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Keene State Names Buffalo State Dean as New Provost

KEENE, N.H. 3/10/06 - Dr. Emile C. Netzhammer III, dean of arts and humanities at Buffalo State College of the State University of New York, has been named provost of Keene State College after a national search. Netzhammer’s appointment will begin July 1.

“We are tremendously excited that Mel Netzhammer will join us in this highly visible role at the College,” said KSC President Helen Giles-Gee. “His record of accomplishments - in such areas as curricular reform, strategic planning, and service learning - is remarkable. His energy and experience will be essential as we continue our momentum toward enhancing our academic excellence.”

Giles-Gee pointed out that Netzhammer’s experience in shaping Buffalo State’s general education program - the curriculum shared by all undergraduates - will be especially helpful in KSC’s revision of its own general education approach.

“He will also play a vital role as we move from a three- to a predominantly four-credit course curriculum,” she said.

Replacing Gordon Leversee, the interim vice president for academic affairs, Netzhammer will serve as the college’s first provost. In that position he will lead Keene State’s academic program and also serve as KSC’s second-highest- ranking administrator, under Giles-Gee. Leversee will return to his long-held position of dean of sciences and social sciences.

“Dr. Leversee has led the academic division through a time of tremendous change, and I am very grateful for his energy, wisdom, and willingness to assume that role over the last year,” Giles-Gee said.

Netzhammer has served in his current position at Buffalo State since August 1999. As dean, he led the restructuring of arts and humanities, substantially increased development activities, introduced and fostered programmatic and general education assessment, facilitated college-wide strategic planning, and promoted new service-learning initiatives. He increased alumni outreach and developed new programs for students across campus.

Prior to becoming dean, he served as interim associate vice president for enrollment management for one year and as chair of the communication department for five years.

In addition to his work at Buffalo State, Netzhammer serves on the board of directors of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences and directed the CCAS Seminar for New Deans from 2002 to 2004. He is a member of a team of six deans who restructured the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at United Arab Emirates University and developed a new curriculum there.

Netzhammer’s research involves analysis of the role of mass media in society, particularly how underrepresented groups are portrayed in the media, and First Amendment issues. In 1996, he received the President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Advisement at Buffalo State.

Netzhammer is a native of New Orleans. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Loyola University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Utah.

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Keene, New Hampshire 03435