November 12th, 2009

The Communication, Journalism, and Philosophy departments created an historic timeline of the nearly 100 years of student newspapers at Keene State as a College Centennial project. Professors Julio Delsesto and Rose Kundanis presented this timeline on November 6 in the Media Arts Center Atrium, where Equinox staff past and present shared memories of their experiences working on the paper.

At the event Marianne Salcetti (Journalism) invited participants to view the collection of awards the student newspaper has collected, and announced that the Equinox had just been named first runner up for “College Paper of the Year” by the New England Society of Newspaper Editors in their first-ever College Newspaper of the Year Awards competition.

Additionally, Corey Smith, managing editor at the Equinox, has been selected to participate in the Campus Coverage Project. This competition, sponsored by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), the Education Writers Association, and the Student Press Law Center, is designed to share investigative reporting skills that college and university students can use when covering campus issues. Seventy-five students from around the country were selected to receive full scholarships to participate in the project.

Smith, a journalism major in his junior year, entered Keene State as part of the College’s first Honors Program group. He will attend a workshop at Arizona State University in Phoenix in January, where sessions will focus on specific campus-coverage issues and overall reporting techniques and skills. Additional training opportunities will be provided throughout the year.

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Dr. Margaret Walsh (photo by Mark Corliss)

Ann Marie Rancourt Academic Affairs: It is with great pleasure that we would like to introduce Dr. Margaret Walsh as the new director of the College Honors Program. We look forward to her building on the work of Dr. Beatriz Torres and Dr. Helen Frink, and we’re sure that much progress will be made under her leadership. In her time at Keene State, Dr. Walsh has demonstrated a strong commitment to academic excellence and a constant willingness to serve and to lead in multiple roles on this campus. Her success in working with students, colleagues, and the general public makes her an excellent ambassador for the program. The appointment begins in January 2010, and will end in May 2012.

Thanks to Dr. Anne-Marie Mallon, chair of the search committee, and to members of the committee, Shari Bemis, William Stroup, Peter Roos, Donna Smyth, Kent Drake-Deese, Karen Honeycutt, and Allison Shufelt (student rep) for creating a rigorous search process and conducting a successful search.

We would also like to acknowledge Dr. Frink’s successful efforts over the last 18 months in shepherding the program through the college approval process, as well as all the work she has done with the Advisory Council and many offices on campus in establishing processes that have contributed and will continue to contribute to the program’s success. Thank you, Dr. Frink.

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As part of its annual rankings, U.S. News & World Report has listed Keene State College as one of the top schools in the North. The College was listed 81st in the Masters University-North Tier 1 listing, and 25th in the Top Public Schools Masters University-North listing in the 2010 edition of America’s Best Colleges.

“This ranking serves as one among many external validations that the College is fulfilling its primary goal of enhancing the academic program and excellence throughout the campus,” said President Helen Giles-Gee.

This year the Masters Universities listing ranked 572 institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate degrees and some master’s degree programs but few, if any, doctoral degrees. The indicators used in the rankings include academic quality, peer assessment, student retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, and alumni giving rates. For more about the U.S. News & World Report rankings and methodologies, visit their website.

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Keene State’s traditional opening of the academic year will begin on Monday, August 24, with coffee and pastries in the atrium of the Student Center at 10 a.m. President Giles-Gee’s opening address will start at 10:30 a.m. in the Mabel Brown Room. An all-campus luncheon will be served from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Zorn Dining Commons, followed by a panel discussion with principal administrators in the Mabel Brown Room from 2 to 3:30 p.m. This year, moving new-student orientation from June to August 26-30 has created a new opening week schedule:

Move-in Day: Wednesday, August 26
The dress code in all offices will be business casual.

Parking:
First-year students will move into their residence halls on Wednesday, August 26, and we also have Parent-Family orientation then. A section of Winchester Street (between Ralston and Main streets from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and the following parking lots will be closed to facilitate the move-in process:

Hale lot
Randall/Blake lot
Fiske lot
Madison/Holloway lot
Owl’s Nest lot

If you will not need your vehicle until the end of the business day, please consider parking at the Owl Athletic Complex. You can walk to campus via the Martel Court footbridges or ride a shuttle, available between 7-9 a.m. and 3-5 p.m. Carroll/Proctor lot (limited), Science lot, Student Center F/S lot, Student Center Commuter lot, Spaulding lot, Art Center lot, and Elliot lot will remain open to all faculty and staff.

