Our own Hank Knight, director of the Cohen Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, was the featured speaker at the Monadnock Summer Lyceum on Sunday, August 15. The Unitarian Church in Peterborough has hosted this lecture series, which “features prominent speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines who discuss topics of importance to our times,” since 1970.
Dr. Knight’s talk was entitled “Ties that Bind,” and focused on those attitudes and beliefs in our lives that bind us to life and shape our relationships with others. If you missed his insightful lecture, you can hear it on New Hampshire Public Radio’s website. It will probably be posted sometime after Aug. 22.
Here’s a special weekend for parents and family to enjoy KSC with their student(s). So mark your calendar and come on over to experience our stunning campus and a full slate of special entertainment, including magician Jay Mattioli and comedian Jeff Dye. Cheer for the women’s volleyball and men’s soccer teams, meet informally with College leaders, and have a blast! Check out the schedule.
Most of us have heard the term “helicopter parent.” But what exactly does it mean, and what effect does such an over-protective parenting style have on kids? KSC psychology prof Neil Montgomery has done what may well be one of the first studies of that student/parent relationship, which he presented recently at the Association of Psychological Science Convention in Boston. The results were highlighted in LiveScience, and from there, picked up by media outlets around the world, including USA Today, Yahoo!, and FOXNews.
If you’re one of the nearly 1000 graduates who joined the proud ranks of KSC alumni last Saturday, or if you’re one of their (probably even prouder) parents, family, or friends, take a stroll through the extensive Commencement 2010 Photo Gallery. It was a great day, and we took plenty of photos. Check ’em out — and come back — we’ll be posting more pix later in the week!
Francis Ford as Abraham Lincoln in When Lincoln Paid (Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
A couple of years ago, a local contractor was demolishing a barn in Nelson, N.H., when he came across a 35mm Monarch projector and seven reels of film. He donated his find to the Keene State College Film Society, which has determined that at least three of the films appear to be the only surviving copies of long-lost movies, including When Lincoln Paid, a film on an incident in Abraham Lincoln’s life, starring and directed by movie pioneer Francis Ford, the older brother of and greatest influence on famed director John Ford.
This brittle and damaged 30-minute two-reeler is of such historical significance that it easily won support from Tag Gallagher (author of John Ford), the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, and the National Film Preservation Foundation, who rallied to restore the film. After being lost for 97 years, When Lincoln Paid will premiere in the Mabel Brown Room in the Student Center on Tuesday, April 20, at 4 p.m. and again in the Putnam Theater in the Redfern Arts Center,thanks to the sponsorship of the KSC Film Archives, Special Collections/Mason Library, the Film Studies Dept., and the KSC Film Society. The film is important for its historical theme, its place in film history, and for what it has to show about the techniques that influenced John Ford. The screening is free and open to the public.
Both Ford brothers were fascinated with Abraham Lincoln and made him the subject of many of their films. “There is nothing I like better than to play Lincoln. I have a big library devoted to this great man, and I have studied every phase of his remarkable character, and when I am acting the part, I can feel the man as I judge him,” Francis Ford is quoted as saying in an article by Ford scholar Tag Gallagher.
“Francis Ford is one of the most fascinating persons in film history…And he is known as the man who taught John Ford.” Gallagher said in a letter he sent in support of restoring When Lincoln Paid. Francis Ford made the first spectacular westerns in 1912, some of the first detective movies, and one of the first serials.
“Between 1912 and 1915 he played Abraham Lincoln in at least seven pictures. Alas, all of these pictures are lost. For nearly a century no one has been able to see Francis Ford as Lincoln,” Gallagher explained. “So now…to be told that I may get to see Francis Ford as Lincoln is thrilling news indeed.”
Check out these film clips from When Lincoln Paid. The first shows Confederate soldiers ambushing and pursuing John Wade, one of the film’s principal characters. The second shows Mrs. Wade pleading with Abraham Lincoln (played by Francis Ford) for the life of a young Confederate soldier:
The best way for the Parents Association to meet the goals and challenges of supporting our students is if we know what all those goals and challenges are. So, please, share your ideas and feedback on the information, programs, and events you’d like to see us support. We really want to know what you think.
