LYNDON STATE COLLEGE METEOROLOGY MAJOR HONORED
Brandon Wholey Named BEA Best Student Weather Anchor in U.S.
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Lyndon State College broadcast meteorologist Brandon Wholey of Gig Harbor, Wash., as been named Best Student Television Weather Anchor in the nation by the Broadcast Education Association.
Wholey has plenty of experience in TV weather casting from his four semesters of work on LSC-TV News 7. Competition for the award came from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Eastern Illinois University, whose students came in second and third.
The Broadcast Education Association is the “professional association for professors, industry professionals and graduate students interested in teaching and research related to electronic media and multimedia enterprises,” according to the BEA website. The BEA Festival of Media Arts is a national showcase for collegiate student work. Four years ago, the BEA News Division created TV Weather Anchor category. Wholey is the third LSC Meteorology student to win that competition. Jared Kaplan ’05 (who’s off to graduate school after two years on-air at WBNG 12 CBS, Binghamton, N.Y.) won the inaugural award in 2000. Sean Parker ’07 was selected in 2006. He’s currently working at KREX 5 CBS in Grand Junction, Colo.
Wholey will graduate from Lyndon’s award-winning Meteorology program in May. In addition to being part of the nine-member LSC-TV student weather team working with Assistant Professor Jay Shafer and WCAX meteorologist/part-time TVS Professor Dan Dowling this semester, Wholey is reporting news stories for News 7.
The BEA will present the Festival of Media Arts awards during its April convention in Las Vegas. LSC-TV News 7 can be seen live at 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday on Kingdom Access Television, Charter Cable TV Channel 7, and on the web at www.lyndonstate.edu/news7. Each newscast is replayed at 10 p.m. on KATV and archived on the website.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE OFFERS NEW FILM STUDIES MINOR
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Lyndon State College students signing up for fall courses now have the option of selecting a minor in Film Studies and from expanded courses in Philosophy. Both course sequences are offered through the English Department.
The Film Studies program is designed as a humanistic study of cinema, which will provide students with the historical background and analytical skills for thinking critically about works of cinematic art. Changes to the Philosophy minor relate to offering a more comprehensive array of courses.
This brings to 25 the number of minors offered at LSC. A new Philosophy major has also been proposed and is waiting review by the Vermont State Colleges board of trustees. If approved, this major would first be available in the fall of 2009.
Course registration opens April 7 for both summer and fall classes. Visit the Lyndon State College web site for a list of courses and details. Click on the Community tab and then go to the registrar’s office under offices and services, where summer and fall courses are listed. For more information about the film or philosophy programs, contact Professor David Johnston at 626-6226.
WOMAN SUFFRAGIST LUCY STONE LETTER HELD IN LYNDON STATE COLLEGE ARCHIVES
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Lyndon State College librarian Pat Webster knew that the T.N. Vail autograph collection, housed in the college’s archives, contained some interesting material, so she was not surprised when she came across the letter above from women’s suffrage movement leader Lucy Stone to American poet John Greenleaf Whittier. “It was perfect for the library’s March Women’s History Month display,” Webster said, “and it is such a beautiful letter.” It has been on view in a display case near the library’s front desk all month.
The letter was written in the late 1880s, perhaps in 1888. Webster explained in a Vermont Public Radio interview that the letter was originally in the collection of a Connecticut man but has been conserved in the college archives for many years. The letter is an excellent example of the letter-writing style of the period, she said. In it, Stone says:
Dear Friend Whittier, Your kind letter so pleasantly remembering my birthday (which occurs Aug. 18th) is here. Thank you for it.
All you said about my work might be said many times over about your own. How good it is to have been able to help where there was so much need.
I am sure that for you as for me, the work has been ‘its own exceeding great reward.’
I have never ceased to be grateful that I was born at a time when this work for the slaves and for women waited to be done and that I could ‘lend a hand.’
Your own songs have helped me much all along the hard uphill road. I used to carry with me always in my early lecturing tours, The Voices of Truehearted.
Your poems and those of Lowell and Longfellow and the good words C.C. Burleigh and Phillips and Garrison which had there been gathered up were a source of never ending comfort to me.
Who can tell how much they helped to keep me ‘patient,’ under the bitter opposition which met the Women Suffrage cause! Nevertheless, I have always felt the quietness of a wearied child about it all. I knew the principle we advocated were right, and sooner of later, no matter who or what opposed, they were bound to succeed, and now, as you say, it seems as if a few years would bring the success so long toiled for. Is it not pleasant, as we come so near the sunset of life, to feel that the world is better for our having been in it?