Move-in Volunteers:
If you would like to help students and their families empty cars (volunteers will no longer carry student belongings to the residence hall rooms), please email Jim Carley, associate director of Residential Life (8-2337). Move-in will begin at 8 a.m. and continue through approximately 4 p.m.

New Student Convocation: Thursday, August 27
The rescheduled orientation has given the College the opportunity to hold the New Student Convocation during the week, on Thursday, August 27, when everyone on campus can attend. The convocation will begin with a clap-in along Appian Way at 9:15 a.m., and the ceremony will be from 10 to 11:15 a.m. in Spaulding Gym. The College will be awarding an honorary degree to Dr. Susan Lynch for her work on behalf of New Hampshire children. Dr. Lynch’s work focuses on childhood obesity, preventive health care for children, and literacy. President Giles-Gee has asked that offices be closed during this time if possible, and that all faculty and staff participate in the clap-in and convocation. See the full opening week schedule here.

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The interdisciplinary courses in Keene State’s newly created Environmental Studies Department explore how people interact with the environment, incorporating the natural world as well as social and political systems. The curriculum is designed to develop students’ ability to evaluate, analyze, and synthesize complex information relating to environmental issues, and they will graduate with skills that will help them succeed in careers as diverse as environmental consulting, policy making, field research, and staff positions assisting organizations in meeting goals related to sustainability.

“The faculty of Keene State College recognized the critical importance of Environmental Studies when it established the major in 1979,” said Gordon Leversee, dean of the School of Sciences and Social Sciences. “Changing environmental challenges and opportunities have prompted this move from a multi-departmental model to a core faculty model, and the new department represents Keene State’s renewed commitment to address the environmental challenges we face.”

Four core faculty have been assigned to the new department:

• Dr. Timothy Allen teaches the popular “Energy and the Environment” course, and conducts studies of trace-element mineralogy and groundwater resources.
• Dr. Renate Gebauer is an ecologist with special expertise in plant-soil-water relationships. Her collaborative relationships include the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest Ecosystem Study in the White Mountains.
• Dr. Nora Traviss has expertise in environmental health and safety and is conducting a long-term study on human exposure to diesel exhaust particulates in collaboration with Dartmouth College.
• Dr. William Fleeger is joining the Keene State faculty this fall and brings his considerable experience in environmental policy studies, including serving as program director of the Regional Ecosystem Applied Learning Corps at Southern Oregon University. The Corps worked with over 20 land management agencies and community partners on watershed and land management issues, including the Spotted Owl project.

Emerging green technologies and concerns about climate change are hot topics in the news lately, but sustainability and environmental awareness have been a way of life at Keene State College for some time now.

A faculty-led recycling program was created in the 1970s, and the establishment of the President’s Council for a Sustainable Future (PCSF) in 1996 pushed campus operations to become more sustainable: Many departments use electric cars to get around campus; few chemicals are used to maintain the beautiful lawns, arboretum, and gardens; and in winter alternative pre-treatments minimize salt and sand use on walkways and parking lots. KSC has the only LEED building in Cheshire County (the Pondside III residence is LEED Silver), and campus construction projects seek managers with experience in high-performance buildings, C&D waste/recycling management, and indoor-air-quality management protocol.

As this culture of environmental awareness grew at Keene State over the years, so did the number of courses focusing on sustainability. Last year a new major, SPEDI (Sustainable Product Design and Innovation) was launched, expanding on existing courses in the Architecture and Safety Studies programs that have long featured sustainable building design courses, management courses grounded in sustainability principles, and safety studies courses that look for ways to reduce worker hazards. Often students in these courses have used the campus operations as case studies, including a management project to look at transportation numbers, the microbial content of campus compost, and water testing.

