1. Volume XXIX • Number 1 Fall 2012
Keene State Today
T h e m a g a z in e f o r a l u m ni a n d f r i e n d s
Working Together:
The POWER of
COLLABORATION
S P R I N G 2 0 1 2

2. From the President’s Office
4 8 11 Contents
Jay Kahn Interim President, Keene State College
A fter 24 years as Keene State College’s vice president
for Finance and planning, I look forward to serving
as interim president for the upcoming academic year.
Our view of the classroom is limited only by our view
of where learning takes place. Transformations in
Keene State’s curricula integrate a variety of learning
I strongly identify with the college’s commitment to modalities. Learning can be classroom-based, led by
academic excellence and student success – standards a master of the field, or a self-guided activity working Letter from the President ................................................................................................... Inside Cover
that guide every facet of campus life and the decisions from a syllabus. Learning can be supplemented Interim President Jay Kahn reflects on the value of collaborative relationships
12
we make. Educational discovery and the relationships by doing in a lab, either scientific or technological.
Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts ..................................................................................................4
we create at KSC make our work rewarding. Learning occurs in teams, often while working on a
project. Learning can be field-based or happen in a
Faculty and staff don’t work alone in this effort. We workplace guided by an employer’s needs. It takes a Striking examples of leadership, shared vision, and working together for lasting results
consistently establish partnerships that enable us to creative faculty, such as ours at Keene State College, to
create experiences for our students introduce these experiences across the Weaving a Web – Of Science, Community, and Conservation .......................... 8
beyond formal campus boundaries. curriculum, adjusting to the multiple Inside a highly effective network of citizens and scientists – the Ashuelot Valley Environmental Observatory
Here’s what occurred just this past learning styles of our students.
spring semester:
Why, in a state known for its public Faculty and Staff Accomplishments ......................................................................................... 11 14
n ociology
S students worked with the Two Fulbright Scholars emerge from within KSC faculty
and private partnerships and the
city of Keene and state agencies to number of not-for-profit organizations,
understand homelessness. does Keene stand out? I’ve heard it All Hands On Stage ........................................................................................................................................ 12
referred to as the “Special K” factor,
n Environmental studies students worked Who’s behind those stupendous Super Bowl half-time shows? Alumnus Anthony Bishop, and hordes of helpers
enabling us to do more with less
with the city on the Ashuelot Dam
because of the relationships local
restoration.
organizations draw upon. It’s also Student Researchers Take On National Epidemic ..................................................... 14
n Architecture students worked on design
projects with the Hampshire School,
said to be in the water, part of our
eco-system. Recent higher education
How KSC researchers are collaborating to tackle prescription drug abuse – the nation’s number one killer
17
Putney School, MoCo Arts and the literature describes this type of Alumni Profile: Matt Gill ’10 ................................................................................................................17
nearby town of Troy, New Hampshire. engrained behavior as embedded
Catching up with a student leader and master of collaboration as experience bolsters his belief in big ideas
in organizational DNA.
n Dance students taught motion therapy to people with
disabilities. The fundamental outcomes of a Keene State College Stellar Students Speak Out ................................................................................................................. 18
education are stated in our mission: to prepare Campus stars testify on the power of community and working together
n Health Sciences students documented the problem of students to think critically and creatively, to engage
prescription drugs being redistributed to non-prescribed in active citizenship, and to pursue meaningful
Alumni Notebook ............................................................................................................................................ 20
users. work. I am grateful to our community partners for
Incoming Alumni Association president Linda Lacey ’10 writes about how alumni have worked together
18
helping provide the essential experiential learning,
n Nutrition and athletic training students worked with the
internships, practicums, and project-based research to help make KSC what it is today
Cheshire Medical Center and its Vision 20/20 partners.
opportunities for KSC students. Together we are adding
Science faculty research, in partnership with Dartmouth
College, led to sponsored undergraduate research
value to the education of KSC students and to the Class Notes ............................................................................................................................................................. 21
communities we serve.
