Unity Magazine - Summer 2012

SUMMER 2012

THE IMPERATIVE OF SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE Birds Eye View of Campus Living Focus on 21st Century Environmental Problems Reality Check 101

From the President Perhaps the most compelling element in my decision to come to Unity College last July was my understanding that our faculty are more innovative in their approach to undergraduate research and teaching than any in my professional experience at four major universities. Unity College faculty understand that disciplinary barriers are arguably the most important impediment to effectively addressing pressing environmental problems. It is fitting that an institution that aspires to be America’s Environmental College has established a curriculum and pedagogy that reflects this urgent need for collaboration among academic disciplines. This is in striking contrast to many larger institutions where disciplinary silo walls can be quite thick and tall.

Thanks to our unique preparedness in sustainability, our manageable size, and our collaborative culture, along with our focus on teaching, Unity is ready to flourish in the 21st century. To insure our graduates’ readiness for the job market, the College is adopting Sustainability Science as a framework.

Sustainability Science is a new approach to understanding and addressing the pressing problems of our times. It is inclusive of all aspects of our programming, including not only the sciences but also the humanities that are so foundational to the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

In a world that faces increasingly complex environmental challenges, Sustainability Science can provide us with a dynamic framework for transdisciplinary education. This means that our faculty will engage in research and teaching practices that are problem-focused

Unity is ready to flourish in the 21st century.

and employ elements of many disciplines. The pursuit of Sustainability Science at Unity will strengthen many of

the approaches used by our innovative faculty who already approach teaching and research through the collaboration of many disciplines.

The endeavor to integrate Sustainability Science into the curriculum will not require that we change our degree tracks or change many course titles. Instead, this will affect the way we teach and determine the particular disciplines that we bring to the understanding of the content of our upper division courses.

The faculty ultimately have the prerogative of how to teach, but it is exciting to me that current course content is largely congruent with transdisciplinary thinking.

This process will contribute to placing

Unity and its graduates in roles of national prominence, enriching the value of a Unity degree, and perhaps most importantly, delivering the leaders necessary to address the most pressing problems of humanity for generations to come.

Stephen Mulkey

President, Unity College

america’s environmental college SUMMER 2012

Features The Imperative of Sustainability President Stephen Mulkey Shares Vision 16

Where Everyone Knows Your Name Unity Connections Remain Strong 21

“Real World” Experiences Matter Centers Ensure 21st Century Relevance 24

Learning From the Front Row First Person Witness to Power and Influence 29

Perspectives What Was I Thinking?

SVP Experiences Student Living

3

A Day to Remember Unity Celebrates Commencement and Presidential Inauguration

4

Centers of Learning Students Rise to the Challenge

6

Finding New Vistas Technology Offers Tool for Discovery

8

When the Call Comes SAR Helps Build Careers

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In Our Element

Alumni

IT Makes Big Improvements Assembling Tools for 21st Century Learning

In Praise of Alumni Alumni Relations Coordinator Message

33

A Textbook Lesson in Service Learning Students Pursue Water Quality Testing 34

Unity Students Set Sail Course Explores Traditions of the Sea 35

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42 Class Notes Alumni Profiles 44 Chris Borg ’92 45 Elizabeth Berney ’95

On the Cover

Juliana Jakubson ’12 in the lab. Photo by Olivia Hanson ’11.

From the Editor

Unity Magazine Volume 26, No. 1 Managing Editor Mark Tardif

Assistant Editors Debora Noone

Student Editors Frances Roth ’14, Zachary Small ’14

Student Photo Editor

Leaving a Legacy to Planet Earth George Harrison of the Beatles once said that the time between 17 and 57 passes in the blink of an eye. Harrison was right, the passage of time is not only something that trundles by at a blindingly fast pace, it is also a non-renewable resource. None of us enjoy immortality and most wish to leave a legacy.

For Unity students in the 21st century, the legacies they will leave are most likely going to be directly tied to global climate change mitigation and environmental issues.

The extent to which students will attain a level of leadership and have an impact in future workplaces are directly tied to their undergraduate experiences.

This issue of Unity Magazine explores the broad theme of how the College prepares students to be leaders in the environmental marketplace of the 21st century. It is a time in Unity’s history when the College must marshal all that has defined it and recalibrate that definition for future success of the College and our graduates as they move into a 21st century workplace.

President Stephen Mulkey has identified the central challenge of the 21st century as global climate change. Mulkey believes this issue is without a doubt “the game of the century.”

In a feature article President Mulkey details his aspirations for the College and explains why the emerging field of sustainability science holds the key to Unity’s future, helping the College to attain its aspiration to become a nationally recognized leader in undergraduate environmental education.

Other articles explore a variety of related issues including the important role that Unity’s alumni are playing in helping newly minted graduates gain a leg up on the job market; and how Centers for Academic Excellence are ensuring that each undergraduate has ample opportunity to gain real world experience that is relevant to the challenges of the 21st century environmental job marketplace.

As always, the diverse achievements of Unity’s exceptional faculty and staff are detailed in Faculty and Staff Notes, while the breathtaking array of intercollegiate award recipients from this academic year are showcased.

The balance of this issue, including our much read and praised Class Notes section, provides a glimpse at the depth and breadth of both the internal and extended Unity community. It is a community that knows no boundaries and which brings distinction to itself—and Unity College—each day through its activities in service to the natural world.

We hope you enjoy this issue and stay in touch.

Mark Tardif Managing Editor

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Jonah Gula ’15

Designer

Skaar Design/Anneli Skaar

Class Notes Editors

Kate Grenier, Debora Noone, Dot Quimby

Editorial Assistants

Reeta Benedict, Robert Constantine, Joseph Galli, Kate Grenier, Cynthia Schaub

Contributing Writers

Rosita Ayala ’11, Reeta Benedict, Chris Borg ’92, Nicole Collins ’00, Rick French ’80, Joseph Galli, Amy Kennedy ’12, Michele Leavitt, Molly Lindh ’12, Dr. Stephen Mulkey, Dr. Diana Murphy, Debora Noone, Jennifer Olin, Marissa Smith ’12, Mark Tardif, Dr. William Trumble, Sara Trunzo ’08, Dot Quimby

Contributing Photographers

Chris Borg ’92 , Julie Ann Fallon ’13 , Rick French ’80, Jonah Gula ’15, Olivia Hanson ’11, Juliana Jakubson ’14, Molly Lindh ’12, Megan Mallory ’14, Kathryn Miles, Kate McDonald, Jesse Pyles, Unity College Search and Rescue Team, Zachary Small ’14, Dan Stewart, Mark Tardif, Sara Trunzo ’08, Reeta Benedict, Jeff Nichols, Julie Fox ’15, Tina Shute

Board of Trustees

Mr. William Zoellick, Chair; Mrs. Margot Kelley, Vice Chair; Mr. Donald Foster, Treasurer; Ms. Juliet Browne, Secretary; Mr. Pete Didisheim; Mrs. Martha Dolben; Mr. William T. Hafford ’08, Ms. Sarah Jeffords; Mr. Robert Kelley; Mr. Jeffrey McCabe ’00; Mrs. Nadine Mort; Dr. Stephen Mulkey; Mr. John Newlin; Mr. Bruce Nickerson; Mr. Robert Pollis; Mr. William Roesing; Mrs. Arlene Schaefer; Ms. Gloria Sosa ’83; Mr. Robert Tonge; Mr. Travis Wagner ’83; Mr. C. Jeffery Wahlstrom; Mr. James Horan, Faculty; Ms. Amy Kennedy ’12, Student

We want to hear from you.

Letters to the editor, story ideas, or address changes may be sent to: Email: editor@unity.edu Mail: Letters, Unity Magazine 90 Quaker Hill Road Unity, Maine 04988 Web: www.unity.edu We reserve the right to edit submissions for length, clarity, and style. Submissions should be no longer than 250 words.

Unity Magazine is printed by Franklin Printing, Farmington, Maine, an FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified printer and printed on Rolland Enviro 100, a 100% post-consumer paper manufactured using biomass energy.

CAMPUS Perspectives

What was I thinking?

By William Trumble, Ph.D, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs My doctor says there is a pretty good chance of a full recovery, but don’t expect to be back to normal overnight.

I’ve been recovering at home, and in my office. My “friends” still say I look like I’ve been through the wringer. They ask if I had a car accident, a skiing crash, cancer, or maybe sleeping sickness. No. I spent a week living with Unity College students in the residence hall ... and … I’m old.

To the Eastview residents and Matt Dyer ’14 who shared his room with me, I send my warmest thanks for the kindness and inclusion in all the strange events that occur in the lounge. In the entire week, I did not win a single game of Wii. Among things I learned, playing video games with students does not build one’s self esteem. Wisdom says one should learn with age. Obviously, I missed something along the way.

The obvious question is, Bill, WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING? I’ve been accused of having a mid-life crisis and wanting to relive my college days. No, I knew what I was getting into. I spent a week living in a student dorm while a dean at the University of New Hampshire. That story found its way to Unity. When Eastview residents invited me to stay, I could not say no.

In previous overnight stays in the dorm, I learned more about student life and needs in a week than I usually learn in a year. Student concerns varied from the variety of dining hall food, the need for residence printers, worries about finding jobs after graduation, the desire for a better advising system, and the level of separation between the academic and residential life of students. There are challenges to being a college student, but these concerns are readily fixable.

I also learned that old timers (administration) and the younger folk (students) live in different time dimensions. My normal day is 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. A student’s day begins about 10 p.m. I could never stay awake long enough to find out when they go to bed. One morning, as I left my room shortly after 5 a.m., I was stunned to see a lounge full of students. I think I said something ridiculous like “I didn’t think you guys knew there was a morning. What are you doing up at this hour?”

With a few days before a big holiday break, they had divided into study groups, staying up all night to finish schoolwork so it wouldn’t interfere with vacation. Just when you think you have students figured out, they will amaze you with their dedication and concern for their education. We loaded up my car and went out to buy fresh, homemade, Amish donuts. I hoped the sugar high would keep them going through their classes.

Trying to keep up with the students, I lost some sleep and I’m a shadow of my former self. But I was the big winner. I made friends, received an education, and came away with the deepest respect for Unity students. I’d recommend such an adventure to every administrator, everywhere.

Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Bill Trumble plays Wii with Matt Dyer ’14, resident advisor, in the East View student lounge.

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Perspectives CAMPUS

Commencement and Inauguration May 12, 2012

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CAMPUS Perspectives

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Perspectives CAMPUS

HOW ACADEMIC CENTERS ARE PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE 21st CENTURY Nicole Collins ’00, Career Consultant / Internship Coordinator

Zwick ’12 Gains Leg Up on Downey ’13 Looks Career in Sustainability to Career Studying Marine Life

Smith ’12 Seeks Career in Writing

Adam Zwick ’12, a sustainable design and technology and an environmental policy major, completed a semester-long internship with the Washington Center, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. The Center provides competitive academic seminars and work experiences in civic engagement. “My internship was with a small, privately-owned energy auditing business in Columbia Heights, Md.” Zwick conducted home energy audits in Maryland and Virginia, and was involved in the company’s market research, business management, data collection and analysis, and client presentations.

“Homeowners who follow through on energy audit recommendations could potentially save up to 50% on their utility bills,” stated Zwick. While significant to individual families, when shifting benefits to a global scale, his work has even greater potential to reduce carbon emissions.

Energy audits are imperative in addressing environmental issues of the 21st century. Through his Academic Center for Sustainability and Global Change, Zwick conducted energy audits and retrofits for Unity residents. His internship was a natural progression, and resulted in an offer to become a full time business partner with an energy auditing company after graduation.

For two years, environmental writing major Marissa Smith ’12 crafted, filmed and wrote documentaries. After completing an independent study with Professor Kate Miles, Smith enrolled in Professor John Zavodny’s documentary film course. Smith wanted a wider perspective on documentary crafting, specifically in script writing and editing.

“Documentaries bring information to the public in an entertaining way,” Smith said.

“We watch Planet Earth not only because we like science and nature, but because the music is dramatic, the shooting is incredible, and the stories are moving.”

“Because documentaries are both informative and fun to watch, we don’t mind learning from them.”

Creative thinking offered through the Center for Arts and Humanities demonstrates the type of trans-disciplinary approach needed to address critical issues of the 21st century. “We need people like me and other humanities majors to help translate mangled scientific jargon into English.

Environmental writers help give heart and story to facts and statistics,” Smith said.

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Kathryn Downey ’13, a marine biology major, researched anemone for her senior thesis. Downey hopes to identify a new species or find a new record of an anemone. “I first became involved as I searched for thesis topics,” explained Downey. “Dr. Emma Creaser suggested I examine the identity of an anemone found by the 2010 marine ecology class.”

Establishing baseline data for ocean life is essential for monitoring the effects climate change is having on biodiversity.

As a member of the Academic Center for Biodiversity, Downey’s work contributes to the field of sustainability science.

“The identification process is one of the most influential and difficult exercises I experienced at Unity College. The project, a keystone of my degree, tied together many of the concepts I learned in previous courses,” stated Downey. “I am thankful for the opportunities provided by Unity College and Dr. Creaser through the marine biology coursework, allowing me to develop both academically and professionally.”

CAMPUS Perspectives

By Diane Murphy, Professor of Humanities Maltman ’14 Aims to Preserve Wildlife Diversity Derrick Maltman ’14 came to Unity College as a scholar in the Center for Experiential and Environmental Education, and will graduate with a degree in captive wildlife care and education. His professional goal is to aid in the preservation of wildlife diversity by owning his own zoo, using ambassador species to educate the public.

While many Unity students share this ambition, Maltman has expanded his horizons with international experiences.

After attending high school in Germany, earning advanced placement credits, he travels to Europe at least once a year.

“Some students feel limited by career prospects,” states Maltman. “A former teacher tried to discourage me from entering the zoological profession.”

Luckily, another teacher urged him to pursue his passion, reinforcing his perception that dreams are attainable.

Since coming to Unity, Maltman has found that every course contributes to his preparation for the job market, whether it is a personal growth experience such as rock climbing or the introductory course in his major, which provided a “plethora of information about the field.”

Maltman applied for an internship with the Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland; sure to be another milestone on his road to success.

“At Unity College, the Academic Centers are constructed to promote the delivery of each course or degree using the most appropriate expertise of multiple faculty members.” SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS WILLIAM TRUMBLE Prescott ’13 Flourishes in Conservation Law Enforcement Program Nicole Prescott ’13, a non-traditional student, entered the conservation law enforcement program at Unity College.

She has previous experience as an Emergency Medical Technician, and is in her ninth year with the Emergency Medical Services of Maine. “Combining a 36-hour work week with earning a college degree is not easy, but well worth the effort,” said Prescott.

When asked which courses best prepared her for the job market, Prescott said she is especially grateful to Tim Peabody ’81, Associate Professor of Conservation Law/Enforcement/Director of the Center for Natural Resource

Management and Protection, for his “realworld approach to teaching” and to Carol Blasi, Associate Professor of Conservation Law Enforcement, whose law courses are essential in helping students understand how to apply legal precepts.

Prescott highly recommends the seasonal law enforcement training program, offered through the Center for Natural Resource and Protection, as “the best thing the college has done.” This intensive program allowed her to obtain a federal level II law enforcement officer certification, making her competitive for a range of future careers.

Prescott has worked for the United

States Fish and Wildlife agency for two years, spending time in North Dakota, Montana, Kansas, and Utah, and has a position with the same agency this summer. Hats off to Prescott for living up to her own motto: “Make your time here worth it!”

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Perspectives TECHNOLOGY

Technology in the Classroom Helps Nurture Skills Development Technology can be all or nothing, nuisance or invaluable tool. Context means a lot.

Each academic year faculty at Unity College are increasingly using technology in ways that enliven, highlight, and provide context to important environmental issues.

In the classroom Professor Mick Womersley uses computers to screen slides; video and audio is used to bring a 3D effect to select lessons; computer-based sensors and measuring devices reflect “real world” approaches; and cloud computing is used for storage of classroom materials.

“I also use blogs to organize teaching between online and in-class delivery,” Womersley said. “All my homework and most of my examinations use on-line cloud based materials.”

Professor Doug Fox uses technology in many ways, including using laptops to teach problem solving.

“The problem solving today requires the ability to access information as needed,” Fox explained. “Our laptop-equipped classrooms are handy for students as they are answering questions like ‘how much of a person’s yearly vegetable needs could be supplied by our hoophouse (structure used as a greenhouse or a season extender and is characterized by a half-round “hoop” shape).”

Modeling software used by Fox helps students to understand the assumptions behind computer models so they may create their own simple models on spreadsheets. Students are exposed to a variety of professional software models that allow them to solve

sophisticated problems such as ‘how much glass should we have on the south side of the (Dorothy Webb Quimby) library?’

Both laptops and modeling software are important tools to use in the classroom, Fox says.

Womersley believes addressing the demands of the 21st century requires that technology be used in the classroom, particularly since it has subsumed every aspect of society.

“Technology has to be in the classroom or students will not be ready for the workplace or (not of) to be active citizens,” Womersley stated.

Using the Latest Technology in the Field

by Debora Noone, Alumni and Parent Relations Coordinator “I love the challenge of being in a dangerous situation handling extremely harmful substances,” said Franki (Dalton) Delaney ’08, a conservation law enforcement major.

“As a front line environmental protection responder, technology is a critical tool ensuring I get to spills quickly. Once on scene, technology allows me to accurately assess the spill.”

Delaney, an oil and hazardous materials specialist in the Department of Environmental Protection Response Division, uses a variety of technology in her 21st century workplace.

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She researches chemicals and hazardous materials, including their impact on environment and human health, using computers.

Google Earth assists in researching spill areas, such as wetlands and private drinking wells.

Once a call comes in, Delaney uses GPS to guide her to the spill, cell phones to contact contractors and responders, and police radio to communicate with state police dispatch when out of cell phone range.

On the scene, Delaney states, “I rely on technology to clean up a scene in the most expeditious and cost-effective way.”

The Photo Ionization Detector allows her to detect oil vapors intruding on a house or oil in the soil. A self-contained breathing apparatus is used when oxygen is below safe levels, and Tyvek suits allow her to enter a level A or B area containing harmful contamination.

Back at the office, Delaney uses the report writing skills learned in the Unity courtroom procedures class.

Delaney credits the college and its faculty for keeping her on a “strong path to achieving her career goals of protecting the environment.”

SERVICE Perspectives

Above: Professor Mick Womersley leads a Search and Rescue Team training exercise. Right: Professor Mick Womersley (Center) leads a Search and Rescue Team training exercise in Camden, Maine.

Real Experiences in Search and Rescue Prepare Unity Students for Careers

By Debora Noone, Alumni and Parent Relations Coordinator Unity College offers a rare opportunity to its students; professional training in search and rescue (SAR team) and a chance to serve Maine.