What opportunities do you see for additional information about campus programs and services? How about meeting and sharing ideas? Do you prefer to meet on campus? Regionally? What topics especially interest you? Would you participate in a webinar? Would you share your hard-won wisdom about college students with others?
Please complete our brief online questionnaire. As an incentive, we will randomly choose one name from every 25 surveys completed and send your student a Dining Commons cookiegram or pizza party. And we’ll post the survey results on the KSC Parents Association webpage later in the spring. Thank you!
If you’d like yet another reason to be proud of KSC, head to campus this Saturday, March 27, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., for the 10th Annual Academic Excellence Conference. You can see some of our best and brightest students presenting their fine work. Whatever your interest, you’ll find something to please: biology, chemistry, psychology, geography, math, literature, dance, education, health science – you name it! It all takes place in the David F. Putnam Science Center and the L. P. Young Student Center and is free and open to the public.
For more information, including a schedule with descriptions of each presentation, check out the AEC page.
Finally – after years of planning, construction, and campaigning, the KSC Advancement Division is moving to its new home in the Alumni Center on Main Street across from the Hale Building. Who’s in the Advancement Division? The Offices of the Vice President for Advancement, Alumni & Parent Relations, Advancement Services, Marketing and Communications (formerly College and Media Relations and Online Communications), and Development.
We’re packing our boxes and should be hauling stuff to our new offices the week of March 15th. Want to know more about this project? Maybe you’d even like to see photos of the progress. It’s all on the Alumni Center page.
Oh, and even though our entire division is moving, our individual phone numbers and mailstop numbers will stay the same.
Good news about student loans? What can be good about student loans? Well, for starters, how about lower interest rates and fees and a smoother process?
Beginning with summer session 2010, Keene State College will switch from the Federal Family Educational Loan Program (FFELP), which we had been using, to the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program for Stafford and PLUS loans, because we believe the Direct Loan (DL) Program offers more advantages for our students and their families.
Because the FAFSA serves as the loan application, the application process is easier, and, because you’re now borrowing from a single lender – the federal government, instead of one or more of the 3,500 lenders who are part of the FFELP program – the process is much less complicated. Parents will be able to take out a Federal PLUS loan at a 7.9% fixed interest rate (FFELP charges 8.5%), with a loan origination cost of 2.5% (FFELP charges 4%). Now, you’ve got to admit, that’s good news.
Direct Loans are great for student borrowers too. Student borrowers can choose from among five repayment plans, including one in which the government forgives the balance of the loan after 25 years, if you’ve been making regular payments during that time. In addition, the government will forgive remaining debt after 10 years if the borrower has made regular loan repayments and been working in a key public service profession such as teaching, government, social work, law enforcement, or a non-profit organization. You can consolidate all federal loans to the Direct Loan Program and still be eligible for some of the loan forgiveness programs.
If you intend to borrow a Stafford loan during the 2010–2011 academic year, you must file your 2010–2011 FAFSA and complete a new Master Promissory Note (MPN). Please note: Stafford loan funds cannot be disbursed to a student account until a new MPN has been completed. The MPN can be completed online. Additionally, parents who would like to borrow a federal Parent PLUS loan during the 2010–2011 academic year must also complete a new loan application/credit authorization and MPN.
Our own Melanie Gosselin ’90, executive director of the New Hampshire Food Bank, has just been named to the New Hampshire Business Review’s 2010 list of Outstanding Women in Business. These annual awards “celebrate the success and achievements of women across the state’s diverse business community.” NHBR states that each year, it recognizes “six women who have truly excelled, not only in their professional lives, but as leaders and role models.”
After Melanie took over the New Hampshire Food Bank in 2003, she saw the organization’s food distribution more than double from 2.3 to 5.8 million pounds in 2009. The Food Bank also now supports 411 programs – more than twice as many as it did when she first took the reins. Quite an accomplishment!
Do you know Melanie? Use the “comments” link below to drop us a note.
Finally – after years of planning, construction, and campaigning, the KSC Advancement Division is moving to its new home in the Alumni Center on Main Street across from the Hale Building. Who’s in the Advancement Division? The Offices of the Vice President for Advancement, Alumni & Parent Relations, Advancement Services, Marketing and Communications (formerly College and Media Relations and Online Communications), and Development.
Good news about student loans? What can be good about student loans? Well, for starters, how about lower interest rates and fees and a smoother process?