Plymouth Magazine Fall 2014

the magazine of plymouth state university • fall 2014

On the mark PSU advances as a national leader in health and wellness education. pg. 22

add your voice to support plymouth state universityPlymouth State University is committed to New Hampshire communities, businesses, students, and families. Now, PSU has joined with our University System of New Hampshire colleagues to support a restoration of funding to keep higher education accessible and affordable for all New Hampshire students.

Add your name to the list of those who believe that public higher education works for New Hampshire.

go.plymouth.edu/psu-works

John McKeith photo.

2 Message from the President

3 Of Note

5 Without Borders | Globally minded and passionate about what they do, PSU students and alumni are making an impact throughout the world.

11 Student Spotlight | A Twenty-first-century Preservationist: Mae Williams ’14G

14 Enterprise Center at Plymouth: Anchoring Businesses and Graduates to the Region | The ECP is a resource and an incubator for small businesses throughout the region.

18 Beyond Granite: The Museum of the White Mountains Takes on STEM | The museum’s latest exhibition leverages technology to showcase the geology of the White Mountains.

22 On the Mark: ALLWell North at Plymouth State University | PSU’s newest building on campus will drive regional economic development and advance health and wellness education.

27 The Green

in this issue

ALLWell North will integrate academics, athletics, and recreation to transform the University experience for students and community alike.

Plymouth State University ■ plymouth.edu/magazine 1

Fall 2014 • plymouth.edu/magazine

Editor | Barbra AlandEsignEr | Daphne Bruemmer ’98Publications ManagEr | Lisa Prince

contributorsBarbra AlanKeith Bouchard ’14Jim CollinsEmilie CoulterRobert Costanzo ’15Rodney Ekstrom ’09GSarah GarlickLarry Haynes ’86Bruce LyndesLaure MorrisHeidi Pettigrew ’99, ’07G, ’11CAGSSara Jayne SteenMae Williams ’14G

PhotograPhErsJon Gilbert FoxJeremy Gasowski ’01Ken HamiltonKaleb Hart ’11John McKeithChristopher NavinSasaki AssociatesCheryl SenterKyle Simard ’17Jim Surette

Plymouth Magazine is published by University Marketing Communications and Creative Services. ©2014, Plymouth State University. Printed by Flagship Press, Inc., North Andover, MA.

comments to: Editor, Plymouth Magazine, University Marketing Communications and Creative Services, MSC 24, Plymouth State University, 17 High St., Plymouth, NH 03264-1595 or [email protected]

Please send address changes to: University Advancement, MSC 50, Plymouth State University, 17 High St., Plymouth, NH 03264-1595 [email protected] (800) 772-2620

Alumni may update their contact information online at go.plymouth.edu/alumni-update.

Last august 21st, I announced that I wILL step down as president at the end of June, allowing the university system of new hampshire Board of trustees time to conduct a national search for my successor. Within minutes of the mid-morning announcement, a cooper’s hawk perched on my car, attracting a crowd, including photographers. Then the hawk flew to the extension outside my third-floor window, where it stood quietly through the afternoon, again drawing attention. However people interpreted that hawk, whether as coincidence or metaphor, its presence marked the moment in a surprisingly moving way. Leadership is not a solo, but an ensemble performance in which people work together. I am proud of what the people of the Plymouth State community have achieved over the past nearly nine years. Innovative world-class faculty members have developed strong academic programs that are focused on our mission and

responsive to needs of students, employers, and the state in fields from environmental science and professional sales leadership to nursing, heritage studies, tourism, and more. Technology has changed the way faculty members teach, ex-panding opportunities for creativity. Undergraduate and graduate programs are available online, increasing access for students. PSU enjoys a thriving Doctor of Education program, with 75 impressive candidates now prepar-ing to serve New Hampshire and New England. A much-needed Doctor of Physical Therapy pro-gram soon will be launched. Plymouth State’s regional impact has extended through outstanding work by the Centers for the Environment, for Rural Partnerships, and for Active Living and Healthy Communities. These centers promote healthy places, healthy economies, and healthy people through increased faculty and student research. Award-winning programs in the arts and humanities enhance PSU’s cultural outreach.

And PSU students in majors across the campus increasingly participate in hands-on, minds-on experiential learning, doing real-world projects that increase the depth of their education, set-ting them apart when they seek professional positions, and at the same time serving our important partners—businesses, govern-ment, schools, and nonprofits. PSU’s Enterprise Center at Plymouth, a small-business incubator and accelerator in part-nership with the Grafton County Economic Development Council, creates opportunities for students and new jobs for the area. The Museum of the White Mountains, promoting the region’s history and culture, attracts thousands of visitors and offers PSU additional resources for critical thinking and academic engagement. Plymouth State’s international presence has extended, with dozens of partnerships, an office in China, and a campus Center for Global Engagement to help all students strengthen their global understanding. I was pleased to be recognized by New Hampshire Magazine as one of its seven Women of the World because of PSU’s heightened international profile. Similarly, PSU has been recog-nized as one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible institutions of higher education, an achievement due, again, to many people’s contributions. PSU’s living and learning environment has evolved in ways consistent with sustainability and with twenty-first-century living and learning needs. Mary Lyon Residence Hall has been remod-eled for sustainability and historic

preservation, and it, Langdon Woods Residential Complex, and the Savage Welcome Center and Hanaway Rink have won awards for sustainable design. The campus acquired Highland Hall and developed PSU-Concord to meet the needs of the growing graduate learning community. Samuel Read Hall Building is being remodeled for additional STEM (science, technology, engi-neering, and math) programs and the Hartman Union Building for expanded technology and dining. This year will be an exciting one, with ALLWell North, a won-derful building for PSU’s future, under construction, and a new strategic plan, Focus 2020, now being implemented. Both initia-tives will enhance student success. I want to complete the Imagine A Way fund-raising campaign that, to date, has raised $18,300,000 to support students and the campus, with a goal of $20,000,000 by the year’s end. I hope that you will join me in achieving that goal. At Plymouth State, people con-centrate on student success. Like the hawk with which I opened this introduction, PSU will continue this year and beyond to emphasize what matters, look to the horizon, and soar.

Sara Jayne Steen, President

Leadership is not a solo, but an ensemble performance in which people work together.

2 Plymouth Magazine ■ Fall 2014

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Janet E. Ames photo.

Foreign policy expert Joseph S. Nye Jr., received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at Plymouth State’s fall Convocation.

Bruce Lyndes photo.


of notePSU AwArdS HonorAry degree to Foreign Policy exPert JoSePH nye Jr.Joseph S. Nye Jr., one of the nation’s foremost leaders in international relations, received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, presented by PSU President Sara Jayne Steen at fall Convocation, which marks the start of a new academic year. Nye served as dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and with the Department of Defense, the National Intelligence Council, and the State Department. In 2005 he was voted one of the 10 most influential scholars of international relations in the US, and in 2011 he was named one of the world’s most important global thinkers. He told students they all have the capacity to become leaders. “Take the next four years at PSU … set yourself a goal, and that’s to spend the next four years in teaching yourself leadership and I tell you that you will suc-ceed,” said Nye. PSU’s class of 2018 is com-prised of approximately 800 entering students who were cho-sen from nearly 4,800 applicants. The class includes students from 20 states and 8 countries.

PSU eArnS Fire’S HigHeSt rAting For Free SPeecHDemonstrating its commitment to protecting free speech on campus, Plymouth State University recently reformed its speech codes, and in the process has garnered a green light rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the organization’s highest award. “PSU is to be commended for its commitment to free speech,” said FIRE President Greg Lukianoff. “As one of only 20 schools to earn a green light rating from FIRE, Plymouth State is now a leader in protecting the freedom of speech on campus.” FIRE began working on speech code reform with PSU faculty and administrators in January 2014. Sam Brickley, a professor of busi-ness law at PSU, led the effort at the University along with a group of PSU administrators and faculty. FIRE is a nonprofit educa-tional foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, freedom of expression, academic freedom, due process, and rights of conscience in US colleges and universities.

SierrA clUb nAmeS PlymoUtH StAte one oF AmericA’S greeneSt ScHoolSThe Sierra Club has named PSU to its list of America’s Greenest Schools, a ranking based on an extensive questionnaire that assesses a wide range of criteria, such as the institution’s energy sources and on-campus land-scape use of native plants. “At PSU, we say that green is more than our school color and, to that end, we have made efforts to integrate sustainability not just in academic classes, but across our operations and thinking,” said Brian Eisenhower, PSU’s director of environmental sustainability. “One reason the Sierra Club’s Greenest Schools ranking is so meaningful is the comprehensive nature of their analyses, which involves a great deal of information about cam-pus operations, curricular efforts, and co-curricular activities,” Eisenhower added. PSU students are involved with numerous environmental awareness and advocacy activi-ties, including reducing the use of plastic water bottles on campus. Studies reveal 86 percent of water bottles sold in the US are not recycled, and are either inciner-ated or end up in landfills.

PSU StUdentS eArn HigH nAtionAl rAnking in criticAl tHinking And Problem Solving The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), a standard-ized test, revealed that Plymouth State University seniors rank in the 95th percentile for “value added” knowledge, or knowledge and skills acquired during under-graduate years, suggesting major gains in critical-thinking and problem-solving skills during the four academic years. The CLA measures critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problem solving, and written communication skills, and requires thoughtful, open-ended written responses. “Regional and national employers are asking for graduates with this twenty-first century skill set,” said David Zehr, PSU’s associate vice presi-dent for undergraduate studies.

“Based on these test results, our faculty can take great pride in the work they do with our students,” Zehr added.


PSU PUblicAtionS

Health Care Policy and Practice: A Biopsychosocial Perspective, (fourth edition) Cynthia Moniz, professor of social work and Stephen Gorin, professor of social work

In this fourth edition of their social work textbook, Cynthia Moniz and Stephen Gorin have restructured the book to guide students through the development of the American health care system: what it is, what the policies are, and how students can influence them. The authors have also updated their text to incorporate health care reform.

Redesigning Courses for Online Delivery: Design, Interaction, Media & Evaluation, Robyn Parker, professor of organizational communication and organi-zational behavior

This volume examines key considerations for effective online course redesign. Using a four-phase approach, Redesigning Courses for Online Delivery informs thinking, inspires creativity, and structures decisions to drive the development of high-quality online learning experiences. Both scholarly and practical, it provides a comprehensive approach to redesign useful to novices and veterans alike.

Healthy Children, Healthy Minds: Helping Children Succeed NOW for a Brighter Future, Marcel Lebrun, professor of curriculum and instruction, education, and special education; and Kimberly Williams, education teaching lecturer

The latest collaboration between Marcel Lebrun and Kimberly Williams (Keeping Kids Safe, Healthy, and Smart) is an excellent resource for educators, parents, and anyone who is interested in and committed to fostering healthy patterns of behavior, thinking, and lifestyle choices in children. This book provides strategies on how to keep the brain and mind healthy, and how to address challenges to brain and mind health, such as mental illness and substance abuse.

Transformative Leisure: A Philosophy of Communica-tion, Annette M. Holba, professor of rhetoric

Our impressions of leisure today often involve rest, relaxation, and freedom from work. These impressions are misguided if their limits remain unchallenged. This book reveals the deep essence of leisure by repositioning it as a philosophy of communi-cation that cultivates the mind and body.

Stay Alive Series #1–4, Joseph Monninger, professor of English

PSU author Joseph Monninger has embarked on a fun new writing adventure. Stay Alive is a planned series of adventure books for upper elementary and middle school-aged readers. Each book features a disaster faced by a group of children who must find their own way to survival, from a plane crash in the remote Alaskan wilderness to a freak earthquake off the coast of Maine. Monninger’s charac-ters are true-to-life, ranging from whiny to unexpectedly resourceful to dangerously inept. The first four books in the Stay Alive series are #1: Crash, #2: Cave-in, #3: Breakdown, and #4: Flood.