“There is power in being part of a search and rescue event,” says Melanie Renell ’12, president of Unity SAR. “It simply feels good to drop everything to help someone in need.”

Unity SAR, advised by Professor of Human Ecology, Dr. Michael “Mick” Womersley, receives funding from the Student Government Association. Womersley manages the Unity callout to searches, and organizes and conducts trainings, melding his commitment to both SAR and Unity.

A resource officer for the Maine Association of Search and Rescue (MASAR), he also serves on the education committee.

“Participation offers me the ability to continue a 30 year career in SAR,” said Womersley, co-editor of the Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service journal. “My strong sense of duty stems from my military background and family history of commitment to service.”

With approximately 10 college SAR teams nationwide, Unity is currently the only serious Maine college team. With Womersley’s help, the University of Maine is resurrecting its High Angle Rescue Team.

“Unique to other Unity clubs, students work directly with State Police and Maine Warden Service in potentially urgent

situations.” Renell said. “SAR pushes students outside their comfort zones, gaining them exceptional experience for future careers.”

Unity SAR members usually major in and pursue careers “where competency and self-reliance in the outdoors, especially the woods and mountains, are crucial, and where danger, risk, and adversity are commonplace,” Womersley said. “Cocurricular programming like SAR builds competence, selfconfidence, reinforces the need for service and community, and tests mettle and fitness.”

“Unity students are level-headed, helpful, trained if not experienced, fit, and reliable, all superior assets,” Womersley noted. “Authorities greatly appreciate our students for these characteristics.” Many Unity alumni work for Maine Warden’s Service, including Lieutenant Kevin Adams ’88 who is the liaison to Maine SAR. Womersley says that search and rescue work is “emotional and at times upsetting, making it far more intense than the regular curriculum.” It is no wonder that Unity students in such majors as conservation law enforcement, adventure education, and field-based biology benefit from SAR and are successful in related careers. SAR is yet another example of how Unity prepares its students for the very real work in 21st century jobs.

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Perspectives COMMUNITY

Hands On, Minds On Learning Prepares Science Teachers Programs flourish because Unity’s allure attracts students that are a perfect fit. This is the case with the Science Teacher Education Program within the Center for Experiential and Environmental Education.

“Our [Unity’s] students take initiative, show leadership and are creative, all qualities of great teachers,” said Professor Gerry Saunders about students in the science teacher education program.

When Saunders began work at Unity College, he was charged with creating a strong science teacher education program.

Though he was optimistic the program would be successful, he could not have guessed how successful, or how integrated it would become in the cultures of local schools in central Maine. In five years, Unity College has grown to become one of the top three Maine colleges in the number of graduates with science teacher certification.

Unity received certification from the Maine Department of Education in 2007.

Since then, the Science Teacher Education Program has developed strong partnerships benefiting both Unity students seeking to receive secondary science teacher certificates for Maine—certification also recognized by reciprocal arrangements to states beyond Maine—and the students from the schools that partnered with the Unity College program.

The Center for Experiential and Environmental Education maintains partnerships between its teacher education program and China middle and elementary schools, RSU # 3 (Thorndike’s Mt. View High and Middle Schools); Newport’s Nokomis High School and Sebasticook Middle School; and Maine Central Institute (MCI), a Pittsfield prep school.

“By working in these schools, our students gain real teaching experience,” Saunders said.

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Ashley Sutton ‘12 leading the MCI sustainability day, where students started an Environthon Club.

Getting into the classroom starts early for secondary education majors. Generally they begin gaining field teaching experience when they take Foundations of Education, a course usually completed during their first year.

The range of hands on and minds on experiences that students gain in pursuit of their Science Teacher Certificate are varied.

Ashley Sutton ’12 organized and led sustainability day at MCI, and helped start an Envirothon club.

Unity students developed a curriculum that helped China, Maine students from grades 2 through 8 use the forest in multidisciplinary ways; learning science, reading, art, and literature by using the forest as a gateway to the world.

“The forest is a living laboratory where you take kids to use their senses to observe,” observe, Saunders said. “They write and draw what they observe, and they experience what they have only seen or heard on TV, read in text, or viewed on the internet.”

The oldest program takes place at Mt. View Middle School. Unity students help build a sense of community among the students, who are largely unfamiliar with each other having merged into one school from many area elementary schools.

Every fall, Unity students create a day long team building program. Home rooms are clustered together and meet throughout the day. Each session produced different themes, ultimately represented by different symbols combined at the end of the day into a flag for each homeroom, representing cohesion, a sense of place, and community.

These activities are integral parts of the Secondary Science major leading to Science Teacher Certification. The activities also enrich the partner schools and give Unity students the kind of real world experience that helps new teachers to flourish.

COMMUNITY Perspectives

A Green Collaboration Worthy of Shakespeare … or Lewis Turco

By Michele Leavitt What does it mean for a piece of writing to be “green”? Twenty students in Creative Writing: Poetry of Social Change asked this question as we reviewed submissions to a special Green issue of Off the Coast, which was distributed May 1st. Happily, we did not come up with any straightjacket answers.

But we did come up with many more questions.

What are the pressing environmental issues of the present? How do we define environment?

How can a poem inspire its readers to thought and action?

Our collaboration with Off the Coast fit perfectly with Unity’s tradition of experiential education: a hands-on approach that often involves community partners.

Students participated in editing and production of the issue – from arguing for or against the inclusion of individual poems, to stuffing envelopes, and delivering copies. The final product is an artful, inspiring magazine that brings our diverse visions together.

Unity College students and the Off the Coast editorial board review submissions at an event held at Unity House.

Community Service by the Numbers

115

Number of Unity community members who wrote letters to US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan

18

Number of students participating in this year’s Alternative Spring Break Trip

50

Number of community-based organizations served by Unity students to date

10

Number of dogs trained by Unity students at Waterville Humane Society

40

Number of students who joined the new Unity Service Squad

10,000

Number of academic service hours provided by Unity students and faculty UNITY SUMMER 2012 |

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Perspectives GLOBAL

Sensitive Travel

… Changing Hearts and Lives

By Debora Noone At a river crossing in India, a mother held her baby who couldn’t nurse.

Moved by the sight, an elephant-riding traveler wanted to help. Why? This traveler and the Indian child had something in common—a cleft palate. As a child, the traveler received medical attention to correct her cleft palate. Now she saw an opportunity to make this life-saving surgery possible for another. A one-hundred dollar gift to the family covered the expense of bus travel and hotels in Katmandu where the infant received free surgery.

“Sensitive travel changes hearts and creates connections between travelers, the people they meet, and the world they experience,” said Rick French ’80. “A few years later, at the same river, the parents greeted me with a huge hug and a healthy child.” This example is but one of many stories that change lives for international adventure travelers.

Adventure travel is not about destination.

It is about the experience.

Bill Trumble, senior vice president of academic affairs, remembers his first trip to Nepal, an unforgettable experience.

“The country is responding to crises such as deforestation, political strife, climate change, western influences, and changing cultural norms, due to the exodus of young people from villages,” explains Trumble.

“Yet it’s a country that still offers so much to travelers.”

Trumble will represent Unity, accompanying French to Nepal in May 2013.

“The warmth and kindness of the people make this an adventure not to be missed.”

Unity President Stephen Mulkey, with a University of Pennsylvania doctorate in tropical ecology, spent 20 years working in central and southern tropical rain forests.

Mulkey looks forward to accompanying French and other Unity travelers in March 2013, where the Costa Ricans open their

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hearts and share their resources with visitors.

“The exposure to diversity of life in Costa Rica, where they have more woody plants than all of the America’s north of Mexico, is alone worth the visit,” said Mulkey. “Costa Rica has one of the best conservation ethics of any country with its extensive network of national parks and a population that is fundamentally involved in preservation.”

This trip will afford all the members of the trip an opportunity to understand life and living things in tropical countries and give them a chance to work side-by-side with Costa Rican people as they preserve their rich marine life and other natural habitats.

Join Unity friends in 2013, travel with three passionate experts, and experience an international trip of a lifetime where you will more than likely encounter life-changing experiences similar to the elephant-crossing traveler.

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I T INERAR Y

Everest Area Buddhist Sherpa Reflective Trek Monday, May 20 Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Experience a broad range of Sherpa and Buddhist culture in the Magical Kingdom of Nepal. Trek the lower altitudes of the Everest Valley in the Himalayan Mountains. Visit local projects from schools and reforestation projects to cultural revitalization projects. Discover ancient Buddhist Monasteries, Hindu Temples and other sacred sites. Join our Sherpa friends in their homes and monasteries and participate in the Everest Valley life.

I T INERAR Y

Costa Rican Sustainability Experience

Sunday, March 17 – Tuesday, March 26, 2013 Work alongside local people on active ongoing sustainable projects. Expand your view of the environment and discover new ecosystems. Costa Rica offers unique opportunities. One day you can be on the Atlantic supporting nesting turtles and the next exploring an erupting volcano, or making cheese with organic farmers, or swimming under a tropical water fall. Raft a jungle river then spend the evening in a natural hot spring with howler monkeys roaring behind you.

GLOBAL Perspectives

Unity Alumni, Rick French ’80 and Hannia Candelario ’11, Working Together Across the Decades

By Rick French ’80 After operating adventures on seven continents, with over 20 diverse Costa Rican trips, you would think finding the perfect combination of adventure, community, education, and sustainability for a specially designed Unity trip would be as simple as unearthing a plate of rice and beans in Costa Rica. Instead it proved frustratingly elusive.

To network a solution, Unity College recommended I speak to Hannia Candelario ’11, a Tica (Costa Rican). For a few weeks, emails and phone calls went unanswered until an unknown number appeared on my cell.

A delightfully cheery voice apologized, letting me know, in Unity fashion, Hannia had been leading trips for Unity’s summer Nova experience. This I understood—leading outdoor adventure trips out of technology’s reach is the story of my life.

Despite time passing since I graduated, the helpful, friendly qualities I remembered had not changed. Hannia’s trip guide training, professional work, and leadership of the Unity Student Government Association were evident in her dedication to helping plan Unity’s 2013 Costa Rican trip.

Within days, Hannia contacted several agencies. Suddenly, all the pieces fit. We were able to develop a program including farming, and rural and coastal cultures of Costa Rica. Trip participant’s experience will prove productive and significant enough to have a lasting impact on their lives.

I look forward to continuing our partnership, when our 2013 trip meets up with Hannia at her Costa Rican workplace.

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Perspectives DEVELOPMENT

Building a Strong Future Takes Teamwork

By Joe Galli, Interim Vice President for College Development In concert with various constituencies, volunteers and development staff, Unity College has gained impressive momentum in building a strong foundation for fundraising.

The Student Giving Committee, Class Agents, Annual Fund Committee and our overall increase in volunteerism is all a product of the collaborations between the Development Office and our students, alumni, faculty and staff.

This year we celebrated the first Tuition Freedom Day. Our Student Giving Committee, under the guidance of the Annual Fund staff, educated the entire campus on the importance of giving.

Through a day-long event the members of the Student Giving Committee explained to students that tuition alone covers approximately 85 percent of the cost of attending Unity College. The remaining 15 percent is provided by outside sources including donors and foundations.

Class agents have also been instrumental in the forward momentum of raising this important 15 percent to fill the gap of meeting college annual expenses. This program, where each graduated class has an alumni represen-

tative who appeals to their classmates, is new to the annual fund. We are excited about this highly successful alumni engagement program and look forward to enjoying great results from this peer to peer interaction.

Volunteering opportunities, such as becoming a class agent, have been received with open arms by our students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends.

Rob and Margot Kelley Share Commitment to Unity’s Future

remembers Kelley. “I was impressed with the way Unity infused an emphasis on creativity and beauty into the general curriculum and onto the campus.”

Soon after, former Unity College President Thomashow invited Kelley to become a board member. “In some ways, being board members at Unity College is a perfect form of service for us (myself and Rob),” explains Kelley. “Working in academia my entire professional life, I understand the challenges of higher educational institutions.”

Rob shares Margot’s passion for service. “As an entrepreneur, he values a great liberal arts education for future leaders and innovators,” said Kelley.

“The interplay between practical learning and reflective inquiry that such an education enables is one of the things that distinguish Unity College

Unity College Board of Trustees members Rob and Margot Kelley are not Mainers. More precisely, they are people from away who live here full-time.

Although they may not be considered ‘Mainers’ by those who claim this status, they share something with natives: a strong connection to this state. They also share the same strong commitment to Unity College as board members.

Margot Kelley’s first introduction to Unity College was through Adjunct Instructor and Artist Lisa Martin ’99.

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Unity’s engagement in these foundation building initiatives support vibrant development efforts for the future. We invite you to join the team as we expand our reach upward and outward, always striving to advance the excellent work of Unity College.

Joe Galli chats with Katy Brackett ’09 at an alumni gathering.

grads and students from their peers of other institutions,” commented Kelley.

The mission of Unity College and the education it offers to students is of great value to the Kelleys. “We’re proud to call Maine our home and privileged to have the opportunity to use our expertise and passion in guiding Unity. My hopes are that the innovations that Unity pursues are efforts that enhance, rather than replace, what we already do well.”

DEVELOPMENT Perspectives

Volunteers Build Strong Foundation for Unity’s Success

By Reeta Benedict, Annual Fund Officer When Kristina Williams, associate director of Admissions Communications, took time out of her busy schedule to personally ask for Unity Fund support, she did it because Unity is a cause she believes in. “There are people out there that want to be hands on in the success of an important cause,” explained Williams.

“Volunteering is a great way to accomplish that.”

Unity College is always on the lookout for alumni, parent, student, and community volunteers to not only help meet the Unity Fund goal, but to assist on a number of other day-to-day events we hold on campus and in nearby communities.

Volunteering is a meaningful and rewarding way to show support of a nonprofit like Unity College. We rely on volunteer networks to accomplish our goals and the important work we do.

Significant events such as commencement are made more memorable because of the hard work contributed not only from staff

and faculty, but from volunteers.

Learning or developing a new skill is also a wonderful benefit of volunteering.

Volunteering offers an incredible networking opportunity. Enhancing your resume with volunteer experiences is a great way to get into your dream field.

As Mahatma Gandhi said: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

“There are people out there that want to be hands on in the success of an important cause. Volunteering is a great way to accomplish that.”

The value of volunteering, in economic and social terms, has long been recognized and championed in higher education, from participating in fundraising committees to lending expertise on advisory councils.

Chelsea Ardle ’12 making a phone call to an alumni donor.

Unity College has a number of opportunities available for alumni, parents, students, and friends to volunteer to enhance the Unity Fund. Contact the Development Office for more details and volunteer today.

Left to right facing: Stephenie MacLagan ’07, Reeta Benedict and Dorothy “Dot” Quimby

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The Imperative of Sustainability and a Path for Unity College

By Mark Tardif, Associate Director of College Communications

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Our mission is to ensure the sustainability of this planet and all of the life that calls it home. The Unity graduate of the future will be well positioned to not only take advantage of a marketplace hungry for environmental professionals, but address the central problem of their lifetime, global climate change.

His epiphany came as they usually do, at a most unexpected time and place. President Stephen Mulkey, traveling through the eastern Amazon, realized his career path no longer served his broader vision to make a positive contribution to our shared environment.

Mulkey had spent a good deal of time researching, publishing, and mentoring graduate students. By all outward appearances everything was fine. At that juncture of his life he sought to answer the existential question; how best to utilize his skills to address the scenes of widespread ecological degradation he was witnessing.

“I asked myself what I was doing in the Amazon, and for the first time in my career the answer was not good enough,” Mulkey said. “What I was witnessing in the south eastern Amazon was a wholesale shift in the ecosystem, partly due to the anthropogenic (human-caused) factors of land use change and partly due to climate change. The next question was what am I doing with my career?”

Mulkey’s short-term answer was to change the focus of his research. A longer term solution was to begin program development for inter-disciplinary science programming in the environmental sciences.

The answer to addressing the largest environmental problem facing mankind, global climate change, along with its many attendant challenges, is to move beyond the compartmentalization that has plagued scientific enterprise.

Since becoming President in July 2011, Mulkey has been concerned with ensuring that Unity College is on a path to providing an exceptional education that meets the demands of an earth in crisis.

Relevant, real world, 21st century environmental problem-solving requires that practitioners bring the tools of many disciplines and information from many sources to the task of devising coherent solutions. Mulkey advocates this transdisciplinary approach of bringing knowledge from different disciplines together to help people solve problems in comprehensive, far reaching ways.

environmental leadership moves beyond traditional ways of thinking.

“My vision for Unity College is that sustainability is not just about composting and putting photovoltaic solar panels on the President’s house,” Mulkey stated. “It’s an entire mindset or metaphor for how we see ourselves and our interaction with the planet, which includes an active, transdisciplinary role for science. I believe that is one reason the National Academy of Sciences has identified an entire body of studies that it now calls Sustainability Science.”

Mulkey worked closely with Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs William Trumble and the faculty to create a vision for Unity’s future path. This vision is guided by what Mulkey sees as the convergence of economic, political, and environmental catastrophes that are unfolding. Although often independent of global climate change, Mulkey notes that global climate change amplifies all of these problems.

In February, Mulkey presented his vision to have Sustainability Science frame the educational experience at the College to the Unity College Board of Trustees. A strong

Finding the Path to Long-Term Relevance Relevance will not come in the form of merely monitoring the higher education marketplace to see which academic majors are becoming popular. Although Mulkey acknowledges that the marketplace also plays a role in forging a direction for the College, he points out that the very demands of a rapidly changing environment have made traditional approaches obsolete. The path to achieving the full measure of national

President Mulkey at Earth Day and pe-inauguration event 2012, as he helps plant a white oak dedicated in his honor as the 10th president of Unity College.

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believer in collaborative, face-to-face communication, Mulkey met with a variety of constituencies during the fall and spring semesters to discuss his vision, also sharing through an e-mail link with the internal community a video of his presentation to the faculty.

Sustainability Science Rallying Point By all accounts the coming years will be taxing for all colleges including Unity. From an enrollment perspective, the challenges that Unity faces today, compared to previous periods of recessive recruitment, is that the higher education marketplace is fundamentally different.

“As scholars and practitioners, we know how critical it is that our decisions be informed by scholarship and research,” Mulkey wrote in a February e-mail to faculty and staff. “In a world that faces increasingly complex environmental challenges, Sustainability Science can provide us with a dynamic framework for transdisciplinary research and practice.” How our faculty define and address issues and problems, and create solutions across the disciplines, rather A Unity student displays her creativity at commencement.

Sustainability Office work study crew and student volunteers set Veggies for All (community agriculture project) onions out to cure (dry enough to be stored) in the second story of the barn. The onions pictured were stored for fall 2011 and winter 2012 use by the Dining Services department and for distribution by area Volunteer Regional Food Pantry.

