Keene State Set To Recognize Four Women Bound By A Passion For Educating, Mentoring

Each year, for over three decades and as part of Women’s History Month, Keene State College honors outstanding women of New Hampshire. This year’s recognition theme is Moving Forward Together! Educating & Inspiring Generations.

Our honorees have been shaping forces in nurturing minds and bringing about transformative action.

At an on-campus Outstanding Women of New Hampshire celebration on Thursday, March 27, Keene State President Dr. Melinda Treadwell will present awards to four women: Masheri Chappelle, Rose Kundanis, Nancy Peck, and Marianne Mederos ‘25.

“Our awardees have each led by powerful example,” Dr. Treadwell said. “Being authentic is daring. Every one of these women has shown strength and conviction. Their integrity shines and they inspire others to explore, create, compete, and teach from the best part of themselves.”

The event will be in the Mabel Brown Room, Lloyd P. Young Student Center, and will begin at 6 p.m. with a welcome reception. The award ceremony starts at 6:30 and is open to the public. Click here to RSVP

Here is a brief overview of this year’s honorees.

MASHERI CHAPPELLE

State of New Hampshire Award

An award-winning author of two books and several plays, Masheri is living proof that education and mentorship sometimes exceed the confines of a classroom.

As Executive Director and Board Chair of the New Hampshire Writer’s Project since 2017, she has mentored, educated, and supported hundreds of emerging writers.

The Project’s mission is to “support our region’s writers and literary heritage.” As Board Chair, she works to develop policies and procedures, secure the organization’s financial health, and monitor the programs and performance of the organization. As executive director, another voluntary position, she cultivates and fosters literary partnerships to develop writing programs such as the fall Writing Festival at the John Hay Estate at The Fells.

Through the New Hampshire Writers’ Project, Masheri organizes contests and prizes for local writers; provides critique partners and groups so writers can receive feedback and support; and helps writers throughout the Granite State establish Writers’ Nights Out, a free meetup for writers in which they gather, share their work, and build community. Since 2017, she has continued to strive to make writing and reading communal activities, with engaging literary events such as literary salons, masterclasses, flash fiction, write-ins, and the Biannual Literary Awards.

She established a partnership with NH Public Television (NHPBS) to create the NHPBS Literary Excellence Award, the highest NH literary award bestowed on a work that exemplifies literary excellence and inspiration. She also creates, organizes, and runs the annual 603 Writer’s Conference, which draws more than 150 participants from New Hampshire, and beyond.

Further, Masheri is the host of The Writers Den, a radio talk show on NH TalkRadio that offers intriguing topics and passionate discussions about the craft of writing, the business of writing, and the personal journeys of writers. Among so many other credits, she was also an NHPBS Ken Burns Hemingway Documentary Premier Panelist in 2021, for which she also created and conducted a statewide Hemingway writing competition for NHBPS.

Her dedication to writers in the classroom, on the radio, and on the stage conveys Masheri’s passion for the importance of the written word.

ROSE M. KUNDANIS

Monadnock Region Award

Rose, faculty emerita at Keene State, is an admired and beloved figure on campus and in the community. She taught journalism for 32 years until retiring in 2018 and served as department chair for several years.

Generations of students, many now journalists in the field, remember Rose for her passion, dedication, and incisive critical intelligence. Keene State is fortunate to have had such a teacher on its faculty.

She is a keen and avid scholar, constantly seeking and producing new knowledge. She is the author of two books on the impact of mass media on children. Along with her teaching and research, Rose ensured that she stayed active in the industry by working with the Keene Sentinel, serving as executive producer of KSCTV, and producing videos for the City of Keene and the Historical Society of Cheshire County.

Today she teaches a range of challenging and popular courses for the College’s CALL program, on topics such as the NH primary, mis/disinformation journalism and democracy, and the state’s divisive concepts law. This term, Rose is teaching The Limits of Democracy.

Rose established and funded the Kundanis Journalism Scholarship, worked to move KSC Television News archives at Mason Library online, and is a judge for the NH Press Association Professional Awards.

Along with all this, she found time to write her memoir.

NANCY PECK

Faculty / Staff Award

Nancy has educated and inspired undergraduate students since 2012 when she joined the Keene State faculty.

As a consummate educator with an academic and professional background in family studies, human development, and special education, Nancy weaves her knowledge into everything she does.

The ripples of her influence have moved out from Keene and into the classrooms and families of our alums, thus inspiring future generations. Her students become early childhood professionals who educate and inspire their students.

Nancy’s approach is to mentor and support others, whether college students who aspire to become educators, families with young children, young children in group settings, or teachers in field-placement classrooms.

She looks for the potential in her students and strives to help them grow and develop. Feedback that is detailed, constructive, and goal-driven is a trademark of Nancy’s teaching style.

Nancy was promoted to full professor in 2022.

Her latest scholarly endeavor is collaborating with a historian, an archivist, and other education faculty to develop educational materials on disability history for K-12 teachers.

Nancy has deep expertise in special education that impacts children from birth to age 5, the areas of early childhood special education (ages 3-5), and early supports and services (birth to age 3). Her contributions will be important in helping to document the history of disabilities in rural environments and to make this information accessible to future teachers, parents, and citizens.

Since 2018, she has collaborated with Dr. Lance Neeper on scholarship projects related to co-teaching in higher education and guideposts for inclusive teaching. They have co-presented 15 sessions at various conferences and published two peer-reviewed papers, with a third on the way.

Nancy exemplifies the theme of an educator who inspires future generations through informative and empowering teaching, mentoring, and leadership.

MARIANNE MEDEROS ’25

Student Award

Marianne is an elementary education and psychology major and has been president of the Keene State chapter of Kappa Delta Pi (KDP), the educators honor society, since the end of Spring 2024.

Her dedication and determination have impressed her teachers and peers. Even before she took on her leadership role, she served as conference chair for KDP’s Inspiring Conversations in Education Conference, an annual event planned and hosted by KDP.

Marianne gives new meaning to “leading by example”; she is naturally inquisitive, intelligent, and caring.

Each fall, KDP members read award-winning children’s books and do hands-on activities with local children for the Ladybug Festival at Keene Public Library. Marianne communicates with the lead children’s librarian to organize the event. She then works with members to produce the event for local children and their families.

While under her leadership, the Keene State Education Honor Society received Kappa Delta Pi’s prestigious Teaching Gold Award for its 12th Annual Inspiring Conversations in Education Conference. The conference is a free one-day event held on campus and allows education students and anyone interested in education to attend presentations and workshops delivered by Keene State alumni and local and regional educators.

Marianne is working collaboratively to plan the 13th Annual Inspiring Conversations in Education Conference. Her leadership and hard work positively impact the sustainability of Kappa Delta Pi’s community service commitments. By sharing knowledge and experience with her peers, Marianne models what inclusive practices look like for the organization at Keene State and in the broader field of education.

Marianne has worked with students at St. Joseph’s Regional School in Keene and in the Nashua School District. She plans to continue her journey as a student of education in Keene State’s special education graduate program.

Her dynamism and enthusiasm will surely inspire many young students.