KSC Honors Distinguished Teacher, Parent, Community Service, and Granite State Recipients
KEENE, N.H. 10/1/04 - Keene State College’s distinguished teacher for the year 2004, the parent of the year, two Granite State Award winners, and the community service award winner all will be honored at KSC’s Fall Honors Convocation, on Sunday, Oct. 17. The annual event, a highlight of Parent and Family Weekend, also honors dean’s list students and the winner of the President’s Writing Award, 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. Neal Pruchansky, professor of management at KSC. Granite State Awards will be presented to Robert A. Baines of Manchester and Rise…for baby and family and Toni Ellsworth of Keene. Receiving the Parent of the Year citation will be Pam and Steve Ferretti of North Scituate, R.I. The KSC Community Service Award will be presented to Arthur “Bud” Winsor, assistant director of physical plant/grounds at KSC.
Dr. Neal Pruchansky will receive the Distinguished Teacher Award from the KSC Alumni Association. Colleagues, alumni, and students who nominated him described him as a cheerful, inspiring, and challenging professor who is able to get the best out of students. Each spring, Dr. Pruchansky teaches his award-winning Small Business Institute, a senior honors seminar. In the course, students prepare real-life case studies which are then submitted to the Small Business Institute Directors’ Association “Case of the Year” competition. Keene State student teams have won two national awards, in 1995 and 2003, and KSC is only college or university in the country to have two cases in the nationals in a single year - an achievement accomplished five times.
Dr. Pruchansky came to KSC in 1985. He received a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an M.B.A. from Indiana State University. 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.
Now in his third term as mayor of Manchester, Robert Baines graduated from Keene State in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in music education. Right out of college, he taught music at Alvirne High School in Hudson; in 1977, with a master of education degree in hand, he moved into administration as assistant principal. In 1980, Baines was hired as principal of Manchester West High School, a position he would hold for 19 years. He quickly won respect as a strong advocate for the school and his students. He was named New Hampshire Principal of the Year in 1990 and Educator of the Year in 1996. In 1998 he took a leave of absence to work in Washington, D.C., for Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver’s Community of Caring organization.
The recipient of the second Granite State award will be Rise…for baby and family and its founder and executive director Toni Ellsworth. Based in Keene, Rise is a nonprofit, family-centered organization that provides early intervention services to families of infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities. Under the directorship of Ellsworth, Rise serves more than 30 Monadnock-region towns, offering early identification and help for developmentally delayed children under the age of three, support and education for families, childcare and enrichment opportunities for infants and toddlers, and inclusionary playgroups for children of all developmental levels. A 1973 graduate of Keene State College, Ellsworth received a master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and worked as a teacher in Appalachia for several years.
Shontel Ferretti, a sophomore and resident assistant at Keene State, nominated her parents Pam and Steve Ferretti for the Le Vine Mellion Parent of the Year Award. The Ferrettis, of North Scituate, R.I., have 26 children, of whom 23 are adopted.
The Le Vine Mellion Parent Award was established in 1982 by the four children of Dr. and Mrs. Gilbert Le Vine 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 student’s education.
Arthur “Bud” Winsor, assistant director of physical plant/grounds at KSC, will receive the Community Service Award, which acknowledges a Keene State staff or faculty member’s community service and that individual’s role in enhancing the quality of life within his or her home community.
Winsor is a horticulturalist who, with his staff, is responsible for the gardens, stately trees, and well-groomed lawns and walking paths on campus. Among his many contributions to Keene State are mentoring students who work on the grounds crew, serving as a volunteer co-advisor to the Interfraternal Council and the Panhellenic Council, and leading such conservation initiatives as requiring grounds vehicles to use bio-diesel and restoring the wildlife preserve area adjacent the Owl Athletic Complex on Krif Road. Winsor has also served on the Swanzey Conservation Commission and the Swanzey Lake Association. A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Winsor has worked at KSC since 1993.
