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Keene State Awards 1,124 Degrees During Commencement Ceremony

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Keene State College Celebrates Class of 2015 and Bestows Granite State Award and Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters

Newest Graduates Begin Promising Careers and Advanced Studies

Keene State College will award 1,124 degrees to 1,086 graduates during its commencement ceremony this year. The graduates hold promising futures as they pursue their post-graduate plans, which include starting doctoral studies at Purdue, Indiana University and University of Rhode Island, and working for Disney Imagineers in Florida and Central Park Summerstage in New York City, among many others. The College’s commencement ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 9 at 1 p.m. on Fiske Quad. New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan will address the Class of 2015, as will Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters recipient. Barbara Skuly is this year’s Granite State Award recipient.

“We are incredibly proud of this year’s graduates and are thrilled to welcome them into our network of more than 30,000 alumni,” said Keene State College President Dr. Anne E. Huot. “As each new alum starts the next chapter of their lives they have honed the skills necessary to succeed in an ever-changing workforce and the wisdom to make a difference in the communities they will join. Throughout their time at Keene State College they have given of themselves in service to local, regional, national and global communities. They have benefited from an education stewarded by a first class faculty and enriched by the support of a caring staff. They take with them deep connections to the entire college community, their fellow students and the Keene community. Congratulations to the class of 2015.”

For more detail about the post-graduate pursuits of Keene State’s Class of 2015, visit: http://www.keene.edu/news/stories/detail/1430148338561/

Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, granddaughter of Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt will be recognized with the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for her remarkable contributions to public service, following in her grandparents’ footsteps. Ms. Roosevelt is the President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, a not-for-profit social enterprise with over 2,000 employees serving Maine, New Hampshire and northern Vermont. Ms. Roosevelt joined Goodwill in 2011 from The Boeing Company in Chicago, where she had held the position of Vice President, Global Corporate Citizenship. Ms. Roosevelt’s career has encompassed leadership positions in philanthropy, public policy, politics, the arts and higher education. In 2013, she was presented with the Queen’s Commissioners Medal of Merit of The Province of Zeeland in The Netherlands, in recognition of her work carrying forward the legacy and values of her grandparents through the annual joint presentation of the Four Freedoms Awards. Currently, she chairs The Roosevelt Institute Board of Directors, serves on the Boards of the Maine Community Foundation, and Net Impact. Ms. Roosevelt is a Fellow at the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College.

Granite State Award

Barbara Skuly, Granite State Award recipient, is chair of the Ashuelot River Local Advisory Committee. Keene State College has selected her to receive the 2015 Granite State Award in recognition of her remarkable contributions to the Rivers Management and Protection Program of New Hampshire. Her sustained and dedicated leadership in presiding over the Ashuelot River Local Advisory Committee, co-founding and chairing of the Ashuelot River Water Quality Monitoring Program, participation in the New Hampshire River Restoration Task Force, the Ashuelot Valley Environmental Observatory group and her past role on the board of the New Hampshire Rivers Council demonstrates just how much difference one individual can make. Previously, Ms. Skuly worked for 30 years as a RN at Cheshire Medical Center, and today continues her service at the hospital through per diem work in the recovery room. Ms. Skuly’s additional service to the community through her advocacy for environmental conservation and her affiliation with multiple state and local organizations made her the clear selection for this year’s award.

For more information about this year’s Commencement program, visit http://www.keene.edu/campus/events/commencement/.

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