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than within each discipline, is key to the core definition of Sustainability Science education.

The transdisciplinary problem-focused process is central to Mulkey’s belief in the value of Sustainability Science as a paradigm for education.

Sustainability Science will provide the critically important return on investment sought by students, Mulkey explains.

More than ever, the connection between curriculum and employment opportunities is a top concern.

Given that enrollment in environmental programs is increasing, the result of a corresponding connection to the multiple environmental crises that Mulkey often speaks of, Unity College is positioning itself as a provider of in-demand environmentally literate professionals.

As Mulkey explains, Sustainability Science serves as a type of umbrella under which professionals from different disciplines gather to problem-solve issues related to a variety of environmental problems, especially mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change.

Rather than working within the sometimes arbitrary boundaries dividing the disciplines, Sustainability Science brings to the table whatever disciplinary scholarship is necessary to understand a problem.

“Sustainability Science is a collaborative process for understanding a problem,” Mulkey said. “By traversing the disciplines to find a solution, rather than focusing on the solution through one discipline, we can approach problems in a very different way.”

How will such an approach change the way environmental students are educated?

Educating these students effectively will ensure that they obtain a skill set that will help them participate in building resilient ecological and human communities, Mulkey says.

Unity students will develop skills, such as communicating with diverse constituencies, reading and writing well, learning to think critically, and problem-solving.

“We need to be teaching much more from a problem-focused orientation and we need to be more integrative in how we

President Stephen Mulkey is interviewed during a Keystone XL Pipeline protest in Washington, D.C.; Unity students gather specimens at Sandy Stream for a laboratory exercise; Professor Doug Fox demonstrates his enthusiasm for sustainability.

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bring the information to students,” Mulkey said. “Some folks would see this as a high level of education that should happen in graduate school. I disagree. If you wait until then, you create disciplinary mindsets that make it difficult to transmute this way of seeing a problem.”

Changing the paradigm of how we teach and solve problems is at times challenging, but also rewarding. One of the biggest obstacles to making the necessary changes, not just at Unity but across the spectrum of educational institutions, relates to disciplinary and institutional inertia. Educators and institutions simply do not change easily, even with a global environmental emergency raising the level of urgency.

Mulkey believes that Sustainability Science should be the framework for most of the College’s activities.

“There is a sustainability imperative,” he noted. “We absolutely have to change our relationship to our natural resources. The alternative is that our children will be facing the prospect of living on a vastly diminished planet. If we don’t strive to develop the capacity for sustainability, we face increasingly severe consequences.”

Well Positioned for Success Unity is well positioned to flourish because it is pre-adapted to do Sustainability Science. “Our natural resources and conservation signature programs are very much central to, and not subsumed by sustainability science,” Mulkey said.

Mulkey explains that the entire conservation paradigm has now changed. Climate zones are moving north faster than the lifetimes of the dominant organisms in the biological community, the trees, and that means that simple preservation of the species, or even worse, preservation of the biological community in its current form is an inappropriate goal.

Such changes are challenging everyone in the natural

resources and conservation disciplines to rise to a new, higher and collaborative level of scholarship and problem solving.

“Education for the 21st century at America’s Environmental College must focus on bringing the tools to the students to become leaders, not just foot soldiers, in implementation, mitigation, adaptation, and building of resilience of social and ecological communities,” Mulkey stated. “Those are intellectual and scholarly bodies of understanding that we need to increasingly make available through professional development to our existing faculty and through aggressive hiring as a reinvestment in our human capital.”

While the necessary changes are ongoing, the fundamental vision is compelling and clear.

“Unity has an enormous competitive advantage if we become known for producing literate critical thinkers,” Mulkey said.

“Teaching our students to communicate, read and write well, has to be a high priority for us.” For any institution to address the problems of the 21st century it must ensure that its graduates possess these skills.

“There has been deterioration to the point where there is marginal literacy in some of the graduates coming out of state schools. Employers know this, and they’re begging for something better,” Mulkey stated. “If we give our students something better we will be handing our students a meal ticket and a means of career advancement.”

A strong set of writing, communication, and critical thinking skills is foundational and will blend seamlessly with training in Sustainability Science.

Our mission is to ensure the sustainability of this planet and all of the life that calls it home. The Unity graduate of the future will be well positioned to not only take advantage of a marketplace hungry for environmental professionals, but address the central problem of their lifetime, global climate change.

Students celebrate during a Dean’s Cup event sponsored by Student Affairs. Unity students conduct water quality testing at the Trout Brook Watershed in South Portland, Maine.

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Unity Connections Remain Strong Long After Graduation

By Debora H. Noone, Alumni and Parent Relations Coordinator

When it comes to Unity College and its alumni, students, and professors, it is indeed a small world.

Finding interconnections between one professor and three ‘generations’ of Unity students, tell a story of associations that have endured long after graduation.

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Dr. Dave Knupp, associate professor of wildlife biology, is at the heart of the four profiled Unity alumni whose associations became intertwined through their work. “I never thought of myself as being a mentor—just a regular person sharing my passion and hopefully enthusiasm for nature and natural resource management,” Knupp observed. “Above this sharing, I try to do whatever helps students to obtain success, however they define it.” Knupp is but one of many examples of faculty building professional relationships with alumni extending beyond the years at Unity.

Schaffer’s career path spanned several states before taking him on his journey to obtain his master’s degree. It all started with Knupp’s advice to contact Unity alumnus, Distinguished Professor of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at South Dakota State University (SDSU), Jon Jenks ’84. Schaffer became a graduate assistant to Jenks, the principal investigator on the first-of-its-kind deer study in North Dakota. The cooperative project between SDSU and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department put Schaffer in the midst of a radio telemetry study, following 62 adult female deer using radio collars to research movements, reproduction, and mortality factors of white-tailed deer in central North Dakota.

“Whether asking Dr. Jenks for advice on classes or clover trapping deer in subzero temperatures on the prairie of North Dakota, Jenks has and will continue to be a positive influence on my development as a wildlife professional,” said Schaffer,

who concluded his two year field study in North Dakota in January 2012. Schaffer is back at South Dakota State University finishing class study and writing his thesis.

Just as Jenks hired Schaffer upon Knupp’s recommendation, Knupp was also instrumental in the chain of Unity hires for the North Dakota white-tail deer project by recommending Kristy Manuell ’12. Schaffer hired Manuell for the summer of 2011 to help him complete increasing amounts of fieldwork. With Manuell’s help, they monitored the radio-collared adults in addition to capturing and radio-collaring neonates in an effort to obtain survival rates and habitat-use data. “No matter where I travel in the United States, wildlife professionals comment on Unity College’s ability to produce excellent field personnel,” Schaffer notes. “Kristy in not an exception. She completed every task I asked with incomparable results. Although her field experience was fishery focused, she excelled in working with wildlife.”

Manuell credits Knupp for offering her field experiences in duck banding and at deer and moose stations throughout her college career, experiences she routinely talks to other students about, since learning these skills gave her the opportunity to work with the white-tailed deer study with Schaffer.

“I’m fortunate Dave passed on my name to Brian, pushing me to pursue the opportunity,” said Manuell. “My experience gave me a chance to use the skills in telemetry and trapping that I learned in Dave’s wildlife techniques class. Working with

Recently retired Associate Professor of Wildlife Biology, David Knupp always stressed the importance of hands on learning; Brian Schaffer ’09 with an ear-tagged deer for the North Dakota white-tail study; Kristy Manuell ’12 capturing and radio-collaring neonates for the North Dakota white-tail study, during the summer of 2011.

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“The relationship formed during my four years at Unity with my advisor Professor Dave Knupp developed into a friendship that will last a lifetime,” said Brian Schaffer ’09. “On a regular basis we communicate through emails and phone calls to discuss my current research and other life issues since Unity College.”

Brian presented me with options for post-grad work and gave me credible experience to showcase as I pursue my career after graduation.”

Manuell knows that the mentoring by both Knupp and another alum, Joe Saltalamachia ’94, senior associate director of Admissions, have been instrumental in enhancing her Unity education. Saltalamachia continues to help her pursue scholarships and jobs, and shares her passion for hunting. “And Dr. Knupp has been a major influence,” Manuell notes. “I hope to continue to do great things and report back to him. I’ll always consider him a mentor.”

Jenks, teaching graduate classes and serving as a major advisor for graduate wildlife projects at SDSU, says he continues “to interact annually with my own undergraduate mentors, Terry Bowyer and Ron Barry.” Jenks explained, “My mentors provided direction for me relative to graduate school. They have provided me with potential graduate students. In turn, I provide potential graduate students to both of them in their post Unity positions.”

One of the students who contacted Jenks after graduation was Marcus Gray, ’06, a wildlife conservation major. Gray spent a lot of time during his senior year researching jobs and graduate schools. “I shudder to think about the number of manila envelopes I sent out,” Gray says, explaining that only a few years ago, everyone requested hard copy resumes and transcripts. “As I researched South Dakota State University, well known for its wildlife program, I discovered one of the professors graduated from Unity. Figuring what could it hurt?, I wrote to Jon Jenks, applied, and waited.” Months later, as graduation approached and Gray prepared to take a job, Jenks called from SDSU and offered him a research assistant job working on barriers to prairie dog colony expansion.

Over the next three years, he and Jenks communicated when Gray had a problem. “Jenks has high expectations and expects the people he hires to handle things and get the job done.” Gray says, “Our informal meetings consisted of Jon asking, Everything okay? and me replying Yep. The relationship worked well because I don’t like supervisors that micromanage and Jenks likes selfstarters.” This is another testament to the skills and field experience Unity students and alumni bring to the workplace.

Interestingly, another turn of events in the chain of relationships between Unity alumni is that Gray now works as coordinator of science-based conservation programs and research with Safari Club International Foundation. His employer, prior to Gray’s hiring on, funded at least one of Jenk’s projects and they continue to investigate ways to partner with SDSU. The Foundation’s

Sables program has also established an endowed scholarship at Unity, which Manuell received this year.

With Jenks’ tutelage, Gray was offered a great opportunity.

Gray admits it is unclear whether he would have gone on to get his master’s if he had gone straight into the field. He says, “Jon has served as a reference for my last three professional positions.

Unity students should understand this is the real impact of networking with colleagues.”

Gray continues to network with Unity alumni and faculty.

Social networking makes it much easier. Since graduation he has worked with Unity alumni and run into old friends at conferences. Gray says networking helped him connect with Jenks, getting him into grad school. “It is a good way to catch up on the latest work accomplishments or to discover ways to collaborate in the future.” And, as Gray points out, he likes to return the favor by steering promising students toward Unity and helping current students by passing on job opportunities to wildlife faculty and the career center.

As Knupp says, “The most rewarding part of teaching is seeing students reach their goals and believing I played some small part in their success.” The enduring connections between faculty and alumni at Unity can be summed up in Knupp’s words, “The opportunity to have three ‘generations’ of students working together at different levels on a North Dakota deer project is priceless.”

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Centers Ensure 21st Century Relevance

By Mark Tardif, Associate Director of College Communications In the span of a few short days, Professor Lois Ongley learned some very good news about three of her senior advisees.

Tim Godaire ’12, an environmental analysis major and human ecology minor from Chaplin, Conn., will pursue graduate studies at the University of Maine with a research assistantship at that school’s Climate Change Institute.

Kelly Barber ’12, an environmental analysis and ecology double major from Harleysville, Pa., will be a water quality monitoring intern with Cook Inletkeeper’s (Inletkeeper.org) in Alaska.

Annica McGuirk ’12, an ecology major from Cabot, Ark., will be a research assistant at Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine.

Seeing the hard work of her advisees reaping exceptional opportunities upon graduation is by no means unusual. Faculty across each of the five Centers for Academic Excellence report having the same experiences each spring semester with many of teir advisees.

With an emphasis on real world experiences and skill acquisition, Unity’s Centers for Academic Excellence are ensuring that each student enjoys a variety of opportunities to gain expertise.

The Centers form partnerships, support internships, create research opportunities both on-campus and off, and develop “hands on” experiential learning opportunities with community organizations. These efforts not only increase the value of the undergraduate education the College offers, but are helping Unity to ensure that its curriculum is relevant to the needs of the 21st century marketplace.

With an emphasis on real world experiences and skill acquisition, Unity’s Centers for Academic Excellence are ensuring that each student enjoys a variety of opportunities to gain expertise.

Phillippi knew that the MDEP was pursuing water quality testing by sending water samples to out-of-state laboratories to test for toxins. They were also collecting water samples to test for cyanophytes, or cyanobacteria, which resemble algae in that they are photosynthetic microorganisms that live in water.

“The MDEP wanted to determine if species abundance could predict toxin abundance,” Phillippi explained. Since testing for water quality by counting the cyanophytes was far more cost effective and results obtained more quickly than sending samples to the laboratory to test for toxins, the MDEP would benefit greatly if it ultimately turned out widespread cyanophyte counting to reveal water quality was reliable.

Kelly Barber ’12 was interviewed on campus for a WABI-TV Channel 5 segment about the job market for college graduates entering the workforce. The segment aired on May 15.

Learning Real World Applications When Aimee Phillippi, associate professor of biology and director of the Center for Biodiversity, taught a course in cell biology she realized that many students found it challenging. A majority of the students were focused more on the larger picture of the ecosystem rather than how single celled organisms may be used in important ways by agencies like the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP).

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During the spring semester students in a state and local government class taught

by Professor Nancy Ross met with Dan Stewart (not pictured) the Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Quality Community Program Manager for the Maine Department of Transportation.

Pictured on the Unity footbridge, the class studied the role of state transportation planning in environment, safety, health, and community affairs.

Seeing an exceptional opportunity for her students to obtain a strong skill set pursuing a “real world” project that also looked good on a resumé, she collaborated with the MDEP which sent water samples from different bodies of water to be analyzed by her class.

At Unity College, there is a strong belief that learning happens most powerfully when effective people are deeply involved with the natural world, their communities, and each other.

“Students learned to use techniques for counting and identification,” Phillippi said.

The result is that students not only obtained an array of skills to successfully complete a valuable project with an immediate “real world” application, but they also learned a good bit about the applications of their research for policy and human issues.

Faculty in Phillippi’s center pursue similar projects to enliven and bring “real world” relevance to the curriculum, engaging in formal and informal ways with a wide variety of public and private interests for mutual benefit. Fundamentally it is the majors who call the Center for Biodiversity home that are the greatest beneficiaries of every initiative.

Embracing Change as Fundamental Value In recent years, no single center at Unity College has seen a broader sweep of far reaching initiatives successfully carried out than the Center for Experiential and Environmental Education.

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Angela Hardy, co-director of teacher education and director of the center has embraced change as a necessary component for serving the broad needs of students.

The conceptual framework that Hardy helped to develop along with the faculty within her center is highly specific. There is no doubt that change in all of its forms will be ongoing and continually refine the Center’s approaches, values, and goals.

At Unity College, there is a strong belief that learning happens most powerfully when effective people are deeply involved with the natural world, their communities, and each other. The Center’s conceptual framework translates Unity’s educational and environmental mission into a practical programmatic philosophy, which it dubbed The E3 Conceptual Framework: Experience (program and pedagogy), Engagement (people and professionalism), and Environment (place and purpose). This framework guides the development, describes the commitments, and provides the inspiration for the Center.

Hardy points out that with regard to experience, Unity College students expect hands-on / minds-on, practical, and authentic learning experiences. The programs the Center offers not only employ experiential learning strategies, but also examine and evaluate experiential teaching and learning as pedagogy (teaching).

Some of the Center initiatives include a developing relationship with American Greenlands Restoration Inc., a nonprofit that offers adventure therapy services to combat veterans and 9/11 first responders with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, to develop an impressive suite of internship opportunities and experiences; and developing internship opportunities with several zoos in Massachusetts.

Imagination Produces High Profile Successes Among the high profile successes that the Centers have achieved, the Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Program within the Center for Natural Resource Management and Protection is a shining example of how exceptionally imaginative Unity faculty can be.

In November of 2011, closing ceremonies were held at The Schoodic Education and Research Center Institute (SERC) in Winter Harbor, Maine, for the first graduating class of the Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Program. Tim Peabody ’81, associate professor of conservation law enforcement and director of the Center for Natural Resource Management and Protection, and a former colonel of the Maine Warden Service, was a prime mover in bringing the program, a first for law enforcement in Maine, from concept to reality.

The National Park Service and Unity College received final accreditation approval through the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation Board as part of the National Park Service seasonal ranger training program on November 16, 2011, in Annapolis, Md. “Individuals that successfully complete this training will be qualified to hold a seasonal law enforcement position at Acadia National Park (Maine) or any other national park in the United States,� noted Peabody.

Since it began in 2011, support for the program has been exceptional.

This success story was in part made possible by the personal contacts and reputation of Peabody within state and federal law enforcement circles. In developing the program he solicited help and support from Acadia National Park, the Maine State Police, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and private organizations.

The 400 hour course runs for 10 weeks with participants pursuing eight hours or more of training each day.

This is but one of the many ways that the Center is ensuring that its majors are given some of the best opportunities to gain career building credentials before they graduate.

The Unity College campus is always brimming with activity, from the annual spring 5K road race (Professor Doug Fox and family members in photo); the 350.org solar panel kickoff trip to the White House in 2010; and students conducting a lab at Sandy Stream adjacent to campus.

Two Centers Devoted to Sustainability and Communication Doug Fox, professor of sustainable agriculture and director of the Center for Sustainability and Global Change, has seen his center blossom with partnerships and associations that are squarely at the nexus of sustainability practice and public affairs.

His Center is involved in an energy efficiency block grant and a wind assessment program, both with Efficiency Maine, an independent trust dedicated to promoting the efficient and cost-effective use of energy in order to save money for Maine residents and businesses.

The Community Wind Assessment Program at Unity College, overseen by Professor of Human Ecology Mick Womersley, has helped a number of communities in Maine to assess whether proposed sites for wind turbines would be ideally suited to the endeavor.

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Whither the Wind?

By Mick Womersley, Professor of Human Ecology One reason for Unity’s burgeoning reputation in sustainability science is the wind research program run by Professor Mick Womersley, with help from Doug Fox, the Center For Global Change And Sustainability director, the Maintenance, Business and Human Resources staff, and an enthusiastic new crew of Unity students.

Each May, Womersley and his crew fan across Maine to erect giant meteorological towers. Paid for by federal and state governments, the equipment records wind and weather data used to identify Maine wind sources.

Wind power remains controversial, but Womersley notes Unity’s state wind survey has probably stopped more wind turbines than any anti-wind activist, by advising Mainers where wind is not adequate for turbine placement. With good data, Womersley can determine where wind turbine sound and other nuisances will appear. He has consulted for state and local governments on most of the regulatory procedures used to better plan Maine wind power development.

