November 12th, 2009

Don’t forget to come to the Centennial Harvest Festival on Friday, November 13, from 7 to 11 p.m. in the Mabel Brown Room. This will be the last big bash to celebrate our Centennial and offer a hearty “thank you” to everyone who worked so hard to make our Centennial such a success. It’s all free for faculty, staff, and students (due to space limitations, we cannot open this event to the public; though, of course, you can bring a guest). Please bring a donation of non-perishable food items or new, clean children’s clothing and pre-register so we’ll know you’re coming.

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Join us for the Centennial Harvest Festival on Friday, November 13, from 7 to 11 p.m. in the Mabel Brown Room. This will be the last big bash to celebrate our Centennial and offer a hearty “thank you” to everyone who worked so hard to make our Centennial such a success.

• Dance to The Nines, the Monadnock Region’s premier dance band!
• Take your significant other on the haunted hayride!
• Join in a rousing game of “musical bales” or a donut-eating contest!
• Be amazed by a roving magician!
• Be immortalized by a 60-second caricaturist!

It’s all free for faculty, staff, and students. And of course, you can bring a guest. Please bring a donation of non-perishable food items or new, clean children’s clothing and pre-register so we’ll know you’re coming. Don’t miss the party of the Centennial!
If you’d like to pitch in to decorate, or if you know where we can get such decorations as cornstalks, pumpkins, gourds, hay bales, and scarecrows, please contact Kay MacLean.

Our apology: Due to space limitations, we cannot open this event to the public. Sorry!

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From Rose Kundanis, Journalism: As part of the Keene State College Centennial, the Department of Communication, Journalism, and Philosophy has sponsored an historic timeline of the almost 100 years of student newspapers at KSC. Professors Julio Delsesto and Rose Kundanis will present this timeline on Friday, November 6, at 4 p.m. in the Media Arts Center Atrium. You are invited to share with us as we celebrate the Equinox and earlier versions of the KSC student newspaper. For more information, contact Rose Kundanis, 8-2404 or rkundani@keene.edu

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Ernest Hebert ‘69 (photo by Medora Hebert)

From Cheryl Spangler, Mason Library: Please join us on Saturday, November 7, for an afternoon of Centennial celebration in the Library, which will include tours of our wonderful facility and a talk by Ernest Hebert, “Keepers of the Flame.”

Hebert, a 1969 graduate of Keene State, was a Writer in Residence here from 1984-86, and is a 2002 honorary degree recipient. He’s the author of ten books, including eight novels, and was named Fiction Writer of the Year by the New England Independent Booksellers Association in 2006. He’s also Creative Writing Director and a professor of English at Dartmouth College. Tours start at 1:30 p.m., meeting in the Mason Library lobby. The talk starts at 2 p.m. in the Marion Wood Reading Area, Mason Library. For more information, contact Cheryl Spangler, 8-2723 or cspangle@keene.edu.

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From Ockle Johnson, Mathematics: This year the Clarence DeMar Marathon, named for a seven-time winner of the Boston Marathon and former Keene Normal School faculty member, will again partner with Keene State College to celebrate our Centennial. The race will be held on Sunday, September 27, starting in Gilsum and ending on Appian Way. Among the highlights and ways that KSC is participating this year:

• President Giles-Gee will be the official starter for the marathon.
• The design for the shirt and the medal was chosen from designs submitted by students in one of Bob Kostick’s graphic designs classes. It’s beautiful and commemorates our Centennial.
• There will be a special Keene State College division for marathon runners (faculty, staff, students, and alumni) with a plaque for the top KSC male and female finisher. You can register at http://www.clarencedemar.com/Registration_Info.htm and then send me an e-mail at ojohnson@keene.edu so I can add you to the list of KSC runners. Please encourage any KSC-affiliated runners you know to register. We would like to have a good KSC showing.
• Members of the KSC cross country teams and others will be providing directions along the course. If you would like to help out on the course, providing directions at your favorite turn or helping at the finish line on Appian Way, please let me know as soon as possible at  ojohnson@keene.edu

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Bert Poirier (Admissions) threw out the first pitch at the Keene State Night at the Swamp Bats Game on June 20 (courtesy photo).