The Legacy of Fort William Henry: Resurrecting the Past, David R. Starbuck, professor of anthropology

Fort William Henry, America’s early frontier fort at the southern end of Lake George, NY, was a f lashpoint for conflict between the British and French empires in America. Over the past decade, new and exciting archeological findings, in tandem with modern forensic methods, have changed our view of life at the fort prior

to the massacre, by provid-ing physical evidence of the role that Native Americans played on both sides of the conflict. Intertwining recent revelations with those of the past, Starbuck creates a lively narrative beginning with the earliest Native American settlement on Lake George.

Electrified Skeletons, Paul Rogalus, professor of English

From “Psychos on the Highway” to “Addicts,” Paul Rogalus writes about the bizarreness of everyday life with sardonic humor and gritty realism. This collec-tion of microstories turns on themes of adventure and friendship, yet it never strokes the inauthentic device of happily-ever-afters.

Taken by Storm 1938: A Social and Meteorological History of the Great New England Hurricane, Lourdes Aviles, professor of meteorology

On September 21, 1938, one of the most powerful storms of the twentieth century came unannounced into the lives of New Yorkers and New Englanders, leaving utter devastation in its wake. The Great Hurricane, as it came to be known, changed every-thing, from the landscape and its inhabitants’ lives, to

weather bureau practices, to the measure and kind of relief New Englanders would receive during the Great Depression and the resulting pace of regional economic recovery. Aviles’s compelling history successfully weaves science, historical accounts, and social analyses to create a comprehensive picture of this devastating hurricane.

2013–14 have been prolific years for Bruce Heald, history teaching lecturer, who published the following titles:

A History of the Boston and Maine Railroad

A History of Dog Sledding in New England

A History of the New Hampshire Abenaki

New Hampshire and the Revolutionary War

Old Country Stores of New Hampshire

One-Room Schoolhouses of New Hampshire: Primers, Penmanship and Potbelly Stoves

United States Mail Boat: Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire

Social work students traveled to the Dominican Republic in spring 2014 for a week-long service-learning trip in which they helped effect change in a small village through advocacy and community action.


going globala portrait of an increasingly international university where visiting faculty,

exchange programs, and foreign-study trips are all part of educating students in the new world—and whose graduates are making a mark in the global economy.

■ Jim collinS


When Deb Regan started at Plymouth State in 1998 with a charge to develop

experiential learning and off-campus opportunities, there was no office on campus designated for international students or study abroad programs. Just eight stu-dents were doing anything at all in other countries, all of them in large part through their own persistence.

“We went from eight folders being handed to us,” Regan says, “to 100 students who will spend a semester abroad this year and another 120 or so who will go on international faculty-led trips.” The growth is both intentional and symbolic. Now the director of PSU’s Global Education Office (GEO), Regan oversees an increas-ingly diverse, multicultural array of experiential and off-campus opportunities that contribute to the evolving definition of what it means to educate students in the twenty-first century. As the world’s economies—and challenges—become increasingly integrated and interdependent, as digital tech-nology profoundly accelerates the exchange of products, services, and ideas, the University’s role of edu-cating future leaders has become more global in nature as well. Those future leaders can tap into a network of PSU alumni whose professional portfolios already include substantial international elements. Many of those gradu-ates—such as John Garnsey ’73, Hunt Ramsbottom ’79, Leesa Smith ’84, and Joe Teno ’85G—attended Plymouth State at a time when there was little global education on campus. But the quality of their business education prepared them for careers that would expand, in ways they could never have predicted, far beyond the borders of New England and the United States. Their wisdom and experience create an additional international resource for today’s students.

The enTrepreneurHunt Ramsbottom ’79 was typical in many ways of the students at Plymouth State College in the late 1970s. He came from Providence, RI, from a hard-working family that owned and ran a small printing com-pany. He studied business and played on the lacrosse team. He worked pumping gas and waiting tables in Waterville Valley. At that time, there wasn’t much international experience or exposure available to students at Plymouth State, formally or informally.

In his business classes, Ramsbottom learned nuts-and-bolts economics and business strategy, without much regard for the world outside of the northeastern United States. “I had one professor, though—Hennessy—whose brother was a CEO of a big conglomerate,” says Ramsbottom. “He was always talking about him. That really interested me.”

Ramsbottom returned to Providence with a BS in Business Administration and worked in the family printing business, but couldn’t shake the idea of wanting a bigger platform. Sensing an opportunity in the printing of software documentation and technical materials, he moved to the West Coast and started a niche printing company of his own. He sold it before he was 30, for a profit, and discovered an affinity for risk and a taste for acquiring and selling companies. He led a leveraged buyout of a California-based chain of automotive paint stores, aggressively pursued mergers and acquisitions, and grew the multi-state business into the largest supplier of auto paint in North America before taking it public in 1995.

Ten years later, by the time he became CEO and president of Rentech, a technology startup involved with developing alternative fuels, Ramsbottom had bought and sold nearly 70 small and medium-sized companies. When energy market conditions drastically changed, Ramsbottom sold off the Rentech technology to a Chinese company and pivoted the company into the supply and distribution of wood fiber, eventually operating 39 facilities in the US, Canada, Chile, and Uruguay, becoming a world leader.

In spring 2014, Rentech announced the purchase of the country’s larg-est supplier of home-heating wood pellets, New England Wood Pellet, headquartered in Jaffrey, NH. The acquisition secured a deep supply for, among other things, long-term contracts with coal-fired power plants in the UK and Canada converting to biomass. It also brought the entrepreneur back home, in a sense—and expanded the kind of big-business platform he’d once dreamed about as a student at Plymouth State. ■

© Devin Ford photo.

“The idea of being involved in business at the global level was really exciting.”

—Hunt RaMsbottoM ’79

Players on the World Stage


It’s beautiful here,” says Peng-Khuan Chong, a professor of political science who brings

an international perspective to class every day. “But I tell my students they need to get out of their comfort zones. I tell them that the University can give them skills and knowledge, but going somewhere else tests those skills and knowledge. That experience develops competence, confidence, and compassion. My students call them ‘Chong’s Cs.’” Chong, a part of the faculty for nearly 50 years, has played an active role in expanding Plymouth’s inter-national footprint. In 2011 and 2012, he helped establish PSU student and faculty exchanges with Universiti Tenku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) in Kampar, Malaysia, and Sunway University in Kuala Lumpur. He is a board governor and visiting professor at Houdegbe North American University in Benin, West Africa. Leesa Smith ’84, an execu-tive with the German-owned multinational corporation Freudenburg, confirms from the professional world what Chong tells his students on campus. “In order to win the game,” she says, “we’re going to need diverse management teams. We’re going to need people with cultural experience that you can’t get from only being in a classroom.” Smith, who regularly travels overseas for business, is one of a growing number of PSU graduates working on the inter-national stage. “Students should absolutely take advantage of any opportunities they have to travel abroad,” she says. “To Plymouth State students, I would say: If you don’t have a passport—get one. If an opportunity comes up—jump on it.”

The liaisonWhen she’s not traveling, Leesa Smith ’84 splits her professional time between offices in New Hampshire and Michigan, overseeing North American operations in the US, Canada, and Mexico for a multinational corporation headquartered in Germany. She is the archetypal twenty-first-century global executive.

Smith received an accounting degree from Plymouth State in 1984, then an executive MBA degree from the UNH Whittemore School of Business. She’ll never forget a demanding accounting professor who expected more from her than she thought she had in her. “The fact that he didn’t make it easy turned out to be a key experience for me,” she says. “For the first time in my life, I learned I could push.” A prime opportunity came when Freudenberg, a 140-year-old family-owned German corporation, created a North American subsid-iary in New Hampshire called Freudenberg NOK, and hired Smith as its new treasury manager.

She found herself in-state, learning on the job in a foreign environment—the engineering and manufactur-ing of automotive sealing and gaskets—within a diversified global corporation that produced, in particular, lubricants, sealants, vibration technology, surface coatings, and non-linen textiles for industries ranging from aerospace to medical to apparel to heavy construction. Nominally in charge of accounting, Smith recognized gaps in other areas and tried to address them. She had a mentor who pushed her toward the edge of the envelope without letting her get cut. She raised her hand for unpopular projects. (“Why was a treasury director the one to write the company’s policy on alcohol and drug abuse?” she asks.) She showed a talent for looking at the big picture. The home front noticed.

After a promotion to director of finance, Smith created a shared accounting center in Michigan that coordi-nated treasury, insurance, and pension management across all of Freudenberg’s 15 business groups in North America, covering some 6,000 employees and 21 percent of the corporation’s annual $8 billion in sales. In 2011 Smith became the first woman ever appointed to the corporation’s global executive team, where she “interfaces with legal, tax, human resources, finance, and communications at the parent company board level.” She represents North America in quarterly strategic meetings in Germany alongside regional repre-sentatives from Latin America, China, India, and Southeast Asia.

She recently needed additional pages put into her passport. “That feels a little like an honor to me,” she says. ■

““It’s not about the degree. It’s about life experiences and opportunities.”

—Leesa sMitH ’84

© Tif Edward LLewellyn Ochal photo.


John Garnsey ’73, who oversees global mountain development for the world’s

largest ski company, Vail Resorts, puts it this way: “English may be the universal language of business, but there are so many cultural perspectives and dif-ferences around the world that are subtle, even between the US and Western Europe. Being able to travel and work in different countries allows a much deeper understanding of where people come from. That understanding is crucial for both relationships and negotiations.” Among the foreign study programs that PSU offers, the most eye-opening might be the Freshman Abroad Program, an innovative model among American universities that allows accepted students to spend the first semester of their first year studying at the University of Limerick in Ireland. Each year, some 20 incoming Plymouth first-year students take advantage of the program and become first-year students at the University of Limerick. Half of them, typically, are New Hampshire residents with little or no prior travel expe-rience. “It’s a powerful way for those students to start their col-lege experience,” says Deb Regan, GEO director. “They come back to Plymouth State with self-confidence, self-awareness, and a greater appreciation for how big the world is. Their experi-ence changes the campus back home, and makes it more diverse and worldly.” The timing of the program, coming at the start of a PSU education, also sends a powerful message, according to Regan: international perspective is important to us. Upper-class students have additional opportunities, ranging

The MaTchMaker“I was at Plymouth State in the Dark Ages,” says John Garnsey ’73. “There wasn’t much back then in the way of international exposure. But Plymouth allowed me to get a degree in business in a beautiful setting while I pur-sued my passion, which is skiing.”

He started at the bottom of the hill, working as a ski patroller at Waterville Valley. He moved west a year after graduating to Vail, CO, where he joined Vail Mountain’s racing department and trails crew and found his life’s work. He steadily climbed through the ski area’s mountain operations, then became vice president of the fledgling Vail Valley Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the valley’s athletic, cultural, and edu-cational programming. He was instrumental in bringing the 1989 World Alpine Championships to the Vail Valley, a massive event drawing athletes from 80 countries and international media exposure reaching more than a billion spectators and fans of the sport. In the process, he began cultivat-ing relationships across the skiing parts of the globe that would flourish throughout his career.

From 1991 to 1999, Garnsey served as president of the foundation. He helped bring the world championships back to Vail/Beaver Creek a second time, then joined Vail Resorts as senior vice president and chief operating officer of Beaver Creek. In 2008, he was named president of the company’s global mountain development. As part of the premier ski company in North America, with 10 resorts in Colorado, California, and the northern Midwest, “it made sense to look at my position and my contacts,” Garnsey says, “and see what I could do to help the company grow internationally.”

from semesters studying environ-mental science in Torino, Italy, to archaeological digs in Scotland, to shorter faculty-led trips in Africa and Asia. Students who are a part of PSU’s Model UN have attended world conferences in Mexico, Singapore, and Helsinki. Other undergrads have designed and planned service trips to the developing world, such as help-ing build a primary school in Nicaragua and implementing a sustainable water system in east-ern Africa. Many students who go abroad come back and switch their majors or think differently about future careers: the course of their lives is changed by their international experience. The chance to work and live in foreign cultures, in many cases, fosters an openness to new experiences and an ease with confronting unfamiliar situations—intangible assets that employers value highly. Hunt Ramsbottom ’79, CEO of Rentech, a global supplier of wood fiber and wood pellets for heating, oversees manufacturing and supply-chain operations in the US, Canada, and South America. “We have a bunch of young, smart people in our company,” he says,

“and not all of them are up for the challenge of living and working in a different country. But the ones who understand languages and cultures ... I value them espe-cially. We can deploy them and let them run. I’d encourage students to learn languages and work abroad. Those graduates will be like gold to employers.”


