RecycleMania Says Limit Your Trash

Last year KSC placed sixth out of 47 schools in a national, 10-week RecycleMania competition. This year 93 schools will compete to see which institution can collect the largest amount of recyclables, the least amount of trash, and have the highest recycling rate. All participating schools are required to report measurements in pounds on a weekly basis. “Last year we were competing against places like Yale and Harvard,” says Mary Jensen, KSC’s sustainability and recycling coordinator. “We beat the pants off them last year, and we will do it again this year.”

RecycleMania began in February 2001 when Ed Newman (Ohio University) and Stacy Edmonds Wheeler (Miami University) decided that something had to be done to increase recycling in the residence and dining halls on their campuses. During this first competition, Miami University recycled the most. RecycleMania strengthened in the 2002 and 2003 competitions, approximately doubling participation each year. In 2004, 11 new schools joined the competition, raising the total participating schools to 17.

Last year, RecycleMania provided Jensen with her first “real numbers” – before the competition she had to work with estimates.

“Last year overall KSC collected 231 tons of recycling, 40 tons of it during the contest,” she says. “We collected 494 tons of trash; 89 tons were collected during the contest.”

RecycleMania runs through April 8. For more information visit www.recyclemaniacs.org or contact Mary at 8-2567.

Grants for Innovative Technology Teaching

From Gordon Leversee, Interim VP Academic Affairs and Laura Seraichick, IT Group:
The Academic Affairs division and the IT Group invite tenure-track faculty to submit grant proposals for their instructional technology needs. The grants are awarded to faculty with plans to promote the use of innovative information technology in teaching and learning, while enhancing the student learning experience at Keene State.

Up to three grants will be awarded for summer 2006. Proposals should be for projects that will be implemented during the 2006-07 academic year. Grants include a summer stipend of $2,700 and up to $5,000 for the purchase of equipment (hardware/software), technical support, and/or training. Grant applications for tenure-track faculty are available at www.keene.edu/it/insttech/grants.cfm.

Proposals are due to Laura Seraichick no later than March 3, 2006. Notification of grant awards will be made no later than March 24, 2006.

Join us on April 14, 2006, for “Best Practice in Instructional Technology,” as 2005 grant recipients present their projects to the campus community. Look for more details in March.

Faculty Celebrates Mozart

On Friday, Feb. 17, the faculty of the music department will open its “Mozart Celebration” series, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

The recital features selected songs and arias by Mozart, performed by Diane Cushing, Carroll Lehman, and Pamela Stevens, as well as a violin sonata performed by Marcia Lehninger, and a sonata for piano four-hands performed by Elizabeth Blood and George Loring. The program concludes with Mozart’s Quartet in D Major, KV 284, for flute, violin, viola, and cello (played by Robin Matathias, Marcia Lehninger, Joseph Darby, and Perri Zimmerman).

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall at Brickyard Pond, tickets are $5-$7. For more information call 8-2168.

Campus News Moves to Thursday

Starting next week, Campus News will be distributed on Thursdays instead of Wednesdays. The deadline for news or items for Professional Activities will be noon on the Monday before publication (campusnews@keene.edu).

Will You Be Our Valentine?

From Melinda Mosier, Advancement and Alumni Relations:
Married Keene State alumni will receive a little personal attention from their alma mater in February when they receive a special Valentine’s Day card. Current students will follow up by telephoning these 2,648 graduates to ask them to be our Valentine by supporting this year’s KSC Fund. The KSC Fund raises much-needed support for Alumni Association activities and many other programs that are not funded by other means.

Can you guess who this famous Keene Couple is? The first three people with the right answer who call me at 8-2378 will win a KSC baseball cap.

Facility Improvement Update

From Frank Mazzola, director of the Physical Plant:
Media Arts Center – Renovating the former Dining Commons represents phase 1 of the College’s efforts to build a new Visual and Media Arts Center. In this phase the former DC initially will undergo an interior demolition that includes removal of asbestos material. The demolition phase will be concluded in mid-February, at which time bids for the renovation phase will be awarded. Construction is scheduled to be complete by early August, when film, graphic design, and communication/journalism faculty offices and lab furnishings and equipment will be relocated. Classroom and office equipment specifications need to be finalized by March 15.

Fiske Hall – When Pondside 3 is completed in December 2006, the College intends to renovate Fiske Hall. Project planning has just begun. Goals and initial schematic designs will be established by May, at which time the College will need programmatic and financing approval from the University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees.

Cheshire House and Alpha Pi Tau Fraternity – The College continues to negotiate an agreement to exchange Cheshire House for the fraternity. The first step will be improving 115 Winchester St. for Upward Bound to occupy by mid March. Once vacated, Cheshire House will be renovated to the city’s building code for a lodging house.