Unity students and Womersley are optimistic about Maine wind power, despite occasional protests and difficulties. “If not wind,” says Womersley, “then what? Mountaintop coal mining? Fracking for oil and natural gas? Nuclear power?”

“Wind power reduces climate emissions, produces Maine jobs, and helps ensure money Mainers spend on power stays in Maine, improving the state’s balance of payments with other states, as well as the overseas balance of payments deficit.” Womersley notes, “Wind power is a Keynesian multiplier. Other forms of energy are often a dead loss to the US economy.”

“Wind power research is basic, but terribly useful and important science.”

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Community Heritage Economy Farming and Stewardship (CHEFS) program through Maine Rural Partners. The CHEFS program is a collaborative venture of Unity Barn Raisers, Unity College, Unity Historical Society, and the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust to build a shared permanent fund dedicated to supporting all aspects of the local food system for future generations.

A long term partner that is directly tied to the agriculture program, in particular, is the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association in Unity.

While many would expect Unity College to be involved with wind assessment and large scale community weatherization projects, what might be surprising to some is the range and extent of communications and media projects in recent years pursued within the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities.

Partnerships Crucial Component to 21st Century Education John Zavodny, professor of humanities and director of the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities sees the type of training and projects his Center offers as critically important to achieving positive environmental outcomes in the “real world.”

“Some of the key concepts to consider with regard to this Center are communication, practical reasoning, media skills and media literacy,” Zavodny explained. “These are all pieces of the puzzle. We are the primary locus for liberal arts training and development on campus.”

The rationale for the type of training and experiential learning opportunities Zavodny’s Center provides is that whether scientist or professional in an environmental non-profit, strong communication and media skills are critically important to achieving positive outcomes.

Students taking classes in this Center pursue environmental projects that require use of YouTube, Twitter, and social media.

At the 2011 Camden International Film Festival in Camden, Maine, Unity students from Zavodny’s documentary filmmaking class interviewed world renowned author and environmental activist Bill McKibben.

The interview of McKibben was included in “Growing Awareness,” a 15-minute long documentary about climate change and local foods produced entirely by Unity College students, who interviewed, filmed, wrote, and edited throughout the fall semester. Also included in the documentary were interviews with Unity College President Stephen Mulkey, and Unity College Food and Farms Project Coordinator Sara Trunzo ’08, who discussed the connections between local agriculture and climate change solutions.

The film follows locally grown pumpkins through a 350.org climate action rally at the 2011 Common Ground Country Fair to their distribution at a Unity Maine food pantry.

The Centers for Academic Excellence take pride in searching out partnerships that give their students access to hands-on, community-based experiences—one of many ways Unity prepares its students for positions in the 21st Century.

Learning From the Vantage of a Front Row Seat

By Amy Kennedy ’12

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My first trip to Washington D.C. came on the tail end of a very long family vacation. The opportunity to stop in our nation’s capital was one my parents did not want to miss. During that family vacation, I wasn’t able to fully appreciate D.C. and all its glory. Fortunately, another opportunity to experience D.C. presented itself in February of 2009, my first year at Unity.

I attended the Powershift conference with a group of students from Unity. When we left Maine for D.C., I thought I had signed on for a fun weekend in Washington. Little did I know, this trip would have a lasting effect on me.

Attending Powershift 2009 was very different from that first trip I took with my family all those years ago. I was now one of 10,000 young people on a mission. A bi-annual conference, Powershift focuses on shifting the energy power the U.S. uses from dirty sources (oil, coal, etc.) to clean energy sources. Over the course of this three-day conference, I attended workshops and participated in power building exercises and community activist training. Armed with a newly acquired environmental activist toolkit, we participated in a rally in front of the White House, a march on Capitol Hill and lobbied for change in how we as Americans provide energy to run this country. It was a rush of emotions as I realized what we as students and young people can do to bring change. I realized how important citizen and student activism is, and how much I wanted to become engaged in this work.

When I returned to Unity I was full of energy and excitement.

My goal was to get more involved in environmental activism.

However, it was easy to fall back into old routines of going to classes, hanging with friends, and being involved in college life.

It took me another year to grasp the idea that time to create actual change is running out, and I should be dedicating large amounts of time to environmental activism.

In the spring of 2010, a year after the conference, I had another opportunity to take part in activism through Professor of Environmental Policy Nancy Ross’s State and Local Government class. We attended the “Day of Action” with the group Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, spending the entire day at the state house in Augusta.

In the morning, we learned how to effectively lobby for a

cause, and during the afternoon we lobbied our elected area representative.

During our meeting with Maine Representative John Piotti, our class discussed the three bills we were lobbying for, and then sat in a legislative committee room for another discussion with a legislative researcher. We were making a difference by spending time learning the process. After this trip, I really understood the concept of “running out of time” to make effective and judicious change. I refocused my efforts.

From January to May of 2011, I was back in Washington, D.C. for an internship on Capitol Hill. Coming full circle to my first days of activism at Powershift 2009, being back in Washington felt right, despite my insecurities about living in the city and performing in this new position.

While working on Capitol Hill, I learned that a lot more citizens lobbied and took part in activism than I previously thought. It is my view that when people think of lobbying they have a negative opinion because of the reputation of lobbyists and the role of K Street organizations that facilitate backroom political discussions. Although my first try at lobbying was as part of a group of students from Maine, and although that day on Capitol Hill opened my eyes to the positive results of citizen lobbying, it wasn’t until I worked on the Hill that I learned the true effectiveness of activism.

As a part of my academic requirement during the internship, I had to complete a public policy dialogue with an elected member of Congress. The purpose of this dialogue was not meant to be a lobby session. In my only congressional visit experience thus far, I was able to sit and have an in-depth, oneon-one conversation with Representative Michael Michaud, from Maine’s 2nd District about environmental issues and policy, as well as the budget crisis of February 2011.

The discussion with Representative Michaud was exhilarating and exciting, and had the same effect on me as participating in the activist projects through Unity. The experience revitalized me, solidifying that deep-seeded want to continue my activism work.

In April of 2011, just before my Washington semester ended, a group of students from Unity attended Powershift 2011.

Again I was given the wonderful opportunity to attend the conference that, in 2009, helped shape the activist passion that I carried forth both as a student at Unity and in my personal

“It is my view that when people think of lobbying they have a negative opinion because of the reputation of lobbyists and the role of K Street organizations that facilitate backroom political discussions. Although my first try at lobbying was as part of a group of students from Maine, and although that day on Capitol Hill opened my eyes to the positive results of citizen lobbying, it wasn’t until I worked on the Hill that I learned the true effectiveness of activism.”

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Keystone Pipeline rally in Washington, DC, west end of the US Capitol, on November 6, 2011.

life. After reflecting on my Powershift 2009 experience and its profound significance, I was able to zone in and focus on the issues most important to me while at Powershift 2011. After my experiences at Unity, at the two conferences, and as an intern in D.C., I was able to narrow down the type of work I want to do after I graduate.

August of 2011 marked one of the largest environmental activist movements of the past 40 years. At the end of that month, over 1,000 people were arrested outside the White House as they opposed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. As a result of the summer protests, Tar Sands Action set-up another day of action on November 6, 2011, at the White House and I was fortunate enough to attend to exercise my activist training.

With a busload of Unity students, President Stephen Mulkey, Professor of Humanities John Zavodny, and I headed to the White House. That fall, one year away from the presidential election in 2012, over 10,000 people gathered in Washington.

Surrounding the White House, we showed President Obama

that we still believed in everything he’d promised in 2008 and urged him to stop the development of the pipeline.

Less than a week later the President, with the State Department, announced they were putting the KXL on hold for further investigation. Before then I knew activism could affect change, but I had never personally witnessed it. After surrounding the White House, I was completely sold on the power of a group of people sounding off on what they believed in. Since then, I have geared all my job searches toward positions that will allow me to participate in activism. Upon graduation from Unity College, I look forward to taking on the assistant director position with the nation-wide non-profit, Fund for the Public Interest, to continue with my new passion.

Looking back, I understand that the experience and knowledge I gained at Powershift 2009, solidified by other activist projects at Unity and my classes, led me down this path.

Activism has become a deeply rooted and daily part of who I am today. I look forward to playing a dynamic role in the activism that will bring about positive change.

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in our element campus news

President of the World Bank Group Robert Zoellick Visits Unity College On April 6, World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick visited Unity College. Through his brother, William, Chair of the Unity College Board of Trustees, Robert developed an understanding of Unity College’s mission, initiatives, and commitment to becoming one of the finest environmental colleges in the United States, focusing in recent years on sustainability for the 21st century.

In turn, Unity learned of Robert Zoellick’s longstanding commitment to public service.

In particular, Zoellick mentioned that the promotion of economic approaches assisting the developing world to achieve stability and economic security, inevitably leads to the proper conservation of resources and sustainable approaches to natural resources.

His visit included a fireside chat with students, faculty, staff, and friends of the College.

In 2011, Maine’s exports to developing countries totaled about $1.5 billion, which is over 40 percent of Maine’s total exports. The Bank is working in those countries to promote open Robert Zoellick (left) and Unity College markets and economic growth, which creates more opportunities for Maine’s exporters. The President Stephen Mulkey at the forum Bank plays a key role in fostering a competitive business environment, fighting corruption and in the Dorothy Webb Quimby Library. promoting transparency. The Bank also has a variety of partners in the U.S. For example, the Bank recently invited Dr. John Wise, Director of the Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health (University of Southern Maine) to participate in their Global Partnership on Oceans.

Athletic Teams Rise to Prominence With Unity’s strong focus on academics and the environment, sometimes the award winning excellence of its inter-collegiate sports teams may receive less attention.

Recently, Unity competed at the highest levels of its conference, winning titles and playing for championships. Athletes and coaches alike have received awards.

Women’s Volleyball - YSCC Sportsmanship Team Award Valerie Leclerc ’12, YSCC Volleyball player of the Year, YSCC All-Conference Team, YSCC volleyball player of the week, USCAA Player of the week Sarah Szirbik ’14 and Alexzandra Smith ’15, YSCC volleyball all-conference team

Kristy Manuell ’12, Ashley Kuplin ’12, Kim Bach ’14, Andrea Miller ’12, Paige Bilodeau ‘14, Kelsy Morganwalp ’12, Kristen Volpi ’14, Michelle Wood ’13, USCAA Academic All-American Jeremy Von Oesen, Coach of the Year

Tim Godaire ’12, USCAA Academic AllAmerican Women’s Cross Country Joy Kacoroski ’13, USCAA Academic AllAmerican

Men’s Soccer

Men’s Basketball – Team Award, Runnerup NECA Championships

Nate Dant ’13, YSCC Men’s Soccer allConference Team, USCAA All-American Honorable mention

Logan Morin ’12, NECA Championships Defensive Player of the Tournament

Men’s Cross Country Taylor Noble ’14, YSCC All-conference team, USCAA Academic All-American Evan Glaude ’14, YSCC All-conference team

Women’s Basketball Paige Blaker ’13, Kelsy Morganwalp ’12, Candace Robinson ’14, Ashley Sutton ’12, Ashley Kuplin ’12, USCAA Academic AllAmerican

Marsha Barnes ’13, Asia Parks ’13, Ashley Sutton ’12, and Candace Robinson ’14, USCAA Academic All-American Chris Kein, Coach of the Year Women’s Soccer – Team Award, Runner-up YSCC Melinda Gray ’15, USCAA player of the week, YSCC Player of the week Paige Blaker ’13, YSCC Championships Defensive Player of the Tournament, USCAA Academic All-American

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(Left to right, front row) Alex Smith, Kristen Volpi, Kim Bach, Kristy Manuell, Paige Blaker, Nate Dant (back row) Chris Kein, Login Morin, Tim Godaire, Valerie Leclerc

campus news in our element

IT Makes Big Improvements Since his arrival during the 2011 spring semester, Director of Information Technology Bert Audette has presided over the most significant series of technology upgrades in the history of Unity College.

The objective was to take a system facing serious challenges and transform it into one that best serves the needs of the College, educating students to flourish in the 21st century.

One change included connecting to Internet2, a high-speed research and education network. Others involved switching the entire phone system to a more highly functional yet cost efficient network-based system. These changes alone put Unity on par with technical capabilities enjoyed by those at high profile colleges and universities.

Offering a tour of the IT offices on the first floor of Founders Hall North, Audette pointed out a blank wall in the server room that used to be occupied with a patchwork of equipment. Streamlining the way IT functions and improving a host of services has led to significant physical changes.

Sometimes less is indeed more, especially in the IT world.

“There were some significant shortfalls in the previous system,” Audette said. “The state of the system required us to make major changes on a very short time schedule.”

Server and network systems were simplified and significantly improved. Most desktops and laptops were upgraded to the latest software versions available, providing greater access to students.

The result is the highest level of IT functionality and flexibility for the entire campus in its history, and Audette is quick to point out that the upgrades are ongoing.

Left to right – Christian Carlson, PC Technician; Aaron Kennedy, Systems Administrator; Joseph “Bert” Audette, Director of Information Technology; Joshua Roberts, Web Technical and Data Specialist.

Diversity: a Critical Area of Campus Strategic Planning Focus

By Jen Olin, Community Based Learning Coordinator In the fall of 2000, Professor of Ecology Amy Arnett, and former Associate Professor of Chemistry Pam Proulx-Curry organized a diversity group open to anyone on campus.

“The diversity and equality group was the beginning of discussions and research about diversity issues on campus, and it led to the development of WE LEAD (Women’s Environmental Leadership), SafeZone, and a men’s group, among other initiatives,” Arnett explained.

In 2005, the report of the president’s strategic planning committee identified diversity and culture as two critical areas of focus for the campus committee.

Specifically, that report encouraged the committee to work toward maintaining and improving overall diversity (gender,

race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, learning styles, physical capabilities, culture, class, etc.) of campus (staff, faculty, students) to help prepare students to become exceptional global citizens.

This commitment was further defined in spring 2008 through a new charge issued by then Interim President Mark Lapping.

Included within the charge was the call to promote a campus climate that accepts and engages diversity as intrinsic to the fabric of our culture, to develop strategies for recruiting a diverse student, faculty and staff population, and to identify and implement curricular and co-curricular diversity programming for students.

In 2008 and again in 2011, the Diversity Committee surveyed the campus to identify our most pressing diversity issues.

These results guide institutional efforts to provide education, training, resources, and services that promote and ensure the existence of a safe, inclusive college community.

While we continue to celebrate campus diversity through the many ethnically and culturally rich activities that comprise the well-received Roots Week program, the College also offers educational programming through speakers, performers, Safe Zone trainings, and professional development sessions.

In the fall 2012 semester, programs will include film viewings and discussions, content-rich and topic specific programming, dialogue groups, and more.

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in our element campus news

Environmental Art Show Draws Artists from Across New England

By Rosita Ayala ’11 On Sunday, April 22, 2012, Unity College’s Environmental Citizen: Nature Art and Photography Show & Sale class hosted an Environmental Art Show at Unity College.

Throughout the spring semester, the class of 20 students worked with Associate Professor of Parks, Recreation and Ecotourism Tom Mullin on the planning of the show. This is the first class-initiated Environmental Art Show that has taken place at Unity College.

The purpose of this class was to allow students to learn what it takes to design, plan, and run an event. “What I hope the students have learned from the class are the skill sets and knowledge necessary to organize and produce a successful special event. The foundational skill set, organizational methods

and market based planning are all vital elements to the outcomes for the class members to understand,” says Professor Mullin.

The class was split into different committees which included; promotions, day of the show logistics, artist recruitment, and documentary and assessment committees.

They worked along with different professionals and media, where they gained experience in public relations, event planning, and social networking. According to Mullin, “Nearly everyone in the class will work with an agency/organization that hosts or runs special events. Having the understanding of how to produce one is a skill critical for job success.”

Over 40 artists displayed and sold their art and photography as part of the Unity College Earth Day celebration on Sunday, April 22.

Photo of Musk Ox by Jason Gablaski ’13.

This class met Mondays and Wednesdays starting with a check-in and reporting from each committee chair followed by breaking off into their committees to work on logistics.

The proceeds from the entire event were donated to a scholarship for future Unity College students. The Environmental Art Show took place in the Tozier Gymnasium with over 40 artists displaying and selling their visual, digital, and structural art.

Unity College Honors Zoe Weil and Two Students for Leadership

A Textbook Lesson in Environmental Service Learning

During the spring semester, the Women’s Environmental Leadership Program (WELead) honored Zoe Weil, the president and cofounder of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE) of Surry, Maine.

The award was presented during a ceremony at the Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts (UCCPA) on April 10. Weil offered a presentation on building a better world through humane education.

“Zoe embodies a strong, creative commitment to service, sustainability, and the environment,” noted Nancy Zane, WE Lead coordinator and experiential programs coordinator at Unity College. “It is essential for young females who are planning to enter the environmental field to have strong female role models, and Zoe’s contributions have inspired many.”

The Institute for Humane Education offers an inspiring vision of how to create a just, compassionate, healthy world for all through solutionary education, and puts this vision into practice by training people to be humane educators, advancing the field of solutionary education, and providing tools and inspiration for living a life that does the most good and least harm to people, animals, and the environment.

Following in the Unity College tradition of community service, partnerships, and learning, Professor of Geochemistry Lois Ongley’s environmental policy class volunteered their services to the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District (CCSWCD) to help protect drinking water for the Long Creek and the Trout Brook areas of Portland.

Working closely with the conservation district, Ongley’s students evaluated samples given to them by the district in Unity College labs.

Kate McDonald, project scientist for CCSWCD, was extremely impressed by the quality of work done by the students. “The district is very grateful for the exceptional work done by the students involved,” said McDonald.

Amy Kennedy ’12 is also grateful for the experience. “We held ourselves accountable to the district, while practicing the professionalism we will need in the ‘real world’ when presenting important data such as this,” commented Kennedy.

The water test findings were presented to a well-attended CCSWCD meeting during the fall semester and again at the Unity College Student Conference at the UCCPA in December.

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By Reeta Benedict, Annual Fund Officer

Marsha Barnes ’13 (left in sweatshirt) and Sarah Austin ’12 conduct water quality testing at the Trout Brook Watershed in South Portland, Maine.

Photo by Kate McDonald, Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District.

CAMPUS NEWS in our element

Coral Lab and Course Popular Additions When Unity College hired Christian Carlson as a Personal Computer Technician in 2011, the issue of his expertise with the cultivation of coral was never discussed. It is now.

One of the benefits of a small campus community is that talents are shared widely.

So it was that Carlson, who for years operated a successful coral cultivation business, came to become Unity’s point person for all things coral.