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Sophomores in Keene State College’s Honors Program are just completing a two-week spring semester travel-study course and have been sending home Twitter accounts of their adventures in Peru and South Africa.

In South Africa, nine students have been conducting research, interviewing locals, and experiencing a new culture and geography. “Spoke with 2 amazing women, Prudence and Agnes (from Tanzania and Kenya, respectively),” one student tweeted on May 25. “Great conversation, awesome people.” The short messages-from-the-field format initiated with these trips offered followers at home a window into the students’ adventures. And it offered students a way to express experiences that couldn’t be captured in a paper: “After seeing the conditions of the Imizamo Yethu township, giving our lunches away felt like a drop in the bucket,” a student wrote on May 23.

Macchu Picchu (Courtesy photo)

Ten students in Peru have stayed with families in Urubamba, a town in an area of the Andes Mountains often called the Inca’s Sacred Valley. A goal of the course is to “explore our role in contributing to what we perceive as ‘positive change’ in others’ lives,” and students have helped construct and install basic stoves and water filtration systems for local families. One tweet captures a strike over water privatization that students witnessed: “Went to Macchu Picchu today – amazing. Another strike tomorrow. Roads closed, no transportation. Protesting water privatization. Non-violent.”

The Honors Program includes five Honors courses, three offered each semester, including a freshman Honors Thinking and Writing section and sophomore-year courses in the Humanities and the Natural and Social Sciences (culminating in the travel-study course). During their junior year, students focus on completing requirements in their various majors, and, as seniors, they come back together to share a capstone seminar. Residential students may choose to be housed together in a living/learning community for their first year; sophomores and juniors organize their own living & learning community in Pondside III.

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For 17 years, students from Keene State’s Communicorps class have solved design problems for community organizations in the Monadnock region. This required course in the Architecture program emphasizes a team approach to solving complex architectural problems, giving sophomore and junior students valuable experience with real-life architectural problems. On April 30, community members were invited to see the designs at a luncheon in the Mountain View Room. Eleven student teams (34 students) created designs for six major projects.

This year’s projects included:

• concept design for renovation of town office space for the town of Stoddard
• design/renovation plans for the Stoddard Library
• two projects for Southwestern Community Services: a master plan study for Rindge, N.H., and a design for a new 22-unit workforce housing project
• design of a new synagogue for the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community
• master plan study for a private co-housing project in Chesterfield, N. H.

Keene State offers the only four-year B.S. Architecture degree at a public liberal arts college in New England. Designed to give students a solid foundation in the artistic, scientific, and technical aspects of architecture, the curriculum offers a range of courses in studio design, building science, sustainable design, history/theory, digital technology, and practice.

For more information on the Communicorps program, contact Donna Paley at dpaley@keene.edu.

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From Colin Abernethy, Chemistry: Elizabeth A. Neuhardt ’10 has been selected to receive a 2009 James Flack Norris/Theodore William Richards Summer Research Scholarship from the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society. The award carries a stipend of $3,000 with another $500 for supplies and travel.

At the conclusion of her summer of research in my laboratory, Ms. Neuhardt will write a report for publication in The Nucleus (The newsletter of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society) and will also present her work at the Northeast Student Chemistry Research Conference (NSCRC) in April 2010. The presentation of this award to Ms. Neuhardt will be made at the 897th Meeting of the Northeastern Section on May 14 at Northeastern University, Boston, Mass.

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KSC student Joe Meany, president of the Chemistry Lyceum, received the Honorable Mention Award on behalf of the Lyceum at the American Chemical Society’s National Meeting, in Salt Lake City, Utah, in March. Meany presented a poster describing the Lyceum’s activities during the ’07–’08 academic year, “Phoenix rising: The revival of an SAC at an undergraduate institution.” The coauthors of the poster were J. L. Davis, M. L. Croteau, S. W. Ayers, J. Symmonds, and C. D. Abernethy.

