Excellence 2014

excellence 2014Honoring Plymouth State University’s Distinguished Faculty and Staff

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.

—Booker T. Washington

From the President

Introduction

IN THESE PAGES, WE HIGHLIGHT some of the extraordinary professionals from departments across the

campus who recently have been honored with awards for excellence.

As you learn about them, you will recognize the degree to which they dedicate themselves with energy and joy

to student success and to community and service. They provide PSU students with a hands-on, minds-on

experiential education that matters. They provide the rich and supportive environment in which students, staff,

and faculty members can thrive and achieve.

Because of people like those profiled here, Plymouth State University in recent weeks has been recognized for the

high professional placement of its graduates into well-paying positions, for its impressive work in environmental

sustainability, and for being one of the best schools in the northern region of the United States. Those awards are

not by accident. They are the result of people committed to excellence.

I would like to thank these award-winners for their wonderful work and welcome readers to this glimpse of PSU

and its people.

Sara Jayne Steen

President

Distinguished Professional, Administrative, and Technical (PAT) Staff Award

Elaine DoellDirector of Human Resources

Elaine Doell didn’t consider a career in human resources until the end of her junior year in college. “My professor

was so inspirational,” she recalls. “Taking that HR Management class made me realize the direction I wanted to go

with my life.”

An unpaid internship at Bausch & Lomb’s human resources department made it official. “I did the internship and

never looked back,” she says. “I was hooked, I loved it, and I’ve been in HR ever since.”

After college graduation, Doell moved from her home state of New York to New Hampshire, where she worked in

HR for Hannaford Bros., a leading grocer serving customers throughout New England and New York. While there,

she says, “I was exposed to nearly every facet of HR.”

She worked for Hannaford Bros. for seven years, continually taking on additional responsibilities, including

serving as a district-wide training coordinator. Her next position was that of HR manager for Lakes Region

Community Services, where she also worked for seven years.

In 2001, Doell discovered an advertisement for a human resources position at Plymouth State and was intrigued.

“It looked like a perfect match for me,” she says. When she came to campus for her interview, she says, “There was an

energy and vibrancy all around campus. I realized this was the kind of place that I wanted to be part of, and where I

could make a contribution.”

Doell began her career at PSU in 2002, first serving as assistant director of human resources and then as interim

director before being named director in 2012. As director, she is responsible for campus recruitment and retention,

training and development, payroll, benefits, employee relations, classification and compensation, and compliance.

She also works closely with colleagues throughout the University in developing short- and long-range human resource

goals to advance PSU’s mission and measure results.

Since joining PSU, Doell has led the University through a significant change in its benefits offerings, designed an

online discrimination and sexual harassment awareness training program, and dedicated herself to working with

employees, supervisors, and management to ensure that PSU continues to be a great place to work. To be effective

in her job, she must stay current on laws pertaining to family medical leave, worker’s compensation, employee rights,

and more—a task that requires dedication and commitment to reading and research. “HR is ever-changing so there’s

no resting on your laurels,” she says.

As if managing human resources at a 4,000-employee university wasn’t enough, Doell also makes time to serve PSU

in ways beyond her job responsibilities. She’s been a member of the President’s Commission on Diversity for many

years; she’s taken part in PSU’s Seniors day, where she reviews students’ résumés and gives them interviewing tips; she

has been an invited guest speaker to classes; and she employs student workers in HR who do everything from answer

phones and greet visitors to assist with redesigning the HR website.

While she may have her professor to thank for inspiring her to pursue a career in HR, Doell—a first-generation college

student—credits the solid foundation that her parents provided for her growing up as essential to her success in her

profession and in life. “My caring nature is from my mom, and my strong work ethic is from my dad,” says Doell.

“They made me who I am today.”

— Barbra Alan Excellence 2014

Plymouth State University

Award for Excellence in Faculty Service

Paul RogalusProfessor of English

Paul Rogalus, an English professor at PSU for 24 years, has found what he loves to do: serving students. He spends

his days exposing them to his favorite classics in literature and film through courses including the Art of Film and

Scriptwriting. Outside of the classroom, he helps students find their passion and get the most from their college

experience through his work with numerous student organizations, including Poets & Writers, PSU’s student literary

club; Mentoring Enhances Student Achievement (MESA), the English department’s peer mentoring program; and

WPCR, the student-run radio station.

