NUMBER 2
Winter 2007
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"Green" Lighting for Zorn
How often does PSNH give you a check instead of a bill? On January 17, Public Service of New Hampshire presented Keene State with a check for $42,250 to cover the installation costs of daylight controls at the Zorn Dining Commons.
According to Ralph Palmer (Physical Plant), the new controls will automatically turn off lighting in areas when significant daylight is present. The rebate is part of the state-funded NHSaves@Work/Small Business Energy Solutions Program, which provides small business customers with financial incentives to incorporate energy-efficient measures in the workplace.
The lights, equipment, and software were supplied by Charron, Inc., and the installation of the lights and equipment was done by Fred H. Hamblet, Inc., of Keene.
Presidential Candidate Forums at KSC
Keene State College and the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce (GKCC) are sponsoring a series of Presidential Candidate forums, spotlighting individual candidates running for office in the 2008 New Hampshire Primary. The forum series will run throughout 2007 and will be held on the campus of Keene State College.
"Keene State College is committed to community engagement and to providing learning opportunities for our students that are grounded in service, citizenship, and ethical awareness," said president Dr. Helen F. Giles-Gee. "We embrace this opportunity to join with the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce to engage candidates in dialogues about economic, educational, and other issues that are essential to the vitality of our community and directly impact the quality of our lives."
Check www.keene.edu/forums for dates and times of candidate appearances.
KSC Creativity Showcased on the Web
The Theatre and Dance Department has a stunning new website, designed by Yuan Pan, assistant professor of art and graphic design. The site includes an interactive timeline documenting 30 years of Keene State theatre and dance performances. Pan has also designed web pages for the Art and Music Departments, and for the Martha Sharp documentary film by professors Larry Benaquist, William Sullivan, and Thomas Durnford.
Also check out the student-designed Keene State ROCKS videos on YouTube. Sustainability and Recycling Coordinator Mary Jensen asked students to create informative videos about sustainability on campus. Visit www.youtube.com and search for "Keene State Recycles."
Kennedy Center/American Theatre Festival Awards
KSC students were recognized at the Region I Kennedy Center/American Theatre Festival, which celebrates the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theatre programs.
Students and faculty in Region I schools (the six New England states) gather annually at the end of January to see some of the area’s strongest productions; participate in workshops; compete in a variety of areas in theatrical performance, design, and production; and celebrate theater in general.
Shaine Labar received the Barbizon Honorable Mention for Theatrical Excellence in Lighting Design for work on Crimes of the Heart and Eric Rutkin received the Technical Direction Regional Award for work on The Children’s Hour.
Hurricane-Resistant Building Design
Zachary Smith ’07 and Chris Velardi ’07 won an Honorable Mention prize of $500 in a competition sponsored by the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) and Kawneer Company. Students were asked to design a campus-based recreation center that would also serve as a hurricane evacuation shelter.
After researching and selecting a site located in a hurricane-prone area of the United States, Smith and Velardi designed a facility that could accommodate educational, recreational, and managerial activities for constituents associated with a college campus and community. Participants were challenged to explore hurricane-resistant construction materials that would enable them to create sustainable and safe designs.
The projects will be exhibited at the 2007 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in San Antonio in May and will be published in the spring issue of Crit.
Chemistry Students Recognized
Last summer, Keene State chemistry students Carl E. Johnson, Andrew S. Metell, and Jonathan W. Queen worked with Professor Colin Abernethy on a research project funded by a $39,486 Cottrell College Science Award.
The students prepared a new type of vanadium nitride compound and presented their results as a poster at the Northeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Binghamton, New York, in October 2006.
An abstract for their ongoing work will be presented in March at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago, Illinois, during the Coordination Chemistry: Synthesis session of the conference and will also be displayed during the Sci-Mix event, where the most interesting or topical scientific results from all areas of chemical sciences are displayed.
New Pondside III Introduces Living and Learning Center
Pondside III, the new $13.8-million three-story dormitory overlooking Brickyard Pond, houses about 150 students and six residential advisers in 22 suites accommodating four to 10 students each. The new residence hall was designed to foster "living and learning" communities centered on academic themes, service learning, leadership, wellness, the arts, and other common interests. Proposals are being formulated this spring, and the first living and learning groups will take up residence in the fall of 2007.
Keene State is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the project, which incorporates super-insulated walls, motion-sensor lights, dual-flush toilets, and recycling rooms on each floor. The College also used outdoor lighting that won’t light up the sky and will landscape with native, drought-resistant plants this spring.
Keene Makes 100 Best Communities List
America’s Promise: The Alliance for Youth has named the city of Keene one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People. The competition celebrates outstanding, innovative community efforts that improve the well-being of young people, and Keene was chosen, in part, because of coordinated efforts between SAU-29 schools, Keene State College, and Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of the Monadnock region to match children with volunteers who serve as friends and role models.
Peg Monahan, executive director of BBBS, has been a key partner in supporting and developing service initiatives at Keene State. A separate campus chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters was recently approved because more than 80 KSC students were interested in volunteering.
Rebuilding the Afghan Economy
Are loans as small as $100, given to people too poor to borrow from banks, effective? Joyce B. Lehman, the recent KSC Sidore lecturer, described how microloans, mostly given to women in developing countries, have become an important tool in the global battle against poverty.
Lehman’s Feb. 27 address, "Out of the Rubble: Rebuilding the Afghan Economy," drew directly upon her recent assignment as the chief operating officer of the Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA). She is a finance advisor for Agriculture, Rural Investment, and Enterprise Strengthening (ARIES), a USAID-funded rural finance project in Afghanistan working to provide legal economic opportunities for people living in the countryside. The Sidore Series addresses issues of political economy in our global society.
Panel on Iran Concludes Summer Reading Program
A panel, "Understanding Iran," on March 6 concluded the College’s sixth annual Summer Reading program. Persepolis, a graphic novel by Iranian author Marjani Satrapi, was this year’s title. The autobiographical narrative revolves around Marjani, who was nine years old and living in Tehran when rebels supported by the theocracy overthrew the reigning Shah. Satrapi’s radical intellectual family initially welcomed the new order, but soon realized the nature of the powers taking over their country.
Persepolis was used in courses on writing, women’s studies, art, and philosophy and gave faculty and staff the opportunity to discuss globalization, religion, systems of government, gender identity, story narrative and illustration, and many other topics. Experts in various fields came to campus to speak on topics ranging from the history of cartooning to an introduction to Islam in the Middle East.
Speakers for the March 6 panel included Dr. Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University, and Dr. Nagmeh Sohrabi, Brandeis University.