Carlson helped to transform the former wet laboratory in Koons Hall, in serious need of renovation, into a coral cultivation laboratory to be used by fisheries biology as well.

He is currently teaching a course on coral cultivation as an adjunct instructor.

Both the coral laboratory and course have proven to be wildly popular, the latter filling to capacity.

Renovations done to the wet lab included

a rebuild for more natural light, the addition of a sloped concrete floor into a drain and an air exchange system.

When he developed the course on coral cultivation, Carlson was unsure how popular it would be. He was surprised when it filled.

“The course generated interest from a broad spectrum of majors,” Carlson said. “There are marine biology, fisheries biology, captive care, and environmental policy majors who are taking it and find it to be valuable.”

The coral cultivation laboratory is in early development, Carlson says. The timing of the laboratory and course were opportune because live coral are used in a variety of research settings, and obtaining wild coral is both unsustainable and increasingly difficult.

“I believe this project is really in its infancy,” Carlson said. “It will only get better with time.”

Courtney Tway ’13 propagating a Zoanthid coral.

Unity Students Set Sail

By Marissa Smith ’12 Unity College has a record of unique courses stretching from scuba diving to barn raising. Dr. Kathryn Miles added sailing to the curriculum in the 2011 fall semester.

Officially titled “Traditions of the Sea,” the class is a hybrid of coastal Maine history, sailing culture, sea-based literature, and recreational fun. Miles led her class along an eight week excursion through museums, knot work, and reading assignments, with a pinnacle trip to Hurricane Island off the coast of Rockland.

The student body consisted of all women with varying degrees of seamanship experience and fields of study. Unlike most outdoor experience courses, the participants weren’t strictly adventure majors. The variation created a unique blend of science, adventure, and art.

Among these aspiring sailors was Katie Papoulias, a captive wildlife care and education student. As a senior and long-time admirer of sailboats, she leapt at the chance to participate.

“Learning the ins and outs of sailing through this class really gave me a new found respect for sailors, especially those who sailed in the past,” said Papoulias. “I used to think that the wind did all of the work, but I can now say from experience that it most definitely does not.”

The high point of the class was the trip to Rockland where the women set sail on two traditional (lacking all electronics and modern modifications) boats, Ruth and Asterisks, with a heading for Hurricane Island on a weekend-long adventure.

“We were speeding along, and it felt like we were flying over the water,” recalls Papoulias. “That was when I got a taste of what sailing with the wind was like.”

The class embarks from Hurricane Island on its second day of sailing.

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in our element FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS President Stephen Mulkey Serves as Biodiesel Conference Panelist On February 8, Unity College President Stephen Mulkey served as a panelist at the National Biodiesel Conference & Expo’s Sustainability Symposium. The panel considered the problem of greenhouse gases and options for mitigation.

President Mulkey was joined by Don Scott, National Biodiesel Board Director of Sustainability Speakers; Dr. Richard Nelson, Kansas State University, USEPA advisory panel on biogenic carbon; and Don O’Connor, developer of the GHGenius lifecycle model. The conference & expo was held from February 6-8 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

Remsburg Publishes in Several Publications, Serves on Boards Assistant Professor Alysa Remsburg’s research, “Relative influence of prior life stages and habitat variables on dragonfly (Odonata: Gomphidae) densities among lake sites” was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Diversity. She contributed photos and text about dragonflies to the book Best Nature Sites: Midcoast Maine by Oppersdorff and Schabert. Remsburg chaired a session on Wetlands at the Maine Water Conference and presented a poster at the Ecological Society of America meeting in Austin, TX with colleagues on Unity’s Hemlock Ecosystem Management Study (Associate Professor Erika Latty, Professor Amy Arnett, and Instructor Kathleen Dunckel). Remsburg also presented a poster at the Northeastern Natural History Conference in Albany, NY, “Odonata community composition in Acadia National Park” with Paige Blaker ’12. Additionally, she presented a dragonfly workshop for the Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance and also became President of their Board of Directors. She has continued to serve on the Board of the Unity Barn Raisers, organizing the second annual Day of Service.

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EPSCoR Relationship Continues with Hemlock Forest Study Professor Amy Arnett, Associate Professor Erika Latty, Assistant Professor Alysa Remsburg, and Instructor Kathleen Dunckel, submitted a proposal during the Maine EPSCoR for support for the third year of their hemlock-forest study.

Following a very successful second year of the grant, they received $95,000 for year three of the project, for a total of $306,000 received to date. The study investigates the effects of hemlock logging intensity on environmental factors and biological diversity. This funding is paying for faculty course releases, conference attendance, equipment, supplies, and will support six summer student researchers.

This funding is also supporting initial research efforts of Assistant Professor Brent Bibles to investigate wildlife patterns at the hemlock study sites. Also, based on their hemlock research, Arnett, Latty, Remsburg and Dunckel were invited to co-author a paper for the journal Maine Policy Review. The article, co-written with University of Maine researchers studying Emerald Ash Borer, is titled “Two Maine Forest Pests: A Comparison of Approaches to Understanding Threats to Hemlock and Ash Trees in Maine,” and will be published in the Spring of 2012. The hemlock research group will be presenting their findings at the Northeast Natural History Conference in Syracuse, NY, in April.

Professor Amy Arnett Publishes Several Journal Articles Professor Amy Arnett co-authored an article published in the journal Biological Invasions titled “Priority Resource Access Mediates Competitive Intensity between an Invasive Weevil and Native Floral Herbivores” (Biological Invasions, 2011, 13:2233-2248). She also co-authored an article published in November 2011 in the journal Entomological News titled “A Click Beetle Larva (Coleoptera: Elateridae) Preying upon an Antlion Larva (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae).”

Assistant Professor Carrie Diaz Eaton Leads Technology Initiatives, Presents Work at Conference Assistant Professor Carrie Diaz Eaton was involved in an initiative to investigate and provide instructional technology education for faculty. She organized a Faculty Learning Circle project in the use of iPads and other instructional technology in blending formal and informal learning.

In Fall 2011, she organized several professional development workshops for faculty and staff on GoogleDocs and Educational Technology. Her (Institutional Review Board) Research Study on Teaching and Learning in Biomathematics Education entitled “So why do you require Calculus?”, resulted in the following presentations: Presented at the “Biomathematics and Ecology: Education and Research” Conference in Dec 2011 in Portland, OR. Title: “Calculus I and II for Ecologists and Wildlife Biologists”. Presented a Contributed Paper at the 2012 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston on January 5, 2012. Title of paper: So, why do you require Calculus? Eaton was also inUpper left to clockwise: Professor Amy Arnett, vited to lecture at the colloquia series of Assistant Professor Alysa Remsburg, Associthe School of Biology and Ecology at the ate Professor Erika Latty, Instructor Kathleen University of Maine in December 2011: Dunckel “Ecology, Evolution and Mathematics: A co-evolutionary model of mutualism.”

FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS in our element Professor Barry Woods Presents at Conference, Continues AP Readings Professor Barry Woods offered a presentation at the New Ha mpsh i re Te c h n i cal Institute – Concord’s Community College Annual Spring Conference of the New England Mathematics Association held in Concord, New Hampshire. The presentation focused on Normal Probability Plots Using Excel. Abstract: Following the American Statistical Association paper entitled Use of the Correlation Coefficient With Normal Probability Plots by Looney and Gulledge, (February 1985, Vol. 39, No. 1, Pages 75-79), Excel was used to construct and then graph Normal Probability Plots using the equation p(i) = (i – .375)/(n + .25).

Woods also has continued his long service to the College Board Advancement Placement (AP) program, reading AP Statistics exam sections during the summer of 2011. He plans to continue his annual service to the AP Program by reading stats exams in 2012.

Jesse Pyles and Mark Tardif Publish Article in The Higher Education Workplace Magazine Unity’s highly effective and comprehensive approaches to campus sustainability were presented in an article on

the subject published in the Fall (Vol. 3, No. 2) 2011 Issue of The Higher Education Workplace. Entitled “Unity College Places Campus Sustainability Front and Center with Leading-Edge Campus Projects,” the article was co-authored by Jesse Pyles, Sustainability Coordinator, and Mark Tardif, Associate Director of College Communications. The Higher Education Workplace is The College and University Professional Association for Human Resource (CUPA-HR’s) publication for all things higher education workforce-related. The magazine offers articles, resources and briefs to help human resource professionals in higher education meet their day-to-day and long-term strategic challenges.

Alisa Johnson and Associate Professor Emma Creaser Publish Article in CUR Quarterly The CUR Quarterly, Council on Undergraduate Research magazine, published an article by Alisa Johnson, Dean for Enrollment Management, and Emma Creaser, Associate Professor, entitled “Undergraduate Research: A Key Marketing Tool for a Small Undergraduate Institution,” in its Winter 2011 (Volume 32, Number 2) issue. The article by Johnson and Creaser was one of several connected to the cover theme of undergraduate research as a campus recruitment and marketing tool. It focused on the major in marine biology at Unity College, detailing its use as a key marketing tool. Now in its fifth year, the marine biology program has the third highest enrollment.

Dean for Enrollment Management Alisa Johnson, Associate Professor Emma Creaser

Jacob McCarthy Publishes Article in The Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jacob McCarthy, Web Content Developer, published an article entitled “Content Management in the Workplace: Community, Context, and a New Way to Organize Writing,” in the October, 2011, issue of The Journal of Business and Technical Communication. The article details an extended study of computermedicated writing practices among office workers in an effort to inform better design of collaborative digital writing tools. The article is based on work that McCarthy completed at the Writing in Digital Environments research center at Michigan State University.

Joe Saltalamachia ’95 Writes for the Maine Sportsman Magazine, Sought After Outdoors Consultant Joe Saltalamachia ’95, Senior Associate Director of Admissions, continues to regularly publish articles for the Maine Sportsman Magazine. He has authored 12 articles on a variety of outdoor related topics since April of 2011. Saltalamachia also continues to offer deer hunting seminars across Maine, making him a “go to” person for outdoor journalists seeking expert opinions. In 2011, he assisted Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram outdoors writer Deirdre Fleming on two articles about turkey hunting.

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in our element FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS tion of 18 member campuses whose purpose is to catalyze and lead a movement to reinvigorate the public purposes and civic mission of higher education. Members seek to transform their campuses in ways that develop better informed, active citizen problem-solvers, stronger communities, and a more just democratic society. Members strive to be vital agents and architects of a flourishing democracy.

Michele Leavitt Elected to the Maine Film Center Board, Publishes Poems Michele Leavitt, poet / writer / adjunct instructor and spouse of President Stephen Mulkey, was elected to the Maine Film Center Board in October of 2011.

Four poems from her Virus Controversia manuscript are published in the Winter 2012 issue of Mezzo Cammin: A Journal of Formalist Poetry by Women. Two other poems are forthcoming in Per Contra.

She was a finalist for the 2011 Morton Marr prize in poetry, and her essay, “No Trespassing,” which won the 2010 William G. Allen Prize for Nonfiction, is listed in The Best American Essays 2011 as “notable.” She served as a judge at the Ellsworth Poetry Out Loud celebration in February 2012.

Kathleen Dunckel Receives Donald Harward Faculty Award Instructor Kathleen Dunckel was recently selected as a recipient of Maine Campus Compact’s Donald Harward Faculty Award for Service-Learning Excellence. This award recognizes the accomplishments of three Maine faculty members who make public service an integral part of their curriculum, create reciprocal partnerships with communities, and advocate for service learning.

The Maine Campus Compact is a coali38

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Jesse Pyles Co-Authors Book Chapter Sustainability Coordinator Jesse Pyles and Susan Sutheimer co-authored a chapter in a book entitled Social Responsibility and Sustainability, Multidisciplinary Perspectives Through Service Learning, edited by Tracy McDonald and published

by Stylus Printing, LLC. The chapter they authored was entitled “Integrating Sustainability and Service Learning into the Science Curriculum.” Book News Inc. writes that the 11 essays in the book: “… all stress service-learning in the context of educational institutions and the compatibility of making-money and acting socially responsible. The contributors are mostly professors of education, sociology, environmentally relevant science, business and management.”

Unity College Receives National Recognition for Community Service, Named to President’s 2012 Honor Roll For the third year in a row, Unity College has been named to the President’s Community Service Honor Roll, awarded by

the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). Unity College joins fourteen other colleges across the United States that were named honor roll finalists. Unity’s distinction as an honor roll finalist placed it in the highest award category for a college from Maine.

Within the honor roll finalist category Unity College was commended for general community service, which considers the scope and quality of an institution’s community service, service-learning, and civic engagement programs.

Community service is an important part of the Unity College culture and curriculum.

“Service is a very important part of the values that make the College a special place,” noted Jennifer Olin, Community-Based Service Learning Coordinator. “Our students are often involved in transformative community service activities that not only enrich their learning experiences, but help Unity’s neighboring communities in a variety of ways.”

“Community service opportunities are a crucial component of the College’s commitment to offering real world learning experiences,” noted Alisa Johnson, Dean for Enrollment Management. “This is a commitment that plays a significant role in our ability to consistently enroll future environmental leaders.”

“Through service, these institutions are creating the next generation of leaders by challenging students to tackle tough issues and create positive impacts in the community,” said Robert Velasco, Acting CEO of CNCS. “We applaud the Honor Roll schools, their faculty and students for their commitment to make service a priority in and out of the classroom.

Together, service and learning increase civic engagement while fostering social innovation among students, empowering them to solve challenges within their communities.”

ALUMNI GUEST AUTHOR

Connecting People and Place: It’s for the Birds

by Chris K. Borg ’92 The short drive down Old Huckins Road to its terminus in New London, New Hampshire spoke volumes about the property I was about to set foot on. Classic rural New England I thought to myself. As I pulled into the turnabout at roads end, it was equally obvious I was a far cry from the Coastal Plain pinelands of North Florida and South Georgia where I had recently lived and worked for over a decade. For a brief moment I felt isolated and perhaps a bit vulnerable.

“Pleased, pleased, pleased… to meet cha,” the sweet song of a male chestnut sided warbler greeted me as I approached the late 18th century farmhouse of William Lasko. I smiled… “likewise” I thought. This neotropical songbird with its distinct yellow crown, black whisker stripe, and extensive chestnut flanks, is anything but resident to these woods. He merely borrows them from time to time.

As a biologist, what strikes me most about birds is not their beauty or the richness of their song, but rather the arduous journeys they commit to each fall and spring. From distances as far as the Andes Mountains of South America they fly each spring. By early April, they amass in great numbers along the northern shores of places like Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

“Over here… hear me… over here… see me,” a red-eyed vireo now sings and is next to reveal itself on Lasko’s property, albeit only by song. From the Yucatan one early April evening, as toucans settled to rest, this very vireo began energetically flitting about the forest canopy, all the while gleaning insects (mostly lepidopteran larvae) from leaves and bark. It performs this peculiar ritual not alone, but with a multitude of birds spanning several species. Biologists refer to this behavior as zugunruhe (“nervous movement” translated from German); a precursor to migration.

Perhaps coaxed by a gentle south wind and a starry tropical night sky, together the birds take flight. Over the blackness of the Gulf of Mexico a legion of buntings, cuckoos, flycatchers, grosbeaks, orioles, tanagers, thrushes, warblers, and yes vireos fly north for the promise of temperate America. Their shear numbers are so great they can be detected by NEXRAD, a network of Doppler weather radars. Even the most brazen of raptors refuses pursuit into the darkness. Safety! That is, of course, if one considers flying some 500 plus miles over open water on miniscule fat reserves safe. If lucky, and many aren’t, they’ll approach the Gulf ’s northern shores late that next morning.

Aided by a stiff tail wind they’ll bypass the barrier islands of places like St. George, Florida and travel tens of miles inland.

Inclement weather or even a brisk headwind, however, would quickly put an end to that and consequently birds “fallout” tired, hungry, thirsty and seeking the shelter of the very first tree they see. To a songbird, leafy foliage usually means leaf eating “worms.” From here on out, it’s a game of recharge and fly north… recharge and fly north. They are no longer safe from raptors and other, more insidious, perils begin to present themselves. Skyscrapers, towers, domestic cats… the list is long.

Migrating both by day and night they follow major river courses like the Chattahoochee and stars like polaris. When rivers turn to headwater streams, they fly on, following the spine of our continent, the Appalachian Mountains. Many species, like the Swainson’s and worm-eating warblers stop along the way finding temporary summer respite in places like the Blue Ridge of North Georgia. But others, like the Cape May and blackpoll warblers, fly north to the spruce – fir of New Hampshire and points far beyond.

They make these Herculean flights of faith for one sole purpose, breeding. For males the goal is quite simple, be the

alumni GUEST AUTHOR ALUMNI first to arrive onto productive territory. In their world an early bird truly does get the worm, or more specifically the right to nest in the very best of preferred habitats. Females follow suit seeking those males in prime plumage, with the best songs, on the very best territories. In this, the most basic of biological processes, billions of defoliating insects will perish.

For most people, the brief visit these birds make to the North represents nothing but a pretty song, the coming of spring, and perhaps a brief but colorful glimpse high in the tree tops. Their journey, however, transcends the poetic and the services they provide our forests as “worm killers” transcends value. Millions of birds make this journey… millions more try. Without them our forests would be anything but healthy.

“Fire fire…where where… here here,” an indigo bunting perched high in a sugar maple proclaimed territory. “You must be Chris… nice to meet you… I’ve been trying to see that bird all morning… I understand you know your birds… do you know what it is?” Lasko asked walking from his farmhouse and prepared for a day in the field.

“Yes Sir,” the first of likely many Southernisms’s immediately slipped out. “Likewise … pleased to meet you … sure do!”

He was delighted to learn I knew a couple of things about birds and I was equally happy to know I was working with the perfect landowner for my first project with the Forest Society.

Throughout the day we inspected, GPS’d, and photographed his property’s boundary but all the while I kept my eyes and ears focused beyond and made the point of mentioning the more obvious charismatic birds. A male scarlet tanager tee’d high on a snag overlooking the property’s wetland provided exceptionally nice looks. I like to think of this sort of work as “forest multi-tasking.” In similar fashion, by the end of my stay on the Lasko property I had recorded over 30 bird species and piqued a landowner’s newfound interest in his property. Birds are not only great indicators of a property’s habitat condition, but likewise excellent tools to connect people with place… the perfect marriage for private land conservation transactions.

It’s truly gratifying to know that the long and, at times, seemingly circuitous career path I’ve taken has led to this moment. Connecting people with place is perhaps the most fundamental of Unity’s educational philosophies. Incorporating this ideology into my own career focus while still doing good natural resource conservation work has been especially rewarding.

A graduate of Unity College, C.K. Borg is a conservation biologist and naturalist. Borg’s eight years of work in the field of land conservation has resulted in the protection of over 35,000 acres. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in wildlife biology and a master’s of science degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from New Mexico State University. Additionally, Borg has over nine years of work experience in the biological sciences.