After earning his doctorate in English at Purdue University, Rogalus’s desire to return to New England, where he had

earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, brought him to PSU. Early on, Rogalus was asked by students to take on

the faculty advisor roles for both Poets & Writers and WPCR. With his love of reading, writing, and music, Rogalus

was excited to get involved. “These organizations were a perfect match. My service is doing what I really love, and I get

to help students get a full college experience,” he says.

Rogalus has been the advisor for Poets & Writers for 21 years, and although his responsibilities change from year to

year based on the strengths and experience of the student-led staff, he has done it all: scheduling dates for open-mic

nights, balancing the group’s budget, organizing poetry workshops, and selling advertisements for the organization’s

biannual literary magazine, Centripetal, for which Rogalus also serves as a senior editor.

One of his most significant contributions in his advisory role for WPCR was to launch live-stream webcasting to reach

a national audience. Now WPCR fans all over the world can tune into the station’s music, sports and talk shows. As a

result, Rogalus’s responsibilities have expanded to include ensuring that students understand and comply with more

complex FCC regulations.

The other organization Rogalus devotes his time to is MESA, which is composed of sophomore, junior, and

senior-level English majors who serve as mentors to first-year and new English majors. MESA offers writing

workshops, social events, schedule-advising nights, online support via instant messaging, and, thanks in large part

to Rogalus’s efforts, community outreach. When he began co-advising MESA, Rogalus helped to establish and host

writing workshops for elementary and middle school students at Campton Elementary School and the Pemi Youth

Center.

Rogalus feels that the most important thing he has done through his service is help students make the most of their

college experience by participating in student organizations. “Much of the growth a student experiences during his or

her college career takes place outside of the classroom through student organizations that give them opportunities to

try new things, find what they have a passion for, and develop skills not just for college, but for life.”

— Matthew Ormsbee ’15

Excellence 2014

It seems inevitable that Pamela Clark’s path would bring her to Plymouth State University.

Today, Clark teaches a variety of courses, including Vision, Synergy, and Synthesis in the Doctorate of Educational

Leadership program, Collaborative Leadership as part of the Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in

Educational Leadership, and Work as a Personal Journey in the master of arts in Personal and Organizational

Wellness (POW) program at PSU, but when she began her own personal journey, she was a newly-minted Keene

State College graduate and special education teacher. “I worked with students who had multiple challenges,” Clark

explains, “and while I didn’t think of it as a personal philosophy at the time, I was very focused on helping all students

recognize that they’re capable of more than they believe possible, and then, nourishing each student’s unique

expression of those abilities.”

As Clark continued her own studies at PSU and the University of New Hampshire, she advanced from teacher to

administrator to graduate teaching lecturer, gravitating to teachers and mentors whose spiritual approach toward

education mirrored her own. When the opportunity arose to be part of the new Personal and Organizational

Approaches to Transformation and Healing (PATH and OATH) certificate programs at PSU, she embraced it. “My

early career was grounded in a ‘traditional’ view of education, but I’ve always had a spiritual aspect to my life and

work, integrating a connection to nature and the sense of a larger power in the universe. When I was younger,

including the spiritual in my teaching was more intuitive, but it is very deliberate now,” she notes. “I love creating

learning experiences that change the consciousness of students, helping them move beyond simply learning some-

thing new to embracing the ‘spirit’ or ‘energy’ to actually transforming how they see the world and their place in it.”

PATH and OATH seminars are presented in a three-day retreat format and draw on techniques such as meditation

and guided visualization, which Clark says draws students from virtually all careers, age groups, and walks of life.

“The programs foster participants’ awareness of the interaction of mind, body, and spirit in holistic healing and

wellness,” Clark says. “Students are able to make the experience highly personal, about their own transformation,

or choose to apply the same concepts to transforming the work environment.”

In addition to teaching at PSU, where colleagues have referred to her as an incredible faculty member who demon-

strates her love of teaching in every course she facilitates, Clark serves as a consultant in leadership, adult develop-

ment, and organizational change, working with schools and districts across New Hampshire. “My passion is facilitating

individual and organizational growth and transformation, and this has become my life’s work regardless of the venue,”

she says. “We’re fortunate to live in a time when people are reawakening to their interconnectedness, feeling a greater

reverence for the planet, and realizing the importance of working together and with a higher power.”

Clark’s path also led her to the family-owned Dimond Hill Farm, which she and her partner are the seventh

generation to operate. Here, the mission honors the land and creates healthy food for everyone who visits.