Courtesy photo; Joe Meany (right) receives an honorable mention award on behalf of the KSC Chemistry Lyceum from Dr. Thomas Lane, President of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

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Join Keene State College students and their faculty sponsors to learn about some of the most ambitious academic work of the 2008-09 year at Keene State’s Ninth Annual Academic Excellence Conference on Saturday, April 4. The conference begins at 9 a.m. and is held in the Science and Student Centers. Those attending may pick up programs and join student, faculty, and staff for a continental breakfast in the atrium of the Student Center beginning at 8:15 a.m.

This year, students are presenting 73 oral and poster projects, exhibits, panel discussions, and workshops, including “A ‘Keene’ Bill of Health: Vision 2020 and an Assessment of Health in Keene, New Hampshire,” “The Effects of Different Types of Music on Anxiety,” “The Usefulness of Power and Influence in International Conflicts,” “Simulation Space: The Development of a Newtonian Physics Simulator,” and “Living Free and Dying Young: Exploring New Hampshire’s College-Age Seatbelt Use” (full conference schedule). For more information, contact Ann Rancourt, 8-2118, or Donna Hinz, 8-2104.

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From Bartlomiej Sapeta, TDS: On Thursday, April 2, the KSC Architecture Club will host a presentation by architect Joseph Cincotta at 7 p.m. in the Mountain View Room, Student Center.

Cincotta believes that learning does not stop at graduation, and that an observant approach combined with a positive attitude can transform a vocation into a lifelong learning opportunity that is its own best reward. In his presentation, he will focus on a process that engages the client and builder in the artful pursuit of architecture. At least one client and one builder will be on hand to offer unique perspectives in a follow-up panel discussion. For more information, contact Bartlomiej Sapeta.

Courtesy photo; Joseph Cincotta

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Keene State is pleased to announce a new baccalaureate degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The interdisciplinary undergraduate Holocaust and Genocide Studies major is currently accepting students for the 2009–10 academic year.

The Holocaust and Genocide Studies curriculum combines historical study with an interdisciplinary exploration of both the Holocaust and other genocidal events. The major incorporates film, literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, religious studies, women’s studies, and other offerings. With an understanding of such issues as prejudice, discrimination, and racism, students master the skills needed to analyze contemporary political situations, think critically about ethical responsibility, and respond to injustice.

“These skills are at the heart of a liberal arts education,” said Cohen Center Director Dr. Henry Knight. “In a world still tormented by mass murder, studying the Holocaust offers an analytical framework that can help us to understand ongoing global genocide.”

Program graduates will be prepared to support social studies and history curriculum development, and to pursue careers in social and governmental service. The major also prepares students for graduate studies in history as well as Holocaust and genocide studies, and for other post-graduate work, such as law.

For more information about the Holocaust and Genocide Studies major, or to see a schedule of workshops, in-service training, classroom presentations, and individual curriculum consultations, visit www.keene.edu/cchs.

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KSC chemistry major Molly Croteau ’10 was one of 15 students chosen to receive an American Chemical Society 2009 Student Affiliates Leadership Award at the ACS 2009 Leadership Institute in Fort Worth, Texas (January 23–25).

Sponsored by the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Committee on Education Task Force, Undergraduate Programming, the award recognizes emerging leaders in the Student Affiliates network and helps them prepare for leadership opportunities in volunteer organizations and in their professional life. The award recognizes Molly’s outstanding leadership potential based upon her involvement in both the Chemistry Lyceum and organizations within her home community of Ware, N.H.

“The important information I received from the 2009 ACS Leadership Institute and the many fascinating people I met will be something I remember throughout the rest of my academic years, as well as the rest of my life, in any career path I choose to follow,” Croteau said.

At the institute she learned about available grants and funds for Student Affiliates, took two four-hour courses (Fostering Innovation, and Engaging and Motivating Volunteers), and met with the manager of the Undergraduate Programs Office at ACS, to gain valuable insight about inChemistry, the magazine for student affiliates.

Courtesy photo: The Student Affiliates with ACS President Thomas H. Lane (center) and KSC’s Molly Croteau (to the right of him)

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From Mary Pleasanton, ACA: Please encourage your students to sign up for the bus to the NHCUC Job Fair. Seats are limited and filling fast! There’s a signup sheet at the reception desk in the Academic & Career Advising Department. Transportation funded by C&S Wholesale Grocers. Job Fair Date: Wednesday, February 18. Bus to leave at 1 p.m. and return by 7 p.m. Thanks for your support!

