December 11th, 2008

From Ralph Palmer, Physical Plant: KSC has adopted a new LED setup for the holiday tree that is on Main Street. The LED lights use 0.75 amps (90 W). For about 300 hours of lighting time (4 p.m. to midnight, now through December 31), the total cost for electricity will be $3.16.

The old setup, using incandescent lights, used 98 amps (11,760 W). Last year the same amount of holiday lighting time cost $412.78.

Cost savings: $409.62, energy savings: 3,521 kWh!

Photo: Robin Dutcher

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“The Power of Real-World Experience: Community-based Research at Keene State,” an article featuring Keene State’s Community Research Center, appeared in the December 2008 issue of AAC&U News, a publication of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).

The CRC was founded in 2001 to promote research skills and professional development among Keene State students while serving the research needs of nonprofit agencies in New Hampshire’s Monadnock region. Dean Gordon Leversee and Professor Therese Seibert (Sociology) were interviewed for the story.

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Batchelder Biodiesel Refineries, LLC will host a grand opening of their first biodiesel refinery on Wednesday, December 17, from 6–9 p.m. at 29 Front Street in Nashua, N.H. (For more information about the event, please contact Christopher Langille at clangille@bbr-llc.com.) This new facility will convert yellow and brown waste grease into 100% ASTM-certified biofuel, a process that eliminates the “food vs. fuel” controversy created by biofuels like ethanol, which is processed from corn.

BBR plans to open a second refinery, the Monadnock Biodiesel Collaborative (MBC), in Keene in the early spring of 2009. Keene State College and the City of Keene are collaborating with BBR to create a unique private/public/college sector facility where business, research, education, and community service activities will support the community’s goal of creating sustainable practices to improve public health and environmental quality.

The Keene facility will house a BBR refinery to convert waste grease from across New England into more than 250,000 gallons of biodiesel per year, and will also provide KSC researchers with quality fuel for emissions analysis.

A KSC fuel-quality and emissions-testing laboratory located within the MBC will expand the college’s current fuel-emissions and exposure-assessment program, verify the quality of biodiesel produced by the MBC, and provide a sustainable funding stream to support student research and learning experiences from several disciplines across the Keene State College campus. The laboratory will build on Keene State’s research program in occupational and environmental exposure assessment for petroleum diesel and biodiesel (see COBRE grant article).  As many as 50 students per year will be able to actively engage with faculty and staff in such areas as journalism, communication, education, refinery processing, chemistry, environmental science, business management, green business practices, occupational and environmental health, ecology, and public policy engagement.

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Dr. Nora Traviss (TDS) is one of three New Hampshire scientists who recently received $10.5 million from the National Institutes of Health to extend a Dartmouth-led collaboration for research and training to prevent and cure respiratory illnesses. The five-year award renews support through the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE), a federal program established by NIH to augment and strengthen the biomedical research capabilities of small or rural states.

In 2003 Keene State researchers, led by Dr. Melinda Treadwell, received $1 million of a $12 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to identify and characterize the metallic components of pollutants present in occupational and environmental settings across the Northeast and the effects these metals have on exposed individuals.

The renewed funding supports projects that focus on cystic fibrosis, lung inflammation, lung cancer, and the effect of biodiesel fuel on air quality and human health. Dartmouth researchers will collaborate with Dr. Traviss, who will determine if the use of biodiesel fuel compared to petroleum diesel reduces the harmful exposures and health effects associated with emissions of diesel vehicles.

“This project will enhance our active collaboration with colleagues at Dartmouth Medical School, the University of Vermont, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratories in Colorado,” said Dean Treadwell. “Nora’s research, and our collaboration with BBR and the City of Keene, will help to identify the blend of petroleum and biodiesel fuel that will provide the most significant public health and environmental benefit.”

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A group working with mindfulness meditation in local public elementary schools has created a developmentally appropriate mindfulness curriculum and completed the first phase of their research. Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” This group’s study centered on two questions: Can children learn mindfulness practice in an eight-week, small group format, and if so, is there evidence of enhanced attention and concentration?

The three-year, College/school-counselor collaborative research project is based at Keene State College and supported by New Hampshire School Counselor Association. The collaborative includes professional school counselors and graduate students, a clinical psychologist, and a school counselor educator.