Clark is profoundly grateful for the opportunities she’s been given on her journey. “So many blessings have flowed

into my life: countless teachers and colleagues, students and supporters, even ideas, and of course, work that I love.”

— Donna Eason ’85

Pamela L. ClarkFaculty member, Department of Educational Leadership, Learning and Curriculum

Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award

Excellence 2014

“Baseball has always been my passion,” says head baseball coach Dennis McManus ’73. Indeed, his love of baseball goes

back to childhood, when he’d play catch in the backyard with his dad and daydream of playing in the major leagues.

A knee injury prevented him from playing varsity baseball as a student at Plymouth State, but it didn’t stop him

from thoroughly enjoying his undergraduate years. He continued playing baseball through intramurals and summer

leagues, and at the same time cultivated a new passion, for physical education. He also formed a number of enduring

friendships with classmates and faculty alike. “My undergraduate years at Plymouth State were the best four years of my

life,” says McManus. “Not just academically, but also socially. I formed a lot of great relationships.”

One of those great relationships was with Professor of Physical Education Doug Wiseman ’61, who served

as athletics director throughout the 70s. “He wasn’t my advisor, but he was the person I’d go to for advice,” says

McManus. When McManus was unsure about what he wanted to do after graduation, Wiseman suggested he go on to

graduate school for athletic training. “The athletic training profession was in its infancy back then, and I wasn’t even

thinking about graduate school until he encouraged me to apply,” says McManus, who earned his MA in athletic

training from Indiana University. “I owe a lot to him.”

After graduate school, McManus accepted a position as an athletic trainer at Northeastern University, where he

stayed for five years. But when he learned of an opening for a physical education teacher and head athletic trainer

at Plymouth State, it was an opportunity he felt he couldn’t pass up. “There weren’t too many jobs I would have left

Boston for,” he says, “but I jumped at the chance to come back.”

That was 35 years ago. Since returning to Plymouth State, McManus, who was named head baseball coach in 1985, has

developed yet another passion, for service. On campus, he has coached and mentored hundreds of student-athletes,

assisted at Commencement, served on dozens of search committees, helped recruit new students into athletic training,

and encouraged students to chase their dreams both on and off the baseball field. In the community, he has provided

free baseball clinics, raises awareness about prostate cancer and serves on the board of directors of the New Hampshire

Prostate Cancer Awareness Coalition, has been active on both the NCAA and Eastern College Athletic Conference

committees, and has served as president of the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association.

Throughout his career at Plymouth State, McManus has seen the University evolve to truly exemplify its motto,

Ut prosim (That I may serve). He has also contributed to that evolution by teaching his students how to be good

community members and about the importance of serving others. For example, he and his team have coordinated a

food drive to assist the University Community Service Center during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

each fall for the past 15 years. “I try to instill in the players the importance of doing something not for the praise or

recognition, but because it’s the right thing to do,” he says.

Still, McManus notes, it is nice to be recognized by the University for his efforts, and the fact that he has been honored

with the Patricia Storer PAT Staff Award is especially significant to him. “Pat was dean of women students when I was a

student here,” he recalls. “I got to know her very well when I started working here. She was such a great person; it’s neat

to get an award in her name. It’s very meaningful to me.”

— Barbra Alan and Elizabeth Cheney ’89, ’99G

Dennis McManus ’73Head Baseball Coach

Patricia Storer PAT (Professional, Administrative, and Technical) Award

Excellence 2014

Distinguished Operating Staff Award

Daphne MorinAdministrative Assistant, Lamson Library and Learning Commons

Daphne Morin is considered the glue that holds the diverse departments at Lamson Library and Learning Commons

together. In fact, her colleagues at Lamson believe her title of administrative assistant is a bit of a misnomer, saying

that, in reality, Morin is the building manager, departmental leader and cheerleader, budget tightrope walker, office

supply manager, chief organizer, and a colleague who is focused on serving others—both in Lamson, where she knows

everyone by name, and across the campus.

In her 20-plus years at Lamson, Morin has seen history in the making as the facility evolved from a traditional library

to a “learning commons,” which offers Plymouth State University students a wealth of resources: from those of a more

traditional library to online learning tools, from the Writing Center to Plymouth Academic Support Services, from

Learning Technologies to the Center in Excellence in Teaching and Learning, from the ITS Help Desk to the

Commons Cafe. “Lamson has grown to become a true center for students,” Morin says. “There are still the quiet spaces

we think about when we hear the word ‘library,’ but our vision expands the concept to offer the places, tools, and sup-

port needed to foster collaboration and learning for students and faculty. Behind it all is a student-centered staff that is

flexible and forward thinking about what students need to meet their learning objectives. The changes at Lamson have

been dramatic, and it has been exciting to play a role in something so important.”