experiences in KSC labs with our faculty. To view
the 140+ different community partners working with
Keene State students, look at the web site at this URL:
http://sites.keene.edu/kscce/for-community-partners/
community-partner-list/
20
K e e n e State TO DAY Visit Keene State Today online: keene.edu/kst FA L L 2012 • 1

3. Campus
Keene State Today
Volume XXIX
Happenings
Number 1
Fall 2012
Editor
Paul Hertneky
Designer
Sandra McNair
Tim Thrasher
Web Designer
Michael Justice
mjustice@keene.edu
Production Manager Students exhibited their academic achievements at the 12th Annual
Laura Borden ’82
Academic Excellence Conference. The event brings together student
lborden@keene.edu
scholars, their families, faculty and staff mentors and attracts a large
Contributors audience of community members, including legislators, university
Mark Reynolds trustees who come to see results of academic research and other
mreynolds@keene.edu forms of scholarship.
Susan Peery
speery@keene.edu
Brett Amy Thelen
thelen@harriscenter.org
Class Notes Editor
Lucy Webb
classnotes@keene.edu
Vice President for Advancement
Maryann LaCroix Lindberg
mlindberg1@keene.edu
Director of Development
Kenneth Goebel
kgoebel@keene.edu Photo: Greg Wasserstrom for Obama for America
Sandra McNair
Director of Marketing Communications
Kathleen Williams Joe Biden with Cheryl Kahn and Interim President Jay Kahn
kwilliams7@keene.edu
Director of Alumni and Parent Relations
Patty Farmer ’92
pfarmer@keene.edu
Nicole Mihalko ’12, explains the inner workings of NASA’s BETTII telescope
Director of Advancement Services
Michelle Fuller ’08
mfuller@keene.edu
Alumni Association President
Linda Lacey ’73
llacey@evsmetal.com
Special thanks to Eve Alintuck, Interim Director of Marketing
and Communications, for her expertise and guidance on
this and previous issues of Keene State Today
Keene State Today is published by the Marketing Communications
Office, Keene State College. Periodicals postage rate is paid at
Michael Moore
Keene, NH, and additional offices. U.S. Postal Service No. 015-914.
Postmaster: Please send address changes to Keene State Today,
229 Main St., Keene, NH 03435-2701.
Sandra McNair
Address change: Make sure you don’t miss the next issue of Keene
State Today. Send information – your name, class year, spouse’s
name and class year, new address including zip code, telephone The largest class in the 103-year history of KSC graduated in 2012.
number, and email address – to Alumni Center, Keene State Commencement speakers included Mary Ann Kristiansen, winner of the
College, 229 Main St., Keene, NH 03435-2701.
Granite State Award, and Janet Cohen, who was awarded an Honorary
www.keene.edu/kst Doctorate of Humane Letters. For the first time, graduates wore caps Following his May appearance, Joe Biden meets student volunteers
David Daly ’12, presents his research into Alaskan salmon runs and gowns made of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. Matt Foster ’12, Aaron Testa ’14, Shay Lynch ’14, and Dave Hersey ’12
2 • K e e n e State TO DAY Visit Keene State Today online: keene.edu/kst FA L L 2012 • 3

4. A performing arts center, a food co-op, a child-care center, “I was on city council when [president] Judith Sturnick
and a host of other regional nonprofits now rely on the came in with a new vision for the campus, a college that
emerging expertise of students in a long list of academic was part of the larger community,” he said. Sturnick’s
departments, from architecture to education. Businesses involvement helped the city and KSC pinpoint areas of
look to service learning projects and incubators to help conflict. When Stanley Yarosewick became president of
them launch new initiatives. Manufacturers participate the college, Lane says, “he sat on a variety of community
in a collective that brings them skilled technicians and boards and nonprofits. If there was something going on in
safety experts. Nearby towns engage students and faculty the community that had an impact on the college, he was
to solve environmental and health problems. And Keene there. We adored him. He really brought the college to the
officials now walk arm in arm with the college, enjoying community.”
