From Ski Chalets, Trains and Buses, Daniel Martin '10 M'23 Completes Masters Degree

Academic flexibility can be a college student’s best friend, but few are likely to have found it in the form that Daniel Martin ‘10 M’23 did.

An Owl grad, Daniel is 13 years into an accomplished career as a safety professional helping to lead a U.S.-based and publicly traded global employer, Novanta, through complex challenges.

Frequently, home is a hotel room.

He recently added a master’s degree from Keene State, in the same academic program, all online, at his desired pace, and while not skipping a beat in his full-time job.

Daniel has vivid memories of working on that coursework from cafes in England and Europe, by a wood fire at ski chalets in the Alps, on planes, trains, and buses, or with a backdrop of major cities worldwide and beautiful landscapes.

“I like to joke that I’ve studied in London and Cambridge, Berlin and Munich, Shanghai and Tokyo. But in reality, the program’s flexibility allowed me to balance a demanding career and heavy travel schedule, providing me a framework to be successful anywhere in the world and at my own pace.”

Some of what I was being asked to do in my job was above what I had educationally. Going back to Keene State, a place I still feel so connected to, was the only real answer. I completed my master’s without feeling rushed and with ultimate flexibility.”

– Daniel Martin

An average high school student and first-generation student, Daniel saw a chance for “academic redemption” at Keene State.

He earned a safety & occupational health applied sciences (SOHAS) degree and pitched for the Owls on the baseball diamond. Collaborating with industry peers in person and through interactive discussion forums was another beneficial layer of his Keene State education.

A SOHAS degree prepares students to protect the health and safety of workers in all kinds of situations and exposes them to a large network of major companies that look to Keene State for their best interns. That fusing of formal study with on-the-job training can be career-starting, as Daniel knows.

“As a student, I learned from highly talented, dedicated safety professionals across industries, and how they applied best practices to solve unique challenges with unique solutions.”

At Novanta, which is headquartered in Bedford, M.A., Daniel is the corporate sustainability and environmental health safety manager. With nine divisions at more than 40 locations worldwide, the company develops and builds critical components and devices for markets and applications in precision medicine and manufacturing, medical solutions, engineered lasers, and robotics and automation.

Daniel said he needed enhanced competence and knowledge in global best practices and management systems to meet higher, emerging safety standards and oversights in his field. Keene State again was his best option. In fall 2018, he was accepted into the College’s master’s program; his first semester was spring 2019.

“Some of what I was being asked to do in my job was above what I had educationally. Going back to Keene State, a place I still feel so connected to, was the only real answer. I completed my master’s without feeling rushed and with ultimate flexibility.”

A mentor at heart, Daniel commutes to Keene State from Holderness, N.H., each Monday to teach. This semester he taught Standards and Regulations; in the fall he will teach a new course, Systems and Behavioral Sciences, which blends his two areas of professional expertise.

“Teaching is my way of giving back to a community and a program that gave me so much. I drive two hours each Monday to get to class. I’m full when I get here, I’m full when I leave.”

He said he feels “such a connection” to Keene State, and it’s been that way from the start.

“When I declared my major, I didn’t know then what my life would look like in this field, but I saw a pathway. I was given so much room to explore and grow. When you’re 18 to 22 years old you’re not thinking so much about meaning and purpose in work.

“I do what I do because I see my work as fighting the good fight. Two thousand people die every year on the job. Success is hard to measure. Counting lives that aren’t lost is hard to quantify. But protecting workers, the workplace environment, and the organization you work for … if you do that, that’s success. That’s purpose and meaning.”

Daniel said he will never stop trying to be a better leader and mentor. He urges students of all ages and interests to be “unstoppable through a tolerance for failure and a commitment to self-improvement.”

Learn more about the safety & occupational health applied sciences major

Learn more about the safety & occupational health applied sciences masters degree