With cordial esteem and love,
Yours very truly,
Lucy Stone
Stone paid her own way through Mt. Holyoke and Oberlin Colleges by teaching when her father refused to send her, and she became the first woman in Massachusetts to earn a degree. In 1866, in the aftermath of the Civil War, she and other suffragists, as they called themselves, organized the first efforts for an equal rights amendment, the American Equal Rights Association. The association’s work resulted in the 14th and 15th amendments, neither of which ultimately granted equal rights to women but to former slaves, even though the 14th amendment was not ratified until 1968. Despite her hard work for universal equal rights, Stone is most often remembered for refusing to assume her husband’s name when she married.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE PRESENTS U.S. POET LAUREATE TED KOOSER
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, 2004 to 2006, will appear at Lyndon State College March 27, when he will be involved in a number of events. Kooser’s visit has been made possible by the Lyndon State College Lecture and Arts Committee, the English Department and the efforts of Professor Alan Boye.
Kooser’s web site describes him as “a poet and essayist, a professor of English at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and most recently, the United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 - 2006. His writing is known for its clarity, precision and accessibility. He worked for many years in the life insurance business, retiring in 1999 as a vice president.” He is the holder of a Pulitzer Prize, the Pushcart Prize, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a Stanley Kunitz Prize.
As author of American Life in Poetry, a free column provided to newspapers and online publications weekly, Kooser’s columns carry the work of other poets in the U.S. along with his comments. The project seeks to promote poetry at the grass-roots level and raise its place in our culture.
Valentines, his latest collection, was published this year (University of Nebraska Press) and contains 22 pieces from the past as many years. The collection is made up of “valentines” which Kooser sent on postcards to women friends each year since 1986. When he started, he mailed 50 postcards. When the list grew to 2,600 in 2008, he decided to publish a book of these valentines in place of mailing postcards.
At Lyndon State on March 27, high school students have been invited to a special poetry workshop in the morning, and Kooser will work with adults and college students in an afternoon master class/workshop. The evening is open to all as he presents a free poetry reading in the Alexander Twilight Theatre at 7 p.m.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE JUNIOR NAMED SAM RECRUIT OF THE YEAR
Ski Area Magazine Names Erica Kelleher for Annual Honor
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Lyndon State College junior Erica Kelleher, a Recreation Resource and Ski Resort Management major from Cromwell, Conn., has been named 2008 Recruit of the Year by Ski Area Management (SAM) magazine, the professional trade publication for the mountain resort management market.
“I was incredibly psyched when I read the e-mail stating that I had won,” said Kelleher. “It’s an honor to have such an award on your résumé when you’re looking for jobs, and it certainly says something about the type of program we have here at Lyndon State College. We’re not a big school, and we’re not located in Colorado, but this honor shows that we are able to accomplish a lot here.”
The winner is selected from a pool of top students whose names are submitted by their college and meet certain criteria established by SAM. Each student also submits two essays on critical issues within the industry and two letters of recommendation.
Students were judged by several industry leaders including Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association; Bill Jensen, chief operating officer of Intrawest; Tim Boyd, president of Peak Resorts; Bill Rock of Snowshoe Mountain and a number of SAM staff members.
“This is only the second year they (SAM) have offered this award, and it’s a great way to get known in the industry,” Kelleher added. “SAM is a very prestigious magazine, and to have Lyndon State’s name in it is certainly good publicity for the school.”
Kelleher will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to San Francisco in May to accept the award at the National Ski Area Association’s national conference and will receive a full gear package. An article on her first-place finish in the contest ran in the March issue of SAM, with excerpts from the top-three recruit responses and judges’ comments.
A two-sport athlete and an academic all-American in softball and volleyball at Lyndon State, Kelleher is a ski instructor at Okemo Mountain Resort, captain of the LSC varsity volleyball team and president of the Lyndon State College Student-Athlete Advisory Council. She has been an Okemo ski instructor for seven years and recently became certified by the Professional Ski Instructors of America. Her internships have taken her to Stowe, Burke and Bretton Woods, and she has also interned at the Mt. Washington Resort in the marketing department.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE OFFERS 12TH ANNUAL CULTURAL FESTIVAL
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – This year marks Lyndon State’s 12th Annual Cultural Festival. What started in 1996 as a small, homegrown event has developed into a nine-day multi-faceted series featuring music, food, dance and ideas. All but one of the events are free, and all are open to the public.