a closer and more mutually beneficial relationship that
surpasses individual interests. Helen Giles-Gee, who followed Yarosewick, “has done
GREATER
even more,” said Lane. “She’s brought the community into
It would be nearly impossible to describe every tendril the college.” Although Jay Kahn, former vice president of
that reaches out and distributes what Giles-Gee calls the finance and planning, and Andy Robinson, vice president
school’s “intellectual capital.” And it would be equally of student affairs, had already stepped into community
daunting to track all the enrichment and learning service roles, Giles-Gee sent more leaders out and asked
opportunities that flow back to beneficiaries on Appian for deeper involvement. Formal meetings between the
Way from the thriving network of relationships that president and city leaders evolved into regular gatherings
surround it. But what follows is a glimpse of some of with wide-open channels of communication. Former
these highly functioning and ongoing collaborations. mayor Dale Pregent, who worked closely and for several
years with Giles-Gee, knew immediately that the city
TOWN, GOWN, AND ALL AROUND and the campus had a bright future. “Very shortly after
THAN TH E
she arrived, she let us know that with the college being
The term “town and gown” goes all the way back to the so close to downtown, it had to be an integral part of the
Middle Ages to describe the relationship between schools city,” said Pregent.
SU M
like Oxford and Cambridge and their host communities.
In Keene, the relationship goes back only 105 years, when Kahn, Robinson, and Dean of Sciences Gordon Leversee
city fathers asked the state for a teacher’s college. Since rolled up their sleeves along with other community
then, the partnership has seen some bright and some volunteers and addressed housing issues, parking,
dark days. Mayor Kendall Lane grew up on Main Street student behavior, and the overall health of the city
across from the Keene Teachers College and remembers and region.
it as an open space for adventure, where he learned to
OF OU R
shoot pool and play tennis. His parents took in students Joint projects with the city have grown into a long
as boarders, who did light chores for their keep and at the list – from mass volunteering by students and staff
same time showed him the benefits of higher education. for Keene’s annual Pumpkin Festival to Professor Mike
Walsh’s leadership in city planning. Among many other
But when Lane returned from military service in the community involvements, Maryann Lindberg, vice
PARTS
1970s, the college had turned inward. The city itself president of advancement, works closely with business
was rundown, and Main Street was little more than partners on the board of the Greater Keene Chamber
a parking lot bound by failing retailers. of Commerce. Netzhammer chaired the board of
“This caused a lot of hostility and the Hannah Grimes
students were running amok Center, a well-
off-campus and the college established small
turned a deaf ear,” he said business incubator,
A
t a time when agendas divide communities and in contrast to the way and Jay Kahn
nations, Keene State College has brought together things are today. serves as chair
more people and pursuits, more committees and of the board
Lane finished law of Cheshire
causes than ever before. Since 2005, when Helen
school and entered Medical
Giles-Gee accepted the presidency and soon thereafter enlisted
public service.
the help of Emile Netzhammer as provost, leaders at the
college have woven an intricate and productive web of new
and interconnected relationships. Initiatives that integrate
community service and academic excellence are multiplying
and growing stronger, and stand as a fitting legacy for a pair
of leaders who left KSC a more vibrant institution.
Evidence of these collaborations can be found all over the
college, the city of Keene, the Monadnock Region, and beyond.
A national research lab eagerly awaits the samples that come Student “surgeons” contribute to the Keene Pumpkin
from KSC undergraduates, collected at the city’s recycling center. Festival through KSC’s annual Pumpkin Lobotomy
4 • K e e n e State TO DAY Visit Keene State Today online: keene.edu/kst FA L L 2012 • 5

5. Center/Cheshire Health Foundation. Vision 20/20 – an The plan is working. After the city created new building Community partners, once trained in how to help is helping New Hampshire expand its research capacity,
initiative aiming to help Keene become one of the standards for the SEED district, developers responded. educate the students who helped them, responded with advance student readiness for the workforce, and propel
nation’s healthiest communities – receives heavy Building vertically in the center of the city is more enthusiasm. And they continue to respond. In 2009, biomedical research in the state through a collaboration
participation from KSC, in terms of nutrition and energy efficient and reduces the carbon footprint. “As a the provost’s office created the Center for Engagement, called the New Hampshire IDeA Network of Biological
wellness education, athletic training, and more. result, nearly 300 new beds near the college have been Learning, and Teaching (CELT) to help educators design Research Excellence (INBRE). The network connects
created through at least four different projects,” Kahn and deliver curriculum in concert with community KSC with nine other colleges in pursuit of biomedical
Collaborations seeded by leaders at KSC go well beyond said. In addition to student housing, these projects offer partners. “A kernel that’s much bigger now,” said Giles- research.