Not surprisingly, Morin has undergone a transformation of her own over her two decades at Lamson Learning

Commons. She also met her husband Tom at PSU twenty years ago; together they have a son Mitchell, who is 16.

She took time to focus on personal development, graduating in 2012 from PSU with a bachelor’s degree in

Communication and Media Studies and bringing a new level of expertise and skill to her work. A first-generation

college graduate, Morin was recognized by the University as the Non-traditional Graduating Female in 2012.

Morin’s involvement in PSU life extends well beyond Lamson; she has served as a member and speaker of the PSU

Operating Staff Senate, as well as on the Technology Committee, Welfare Committee, Campus Safety Committee, and

Systems Personnel and Policy Committee. What Morin finds most meaningful are the more personal contributions to

Lamson and the greater PSU community: the creation each year of a decorated tree for PSU’s Festival of Trees; annual

collections for vital organizations like the Plymouth-based Whole Village Family Resource Center and Voices Against

Violence; and coordinating celebrations and offering support during times of both joy and sorrow for the Lamson

team.

“I enjoy working at Lamson, where its many transitions and stages of metamorphosis always make my job interesting

and engaging,” Morin concludes. “It also helps that my colleagues are excellent in every way, and that our students—the

pulse of the campus—find their way here to Lamson, which is the heart of learning, and that I am part of that process.”


Excellence 2014

To be an effective artist, Kathi Smith believes, a student—and even his or her teacher—must be conscious of the world

around them, noting where they are, both physically and mentally, in a particular moment.

This simple idea forms the cornerstone of Smith’s art and her teaching philosophy. Whether it’s created at a specific

location or from memory in her Ashland, NH, studio, Smith’s art conveys a sense of place. “My art is an investigation

of the spaces around me, and the stories of those spaces,” she says. “Some paintings speak of a landscape in context,

and others are ‘memory’ paintings, capturing how I remember or imagine a place in time.”

Students gain a sense of where they exist in the world in Smith’s classes, where artists at all levels move seamlessly from

the classroom to the Boyd Science Center, where they draw specimens in the biology labs, to the Silver Center for the

Arts, where they roll out enormous canvases to create large-scale perspective drawings—and interact with other students

who must navigate around them. “I think I know the view from virtually every window on campus,” Smith jokes, “and

I want my students to know them too, because the landscape plays a huge role in helping students understand them-

selves; art requires us to investigate, own, and nurture the self to convey our ideas. Plus, these travels around campus

provide us all with a chance to be less introspective—a characteristic not uncommon in the artist—as we help bring the

arts to the broader campus community.”

A Maine native, Smith had a strong desire to combine her career as a professional artist with a second role as a teacher.

She earned a BFA in painting and drawing from the University of Southern Maine and an MFA in painting from the

University of New Hampshire before accepting an opportunity to join the faculty in PSU’s Department of Art. She

teaches and maintains a professional practice, which makes Smith a strong role model for her students. She is known,

especially among her more advanced students, for bringing whichever project she is working on currently to critique

days. “These exercises are about sharing art in progress, what’s working and what isn’t, and about getting constructive

feedback from others. Students can see that even though I have experience as a professional artist, we face similar

challenges and are all trying to do our best work,” she explains. “Teacher and students alike can benefit from this level

of engagement and be inspired by the discussions.”

Smith’s professional practice also gives students a window to the world of the artist’s studio, exhibitions, and

residencies. Smith has had recent solo shows in Portland and Farmington, Maine, and has completed five residencies

since 2010; this summer, she will participate in a seven-week artist-in-residency program in Brittany, France. “I see my

professional practice as a critical component to my effectiveness in the classroom,” Smith adds. “In one recent class

focused on professional practices, students researched and presented information on topics such as grant writing and

art installation, and I did a presentation about residencies, talking to students about where I’ve been and providing

resources so that they can find their own opportunities. Our students gain critical skills in problem solving and

creativity that will make them versatile in whatever career they choose, but I absolutely want to help them visualize an

experience similar to mine for themselves, to see themselves as professional artists in their own studios, and to take

themselves seriously as artists.”