New this year is a Saturday morning (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) event for local children, called Kidz World. Working with St. Johnsbury Academy, Professor Lori Werdenschlag has arranged for games, crafts, snacks and artwork celebrating our global community for area families. While perfect for children in grades K through 5, everyone is invited to take part and will find something to enjoy.
The festival starts with a performance by the Lovell Sisters in the Alexander Twilight Theatre Saturday, March 8 at 8 p.m. -- the only event of the week that requires tickets, available from Catamount Arts, though LSC students, faculty and staff get in free with an LSC ID.
During the rest of the week, look for a presentation by the Honorable Senator Hugh Segal, adjunct professor at Queen’s School of Policy Studies in Kingston, Ontario, Canada (3/10 at 1 p.m. in the Burke Mountain Room); lectures by Bill Cotte on Brahms’ Magnificent Four (3/10 and 3/17 at 7 p.m. in the Burke Mountain Room); a slide show/lecture on Culture, Conflict and Climbing: History and the Present in the Italian Dolomites (3/11 at 7 p.m. in the Student Center); a student presentation on international travel (3/13 at 11 a.m. in the Library Academic Center); a talk on Native American Culture and Ideology (3/13 t 12:30 p.m. in the library) and another on Kenya in Crisis (3/13 at 3 p.m. in the Bole Community Room).
On the following Monday, St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is invited to the College’s traditional noontime concert of Irish music featuring Windrose, the Celtic Harp and Lyndon’s own Irish Tenor, Professor Emeritus Ralph Aldrich. The concert takes place in the Alexander Twilight Theatre.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE METEOROLOGY STUDENTS PRESENT AT AMS CONFERENCE
Group volunteers with Habitat for Humanity
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – It’s hard to say what was more important for the seven students who traveled to New Orleans with Lyndon State College Meteorology Professor Nolan Atkins in January, whether it was the two student presentations at the annual American Meteorological Society meeting or the work that four of the group did for Habitat for Humanity.
The AMS annual meeting was the original reason for the trip, for which Meteorology students Mike St. Laurent of Cranston, R.I., and Eric Guillot of N. Grosvenordale, Conn., prepared presentations. The topic of St. Laurent’s research was “Using the WRF Model to Identify Genesis Mechanisms for Bow Echo Mesovortices” from work he did with Prof. Atkins last summer. Guillot presented research from his summer internship at the Norman, Okla., National Weather Center on the predictability of tornadoes and other storms, called “Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Warning Forecast Skill and its Relationship to Storm Type.” He also presented this research at the Interactive Information and Processing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology conference.
The students and Prof. Atkins were all affected by the sights of post-Katrina New Orleans. They toured the lower ninth ward, where they saw the ruined homes, all numbered with code telling where bodies had been found and whether or not the building had been inspected. Steve LaVoie, LSC-AMS&NWA club president, described seeing the devastation as surreal.
“The destruction brought by a hurricane is especially interesting to someone like me, who is interested in tropical weather,” he said. “It was very sad and amazing to see the enormous effects of the storm and how little progress has been made on reconstruction in the three years since it hit the city.”
The AMS made the Habitat for Humanity opportunity available to meeting participants, and Steve LaVoie of Lowell, Mass., Mike Swan of Southington, Conn., Brandon Wholey of Gig Harbor, Wash., and St. Laurent all volunteered along with Prof. Atkins to help.
Wholey says, “We helped out in Musician’s Village, which was started by Harry Connick, Jr., and jazz player Branford Marsalis, to build about 70 homes in the ninth ward in Orleans Parish. We didn’t know what we were going to be assigned to do until we got on-site. Steve [LaVoie] and I were assigned to reorganize a supply trailer and also to paint some rooms in the interior of a house. We ended up working for about seven hours.” These houses are built on four-foot stilts, he said, in anticipation of more high water in the future.
Also attending the AMS annual meeting were Matt Clegg of Biddeford, Me., and Mike Lichniak of New Britain, Conn.
PRESENTATION OF “THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES” TO CELEBRATE V-DAY AT LYNDON STATE COLLEGE
LYNDON CENTRE, VT. - V-Day at Lyndon State College is part of a global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award-winning play, The Vagina Monologues. 2008 marks V-Day’s 10-year anniversary and the play’s third staging at Lyndon State.