Keene’s city limits. When Giles-Gee and Netzhammer, attractive options to area workers, professionals, and Gee, describing the growth of community
listening carefully to a story from Jude Blake, a retirees who prefer to live in the city. engagement and capstone projects that Under the INBRE grant, biology professors
university trustee, learned about the deterioration of have “boosted academic excellence Lauren Launen and Susan Whittemore
a dam and recreation area that had been crucial to the As for the existing housing, the city and college have while arming students with a have engaged their students in
health and well-being of Troy, New Hampshire, they saw improved the situation “dramatically,” according to City portfolio of real-world work that is studying the effects of a group of
an opportunity to help. Exhibiting the kind of synergy Manager John MacLean. “As a result of Andy [Robinson] job-worthy.” highly toxic pollutants (polycyclic
that made the two leaders even more effective as a team going into the neighborhoods and neighborhood aromatic hydrocarbons) released
than working alone, the president and provost once associations and meeting with landlords, we’ve set up a DISCOVERY THAT MAKES A by burning fossil fuels. Launen
again sought the advice of Gordon Leversee. voluntary, self-initiated inspection program conducted DIFFERENCE: focuses her team’s attention on the
by city officials that allows them to get onto an approved Burgeoning Undergraduate microbial communities of the Great
Restoring the Troy Sand Dam drew the collaborative list at the college. The really good landlords have Research Bay Estuary, and Whittemore’s
forces of faculty and students from environmental actually grown, and relationships in the neighborhoods students examine the pollutant’s effect
studies, architecture, geography, and health are much improved,” said MacLean. A notable collaboration with the city on the development of organisms.
Students Mike Grotton and Irissa
and wellness. The popular mill pond behind of Keene, which had committed to
Plouff worked on turning samples
the dam had been dedicated as a multi- LEARNING BY DOING: reducing its greenhouse gas emissions of waste grease into high-quality
INBRE and other growing research
use recreation area in 1949, built in Service Learning and by running its vehicles on biodiesel, biodiesel opportunities have spawned PURE at
memory of the men who had lost their Community Engagement triggered what has become a boom in KSC, the Program for Undergraduate
lives in World War II. Working in concert new research opportunities for undergraduates. In 2003, Research Excellence. PURE will encourage high
with Troy citizens and its public works Projects like the Troy dam restoration Melinda Treadwell, dean of the school of professional school students to come to Keene State for research
department, teams of students and stand as perfect examples of KSC’s studies and a seasoned scientific researcher and KSC involvement that begins in their freshmen year and
faculty completely restored the dam abiding values: citizenship and academic alumna, in conjunction with the Office of Sponsored carries through until graduation, and sometimes beyond.
and recreation area, and improved its achievement, hands-on learning within Research, secured a million-dollar grant from the
facilities, integrity, and usefulness. KSC the community. The college’s leaders
students subsequently evaluated the redoubled KSC’s commitment to those
project by assessing its effect on the values in an important collaboration “Using knowledge while you’re a student to solve real-world problems
health and well-being of the town. with its neighbor, Antioch University
New England. is what’s going to make it stick… And collaboration with the community
At times, the citizens of Keene and the is the linchpin of all that.”
college collaborate for the sheer joy of it. Pauline Chandler, director of the Tomey
To kick off KSC’s centennial celebration Center at Antioch University, went to
in 2007, then mayor Michael Blastos, work with Giles-Gee and Netzhammer, National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the effect of Research efforts throughout KSC – occupational, social,
Biology professor Susan Whittemore building on already successful local
City Manager John MacLean, Giles- using biodiesel on personal exposure and air quality in a biological, chemical, or economic – are blossoming
and Loren Launen
Gee, Lane, University System of partnerships and pursuing far greater local environment. with collaborative efforts. Support from leadership
New Hampshire Board of Trustees community engagement for faculty and has nurtured this growth. “Leadership’s dedication to
Chairman Andrew Lietz, and a cast of alumni and students at both institutions. A Campus Compact grant The NIH grant allowed Assistant Professor Nora Traviss undergraduate research, and Helen’s involvement, in
students played roles in In Perfect Harmony: A College enabled Keene State to take educational programs into and her students to monitor and analyze biodiesel particular, elevated my students’ work,” said Traviss.