From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: The rain began falling around the third inning, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of an enthusiastic crowd that came out to celebrate Keene State Night at the Swamp Bats’ game on June 20.

Throughout the evening, members of the KSC and Keene community made their way to a special Owl tent for a little reminiscing and to pick up Centennial t-shirts and bags.

The honor of throwing out the commemorative first pitch of the game went to former Owl soccer standout and coach Bert Poirier. “My knees were knocking a little bit,” confessed Poirier, who heeded the advice of Swamp Bat coach Marty Testo by keeping it simple and throwing a two-seam fast ball.

Many alums were on hand, including recent grads Karen Carr and Jocelyne Cummings, who are spending their summer working as interns with the Swamp Bats. While Carr and Cummings were busy coordinating many of the contests and give-aways, another alum was happy to take the night off. “I’m either coaching or scouting when I go to a game, so it’s nice to sit back and relax,” said KSC baseball coach Ken Howe, sitting behind home plate.

Unfortunately, the partisan crowd couldn’t reverse the Swamp Bats’ fortunes; they lost to the North Shore Navigators 12-4. It was the second year in a row that Keene State has sponsored a Swamp Bat game.

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From the KSC Centennial Committee: Save Saturday evening, June 20, for a special night of wooden-bat baseball and KSC Centennial celebration. Keene State will sponsor the Swamp Bats game at Keene High Alumni Field, Arch St., at 7 p.m. Keene State will set up a large tent, and everyone is welcome to pick up free T-shirts and other souvenirs and hang out with their friends in the community.

Free tickets are available at Tuesday morning coffee and doughnuts, Thursday afternoon ice cream, and at the Information Desk in the Student Center. Take yourself out to the ballgame on June 20 for an evening of collegiate baseball and KSC Centennial fun.

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From Jackie Hooper, Thorne: The Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery will commemorate Keene State College’s Centennial with a summer art exhibit of photographs and memorabilia chronicling the College and its students, faculty, and staff from 1909 to the present. In honor of the celebration, a small selection of photographs by Andy Warhol and other recent gifts to the College will be on display as well.

“Keene State College – Celebrating Our Centennial 1909–2009: 100 Years of Academic Community,” and “Photographs by Andy Warhol and Other Gifts to KSC” will be exhibited June 5 through August 2, and will reopen September 12–27.

The Centennial exhibit includes large panels of photographs with brief descriptions detailing each of the 10 decades of the College’s history. Other panels highlight academic departments, the arts, and community and student life, while others detail the history of athletics, Greek organizations, and social clubs on campus. Visitors also can view an eight-minute preview to a KSC Centennial documentary by film faculty members Larry Benaquist and Lance Levesque.

The exhibit is part of a year and half of festivities to mark the 100th anniversary of the College, which began in 1909 as Keene Normal School to train new teachers, transformed itself into an institution of higher learning called Keene Teachers College in 1939, and in 1963 became Keene State College and joined the New Hampshire university system.

Displayed in the same gallery as the Centennial exhibit will be a small selection of the 150 Warhol original Polaroids and gelatin silver prints given to the gallery by the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program. The Thorne was one of 183 colleges and university art museums across the U.S. to receive an unprecedented gift of Warhol art in 2008, and this is the first time the works will be on public display. The gallery will also showcase several prints that were part of the recent donation to the College by Robert P. Hubbard of Walpole, N.H.

During Reunion Weekend, the gallery will be open Friday, June 5, from noon to 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sunday, June 7, from noon to 4 p.m. During the summer, the gallery is open from noon to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, and closed Monday and Tuesday. It will also close Saturday, July 4, for Independence Day. For more information, call 603-358-2720 or visit http://www.keene.edu/tsag.

This photograph of a couple in front of Hale Building in 1953 is among the original photographs and memorabilia in the exhibit “Keene State College – Celebrating Our Centennial 1909–2009: 100 Years of Academic Community,” at the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery. (Courtesy photo.)