In 2007, more than 3000 V-Day events took place in the U.S. and around the world. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $50 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters and funded over 5000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.
The Lyndon State College Women’s Group sponsors the Vagina Monologues production at the college to benefit Umbrella. Last year the show was affected by bad weather, but in 2007, the play’s maiden appearance at LSC, the play brought in $1000.
A V-Day Campaign is a catalyst for mobilizing women and men to heighten awareness about violence against women and girls. By creating this global community, V-Day strives to empower women to find their collective voices and demand an end to the violence that affects one in three women in the U.S. and around the world. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, V-Day has introduced two new events, V-Day’s A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer: Writings on Violence Against Women and Girls and the V-Day documentary Until The Violence Stops which will take place at other venues around the world.
The show takes place Thurs., Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Alexander Twilight Theatre. Admission is $10.
SHEILAH M. LADD NEW CONTROLLER AT LYNDON STATE COLLEGE
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Sheilah M.Ladd of Glover has been hired as the controller at Lyndon State College following the announced retirement of Bob Bean also of Glover. Bean has worked at Lyndon State for 28 years and plans to retire at the end of June.
Ladd brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in accounting and auditing from previous experience in both the public and private sectors. She has worked for Gallagher, Flynn and Company of Burlington as an auditor and for Tivoly, Inc. of Derby Line as Chief Financial Officer. Most recently, she was controller at Johnson State College.
A valedictory graduate of Lake Region Union High School, Ladd earned her degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Although she loved being in Philadelphia for her education and has enjoyed her past employment in Burlington and Johnson, she is happy to be back home in the Northeast Kingdom.
Ladd is very active in her resident town of Glover - both with her husband and two children and in the community. She has in the past served on the Glover select board, founded and presided over the Glover Recreation Committee (GREC) and served as Treasurer of the Glover school Parents Club. She is currently one of three superintendents of the Lake Region Parish, Treasurer of the Glover Women’s Unio, and is involved with the Glover Parents Club and several Glover Community School programs and activities.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE PRESENTS KAZAKHSTAN AMBASSADOR
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations Byrganym Aitimova will visit Lyndon State College Feb. 14 and offer a public presentation on her country and world affairs at 11 a.m. in the Alexander Twilight Theatre. Mrs. Aitimova’s appearance is part of the College’s spring Lecture & Arts series.
Mrs. Aitimova has represented Kazakhstan in the UN for one year. Previous to that, she served as minister of education and science, as deputy prime minister, ambassador to Italy and to Israel, senator and parliament member. Her first job was as a teacher in a public school.
The presentation is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Prof. Alexandre Strokanov at 626-6263.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE AND IWOW CELEBRATE NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK FEB. 23 TO MARCH 1
Entrepreneur Kristi Barry Launches New Online Business: Clothes to Perfection
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont’s economy relies in large part on the many small businesses and small business entrepreneurs who live, send their children to school, play and work at their own small businesses throughout the region. Lyndon State College and iWOW, the Incubator without Walls (funded by a USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant awarded to the college last year) celebrate National Entrepreneurship Week (Feb. 23 to March 1) to recognize the hard work of these business owners and the entrepreneurial spirit they embody.
Kristi Barry of Derby is such an entrepreneur. As a former Bogner store manager for 15 years, Barry is confident of her knowledge of the high-end outdoor line of clothing. In fact, since the Bogner store in Newport closed, she has acted as a personal shopper to a number of her former customers. Why not, she thought, find a way to make even greater use of her skills in this area and offer shopping help online?
“I was sure that I could make this work,” she says, and it was not long before she had developed a new relationship with Bogner to take their off-season or discontinued lines and offer them at a discount on her site.
“But I really did not know enough to create my own business plan, come up with a logo, design the printed materials I knew I’d need or design and create a web site,” she says. “Though I had a lot of ideas, I was really out of my depth on this part!”
Her first move was to enter a business plan contest sponsored by Northeastern Vermont Development Association (NVDA), which provided help with designing a solid plan and also where, through her work with Ross Hart of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), she met Ann Nygard, director of the Incubator without Walls (iWOW).
iWOW is designed to help existing small businesses compete in a big-box store world and to help new small businesses get started. “It felt like I’d won the lottery when Ann called me and told me about iWOW,” Barry says.