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From Donna Hinz, Academic Affairs: Hard copies of sponsor-approved and signed proposals and abstracts for the Academic Excellence Conference must be submitted to Donna Hinz’s office in Hale Building no later than 5 p.m. on December 3, 2008. Students should place their proposals in the wall pocket outside the door. Please ask students to save the forms as a Word document on their computer so they will have them for future reference. Here is a link to forms, process, and guidelines.

Upon review of abstracts, the committee will make one of the following recommendations:

• Accepted: Congratulations! Your abstract is accepted. Please work with your faculty/staff mentor to prepare for the conference.
• Accepted with Minor Revision: Please work with your faculty/staff mentor to revise the abstract addressing issues identified by reviewers. Resubmit your proposal by the posted re-submission deadline.
• Denied: The AEC Committee regrets to inform you that your proposal has been denied.
The committee members are looking forward to receiving proposals and wish mentors/sponsors and students well as the final proposals are crafted. For more information contact Donna Hinz at dhinz@keene.edu.

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From Mary Pleasanton, Elliot Center: Please encourage students to attend the upcoming Career Connections for Sciences/Business/Health/Technology on Wednesday, November 12, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Science Center Lobby.

This event is open to all classes and majors. Students can bring a resumé or questions and meet with local and regional hiring companies. Students wishing to prepare a resumé should contact the office at 8-2500 to schedule an appointment with a career advisor.

Sponsored by BIA (Business and Industry Association) and NHHTC (New Hampshire High Technology Council) and coordinated by the Academic and Career Advising Department.

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From Kim Schmidl-Gagne, Academic Affairs: Silvia Hernandez and Chris Thomas, teachers from Oaxaca, Mexico, will visit KSC to share stories of teachers organizing to build a powerful movement for democracy and accountability. They will be speaking in the Student Center’s Madison Street Lounge on Friday, November 7, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. (The film Granito de Arena will be shown following the event.)

Hernandez and Thomas wrote Teaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca, a book of firsthand testimonies regarding the 2006 events in Oaxaca, Mexico. What began as a teacher’s strike demanding more resources for education quickly turned into a massive movement that demanded participatory democracy beyond the ballot box.

Silvia Hernandez is a sociology student who was active in the takeover and management of state media in Oaxaca during the social movement in 2006. She continues to work for alternatives to neoliberal development in southern Mexico. Chris Thomas spent two years collaborating with the autonomous school system in Zapatista communities in Chiapas. Learn more about this speaking tour at http://teachingrebellion.wordpress.com/.

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From Donna Hinz, Academic Affairs: The College invites all students who are engaged in interesting work and research to consider sharing that work with the College community at this year’s 9th Annual Academic Excellence Conference. Proposals and abstracts are due Wednesday, December 3. Abstract guidelines and forms are online at http://www.keene.edu/academics/enrichment/aec.cfm.

The conference is on Saturday, April 4, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Student Center and Science Center. This is a great opportunity for students to present outstanding work. Student support for and participation in the conference has been outstanding, and the conference committee looks forward to another excellent event.

For more information contact Ann Rancourt (arancour@keene.edu), Yi Gong (ygong@keene.edu), Kris Alvarez (kalvarez@keene.edu), or Donna Hinz (dhinz@keene.edu).

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From Angela Yang-Handy, Student Affairs: This past summer, Professor Therese Siebert taught a three-week course, SOC 390: Rwanda: Then and Now, which introduced students to Rwandan history, society, and culture through readings, discussion, and, most importantly, travel throughout Rwanda.

An important component of the course was a week-long workshop with the genocide prevention agency Never Again – Rwanda, which involved working with young Rwandan adults on issues of human rights, conflict resolution, and socioeconomic development. Service-learning activities were incorporated into this course, and Prof. Siebert described this experience in the narrative below:

The most rewarding and memorable events centered around our service activities, especially the ones that were completely unplanned. Toward the beginning of the trip, three students met a woman named Winnie Muvunyi, who, like her husband, was a minister in Kigali. Winnie founded and directs Alpha School, which is open to all young children in her neighborhood.