Currently, PSU has formal exchange arrangements with 10 partner institu-

tions around the world, including the Dalarna University in Sweden, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and the Universidad Austral de Chile. A broad variety of programs and opportunities is available through respected and vetted study-abroad providers, such as French-language immer-sion summers in Nova Scotia and the Semester at Sea program, a multiple-country study abroad program. All of them, fundamen-tally, aim at the same purpose. Provost Julie Bernier says the University—especially in this increasingly global world—has an obligation to expose students to rich cultural and educational experiences, both domesti-cally and internationally. The University has thought creatively about how to make a wide range of those opportunities available. Ideally, Bernier says every single PSU student should have the chance to travel abroad.

“Because of economics, though,” she says, “that’s not possible. Recognizing that reality, we try to bring the experience to them.” She points out the global studies academic requirement of all stu-dents, the faculty exchanges that bring international perspectives and expertise into classrooms, the international workshops, campus events, and student organizations.

“We no longer live in a world where you interact only with people in your local community or your state,” she says. “It’s critical for our students to know how to interact and work with people from differ-ent backgrounds and cultures.” Jim Hundrieser ’90G, vice president for enrollment manage-ment and student affairs, reflects

on the increasing diversity within the student body. “Twenty-five years ago, there might have been eight or ten international students on the entire campus,” he recalls, “and most of them were on the soccer team.” Today, between 70 and 100 interna-tional students are enrolled at PSU each semester. They come through exchange programs from Malaysia, Japan, Romania, Latin America; they come full-time from England, Sweden, Canada, and China. During the spring of 2014 alone, some 29 countries were represented among the student body. “Think of the rich-ness those students add to the community,” Hundrieser says. Increasing the number of international students on campus is the University’s goal. In addition to the educational value to the community of learn-ers, Hundrieser says there’s an untapped market of international students for whom Plymouth State would be a good fit. To help identify and recruit students from one especially promising part of that market, the University has recently opened an affiliate office in the Chinese city of Chengdu. The overall goal is ambitious: raise the number of international undergraduate and graduate students on campus to 430 by the year 2020.

“Plymouth allowed me to get a degree in business in a beautiful setting while I pursued my passion, which is skiing.” —joHn gaRnsey ’73

John Garnsey ’73 (left) with Peter Schröcksnadel, president of the Austrian Ski Federation, following an aerial survey of ski resorts near Innsbruck, Austria.

Garnsey has spent the past several years reconnecting with old acquain-tances and making new ones in Western Europe, Central Europe, China, and Japan, looking for the right opportunities for acquisition and synergy. “We’re not the only ones looking internationally,” he says, “but we’re prob-ably out in front.” He’s strategically involved with Vail’s international sales team, which works with agents and tourism companies to bring foreign skiers to the Vail Valley. (Among other programs, Vail has reciprocity agreements with resorts in Austria, France, China, and Japan, that encour-age skiers to travel in both directions.)

Garnsey says the travel and face-to-face experiences have given him a deeper understanding of the different cultures and helped with his ability to negotiate and to explain his company. “The ski industry is a small world,” he says. “Skiing is really a universal language with a lot of dialects. But the models are very different depending on where you are.” To pick just one example: American resorts tend to control the entire skier’s experience, from on-mountain to lodging, dining, and entertainment, while French resorts have very complicated overlapping partnerships and agreements to provide those services. Finding the right fits involves diligence and trust on both sides.

Meanwhile, Garnsey has been inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snow-board Museum Hall of Fame and received the US Ski and Snowboard Association’s Julius Blegen Award for lifetime service to the sport. He suc-cessfully co-chaired a campaign to bring the World Alpine Championships back to the Vail Valley in 2015.

In April this year, he announced he’ll retire from his full-time position follow-ing those international races, a fitting capstone to an ambassador’s career. ■


It’s all part of the evolution of what it means to best serve a state, a region, and its

students. From its founding in 1871 as Plymouth Normal School to becoming Plymouth Teachers College in 1939, to its develop-ment as Plymouth State College in 1963 and to Plymouth State University four decades later, the institution has changed in relation to the changing world around it. PSU has continually made its education relevant and made its students more employable and better prepared for the world they enter upon graduating. Higher education, at its best, pushes students beyond their personal boundaries: it offers avenues for exploration and self-discovery. In the end, it’s not the institution’s changes that define the education. It’s the change that happens in each and every student. And some things don’t change. Says Joe Teno ’85G, former L.L. Bean executive and founder of QOR, a new line of men’s active apparel, “I’d have to say that the fundamental elements of being a good person and a good busi-ness person are the same: trust, integrity, and treating people well. There are universal standards of behavior that transcend countries and nationalities. Being out in the world helps build that character.” ■

Jim Collins is a professional freelance writer living in New Hampshire and Seattle.

The reTailer“I can’t give you a sound bite on Plymouth,” says Joe Teno ’85G. “Most of my classes were held off-site in Hanover. I had a full-time job as a master plumber and got my MBA at night. But I will say that the passion and energy of the instructors were phenomenal. They absolutely moved me onto a different path.” That path led to a finance position with L.L. Bean. The quantitative analysis Teno got through Plymouth State directly prepared him for that job, he recalls. “But I remember the interviewer saying, ‘You had a job and got your MBA at night?’ I think they recognized that there was a certain reality to my living situation—that I hadn’t been at school just for fun and games. That made an impression.”

He stayed with L.L. Bean for 14 years before becoming vice president of operations and organizational develop-ment at TravelSmith. In 2001, he was hired away by a new women’s active apparel company, Athleta, where he served as senior vice president of operations and then president, the role he occupied when Gap purchased Athleta in 2008 for $150 million.

If Teno had a feel for the international threads running through the American retail industry in those positions, he’s gotten full-on immersion in his latest venture: a start-up mail-order apparel company called QOR (pro-nounced “core”). The business, he says, will center on functional, high-quality fabric, well-crafted performance clothing designed for men who don’t want to be treated as stereotypes. He has spent much of the past year sourcing technical fiber in Switzerland and South and Central America, finding Merino wool producers in New Zealand and Australia, and cotton growers in Portugal. He has visited vendors in Canada, China, and Hong Kong; has attended trade shows in Munich and Berlin and in Florence, Italy. He’s toured shops in Europe, looking for ideas. “The top floor at Harrods in London is wonderfully inspiring,” he says.

Teno wants the clothing and the presentation around it to be authentic, to celebrate qualities in men such as character, confidence, and vulnerability. The active part of his own résumé is authentic: Outward Bound in Maine at age 16, scores of White Mountain hikes above treeline, four years in the army including time with the Green Beret 10th Special Forces, six New York City Marathons, a climb of Mount Rainier, and a number of “cen-tury” bike rides. “Men who have known the joys of being active have also come to terms with their limitations,” he says. “When you reach that point in your life, it changes your relationship to other people and to the world.”

At times, his travel schedule has been relentless and exhausting—and exhilarating. He says he has worked hard in his life, but never harder than he’s working right now. The first QOR catalogues hit mailboxes in October. ■

“There are universal standards of behavior that transcend countries and nationalities. ... Being out in the world helps build that character.”

—joe teno ’85g

Joe Teno ’85G with his grandfather’s 1951 GMC truck that he is restoring.


STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: MAE WILLIAMS ’14G

a TwenTy-firsT-cenTury preservaTionisT


When Mae Williams ’14G enrolled in the Master of Arts in Historic Preservation program in the fall of 2012, she was drawn to the strength of a program in which, she says, “The professors are not academics locked away amidst a pile of books, but are actually out in the field on a daily basis, applying the information they are presenting in the classroom.” Below, she writes about one course that was especially meaningful to her, Sustainability in Historic Preservation, which allowed her to explore environmentally responsible historic preservation solutions to real-world challenges.

I was partIcularly drawn to the sustainability in Historic preservation course because of

my background. I grew up in a pas-sive solar house, built by my architect father with the aid of a carter administration grant. My parents raised me in a household with a large, organically farmed garden and fostered my love of the natural world. after earning my undergraduate degree in art history, I found myself struggling to find a niche where I could couple my interest in sustain-ability with my love of history. I spent time in the curatorial department at canterbury shaker Village and as a program assistant for the division of Historical resources. I worked for the new Hampshire department of agriculture and then for a local non-profit conservation group. the historic preservation program, and in particular this course, finally seemed to offer me a way to blend these two seemingly disconnected worlds. the sustainability in Historic preservation course focused on how we can use historic preservation as a tool not just for climate change mitigation but also as a way of creat-ing economic growth. as our climate changes, and the way in which we

use space evolves, it is important to seek creative solutions to space needs while respecting not only our built environment but also the energy embodied in existing infrastructure. In this light, preservation shifts from the limited realm of local historical societies to common sense policy. Historically, towns and cities were densely packed with mixed-use walkable neighborhoods. Outside these dense centers were large tracts of farmland and forests, providing for the urban areas. Our modern world is reliant on automobiles to shuttle us around suburban shopping malls that are gradually spread-ing farther and farther away from town centers where vacant shops sit neglected and forgotten. Historic preservation is often viewed as an elitist and expensive venture, but in reality it can be a tool to create local jobs and a sustainable economy. compared to similar-scale new construction, historic preservation creates more jobs. preservation is extremely labor intensive and requires less material than new construction. a higher percentage of project costs can go directly to local craftsmen.

For this class, I spent a lot of time researching the laconia (nH) state school property and exploring some of the options for the future of the site. the course material had to be applied to identify specific obstacles and opportunities associated with the site, as well as research into how similar sites have been addressed elsewhere. In particular this course made us look past preservation as simply a collection of theories as we took those ephemeral concepts and applied them to a real-life scenario. laconia state school is a site that faces many challenges. the campus is vast, with 222.4 acres and 33 buildings and structures. the location has been largely vacant since it was formally closed in 1991 and the empty buildings have deteriorated rapidly. the site has environmental issues, including buried oil tanks, the potential for pesticide and insecticide leachage near some of the outbuildings, solid waste, asbestos, sludge beds related to a former sewage treatment plant, lead paint, mold, and pcBs (manmade organic pollutants). additionally, laconia state school is associated with an era of our history that we may not want to remember, where the mentally ill were sometimes

Previous page and below: Mae Williams ’14G and the interior of the beautiful Bath Congregational Church she helped to get listed on the NH Historical Register. Jon Gilbert Fox photos.

Above: The Baker Building, Laconia State School. The location has been largely vacant since it was formally closed in 1991.

Mae Williams photo.


mistreated and kept separate from society. Any potential redevelopment efforts must be sensitive to this. Many states and municipalities throughout the country struggle with what to do with similar proper-ties. The land for Laconia State School was originally chosen because of the woodlot and farm-ing potential to create a self-reliant community. Like many similar campuses, Laconia State School has its own electrical steam plant to supply heat to most of the buildings. All buildings on the campus are cur-rently connected to PSNH electrical service, Winnipesaukee River Basin Program Waste Water system, and city drinking water. Many of the buildings on the campus are brick and concrete, materials that are generally less expensive to renovate than wooden structures. Reuse of the

site must utilize these features to be sustainable. Across the nation, other former mental institutions are slowly being transformed into mixed-use communities with residential and commercial areas. The Lakes Region Community College and Belknap County Economic Development Council have suggested that the site be used as an educational complex. Perhaps Laconia State School could be renovated in a phased develop-ment that utilizes these structures and the farmland on which they sit, returning much of the land to its historically intended use. Future use of the site might incorporate the community gardens just across the street, creating a community out-reach program to teach sustainable gardening and the use of seasonally available foods.

This course ... helped me bridge the gap between the important preservation theory presented in other classes and the daily application of those concepts.