The new business is called Clothes to Perfection and launched Feb. 15. With her business plan in hand, she worked with three Lyndon graphic design students to work on the logo, create business materials, such as a post card for direct mail and suggest technical improvements for her web site. David Dumais of Lisbon, Me., and Robyn Peterson of Hallowell, Me., and Ashley Edgecomb of Sabattus, Me., are all working on the project.
“Work like this with real clients is the best experience,” says Peterson. “I love the feedback I get on my work and the satisfaction of knowing it will be used in the real world.” Peterson designed the post card for Barry. The Web address for Clothes to Perfection is www.ClothestoPerfection.com.
The students will use the work they have done with Clothes to Perfection in their portfolios and for their Design Studio class. Other iWOW clients can avail themselves of help from other departments, such as the Business Department, as well.
The iWOW project is open to Newport and Derby area businesses and, among other things, offers brown bag lunch workshops on a variety of topics throughout the spring. For more information or to get involved, contact Ann Nygard at 626-4867. Registration for brown bag workshops is available online at www.vtsbdc.org.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE AND LYNDON INSTITUTE TEAM UP TO MEMORIALIZE COLA HUDSON
Scholarship Created in Hudson’s Name
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Lyndon State College and the Lyndon Institute Alumni Association are working together to create a $200,000 endowment scholarship that will honor the life and work of Representative Cola H. Hudson. This endowment will provide a perpetual source of scholarship support to Lyndon Institute graduates from Burke, Sutton and Lyndon attending Lyndon State College.
Hudson, a Lyndon Institute alumnus who also attended Lyndon State College, was a great friend of both institutions and one of Vermont’s staunchest education advocates. It is with his remarkable service to our respective institutions, this region and the State in mind that Lyndon State College is extending a $100,000 challenge grant towards the creation of the Cola H. Hudson Scholarship Fund. This challenge grant is being extended from the College’s endowment development fund until January 20, 2009. With this challenge grant, Lyndon State College will match dollar-for-dollar all gifts that the Lyndon Institute Alumni Association or Lyndon State College receives towards the Cola H. Hudson Scholarship Fund.
The intent of this scholarship is to honor Cola’s life work by helping students who would otherwise not go to college, with the ability to access the expansive opportunities made possible by a college education. A $200,000 endowment would allow an annual distribution to four LI graduates as renewable scholarships—meaning that a $2,500 scholarship could be made available to each Cola H. Hudson Scholar for four years, as long as the scholar maintains a grade point average of 2.5 or better.
Lyndon State College and the Lyndon Institute Alumni Association are proud to be working together on the creation of the Cola H. Hudson Scholarship Fund. Together, we hope Cola’s friends and colleagues will help perpetuate Cola’s legacy through this endowed scholarship. If you are interested in supporting the scholarship or would like more information, please contact Paul Wheeler at the LI Alumni Association at 802-626-9096 or Bob Whittaker at LSC at 802-626-6426.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE TO OFFER A.S. DEGREE FOR PARAEDUCATORS
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – At its meeting Feb. 1, the Vermont State Colleges (VSC) Board of Trustees approved a new Associate’s degree in Special Education at Lyndon State College. This degree will prepare participants to become “highly qualified” paraeducators, as designated under the current federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Professor of Special Education Timothy Sturm, who designed the program and worked for VSC approval, explains that the degree will require 66 college credits and can be used as a gateway for a B.S. in Education.
The program is arranged in a sequence that provides an end point, the Associate’s degree, or an entry into the Education Department’s bachelor-level teacher-licensure programs. Professor Sturm emphasizes that “a unique component of this program is its specialized courses such as Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, courses designed in response to stated needs of schools in the region.”
Another unique component is a three-credit supervised practicum that is modeled after Lyndon’s student teaching course. It will assist participants in applying what they’ve learned to the real world of special education. The program also includes eight credits of elective courses, providing added flexibility in meeting degree requirements, planning for further studies and possible licensure or in meeting specific demands of the workplace, Sturm explains.
In addition to offering courses on campus, the department hopes to offer some courses off site in local schools in order to bring the program closer to students’ homes. In the future, Professor Sturm notes that some courses could be offered on-line or via Vermont Interactive Television to make the program even more accessible to potential students.
Creation of this new program is in part due to the overwhelmingly positive response to a survey conducted last summer of superintendents, special education directors and school principals. “Everyone who works in education understands how important paraeducators are in the lives of children with disabilities. The new A.S. in Special Education is designed to provide opportunities for further training and for professional advancement. We look forward to working with this dedicated group of people,” Sturm concludes.