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From Mark Reynolds, College and Media Relations: At Tuesday night’s concert, An Evening of John Philip Sousa, renowned Sousa scholar and band director Dr. Keith Brion (left) got a special treat when KSC alumnus Tom Abert ’85 (right), the great grandson of the March King himself, showed up to catch the show. The concert was in honor of the College’s Centennial, featuring music that audiences would have heard 100 years ago when Sousa visited Keene. Photo by Jim Chesebrough.

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From Eleanor VanderHaegen, Centennial co-coordinator: In April 1909, the New Hampshire state legislature established Keene Normal School as an educational institution. One hundred years later, the Centennial Committee cordially invites you to join the party on Wednesday, April 15, to commemorate this event. At 10 a.m. on the 15th, Governor Lynch will sign a proclamation in Concord congratulating KSC on our anniversary. That document will begin its journey to Keene, hand-carried back to campus in running and walking relays, thanks to our speedy friends, staff, faculty, and students (to check on the proclamation’s progress during the day, please check the Centennial blog).

The proclamation arrives at Keene State’s Appian Way Gateway at 7:45 p.m., where it will be handed along to the main stage outside the Student Center.

Please be there for music, cheering, dancing, and remarks, plus a HUGE birthday cake! The cake and fireworks finale will begin at 8:15 p.m. You can watch the fireworks from Oya Hill. Join us for a night to remember, and celebrate your part in making the first 100 years such a great achievement.

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From Lucy Webb, College and Media Relations: Be a part of history on April 15 as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Keene Normal School. Everyone is invited! Please join current students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and the community. Visit the centennial website for more information or to follow the progress of the relay online during the day on April 15.

The schedule for the evening:
7:30 p.m. Centennial proclamation reaches Central Square in Keene. The proclamation, issued that morning by Gov. Lynch, will be relayed by runners and walkers all the way from Concord to Keene.
7:45 p.m. Centennial proclamation enters campus at the Appian Gateway on Main Street. Please help us hand it along Appian Way to the stage outside the Student Center.
8 p.m. Music, cheering, dancing, special remarks, and the biggest birthday cake you’ve ever seen!
8:15 p.m. Fireworks, viewed from the Oya Hill plaza outside the Zorn Dining Commons.

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During spring break, the staff of Student Financial Services issued a Centennial Challenge to the departments housed in Elliot Center: Celebrate KSC’s centennial with a donation of 100 cans of food to the Community Kitchen.

The Advancement, Elliot Center, and Information Technology departments joined the friendly competition ¬with great spirit: On the last day, with 20 minutes to the deadline, an IT staffer rushed out to purchase cans to push the department’s tally to the top. When the final count was made, however, SFS staffers held the lead with 209 donated cans. The participants piled 451 cans into the pick-up truck that delivered the food to the Community Kitchen.

Courtesy photo; Student Financial Services (SFS) held a thank-you celebration in the Atrium of Elliot Center on March 20 for participants in the SFS Centennial Challenge.

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On Wednesday, April 15, KSC alums, students, friends, and staff will join in a 60-mile Centennial Relay to commemorate the 1909 founding of Keene State College. The relay will start at the State House in Concord, N.H., where an official proclamation will be signed by Governor John Lynch and then hand carried by runners and walkers to Keene State College. (Safety and emergency personnel will be on hand at all times.)

The Centennial Relay Committee is looking for volunteers and nominees, either individuals or groups, to run or walk a segment of the route. Fill out a nomination and volunteer form, which is due no later than Friday, March 13, 2009.

Please forward your form to tnaitove@keene.edu or mail it to Centennial Relay Committee, 229 Main Street, Keene, NH 03435, Mailstop 2301. If you have questions, please contact Tamara Lique Naitove at 8-2813.

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From Connie Lester, Redfern: The KSC Concert Band’s spring performance, “Happy Birthday Keene State!” will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Keene State College on Wednesday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center.