As a twenty-first-century preser-vationist, I know I will find myself facing similarly complex issues over and over again. I will need to constantly re-examine new studies on the economic and environmental impact of preservation as I try to convince the world that preservation is green. This course, in particular, helped me bridge the gap between the important preservation theory presented in other classes and the daily application of those concepts. Now I feel more able to explain why preservation is important to our society as we move forward.

Mae Williams ’14G presented her paper, Creating a Sustainable Future for Laconia State School, at the 2013 New Hampshire Preservation Alliance’s conference.

officially, and to a casual obsErvEr, thE EntErPrisE cEntEr at PlyMouth is a rEsourcE and an incubator for sMall businEssEs throughout thE rEgion sEEking advicE and counsEling, sErvicEs, lEasEd sPacE, MEntoring, and nEtworking. in PracticE it is all this and MorE. ■ EMILIE COULTER


enTerprise cenTer aT plyMouThanchoring businEssEs and graduatEs to thE rEgion

Jeremy Gasowski ’01 photo.

IN THE FALL OF 2013, com-puter science and technology major Alex Murphy ’14 was

headed to Boston to seek intern-ships and part-time work. This is where his family is and, as he says, there is a plethora of com-puter science and information technology jobs in that area. But when he learned of a software support and Web services administrator internship at the Enterprise Center at Plymouth’s anchor tenant, a real estate

appraisal software company called Narrative1, this computer science and technology major jumped at the opportunity to stay in the area. While at Narrative1, Murphy connected with TotalScope Marketing, another ECP member business, and soon began interning as a Web devel-oper for them as well. An avid mountain biker and backcountry skier, Murphy was eager to balance his desire to find good work in his own field with a lifestyle that keeps him

happy and healthy. Plus, as he says, you can’t beat the location:

“Considering these internships were practically 300 yards from the center of campus, the location is second to none. I live, work, and attend university all within the same square half-mile.” The training in Web devel-opment and user experience Murphy acquired during his internships proved beneficial both academically and profes-sionally. “Many components of

my senior project, a web-based recordkeeping system for a local homeless shelter, could not have been built without the valuable experience I gained at both Narrative1 and TotalScope Marketing,” he says. And at a time when many college graduates are struggling to find work, Murphy was able to land permanent employment before graduation as a Web developer, thanks to his academic prepara-tion and business experience.


enTerprise cenTer aT plyMouThanchoring businEssEs and graduatEs to thE rEgion

“We’re trying to build our culture around young people who might want to stay in the area. We can give them a work environment that meets their balance of life goals: a good career and a great place to live.”

—Mark LaClair


ecP member bUSineSSeS: SmAll-town commUnity witH big-city dividendS

Mark LaClair, chair of the Grafton County Economic Development Council (GCEDC) and managing partner of TotalScope Marketing, appreci-ates the collegiality among the businesses in the ECP. “We’re always going to each other’s offices, borrowing knowledge, and borrowing supplies,” he says. “Ideas generate between two business tenants over a cup of coffee, or problems are solved just by asking somebody else who’s trying to make their own way. The atmosphere here is a story nobody expects when they come in. We knew we were going to get the University, but what we also got was each other.”

Narrative1 COO Tim Corbitt notes that employees of his company often work with other businesses in the ECP to share resources and tackle projects that they may not have been able to do themselves. He also appreciates the way the larger community takes advantage of the ECP’s programs and resources. “We’re a more traditional client trying to build a high-tech business,” Corbitt says, “but it really impresses me the number of non-tech, non-traditional businesses that come in here for support, from the dentist’s office right in town to small farms in the area, people producing wool or making cheese; it’s just terrific to bring us all together.” Any small business in the region is welcome to attend the free or low-cost workshops and seminars organized by the GCEDC and PSU’s College of Business Administration. Recent programming includes retirement planning for small businesses, social media mar-keting, e-mail boot camp, and preparing balance sheets for investor scrutiny.

HAnd in HAnd witH PSU

Although the companies that lease space in the ECP specialize in different fields, from finance to marketing to software, they share a commitment to leveraging the partnership with Plymouth State University faculty and students. The proximity is a major draw for businesses and student interns alike. Corbitt notes that “it’s only a 40-foot-wide street, but it’s a pretty big gap unless you have something to bring people here. The programs we have between the two sides of the street close that gap nicely.” His company consults frequently with PSU College of Business Administration faculty Bob Nadeau and Terri Dautcher on ways Narrative1 can properly scale itself as it grows. Nadeau, Dautcher, and other faculty are also crucial to Narrative1’s process of recruiting interns and part-time employees who have been trained in their degree program to work on very specific market-ing, Web, or technical projects. “The nice thing about this is that it’s not just an internship

for one semester,” says Corbitt. “Every one of the students work both as an intern and as a part-time employee; typically they continue on after their internship is done and throughout the rest of their time at Plymouth State. Our objective and hope is that they will start their careers here. None of that would really be feasible without being physically here next to the campus and without the services we have as part of this incubator.” Narrative1 has goals and growth plans that mean it will outgrow the ECP—tenants are expected to make way for other small businesses after two to five years—but Corbitt is not worried: he believes the personal relation-ships his company has developed with faculty and students will sustain the partnership long after Narrative1 has left the ECP. TotalScope’s LaClair sees in the ECP-PSU partnership a chance for students to remain in the area and make a solid living and for businesses like his to access a “set of skills, youth, and energy” that allows them to be competitive and creative. “These

Michael Tentnowski, executive director of the ECP, leads a popular seminar on running a professional consulting business. Ken Hamilton photo.

94.8%occuPancy ratE bEforE thE End of thE first yEar of oPEration

36total full-tiME jobs crEatEd

19Psu studEnts EMPloyEd as intErns at coMPaniEs associatEd with thE EcP

400+cEntral nh businEssEs rEcEiving sEMinars, workshoPs, and individual businEss counsEling froM thE EcP

“Companies like ours that continue to grow will create a new business environment in the region.”

—tim Corbitt


interns give us some depth in our capability,” he says. “They allow us to do a little more for a client than we might otherwise.” LaClair finds that most new interns have the required techni-cal skills but need the experience of working with clients and within business project timelines. His goal is to transform some of that raw energy and base knowl-edge into marketable career skills.

liFe AFter PSUECP business owners are keenly aware of the aging demographic in New Hampshire, and the urgent need to attract and keep young people in the state. Creating a close-knit professional community benefits businesses and students alike, and may go a long way toward keeping educated young people in New Hampshire. “Companies like ours that continue to grow will create a new business environment in the region,” says Corbitt. “But the near-term challenge is keeping the interns here after gradua-tion, beyond the romance of the internship and into the reality of the workforce.” LaClair says TotalScope works to help PSU students understand that an internship can mean more than just course credit; it can mean employment in a region they have come to love. “That marketing intern who works with us for a summer realizes she could actually get a job after graduation doing marketing right here where she wants to be,” he says. “We’re trying to build our culture around young people who might want to stay in the area. We can give them a work environ-ment that meets their balance of life goals: a good career and a great place to live.”

Mark LaClair (left) and Tim Corbitt share more than space in the same building: the informal exchange of ideas and resources among business tenants is one key to the success of the ECP as an incubator and business accelerator. Ken Hamilton photo.

ecp achievementsfor 2013–14


beyond graniTe:

as american students and workers fall behind their counterparts around the world in the science and technology fields, educators and policy makers have stressed the importance of strengthening our attention to stEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Exhibition curator sarah garlick writes about the connections between earth science, adventure, and the process of learning stEM in the Museum of the white Mountains’ latest show.

■ SArAH gArlick

thE MusEuM of thE whitE Mountains

takEs on stEM

Climber Peter Doucette ascends the ice climb Way in the Wilderness on the cliffs high above the Kancamagus Highway. Jim Surette GigaPan photo.


IF YOU WATCH children play-ing outside—at the beach, along the banks of a stream, even on

a playground—it doesn’t take long to recognize an almost universal fascination with rocks. Kids pick up stones, notice their shapes, textures, and weight. They hunt for crystals and seek out bare exposures of rock in just about any setting. But for many adults, we’ve lost that fascina-tion as we’ve grown older. Many of us have become conditioned along the way to think about rocks and geology as boring, or perhaps too complicated or difficult, or simply not relevant to our lives. But if you think about our world today, as we face the impacts of a changing climate, as economies and technologies around the world grapple with limited natural resources, and as our headlines are

dominated by natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and mud slides, one could argue that the science of the Earth is the most critical discipline of our time. Last March, the Museum of the White Mountains—Plymouth State University’s transdisciplinary center for White Mountains history, culture, and environmental legacy—opened its doors to a new exhibition that dives headfirst into the world of Earth science. This exhibition, Beyond Granite: the Geology of Adventure, explores the connections between outdoor recreation in the mountains and the science of the landscape itself. The exhibition focuses on the experiences of hikers, climbers, skiers, and snowboarders in the White Mountains, and ties these stories to the underlying his-tory of the bedrock and mountainous

topography. As the guest curator for the show, my goal was to bring the science of geology close to home—to tap into that original delight in rocks and nature that many of us first experienced as kids picking up pebbles in our driveways and yards and connect it to the world-class recreation opportunities that mil-lions of people enjoy each year in the mountains of New Hampshire. At the heart of the exhibition are large-format panoramas of three iconic locations in the White Mountains: Cannon Cliff, the Franconia Ridge, and Mt. Washington. These images are called GigaPans—gigapixel pan-oramas—and they are created using a robotic mount connected to a camera, allowing the photographer to systematically shoot hundreds of images for a single scene that

Contrary to old notions, the process of learning science is not as simple as filling up an empty brain with facts and concepts.


are later stitched together into one photograph using a computer. The resulting photos contain billions of pixels, which means they can be printed to enormous sizes while maintaining high resolution, and in the digital format, users have the ability to deeply zoom into a scene. Adventure cinematographer and photographer Jim Surette of North Conway shot the three GigaPans featured in Beyond Granite. “It was an adventure just to capture the GigaPans,” Surette says. “Each GigaPan is a composite of over 500 individual images. They take hours to capture and process and conditions have to be perfect. But the result is worth it. The level of detail you can zoom into is incredible. The technology reveals a new way to look at the mountains.” While the technology for creat-ing GigaPans has been around since 2008, the use of GigaPans as a tool to support science learning is an area of emerging education research. To bring GigaPans into the Museum of the White Mountains, I worked with a team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Learning in Out of School Environments (UP-CLOSE)

and Carnegie Mellon University’s Community Robotics Education and Technology Empowerment Lab (CREATE Lab). This group, which includes researchers who helped develop the technology for NASA’s Mars Rovers, has been experiment-ing with technological platforms for enhancing science learning in museums and other settings via these deep-zoomable images. Through our collaboration, we adapted one of the team’s experimental program designs to fit content from the White Mountains. We built a computer kiosk with a touch screen that allows museum visitors to use their fingertips to explore Cannon Cliff, the Franconia Ridge, and the east sides of Mt. Washington, Mt. Madison, and Mt. Adams in an entirely new manner than ever before. We embedded stories, diagrams, and photographs from important locations within each image to support discovery and learning. For example, on the Cannon Cliff GigaPan, you can zoom into the talus field and learn about talus formation or zoom into the old turnbuckles that once secured the Old Man of the Mountain and read about its

geological origins and collapse. You can then pan over to the Black Dike and read about its hair-raising solo first ascent by ice climber John Bouchard in 1971. To experience the full impact of the GigaPans, we printed them for physical display on the museum walls in addition to their digital display on the touch-screen kiosk. Each panorama spans three feet in height and 12–14 feet in length. We used a special large-format printer that allowed us to install these photographs directly onto the gallery walls—there are no frames or panes of glass to separate viewers from the scene. You can get up close and trace details like climbing routes and trails and geologic features like fracture patterns, landslide scars, and the shapes of the ravines. As a science educator, I believe that the GigaPans in Beyond Granite have provided an exciting opportu-nity to bring new technologies and research-based exhibit design to the Museum of the White Mountains. As a lover of science and nature and as an avid climber, hiker, and skier, I also find the GigaPans to be cool. Feedback we’ve received has shown that many museum visitors feel the same way. As it turns out, these two per-spectives, one of education and one of enjoyment, aren’t as unrelated as they might seem. The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences released a consensus report in 2010 about how people learn science in informal, out-of-school settings. Contrary to old notions, the process of learning science is not as simple as filling up an empty brain with facts and con-cepts. Instead, education researchers now recognize learning as a social and context-driven process, and that learning science encompasses much more than building conceptual knowledge. The process of science learning, something that occurs

Above and opposite: Sandwich Central School 4th and 5th graders explored the multimedia and hands-on displays during a field trip to the museum last spring. Jeremy Gasowski ’01 photos.