For more information, contact Timothy Miles Sturm, Ph. D., at Lyndon State College at 626-6259 or by e-mail at Timothy.Sturm@lyndonstate.edu.
LSC PROF. ALEXANDRE STROKANOV MAKES CONFERENCE PRESENTATION
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Lyndon State College Prof. Alexandre Strokanov attended the 2008 Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities Jan. 11 to 14 in Honolulu where he was a reviewer and a presenter.
The conference, now in its sixth year, invites discussion of cross-cultural topics in the arts for academics and other professionals from around the world. Strokanov spoke on “The Phenomenon of Unrecognized but Existing States” and “Elections to the Russian State Duma in December 2007.”
Strokanov, a native of Russia, has been teaching history at Lyndon State since 2000.
LYNDON CENTER, VT. - Lyndon State College Prof. Alexandre Strokanov attended the 2008 Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities Jan. 11 to 14 in Honolulu where he was a reviewer and a presenter.
The conference, now in its sixth year, invites discussion of cross-cultural topics in the arts for academics and other professionals from around the world. Strokanov spoke on “The Phenomenon of Unrecognized but Existing States” and “Elections to the Russian State Duma in December 2007.”
Strokanov, a native of Russia, has been teaching history at Lyndon State since 2000.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE PROF. EMERITUS ESTABLISHES NEW SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Professor Emeritus Ralph Aldrich and his wife, Martha-Jane, of Littleton, N.H., have established a new scholarship endowment at Lyndon State College to support students studying in the area he managed for 26 years until his retirement in 1996 – the English for Secondary Teachers licensure program.
Aldrich and his wife donated $25,000 to start the fund, which has been matched dollar-for-dollar by the college’s endowment development fund to create an initial fund balance of $50,000.
The scholarship, named the E. Ralph and Martha-Jane Aldrich Scholarship Fund, will be awarded to English majors from the Northeast Kingdom and northern New Hampshire studying to become secondary teachers. The New Hampshire counties to be included are upper Grafton, Coos and Carroll. Recipients must have earned 60 credits to be considered for the award and will be selected by the English Department faculty. Awardees will automatically receive the award for two years, so long as they maintain good academic standing and continue in their English education field of study. The first award from this fund will be made to a senior in the fall of 2008; two awards will be made in the fall of 2009.
Ralph Aldrich joined the Lyndon faculty in 1969 to head up the new English for secondary teachers licensure program, preparing aspiring teachers for schools in Vermont and throughout the region. He was also very involved, for 15 of his 26 years at LSC, with the Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee – many of those years as chair. In both roles, he helped aspiring teachers find their voice, guiding both students and younger colleagues to successful careers.
Aldrich continues to be well-known on campus because of his long involvement with the annual St. Patrick’s Day noontime concert, a tradition he started, as the featured Irish tenor. He will sing again this year; this free concert will take place on March 17.
For more information about the award, please call 626-6426.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE EXPANDS ACCOUNTING DEGREE PROGRAM
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – The growing shortage of professional accountants has been an issue in the business community for some time, and, as described by recent statistical surveys, may be at its most critical in New England. Businesses from coast-to-coast are offering premiums such as iPods to entice applications for accounting positions, and WorkForce.com says that accountants are the new rock stars of the business world.
To help meet this demand, Lyndon State College Business Administration Department has expanded its baccalaureate degree program to include two new concentrations: financial accounting and managerial accounting. The financial accounting track leads to the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam. Managerial accountants work as chief financial officers and help run businesses.
In the past, Lyndon’s Bachelor of Science degree in accounting led only to the CPA exam. Now students can choose from financial accounting and managerial accounting. The additional concentrations lead to differing career choices, give students more latitude and will hopefully attract more students into a profession where their skills are sorely needed.
Previous Lyndon State accounting graduates have fared very well in the market place. Local businesses such as Lydall and the Passumpsic Savings Bank employ Lyndon-educated accounting alumni, and many work for private firms around the state.
For more information, contact Prof. Linda Mitchell at 626-6468.
THE MOMENTOUS ELECTION OF 2008
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – The evolution of the presidential nominating process will be the main topic of a presentation by Ethan Allen Institute president John McClaughry at Lyndon State College Feb. 7 at 4 p.m. in the Burke Mountain Room, two days after Super Tuesday. He will also comment on the personalities in the current race.