Comes to Keene. Written by Mason Library director, the community, where faculty and nonprofits, schools, emissions and their effect on workers within municipal “These new grants are no coincidence,” she said. “I think
Irene Herold, and Michael Caulfield, the popular play and businesses could design and deliver real-world facilities and throughout the city. In this effort, funders see the commitment from KSC, our productivity,
reenacted a city hall vote to invite a normal school applications of learning. Traviss collaborates with researchers at the National and the bright faculty and students we have here.”
to Keene. Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, the University
“I think that using knowledge while you’re a student of Vermont, and Dartmouth Medical School, where The many and diverse parts of Keene State College,
STUDENT AND CITY LIFE: to solve real-world problems is what’s going to make students can use highly advanced equipment at KSC its alumni network and friends, and a constellation
More and Better Housing it stick, what makes you an educated person,” said and other participating campuses. of communities add up to a force far greater than any
Netzhammer. “It’s critical thinking; it’s how to change individuals. But the kind of synergy that sustains its
In the spirit of bringing the community into the college, the world. And collaboration with the community “We’re working with nationwide experts on biodiesel,” effect and continuously expands its reach has often
the city and the college continue to improve housing is the linchpin of all that.” Giles-Gee raised funds to said Traviss. “And they think we’re doing great science come from nurturing the seeds of cooperation and
options for students while working toward new housing support Chandler’s effort to draw the KSC faculty because we can supply them with samples from real- mutual benefit. By having the vision and willingness
that will benefit everyone. “We needed more off-campus together and introduce a shift in professional
Photos: Mark Corliss
world operating sites, and we’re all trying to know the to support promising ideas that inspire collaboration,
housing,” said Jay Kahn, “but buying property and development, “from content development to a change same things,” she says. Giles-Gee and Netzhammer have left more than a mark;
removing it from the tax rolls is not a sustainable in pedagogical practice” – a new way to teach. Chandler they have set in motion a field of collective energy that
approach. So we worked with the city to attract private saw that “faculty were jumping on board because they Meanwhile, other research initiatives are putting radiates inclusion and excellence from the core of the
development in a Sustainable Energy Efficient Design recognized the potential, and they had someone to help students to work with networks doing important college and into every community it touches.
(SEED) district near the college.” them find partners, manage it, help them with students scientific laboratory and field studies. Again, the NIH
and logistics.”
6 • K e e n e State TO DAY Visit Keene State Today online: keene.edu/kst FA L L 2012 • 7

6. “
AVEO trains volunteers – KSC students,
”
Antioch students, and many local folks
who come back year after year,
simply for the joy of it all.
Weaving a Web The Keene Vernal Pool Project
including an annual calendar of more than 100 free
public programs and guided outings. Linking with the
Harris Center enabled AVEO’s collaboration with Keene Vernal pools are small, temporary, forested
State to expand beyond volunteer training and into other ponds (“wicked big puddles” in the woods)
programming with a conservation science focus. that serve as breeding habitat for amphibians. Because
they often dry up by late summer, they are easily
Under the aegis of the Harris Center and AVEO, the KSC overlooked in land-use planning and consequently
School of Sciences co-sponsors monthly public programs lost to development. To help protect this habitat,
of Science, Community, on conservation science. Recent programs have included
presentations of local graduate student research on the
AVEO trains volunteers
and Conservation
Ashuelot River Flow mural by Nancy Selvage
migration of Northern Saw-whet Owls, an Antioch to identify and document vernal pools, focusing on
University New England professor who engages high lands where information is needed for conservation
school students in studying the ecosystems atop planning. This project is still ongoing, but last summer
Mt. Monadnock, and a series of powerful AVEO staff presented an initial, interactive online map
by Brett Amy Thelen From its base in the Putnam Science Center, AVEO documentaries. of documented and potential vernal pools to the
launched community-based research projects,
W
ith the mission of bringing together citizens and Keene Conservation Commission, which lauded
monitoring water quality, documenting vernal pools, and AVEO spins a wide web of joint efforts, it as a valuable tool for protecting important
scientists to gather data aimed at protecting surveying fish passageways at road-stream crossings connections with inestimable benefit, habitat.