Below: Adventure cinematographer and photographer Jim Surette capturing a Gigapan image made up of over 500 separate images taken over hours.


throughout and across many settings of one’s life, includes several distinct aspects, or strands, as learning researchers call them. These strands include sparking interest and excite-ment, understanding content and knowledge, engaging in scientific reasoning, reflecting on science as a way of knowing, using the tools and language of science, and identifying with the scientific enterprise—think-ing of oneself as someone who learns about science [1].

As the Beyond Granite exhibition evolved from an idea to an outline to a complete show, I worked with the museum staff and an advisory board of geologists to weave these different strands into the exhibit design. For example, one of the foundational aspects of science learning is expe-riencing excitement, interest, and motivation to learn about phenom-ena in the natural and physical world [1]. This is at the core of Beyond Granite—the strength of the ties between science and the activities and places people love. Also, the use of the GigaPans provides an opportunity for the exhi-bition to support aspects of scientific reasoning, another important strand of how we learn science. As visitors

Beyond Granite: the Geology of Adventure, curated by Sarah Garlick, is on display at the Museum of the White Mountains until March 8, 2015. Garlick is an award-winning author of Flakes, Jugs, and Splitters: A Rock Climber’s Guide to Geology, and National Geographic’s Pocket Guide to Rocks and Minerals. She is the director of science, policy, and outreach for the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation.

[1] Fenichel, M., and Schweingruber, H.A. (2010). surrounded by science: Learning science in informal environments. Board on Science Education, Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

interact with the GigaPans, both in digital form and in their large-format prints, they engage in acts of explora-tion, observation, questioning, and making sense of the natural and physical world. These are key science reasoning skills. Under the leadership of museum director Catherine Amidon, the educational impacts of Beyond Granite—and all exhibitions at the Museum of the White Mountains—are designed to reach far beyond

the walls of 34 Highland Street. As with all of the museum’s collections and shows, images, videos, materi-als, and texts are made available for free to anyone and everyone via the museum’s website. Also, the museum has released standards-based lessons based on the exhibit that are available for free to New Hampshire teachers and are divided into elementary, middle, and high school levels. These lessons, designed by science education consultant Jackie Wilson, provide easy-to-adapt frameworks for teach-ers to bring the geology of the White Mountains and the thrill of outdoor recreation into their classrooms. This last point—the thrill of expe-riencing the mountains, whether out on a casual walk or in the vertical

plane of a rock climb—is what Beyond Granite is all about. This show, like the underlying mission of the institution that houses it, is a cel-ebration of this magnificent region many of us have the good fortune to call home. I hope that at least some museum visitors come away feeling like I do, that science doesn’t have to be a separate, technical, and intimi-dating discipline, that it is woven into our everyday experiences and is an opportunity to deepen and enrich our lives.

plymouth.edu/museum-of-the-white-mountains

■ bArbrA AlAn


on The Mark: Allwell nortH At PlymoUtH StAte UniverSity

Architect’s renderings of lower lobby entry (left) exterior (above) and indoor track facilities (bottom left) of ALLWell North. Sasaki Associates.


the constructIon of plymouth state university’s newest building, the active Living, Learning, and wellness center

(aLLwell north), marks an exciting moment in the university’s long history of service to new hampshire, with special emphasis on the north country and Lakes region, highlights its critical roles in contributing to the state’s economic base and preparing an educated workforce. aLLwell north will be a boon to the state and region. when it opens in fall 2015, the 107,600-square-foot facility will provide new indoor fitness and recreational opportunities for the community, accommodate up to 6,000 people for regional events and performances, and allow the university to host large-scale track and field events for the state and region. further, aLLwell north will create an estimated $4 million annual economic impact for the region through job creation, visitor spending, and additional procurement by the university.


Building on SuccessALLWell North is the second phase of a multiphase building plan for the east side of campus and will be the greatest transformation in academic and campus life at PSU to date. The first phase, the PSU Ice Arena and Welcome Center, completed in 2010, has enhanced academics, athletics, and recreation for the University and beyond. Exercise and sport physiol-ogy students use the ice rink to conduct testing on student-athletes to assess their fitness levels, and ath-letic training students use the facility as one of their clinical rotation sites. The ice arena has also provided a much-needed venue for exercise and events such as open skating and skat-ing lessons, hockey, broomball, and,

most recently curling—all of which are available to campus and com-munity members. Skating on home ice, increased seating for fans, and attracting highly regarded recruits eager to play in a beautiful arena have improved the performance of the PSU’s men’s and women’s ice hockey teams. Since the facility opened in fall 2010, the men’s hockey team has played in three straight collegiate championships. The PSU Ice Arena and Welcome Center also established a more attractive and welcoming entrance to campus on Holderness Road, an entrance that will continue to be enhanced by ALLWell North and the new green spaces surrounding it that figure prominently into the plan.

Regional BenefitsThe educational, research, and recreational activities that will take place in ALLWell North will have major implications for the health and wellness of our region. PSU’s Department of Health and Human Performance—the University’s second-largest depart-ment— engages graduate and undergraduate students in rigorous

coursework and collaborations with faculty who are conducting cutting-edge research, such as fall risk assessment for senior citizens, the impact of concussion in ath-letes, and the benefits of staying active throughout the life span. In ALLWell North, classroom and hands-on learning will occur under one roof thanks to the building’s large-scale, multi-use space and retractable partitions that create classrooms and research laboratories. “Successfully preparing future health and wellness professionals requires a synergy between academic and experiential learning,” says Julie Bernier, PSU provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Our students will be better prepared to serve the region because of how ALLWell North integrates academics, athletics, and recreation on one site.” Better-prepared students lead to high-quality health and wellness professionals who benefit the schools, hospitals, clinics, social service agencies, rehabilitation centers, and health and fitness facilities in which they work throughout New Hampshire and New England.

The PSU Ice Arena and Welcome Center, completed in 2010, has already greatly enhanced academics, athletics, and recreation for the University and beyond.

Kyle Simard ’17 photo.

Allwell nortH will

inclUde SPAce For:

teaching + research

athletic training

adventure education

fitness + strength training

cardio classes


“ALLWell North will include an athletic training room where athletic training students like me will practice our skills at evaluating, treating, and caring for athletes who compete in and around the building: cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field athletes to begin with, and eventually football and other outdoor sports teams,” says Brendan Curtin ’15. ALLWell North will also provide a home to the University’s Center for Active Living and Healthy Communities, a center for education, research, and community partner-ships that attracts grant support and research dollars to the state. Rebecca Busanich, assistant director of the center, is currently involved in a research project that could shine light on the complexities and benefits of physical activity for those with dis-abilities as well as support the work of local non-profit organizations like Adaptive Sports Partners of the North Country (ASPNC), which aim to support such experiences through evidence-based practice. Tourism and recreation are two of New Hampshire’s most important industries, and are major economic

“Successfully preparing future health and wellness professionals requires a synergy between academic and experiential learning. Our students will be better prepared to serve the region because of how ALLWell North integrates academics, athletics, and recreation on one site.”

—Julie Bernier, PSu ProvoSt and vice PreSident for academic affairS

drivers for the state. Highly trained adventure education professionals are in demand by local and regional employers. ALLWell North will help prepare students for careers in outdoor leadership, adventure educa-tion, state and national park outdoor education, therapeutic adventure, environmental education, and recre-ation. “There is no institution better situated than PSU, in the midst of our vast natural resources of the Lakes Region and the White Mountains, to train the future leaders in the expand-ing field of adventure and outdoor programming,” says Jeffrey Rose, commissioner of New Hampshire’s Department of Resources of Economic Development.

Student BenefitsWhile the state and region will benefit greatly from the presence of ALLWell North on campus, the state-of-the-art building will establish an attractive, welcoming entrance to the campus; enhance PSU’s faculty and student recruitment efforts; and transform the academic and athletic experience for more than 75 percent of the stu-dent body who will use the building as a classroom, as varsity competition

and training space, as a place to participate in intramural sports, and other recreational opportunities. ALLWell North begins the transition out of the school’s cur-rent Physical Education Center that opened in 1968 to serve a campus of 1,800 students. Considered one of the finest college-level facilities when built, the PE Center now lags far behind in serving a campus of 7,000 students and 24 men’s and women’s varsity athletic teams. Larry Haynes ’86, president of the PSU President’s Council and CEO of Grappone Automotive Group in Bow, NH, says ALLWell North will make PSU more com-petitive, both in admissions and in athletics. “When prospective students see that your facilities are outdated, they’re not going to come here,” he says. “With ALLWell North on campus, just think of the return on investment in terms of student recruitment, athletic competitive-ness, and graduate preparation.” Double the size of the current field house, ALLWell North allows for a wide range of activities to take place simultaneously, maximizing the building’s usefulness. Among


ALLWell North’s key features are more locker rooms and restrooms, indoor tennis courts, and a full-size track, which will allow PSU to proudly host regional track and field events and bring back its varsity track and field teams. Reinstating PSU varsity track and field is welcome news to alumnus George Davis ’63, founding coach of UMass Lowell’s cross country and track and field programs, a member of three track and field halls of fame, and 20-time NCAA Division II Coach of the Year Award recipient. “I remember the [first] track program at PSU—when it was dropped, I was devastated,” he says. When PSU asked Davis to serve as a consultant on the new 200-meter track, he jumped at the chance to be part of his alma mater’s latest venture. Helping plan and design the track was, he says, “one of the great experiences I’ve had in my profes-sional career … to help this become the great facility that it will be.” In recognition of Davis’s distin-guished career and his love for PSU, Davis’s son Kevin recently honored him with a major gift in support of ALLWell North. The track that Davis worked so hard to help plan and design will be named the George E. Davis ’63 Track. (Learn more about this meaningful gift on the inside back cover of this magazine.)

Stewarding Financial ResourcesWhile the advantages of ALLWell North to both the region and the campus are abundant, the decision to build a new facility on campus was made only after careful resource planning and consideration. In recent years, the University has had to commit $1.75 million annually simply to maintain the outdated PE Center. Continuing that expense is imprudent, and a recent external study concluded that replacing the facility is more cost-effective than continuing to repair or renovate it, while also reducing the University’s

maintenance backlog and addressing safety and accessibility concerns. Guided by the University’s Strategic Plan and 10-year Campus Master Plan, ALLWell North will solidify PSU’s niche as an established leader in the education and training of health and wellness professionals.

Breaking Ground, Gaining MomentumThanks to support from generous alumni and friends, the Campaign for ALLWell North is well under way with just over a half-million dollars in gifts and pledges toward an overall goal of raising $1.5 million in private support by June 30, 2015. Plymouth area business owners and community leaders Don ’84, ’98G and Arlene ’83 Stoppe were the first to step forward with a major gift for the project. The Stoppes, who personify active living and healthy lifestyles themselves, generously supported the construc-tion of the ice arena and welcome center and are dedicated to helping their alma mater transform health and wellness throughout the region. Stoppe believes that ALLWell North will give a tremendous boost to alumni pride, and expects it to draw more alumni and families to campus, whether it’s for a game, an alumni event, or an admissions open house. “This is what we want for our school,” he says. “We want our athletics teams to succeed; we want enrollment to increase; and we want our alma mater to be recognized for its teaching and research. We want to bring our children, our nieces, our nephews—the young people in our lives—back to campus and say, ‘This is where I went to college’ with pride.”

To learn how you can support ALLWell North, contact John Scheinman at 603) 535-2805 or [email protected].