The band will perform the Suite in Eb for Military Band by Gustav Holst, who wrote the piece in 1909, the year Keene Normal School was founded (and later renamed Keene State College). The band will also play several Keene-related compositions, including a new work, Rise and Fall, by KSC student and music major Brian Campbell. Also being performed is Black Granite III by James L. Hosay, who composed the work as a musical tribute for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country. This piece will be performed as a tribute to the many veterans who have attended Keene State. The themes stated throughout Black Granite III are heroic and patriotic and lead to a solemn, reflective passage that ends with an energetic reprise of heroic glory.

The performance is the first of the semester. The band’s second concert on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, will also be in celebration of the College’s centennial, featuring John Philip Sousa scholar Keith Brion performing as America’s March King. Brion will direct the KSC Concert Band in a reconstructed performance of an actual Sousa concert from the days of the founding of Keene Normal School. For tickets, or to request accommodations for a disability, please call the box office at 8-2168.

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Sipping Pepsi from a special KSC Centennial can may not taste better, but it’s more fun! Marc Doyon (Physical Plant), Jim Draper (Purchasing) and Paul Paltrineri (Sodexho) coordinated with folks at Pepsi to have a special limited-edition can produced to celebrate KSC’s Centennial. The 1.5 million-can run appeared last fall and has since sold out.

Photo: Mark Corliss, (From left) Amelia Carney (Pepsi), Paul Paltrineri (Sodexho), President Helen Giles-Gee, Denise Richards (Pepsi), Jay Kahn (Finance and Planning) and Jim Draper (Purchasing) take a centennial Pepsi sip on Tuesday, February 11.

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Coming events with a Centennial influence:
10/24 – 25: Homecoming: Pumpkins! Alumni!
10/25: 100th Owl Presentation: Owls! More Owls!

This big weekend should be Centennialriffic: Pumpkin Lobotomy this year features prizes up to $150 for Centennial-related carvings.

And David White is unveiling the 100th owl in the Children’s Literature Gallery on Saturday, Oct. 25. Look for the Centennial theme to crop up elsewhere around Homecoming, and look for those Centennial pumpkins at Pumpkin Festival.

T-shirt trivia: What on-campus speaker was the source of our “Enter to learn, go forth to serve” motto? Reply to lwebb1@keene.edu; the first correct answer wins a Centennial t-shirt!

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Coming events with a Centennial influence:
10/24 – 25: Homecoming: Pumpkins! Alumni!
10/25: 100th Owl Presentation: Owls! More Owls!

Is your event Centennialtastic? Think big: What could you be doing to help celebrate our first hundred years? Maybe you’ve got a great idea (I just had one right now. It’s that easy.). Maybe you’re willing to help with an event that’s already happening. Maybe you’ve got something coming up that has a natural tie-in to the Centennial. However you can pitch in, contact Amy Proctor to offer your help.

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The KSC Health Sciences (Nutrition, Health Promotion and Fitness, and Substance Abuse/Addictions) booth at the Centennial Wellness Fair.

On Sunday, September 28, the College invited the Keene community to celebrate the annual Clarence DeMar Marathon at Keene State College’s Centennial Wellness Fair. Representatives from various College and community resources for health and fitness offered free refreshments and demonstrations as the runners arrived at the marathon finish line.

Courtesy photo

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Coming events with a Centennial influence:

9/28: Centennial Wellness Fair on Appian Way at the Clarence DeMar Marathon: Health! Wellness!

We still have some T-shirts available to folks who send us trivia question about the history of the college (with verifiable answers). Include your mailstop, please, for easy shirt shipping. [lwebb1@keene.edu]. And join us for the DeMar Marathon and Centennial Wellness Fair, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Rhodes Hall on Sunday!

Cheer, win prizes, enjoy refreshments, talk to Ted of Ted’s Shoe and Sport, meditate, learn a yoga pose, see a massage therapist (or chiropractor, or podiatrist).

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Coming events with a Centennial influence

9/28: Centennial Wellness Fair on Appian Way at the Clarence DeMar Marathon: Health! Wellness!
10/24 – 25: Homecoming: Pumpkins! Alumni!
10/25: 100th Owl Presentation: Owls! More Owls!

