FALL 2020 NEW ENGLAND CMAGAZINEOLLEGE NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE ANNIVERSARY NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE GREETINGS FROM MAGAZINE BRIDGE STREET CONTENTS MARKETING DIRECTOR THIS ACADEMIC YEAR MARKS A PARTICULARLY CREATIVE DIRECTOR MOMENTOUS MILESTONE FOR NEW ENGLAND FALL 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGNER COLLEGE: We celebrate our 75th incoming class. This Jennifer Robertson celebration gives us the perfect opportunity to pause and reflect on the inspiration behind NEC’s founding, all ABOUT THE MAGAZINE EDITOR we have become, and where we are heading. Welcome to the redesigned New England College LEAD WRITER Magazine, featuring articles that celebrate NEC’s Tracy Searle Our first class, 75th anniversary; look to our future; and spotlight comprised almost faculty, students, and alumni. The goal of New PHOTOGRAPHY entirely of World War England College Magazine is to share the uncommon PHOTO EDITOR Shannon Pelletier II veterans, arrived stories of growth, transformation, and creativity in looking to make the the lives of those who have walked through NEC’s CONTRIBUTORS most of their futures. doors. NEC is committed to producing two issues Bill Deptula As we begin our 75th each year—fall and spring. In the Spring 2021 Jessica Gesner fall semester, our new issue, look for Class Notes, student stories, and a Brian Hopkins student arrive with look at NEC in the world. Maria Jacobs the same goal. We Cynthia Burns Martin 1978 welcome all students Lorella Volpe GREETINGS FROM BRIDGE STREET who seek to transform 1 | A message from President Perkins themselves and their 75TH ANNIVERSARY LOGO DESIGN Hannah Wood, Class of 2017 worlds. This is NEC’s REMEMBER WHEN legacy and its future. 2 | A photographic trip down memory lane PRINTING TIME/LINE R.C. Brayshaw Our founding spirit of innovation, determination, 4 | 75 Years of NEC milestones and creativity has never been stronger, even in challenging times. We have seen just how brightly THEN & NOW New England College Magazine is published two NEC’s light shines, and we look to the future with 8 | A pioneering spirit continues to move NEC forward times a year, in the Fall and Spring, by New excitement and anticipation. England College, 98 Bridge Street, Henniker, IN SIGHTS 10 | A tale of two lives shaped by NEC; William NH 03242. It is sent to alumni, donors, and Throughout much of 2020, many of us at NEC have been friends of the College. The magazine is part of Troy Award working in solitary environments to do everything we College Advancement, led by Vice President can to be ready for our 75th incoming class. This new GAME ON Bill Deptula. 14 | A legacy—and love—of athletic competition and approach has given us the opportunity to reflect on life community lives on at NEC before COVID-19. I hope you will do more than 1950 Send your stories, updates, address changes, or cancellation requests to: simply flip through this issue of New England College ON POINT Magazine. I encourage you to celebrate NEC’s history, 16 | Student-athletes: winners on and off the field New England College Alumni Relations 98 Bridge Street dream for NEC’s future, and take pride in the fact that AGENT OF CHANGE Henniker, NH 03242 you are part of the journey. 18 | A commitment to diversity, inclusion, and social [email protected] justice 603.428.2300 Warm regards, FINANCE AND PHILANTHROPY 20 | Bridge to the Future campaign highlights 21 | What’s Next? 22 | Philanthropy Profile: Clifford Wang ‘64 ABOUT THE COVER Aerial photograph of Henniker, 1958 DISTINCTION OF SERVICE Michele D. Perkins, EdD 24 | Honoring current faculty, staff, and trustees with President 20 or more years of service 1983 © 2020 1 2 3 5 6 REMEMBER WHEN 1. River Day, 1975 2. Donkey basketball, 1969 3. Womens intramural football, 1967 4. Protests, 1980 5. Muddy River Playhouse, 1977 6. Homecoming, 1967 7. Arundel Campus Gatehouse, 1972 1 4 8. Winter Carnival, 1950 9. Football team, 1949 10. Car-chutting, 1963 11. Diary of a Scoundrel theatre production, 1967 12. Pats Peak was completed; Madge Evans is off to join the many students who utilize the ski areas, 1963 13. Henniker Bill, New England College’s oldest resident, resided on Library Hill in a one- 11 room abandoned chicken coop for 24 years in peaceful dignity. He was a legend at NEC and embodied its indomitable spirit and congenial personality, 1962 7 14. Equestrian team, 1980 9 12 8 4 5 14 10 13 2021 1946 1946 TIMENew England College is founded and welcomes /LINE its first class of 67 men and one woman. Founder 1950 1971 Boone Tillett serves as president until 1947. Dr. William H. Mandrey becomes president of NEC and NEC dedicates the Arundel campus in West Sussex, serves until 1952. England. 1947 The first issue of The New Englander is published. 