Alumni News

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The annual election of Alumni Association board directors and the University System of New Hampshire alumni trustee will begin in March. Five candidates, Bradley J. Aiken '65, '78G, Martha A. Byam '75, Tito H. Jackson '98, Shelagh Newton Michaud '95 and Gerarda S. Weidema '76, are running for five seats on the UNH alumni board.

Judith E. Blake '77 and Timothy Riley '76 are running for an alumni seat on the USNH Board of Trustees.

Judith "Jude" Blake '77 is a recently retired marketing executive who is the principal fundraiser for the Headlands Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to make life better for children and their families. Blake is also engaged in several interests in the wine industry. She has been a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors since 2006, and was a member of the UNH Foundation board from 2000-2006. She is also active in the Northern California alumni chapter and serves on the Whittemore School of Business and Economics dean's advisory board. Blake and her partner, Peter T. Paul '67, reside in Portsmouth, N.H., and Larkspur, Calif.

In her former marketing career, Blake held chief or executive marketing officer positions at Cablecom GmbH, Ameritech New Media, General Mills, Pepsi-Cola and the G. Heileman Brewing Company. She holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Of all of the things I do," says Blake, "the most rewarding ones are about giving young people a chance to realize their fullest potential and become informed and productive citizens. A great education and a great university do just that, and I passionately care about ensuring that it stays that way at UNH. I have been very engaged with UNH for many years, and now I am ready to do even more. I have always felt very rooted at UNH and in New Hampshire, and I am so happy to, once again, call it home. If elected, I pledge to work tirelessly to provide the kind of oversight and balance that is expected of any high-performance board."

Timothy Riley '76 of Bedford, N.H., earned a bachelor's degree in leisure management from UNH. He also received a master's degree from the College for Financial Planning. He is a certified financial planner and a senior member, CEO and co-founder of the Harbor Group in Bedford.

Riley has served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors and the board's executive and finance committees; he was chair of the latter. He is active in both professional organizations and community groups. Riley has been named to Money Magazine's Outstanding Financial Planners list and to Who's Who in the Finance Industry.

"Serving on the executive committee of the alumni association board has been a challenging and rewarding experience," says Riley. "The university system also has many challenges facing it: the challenge of attracting not only the best and the brightest students but also the students who want to learn and succeed; and the challenge of educating the legislature as to the extraordinary value that their dollars provide. For the past 27 years, I have helped families plan for their children's college education. I am excited and energized by the prospect of being able to use my education, experience and work ethic for the good of the university system."

Voting will be held online and also by paper ballot. As an encouragement to vote electronically, alumni who cast their ballots online will be entered in a drawing for their choice of one of the six clocks offered by Alumni Marketplace, a value of up to $274.

The ballot and biographies of the candidates are online at www.alumni.unh.edu/Voting. To vote by paper, alumni must request a ballot: call (603) 862-2040 or (800) 891-1195, e-mail alumni@unh.edu or write 2008 Election, Elliott Alumni Center, 9 Edgewood Rd., Durham, N.H. 03824. The election will run through Sunday, April 6.

When Craig Shillaber '08 heard about the new Family Legacy Scholarship being offered to students through the UNH Alumni Association, he thought he might be the perfect fit.

After all, his parents, Scott '82, '83G and Nancy Wrage Shillaber '79, his grandparents, C. Russell Shillaber '57 and the late Lynn McCann Shillaber '55, and his great-grandfather, John Shillaber '20, had graduated from UNH.

It turned out he was right. Shillaber, now a senior civil engineering major, was one of four students to receive the annual $3,000 legacy scholarship award in its inaugural year in Fall 2006.

"It's definitely an honor to have the scholarship based on the fact I have a legacy here," says Shillaber, who is from Deerfield, N.H.

It all started years ago when the board of the alumni association first came up with the idea of an Endowed Scholars Legacy Scholarship, says Sarah Potter, associate executive director of the alumni association.

Over a period of five years in the late 1990s, the association raised an endowment of $250,000 to make the dream a reality.

"It's a huge accomplishment for the alumni association to be able to really help deserving students," says Potter. "We couldn't have done this without the support of our alumni."

The long-term goal is to continue to build the endowment through donations--like the $80 gift that Sally Dussault made to the fund in honor of the 80th birthday of her brother-in-law, Dick Dussault '51 (pictured with his wife, Theresa Carbonneau Dussault '52). "That was a nice birthday present!" says Dick.

Potter says gifts like that are "a wonderful example. His name will be recognized for a long time because of that gift. It's really a way of celebrating alumni and creating name recognition among the students who are here living the UNH experience as he did."

The plan is to continue to award scholarships to students who are the children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren of a dues-paying member of the alumni association.

But since the alumni association has only had dues-paying members for about 10 years, the overall concept has been broadened to include alumni who have been "connected in some fashion to UNH or the Alumni Association," says Potter. In addition, the merit-based award requires that the students have leadership skills, an outstanding academic record and broad extracurricular interests. "It's more than just being a legacy," Shillaber says. "We had to demonstrate academic standing and community involvement, so there's a character aspect, as well." The students must have a 3.2 GPA not only to qualify but also to continue receiving the award each year.

--Rachel M. Collins '81

For more information, visit www.alumni.unh.edu/forstudents/scholarships.html. The application deadline is March 31. To make a donation to the scholarship fund, send a check to UNH Family Legacy Scholarship, Elliott Alumni Center, 9 Edgewood Rd., Durham, N.H. 03824 or go online to www.foundation.sr.unh.edu/giftform.shtml, choose "Other" in the Designation field, and type in "Family Legacy Scholarship."