The group has started to share initial findings with other counselors and educators. In September several members presented at the 2008 North Atlantic Regional Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (NARACES) Conference in Portland, Maine. The group presented to KSC faculty on December 1, and at the fall New Hampshire School Counselor Association Southwest Regional Meeting in November. Presenters include Lynn Merlone, Jaffrey Grade School, Jaffrey, N.H.; Susan Theberge, Keene State College; Robin Gregg, Contoocook Valley School District, Peterborough, N.H.; Linda Galanes, Wheelock School, Keene, N.H.; Becky Kohler, Nelson/Harrisville/Marlow N.H. schools; Emily Bullock, Newfane Elementary School, Newfane, Vt.; and Martha Mae Emerson. An article about their work, “ The Practical Effects of Teaching Mindfulness to Children in Schools,” will appear in Professional School Counseling. For more information about the project please contact Susan Theberge, stheberge@keene.edu.

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: It was a record-setting weekend in the pool for Keene State swim teams. The Owl women captured their third-straight Little East championship, and the KSC men placed third at the ECAC Division III meet.

Junior Kristine Trutor set three individual records and qualified provisionally for the NCAA Division III Championships to lead Keene State to its third-straight Little East Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship. The Owls set nine championship records and seven Owl marks and won each of the 14 swimming events to post a team score of 508 points, which helped distance them from Eastern Connecticut State University (308) and Western Connecticut State University (266).

The Keene State men’s swim team finished third at the ECAC Division III Championships. KSC finished the meet with 457 points, while SUNY-Geneseo won the championship with 749 points.

The Owls, who improved on last year’s fourth-place finish, set eight school records at the meet. Junior Domingo Rose set three individual Owl records and helped establish a new relay mark to lead Keene State. Rose set records in the 50 breast (27.07), the 100 breast (59.15), and the 200 breast (2:12.01). He also teamed with sophomores Karl Balinski and Connor Pennoyer and freshman Colin Daly to set a new mark in the 400-medley relay. A total of 15 Keene State records were broken this weekend.

Photos: Jack Fabian
Keene State captured its third-straight LEC women’s swim championship on Saturday; KSC men placed third at the ECAC Division III meet.

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From Caleb Clark, Online Communications: A “Keene State College” search for video on the web today returns a much more balanced portrait of KSC than the same search did three months ago. In October 2008, a search on Google and YouTube for the words “Keene State College” returned videos of concerts, parties, and the unfortunately popular Red Sox “riot.” Over the last three months, the Online Communications department, with help from the KSC community, has used existing and new videos to balance KSC’s reputation among videos on the Web.

Prospective students search for videos on Google and YouTube to check out schools. A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education notes that the party videos students share with each other can create a perception of a school that does not reflect the school as a whole. The students can’t be faulted; they are using YouTube for one of its strongest features, the ability to share videos easily with friends. But because students are often so experienced and motivated at creating effective online media, they can unwittingly co-opt their institution’s brand.

To solve this problem, Online Communications researched what other institutions are doing. YouTube “channels,”  coherent home pages for videos, were ubiquitous and had sometimes been up for years. Stanford University, World Learning, National Geographic and the Union Leader all have channels, for example. YouTube is the biggest online video host, so it influences Google searches, and is a one-stop shop for controlling search results for video on the Web. In addition ,the UMASS Journalism department was found to be successfully using YouTube and other free services to host student reports, on their student-run Amherst Wire, and Hampshire College was found to have a dedicated multimedia page.

While the Online Communications department is not in a position to produce a significant number of new videos, a deep search of the web uncovered Keene State videos posted by students, faculty, and staff, including a campus tour made by a student, a slick set of public service announcements made by students about our recycling efforts, operatic recitals recorded by parents, conference presentations, and video KSC commissioned to document the Academic Excellence Conference. The problem was that these videos did not have well-written titles, tags, and descriptions. These videos were uploaded and tagged over the last two months.

Currently we manage over half of the videos that are returned after a search of “Keene State College” on YouTube and Google Video. Our long-range goal is to someday displace the Red Sox video from the top spot. You can help by visiting the Keene State College YouTube Channel and rating, subscribing, and befriending the channel. The channel’s link is: http://www.youtube.com/user/KeeneStateCollege

We are constantly looking for more videos. Any videos posted to YouTube can also be easily embedded into our keene.edu web pages. For help, e-mail: online@keene.edu.

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From Matt Kimber, Accounts Payable: The final accounts payable check run before the holiday break occurs on Monday, December 22. This will be the final check run of the month of December, and also of calendar year 2008. If you require a payment to be in hand, or mailed out to a vendor, before the break begins, all relevant paperwork must be received and approved in A/P no later than 3 p.m. on Friday, December 19th. In order for a check to print in this final 12/22/08 run, the “Payment Due” field must be dated on or before 1/03/09.