1952 1972 Dr. Cox is renamed president of NEC and serves until NEC’s covered bridge over the Contoocook River begins to Dr. Laurie Davidson Cox is appointed the first full 1955. be put in place, a process that takes five days. president of NEC. Dr. Cox introduces a unique three-year degree program that is later copied by The freshman class of 90 students includes only five 1973 Dartmouth College and other institutions. veterans. Students come from all New England states plus 1961 1967 J. Kenneth Cummiskey becomes president of NEC and New York, New Jersey, Venezuela, and Haiti. NEC Women’s Basketball NEC achieves initial serves until 1981. 1948 team competes for the accreditation after 1981 NEC holds its first commencement at Henniker 1953 first time. raising the funds to 1974 K. Roald Bergethon becomes president of NEC and serves Congregational Church, awarding 27 associate NEC’s campus begins to spread across the river, with construct the Danforth NEC’s original Theatre Barn sustains a total loss resulting until 1985. degrees. NEC’s alma mater, “Hail Thee New widening an older highway and creating a new road. NEC 1963 Library. from fire. England,” is sung for the first time, and it students participate in the construction. Pats Peak opens. NEC builds a new 15,000-square-foot field house. continues to be sung at every commencement. 1969 1976 1958 1965 Jere Chase becomes NEC opens and dedicates the Danforth Library after 1985 The Pilgrims football team plays its first “home” Dr. H. Raymond Danforth becomes president of NEC and NEC awards first president of NEC and President Danforth previously broke ground for the William R. O’Connell, Jr. becomes president of NEC and game at Memorial Field in Concord. serves until 1969. William Troy Award. serves until 1973. construction. serves until 1995. >1950s >1970s >1940s >1960s >1980s 1945 1950 1963 1968 1971 1981 World War II ends with Japan’s surrender. Korean War begins and lasts until July 25, 1953. Over 200,000 people Dr. Martin Luther King, The first pocket calculator, the HANDY, is developed. It Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first female Supreme gathered in front of the Jr. is assassinated in includes an LED display and wrist strap and costs $395. Court justice. The United Nations is established. 1952 Lincoln Memorial for the Memphis, TN. Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. commonwealth. The March on Washington 1973 1984 U.S. detonates the first hydrogen bomb in a test, for equality and civil 1969 Roe vs. Wade legalizes abortion. Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh computer. resulting in the first successful full-scale rights. President John F. Neil Armstrong and thermonuclear weapon explosion. Kennedy is assassinated Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin land 1974 1986 in Dallas, TX. on the moon. President Nixon resigns because of Watergate scandal. The space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after 1954 liftoff. Brown vs. Board of Education desegregates public 1964 1976 schools. The Civil Rights Act is The Apple-1 computer is introduced, followed by the 1989 passed. consumer-ready Apple-2 in 1977. Exxon Valdez oil tanker spills more than 10 million gallons 1955 of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The Vietnam War begins and lasts until April 30, 1975. Rosa Parks refuses to move to the back of the bus. 1957 The Soviet Union launches the Sputnik satellite. WORLD EVENTS NEC MILESTONES EVENTS WORLD 4 5 1991 The Lee Clement Ice Arena was built and named 2001 for this member of NEC’s first graduating class. NEC opens a new academic building, the Center for Clement worked at NEC for 34 years. Educational Innovation (CEI) as well as a new art gallery, theatre, and fitness equipment. 1993 The first women’s football (soccer) team competes 2002 2011 2018 at the Arundel campus. NEC redesigns its graduate programs and offers an NEC begins offering its NEC purchases 20 Main innovative new online model. The first fully online first doctorate degree, in Street in Henniker, which 1995 graduate programs launch in 2006. Education. students know as the William G. Ellis becomes president of NEC and home of Sonny’s Pizza. serves until 1997. 2003 The Don Melander Turf The School of Graduate and Professional Studies is Field is built that spring. 2019 NEC opens and dedicates the Simon Center, which created and enrolls over 1,000 students within two years. NEC launches esports becomes the heart of NEC’s campus. 2012 with a state-of-the-art 2004 New fully online arena. January 2020 1997 John A. Stevens becomes Interim President until 2005. undergraduate degrees NEC opens and dedicates the Rosamond Page Putnam John S. Morris becomes president of NEC and are launched, leading NEC completes its Center for the Performing Arts. Future Goals serves until 1999. 2005 to significant growth in merger with the New NEC total enrollment—undergraduate, graduate, on- Stephen E.