On a visit to her school, we played with the children, sang with them, and donated children’s books, toys, and supplies. Thanks to Roxanne Leclaire, mother of students Jeanette and Gillian, we obtained math textbooks that we donated to Butare Primary School along with school supplies.

Without question, the most touching and memorable part of the trip was our visit to the UN Refugee Camp based in Cyangugu, a town that borders Congo in the southwest part of Rwanda. Student Jesse Miller deserves credit for arranging this remarkable experience. Conditions at the camp are dismal, and we had already donated all of the books and supplies we had packed in our suitcases. But the UN director of the camp, Wes Wrightson, told us that simply taking the children out of the camp would mean so much to them. So up a mountain we went with a couple of hundred children, singing songs and clapping. None of us were the same after this hike.

After returning home, we raised $600 that we donated to various Rwandan causes by sponsoring a Rwandan dinner with music and dance. Students also educated participants about different aspects of Rwanda society with Power Point presentations. We are grateful to Beata and Immacule Umugwangwali, our Rwandan friends now living in New Hampshire, for their tremendous help in organizing this event. Months after our return, we remain committed to working with Rwandans to make education and health care more accessible.

If you are interested in learning more about the Keene State College Service-Learning Program, please visit the program’s website or e-mail Angela Yang-Handy, Service-Learning coordinator, at ayanghandy@keene.edu.

Courtesy photo:
Therese Siebert and Rwanda students at the Alpha School

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On Thursday, October 9, the KSC Architecture Program is sponsoring a presentation by Daniel V. Scully, “Recent Architecture, Paddling to the Sea.” The presentation will be in the Mountain View Room of the Student Center, and will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Scully’s talk will trace the impact of recent projects. Architectural historian and critic William Morgan recently wrote about the visitor center Scully designed in Bellows Falls, Vermont:

“Bellows Falls has created a bold new piece of architecture that captures and enhances the spirit of the place. … Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum has lured flocks of tourists to Bilbao, Spain, while Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art has given North Adams a real boost. The Bellows Falls Waypoint Interpretive Center is far more modest, but its impact may be similarly dramatic.”

For more information, contact Peter Temple, 8-2978.

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Last summer Linda Baker and Steve Clark (Psychology) traveled to Bangalore India to visit Bapagrama, a school run by Janaki Natarajan Tschannerl (Education and Sociology).

The Bapagrama Educational Center was established in 1949 by Janaki’s mother, Saraswathi Natarajan, a progressive educator and activist, who was an advocate for the Dalit class in India. Named after Thakkar Bapa, a co-worker of Gandhi, the school was established to serve impoverished people in the nearby villages.

The school is free, and for most of the 300 students who walk to it from nearby villages it offers the only opportunity to study beyond primary school. The school’s curriculum integrates literacy, agriculture, science, technology, mathematics, sustainable development, community organizing, arts, and social sciences. Bapagrama has also become a center for community organizing and leadership training.

For many years Bapagrama has hosted visitors who come to participate in the educational activities and contribute to the community. This summer Baker and Clark joined seven KSC graduate and undergraduate students at Bapagrama: Liz Winter, Melissa LaPlante, Kat Kimball, Cat Harris, Jesse Miller, Kim Petersen, and Tim Cullity.

Janaki supervises the Keene State students who come to work on projects for credit, but she also helps all the KSC visitors acclimate to living in India, and plans structured activities and educational trips. Both Baker and Clark say that some of the most powerful educational moments of their visit were experiential: discussions during meals shared by the entire community, learning to prepare Indian meals in the kitchen.

“Spending three weeks in this community changed me and is changing my teaching in ways that are still unfolding,” says Baker. Clark returned with a new calling: he is studying Kannada, the local language, and plans to return to the school next year.

Photo: Steve Clark
Sculptures at a cultural center near Bapagrama, where impoverished students can visit and learn art, music, and theater.

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