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Volume XXVIII • Number 2 Spring 2012 Keene State Today THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS personal pursuit & public benefit Letter from the President When Colleges Thrive, Our Communities Thrive Helen Giles-Gee, President, Keene State College n light of the challenges public higher education is students to become active citizens and fostering a facing in New Hampshire, I feel fortunate to lead passion for civic engagement beyond their college years. a college that has received national honors for programs and contributions to our communities, Keene State supports state agencies. Our faculty and Iand is dedicated to promoting civic engagement. Keene sociology students increase the resources available to State College serves as an example of excellence that agencies by assisting them in writing grant proposals others are choosing to follow. and compiling data. Keene State also joined with Governor Lynch and the Department of Environmental Colleges such as Keene State bring many benefits Studies to retain the Occupational Safety and Health to our society and communities. Our students and Agency (OSHA) consultancy center in New Hampshire. faculty are collaborating with communities to Keene State College currently operates one of the top solve problems, provide strategic thinking and five (out of 24) OSHA centers in the United States – with policy development, promote civic 18 sites throughout New England – keeping engagement, support government, bring workers healthier and safer every day. cultural experiences to people, and contribute mightily to economic growth Public colleges and universities contribute and stability. These experiences prepare to economic development. Keene State our students to join the thousands of employs over 900 people and serves as an successful Keene State alumni already economic stabilizer for the Monadnock making an important difference. Region. We help to develop educated citizens who possess the critical thinking Our college collaborates with communities and communication skills, quantitative and state organizations for their mutual and information literacy, and teamwork benefit. Examples include Keene State’s Architecture that are desired by today’s employers around the world. Department, which developed the Communicorps Our faculty develops programs that respond to the Program to enable students to use their knowledge expressed needs of employers, such as undergraduate in the field. Students working with Southwestern and graduate programs in Safety Studies and Community Services designed a 20-unit housing facility Occupational Health, Environmental Studies, for seniors in Winchester, New Hampshire. Geography Architecture, Sustainable Design and Innovation, and architecture students are conducting a health-needs and nursing. The Regional Center for Advanced assessment and analysis for the town of Troy, New Manufacturing (RCAM) partnership among Keene State, Hampshire, in order to set the stage for future River Valley Community College, SAU 29, and the Greater community health interventions. Keene Chamber of Commerce is building a workforce that will help sustain the economy of the Monadnock Leaders at Keene State College share their expertise by Region and New Hampshire. serving on boards for organizations such as the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce, the Cheshire Medical And public colleges are trying to do more. Our faculty Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene, the New and students are comparing the health effects of Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and many others. burning biodiesel versus diesel, and testing the quality These are only a few of the organizations that have of biodiesel developed from waste grease. Collaborating invited our staff to develop policy and strategic plans with Dartmouth College, we are developing the next that will improve the lives of New Hampshire citizens. generation of leaders in research from our students who are receiving grants and preparing to enter I firmly believe that public higher education institutions graduate programs. should help students become responsible citizens. Keene State College has partnered with the American As president of this amazing public college in New Democracy Project (ADP), a nonpartisan initiative begun Hampshire, I can attest that we are doing our best to in 2003 by the American Association of State Colleges serve the citizens of this state and beyond. We believe and Universities (AASCU), to inspire and equip that a public college should provide its students with graduates to become active and involved in their complete access to a high-quality education. And the communities. Our college has developed a variety of benefits from this high-quality education will be felt by faculty, staff, and student initiatives aimed at engaging students and our surrounding communities and state for many years to come. 2 6 8 Contents Letter from the President ............................................................................................ Inside Cover Helen Giles-Gee emphasizes the college’s commitment to serving the citizens of our state and beyond First Person: Reconsidering Service by Reconsidering Myself ..................... 2 10 Will Wrobel ’08 writes of his evolving response to “Go Forth to Serve” Faculty & Staff Accomplishment .................................................................................................. 6 Phonathon: Making Connections for Surprising Rewards ................................ 8 Stories of unexpected fulfillment from inside the KSC Fund’s telephone fundraising team Life Outside the Wire ...........................................................................................................................10 Joshua Tuscher’s winding road from cleaning bathrooms to serving in the seat of power 14 Athletes Find Responsibility in Admiring Eyes .........................................................14 Owl basketball players face high expectations at The Marlborough School Local Leaders Explore Complacency and Courage ..............................................16 The Cohen Center’s Civic Leadership Initiative escorted local leaders to the U.S. Holocaust Museum for surprising lessons in the necessity of courage and the danger of public complacency 16 Preparing a Workforce for Today and Tomorrow ....................................................18 How the new Technology, Design, and Safety Studies (TDS) Center is poised to carry on a tradition of enriching the nation’s communities and advancing our global competitiveness Alumni Profile: Dr. Mark Newton ’87 ................................................................................. 22 Timberland Corporation’s new VP of Corporate Social Responsibility offers a clear, simple way to understand sustainability — and to achieve it Alumni Notebook ...................................................................................................................................24 18 Alumni Association President Alan Hodsdon’68 reflects on specific contributions KSC’s alumni make to their communities Class Notes ...................................................................................................................................................25 About the Cover: The background image 22 comes from NASA’s Blue Marble project, a composite image taken by the Suomi satellite on January 4, 2012. The photo in the foreground shows former student Andrew Ducomb during a Study Away Program in Monterey, CA. Photo by Brennan Natoli ’10. SPRING 2012 • 1 24 Keene State Today Volume XXVIII Number 2 Spring 2012 Editor Paul Hertneky [email protected] Designer Tim Thrasher Web Designer Reconsidering Michael Justice [email protected] Production Manager Service Laura Borden ’82 [email protected] Staff Writers by Stuart Kaufman [email protected] Mark Reynolds Reconsidering [email protected] Kelly Ricaurte Myself [email protected] Class Notes Editor by Will Wrobel ’09 Lucy Webb [email protected] Vice President for Advancement hen masons laid the bricks for the Appian Maryann LaCroix Lindberg Way arches at Keene State College, did [email protected] they pause to think about the implications Director of Development of their task? They must have seen Kenneth Goebel the symbolic nature of those gates and [email protected] Margaret Sanger’s exhortation framed Director of Marketing & Communications within the brick. Their work took place in Eve Alintuck a matter of days; it took me years to understand the [email protected] W significance of that structure. Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Patty Farmer ’92 I see myself as three different men walking through [email protected] those gates. I have grown and changed since the first Director of Advancement Services time, just as the meaning of those arches and the Michelle Fuller ’08 engraved statement “Enter to learn; go forth to serve” [email protected] has changed for me. Alumni Association President Alan Hodsdon ’68 If you had asked me as a prospective student to define [email protected] what it meant to serve, I would have looked at you Keene State Today is published by the Marketing & Communications with a mix of bewilderment and blankness and, after Office, Keene State College. Periodicals postage rate is paid at a moment of reflection, given an answer that was Keene, NH, and additional offices. U.S. Postal Service No. 015-914. pieced together from many simple ideas. I didn’t know Postmaster: Please send address changes to Keene State Today, what I could do to serve, and held only