and restoring the local environment, educator throughout the Ashuelot River watershed. Over the including advantages for KSC faculty and
David Moon founded Ashuelot Valley Environmental years, AVEO staff have engaged hundreds of volunteers, Many hands are making the project a success.
students. Dean Leversee observed that
Observatory (AVEO) in 2003. In the early years, David who join students at KSC for trainings. They have also Keene State students and faculty have
when students are doing important work
ran the organization from his home in Westmoreland, served as mentors to students undertaking capstone collected data from Robin Hood Park, Goose
for AVEO and its partner organizations, “the
but as the program grew, it needed a bigger, more public research projects in geography, environmental studies, Pond Forest, and many other acres of city-owned
students feel a little more accountable than
space. At the same time, Keene State was renovating education, and biology. land. Their efforts continue, alongside members
they do to faculty in regular classwork. The
its science center, re-envisioning it as a place where the of the Keene Conservation Commission and graduate
expectations of outside organizations raise the
college and the community could come together around AVEO expanded its mission in 2010 by becoming part of students from Antioch, as well as other community
stakes in a nonthreatening way for the students.”
science. Dean of Sciences Gordon Leversee saw AVEO’s one of New England’s top environmental organizations volunteers and local nature lovers. Enhancing the
work as “a nice fit with the kinds of experiences our – the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Among AVEO collaborations are three key projects: project’s usefulness, a team of geography education
faculty wanted for students – to be in the field, doing Hancock, New Hampshire. The Harris Center has a the Keene Vernal Pool Project, the Culvert Project, majors recently developed a middle-school curriculum
science that matters.” long history of large-scale land protection efforts and and the Salamander Crossing Brigades. on vernal pool mapping, informed by the Vernal Pool
excellent environmental education programming, Project trainings and materials.
8 • K e e n e State TO DAY Visit Keene State Today online: keene.edu/kst FA L L 2012 • 9

7. FACULTY STAFF ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Karen Cangialosi Karen House Lara Bryant Rodney Obien Shannon Mayers Dr. James Waller
Dr. Karen Cangialosi, Biology
Received a grant from The Turks Caicos Relief Fund
to support their coral-reef-monitoring network
FULBRIGHTS AWARDED TO PROFESSORS
Karen House, Associate VP for Finance MERCHANT AND MCLOUGHLIN
Melissa Laughner, Finance and Budget Analyst
Recipients of the 2011 Bradford K. Perry Award for For three months this fall, Deborah Merchant,
showing “financial genius” as noted by the University assistant professor of education, will share her
System of New Hampshire (USNH) Treasurer and the knowledge of special education with graduate
Financial Policies and Planning Council students at the University of
KSC partnered with AVEO “Culvert Operators” David Viale and Macedonia in Thessaloniki,
Corey Prescott Miles from Antioch University New England. Lara Bryant, Geography
Greece. As a Fulbright
Received a grant from the National Geographic Society
Scholar, Merchant, a KSC
Education Foundation for the project “New Hampshire
Geographic Alliance” alumna (along with her
mother, husband, and son),
The Culvert Project salamanders, wood frogs, and spring peepers make Rodney Obien, Mason Library will teach a seminar that
their way to vernal pools to breed. When weather Won funding from the National Endowment for the addresses the skills and
Joining forces with the Nature Conservancy, AVEO conditions align, this migration happens during just Humanities for the project “Emergency Preparedness needs of students with
trained and coordinated more than 80 volunteer a few warm, rainy “Big Nights.” In some places, the and Response Plan and Staff Training to Preserve Special intellectual impairments. She
“Culvert Operators,” including several teams of KSC amphibians’ journeys take them across busy roads, Collections and Film Archives” will also construct a framework for a curriculum
students, who surveyed nearly 1,000 culverts and bridges where they’re run over by cars in great numbers.
that secondary schoolteachers can use to prepare
throughout southwest New Hampshire in 2006 and 2008 AVEO trains Salamander Crossing Brigade volunteers Shannon Mayers, Redfern Arts Center
students for self-determination and the world of
to determine where fish – KSC students, Antioch Granted funding from the New England Foundation for
work.