There will be no check runs at all during the week of December 29. The normal check-run schedule resumes on Monday, January 5, 2009 (which will encompass “Payment Due” dates from 1/04/09–1/10/09). During the short week of December 22, the Petty Cash window will observe regular hours. Have a happy and restful holiday season!

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From the IT Group: Winter break is just around the corner, and here are a few things to keep in mind. The Rhodes Hall Computer Lab will be closing Friday, December 19, and will reopen January 18. This is a great time to switch to Office 2007, when things are quieter and you will have more time to become familiar with it. We will continue to host Office 2007 previews throughout January. If you would like to see a preview of Office 2007, register for one at http://www.keene.edu/it/helpdesk/training/default.cfm. The HelpDesk will be open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regular hours will resume on Tuesday, January 20. As always, if you have any questions regarding this or any other technology issue, please feel free to contact the HelpDesk at 358-2532, email helpdesk@keene.edu, or stop by our office on the second floor of Elliot Hall.

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End of semester facility hours
Monday–Friday, December 15–19: 6 a.m.–6 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday, December 20 & 21: CLOSED
Monday & Tuesday, December 22 & 23: 6 a.m.–6 p.m.
Wednesday, December 24: CLOSED (No access to locker rooms or the facility)

Pool hours will not be held December 15–23.
The facility will be CLOSED December 24¬–January 2.
The Recreation Center will re-open on Monday, January 5, 2009.

Winter intercession facility Hours
January 5–16: 6 a.m.–7 p.m.

During the winter intercession, there will be no pool hours, and the facility is closed on Saturday and Sunday.

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From Agnes Anderson, Scheduling Office: Due to construction in a lot adjacent to the Keene State College camp, the town of Swanzey will be blocking traffic from turning onto Page Court from Route 32, effective December 11, 2008. To access the camp, you will need to proceed approximately 100 yards past Page Court and turn left onto Safford Drive. Safford will lead you to a four-way stop intersection in about a quarter of a mile. Turn left onto Page Court at this intersection, and the camp will be about 100 yards further on your right.

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From Angela Yang-Handy, Student Affairs: Do you want to engage students by providing experiential learning opportunities in your courses? Volunteer experiences in the community often go unnoticed, but through the Service-Learning Office you can coordinate real-world experiences in a systematic and efficient way, in order to build not only your students’ connections with the community through valuable career experience, but also improve your own knowledge of the community.

Many faculty members have repeatedly incorporated service-learning into their courses. In recent semesters, service-learning projects have been developed by faculty from academic departments, including Architecture; Art/Graphic Design; Biology; Communications; Computer Science; Education; English; Health Science; Mathematics; Music; Psychology; Technology, Design, and Safety; Theater and Dance; Sociology; and Women’s Studies.

Are there community services that you already discuss, interact with, or draw upon in your courses? Is there anything that the Service-Learning Office could provide your courses, either networking within the community or planning out new service-learning opportunities? It is not too late to explore ways to incorporate a service-learning project into your courses this spring. If you are interested in learning more about the Keene State College Service-Learning Program, please refer to the program’s website or e-mail Angela Yang-Handy, Service-Learning Coordinator, at ayanghandy@keene.edu.

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From the Campus Sustainability Council: Over the holiday break, please shut down any computers, printers, speakers, copiers, and other electronic equipment in your office, work area, and in computer labs you oversee. Make sure to shut your monitor off completely — energy is used even in sleep mode. Learn more about energy use and campus computers here. Shut off lights in offices, classrooms, and work or common areas. If you have control over your heat, please consider lowering the temperature to 60 degrees.

Here are some tips for a “green” holiday season. Thank you, and best wishes for a wonderful and safe holiday break.

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From Dan Patterson, Theatre and Dance: The Keene State College department of Theatre and Dance has been nominated, with its production of Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, for presentation at the forty-first Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Region I (New England) at Fitchburg State College this January. For theatre, this is the equivalent of being invited to the NCAA post-season tournament. The production is directed by full-time adjunct PeggyRae Johnson, with set design by guest-designer Jenny Fulton, lighting design by KSC Student Liz Panneton, and costume design by costume-shop foreman Mary Robarge.

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From Jim Draper, Purchasing: The USNH Purchasing offices continually search for more cost effective ways for our departments to conduct their business transactions. It is my pleasure to announce that we have negotiated a new shipping deal with Federal Express to handle our express, ground, and international letter/package delivery needs. This new contract through the Educational and Institutional Cooperative provides substantial savings when compared to UPS, DHL, and other carriers.

Francis Brush of Print and Mail Services asks that all KSC business-related domestic and foreign outbound shipments be sent to Mail Services via campus mail or physical plant courier for processing. The new Fed Ex contract is in effect for everything from overnight letters up to items of 150 pounds. Palletized goods can also be shipped via LTL (less-than-truckload). Please destroy all of your preprinted Fed Ex air bills. New paperwork, service guides, and rate tables will be available shortly.