McClaughry’s appearance is the first in the college’s spring Lecture & Arts series.
McClaughry will hark back to the election of 1968, on which he taught a course at LSC as a fellow of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, for comparison to what he calls the extraordinary compression of events that comprises the current primary process. He will also discuss what the nation can expect in the next eight months before the actual election and invite questions and discussion from the audience.
McClaughry has a background in political science and the American election process. He has served in the Vermont House and Senate, as a senior policy advisor in the Reagan campaign and later in the Reagan White House and has published a number of articles on politics in the “New York Times,” the “Wall Street Journal,” the “Washington Times” and other newspapers and journals. He has been Kirby town moderator for 40 years. His book ‘The Vermont Papers: Recreating Democracy on a Human Scale,” co-authored with UVM Professor Frank Bryan, appeared in 1989.
McClaughry holds an A.B. in physics, an M.S. in nuclear engineering, an M.A. in political science and an honorary Doctor of Laws and Letters from Miami University.
For more information about this event or the LSC Lecture & Arts series, visit LyndonState.edu/arts.
LSC PUBLISHES SPRING LECTURE & ARTS CALENDAR
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Lectures, arts, performances and other events are listed in the Lyndon State College spring Lecture & Arts brochure which was mailed out Feb. 1. The brochure was designed by Digital and Graphic Arts major Bonnie Paris of Lyndonville, who also designed the fall brochure.
Opening the spring offerings is a slide presentation by Asst. Academic Dean John Kascenska of his high-altitude treks to the summit of Kilimanjaro Feb. 5 at 12:30 p.m. in the Bole Community Room. All are invited to this free show.
Also on the list is “Examining the Presidency” by Ethan Allen Institute president John McClaughry and The Bullock Brothers Feb. 7 (Burke Mountain Room). Later, the series offers a gender panel discussion (“Are We There Yet”) Feb. 19, The Vagina Monologues Feb. 21, Bill Cotte on “Brahms’ Magnificent Four” the last four Mondays in March, The Lovell Sisters March 8, a concert by the 40th Army Band March 14, Mark Breen on “Ageless Stars, Ancient Eyes” March 26, former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser March 27, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” by the Twilight Players in April, the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble May 9 and the LSC Community Chorus presenting Haydn’s “The Creation” May 10. There are many more events included.
Many of the events are free, and all are open to the public. For specific information, locations and times, visit LyndonState.edu/arts or request a copy of the brochure and get more information by calling 626-6426.
SHEILAH M. LADD NEW CONTROLLER AT LYNDON STATE COLLEGE
February 8, 2008
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Sheilah M.Ladd of Glover has been hired as the controller at Lyndon State College following the announced retirement of Bob Bean also of Glover. Bean has worked at Lyndon State for 28 years and plans to retire at the end of June.
Ladd brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in accounting and auditing from previous experience in both the public and private sectors. She has worked for Gallagher, Flynn and Company of Burlington as an auditor and for Tivoly, Inc. of Derby Line as Chief Financial Officer. Most recently, she was controller at Johnson State College.
A valedictory graduate of Lake Region Union High School, Ladd earned her degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Although she loved being in Philadelphia for her education and has enjoyed her past employment in Burlington and Johnson, she is happy to be back home in the Northeast Kingdom.
Ladd is very active in her resident town of Glover - both with her husband and two children and in the community. She has in the past served on the Glover select board, founded and presided over the Glover Recreation Committee (GREC) and served as Treasurer of the Glover school Parents Club. She is currently one of three superintendents of the Lake Region Parish, Treasurer of the Glover Women’s Unio, and is involved with the Glover Parents Club and several Glover Community School programs and activities.
ANONYMOUS NORMAL SCHOOL ALUM DONATES $100K TO LYNDON STATE COLLEGE
February 1, 2007
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Lyndon State College is pleased to announce a gift of $100,000 from a Normal School graduate who wishes to remain anonymous. This gift will be used to create a new scholarship fund, the Northeast Kingdom Education Endowment, and to encourage increased support of the LSC Annual Fund for Excellence.
Half of the gift, $50,000, will be used to create the Northeast Kingdom Education Endowment fund for NEK students studying to become teachers. This gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar from the Valade Family Trust Endowment Development Fund to give this endowment an opening value of $100,000. The first scholarships from this endowment will be awarded in fall 2009.