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CLASS NOTES alumni

In Praise of Diverse and Committed Alumni

By Debora Noone, Alumni and Parent Relations Coordinator Unity alumni excel in varied careers, many in occupations they trained for at Unity. Others may not work in the sciences, but bring their passion for the environment to their community, nonprofit organization, and volunteer work. They all have stories to tell and accomplishments to tout. As you leaf through the pages of this magazine, you will read fascinating stories about alumni, students, and faculty. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

I grew up listening to my own family stories about my maternal grandparents, who both worked and served the community through their love for sciences and the environment.

My grandfather was a forest ranger in Arizona, Wyoming, and Utah, riding horseback for weeks without crossing paths with other people. During one such journey, he survived a lightning strike and lived to be 103.

My grandmother, a pre-med student, never

realized her dream of becoming a doctor, because then women didn’t both marry and pursue a career. Until she died, she professed her dream of coming back in another life to ride the Appalachian Mountains, taking care of the sick and poor.

Things have changed since my grandparent’s days. But passion for their careers, their dreams, and the environment match those of today’s Unity alumni.

Although the passion is the same, today 21st century jobs involve the use of technology not yet invented 100 years ago. Jobs change continuously as new tools and technologies rapidly replace what was revolutionary only a year earlier. Unity’s unique niche in the educational world positions our students to be on the cutting edge of new jobs.

And as we can see by the stories included in this issue, our alumni know how to adapt what they learned at Unity to make the most of an ever-changing workplace.

1970

1972

Mike Allen owns Winterport Boot Shop in Brewer, Maine. Mike remains in touch with Mark Alter ’70 and Joe Polizzi ’70.

Richard Sidell is a facilities manager in Great Neck, Long Island, N.Y. Rich has two sons, and John Ehrentreu ’71 is their mother’s first cousin.

Mike Marshall, retired as a lieutenant from the Maine Warden Service in 2005 after 27 years of service, now lives in Bike Lake Township with Nancy. They married in 2006. He has two children and grandchildren.

Bill Childs is manufacturing engineering manager at Scott Electrokrafts in Andover, Conn. He and Diane own a preschool and daycare, have two children, and live in a passive solar house which Bill helped design.

Louis DiLella is human relations manager for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford, Conn.

Renee (Chaney) Harrison works at the Computer Help Desk at San Antonio, Texas University Hospital.

Ben Steinberg is retired and moving to Florida.

Rick Wirth is a licensed private detective with his own company and recently served two years as public safety commissioner.

1971

Tony Lambert worked for New York Telephone (which became Verizon), then Nynex and Bell Atlantic as an assistant engineer, working with computers. He recently returned from Greece.

1974

Joe Cooper works at Little River Apparel in Belfast, Maine, a company making chemical warfare suits for service personnel.

Wayne Lloyd is the manager of Concordia Eco Resort in St. John, Virgin Islands.

1975

Scott Chamberlin owns ISCS Hydraulic Repairs Sales and Service in Windham. He and Pam have three grandchildren, one the son of Brian Chamberlin ’99.

Rick Rumba is the Occupational Safety and Health Program manager at Keene State College in Manchester, N.H. 1976

Russ Barber is director of the Brooks Preservation Society which runs the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railway, an all-volunteer group in Brooks, Maine. He is a board member of the Belfast CO-OP store, and an alternate on the Belfast Planning Board.

1977

Bob Kabat is a Forest and Park supervisor III in Massachusetts at the DAR State Forest in Goshen. He stays in touch with Brian Hilton ’75.

Dave Stanuch has worked in the wholesale millwork trade at Huittig Building Products for 32 years. He and Michele have a son.

1978

Sybil Blazej-Yee published a children’s book, Leroy Goes to the Olympics, about a real athlete in the 2008 Olympics. She displays her artwork on her website.

Beau Doherty is president of Special Olympics of Connecticut and also chairman of the committee to expand “Unified Sports” around the world. The next meeting will be in Europe. He enjoys being a deacon at the United Church of Chester.

Paul Govoni is vice president of HydroKlean in Des Moines, Iowa, and has federal UNITY SUMMER 2012 |

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alumni class notes designation as a certified hazardous material manager. He published a primary literature article in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology. He and Sheila have two children.

Lonnie Jandreau is a forester for Prentice & Carlisle in the Ashland district. He is married to Janet.

Jean (Day) McCarthy works fulltime as an educator at the Jacksonville, Florida Zoo and also owns an online cards and gifts business, Day2NightCards.com.

1979

Cheryl (Chatterton) Fitzgerald is owner and groomer at Precious Furs Grooming Salon in Fairfield, Maine, and Tom is vice president at DL Thurrott Inc. in Waterville. They have two children and a grandchild.

Craig “Tiny” Segar is an animal control officer for Vernon, Conn.

Doug Shepherd retired as a fish and wildlife technician. He and his family live in Alaska where he started an avian research business, conducting breeding bird surveys before construction projects begin.

1980

Sue Ferrera is parks superintendent for the city of Berkeley, Calif.

Irene (Sauer) Hebert teaches third grade in West Brookfield, Mass. She has two children and a grandchild.

Phil Koury was promoted to senior marine police officer for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, and has been identified as the agency’s most active and productive officer conducting joint enforcement operations with the National Marine Fisheries Service. Sandra (Chapman) ’80 works for the U.S. Postal Service.

Alan Przybylski and Lynda, now grandparents, opened a retail store selling oils and vinegars in West Hartford, Conn.

Steve Puibello is space rentals and marketing manager for a holistic learning and world culture center, New York Open Center in New York City.

John Ryfa is a law enforcement ranger for the Bureau of Land Management in the Kingman, Arizona Field Office.

1981

William Alexander is manager of Lowe’s Home Improvement Store in Henderson, Nev. He and Doreen have two children.

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Michele (McCarthy) Aronson teaches at the Woodside School in Topsham. She has two children.

Keith Hough is deputy chief/operations lieutenant for the Assumption College Campus Police Department in Massachusetts.

1983

Jim Bellinghiri is a fish culture technician for the Vermont Fish and Game Department. He and Janine have two boys.

Alan Desrosiers is environmental manager at Ted Ondrick Co. in Chicopee, Mass.

Stewart Hoyt is regional fuels planner for the Forest Service Northern Rockies Regional Office, responsible for the prescribed burning program for Northern Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota.

Owen Devereux earned his distinguished rifleman badge at the annual rifle matches at Camp Perry. He is an attorney with the Nevada Supreme Court.

Trish (Liebenson) Liebenson-Morse has a private psychotherapy practice in Peterborough, N.H. She has three children.

Shirley (Mickens) Gesner is a nurse’s assistant at the Westbrook, Conn. middle/high school. She and Darryl have two sons.

Joyce (Farrin) Lucas is librarian at Winslow High School, president-elect of the Maine Association of School Libraries, and co-chair of the May State Conference. Jim ’79 retired from his position as Maine State regional fisheries biologist.

Amy Kesten is a special education teacher/ case manager in the Juneau Alaska school district since 1988. She has two children.

Randy “Headly” Ruehl ’82 is helping her remodel her house.

Steve Smith is chief information officer for the Cambridge Public Schools. He and Ellen have two children.

Dan Spinner is account manager and owner of Integ Systems Corporation, selling and maintaining UPS/Generator’s with the Hospital & Mission Critical Markets in the Northeast.

Kevin Ward is senior associate at Hazen and Sawyer. He and Andrea have two children.

Mark Shaul works in the corporate office of Vantine Imaging in Hamilton, N.Y. 1984

Mike Bias is principal ecologist at Ecosystems in Twin Bridges, Mont., working on fish, aquatic insects, and stream restoration.

Lise Birch-Wooldridge is sales administrator at Design Contempo Inc. in Lisbon, N.H.

1982

Peter Butryn is a chemist at Fortitech Inc. in Schenectady, N.Y. He and Cathi have two sons.

Ralph Dunn is a consulting forester and owner of Happy Valley Forestry Services in Sumner, Maine. He and Karen have two children.

Robin Clark works for Whidbey (Wash.)

Watershed Stewards. She is married and has two stepchildren.

Kim Larrabee is lecturer and student coordinator for early childhood programs at University of Connecticut Human Development and Family Studies. She has a new course entitled “Disabilities Across the Life Span.”

Jim Morrissey started Tactical Medical Association of California, training those in the field. He works with the Alameda County EMS, the FBI SWAT team, and Medical/ Health Intelligence Center. He is married to Julie.

Dan Ucci’s company, Ledge Hill Creations, was the mason contractor that built “the ultimate Maine cottage” in Southport showcased in the October 2011 issue of Down East.

Joan (Bragg) Desmond works at Fisc Solutions in Lewiston, Maine. She has three children.

Dennis Downer is a supervisor at UPS and a soccer coach. He has four daughters.

Rick McAlister retired from the Maine State Police, and now works for a private crash reconstruction firm, The Crash Lab based in Hampton, N.H. He and Mimi have been married 27 years and have two children.

Rick Roy was recently named the associate head coach/defensive coordinator for Lacrosse Costa Rica Men’s National Team.

The goal is to get the team playing lacrosse well enough to qualify for the 2014 World Games to be held in Denver, Colo.

class notes alumni 1985

Russell Beaupre is a special education teacher at the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps Experiment with Travel in Massachusetts. He is married with one daughter.

Mike Kinsella is a crop insurance adjuster.

He checked crop damage in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island after Hurricane Irene.

Lynne O’Brien is a personal care attendant for her mother.

1986

Bryan Gorsira is a national park system wildlife biologist at the Manassas National Battleground Park in Virginia. He has created several natural resource brochures on biodiversity and the value of small parks, and weekly posts wildlife and natural resource information on the Manassas Facebook page weekly. Bryan writes songs.

Cathy McDevitt is a vet tech at the Belfast Veterinary Hospital in Maine. She and Mark breed, raise, and show miniature horses. They won the World Champion Yearling Stallion at the 2012 AMHA World Championship in Texas.

Steve Tetreault is shift supervisor at Foam Concepts. He and Pat have four children and four grandchildren.

1987

Tom Martin is project scientist/industrial hygienist at TRC Environmental Corporation in Windsor, Conn.

Mark Ramela is an industrial hygienist at AGX Inc. in Pittsburgh, and lives on a horse farm in Plum, Pa. David Richardson is a terrestrial ecologist within the U.S. Fish & Wildlife’s newly formed Inventory and Monitoring Program in Grenada, Miss. He owns a small woodworking business making custom interior log furniture from hickory and red cedar, and lives next door to his three grandsons in Starkville.

Tammy (Hetrick) Simoneau is active with the Special Olympics program in the community, and Tim ’88 is a corrections officer in Vermont. They have six children, including two adopted special needs children.

Susan (Quarterman) Van Asselt is a mental health clinician for Interior Health in Trail, British Columbia. She studies meditation.

She and Arjan have two children.

1988 Al Weinberg is president of Frontline Specialists in Evart, Mich. He and Jenny have three children.

1989

Marie (Morenc) Barker is a correctional systems officer for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. She and Kyle have a son.

married to Heather.

Katherine Record is a daily living support specialist at the Charlotte White Center in Bangor. She has a daughter.

Dave Rzewnicki is an officer in the Oregon State Police, Fish and Wildlife Unit. He and Dee have a son.

Dan Worcester sells, services, and maintains large commercial biomass boilers that burn wood pellets and wood chips for Northline Energy.

1990

Alan Baldwin has changed the name of his company to Eventa Design and Production Group.

Cathy Bergeron is a holistic therapist in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. She and Charlene will relocate to Prince Edward Island.

Jean (Santarsiero) Costanzi is an operations safety specialist for a waste management company. She has a daughter.

Cheryl Groom is deputy manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Wildlife System at Minnesota Valley NWR in Iowa.

Tracey Hall is an education coordinator for the Audubon Society of Rhode Island and a licensed massage therapist with her own part time business, On the Spot Therapy.

Tony Sabilia married Krista in July. They have four children. Tony opened a sign company, Fast Signs, in Waterford, Conn.

Diane Borden-Billiot is the visitor services manager for U.S. Fish & Wildlife at the Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex. She has overseen the hurricane clean up and rebuilding after hurricanes Rita (8/05) and Ike (8/08), including planning the rebuilding of the visitors center. During the summer of 2010 BP Oil Spill, she conducted beach surveys along the western Gulf Coast. She is married to Terry.

Maria Broadbent is director of the Annapolis Department of Neighborhood and Environmental Programs. She and June were in Maine for the celebration of the life of Vicci Dwyer ’99 and to attend the wedding of Donna Bancroft ’85 and Kevin Dow.

Corey Francis hunted in Unity this fall with Brian Chikotas ’89.

Duncan Churches is assistant manager of the City of Bowie Gymnasium. He and Carol celebrated their seventh anniversary and have a daughter.

Chandler (Craig) Brown is a police officer and EMT for the Atlantis, Fla. Police Department.

Tony Cocchiola is maintenance technician at Condolux in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. He and Nicole have two children.

Kerri (Preble) Godfrey, Dave, and their two children enjoy life in Juneau, Alaska where Kerri works part time at the airport weather observing office.

Todd Hartford is a Computer Aided Design (CAD) civil engineer for Coffin Engineering and Surveying in Augusta, Maine. He and Terri have three children.

Doug Hofmeister is in the mortgage wholesale business. He and Anna have four children and a farm in West Virginia. He keeps in touch with Owen Devereux ’83, and Kevin Pendexter ’86.

Brian Chikotas is a fisheries biologist for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

He and wife Ann have two children. Brian hunted with Corey Francis ’87 in Maine.

Ivan Guarino is a union organizer for the AFL-CIO. He has a daughter.

John Letendre is taking night classes at Massachusetts Bay Community College in a collision damage appraiser program. He is

1991

Joe Benedict is waterfowl management program coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He and Lindsey have a son.

Ken Broskoskie visited with Jay Hornyak ’92, and Jason Stowe ’92 and Jen (Pearson) Stowe ’93 on Thanksgiving.

Keith Kinkead is operations manager for Window World of Raleigh. He and Kelly have two children.

Lars Knakkergarrd is case manager at Side UNITY SUMMER 2012 |

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alumni class notes

Chris Borg ’92

by Side Supported Living Inc. in Jamaica Plain, Mass.

Jim Martin is grounds and natural resources person for Kendal Retirement Community in Pennsylvania. His current project is to remove invasive species and restore native habitat. He and Jean live in Lancaster County.

“Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf.” By Aldo Leopold, “Thinking Like a Mountain,” Sand County Almanac “I remember the day clearly, the start of my sophomore year. Dr. Eric Anderson reading to his North American wildlife class,” said Chris Borg ’92. “Anderson’s teaching methods were so inspiring and Leopold’s writings so influential, that this Unity experience alone singlehandedly directed me toward a career in land conservation and public outreach.”

Borg, a land protection specialist with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, credits one of his first wilderness experiences, trout fishing in the vast Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area southwest of Baxter State Park, as being instrumental in his enrolling at Unity College.

“Unity’s wildlife curricula shaped my career path, and I still look back on what I learned in those early experiences for guidance in my current work in land protection.”

Unity’s formal training in natural history and public speaking has also been invaluable to Borg’s volunteer work as a birding tour leader. “I spent a lot of time in the College Woodlot studying its plants and animals, immersing myself in nature.” Many of these experiences were extensions of his wildlife course work, but Borg was also simultaneously developing into a naturalist.

From his upbringing in Princeton, N.J. to classes in Maine and a Unity internship in the Adirondacks, to subsequent professional experiences in New York, New Mexico, Florida, Georgia, and New Hampshire, his “life ideology has constantly evolved, but has remained firmly grounded in Unity.” Borg said, “My four years at Unity were life changing. Being immersed in a diverse community of students and faculty opened my mind intellectually, politically, socially, even spiritually, and ultimately impacted my world view.”

Borg still owns and derives inspiration from his well-worn copy of Leopold’s book purchased while he studied in Anderson’s class.

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Jeff Moore is an independent contractor teacher at Abbott’s Mill Nature Center in Milford, Del. He has a son.

Tonya (Kloiber) Rivers is an animal control officer for the City of New London, Conn.

1992

Erlene Appleby and her husband celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

Chris Borg is a land protection specialist for the New Hampshire Forest Protection Society, where he was involved in the major fund raising campaign to protect the 5,800 acres of undeveloped land in northern New Hampshire, including the famous Balsams Hotel.

Chris Davenport is a rehabilitation tech in the Idaho Juvenile Correction System.

Denise Dowling is on a one-year contract job in Indiana as senior project manager for HCL Technologies. She is director of client services at Pinnacle Companies in Tampa, Fla. Jay Hornyak owns Advanced Chimney Service. He is a National Rifle Association instructor in basic pistol and personal defense in the home, and is working on personal defense outside the home. He and Jennifer have three children.

Craig Uecker is sales manager of Craig Uecker Fly Fishing Sales, a fishing instructor for LL Bean, sales and marketing manager for HMH Fly Tying Vises in Brunswick, and owns Craig Uecker Photography. He has two step-children.

John Wimsatt has served 20 years as a New Hampshire conservation officer, now a captain. He and Cathy have four children.

1993

Mary Blake is an inventory arborist for Davey Tree Company in the Asian Longhorned Beetle Eradication Program. She owns a small farm business.

Dana Boynton is a case manager in a homeless teen shelter in downtown Anchorage, Alaska.

Matt Bruce is a military police officer in the Army in Afghanistan. He and Mary have three children.

Kim (Boggiatto) Cook is a lawyer in her own firm, Government Strategies in Portland. She represents clients in the areas of government relations, lobbying and regulatory affairs in a range of businesses, nonprofits, and trade associations. She and Jonathan have three sons.

Tom Dietzel is a park ranger at Hale Reservation and for the Trustees of Reservations for the Charles River Valley Management Unit. He has two daughters and a granddaughter.

Scott Hahn is production manager at Pleasant View Gardens in Epsom, N.H. He and Vicki have two daughters.

Eric Kormann teaches special education at Camden Hills Regional High School. He and Korah Soll ’99 are starting a charter school in Monroe, called Rural Aspirations Project. Eric has two children.

Melissa (McCalla) Manassee, Mark, and their three children live in Paris, France.

Kristel (Price) McClenahan works in a corporate mail-room. She is married to David.

Jim McKnight is head of security at Shelburne (Vermont) Shipyard on Lake Champlain, is a police officer for the town, and a deputy game warden. He owns Emergency Warning Systems, Inc. Douglas McMullin is regional steward for the Maine Coast Heritage Trust in Somesville. He and Kate have a daughter.

Kristy (DeRoche) Morsey is a clinical analyst in charge of queue management for AthenaHealth in Belfast. She home schools her three sons.