passage is most affected The expectations of outside organizations students, and many local the Arts for the project “Meet the Composer – Christine
by road structures. A team folks who come back year Southworth”
of KSC geography seminar raise the stakes in a nonthreatening way after year, simply for the
Education Chair Shirley McLoughlin will follow
the Fulbright Scholars Program on a four-month
students conducted an for the students. joy of it all – to count Dr. James Waller, Center for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies engagement, starting February 1, 2013, at Telavi
analysis of the Black migrating amphibians
Brook culverts that was Commendation from the California State Senate at the State University in the
and to safely usher them across roads at amphibian-
so impressive it prompted the Nature Conservancy to Third International Conference on Genocide, Negationism, Kakheti province of Georgia.
crossing hotspots. In the last five years alone, AVEO’s
Revisionism, Survivors’ Testimonies, Eyewitness Accounts, A KSC alumna, McLoughlin
refine its own model for prioritizing areas for stream Salamander Crossing Brigade volunteers have crossed
Justice and Memory in November, 2011 expects to teach curriculum
restoration. nearly 12,000 amphibians. In Keene, these data also
led to the purchase of a parcel of conservation land – theory and development,
A team of geomorphologists, fish biologists, and other Becca Berkey, CELT and Alyssa Day, Student Center
previously slated for development – as an important educational leadership, and
conservation scientists from Trout Unlimited, the Received funding from Campus Compact for New
migratory amphibian corridor. Hampshire for the project “MLK Day of Service” methodologies for elementary
Nature Conservancy, New Hampshire Fish Game, and school teachers. She has
Antioch, are now reviewing photos and data collected In the coming years, AVEO will continue its work a keen interest in the role
Sharon Fantl, Redfern Arts Center
by AVEO’s culvert volunteers. When the restoration training new volunteers, collecting more data, and Accepted to participate in the Leadership Development education plays in the newly
projects are complete, they will combine to re-open sharing it with the Keene Conservation Commission, Institute, facilitated by the Association of Performing created country as it emerges
more than 22.5 miles of upstream habitat for brook local land trusts, and other regional conservation Arts Presenters. She is one of 14 performing arts from Russian dominance. The department
trout and other fish species. decision-makers, giving the students’ work life beyond professionals chosen to investigate the topic of leader also intends to explore possibilities for a
a shelf in a professor’s office. “Knowing and Connecting with Community” over collaboration and student exchange between KSC
the course of five sessions in three cities.
Salamander Crossing Brigades and Telavi State.
Ashuelot Valley Environmental Observatory offices are now
Roger Martin, Communications
Every spring, as the rains drench New Hampshire, in the Carroll House on the KSC campus. Brett Amy Thelen is
Won funding from the New Hampshire Humanities
thousands of spotted salamanders, Jefferson AVEO’s Program Director.
Council for the project “Adam’s Vision, Book XI,
Paradise Lost”
10 • K e e n e State TO DAY Visit Keene State Today online: keene.edu/kst FA L L 2012 • 11

8. “As a theatre person at Keene State, what I learned For Bishop, keeping teammates working together
first was: collaboration is everything. The second was: means listening. “Simple skills are all it takes – even
we all sit at the same table; we take a script, break it when someone’s unhappy – like including them in
All Hands
down, and cast it around the table,” Bishop says. When the conversation, having everyone come together in
he’s working with someone else’s vision, he’s figuring a huddle. Yes, I start the conversation as art director,
out how to make it work, but I don’t want to be on
bringing experience and all
the skills and talents of the
“As a theatre person at Keene State, a pedestal, becausedown to anyone,
talking
it’s
o n S ta g e
people he knows. what I learned first was: not how this works.” He
goes out of his way to
At the core of his collaboration is everything.” support the team and show
collaborations lie key confidence, passing along
relationships – the kind that the faith executives have placed in him to get the job
drive the entertainment business. Bishop hesitates at done in situations where mistakes are expensive and
immodesty but knows himself well enough to say, “In failure is not an option.
this business, you have to have presence, whether you
have the skills or not; you must have personality. Without These days, projects rarely rattle Bishop. “You know
a good personality, you won’t get in the door and you what scared me, though?” he asks. “The Super Bowl
won’t survive the conversation.” – because I hadn’t done it before. And I saw it as the
ultimate challenge.” He describes arriving in Indiana two
But a strong sense of self is only a weeks before the event, meeting a
prerequisite; skills and talent create convoy of tractor-trailers and an army
the bond. “My relationships begin that would be assembling the set and
with drawings,” Bishop says, “whether rehearsing at a covered stadium near
they’re on coasters or napkins, whether the actual location.
