AUNE Celebrates Commencement   

AUNE awarded degrees to 145 graduates and finishers at the ceremony held at Keene Middle School. Read more, including comments from Commencement speaker Oran Hesterman. See more here.  

AUNE 2013 Commencement Highlights

The AUNE Board of Trustees has elected four new trustees to the board:

• Ed Carignan, '01. Ed is a clinical child and adolescent psychologist in private practice in Bow, New Hampshire.
• Bob Coulter, '87.  Bob is the director of the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Judy Fink, '80.  Judy has recently retired to Vermont from her position as education programs director at the Stone Barns Farm in New York.
• Patricia Wand, '67.  Pat was the university librarian and professor at American University in Washington, D.C. until her retirement in 2006; then she served four years as dean of the library at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates.

The board elected officers for the 2013-2014 year:  Charlton MacVeagh, chair; Robert Bull, '09, vice chair; and Michael Krinsky, treasurer. Trustee Cheryl Wilfong, '93, stepped down from the board after completing her term and was acknowledged for her service.

Peter Eppig retires this month after more than thirty years on the faculty of the Department of Education, where he distinguished himself as founder and director of the Critical Skills program and as chairperson for twelve years. You can read more about Peter's career in the next issue of Notes.

Beginning phased retirement, Jane Miller, core faculty member in the Department of Education, steps down as director of the Elementary, Early Childhood, and Special Education Teacher Certification Program, although she'll continue as a half-time core faculty through spring 2015. Tom Julius, core faculty member, becomes director of the Teacher Certification/Integrated Learning Program.

Paula Denton and Teri Young will become core faculty in the Education Department. Paula was an adjunct faculty member in the 1990's, and most recently served as an affiliate faculty. Before that, she was director of program development and delivery at the Northeast Foundation for Children. Teri, who worked for the Vermont Department of Education and was a school administrator in Brooklyn, New York, has taught several courses as an adjunct faculty member since 2010. She developed the new holistic special education concentration.

Taryn Fisher, a new faculty member in the Department of Management, brings more than fifteen years experience working for blue-chip companies including Fidelity Investments, Procter & Gamble, The Gillette Company, and Harvard Private Capital, primarily focused on value chain, services procurement, and outsourced manufacturing. Jean Kayira, a new core faculty member in the Department of Environmental Studies, will shortly defend her dissertation at the University of Saskatchewan, where she is completing her doctoral degree in Environment and Sustainability.  

Steve Neun, AUNE's vice president for academic affairs, leaves AUNE at the end of June to become the founding dean of the College of Business, Information Systems, and Human Services at Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Also leaving for other pastures are Cary Jardine, research and instruction librarian for thirteen years, who will become the Keene Public Library's digital services librarian, and Patricia Huebner, administrative assistant in the registrar's office for twenty years.   

Megan Murphy, core faculty member in the Department of Applied Psychology and director of the Marriage and Family Therapy doctoral program, leaves to become the director of the Marriage and Family Therapy master's program for Purdue University, Calumet.

A delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including its Ministry of Higher Education and Kasa Vubu University, spent a day this week at AUNE, discussing possible collaboration with AUNE's Department of Environmental Studies (ES), including student and faculty exchanges and potential research sites.

Front row: Sam Werikne, AUNE PhD student; Apollinaire William, AUNE PhD student ; Jim Gruber, ES faculty member.

Back row: M'Vita d. M'Bambi, DRC delegation; Michael Simpson, chair of ES Department; Rufus Mfingi, DRC delegation; Tabin Tangila, DRC delegation; Jean-Baptiste Muamba, DRC delegation.

Cheshire County has asked the Community Garden Connections to plant and manage the Maplewood Demonstration Garden in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, as a pilot project for this year's growing season. Read more here. 

A conference called In Bloom: Promising Practice in Nature-Based Early Childhood drew more than one hundred participants to AUNE on May 15. AUNE is well ahead of the pack in nature-based education. Next up: A series of courses on nature-based early childhood education planned for this summer and coming fall. It starts with Nature-Based Early Childhood Curriculum, July 8-12. Learn more. 

The Department of Environmental Studies presented two Environmental Excellence awards on May 17 to W. Rhett Lamb, and Amber Pairis, PhD '05. Find out more. The William R. Ginsberg and Thomas K. Wessels Environmental Studies Scholarship Award was given to master's student Marilyn Castriotta. Find out more.

Antioch University has taken another large step in literally plotting its "Roadmap to the Future" with a renewed emphasis on integrating spatial analysis and remote sensing into its education programs.  Read more here.

Nellie Condee,  master's student in Environmental Studies, began her fellowship on Capitol Hill with the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) on May 28, and hit the ground running.  Read more here.