“ALLWell North will include an athletic training room where athletic training students like me will practice our skills at evaluating, treating, and caring for athletes who compete in and around the building: cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field athletes to begin with, and eventually football and other outdoor sports teams.”

—Brendan curtin ’15

Jeremy Gasowski ’01 photo.

•


THE GREEN | aluMni news & noTes

in the green Alumni Reunion Weekend 27

A Celebration of John Lynch 28

Homecoming & Family Celebration 28

Upcoming Events 28

Paula Lee Hobson: Vice President 29 for University Advancement

Alumni Achievement Awards 29

In Memoriam 30

Alumni News & Notes 30

Celebrating Our Legacy Families 31

Exchanging Vows 31

A Socially Conscious Soda Man: 32 Mark Seiler ’89

New Arrivals 34

Alumni Profile: 35 Stephen J. Sedensky III ’80

alumni reunion weekend 2014More than 350 alumni returned to campus June 20–22, 2014 to relive their Plymouth State past and reconnect with classmates and friends during landmark and Greek reunion events. Members of the class of 1964 u celebrated their 50th reunion, many seeing each other for the first time since graduating. Eight women from the class of 1944 v traveled back to campus with family and friends to gather for a remarkable 70th reunion celebration. The 3rd Biennial Greek Alumni Reunion attracted more than 200 attendees, with representatives from 15 of 19 organizations. w PSI Beta Gamma received the inaugural Panther Trophy for having the most attendees registered for the reunion.

get involved!We need a great group of volunteers who are willing to help plan their landmark class reunions and spread the word about Alumni Reunion Weekend 2015. There are plenty of opportunities to assist regardless of the amount of time you have to offer. Contact Gale Beckwith ’11, volunteer and event coordinator, at [email protected] or (603) 535-2227.

did you graduate in a year ending in 0 or 5? 2015 is your landmark reunion year!2015 is also the 2nd Biennial Student Life Reunion. Were you a member of PACE, Student Senate, or MAPS? Did you work for the clock, the conning tower yearbook, centripetal, or WPCR? all club and student organization members from all years are invited to come back and celebrate with other student lifers. Be sure to save the date now for this exciting weekend, june 26–28, 2015!

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PSI Beta Gamma sisters Michele (Giannune) Talwani ’93, ’96G, Lorrie (Ellison) Shilling ’93, and Cathy (Curry) Duffy ’93.

Your classmates want to know what you’ve been up to. Send us your personal and professional accomplishments so we can share your news with the alumni community. Submit your update today.

plymouth.edu/alumni/class-notes

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homecoming & family celebrationHundreds of alumni and families of current students came back

“home” September 26–28, 2014, to show their Panther Pride. The PSU Alumni Association Board of Directors honored the eight 2014 Alumni Recognition Award recipients, Friends of Plymouth State Foot-ball honored the ’84 and ’94 teams for their glory on the gridiron, and alumni and friends participated in the first cornhole tournament to raise funds for Alumni Association student scholarships.

upcoming EventsFrom social events to career networking to faculty lectures, there are plenty of opportunities to connect with PSU and other alumni. Check out what’s happening at plymouth.edu/alumni/events. Do you and your Plymouth State friends have your own “mini-reunions”? Let us know! Send your photos with captions to [email protected].

A Celebration of

GOVERNOR JOHN LYNCHRecipient of the Plymouth State University Alumni Association’s

Robert Frost Contemporary American Award

to benefit the Plymouth State University Alumni Association Scholarship Fund

tuesday, January 27, 2015, 6 p.m. at the radisson Hotel downtown, manchester, nH

All alumni, friends, and supporters of Plymouth State are invited to the celebration of former New Hampshire Governor John Lynch as the twenty-second recipient of the Plymouth State University

Alumni Association’s prestigious Robert Frost Contemporary American Award.

The award recognizes those individuals whose service to the people of New Hampshire best exemplifies Robert Frost’s values of individuality, hard work,

humanitarianism, and devotion to the country “North of Boston.”

At Governor Lynch’s request, proceeds from this year ’s event will benefit the Plymouth State University Alumni Association Scholarship Fund and be awarded exclusively to New Hampshire resident students.

Individual tickets to the event are $150 and sponsorships are available at levels between $2,500 and $25,000. A portion is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

For more information, contact Gale Beckwith ’11 at [email protected] or (603) 535-2227.

Congrats to our first Cornhole Tournament Champions Jackie Morin ’15 and Codie Wardwell ’15! (Director of Alumni Relations Rodney Ekstrom ’09G, center)


THE GREEN

Psuaa 2014 achievement awardsAlUmni AcHievement AwArdJim goss ’68Executive Director, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, Department of Defense, Concord, NH

gary rabinovitz ’84RP/AM Lab Manager, Reebok International, Canton, MA

diStingUiSHed AlUmni Service AwArdgene Stearns ’62 and roberta (wallace) Stearns ’61Owners/Educators, Casco Bay College, Portland, ME, Retired,Northwood, NH

FAcUlty/StAFF AwArd oF excellence craig russell ’05Head Coach, Men’s Ice Hockey, Plymouth State University,Plymouth, NH

recent AlUmni AwArd oF excellencetim carrigan ’04Cultural Sector Professional Washington, DC

Ut ProSim AwArdwilliam Andrews ’62Sales/Marketing Manager, Johnson Precision, Inc., Retired,

Sharon (langlois) Andrews ’62Preschool Teacher, Moppets Coop Nursery School, Retired, Milford, NH

Introducing Paula Lee Hobson, Vice President for University AdvancementPlymouth State alumni were well-represented on the search committee appointed by President Sara Jayne Steen to recommend candidates for the new vice president for University Advancement, who is responsible for alumni relations, fundraising, alumni and donor records and data, and alumni and donor communications.

I was honored to serve on the search committee with fellow alumni Gene Martin ’09, chair of the Alumni Association Board of Directors; fac-ulty members Linda Levy ’04CAGS and Roxana Wright ’01G; Direc-tor of Alumni Relations Rodney Ekstrom ’09G; and chair of the search Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Jim Hundrieser ’90G. Other search committee members were Marcia Schmidt Blaine, Patrick May, and Jonathan Santore of the faculty, Dean Cynthia Vascak, and Assistant Vice President of University Advancement Laure Morris. Together we were able to define what qualities were most important to the next vice president and then work with a leading Boston search firm specializing in advance-ment leadership that brought forward a healthy pool of extremely qualified candidates.

Of those, Paula Lee Hobson emerged as our top candidate and ultimately the new vice president. Like other members of the search committee, I was impressed by her academic cre-dentials, her knowledge of alumni relations and fundraising, and her experience in building successful

programs at a larger public insti-tution in Nevada. From my own perspective in the private sector, her marketing career in private industry before higher education is a great benefit, too.

Beyond these professional qualities, Paula Lee is a presence—personally warm and engaging, she brings an excitement and optimism to every room she enters. I remember think-ing she is the kind of leader who would truly take Plymouth State’s alumni outreach and fundraising to the next level.

As Gene Martin said, “She ‘gets’ us.” The student and alumni constitu-ency at Truckee Meadow Community College in Nevada, where she built the advancement operation over 15 years, also skews heavily toward those who are the first generation in their families to attend college. “She was first-gen herself, at the University of Oregon, so she really understands public higher education and our kind of alumni,” Gene commented.

With this as a strong foundation, I believe Paula Lee can help move Plymouth State quickly into deeper contact with and more meaningful involvement of our alumni and more robust fundraising for our future.

At the beginning of her tenure at Truckee Meadow, they raised about the same level of annual private support as Plymouth State does now—between $1 and $3 million in gifts and pledges. She planned and led a campaign that resulted in more than

$25 million in major gifts from a wide variety of stakeholders, including alumni, faculty, staff, businesses and regional partners, even seasonal resi-dents. I look forward to collaborating with her and the advancement team to do the same at Plymouth State.

President Steen also recognized Paula Lee’s marketing, public rela-tions, and advertising expertise and education—her master’s degree the-sis topic was integrated marketing communications in higher educa-tion. She soon tapped Paula Lee to integrate the former Office of Public Relations and Marketing staff into University Advancement. The newly formed team of 30 professionals will positively impact all facets of advancement, especially alumni.

In late summer after relocating her family from Reno to Center Harbor, Paula Lee told me, “My husband Paul and I are putting down roots in a small town and a tight-knit univer-sity community for our ten-year-old twins. This position at Plymouth State is the realization of both a pro-fessional and a personal goal for us.”

I hope you will have a chance to meet and personally welcome Paula Lee to PSU on your next visit to campus or at an upcoming alumni event.

—Larry Haynes ’86, President’s Council Chair

PSUAA Board Chair Gene Martin ’09, VP Paula Lee Hobson, and President’s Council Chair Larry Haynes ’86. Kaleb Hart ’11 photo.


1950sLorraine (Avery) Johnstone ’55 reports: “I’d like to send a big thanks to friends and family who called and sent cards as I recovered from knee replacement. All seems to be going well.

Barbara (Spaulding) Woodbury ’55 is still enjoying the leisure of assisted living. I heard from Fran Purrington Paul ’55 and both Fran and George are doing well.

Arlene (Parent) Welch ’55 is still enjoying her condo in Dover. Arlene reports that Nat (Bergeron) Wheaton ’55 is well and enjoying retirement with her husband.

Jan (Stewart) Knowles ’54 will leave soon for Florida. Her sister, Ellie, and husband, Tom Volpe, are doing well.

It was good to have a day with El ’55 and Alfa Bourey ’54 as they traveled through New Hampshire for their annual visit to Bar Harbor.

1960sCharles Duke ’62 retired after 51 years in public education. Charles served for the last 18 years as dean of the Reich College of Education at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Charles remains in Boone, is an active volun-teer with the local humane society, and maintains four overlooks along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Phyllis (Houle) Hanley ’62 retired in 2000 and since then has pursued legal secretarial work in Denver, CO, was a substitute teacher in Littleton, NH, and has enjoyed spending time with her eight grandchildren.

Claira (Pirozzi) Monier ’62 taught a course on New Hampshire Politics at Granite State College’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in the fall of 2014. She traveled to Germany to study art and museum collections in July 2014.

Barbara (Cartier) Shaw ’64, ’80G was reelected for a third term as alderman for Ward 9 in Manchester, NH, and is serving her seventh term as representative to the NH House from the same district.

Robert Koson ’65 retired in 2006 and moved to Tennessee in 2007. Robert is traveling, f ly fishing, woodworking, and enjoying life.

James Hamilton ’69 retired in 2013 after finishing a business process

improvement and technology selection engagement at Nova Southeastern University. James was self-employed as an independent management consultant.

1970sMark DeNies ’70 retired in 2014 after 42 years as a physical therapist. Mark spends most of his free time in the summer yacht racing on the Hudson River, Long Island Sound, and in Marblehead, MA. In the winter he looks forward to an annual skiing weekend with his old roommate, Bob Widger ’72.

Claire (Castonguay) Sleeper ’70 is retired after a 30-year career teaching business at Kingswood Regional High School and Spaulding High School in NH. She is living in Newark, DE, where she’s enjoying spending time with her daughter and three grand-children, and is only two hours away from her son in DC. She works part-time for an accountant and enjoys attending lifelong learning classes at the University of Delaware.

Cheryl (Hutchins) McComish ’74 began her teaching career in 1974 in North Woodstock, NH. Cheryl has taught hundreds of children to read, and currently works as a reading specialist in the Wake County Public Schools of Raleigh, NC. She has been married for 37 years to her husband, Dave, and has two daughters and five grandchildren.

Mark Phelan ’74 celebrated 20 years of ownership of the Hungry Horse Café in Rye, NH. Retirement is get-ting closer and Mark is looking forward to fewer 70-hour workweeks and more hiking and skiing.

Jane (Bryant) Provencher ’74, ’82G retired in 2013 and now works part-time as a Title 1 consultant for the NH Department of Education in the North Country. She also tutors two days a week at the Community Bible Academy in Berlin.

Barbara (Page) Stone ’74 retired after many years as a director in several child care programs. She and her hus-band of 33 years, Jim, have two sons and two grandchildren.