New Residence Halls – In order to meet the College’s goal of housing 60 percent of our students on campus, the College has embarked upon the construction of two buildings with 350 student beds.

Butler Court Residence Hall – When complete in August 2006, the Butler Court Residence Hall will house 216 students. The building is quickly taking shape as steel framing is completed and the masonry walls are built. The mild weather has helped construction progress and the project is on schedule and on budget. The project can be viewed on our live web-cam at http://158.65.33.30/-wvhttp-01-/getstillimage.

Pondside 3 Residence Hall will have 154 beds when completed in December 2006. This LEED-registered building project will stand on the northern edge of Brickyard Pond and boast several energy-conserving design features. Building foundations at “P-3” are complete and structural steel is being set up. As in the Butler Court project, the weather has helped this project to remain on schedule and budget.

In order to support our growing campus with necessary energy for heat and domestic hot water, the central heating plant needs to be expanded and modernized. Planning is currently under way to accomplish this goal. Construction on this project will begin in 2007. Funding is by K.E.E.P., the University System’s Knowledge Economy Education Plan.

Maintenance Projects

The semester break provides an opportunity for the Physical Plant Department to complete various tasks around the campus. This year between semesters the following work was completed:

• Three floors of bathrooms in Carle Hall were rebuilt.
• Painting and carpet was replaced in the Student Center.
• Ventilation ductwork was cleaned in the Redfern Arts Center.
• 115 Winchester St. was renovated to accommodate the Upward Bound Program.
• The furniture was replaced in Huntress Hall classroom 16.
• Hallways and stairwells in Morrison Hall and Parker Hall were painted.
• New room signage was installed in Morrison Hall and Parker Hall.
• Lamps were replaced in the field lights at Owls Stadium.

A Cure for Global Warming?

Dr. Gabriel Filippelli, one of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions’ distinguished lecturers for 2005-06, will present “A Cure for Global Warming? A critical look at iron fertilization’s role in climate change using ODP cores,” in Science Center 101 at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 9.

During the Ice Ages the equatorial oceans and the ocean surrounding Antarctica supported increased plant life, which in turn extracted carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and caused global cooling. Dr. Filippelli will discuss eco-engineering programs that hope to combat the current human-produced global warming by enhancing this “natural” process.

Dr. Filippelli currently serves as the chair of U.S. Science Advisory Committee and is chair of the U.S. Science Advisory Committee. He is chairman of the geology department at Indiana University/Purdue University, Indianapolis.

The Distinguished Lecturer Series is a program of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, which manages the U.S. Science Support Program associated with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. The Distinguished Lecturer Series brings the results of scientific ocean drilling program research to students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as the wider geosciences community. Since 1991, distinguished lecturers have given presentations to audiences at more than 257 U.S. colleges, universities, and organizations. The talk will be followed by a reception in the lobby. For more information, contact Tim Allen (tallen@keene.edu).

Guatemala Visits Keene on Sunday

The members of the Keene State Habitat for Humanity Global Village team, who recently returned from a 10-day visit to Guatemala, will host a “Latin Flavor Dinner and Silent Auction” fundraiser on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m. in the Mabel Brown Room of the Student Center. The evening will feature music, slides, reflections by members of the team, and a buffet of Latin food. A silent auction will be ongoing all night with merchandise and services donated by local merchants.

Photo Contest

Eighty-one photos taken by students studying away nationally or internationally in Fall 2005 were submitted for the National and International Exchange photo contest. Staff, faculty, and students cast 99 votes, and the winners are shown here. The deadline for applying to a study-away program for the 2006-07 academic year is February 15.

Grand Prize ($100): “Arco Iris” by Michelle Marcoux,
taken in Seville, Spain.

Third Place ($40): “Fairytale Valley” by
Laura Moodie, taken in Ireland.

Second Place ($60): “Granada View
from the Alhambra” by David Case,
taken in Granada, Spain.

Mail Merge Course Offered

From Lara Skinner, IT Group:
Software updates don’t always make things easier. Since Microsoft updated the mail merge function for Word, Outlook, and Excel, a variety of quirks have kept the HelpDesk busy.

HelpDesk technician Elise Morrissette says that many users on campus run into trouble when they use the mail merge wizard (a wizard is a software component that guides a user through a task). While a wizard might get the job done, it doesn’t really explain to the user how the process works. Sometimes the wizard isn’t “user-friendly,” and there is nothing more frustrating than trying to use something that’s supposed to be simple when it isn’t.