Kathi J. Smith Teaching Lecturer, Department of Art

Distinguished Teaching Lecturer Award

Excellence 2014

Mark Fischler has come full circle. A self-proclaimed “faculty brat,” Fischler was born just weeks after his father,

Michael Fischler, joined the faculty of PSU’s Department of Education. He grew up on campus and experienced his

first sense of community at PSU, where he was influenced by everyone from his father’s colleagues, who were early

mentors, to members of the paint crew, with whom he had his first job.

Fischler left Plymouth to attend the University of New Hampshire where his studies in political science ignited a

love of philosophy and justice that led him to law school at the University of Maine. After graduation he worked for

nearly four years as a trial attorney for the Public Defender’s Office from a home base in Sugar Hill. “While I fulfilled

my dream to work as a trial attorney, I also felt a strong spiritual pull,” Fischler explains. “I left my job and spent 18

months living in a meditative community outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.”

Early experiences had opened Fischler’s eyes to the critical role that teachers play in society, but his experience in New

Mexico made him consider his own potential as an educator. Still, he returned home with plans to begin a private law

practice—until Professor of Business and Criminal Justice David Kent approached him about joining the new criminal

justice department at PSU. “Through my work as an attorney, I often served as a guest lecturer, but never saw a path

to university teaching for myself,” Fischler says. “Then I was presented with an amazing opportunity to help build this

new program, and to infuse classes with my own philosophies about individuals, the human experience, ethics, and

the law.”

Fischler is now an associate professor and chair of the department that he helped build. In his classes, he is recognized

for his focus on students. He is known for arriving early to allow time for engagement and fostering conversations that

bring real-life experiences to classwork. “The idea is to nurture mutual respect. It’s important to see students as total

beings, to discover their learning styles and how they relate to the world,” he says.

Fischler is equally open with his students, sharing events from his life. “When my daughter Aurora was born, my wife

and I received advice from everyone, but the most precious came from students. We did an exercise about what makes

a good parent, and each student submitted an essay, thoughtful and thought-provoking writing, which my wife and

I still look at often,” he remembers.

In Fischler’s classes, respect is also tangible. Just as he is recognized for always being early, so too is he known for his

rules of classroom etiquette: class starts on time, and any distraction—including the ever-present cell phone—is put

aside. “Our time in the classroom is time for each other, so we need to be fully present to self-reflect, consider the

material, and learn.”

As PSU’s criminal justice department graduates another class, Fischler reflects on those students who have entered

law enforcement and corrections, or who serve as prosecutors or defense counsel, and are impacting their

communities. “Justice is the only system in the US that can take away a person’s liberty permanently, and that’s

serious business. Through our program, we see students grow to fully understand themselves and their beliefs,”

Fischler concludes. “Our students have a holistic perspective of the justice system and an elevated level of conscious-

ness, which equips them to enhance their new roles with a deep understanding of the law, ethics, and morality.”


Mark Fischler Professor of Criminal Justice

Distinguished Teaching Award

Excellence 2014

Motivated by the desire to understand society’s basic questions about water, Mark Green entered a doctoral program

at the University of Minnesota and then accepted post-doctoral research positions at the University of New Hampshire

and City College of New York before joining the graduate faculty in the Center for the Environment and the

Department of Environmental Science and Policy at Plymouth State University in 2009.

Last year, he traveled to Japan as a Fulbright researcher. With Japanese colleagues, Green studied hydrologic data from

US and Japanese forests to understand how forests and hydrologic function recover from disturbance. “Our forests and

those in Japan have more similarities than differences,” Green says. “Our research considered why certain landscapes

recover more quickly than others after a major event, which for us includes a history of logging and weather disasters

like the Hurricane of 1938, and for the Japanese means typhoons and landslides.”

The Fulbright experience was an opportunity to build another bridge, this time to link cultures and advance research;

this year, one of Green’s Japanese colleagues will travel to Plymouth to continue the work. “Gaining an understanding

of the larger questions about human-water-environmental interactions goes far beyond Plymouth and even the US,”

Green concludes. “Working collaboratively, we have a valuable opportunity to find answers that can apply around the

world.”