I’ve done them or someone else has. We
share them and form opinions without “I knew what we had to do at
even meeting each other.” Before halftime: roll in an entire set and
long, designers, art directors, creative 500 people from outside, and we’ve
directors – a whole cadre of artists and got five, six minutes to get it on the
technicians are working to realize a field and assembled, a quick line
single, yet evolving vision. check [electrical, audio, etc.], the
performance, and then get the whole
Knowing television production thing out of there.” Three months
schedules to be tight, Bishop admits earlier, the team had arranged to have
to thinking about logistics from the a mock stage constructed in New
“The first thing everyone talks about afterwards is start. On The Voice, for example, a Jersey, where Madonna rehearsed
how great it was to work with each other.” complex reality set, creative teams every day.
come up with concepts that must Anthony Bishop ’94, on the job at Lucas
be built within two days, demanding Oil Stadium, site of Super Bowl 2012 When the time came, Bishop relied
intense logistics, communication, on his skills and the talents of
T
he 111,000,000 people watching January’s Super sets since he was in eighth grade, he says he learns and cooperation among vendors. When describing professionals with whom he had worked on many other
Bowl half-time show witnessed a parade of something from every production designer and art the results, though, his own voice rises to reflect the projects. Regardless of preparation, thousands of trigger-
centurions, heavy-metal seraphim, men walking director with whom he works. satisfaction he derives from the process. “It’s quite a points could misfire. “That’s when you see how people
on men, bleacher-bouncing gymnasts, tightrope dancing feat, every time, an awesome experience.” really work together,” he says. “When it goes off-plan,
by a man in a toga, and Madonna’s own cheerleaders Bishop’s bachelor’s degree set him up for graduate school that’s when ultimate collaboration takes over.” But that
on a tiered stage pulsing with light like a giant pinball in theatre arts, and he had his pick, finally settling on The serial awesomeness of Bishop’s work comes from night of Super Sunday, “It was a massive movement of
machine. Behind it all – the show’s art director, Anthony Ohio University. Making the shift from theatre – helping working with the talent around him. “The design, depth, people and equipment, like parade floats, and we were
Bishop, a 1994 Keene State alumnus. out on Broadway – to television taught him to put and creativity can be fantastic,” he says, “but the first a well-oiled machine,” says one very critical cog.
timetables on turbo-charge. Once a project is approved, thing everyone talks about afterwards is how great it
Miniature versions of the Indianapolis extravaganza, he says, “you have to be picking those apples as fast as was to work with each other.” At Keene State’s theatre department “I was taught how
television shows like The Voice and Family Feud, supply you can and putting them in the right basket.” to do everything…there was no ‘this is my little corner,
Bishop’s bread and butter, but in shows of any size, he Projects call for Bishop to assemble teams that range in come talk to me,’ ” Bishop says. “It taught me to embrace
refers to himself as “one of many cogs in the wheel.” A quick list of skills a television art director possesses number from a tight trio to 200. He shoots Family Feud, for everything. To go after it. Not be afraid. There’s nothing
includes drawing, design, lighting, carpentry, instance, in Atlanta, where a three-person team works outside my comfort zone anymore. And the depth of a
When Bishop describes his education in theatre, he audio, budgeting, project management, and a deep with local riggers and technicians to take the set out of liberal arts degree allows me to take crazy situations and
speaks in terms of nurturing, how students were understanding of theatre arts. But those tools are useless storage and reconstruct it for three months of filming, know I can handle them. It allows me to be me, to work
“nurtured by those who had experience. At Keene, it without being part of a team of co-creators. then pack it up for another year. But Hollywood award with others, and make my own decisions.”
was our professors.” Even though he’s been designing shows and big events call for hundreds of hands.
12 • K e e n e State TO DAY Visit Keene State Today online: keene.edu/kst FA L L 2012 • 13