Tom Phillips works in information systems with the Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Jenn (Pearson) Stowe is captain for the Northeast Region of the Massachusetts Park Rangers. She also works for Search & Rescue with her dog, Emmitt and coordinates the K9 team. Jason ’92 works in IT for both the Massachusetts and Rhode Island chapters of the Nature Conservancy, and assisted with the opening of two new offices.

class notes alumni

Elizabeth Berney ’95

Listening, Learning, and Imparting Knowledge: All Part of the Job Unity Alumni at February reception at Crosstrax Back Row: John Blais ’96, Joe “Salty” Saltalamachia ’94, Leigh Juskevice ’92, Hauns Bassett ’97. Middle Row: Ashley McCorkindale ’10, Stephenie MacLagan ’07, Annette Hanser ’83, Justin Preisendorfer ’00, Nicole Lazure-Collins ’00, Daniel Bowker ’00, Donna Bancroft ’85, Justin Merrill ’07, Melissa May ’99 and son. Seated: Dot Quimby, Unity College Head Librarian, retired, and Monica Murphy, ’87.

Above: Unity alumni chatting at Crosstrax.

Right: Leigh Juskevice ’92, Hauns Bassett ’97 and Stephenie MacLagan ’07 chatting at Unity alumni party at Crosstrax.

Keith Tompkins is a territory manager for an aquaculture system design company in Florida. He and Kim have seven children between them.

1994

Brian Carolan is a licensed arborist with Almstead Tree and Shrub Care in Watertown, Conn. He and Sue have two children.

Penny (Parker) Flood works at Viking Lumber in Belfast, and Gene ’90 works with his father. They have twin boys. They are remodeling their old farmhouse.

Rob Gauthier is a veterinary tech at the Animal Clinic of Windermere, Fla. Jon Giracca has served 17 years as a victim witness advocate/domestic violence for the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office. He was appointed district chair for Appalachian Trail District of the Western Massachusetts Boy Scouts. He lives with Maria Martin Arenas and her son.

her husband. She has three children, 10 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Justin Snyder is a dispatcher for the Rockingham County, N.H. Sheriff ’s Office.

He and Tiffany have two children.

Robb Wistner is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Supply Chain Specialist working with C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism). Laurie ’94 teaches Preschool in Woodlands, Texas and is working on certification in Spanish. They have two boys.

Last year, Robb met up with Marc Goldberg ’93 at the Comicon convention.

1995

Connie Berube married Neil Berry in October. Their six-year old daughter was flower girl. Connie works with families through the Maine Home Visiting Program.

Jenny DeFreites is a potter and a beekeeper. This summer, she was part of a queen bee rearing initiative, using a technique known as grafting.

By Debora Noone, Alumni and Parent Relations Coordinator The first thing Elizabeth Berney ’95 learned after leaving college is that jobs she vied for weren’t in the areas she trained for at Unity.

She does credit Unity for giving her the skills.

In her first job as an environmental educator she used fun facts from classes led by Dave Potter, Jerry Cinnamon, Chris Marshall, and Dave Knupp to develop her curriculum.

Thinking outside the box led Berney to amazing opportunities, including her current position as a librarian at the Duke University Medical Center. “I may not be using my Unity land use planning degree, but I am using many skills I learned in that program,” says Berney. “Information gleaned from my environmental problems class have assisted a nursing student in writing a paper on chemical contamination.”

Berney sites other examples of how she translates skills learned at Unity while assisting library patrons. “Helping a medical student with a literature search on a new HIV drug and its known side effects, I use what I learned in biology and chemistry classes.” Berney uses Unity-learned skills in her own job responsibilities. “Taking tree measurements in statistics class can be applied to the usage stats I compile monthly.”

“Education is fluid,” states Berney.

“Unity has provided me a foundation to my lifelong love of learning.”

Technology has changed much since her days at Unity. Now Berney works with various technologies, including web and graphic design, inventory database software, internet/database research options, and management software such as Blackboard and Sakai. Tools like iPads allow her to do reference work via Skype and IM’s, reaching patrons who may be operating on a patient, or serving as global health fellows in Africa.

“I love working in academia and in libraries. Rarely are days dull, and I learn something new every day.”

Mary (Flood) Poirier co-owns Jerry’s Gems on Route One in Saco, Maine, with UNITY SUMMER 2012 |

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alumni class notes Debbie Dubitsky is an environmental educator for the Connecticut Audubon in Glastonbury, and president of the local garden club. She is married to Bruce Stone.

Dan Hayward and Melissa work on the Tern Restoration Project in New Hampshire. They started their own business, TERNS, LLC and contract with N.H. Fish and Game. Dan works as guest services manager at Mount Sunapee Resort in Newbury. They have two children.

Brendan Mullen is a U.S. Forest Service engine foreman at the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest in Butte, Mont.

Steve Sobczak is camp administrator for the Hope Conference and Renewal Center in Hope, N.J. He and his wife have two children.

Christine (White) Spaulding works with her husband, Clint, at Clint Spaulding ‘N Family Trucking in Freedom. She has six children and two grandchildren.

Doug Ward is a response researcher for State Street Corp. in Quincy, Mass. He and Kim have twin boys.

Tess Fairbanks Woods received the 2011 Partner of the Year, Individual Merit Award, from the Maine Rural Partners, for her “exceptional leadership and perseverance in leading the ‘CHEFS: Feeding our Future Community Endowment Initiative’ to sustain the Unity region’s agricultural heritage and economy for future generations, and for the creation of the ‘Community Legacy Tool Kit.” Professor Mick Womersley also received an award at the same annual meeting.

Tess Fairbanks Woods Receiving Award

Dawn have four children. Todd is in a band.

Joy Braunstein is the director of the Holocaust Center of Greater Pittsburgh, working on issues of tolerance and diversity. She was a guest columnist for the Jewish Chronicle in December 2011, writing an essay entitled “Butterfly at Rush Hour Leaves Environmental Wake-up Call.”

Emilie Carpenter has a daughter, born December 23, 2010.

Paul Cinquegrano is an environmental analyst in the Construction Division of Massachusetts Department of Transportation conducting environmental compliance inspections. He has a son.

Mark Dufresne owns Nature’s Taxidermy in Gray, Maine. Samantha (Hall) ’94 is a claims specialist for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. They have two sons.

Steve Jeannotte works in his family’s business, Granite State Natural Foods in Concord, N.H. and in Round Pond, Maine at Muscongus Bay Lobster, owned by Dan ’97 and Andrea (Iverson) ’97 Reny.

1997

Beth (Daggett) Berman, retired, creates art and jewelry. She is involved in international art associations.

Joel Flewelling and Gwen have a daughter.

Joel has over four years of service as fish and wildlife specialist for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

Dan Gambino is a professional photographer and is the art director for the American Alpine Journal, the annual mountaineering journal of the American Alpine Club. He has one daughter.

Charity (Robinson) Goller has worked as manager of Rite Aid in Bar Harbor, Maine for 13 years. She and Jay have two children.

They recently visited with Steve and Jessica (Ruggles) Sherman ’97 and their daughter.

1996

John Blais is a senior planner for the Maine National Guard. He is a Maine Guide and owns Belgrade Bassin’. He and Pam have two children.

Todd Bowen is battalion chief of the Bridgeton (N.J.) Fire Department. He and

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Jeremy Smith owns JBS Painting Inc. in Old Orchard Beach. He and Kelly Nunn have a son.

Tory Wade is manager of Bear Creek Animal Clinic in Ashland, Ore. Christopher “C.J.” Walke is development associate / organic orchardist / librarian for MOFGA in Unity. He and Korah Soll ’99, who is director of the alternative education program, Zenith, at Camden Hills Regional

High School, have two daughters.

Vicki Wilcox works at East Greenbush Central School District in Troy, N.Y. She has three sons. The twins were born on November 21, 2011.

Joe Zipparo is stewardship project manager for the Coastal Mountains Land Trust in Camden. He has a son.

1998

Donaldson Boord is a marine patrol officer for the Maine Department of Marine Resources out of Boothbay.

Brian Campbell is a biological specialist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Crystal (Bowden) Clarke and husband Jason ’99 are building a home in Blue Hill, Maine. Currently they live in Holden, Mass. with their four children.

Chad Drew works on a trail crew for the U.S. Forest Service in Lake Tahoe, after a brief stint as an ironworker in Virginia last summer. He leads volunteer groups sharing his trail building skills. Chad married Cori Hayth on October 29, 2011 in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Nate Edmonds is applications development manager at JP Morgan Chase in Jersey City, N.J. He and Natalie have two sons.

Peter Farrington graduated from the New England Culinary Institute in 2000 and is a chef in Hyannisport, Mass. and in Vail, Colo.

Jeff Ingemi is a Maine State Police sergeant and a selectman for the town of Marshfield. He and Tina (Smith) ’99 are helping to build a youth ministry in Machias by building several skate board/BMX ramps. They have two daughters.

David Legere is owner and operator of Aquaterra Adventures in Bar Harbor. He and Camille have two granddaughters.

George Menth is on his third combat tour of duty as an Army medic, now stationed in Afghanistan. He tracks patients as they move in and out of the theatre. His wife Loretta has three grown children and grandchildren.

Kevin Oldenburg is in his 10th year as a park ranger at the Roosevelt/Vanderbilt National Historic Site in Hyde Park, N.Y. He was recently in Maine fishing with Clinton Thompson ’98.

class notes alumni Rebecca Roy Phelps and husband Ethan have a daughter, born on November 2, 2011.

Mark Roche and Kristi have a daughter, born on October 7, 2011.

Amy (Rancourt) St. Pierre has two children. She is certified as a professional coder.

Deb Shea has worked for four years as a biological technician withthe U.S. Forest Service at the Ouacheta National Forest in Arkansas. She is active in the Mena Photography Club and has entered several photos in contests.

Kevin Smith received his master’s in teaching English as a second language from Boston University in May 2011. He, his wife, and daughter moved to South Korea where he teaches English.

Karen Stainbrook is an environmental analyst with the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in Albany. She and Moss Cail have two children.

Melissa Zanvettor is a registered nurse at the VA Medical Center in Northampton, Mass. She has two daughters.

1999

Diana Boyd is a registered nurse at Providence Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska.

Brian Chamberlin is a firefighter/paramedic in Augusta, Maine, overseeing the paramedic program at Kennebec Valley Community College and is the clinical coordinator for Atlantic Partners EMS. He and Tara have a son.

Jaysen Cobb has been in the Coast Guard since 2006.

Shanin Cote is working on a master’s of occupational therapy through the University of Southern Maine. She works part time as a lifeguard at the Kennebec Valley YMCA in Augusta.

Jason Czapiga is a GIS coordinator for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. He is married and has two sons.

Wanda (Bowden) Lord teaches biology at Lawrence High School in Fairfield, Maine. She and Ed plan to adopt a baby.

Owen Montgomery is a wildlife specialist for the U.S.D.A./Wildlife Services.

Jeffrey Moody is master corrections officer for Cumberland County, and is also a deputy sheriff. He, Sheri, and their daughter live in Saco, Maine.

Andrew Weiner is a family wealth manager at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Toledo, Ohio. He and Sarah have three children.

Sarah (Fowler) Rowe is office manager at the Bath Animal Hospital. She and husband Lonnie have two sons.

Joel Bailey owns a publishing company, Current Bush Enterprises in Old Orchard Beach, and he is writing a book as well as poetry. He and Mary have three children.

Scott Stidsen owns Mossy Rock Masonry and works with biodiesel and waste vegetable oil. He and Sabrina Fuchs ’97 have a son.

Sabrina is a staff assistant in clinical sciences at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, Mass.

John Stokely is environmental director at Pueblo of Tesuque in Santa Fe, N.M. 2000

Matt Allred is environmental health and safety engineer for Enel Green Power North America in Andover, Mass.

Nathan Graham is area manager at Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area, a part of the Maryland Park Service. He and Ashley have two sons.

Paul Jones teaches high school biology and science in New Haven, Conn. He is engaged to Ashley Singer.

Patrick and Sarah (Thornbury) ’02 Keiran moved to Grand Junction, Colo. where Pat is a lead range technician fighting wildland fires for the Bureau of Land Management. Sarah is in graduate school in special education at Colorado Mesa University. They have two children.

Jeremy Leifert is the zoning/wetlands enforcement officer for Thomaston, Conn. He conducts frequent contract work of bird surveys/bird banding for Sharon Audubon. He and Stephanie celebrated their second anniversary in October 2011.

Sean Maggs is an electrician at UNUM in charge of kWh metering, and installing new lighting and motor controls to decrease kWh usage. He has a daughter.

John McMurry is energy consultant for Vermont Energy Investment Corp., known as Efficiency Vermont. He identifies and analyzes cost-effective techniques for businesses to reduce their energy usage. He is married to Grace.

Wally Opuszynski is trail director for the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, and owns and manages True to the Land Trails, a land management business. He is chair of the Vermont Trails and Greenways Council.

2001

Dawn (Dickson) Bedenik is finishing her master’s in educational leadership and has received her principal certification. She is married to Gregory.

Rachel Cliche is a wildlife biologist at the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge in Brunswick, Vt. She and Sean Flint ’00 are married. Sean is a wildlife biologist at Umbagog Wildlife Refuge in Errol.

Jennifer (Pettis) Greene works for Hillside Children’s Center in Syracuse, helping kids with behavioral issues, and Tom ’03 runs a group home for adults with disabilities. They celebrated their eighth anniversary and have one daughter.

Heather (Hurford) Hills and Michael ’02 have a son, born March 31, 2011, and a daughter. Heather is captain of Balmy Days Cruises out of Boothbay Harbor, and Mike works for Mill Cove Lobster.

Derek Liimatainen is a ranger captain for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation at the Wachusett Reservoir. He and Cory built a home in Rutland, Mass.

Erin Martin works as a landscaper in the summer and a coffee farmer in Hawaii in the winter.

Brian McClelen is assistant store manager at Lowes in Austin, Texas. He is engaged to Kendra and bought a house near Austin.

Deidra (Diehl) Ritzer married Matthew in September 2008, and they have a daughter, born in June 2011. Deidre works at Leggette, Brashears & Graham in Williston, Vt. as an environmental scientist.

Aimee Dorval is administrative assistant to the facilities and public safety departments at Unity College. She has a daughter Ella.

Matt Shove is a certified rock climbing instructor and the owner of Ragged Mountain Guide Service in Manchester, Conn, offering instruction and trips all over New England and New York. He and Stacy have a daughter.

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alumni class notes

Unity College alumni presenters at the 2012 Environmental Career Fair in February.

Ed Spaulding is executive director of the Northland Adventure Education & Therapy Center in Northland Vt., and is interning with Maple Leaf Farm helping people with substance abuse as part of the licensing requirements for the state. Ed married Lisa in June 2011.

Kris (Hodgdon) Stern and Tom, ’00 moved from New Hampshire to North Carolina in June. Tom works for a tree service company and Kris works for the town of Huntersville and for the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte. They have two children.

2002

Brian Adams is energy analyst and project manager for Integrated Building Energy Associates in Bradford, N.H. He performs ASHRAE (American Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) Level II energy audits for commercial clients.

Michael Alexander is a trails crew volunteer concordant and is also on the Technical Rescue Team at Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colo.

Matt Amadon is a watershed ranger with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. He and Robyn live in New Hampshire with their son, born August 26, 2011.

Michael Bernier is a lobster fisherman out of Birch Harbor. He and Kelley have three sons.

Becky (Maddox) Blais and Phil ’03 have a son, born in April 2011. Phil is a carpenter for Meadow Park Development in Augusta, and Becky is a Maine Department of Environmental Protection, environmental specialist III. Misty (Briggs) Charles has been married to Will for six years.

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Glenn Durham is a service writer in an automotive repair business. He and Katie have a daughter.

New Hampshire alumni Eric Fluette ‘09, Craig Morracco ’88, and Justin Preisendorfer ’00 catching up after the career fair.

Heidi (Lowe) Engle is a graphic designer for a print company in Cassville, Mo. She designs books and book covers. She owns Heidi Lowe Photography. She is married and has a daughter.

Research, Environmental, and Management Support Inc. contracted through the federal government National Ocean Atmospheric Service for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Gloucester, Mass. She and Charlie Pitts ’02 are married. He works as a fisheries observer for Accuracy Integrity Service, which is also a contractor for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Ryan Gates has been a whitewater guide for 11 years, and works for Camden Hills Regional High School. He own a property management business. He and Erica have a daughter.

Jonathan Superchi is the manager of a private fly fishing club, The Zanesfield Rod and Gun Club, in Zanesfield, Ohio. He manages a 400 acre property and runs a small trout hatchery for the club.

Rob ’03 and Raquel (Ross) Goodrich have a daughter. Rob works for the Department of Homeland Security and Raquel works for the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution. They live in Vail, Ariz.

Brandon Vafiades is a police officer in Bangor, Maine. He and Sarah have three children.

Natalie (Ward) Gould is assistant recreation director for the town of Eliot, Maine. She and Chris have two daughters.

Robert King and Paul Farmer are co-owners of Siren Shellfish in Cushing, Maine.

Greg Murphy is fisheries biologist with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission in Revere, Pa. He is married and has two daughters.

John Roma is a patrolman for the Brunswick Police Department. He and a co-worker run Cold Brook Guide Services moose hunting in the Eustis/Stratton area. He and Katie have a daughter.

Eric Saxon is a security consultant in his own business, Saxon & Associates.

Nicole (Stier) Stier-Pitts is task leader for the Industry Data Investigation Project for

2003

Rosemarie Burns is in her sixth year as a correctional officer at the Maine Department of Corrections in Windham.

Jeremy Cass is visiting instructor of adventure therapy at Unity College, and works part time for Alvah Maloney ’00 and Kelly (O’Brien) ’94 in their Maine Kayak business. Jeremy is married to Danielle.

Tiffany Csaszar is working in New Jersey as a private home healthcare aide. She is studying to be a registered nurse at Atlantic Cape Community College. She is a bartender for several clubs in Atlantic City.

Justin Ferland is a conservation officer with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, and is working on a master’s in criminal justice administration at New England College. He and Melinda have two daughters.

Kristen Girard is a behavior therapist working with children with autism. In September 2011, she received her master’s in

class notes alumni psychology, specializing in child and adolescent development. She works as a certified veterinary technician.

Joshua Heath is an outdoor adventure guide and grounds manager at The Lodge at Woodloch in Hawley, Penn. He has a son and a daughter.

Kieran Kelly is a seasonal national park law enforcement ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Katie Maguire is a chemist for Alere in Scarborough, Maine. She is engaged.

Ashley Messner has two daughters, one born April 8, 2011.

Leo St. Peter owns Arbor Technologies in Waterville, Maine. He and Amy have a daughter, born March 14, 2011.