And now, announcing the first-ever Campus News Centennial Trivia Contest!
Periodically, we’ll offer a Centennial T-shirt to people who correctly answer questions posed here.

For our first contest, we’re making it easy for you (and us). We’ll give shirts to the first 12 people who send us a trivia question about the history of the college, with verifiable answers. Include your mailstop, please, for easy shirt shipping.

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Gino Vallante and Sodexho dining services throw a fabulous party – 2,310 students, faculty, and staff enjoyed lasagna, Caesar salad, and a spread of delicious desserts at Keene State’s Centennial Opening Campus Family Dinner on September 9. During the event, President Helen Giles-Gee visited with students and staff and cut a birthday cake to open the College’s centennial celebration year.

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Keene State will celebrate the annual Clarence DeMar Marathon on Sunday, September 28, with the Centennial Wellness Fair. Come explore College and community resources for health and fitness while you cheer on the runners at the marathon finish line at the Appian Way gateway.

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. the College and other participants will be offering free refreshments, giveaways, and lots of free information. Participants include:

• Ted’s Shoe and Sport, with podiatrist Dr. Serena Letendre (Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Keene)
• Monadnock Cycling Club
• Sports Medicine Center (Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Keene)
• Cheshire Medical Center, Keene
• Lady of America
• The Moving Company
• Red Cross, Keene
• Bentley Commons
• KSC Health Sciences (Nutrition, Health Promotion and Fitness, and Substance Abuse/Addictions)
• KSC Physical Education
• KSC Athletic Training
• KSC Recreational Sports
• KSC Center for Health and Wellness

The 26.2-mile race is named for Clarence DeMar, seven-time winner of the Boston Marathon, who lived and worked in the Monadnock Region. DeMar came to Keene in 1929 as an instructor of Industrial Education at Keene State College (then called Keene Normal School), and trained the track and cross country teams on an old cinder track located near today’s finish line. He was 66 when he last ran the Boston Marathon in 1954.

The Wellness Fair is part of Keene State College’s Centennial year celebrations, and is free and open to the public. In the event of rain, the Fair will be held in the Rhodes Hall atrium, just inside the Appian Gateway. For more information, please call Amy Proctor at 8-2372. For more information on the marathon visit www.clarencedemar.com.

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Coming Events with a Centennial influence:

• 9/28: Centennial Wellness Fair on Appian Way at the Clarence DeMar Marathon: Health! Wellness!
• 10/24-25: Homecoming: Pumpkins! Alumni!
• 10/25: 100th Owl Presentation: Owls! More Owls!
• And please visit KSC100

We’ve got lots more Centennial fun to come in the next sixteen months. Wish you could get in on the act? We’re glad to have your help: Let Amy Proctor know at aproctor@keene.edu. We need volunteers. We also need the spark of your creativity: What are you doing that could be more Centennialtastic?

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Coming events with a Centennial influence

9/9: Campus family dinner: Lasagna! Cake! Music!

9/28: Centennial Wellness Fair on Appian Way at the Clarence DeMar Marathon: Health! Wellness!

10/24-25: Homecoming: Pumpkins! Alumni!

10/25: 100th Owl Presentation: Owls! More Owls!
Naturally, you’re still encouraged to visit KSC100 for images and other blasts from the past.

And we’ve got lots more Centennial fun to come. We’re cramming a whole lot of celebration into the next sixteen months. If you’re on a Centennial subcommittee and need help with your event, we can help. Please contact Lucy Webb.

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Coming events with a Centennial influence:

September 9: Campus family dinner
September 28: Centennial Wellness Fair on Appian Way at the Clarence DeMar Marathon

The committee gives special thanks to Brian Parda ’01, who designed the banners that now beautifully line Appian Way. Check them out, if you haven’t already.

And speaking of things to check out, KSC100 is chock-a-block full of images and other blasts from the past.

We’re also gearing up for the Centennial exhibit at the Thorne. If you have photos or videos that you think would be great additions, please contact Lucy Webb.

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