The remaining $50,000 of this gift will be used to challenge alumni and friends to give a dollar a day to the LSC Annual Fund for Excellence by matching any gift of $365 or more dollar-for-dollar. A strong Annual Fund ensures that the College has the resources necessary to promote academic excellence at Lyndon by providing scholarship support to the most deserving students, supporting the professional development of faculty and staff, acquiring state-of-the-art academic equipment and improving the College’s buildings and grounds. This challenge grant will help Lyndon State College meet its ambitious $120,000 Annual Fund goal in 2008 and continue to grow the Annual Fund in future years.
Dean of Institutional Advancement Bob Whittaker says that the College is very excited about this generous gift and greatly appreciates the donor’s generosity. Part of this generosity was driven by the fact that the donor received a free education in exchange for an agreement to stay and teach in Vermont after graduation. Following a long and successful career in education and a frugal life-style, the alumna found that the time was right to give back to the institution that made it all possible while at the same time helping others fulfill the same dream she had by creating the NEK Education Endowment. With waning state support, she also recognizes the need for the College to have a strong Annual Fund and hopes others will follow her lead of supporting an institution whose long-term vitality is inextricably linked to that of the region.
LSC PROFESSOR JAY SHAFER HONORED FOR RESEARCH
January 15, 2008
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – Lyndon State College professor Jason Shafer, who has taught meteorology at the College since 2005, has been recognized for a presentation he made Dec. 11 at the National Weather Service cool season workshop in Burlington. His on-going research addresses the significant challenges of predicting and identifying patterns associated with major interior Northeast snow storms.
Shafer’s research involves examining the characteristics of the biggest snow storms since 1977, with an objective of improving forecast accuracy over northern New England. Shafer has also been involved with researching the influence of Vermont’s complex terrain on snow and rainfall distribution. This research is slowly uncovering the conditions that produce heavy widespread and localized winter precipitation.
Shafer also serves as coach for the LSC Weather Challenge team, in which students and faculty members predict the weather for specified cities over a period of months in a contest among 50 other teams from around the nation. Lyndon’s team has owned the number two spot since the competition opened last fall.
INCUBATOR WITHOUT WALLS SCHEDULES FIRST ROUND OF WORKSHOPS
Learn hardcore business skills at Incubator without Walls Brown Bag workshops
February 12, 2008
LYNDON CENTER, VT. – The Incubator without Walls (IWoW) launches its Hardcore Business Brown Bag Workshops for spring/summer 2008 with “Planning the next generation of your business” on Thurs., Feb. 21. This first workshop is offered free of charge and a brown bag lunch is provided.
The year long series of workshops focuses on essential business skills crucial to the success of Northeast Kingdom small businesses. Workshops are taught by industry experts from Lyndon State College and Vermont Small Business Development Center. The workshops are open to small business owners, employees, and start ups during their lunch hour.
Why lunch? Some small business owners have found that by combining a workshop with a working lunch, they can minimize disruptions and still get the added value a quality workshop can provide. The lunchtime schedule minimizes the disruption to the business routine.
The workshop will be held from 11a.m. to 1p.m. at the Community College of Vermont in the Hebard Building at 100 Main Street, Newport.
IWoW is a project funded by a USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) awarded to Lyndon State College that will help the Newport-Derby area grow new businesses and respond to the changing economic climate. The RGEG project will help businesses identify the most effective ways to respond to the addition of big box stores in the area and other challenges. The total cost of the project is $322,059. Lyndon State and the collaborative partners will contribute a total of $59,695 towards the project, in addition to the grant.
Future workshops include Planning for the Next Generation of your Business with Linda Rossi SBDC on Feb. 21, Wow Them with Your Business Plan with Dennis Myrick March 6, Web Page Do’s and Don’ts with LSC Interactive Digital Media Prof. Phil Parisi March 25, How to Write a Press Release with LSC Journalism Prof. Dan Williams April 10, Parlez with Your Canadian Customer with LSC Anthropology Prof. Janet Bennion and French-speaker Kathleen Yale April 25, How to Read Financial Statements with LSC Business Prof. Rachel Siegel MBA, CFA, May 2, Create Your Business Newsletter with LSC Graphic Design instructor Pauline Mazzotta June 10, Branding Your Business with LSC Graphic Design Prof. Barclay Tucker July 22.
IWoW Director Ann Nygard invites all area businesses to sign up for these workshops at www.vtsbdc.org. For more information, contact Nygard at 626-4867 or by e-mail at ann.nygard@lyndonstate.edu.