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From Karyn Kaminski, Human Resources: Please welcome James Tuttle to KSC. He is a Sr. Business Services Assistant in the Payroll Office. Rene Harlow, who formerly worked in the Business Office, has transferred to the Purchasing Office.

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This issue of Campus News is the last before the holiday break. The first issue in 2009 will be on Thursday, January 22. Please send news or items for Professional Activities by e-mail to campusnews@keene.edu by noon on Monday, January 19.

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We are rebuilding our Faculty Experts section on the web and need your help. Our information will be listed on our website and in a database for journalists working on local and national stories. Please take a minute to update your information, add to your list of publications and accomplishments, and send it to rdutcher@keene.edu.

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Please send ideas for stories, photos, and events and news of your accomplishments or those of your colleagues or students to campusnews@keene.edu.

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Selected Events

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Last year Keene State was awarded a $20,000 Bank of America Charitable Foundation grant to develop Science Out of the Box, an enrichment program to engage elementary school students with direct experience and experimentation to enhance essential concepts and principles in science. A sampling of Science Out of the Box science units was field tested for three weeks last summer as part of KSC’s Kids on Campus program, and used to develop the Science Out of the Box curriculum used in the Fuller and Franklin elementary schools in Keene this year. This semester, KSC student teachers focused on simple machines: wheels and axles, levers and pulleys, screws, and incline planes and wedges.

Photo: Will Wrobel. Back row (l to r): Marlen Gostyla (Bank of America), Laura Tavares (KSC student teacher), Professor Sally Jean (KSC), freddie Martinez (Bank of America), and Allyce Gregorek (KSC student teacher); front row (l to r): Fuller Elementary School students Jack Ebbinghausen, Griffin Nelson, Diego Betancourt, Olivia Guerriero, Samantha DiPietro

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Kristin Alvarez (Geography) was interviewed on WMUR’s Chronicle on November 26 in a feature about David McCormick, a fourth-grade teacher at the Mast Way Elementary School in Lee. McCormick learned about geocoaching at a summer institute sponsored by the NH Geographic Alliance (NHGA), which is coordinated by Alvarez and headquartered at Keene State.

Alvarez nominated McCormick for a National Council for Geographic Education Distinguished Teaching award, which he won in 2008. In the Chronicle feature, McCormick is shown engaging students in various geography sessions in the classroom, in GPS woods walks, and in the gym with group activities on top of a floor-sized map.

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Keene State College’s Child Development Center (CDC) has earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) — the nation’s leading organization of early childhood professionals. The CDC’s program is among the first in the nation to complete NAEYC’s more rigorous accreditation process.

“We’re proud to have earned the mark of quality from NAEYC, and to be recognized for our commitment to reaching the highest professional standards,” said Ellen Ellsberg Edge, CDC director. “NAEYC accreditation lets families in our community know that children in our program are getting the best care and best early-learning experiences possible.”

To earn NAEYC accreditation in the new system, the CDC went through an extensive self-study process, measuring the program and its services against the ten new NAEYC Early Childhood Program standards and more than 400 related accreditation criteria. The program received NAEYC accreditation after an on-site visit by NAEYC assessors to ensure that the program meets each of the ten program standards. NAEYC-accredited programs are also subject to unannounced visits during their accreditation, which lasts for five years. For more information on NAEYC accreditation, visit their website.

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Photo: Renee Staudinger
Snowflake crepes, cotton candy, chocolate fountains, and tables with holiday crafts and treats filled the Student Center on December 3 when the Student Center’s 4th Annual Winter Celebration opened the holiday season on campus.

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From Kim Harkness, Human Resources: Once again, this holiday schedule will provide us with an opportunity to close the College for a holiday break beginning Wednesday, December 24, at 5 p.m. and reopening on Monday, January 5, 2009. As a result, employees should plan to save three vacation/earned time days (December 30th, 31, and January 2) to use during this break. New employees who have not had the opportunity to accrue sufficient time will be contacted by Human Resources regarding the campus closing to make arrangements.

Thursday, December 25, 2008      Christmas Holiday
Friday, December 26, 2008           Campus Holiday
Monday, December 29, 2008        Campus Holiday
Tuesday, December 30, 2008       Earned Time/Vacation
Wednesday, December 31, 2008   Earned Time/Vacation
Thursday, January 1, 2009            New Year’s Holiday
Friday, January 2, 2009                 Earned Time/Vacation

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