Jacob Liam Blais born on April 22, 2011 to Becky (Maddox) Blais ‘03 and Phil Blais ’03.

2004

Liz Baldwin-Rowe received her law degree from Indiana University in 2010 and is working on her doctorate in public affairs. She and Matt have been married five years and have a daughter.

Patrick Hawes is a Connecticut State trooper.

Travis Leeman is a superintendent at SBA Communications Corporation in Biddeford, and owns Arbor Master Tree Service. He has his state arborist license. His is married to Heather.

Aaron Paul accepted a position as the hazardous waste manager at Oxus Environmental in Pittsfield, Maine, where they process limited streams of hospital waste.

Noah Schneider is the manager of a group home.

Will Seeley is purchasing the business Get Outdoors in Greenboro N.C. where he has been store manager. He has two sons.

Stephanie (Hanwell) Theobald married Nathan in June. Steph works as a humane agent for the State of Maine.

Carrie Wheelock is regional coordinator for the states of Colorado and Utah at the Four Corners School of Outdoor Education in Cortez, Colo. She married Carter Tuttle II on October 6, 2011 at Reid State Park in Maine.

Jennifer (Augustine) Whelan is faculty administrative assistant at Unity College.

Ben Wurst owns Reclaimed, a business in New Gretna, N.J. that uses recycled materials to make picture frames and other items. To read more about what he does and his inspirations, go to http://reclaimednj.com/about/.

2005

Wesley Butler is a police officer in Rockport, Maine. He owns a property maintenance business doing landscaping, carpentry and painting projects, and caretaking.

married at the farm on August 20, 2011.

Jeremy and Christy (Charters) ’04 Kervin have a daughter, born February 10, 2011. Jeremy is a correction officer for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections and Christy is a science teacher and soccer coach at Dracut High School.

Patty Marcum is general manager of Infinity Music Hall & Bistro, and she instructs skiing and snowboarding and is a Lumbersport athlete. She and Ed Christinat ’05 will marry in September 2012. Ed is a tree specialist for Natures Own Tree Specialists.

Jared Metz sailed around the world with the World Arc Rally as first mate on the 53-foot Amel “Brown Eyed Girl” between November 2009 and April 2011, from Saint Lucia through the Panama Canal, arriving back to Saint Lucia. He is owner, operator and cofounder of Mintaka Association, based in San Jose, Costa Rica, selling, importing and distributing retail fashion. He married Mercedes Vargas on October 15, 2011.

Cary Rhodes is outdoor activities coordinator for the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H. Kris Sanborn is a clinical supervisor who oversees the therapeutic foster care/permanency program within the Family Services & Mental Health Department of the Downtown Seattle YMCA. Sarah is a doctoral student at The Evans School/University of Washington, studying public policy. She has a son.

Corree Seward and Joe Delabrue married on September 10, 2011 in Keshena, Wis.

Victoria Chapman works in a boarding and day school for children with emotional and behavioral challenges.

Steve Sutton was awarded the National Wild Turkey Federation Wildlife Law Enforcement Officer of the Year for the state of New Jersey. He is a conservation officer for the N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife. He was featured in an article in the New Jersey Herald, entitled “Conservation Officer Enjoys His Job.”

Drew Foley is doing aquaculture work in Hawaii.

Kate Coleman teaches sixth grade life science and seventh grade earth science at the Indian Creek School in Crownsville, Md.

Wes Verrill filmed a video for Bass Pro. It was shown in St. Charles, Mo. in August at the Bass Pro Fall Hunting Classic.

Colin Fraser manages a Lincare Center, a national medical oxygen company. He and Andria have two children.

Seth Dunn is a spatial database specialist at Maponics. He and Melissa live in Lebanon, N.H.

Kristen Wendling-Bryan is a herpetologist with Rainforest Reptile Shows.

Masato Fueki worked in environmental analysis in Japan for seven years. He currently works for a weighing balance company, Mettler Toledo, responsible for IR instruments. Masato is married with two daughters.

Amy Fitzherbert is a scientist II/GIS analyst for GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. GeoEnvironmental is an employee-owned environmental consulting, geo-civil engineering, and environmental remediation firm in Augusta.

Andy Brower is in his second year of grad school at University of Mass/Amherst working on his master’s of business administration. He is a business development associate at FloDesign.

Heather Dionne is staff arborist at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

Aubrey Gates is farm manager at Gates Farm in Cambridge, Vt. He and Erica Twenge were

2006

Cece Bowerman is working on a master’s in environmental education at Western Washington University. She finished the residency portion at North Cascades Institute Environmental Learning Center in the North Cascades National Park.

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alumni class notes the educational farm of the Farm and Wilderness Foundation in Plymouth, Vt. Ty Phillips is assistant operations manager of Tree Care at Caldwell Tree Care in Roswell, Ga. He and Lindsey celebrated their first anniversary.

Jason Reynolds is a carpenter working for G⋅O-Logic, a company that helped design TerraHaus at Unity College. He also has his own carpentry business, JBuilt.

Clover Street ’11 displays a Grand Canyon Rattlesnake where he works at the Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo (ZAA accredited) in New Braunfels, Texas.

Scott Burton is a 911 dispatcher for the Southwestern Regional Communications Center in Bridgeport, Conn. and is a seasonal park ranger supervisor at the Osbornedale State Park. He volunteers as an EMT for Stratford EMS. Lindsey Cook owns a land care business specializing in sustainable gardening, maintenance, and design.

Tricia Cycz was a fish culturist for the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department at Somers Fish Hatchery. She moved to Maine in August of 2011.

Lance Ebel is the owner of Newleaf Environmental, a private land management company in Ithaca, N.Y., which takes a holistic approach to management of natural resources with a balance between wildlife, ecology, and forestry.

Kimberly (Mako) Eckhardt is assistant program director at Spring Lake Ranch, a therapeutic work community for mental illness and substance abuse in Vermont.

Rufus Faggons is a business development coordinator for Triumvirate Environmental in North Carolina.

Michael Fournier is aquatics director at the Penobscot Bay YMCA and a swim team coach. He and Lydia have two children.

Kate (Schnackenberg) Kay is a fish hatchery technician. She and Nathan live in Rangeley.

Rick Kristoff has returned from Afghanistan, and works for the Army Corps of Engineers as an environmental protection specialist.

Beth O’Neil returned from her Peace Corps job as an environmental education volunteer in a rural village in Armenia. She works at

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Eric Rudolph is engaged to Kelli Wood.

Eric is a Maine State game warden.

August 24, 2012. They have a daughter born September 25, 2011. Bob is a project manager at Mohawk Northeast and Michele is a medical assistant.

Stephanie (Aten) Pooler and Shawn live in Virginia. Stephanie is working for the National Park Service, and attends Stephen F. Austin State University, working on a master’s in resource interpretation.

Paul Smith and Sarah (Ogden) were married on October 8, 2011 at Saints Peter and Paul Basilica in Lewiston. They reside in Poland, Maine.

Deborah “Deva” Solomon works as an EMS helping people with mental health issues.

Megan Weber is a phlebotomist for the Puget Sound Blood Center in Silverdale, Wash. She is engaged to Casey and will be married during the summer of 2012.

2007

Alisa (Christopher) and David Ross ’06 were married in 2011. She is an assistant district attorney for Kennebec/Somerset County District Attorney’s Office. Dave is a Maine game warden in the Fryeburg area.

Dave Cocke is a fly fishing guide and a ski instructor in Park City, Utah.

Dave Curtiss is earning a master’s in environmental education at Nicholls State University in Louisiana.

Renee (Letendre) Grant is an administrative assistant II in the Office of Student Life at the University of Maine at Augusta. She and her husband live in Lisbon Falls.

Ryan Howes started Maine Mountains Institute and continues to volunteer on Katahdin in high-angle search and rescue as well as facilitating team-building activities at local high schools. Last fall he became a certified guide through the American Mountain Guides Association. He is on the board of directors of the Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance and active in Waldo County land conservation. He and Shana have two children.

Stephenie MacLagan works for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in the Bangor office. She is currently working on a master’s at University of Maine, Orono and expects to write her thesis this spring.

Nicole (French) McGrath and Chris ’08 announce the birth of a daughter, born on November 16, 2011.

Bob Mitchell and Michele will marry on

Sarah Ogden ‘07 married Paul Smith ‘07 on October 8, 2011.

Paul Turati is a forestry technician/crew boss and a forest protection officer for the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado’s South Park Ranger District. He patrols and works on trail and road construction/maintenance.

2008

Rich Benedict owns Heritage Wood Works in Brooks, Maine, building custom cabinetry and furniture. He and Reeta have two daughters. Reeta works in the Development Office at Unity College.

Robbie Breton works at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire in Dover, where he is involved in an art project of an 85page coloring book. He also works at Hannafords.

Hannah Brzycki is a landscaper working for Focal Point Garden Center in Arundel, Maine.

Brandon Carroll is group leader and part of the environmental team at Continental Contitech Theromopol in Somersworth, N.H. They build hoses for Ford, Chrysler and Volvo.

Tim Cook is working in Oakland, N.J. as an EMT, driver, and head of maintenance for Oakland First Aid. Will Davis graduated in November 2011 from the Pennsylvania State Police Academy and is now a Pennsylvania State trooper.

class notes alumni Josh Youse spent the summer as assistant director and surf instructor at Wrightsville Beach Surf Camp in Wilmington, N.C. 2010

Josh Beuth is a wildlife technician for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Fish and Wildlife, and works part time on a fishing boat. He is earning a master’s at the University of Rhode Island.

His thesis research is on the wintering ecology of Common Eiders.

Alumni gather in January 2012 to play the Unity basketball teams.

Jared Erskine is the basketball coordinator at the Mount Desert Island YMCA. Roni (Fein) Etheridge is a law enforcement officer for the U.S. Forest Service at Huron Manistee National Forest in Baldwin, Mich. She is married to Jeff Etheridge ’09 who is an emergency medical responder and within a few classes of being an EMT. He is a member of the Big Prairie Fire Department.

Tom Frezza works for the National Museum of Civil War Medicine as acting site manager for their satellite museum on the Antietam Battlefield in Frederick, Md. He is also employed part time with the U.S. Marine Corps Historical Company as the assistant media director. He and Tori Arnold live in Frederick.

Arley McAdams is a private first class in the Army, working as a parachute rigger. He and Laura have a daughter.

Kelly Meyers is a research technician/lab manager at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Liz Pierson will receive a master’s in experiential education at Minnesota State University in Mankato.

Gerald Pound is earning a master’s in the applied energy and environmental policy program at the University of Southern Maine. He has completed many hours of community service with elementary school children.

Wade Richardson works for a water well company in Canyon Lake, Texas, drilling and servicing commercial and residential water wells. He married Deena in March 2009.

Jeff Ruckert works for Delta Ambulance as a licensed paramedic.

Sara Trunzo was named food and farm products coordinator at Unity College. She headed the Veggies For All program for

AmeriCorps Vista after she graduated.

Kelly Young returned from volunteering in Australia on a Satin Bowerbird mating selection project. She will work in Oregon on a seabird project at the mouth of the Columbia River.

2009

Sarah Corrigan is working in the child care field in the Portland, Maine area.

Dan Courtemanch is a ski patroller for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and an EMT for the Sidney Rescue.

Jameson Cycz is a recreational guide in Oregon.

Jake Deslauriers works in environmental education with children at Nature’s Classroom in Freedom, N.H. He and Matt Zane ’10 climbed in Mexico.

Aaron Destefano is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division located at Fort Carson, Colo. He is married to Elizabeth.

Peter Knipper and Joelle Chase were married on September 17, 2011 in Cape May, N.J. Attending the wedding were Heidi Brugger, retired Unity College student affairs secretary, Tori Arnold ’08, Tom Frezza ’08, Jake Harr ’09, Jason Reynolds ’06 and Sara Trunzo ’08.

Eleanor Stone is in her last year at Murray State University working toward a degree in biology.

Zoe Turcotte, in her second year as a teacher’s assistant at the West Tisbury School on Martha’s Vineyard, runs an after school program, and is head coach of the boys middle school basketball team. She earned an educator license to teach science in Massachusetts and currently attends Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. working toward a master’s in education.

Will Elting is games room coordinator at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America in Portland.

Joe Horn is a naturalist intern at the Foothill Horizons Outdoor School in Sonora, Calif., teaching sixth graders about nature.

Kelly “KB” (Safford) Lavertu teaches at the Pine Grove Montessori School in Falmouth and is earning a master’s in education at the University of Southern Maine this fall. Jeremy ’07 is a supervisor at UPS in Auburn.

Ashley McCorkindale was a white water rafting guide for Moxie Rafting this summer and worked as a snowboard instructor this winter. She is training to be a Maine recreational guide.

Allison O’Connor graduated from the Police Academy and is a police officer at Brown University Police Department in Providence.

Deidre Ousterhout is an outreach educator for Living Desert in Palm Desert, Calif.

Derek Patry is a forester, drafter, and land surveyor for York Land Services in Berlin, N.H. He and Alicia have a daughter.

Casey Smith is a U.S. Army military police officer and has returned from Afghanistan.

Dave Stillson is earning a master’s in biology at Adelphi University. He is studying the web decoration structure built by the garden spider Argiope aurantia.

Steve Swartz is an at-sea monitor for NOAA based out of Gloucester, Mass.

2011

Jean Altomare is tour coordinator for 350.org. She organizes speaking events and travel for Bill McKibben, a Unity College honorary degree recipient, as he flies around the country talking to environmentalists about the Tar Sands issue.

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alumni class notes Tyler Aucoin is a bicycle mechanic at Spoke-N-Wheels.

Connecticut, School of Law. This summer he worked as a reserve patrolman in Wells.

Lucas Benner teaches chemistry, biology, and AP environmental science at Oceanside High School East, the new district high school in Rockland, Maine.

Matt Lipinski is a vet tech at the New England Veterinary Clinic in Salem, Mass.

James Benvenuti and Jonathan DeLisle are both game wardens with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

Jessica Brummel is a vet tech at the New England Animal Hospital in Waterville, Maine.

Kayla Bubar is sustainability coordinator for ARAMARK, a full service catering company at the University of Southern Maine. She is enrolled in an online program with Boston Architectural College, earning a master’s of design studies in sustainable design.

Gillian Clark volunteered at a wild animal rescue sanctuary in the rain forest of Ecuador for four weeks after graduation. She fell in love with Capuchin monkeys, and plans to enroll next fall at Davison Community College in Lexington N.C. for a two-year degree in zoo and aquarium science.

Paul Dapkus works for Loomis Armored Car and for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.

Rory Dwyer works as a zookeeper at Zoo New England.

Amanda Harden is a marine biologist for the Maine Department of Marine Resources in Augusta, Maine.

Dennison Hunt is working at Australis Aquaculture in Turners Falls, Mass.

Elizabeth Jacob works with birds and mammals at a snake farm in Texas.

Nate Jillson works as field staff with Second Nature Wilderness Therapy.

William Knight attends the University of

Cody Lounder is a reserve officer for the Scarborough Police Department and hopes to become full time with the Cumberland County Sheriff ’s Department in Maine.

Nicole Myers graduates in May from Shippensburg University with a degree in geoenvironmental studies. She expects a baby in June.

Michael Paulsen worked this summer for the Adirondack Mountain Club at Johns Brook Lodge. In August he traveled through Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Guatamala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. In November, he plans to take his GRE’s and apply to the University of Alaska for a master’s in natural resource management and geology.

Lacie Scheuer finished a seasonal position as Mesocarnivore research field assistant with the New York State Deptartment of Environmental Conservation.

Leslie Van Niel worked as a field instructor for the McCall Outdoor Science School this summer and is now earning a master’s in natural resources at the University of Idaho.

Molly West, attended Unity from 2007 to 2009 and now attends nursing school in Vermont.

Sean Wieboldt works for TEAM Adventure, a team-building/challenge course program.

Chelsey Vosburgh is in the process of forming a non-profit organization called Balloonsblow.org to educate the public about the dangers to plants and animals when balloons are released into the atmosphere.

2012

Ben Darling is a program manager at Oxus Environmental HAZ/MAT in Pittsfield, Maine.

Alex Denys works in fire management for the National Park Service.

Cynthia Emelander works with the Salvation Army and in personal and leadership development.

Amanda Smith is a Zumba fitness instructor at Body Shop in East Hampton, N.Y. and is working on certification to become a personal trainer.

James Hall received an associate degree in horticulture from North Shore Community College and has his own tree and lawn care business, Keep Off the Grass.

Clover Street is the nonvenomous department manager at the Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo (ZAA accredited) in New Braunfels, Texas. He has appeared on the news promoting their educational shows, has successfully bred Pancake tortoises (Malacochersus tornieri) and Prehensile-tailed Skinks (Corucia zebrata), is trying to breed Satanic leaf-tail geckos (Uroplatys phantasticus), and target train the six-foot Asian Water monitor (Varanus salvator), as well as raise a juvenile freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni).

Rachel and Colton LeBoeuf ’10 have moved to Rockland, Maine where Colton is a police officer with the Rockland Police Department.

Abie Sullivan is working on a master’s in resource economics and policy at the University of Maine.

Kelsey Sullivan is an assistant teacher at the Bangor Montessori School.

FORMER FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

Susanne Kibler-Hacker and son Christopher spent Christmas in Jordan where Mark is teaching at King’s Academy.

IN MEMORIAM Donald Brown, interim president of Unity College from 1996-1997, passed away July 10, 2010.

Gene White ’74 died September 19, 2011. He received his associates of science forestry degree with the first graduating class in 1970, and returned to earn his bachelor of science in environmental science. He was a Vietnam veteran. He worked in the woods all his life. He is survived by his wife, Donna, three daughters, and five grandchildren.

E. Donaldson Koons, interim president of Unity College from February - August 2000, passed away on April 9, 2012. He was one of Unity’s longest serving board members during his remarkable 25 year tenure spanning the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s. In September 1998, Unity College named Koons Hall after him in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the sciences and to the College.

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| UNITY SUMMER 2012

WHY UNITY WHY NOW

Unity College provides a relevant education for our changing world.

THE UNITY FUND PROVIDES up-to-date classrooms, labs, and equipment to better prepare students for their future careers.

THE UNITY FUND ENSURES that our world will have dedicated environmental leaders prepared to meet the career demands of the 21st century.

THE UNITY FUND GIVES students the opportunity to be educated at Unity College by providing scholarships.

Become a Change Agent DONATE ONLINE at www.unity.edu

DONATE BY CALLING an Office of College Development member at 207.948.9100 ext. 123

AMERICA’S ENVIRONMENTAL COLLEGE

DONATE BY MAIL using the enclosed return envelope

www.unity.edu

90 Quaker Hill Road Unity, Maine 04988