Beth Martin, from the Alumni/Advancement office, is teaching a course on mail merge for the Continuing Education department, and spaces are still available (Tuesday, March 14, and Thursday, March 16). Students, who should have working knowledge of Word, will learn the basic features of mail merge using Word and Excel as data sources. Learn how to create form letters, mailing labels, and envelopes. If you need immediate help with mail merge, you can call the HelpDesk for assistance at 8-2532. For a full review of mail merge functions and software updates, take advantage of the class with Beth Martin.

To register for the mail merge course, visit www.keene.edu/conted/registration.cfm or call Continuing Education at 8-2290.

Black History Month Events

Wednesday, Feb. 15
Film. Crash, and discussion with Dr. Dottie Morris, Mountain View Room, 6-9 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 21
African Rhythms World Music
Drumming in the Student Center Atrium, 12:30 p.m.

“Poetry Jam – Black History Month Edition”
Come listen to poetry written by KSC students or the poets they love.
Free coffee and donuts. 7 p.m., Lantern Room, Student Center.

Ronald K. Brown/Evidence
A music and dance tribute to Billie Holiday. 7:30 p.m., Main Theater, Redfern Arts Center, $14-$27, 8-2168, or www.keene.edu/racbp.

Wednesday, Feb. 22 “Race, Media, and Mass Incarceration”
A talk by Tom Gardner, assistant professor of communication at Westfield State College, Westfield, Mass. 1:30 p.m., Madison Street Lounge, Student Center, free, 8-2863.

Thursday, Feb. 23
Multicultural Lunch Seminar. “Recent Perspective on Malawi,” with Andrea Matthews. Noon, Mountain View Room, Student Center.

Monday, Feb. 27
Third Annual African Bazaar, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Student Center Atrium.

Thursday, March 2
Moonlight & Morning Star (five-piece band) music performance. Experience musical time travel of black music from gospel through civil rights. 2-4 p.m., Lantern Room, Student Center.

Contact Monica Monyo-Tetteh, mmonyo@keene.edu, 8-2609, for more information.

Dance Company Honors Billie Holiday

Praised as “one of the most profound choreographers of this modern dance generation” by The New York Times, Ronald K. Brown will bring his company, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, to Redfern on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m. The evening will be highlighted by excerpts from Brown’s original work, “Portrait of a Lady,” a tribute to the legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday.

A former Alvin Ailey choreographer and dancer, Brown founded his company in 1986 to tell stories that underscore what is important in the human experience. Since then he has emerged as a charismatic performer and a choreographer in high demand by companies such as Dayton Contemporary Dance, Philadanco, Jeune ballet d’Afrique Noire, and others. Read more about Ronald K. Brown/Evidence at their website, www.evidencedance.com/index.htm. Tickets are $5-$27; call 8-2168.

Professional Activities

Prudence Cuper, assistant professor of education, co-authored Best Practices for Teacher Leadership: What Award-Winning Teachers Do for Their Professional Learning Communities, published by Corwin Press of Thousand Oaks, Calif. The text (released in January 2006) features first-person accounts of teacher leadership and examines the variety of forms leadership takes in classrooms across the country.

Michele Kuiawa and Barbara Preston, assistant directors of Student Financial Services, attended the 21st Annual Tax Return Workshop sponsored by the College Board’s New England Regional Office in Boston on February 2 and 3. The workshop covered the Department of Education’s guidelines on verification and conflicting information as well as an in-depth study of tax forms relating to the financial aid process, detailed case studies, and strategies for conversing with students and parents regarding the collection, review, and interpretation of tax information.

Staff News

Welcome and congratulations to Cheryl Martin, who has moved from a complementary position to an OS position as Business Services Assistant I in Student Financial Services.

Campus Calendar
selected events

Wednesday, February 8
(to February 26) Biennial KSC Art Faculty Exhibition.
Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery.

Thursday, February 9
7 p.m. Film. Das Boot. Putnam.

Friday, February 10
7 & 8:30 p.m. (also Sat. at 2 & 8:30 p. m.; Sunday at 2 &7 p.m.; Mon.-Wed. at 7 p.m.). Film. The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till. Putnam.
7:30 p.m. Invitational Band Festival. Main Theatre, Redfern.

Saturday, February 11
1 p.m. KSC women’s basketball vs. Western Connecticut State. Spaulding Gym.
3 p.m. KSC men’s basketball vs. Western Connecticut State. Spaulding Gym.

Send in Your News

Campus News is published every Wednesday during the academic year and every other Wednesday during the summer. Send news or items for Professional Activities by e-mail to campusnews@keene.edu or by mail to Campus News, College Relations Office, Mailstop 1502. No phone submissions, please. The editor is Robin Dutcher. The deadline is at noon on the Friday prior to publication. We reserve the right to edit. Due to space limitations, not all items can be published in Campus News.