Shirley Burns ’75 retired in 2013 from teaching and administration in the special education field. She relo-cated to Buffalo, NY, to be near her in-laws and is a short drive away from family in NH and MA.

IN MEMORIAMElizabeth (Chase) Lowden ’34, November 6, 2013, No. Woodstock, NH

Winnifred (Claus) Caswell ’37, April 19, 2014, New Castle, NH

Norton Bagley ’41, February 23, 2014, Plymouth, NH

Frances (Piecuch) Pudvah ’41, March 9, 2014, Keystone Heights, FL

Marjorie (Yeaton) Farnsworth ’43, January 28, 2014, West Lebanon, NH

Morgia (Valia) Fitzpatrick ’43, November 13, 2013, Lake City, FL

Earl Sanborn ’46, January 16, 2014, Campton, NH

Rita (Falkenham) Blakslee ’48, October 13, 2013, Dalton, NH

Barbara (Hoyt) Matava ’50, November 23, 2013, Pembroke, NH

Leon Dustin ’51, December 13, 2013, Francestown, NH

Jean (Baker) Pollock ’52, March 25, 2014, Wilton, NH

Elizabeth (Potter) Drew ’53, October 6, 2013, Gorham, NH

Barbara (Spaulding) Woodbury ’55, April 9, 2014, Peterborough, NH

H. James Ackroyd ’59, February 11, 2013, Windham, ME

Nancy (Whittemore) Granger ’59, September 23, 2013, Ridgefield, CT

Evelyn (Harvey) Wilson ’59, January 18, 2014, Brentwood, NH

Marlene (Matthews) Kendall ’60, March 9, 2014, Palmetto, FL

Sheila Young ’61, April 10, 2014, Hampton, NH

Donald Messier ’62, October 9, 2013, Hyde Park, VT

Louise (Baines) Smith ’62, December 18, 2013, Littleton, NH

Phyllis (Jackman) Taylor ’65, April 14, 2014, Danbury, NH

James Wescott ’65, May 27, 2014, Belfast, ME

E. James Durkee ’67, April 21, 2014, Meredith, NH

Judith (Chick) Wardell ’68, March 4, 2014, Lancaster, NH

Michael L. Phelps ’69, June 30, 2014, Allenstown, NH

Martha Jordan ’70, February 25, 2014, Rutland, MA

Elizabeth (Merrill) Place ’71, April 13, 2014, Durham, NC

Richard Thibodeau ’73, January 12, 2014, Salem, MA

John Brian McGrath ’74, April 3, 2014, Exeter, NH

Lynn (Anderson) Gaumond ’75, April 18, 2014, Canton, CT

Paul Perry ’76, November 11, 2013, Manchester, NH

Malin Jennings ’78, November 28, 2013, Washington, DC

Sue (Kokindo) Giles ’81, April 1, 2013, Denver, CO

Donna (Nellessen) Sedlak ’83, March 8, 2014, Danville, VA

Colleen McDermott ’91G, October 19, 2013, Center Sandwich, NH

Stacy Blank ’93, April 29, 2014, Chapel Hill, NC

Shea Choma ’02, February 4, 2014, Glastonbury, CT

Gary Mastin ’06G, February 5, 2014, Rumney, NH

Barb (Wilson) Kettenring ’07, September 18, 2013, New Hampton, NH

Faculty, Staff, and FriendsRussell Adam, January 5, 2014, Peabody, MA

Ian Creeden, December 11, 2013, Nashua, NH

Phoebe Eaton, October 29, 2013, Alfred, ME

Doug Fife, August 2, 2014, Plymouth, NH

Robert Frey, August 6, 2014, Burlington, VT

Victor Montana, December 29, 2013, Concord, NH

Carol Morgan, April 30, 2014, Dover, NH

Janet Nell, February 26, 2014, Laconia, NH

Violet “Niki” Claire Richey, June 24, 2013, Littleton, NH

Richard Seltzer, June 14, 2014, Boston, MA

Robert R. Trudel Jr., April 6, 2014, Milford, NH

Editor’s Note: In the Winter/Spring 2014 issue of Plymouth Magazine, we misspelled Grace (Thomas) Guptill’s last name. Her notice should have read: Grace (Thomas) Guptill ’36, April 20, 2013, Concord, NH.

Taylor ~ Rolland

Vogt ~ Fullerton

Scialdone ~ Haarlander


THE GREEN

Celebrating Our Legacy FamiliesLast spring, the Alumni Relations Office welcomed members of the incoming class of 2018 at three Accepted Student Open House events hosted by Undergraduate Admissions. The open houses are an opportunity for prospective students, their family members, and occasionally a friend or two to visit campus for one last tour before confirming their college decision.

We met and spoke with many legacy families—students with parents, grandpar-ents, siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles—who are alumni. These students and their families shared that tradition plays an important role in the student’s decision-making process, as does the quality of Plymouth State’s academic and co-curricular programming.

One of the legacy families we met was Judy Dodge ’88 and daughter, Meghan (right). “Meghan has always wanted to be a teacher,” says Judy, who earned a BS in Elementary Education and worked for many years as a special education teacher. “I hoped that she would consider PSU, but I didn’t push.”

About her college choice, Meghan says, “I didn’t want to choose PSU just because my mom attended. I looked at other schools and since I want to be teacher, PSU quickly became the best choice.”

“I’m excited for Meghan to get involved and to pursue all the great opportunities that PSU has to offer,” Judy says. “There have been so many great changes since I attended—walking paths in place of roads, renovated buildings. But it still feels like the Plymouth State I remember.”

Meghan joined PSU in September as a member of the class of 2018. “I think it’s really cool that we’ll both be Plymouth State graduates!”— Rodney ekstrom ’09g

ExCHANGING VOWSAnne Poirier ’85 and Timothy Drown ’85, October 11, 2013Wayne Oldack ’98 and Veronica Mueller ’98, January 25, 2012Jodi (Makuch) Aspinwall ’98 and Todd Aspinwall ’99, December 30, 2013Angela (Uhlman) Preisendorfer ’98, ’09G and Justin Preisendorfer, October 5, 2013Heidi Pettigrew ’99, ’07G, ’11CAGS and Paula Currie, July 12, 2014Caitlin (Vogt) Fullerton ’09 and Justin Fullerton ’06, July 10, 2010 Lindsay (Scialdone) Haarlander ’08 and Jesse Haarlander ’09, July 20, 2013 Jesse Rolland ’08 and Cassandra (Taylor) Rolland, October 6, 2013 Katie (Dexter) Parent ’10 and Shayne Parent ’10, August 4, 2013Sarah (Airozo) Feeny ’10 and Bob Feeny ’10, June 21, 2014Emily (Burwen) Woodward ’10 and Doug Woodward, October 12, 2013Thomas Holden ’12 and Emily Niemi, July 25, 2014Joshua “Jay” Clyde (Hunter) Siedenberg ’12 and Tyler James Seidenberg ’14, June 7, 2014

Have multiple members of your family or extended family attended Plymouth State? Share your legacy family story at go.plymouth.edu/legacy.

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A Socially Conscious Soda ManMark seiler ’89, President and cEo of Maine root

after just a few sips of matthew Seiler’s secret root beer recipe, mark Seiler ’89 knew his brother had stumbled onto something big.

matt’s inspiration had come while waiting tables at a pizza shop in Portland, maine. He’d tired of lackluster root beers and set out to create something better tasting and more environmentally responsible. matthew had already taken the first entrepreneurial steps himself, selling the root beer out of his truck, when mark gave up his job in software sales to help grow and run the business.

now, ten years later, maine root is found on store shelves from the uSa to the uK to Hong Kong, and in flavors like Blueberry and mandarin orange.

Keith Bouchard ’14 talked with mark to hear his take on life as an entrepreneur in the beverage industry.

maine root is marketed as an environmentally responsible soda product. what makes maine root different?Maine Root uses Fair Trade Organic Cane Juice (FTOCJ) as our primary ingredient instead of genetically modified high fructose corn syrup. Organic Cane Juice is grown without genetic modifi-cation, petro-chemical fertilizers, or pesticides. We pay about 10 percent more for our FTOCJ. That money is invested in the communities where the cane is grown in Paraguay. Schools, hospitals, and equipment are purchased and built to keep the communities moving in a positive direction.

Has your vision for maine root changed as it has grown from a small, local company to an international distributor?We set out to build the best self-funded, and most socially conscious beverage company known to man. That vision has not changed.

in your role as president and ceo, has there been an “a-ha” moment that has changed your perspective on leadership or maine root’s potential for growth?Yes, every day there’s an “a-ha” moment. The biggest “a-ha” came before I was at Maine Root. It was about 20 years ago at a software company where I was watching and working with individuals who had extremely high IQs. They were absolutely committed to the core of their DNA that they were going to take over Earth. When I first heard them roll out their vision, I laughed, and they stared back with a look I’ll never forget. If I wasn’t on board I needed to hit the bricks that minute. It helped me understand where to find the seventh gear overdrive that not many people push hard enough to ever find. Long story short, figure out how you want to spend your time, what it’s going to take to get there, set your sights high, and keep going.

How would you describe a day at the maine root office? Hammer down.

who do you consider to be a role model or mentor? Any salesperson who is out there banging doors and hitting the phones harder than everyone else, or just pushing themselves to make that one extra call per day when they are worn out and ready to call it a day. People who are still learning how to do new things, helping others on their way up, and giving the people the motivational nudge they might need to go harder than they think they can go.

think about maine root five years from now. what does the company look like and what have you accomplished?At our average growth rate, we’ll be 3.2 times bigger than we are now. Maine Root will have the same things going on, just 3.2 times more of it.

okay, now for the hard-hitting question: if aliens visited earth for a bottle of maine root, what flavor would you choose for them and why?Ginger brew because it’s so different from other brands. It really kicks hard!


THE GREEN

Mary (Carter) Hinds ’75 has been employed for the past 17 years as an employment consultant, vocational team leader, and most recently as a vocational coordinator with North-ern Human Services/Common Ground in New Hampshire. She plans to retire in 2015 and looks forward to developing her saxophone playing.

Patricia Cameron ’76 serves as presi-dent of Gulf Coast Volunteers for the Long Haul, an all-volunteer non-profit whose mission is to provide relief work in the Gulf region follow-ing Hurricane Katrina. To date, Patty has organized and facilitated 40 trips to New Orleans and the surrounding area with more than 600 volunteers ages 16–84.

Mike Gittleson ’77 authored an arti-cle about mild traumatic brain injury and the importance of training the head and neck for NCAA.com.

Megan Roberts ’78 is co-manager of Titcomb Mountain in West Farmington, ME.

Keri-Ann Black-Deegan ’79, ’99G is the principal of Keri-Ann Black-Deegan, CPA, which she founded in 1984 in Montpelier, VT. She is mar-ried to Ed Deegan and has four sons.

1980sRichard Brown ’81 is a managing director with Sun Capital Partners, Inc. in Boca Raton, FL.

Deborah Bordeau ’82 is one of four breast cancer survivors who initi-ated the CA Pink Plate Campaign, a campaign to get a specialized breast cancer awareness license plate in the state of California.

Mike Couture ’85 is the head varsity lacrosse coach at Hopkinton (NH) High School and a senior residential mortgage loan officer with Bank of America.

Terri (Paradis) Eastman ’85, ’91G is the clerkship coordinator and an adjunct instructor of medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.

Anne Poirier ’85 is a fitness specialist at Colby-Sawyer College.

Molly Norton ’86, ’05CAGS is an educational specialist at the Massa-chusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

John Tucker ’87 was appointed president and chief executive officer of Nelson Bach USA, Ltd., the US subsidiary office of Nelsons, a UK-based manufacturer of natural healthcare products.

James Herlihy ’88 is the athletic director at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH.

Selene (Yee) Lyons ’88 is a senior account manager with Honeywell International.

Kimberly (Hover) Willard ’88 is director of education programs, mainstage director, Footlights Youth Theatre director, and actor with the Jenny Wiley Theatre, a professional theatre in Eastern Kentucky. Kim also serves as the music minister at Pikeville United Methodist Church and as an adjunct professor of theatre at University of Pikeville.

