Kids on Campus Faculty

A kindergarten teacher at Franklin School in Keene for the past four years, Kate Abbott is currently finishing up her graduate degree at Keene State. Katie Keir, a special educator at the Franklin School in Keene for the past four years, is finishing up her graduate degree program at Keene State. She lives in Brattleboro.

Marek Bennett (www.marekbennett.com), a cartoonist living in Henniker teaches third and fourth grade in Hopkinton. In addition to self-syndicating his weekly comic strip Mimi’s Doughnuts to newspapers, Bennett publishes his own quarterly mail-order comics magazine.

Deborah Black is an associate professor of education at Keene State. Erik Bell is an adjunct faculty member at Keene State. Their session is part of the program Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS).

Barbara Davis has taught pottery for 30 years to preschoolers up through people in nursing homes. She loves working with clay and teaching people what she knows.

Michelle Davis, a certified Kripalu yoga teacher living in Keene, is a graduate of Keene State, where she studied modern dance. Davis believes both yoga and creative dance enhance health and well-being.

Eshu Bumpus began telling folktales in his classroom at an alternative elementary school in the mid-1970s. A decade later, he became a full-time professional storyteller. For the past 20 years, Bumpus has traveled throughout the country visiting schools, telling stories, and teaching students to create their own stories.

Diane De Jong taught special education for 12 years at Emerson Elementary School in Fitzwilliam. De Jong has a master’s degree in education from Keene State. She finds math games a fun, useful way to reinforce skills in the subject.

A native of Osaka, Japan, Motoko Dworkin has lived in the United States since the mid-1980s. Dworkin is a professional storyteller and artist-in-education. Performing and teaching at hundreds of schools and libraries across the country, she appeared on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Her storytelling CD, The Promise of Chrysanthemums, won a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award.

Katie Featherston has a degree in plant and soil science from the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. For the past 11 years, she has been biology lab manager at Keene State. Featherston has worked at several nurseries over the years and is an avid gardener.

Yi Gong is assistant professor in the education department at Keene State. His specialty is educational technology. Involved with technology integration in grades K-12 for more than five years, Gong has held technology training workshops for teachers and students at Keene State and local schools.

Dawn Hansen teaches first grade at Emerson Elementary School in Fitzwilliam. In her classroom, Hansen integrated the “Picturing Writing” program, created by Beth Olshansky at University of New Hampshire,and uses the art techniques to create handmade cards, including invitations for her upcoming wedding.

New Hampshire native Pat Harty is a KSC graduate with a degree in social science and anthropology. Harty has fished many of North America’s greatest rivers and many in Canada and Mexico. His goal is to redefine the art of fly-fishing as a means of environmental stewardship by creating an awareness of the aquatic ecosystems on which we all depend while having fun. He has owned Laughing Water Batik Company for more than 10 years.

Jules Hebert is a retired mechanical design engineer. He teaches watercolor painting, blueprint reading, and model airplane building in private and public classes. Currently, Hebert builds and flies remotely controlled gas and electric powered model airplanes and gliders.

BJ Hickman, a professional magician, graduated from Keene State. Performing around the country, from Hampton Beach, N.H., to Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, Hickman is a member and former officer of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and a member of the Academy of Magical Arts.

Denny Immergut has taught art, woodworking, and carpentry for more than 15 years. Since 1999 he has been involved with children’s summer programs. Immergut has a master’s degree in fine arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology and teaches woodworking at Monadnock Regional High School in Swanzey.

Elaine Merrifield is the owner/director of Monadnock Island Sounds. Newly retired after 40 years of teaching elementary music in the Monadnock Regional School District, Merrifield became interested in the steelband after hearing high school and college groups perform at her annual national music conferences. It wasn’t until January 2003 that she started her first steelband, DRUM WAVE, with fifth and sixth grade students from the Troy and Emerson Schools and a staff group, Tropical Sensations. Since then she has directed several students, staff and community groups in the Troy/Fitzwilliam area. Over the years, through public performances, they have acquired quite a following.

Jeremy Rathbun teaches at Emerson School in Fitzwilliam. A graduate of Keene State, Rathbun is completing coursework for a master’s degree in education at Antioch New England. As an elementary school teacher, Rathbun feels it is important for children to learn to use common computer software at a young age.

Tina Thayer is a certified K-8 teacher who graduated from Keene State. She has been a Title I teacher at Emerson Elementary School, Fitzwilliam for the past two years. Thayer integrated the Picturing Writing Program, created by Beth Oshansky, in her work with kindergarten students and has used the program with her Girl Scout Troops.

Kateri Walter is a second grade teacher at Alstead Primary School. She graduated from Central Michigan Univeristy with a degree in elementary education, focusing on reading, earth science, and child development.

Susan Wiles is a sixth grade teacher at the Chesterfield School. One of her favorite subjects to teach is math, because you can do so many things with mathematics. Wiles likes using math to solve puzzles, express ideas, and to make art.

Evelyn Winter is a local artist who has won many local and national awards. She teaches children and adults art and creativity in workshops held in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts.

Almut Yakovleff opened her studio in Alstead in 1991. All her pottery is functional stoneware, handmade and decorated. Apprenticing in Europe, she has been a potter for many years.

Krista Zielinski is a K-6 Spanish instructor and para-educator at Wells Memorial School in Harrisville. She takes pride in sharing her knowledge of the Spanish language and helping others communicate in a second language. Zielinski studied abroad in Seville, Spain, and worked for Habitat for Humanity in the Dominican Republic.

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