Did you ever wonder how many-if any-KSC alums live in your area? Well you’re in luck, because in 2009, we are hitting the road and hitting it hard to help alums connect in their own backyards!

Live in Houston, TX, Austin, TX, Hartford, CT, Exeter, NH or Boston, MA? Then let’s get together! Dates are being planned now in those locations and many more.

Have a suggestion of a place to meet or an event to host? Please let us know. We are interested in group tours of area landmarks or museums as well as social/networking casual events in restaurants.

Contact alumni@keene.edu to set up an event in your area!

Last month, we told you we’d help you with RSS, in case you would like to see each new Newsline post as it comes, without having to check back here to see if there’s anything new.

We tried and tried to come up with a simple explanation, but decided we could do no better than this piece of excellence from Common Craft:

Click the “Play” triangle for an introduction to RSS. Not quite simple enough? That’s OK, at least now you know what your questions are. Ask away in the comments.

The Alumni Relations Office is teaming up with the Geography Department to update all Geography Alumni information by mid-spring. If you are an alum who majored in Geography, please visit this link and update your data. Please note that you are a Geography Major in the Comments Section at the bottom of the form. Professors Rydant, Alvarez, and Cusack are eager to hear of your career experiences, travels and accomplishments and are hoping to have a gathering of Alumni in late summer/early fall 2009.

Three cheers for one of the best survival kit distributions ever! With the help of first-year parents Elaine Ellis and Karen Goolsky, student worker Brittney Sousa, and staff members Kay MacLean and Pauline Dionne, we handed out more than 260 of the 270 Exam Survival Kits, Spirit packages and fruit baskets on Dec 4, 5, and 8.

It was so much fun to see student reactions to receiving the packages. Students received personalized notes of encouragement with their packages, and many had envious friends asking “whatcha get?” We saw many smiling faces and a few sheepish grins as students read their little notes. One student said “this really made my day!”

The Parents Association wishes to thank those parents who participated in this fundraiser and the volunteers who helped make this a tremendous success!

We look forward to the Valentine’s Day promotional event in February. We will be looking for volunteers to help out on Feb. 11, 12, and 13.

We’re gearing up quickly for the 2009 Centennial Grand Reunion. We have events planned all over campus June 5-7 to help alumni reconnect with one another and the College.

With help from more than a dozen alumni, we have crafted a schedule that includes an Emeriti Faculty Dinner, the premiere of the Centennial documentary film, tents on Fiske Quad for each of the decades, a dedication of the 1957 class clocktower gift, the Alumni Association Annual Meeting luncheon, a groundbreaking celebration for the new Alumni Center, a barbecue on the quad, and a dance featuring the Tom Foolery Band.

We are also working with many different alumni groups who are gathering together, including the classes of 1959, 1964, and 1984, as well as the jazz ensemble.

More information and campus accommodations will be available early in 2009; keep watching Newsline and the Reunion page of the Alumni Office web site. And if you’re as excited as we are, it’s easy to get involved! Contact Kay Maclean at (603) 358-2369 or kmaclean@keene.edu.

After a diligent national search, Maryann Lindberg has been named Vice President for Advancement at Keene State College. She brings 24 years of experience in development, most recently having served as the executive director of the Bloomsburg University Foundation and as vice president for First Side Partners, a development and campaign-planning consulting firm serving higher education and other organizations. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Bucknell University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from The Pennsylvania State University. She is a certified fund-raising executive, and has served as both president and member of the Planned Giving Council of Central Pennsylvania and the Northeast Pennsylvania chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Maryann starts here at KSC in early January—please join us in welcoming her aboard!

More information …

KSC’s Online Communications department has been working diligently to have a more balanced view of the College presented when people search for “Keene State College” video on the web. Previously, such a search would turn up videos of concerts, parties, and the infamous “Red Sox riot.” But there’s lots more video of the College out there in videoland that just needed to be organized. Check out the KSC YouTube channel, or use the player below to see a few:

If you’ve posted a KSC video, send us the link, or if you’d like more info about posting your video, please contact online@keene.edu.

More information.

Many studies have explored the mental and physical health benefits of meditation. Wouldn’t it be great to develop a meditation practice at a young and impressionable age? Is it possible? A collaborative research project based at KSC is trying to find out, basing the study 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?

Are you a meditator? When did you get started? Have you tried to teach your kids? Anybody’s kids?

More information.

Keene State College and the City of Keene are collaborating with Batchelder Biodiesel Refineries, LLC (BBR) to create the Monadnock Biodiesel Collaborative (MBC), 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.

More information.

“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.