Elizabeth Smith ’89 volunteers with the UVA Medical Center’s MERCI program, which redistributes surplus hospital supplies to medically needy areas.

1990sKristin Meyler ’90 is the alliance coordinator for the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse in Wall Township, NJ.

Jason Hunter ’91 is an assistant professor of physical education at Rockford University in Rockford, IL. Jason and his wife, Mariann Janessa Hunter ’93G who is the executive director of United Way of Walworth County in Elkhorn, WI, are enjoying their three children.

Linda (Toussaint) Verville ’91 is the director of development for the Biddeford (ME) School Department.

James Moore ’93 was promoted to police sergeant with the Methuen (MA) Police Department.

Dennis Dobe ’94G is principal at Captain Samuel Douglass Academy in Brookline, NH.

Lynn (Neveu) Tassi ’94 was named the 2014 Richard C. Evans Distinguished Math Teacher. Lynn is a seventh grade teacher at Mountain View Middle School in Goffstown, NH.

Kaleb Hart ’11 photo.


NEW ARRIVALS Edward Lombardi ’96 and Christie Lombardi: son Edward Christian, June 27, 2013

Chela (Muñoz) Garcia ’98 and Ariel Garcia: daughter Bianca Nicole, (right) September 3, 2013

Jill (Lempicki) Egan ’99 and Josh Egan ’03: daughter Addison, May 2, 2014

Christopher Kilmer ’99 and Anna Mattson Kilmer: son Adam, July 22, 2013

Markus Zehnder ’00 and Colleen Zehnder: son, Maxwell, October 12, 2013

Jessica (Cyr) DeNuzzio ’05 and Alan DeNuzzio: daughter Emily Rose, September 22, 2013

Angela (Pellegrino) Warn ’11 and Jason Warn: son Logan, August 18, 2013

Marcia Roberts ’95 is a mom of seven, runs a consultancy for victims of domestic abuse, is a substi-tute teacher at Winnisquam (NH) Regional School District, earned a master’s degree in forensic psychol-ogy, and is a year into a PhD program.

Christiana Goodwin ’96 was sworn in by NH Governor Maggie Hassan as the director of agency software for the NH Department of Information Technology. She had previously held the position of IT manager for the NH Department of Revenue.

Stewart Shapley ’96 published an e-book titled Munchausen (the novel) by Proxy at smashwords.com. x

Stephen Maguire ’97 is entering his 17th year teaching at Scituate (MA) High School. He is in his 10th year as a professional speaker with Go Turn-stone (goturnstone.com), through which he has facilitated trainings for tens of thousands of summer camp staff and teachers. u

Jennifer Martin ’98 is an events manager in the development depart-ment of Easter Seals Rhode Island.

Wayne Oldack ’98 celebrated his 10th year as the director of technology at Holderness School in Holderness, NH.

2000sLori McGinley ’00, ’13G is a K–12 health educator at Lin-Wood (NH) Public Schools and an adjunct faculty member at PSU.

Sean Fischer ’02, ’11G is the head coach of the men’s soccer team at NHTI in Concord, NH, and a physical edu-cation/health teacher at Easter Seals Jolicoeur School in Manchester, NH.

Elizabeth L. Modesitt ’02 is working in the healthcare information field.

Steven Burrell ’04G is the vice presi-dent for information technology at Georgia Southern University.

Michael Campo ’04 received a pro-motion from senior accountant to associate with Plodzik and Sand-erson, PA, an accounting firm in Concord, NH.

Zachary Cary ’04 is a third grade teacher with the Concord (NH) School District. He and his wife, Heidi, have been married since 2010 and have a son, Logan.

Jessica (Cyr) DeNuzzio ’05 is a con-tract fulfillment manager with the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Mary Welch ’05G is a court liaison/out-of-district coordinator for the Laconia (NH) School District.

Gregory Garner ’06, ’08G is a postdoctoral researcher at the Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on issues related to climate change and climate impacts.

Rachel Kirkpatrick ’06 is an associate editor for Event Marketer Magazine.

Brian Pike ’06 entered his sixth season as a member of the sports medicine performance team for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

Ryan Schruender ’06 became part owner of Real Living Schruender Real Estate, a family-owned com-pany based in North Andover, MA. Ryan was elected to serve as the 2015 president-elect for the Northeast Associations of Realtors. w

Stephen Donovan ’07 was chosen by the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership for the 2014 Lowell Rich-ards Fellowship for Leadership and Public Service.

Holly McCarthy ’07 founded The-ater Under the Stairs in 2010 and the company has since produced eight shows: three original family shows featuring a cast of children and adults, four small black-box style productions, and one full-length original holiday musical.

Robert Powers ’07 is a high school social studies teacher at Apponequet Regional High School in Lakeville, MA. He is also serving as a Future of the Teaching Profession Fellow with Teach Plus and the National Educa-tion Association.

Cassandra (Stone) Viau ’08 was named the director of social media for Effective Student Marketing, where she’s been employed since 2009.

Janelle Sprague ’09 was named Young Professional of the Week by the Concord (NH) Young Profession-als Network.

2010sCatherine Dwinal ’10 was named the 2014 Mike Kovins TI:ME Teacher of the Year by the Technology Institute for Music Educators.

Monica Wiley ’10, ’13G and Justin Brigham ’09, ’13G are excited to announce their engagement. v

Aaron Getz ’11 is the assistant sports performance coach for the Duke Uni-versity football team.

Lara Croft ’12G is the technology librarian at the Newmarket (NH) Public Library.

Dan Hopper ’12 spent the last two summers working at the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre Company in Logan, UT, serving most recently as an assistant master electrician. Dan is pursuing an MFA at the University of Florida, where he serves as a graduate teaching assistant in lighting design.

Cheryl Roy ’12 moved to Korea in August 2014 to become the first pre-school teacher at Cheongna Dalton School, an international school for grades Pre-K through 12, located in Incheon, South Korea.

Kayla Thornton ’12 is a front desk specialist with ProEx, a physical therapist-owned private practice in Somersworth, NH.

Matthew Wellman ’12 is a music teacher for the Dulce (NM) Indepen-dent School District.

Patrick Burke ’13 produced a reality television show pilot called UNCUT! that featured aspiring filmmakers com-peting to create original short films.

Josh Kershaw ’13 is a football coach at Nease High School in Jacksonville, FL.

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THE GREEN

ALUMNI PROFILEsTephen sedensky iii ’80 sTaTe’s aTTorney

charles l. currier. john P. clark. richard t. hage. Each of these notable Plymouth State figures played a pivotal role in developing the interest and work ethic that has made Stephen J. Sedensky III ’80 one of New England’s most influential prosecutors. read on >>


Sedensky, the State’s Attorney in the district of Danbury, CT, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from his alma mater at this year’s Commencement Ceremony.

“My Plymouth State football experience with Coach Currier has proven to be a tremendous asset in the

competitive nature of my work,” Sedensky says. “He taught me the importance of preparation and that’s really where my cases are won or lost.” Similarly, participation on the student judicial board led by Dean Hage and serving as student government treasurer under advisor John Clark ’70, ’73G, provided the foundation for what would become an extraordinary career in public service.

Immediately following graduation from Plymouth State, Sedensky entered the Suffolk University School of Law in Boston. A summer internship in the prosecutor’s office of his hometown in Bridgeport, CT, listening to victims’ accounts of crimes moved him to seek justice for them. He wanted to make a difference in the community where he’d grown up as the oldest of seven children.

“I’d grown up with exposure to the law since my dad is an attorney, too,” Sedensky says. But there was also the influence of his parents’ involvement in the community. His father served as an alderman and a member of the board of education; his mother was a former teacher deeply involved in volunteer duties at school and church. Sedensky and his siblings knew they were expected to devote their lives to some-thing greater than themselves.

For Sedensky, it would eventually become setting new standards for the state of Connecticut’s prosecution of child abuse cases—an inter-disciplinary approach involving law enforcement investigators, social workers, and public agency officials collaborating with attorneys and prosecutors. The child interview training model and legal investiga-tive practices he introduced in Connecticut have been adopted by 18 states and two foreign countries, significantly improving the conviction rates of child abuse perpetrators. Child abuse became a focus after his successful prosecution of a Norwalk man charged with sexually assaulting a five-year-old Fairfield boy. Sedensky had the child testify at the trial through videotape—a first in Connecticut.

THERE IS TREMENDOUS SATISFACTION IN CORRECTING INJUSTICES. i lovE this work.

Below: Sedensky coming off the field after battling it out under Coach Currier’s leadership (left) and addressing graduates at the 2014 Commencement Ceremony. (right, jeremy gasowski ’01 photo.)

Photo previous page: courtesy of Autumn Driscoll/Connecticut Post ©2013 Hearst Conn Media Group.

This important work was above and beyond the standard State’s Attorney duties Sedensky carries in leading his staff in criminal inves-tigations, legal case-building, and courtroom trials. “There is tremen-dous satisfaction in correcting injustices,” he says. “I love this work.” Sedensky has been a guest lecturer in PSU Criminal Justice classes, sharing with students his experiences in and out of the courtroom. “It’s great to see the criminal justice program preparing more people to pursue careers in the field.”

Sedensky is respected by attorneys, judges, victims, and their families for his meticulous preparation, tenacious work ethic, and uncompro-mising integrity. Over his 30-year career, he has successfully pros-ecuted cases drawing national attention, such as the 1995 case of a Trumbull, CT, school bus driver and self-proclaimed witch accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy, and the 2011 murder trial of a Danbury restaurant owner who fatally shot his uncle and dismem-bered the body with a handsaw.

Yet nothing compares to the 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Sedensky led the criminal investigation and authored the final report summarizing what happened and why. He has been lauded for his service to and protection of the families, criti-cized for efforts to protect their privacy over the public’s right-to-know, and deeply admired for his dedication to finding the truth to gain whatever understanding could come from the tragedy.

“Yes, in my work I see the worst in society,” reflects Sedensky. “But I still see the cup half-full. Once I leave the office, I’m fortunate to walk into another life with a great family, wonderful friends in town and at church—all good people.”—laure a. morris

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“I never expected this in my lifetime,” says George, the founding coach of UMass Lowell’s cross country and track and field programs, a three-time hall of Fame inductee, and a 20-time nCAA Division II Coach of the Year Award recipient. “I’m trying to put it in perspective somehow. All the track facilities I traveled to in my career, they were almost always named for someone. now I’m one of those people.”

the 200-meter George e. Davis ’63 track is a key feature in ALLWell north (see story page 22) that will reestablish PSU’s varsity track and field program. It’s a fitting honor for George, a first-generation college student who credits his Plymouth State education as the foundation for his illustrious 33-year career, which includes coaching 78 All-Americans and 34 new england champions.

“It means the world to our family to be able to recognize my dad’s accomplishments and his leadership in athletics at his favorite university, his alma mater,” says son Kevin, president and CeO of Bauer Performance Sports. “I hope this gift will inspire others to see the future and help the University and community continue to thrive.”

“I never expected this in my lifetime.”

At his 75th birthday celebration, George Davis ’63 received an unexpected gift from his son, Kevin. It was a framed photo of an architectural rendering, presented without explanation.

George wasn’t wearing his glasses and was about to put it down when his grandson Ben said, “Look a little closer, Pops.”

There it was in big, bold letters: GeorGe e. Davis ’63 Track

Nonprofit Org.US Postage PaidPermit No. 215

Mailed from 01889

University Marketing Communications and Creative Services, MSC 2417 High StreetPlymouth, NH 03264-1595

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

psu Breaks Ground on allWell northPSU hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking on Tuesday, August 26, 2014, for its newest building, the Active Living, Learning, and Wellness (ALLWell) North Center. ALLWell North adds needed classroom and laboratory space as well as a field house with a 200-meter indoor competition-sized track, and will help advance PSU’s position as a leader in health and wellness education. For more about ALLWell North, see the cover story on page 22. Cheryl Senter photo.

Plymouth Magazine Fall 2014

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Transcript of Plymouth Magazine Fall 2014