KSC Honors Distinguished Teacher, Parent, Granite State Recipients
KEENE, N.H. 10/15/01 - Keene State Colleges distinguished teacher for the year 2001, the parents of the year, and two Granite State Award winners all will be honored at KSCs Fall Honors Convocation, Sunday, Oct. 21. The annual event, a highlight of Parent and Family Weekend, also honors deans list students and features a concert by the KSC Concert Band. The concert begins at 12:20 p.m. in Spaulding Gymnasium, with the honors ceremony beginning at 1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The winner of the Distinguished Teacher Award is Dr. Nancy Lory, professor of special education at KSC. Granite State Awards will be presented to Mervin E. Stevens of Walpole and Norma Wright Walker of West Swanzey. Receiving the Parents of the Year citation will be Alphee and Guilda Dusseault of Manchester, N.H.
Dr. Nancy Lory will receive the Distinguished Teacher Award from the KSC Alumni Association. Colleagues and students who nominated her describe her unwavering energy and spoke of her expertise in child development, special education, family systems, cultural perspectives, and community resources. Lory joined the KSC faculty in 1979 after four years of work as a clinic coordinator at the College. She had previously earned a bachelors degree in psychology from Clark University and an Ed.D. from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Outside of the classroom, she devised the ongoing Diverse Voices from the Field lecture series at KSC and helped Bosnian refugee families in Keene settle their children in local schools
Dr. Lory is a leader in the field of special educationa tireless fighter for the rights of children with special needs, wrote a colleague. Teachers and guidance counselors in the Monadnock region seek out her company and counsel. Many times I picked her brain concerning the appropriate adaptation of programs for special needs students, wrote one professional educator.
Colleagues and students hold in high regard Dr. Lorys creativity in the classroom and her diverse teaching methods, from multi-media presentations to case studies to simulations. By modeling different approaches to teaching, a colleague wrote, she is working towards getting her students to think like real teachers.
The Distinguished Teacher Award is based on four criteria excellence in the classroom, encouragement of independent thinking, rapport with students both in and out of the classroom, and effective student advising.
Two Granite State Awards, presented by Keene State College and the University System of New Hampshire, honor outstanding achievements by community members.
Mervin E. Stevens, a forester whose experience spans four decades, which includes working in more than 15 countries, has more recently devoted his time to serving the people and communities of New Hampshire.
In 1999, Mr. Stevens led New Hampshires participation in the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife. The festival showcased Granite State music, dance, food, crafts, storytelling, occupations, and community celebrations for two weeks in Washington, D.C. As chairman, Mr. Stevens helped recruit over 1,000 volunteers and raise $1.5 million for New Hampshires effort, which was acclaimed in the nations capital as the best ever of the Smithsonians series of state programs.
Mr. Stevens has been an active supporter of New Hampshire and New England causes during his professional and retired life. He has served on the boards of Celebrate New Hampshire Culture, the Great River Market Cooperative, the New Hampshire Mercantile, the promotion committee of the N.H. State Council on the Arts, and the Walpole Historical Society. In 1997, he received a citation from Governor Jeanne Shaheen for his commitment to improve the economic well- being of the New Hampshire community.
Norma Wright Walker, KSC class of 1951, will receive the other Granite State Award. A long-time champion of literacy, Ms. Walker dedicated much of her professional life to ensuring that all her students, elementary school children and college undergraduates alike, experienced reading as a path to learning. She earned her masters in education at Keene State in 1959, and went on to teach reading programs at the College.
In her retirement, Ms. Walker has turned her attention to working to improve the services offered to alumni of Keene State. She has served on the KSC Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Alumni Association, and the reunion committee. Among her most important contributions to the College and the Alumni Association was the revival of the Golden Circle Society, a group of alumni who graduated over 50 years ago. Through her efforts, many old friendships have been renewed.
The Le Vine Mellion Parent Award for 2000 also will be presented at the Honors Convocation. This years winners, Alphee and Guilda Dusseault, were nominated by their son Eric Dusseault, a senior at KSC majoring in English and communications.
In his nomination essay, Eric describes how his parents supported his dream to go to college. My parents sacrificed things they have worked the entire lives for, so I may have a future, he says. His parents sold their vehicle and their house to help Eric afford college.
Education has always been important to his parents, says Eric. Not able to finish high school, Guilda and Alphee worked hard to ensure their children would have the opportunities that they themselves did not. Now married for 34 years, Alphee and Guilda have three children, all of whom have graduated from high school.
The Le Vine Mellion Parent Award was established in 1982 by the four children of Dr. and Mrs. Gilbert LeVine Mellion, three of whom were Keene State graduates. It is presented annually to a parent or parents of a Keene State student in recognition of support given in the spirit of love, commitment, and encouragement toward the students education.
