Alumni News

A Very UNH Legacy
In the Spotlight
Annual Election
Award Nominations

When Chelsea Moyer '12 of Wakefield, R.I., began shopping for colleges, she didn't have anything against UNH, where she had attended football games with her parents many times. But she wasn't much interested in it either. "I thought, well, there's UNH where my parents went and there's URI right down the road. Let's see what other colleges are out there." But as Seth '86 and Brenda Weston Moyer '86 toured colleges with Chelsea, recalls Brenda, "we had to bite our tongue, because when she talked about the kind of school she wanted, she was describing UNH perfectly."

Chelsea was looking for a school that wasn't "huge," but not "tiny" either; not in a city, but not "out in the middle of nowhere." She wanted to be near mountains, since she loves to hike. Ultimately, she realized UNH had something else that wasn't available at the other schools she was considering: an international studies dual major, which would allow her to combine her interests in political science and international studies.

For Chelsea, who is the 2008 recipient of the UNH Alumni Association Legacy Scholarship, the mere existence of the scholarship is further evidence that she has made a good choice. "It shows me that people who have graduated from UNH are still invested in UNH and in the people at UNH," she says, "which I think is awesome." The scholarship, which was established by the Alumni Association board three years ago with a $250,000 endowment, is awarded each year to an entering freshman with an outstanding academic record, leadership potential and broad extracurricular interests—plus familial ties to UNH and its Alumni Association. Chelsea, who will receive $3,000 each of her four years at UNH, not only has a strong academic record but also was a swim team captain and the elected governor at a Girls State event.

Over the winter break, Chelsea found herself comparing notes with her parents, who met as freshmen in Christensen Hall. But her legacy goes further back, since her grandfather, Samuel Moyer '59G, earned a master's degree in animal science at UNH and received funding from the Hubbard family for his research. "When I told him I was living in Hubbard Hall," she says, "he was super excited."

Editor's note: To apply for the next Legacy Scholarship, visit http://nominations.unh.edu/app.cfm?id=31. The deadline is March 13.

Asked for a favorite memory of the UNH Honors Program, Scott MacDonald '90, now president of NiSource Retail Services, says it was "the opportunity to stretch academically."

For Amy Seif Hattan '93, the director of strategic partnerships at Second Nature, a nonprofit environmental organization, it was her "many happy hours on the couch in the Honors Program office, talking to Chris Sohl, Dr. [Bob] Mennel and other honors program staff."

Over the years, dozens of University Honors Program alums have shared similar memories with the program's staff, and if Mennel—Professor Emeritus of History Robert Mennel, that is—has his way, many more will return and touch base once again with the Honors Program at its 25th anniversary celebration on April 25.

"We are, all of us, looking forward to seeing many students" at the celebration, says Mennel, (pictured above) the founding director of the program who stayed at the helm for two decades. "It will be a good way for students of different generations to get in touch with each other, and to tell us what they've been doing."

The free daylong event will include theater and dance presentations by current honors students, alumni roundtable discussions, a banquet at Huddleston Hall and a campus tour with Douglas Bencks, director of campus planning and campus architect. Kevin Short, a UNH professor of math who won a Grammy in 2008 for his work on a 1949 recording of a Woody Guthrie concert, will give a talk.

Since its inception, the UHP has graduated more than 1,500 students who shared a common interest in welcoming additional educational challenges. UNH is a land-grant public university with a broad mission to educate all citizens of New Hampshire, says Lisa MacFarlane, a former director of the program who is now interim vice provost. "The honors program wants to meet the needs of students to whom intellectual life is something in which they are really invested," she notes.

To do that, the honors program offers the 900 students now enrolled in the program honors-level general education courses and seminars, "honors-in-major" classes for juniors and seniors, and the opportunity to research and write a senior thesis. Space permitting, UNH students who have maintained a 3.2 GPA in their undergraduate course work also may enroll in honors courses.

Recognizing that not all scholars are created alike, MacFarlane notes there are three "points of entry" for honors program students: at matriculation, at the end of their first semester, or in succeeding years as part of the honors-in-major program.

"The bar is set high," MacFarlane admits, since only 6 percent of each year's applicant pool is accepted into the program, but she explains that the program is "very selective, not exclusive."

Monica Chiu, interim director, says the celebration will be "a day of fond memories and future endeavors," where alumni reconnect with mentors, meet current students, learn about new additions to the program and "enjoy the featured student performances and faculty lectures."

For more information about the April 25 celebration, e-mail honors.program@unh.edu, call (603) 862-3928 or visit www.unh.edu/honors-program.

Alumni, Vote!

The annual election of the University System of New Hampshire alumni trustee and Alumni Association board directors will take place in March. Your vote is needed to ensure that the elected office holders represent the will of the alumni body.

The election will begin in early March. Two candidates will be running for one alumni seat on the USNH Board of Trustees and six candidates will be running for six seats on the UNH alumni Board of Directors. The trustee position is a four-year term. Trustees oversee UNH, Plymouth State University, Keene State College and Granite State College. Directors are elected for three-year terms, and provide strategic guidance to the UNH Alumni Association.

Alumni who are registered on Wildcat World and have given permission to be e-mailed will be sent an easy, one-step electronic method of voting; alumni can also vote by visiting Wildcat World (http://alumni.unh.edu/Voting) or by requesting a paper ballot.

As an encouragement to vote online, alumni who vote electronically will be entered in a drawing for an official University of New Hampshire lamp, valued at $169.

Biographies of the candidates are online on the voting page. Alumni may request a paper ballot by calling (603) 862-2040 or (800) 891-1195; e-mailing alumni@unh.edu or writing "2009 Election," Elliott Alumni Center, 9 Edgewood Road, Durham, N.H. 03824. The election will run March 9 through March 27.

Pick a Winner

Do you know an alum who deserves one of the Alumni Association's awards? The awards include the Pettee Medal, Meritorious Service Award, Profile of Service Award and the Young Alumnus/Alumna Achievement Award.

Send nominations by e-mailing alumni@unh.edu with the alum's name and class year, if known; writing to the UNH Alumni Association, Elliott Alumni Center, 9 Edgewood Road, Durham, NH 03824; or calling (603) 862-2040 or (800) 895-1195. Or, fill out a form online at http://alumni.unh.edu/aboutus/alumni/awards2.html. The deadline is March 13.