At PSU, Green fulfills a dual role teaching graduate-level classes and acting as a research hydrologist at the Northern

Forest Research Station. This unique combination of responsibilities positions Green as a “bridge,” connecting and

engaging students in his work. “There are several dimensions to my research,” Green says, “but the primary focus is on

understanding how forests and water impact each other. For example, in research to assess the sensitivity of forests to

environmental impacts, we’ve studied the history of acid rain in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. Then, we’ve

taken it a step further to consider not just what acid rain has meant for the ecosystem, but how it has impacted forest

hydrology.”

Much of Green’s research integrates environmental history, and where there are studies conducted over time, there are

massive amounts of data to analyze. In fact, Green is recognized as a highly skilled data analyst, though for him, under-

standing what’s happening in the field must come first. “My first goal is to help students understand how hydrology

and water science work on the ground,” Green notes. “Before a student can meaningfully delve into the theoretical or

computational aspects of a research question, they must see first-hand the diversity of the landscape and how this might

influence water. For every data point, I want students to have insight into how it was developed.”

A case in point is a water-quality test program designed to understand the interactions between human, ecological, and

climate systems. Green leads PSU’s efforts for the program, which receives funding from New Hampshire’s EPSCoR

grant. His research brings together researchers and students from institutions statewide and hundreds of citizen

scientists who maintain water-quality sensors around the state. “These sensors take measurements every 15 minutes,”

Green explains. “Students are able to talk to people in the field about changing water conditions, and then think

about what they’ve seen and heard as they analyze a statewide data set with millions of data points. It’s a novel research

project and a phenomenal opportunity for students and researchers alike.”


Mark B. GreenProfessor of Hydrology

Award for Distinguished Scholarship

Excellence 2014

When Barbara “Babs” LaJeunesse was seven years old, she starred as the acrobat in a local amateur circus. While her

circus might not have been the “Greatest Show on Earth,” it did garner a front-page story in the local newspaper, and

for LaJeunesse, it was the start of something great. “My siblings, neighborhood friends, and I staged a circus, and

we raised $18.76 for the Salvation Army,” LaJeunesse recalls. “Throughout my childhood, my parents were active

volunteers and with that circus and the small donation we made, I began to understand why volunteering was so

important. I realized the power I had to make a difference.”

Making a difference has been a theme in LaJeunesse’s life. When Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue launched in 1985,

she was an early volunteer, doing everything from home visits to organizing the group’s annual auction to ultimately

serving as its president. LaJeunesse has worked for Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, PSU’s Festival of Trees,

and the University’s Convocation and Commencement, because when she sees a need, she wants to help. “When I

volunteer, I feel so fortunate to see the result of my contribution. Every organization needs those who make financial

donations, but, for me, it’s about being there,” she says. “When an older dog is placed in a loving home, or a child with

special needs stops in the middle of a race to wait for his friend so they can cross the finish line together, or a family

moves into a new home built by a community of volunteers, I gain an unbelievable sense of connection. It’s a window

into a new world that I would have missed if I hadn’t been physically present.”

Also important to LaJeunesse is her work at PSU’s University Studies and the Undergraduate Advising Center, where

she also makes a difference. “At University Studies, we work one-on-one with students who haven’t yet decided on a

major,” she says. “We help them find a program that fits their skills and interests so that they spend their time here

immersed in courses they enjoy—and graduate on time.”

Similarly, with the Undergraduate Advising Center, LaJeunesse helps ensure that students with declared majors will

meet the requirements they need for graduation. “We understand the time and money students invest in achieving this

important milestone,” LaJeunesse notes. “So, the Undergraduate Advising Center is just one more resource to make

sure students stay on track.”

In both cases, the chance to connect with students and see the results of their collaboration is LaJeunesse’s reward.

“I love being able to check back in with the students to see how the work we’ve done—whether it’s helping a student

find the right major or build a plan for their remaining semesters at PSU—has led them to become more engaged and

really excel.”

The students with whom LaJeunesse has worked appreciate the chance to follow up with her as well, to make sure she

knows what they’ve accomplished and where they’re going next—and to tell her how her role in their lives has made an

important difference.


Barbara “Babs” LaJeunesseAdministrative Assistant, Departments of University Studies and Undergraduate Advising

Sara Jayne Steen Operating Staff Service Award

Excellence 2014

editorBarbra Alan

photographerJohn Anderson, On the Spot Photography

designerLisa Prince

proofreaderRobert N. Costanzo ’15

printerRAM Printing

East Hampstead, NH

plymouth, nh 03264plymouth.edu

Excellence 2014

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