harris. …
Assistant Professor of Geography Lara Bryant has received a $5,500 grant from the Marion & Jasper Whiting Foundation to support her project, “Crossing the Strait of Gibraltar: Exploring the Coexistence and Challenges of Neighboring Cultures.”
Dr. Bryant will attend a two-week seminar in Spain and Morocco offered by the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE), where she will explore the links between Morocco and Spain on a variety of levels: their cultural and historic heritage, the differences between the “developing” and “developed” world, and the global impacts of terrorism and increasing animosity between historically Muslim and Christian societies.
Early Sprouts, KSC’s award-winning effort to instill healthy nutrition and eating habits in preschool age children, recently expanded its initiative to reach children in kindergarten through 6th grade participating in afterschool programs. Dr. Karrie Kalich and Dr. Marjorie Droppa, associate professors of health science, have been working on the after school component for over a year. In the afterschool setting, Early Sprouts continues to focus on nutrition by engaging children in gardening, exploring, and cooking fresh produce. However, a new addition incorporates activities that also foster math, science, and art skills.
Dr. Beverly Ferrucci and her 4th year math students graciously partnered with the Early Sprouts team to create fun and engaging math activities that utilized the Early Sprouts vegetables. For example, children explore the connection between the size of a squash and the number of seeds it contains, determine the volume of a bell pepper by measuring how much water it holds, and calculate the perimeter of a room using green beans.
KSC Geography Professor Jo Beth Mullens and Associate Professor of Education Prudence Cuper have recently published Fostering Global Citizenship Through Faculty-Led International Programs (Information Age Publishing). As colleges and universities commit goals and resources to the concept of globalization and internationalization, they often look for ways to embed the concept of global citizenship in undergraduate curricula. Fostering Global Citizenship offers offers theoretical, practical, and motivational resources for the development, execution, and assessment of effective, faculty-led international field courses.
Long-serving adjunct faculty member and alum Vaughn West passed away unexpectedly on May 17th. He came to Keene State in 1992 and has taught in the Theater Department ever since. Professor West taught courses in acting and in integrative studies and directed many shows both at Keene State College and within the region. He received his bachelor’s degree from Ohio University, did graduate work at Brandeis, and earned post-baccalaureate teaching certification from Keene State College. He was ever able to bring his love of the theater, and his true-life experience from acting in New York, and make his classrooms come alive. Prof. West is married to Susan Ericson-West, the Grant and Contract Administrator in the Office of Sponsored Projects and Research. His sons are Evan and James.
It has been requested that in lieu of flowers, gifts be made in memory of Mr. West to the New Hampshire Dance Institute, 29 Center Street, Keene, NH. or to the Vaughn West Program Fund in Theatre and Dance at Keene State College. Gifts may be made payable to Keene State College with “West Program Fund” noted on the memo line and mailed to Keene State College, 229 Main Street, MS 2701, Keene NH 03435. Calling hours, a time to gather and remember, are scheduled for Wednesday, May 23, from 5–7 p.m. at the Fletcher Funeral Home in Keene (33 Marlboro St., 603-352-4541).
If you knew Vaughn, please submit a comment. And make sure you read the wonderful, heartfelt comments others have left. And there are more on the KSC Facebook page.
Dr. Robert (Bob) Hawes, Professor Emeritus of Industrial Technology and Safety, passed away on Tuesday, May 15. Dr. Hawes began his career at KSC in 1969 and continued until his retirement in 1998. He involved his students through active engagement in the learning process, an approach well adapted to Industrial Technology. But it was his manner—always approachable, always respectful, and always knowledgeable—that drew students to him. Professor Hawes earned his bachelor’s degree from Northeastern in 1960 and a doctorate of education from Penn State in 1980. Assistant Professor of Modern Languages Dr. Stephen Hawes said that the family will be holding quiet family-centered services.