Unity College Spring 2013 Issue

SPRING 2013

GIS / Multi-Media Transform College Sustainability Science Pivots Curriculum to “What’s Next” Scholarship Without Borders or Boundaries From Wall Street to Unity and Back Again

From the President Students at Unity College benefit from our long history – and mastery – of experiential education.

Now, as we ground ourselves deeply in the challenges of the 21st century, we embrace sustainability science, a new framework bringing people together in transdisciplinary, problem-solving groups.

In traditional environmental science programs, students have been required to take courses in each discipline sequentially. As a result, the sciences have often been poorly articulated with one another.

Sustainability Science appeals to those who want more than the surface connections provided by the interdisciplinary model. It appeals to those who seek a deep integration of knowledge and who look for a new way forward.

At the heart of this transdisciplinary framework is our liberal arts emphasis on the humanities: philosophy, history, literature, and social sciences. Sustainability can be dry stuff unless its theory and practice are infused with what the arts and the humanities can give it – the power to question, to hope, to ascribe meaning, to create. These qualities inspire us to make sustainable practices a part of our lives. Because the arts and humanities form a vital center of sustainability science, we need the expertise of Unity’s entire faculty.

Careers in the forward-looking green economy are typically technical and science-based, and jobs in the 21st century will increasingly focus on manag- Sustainability can be dry stuff ing the flow of energy and materials through human systems in ways that are unless its theory and practice are compatible with how energy and materials flow through natural systems. In infused with what the arts and the this respect, sustainability science is a new paradigm for planning, providing humanities can give it – the power managers and planners with a means of integrating sustainability goals into plans and everyday practice. Central to this is the need to expand the process to question, to hope, to ascribe beyond the natural sciences to include the social sciences and the views of meaning, to create. stakeholders and practitioners. The ability to connect these human elements with the science relevant to the flow of energy and materials is the crucial ingredient necessary for the success of sustainable management.

The future needs college graduates with mature, rational decision-making skills in addition to their STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills. The sustainability science framework offers students the network of culture, information, logic, and ideas they will need to make informed decisions. It offers them the experience in weighing relative values, ordering priorities, and reasoning toward meaning they will need to make humane decisions.

Since its inception, Unity College has been a leader in experiential education. We continue to innovate as one of the first institutions to embrace sustainability science as a curricular framework. It’s changing how we approach incoming students by asking them to see themselves as knowledge-brokers at the outset of their intellectual careers. It’s changing how we approach upper division and capstone courses by moving us away from didactic, lecture-based systems to immersive systems embracing a problem-oriented pedagogy. We are honoring our hands-on history by identifying with sustainability science.

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Stephen Mulkey President, Unity College

america’s environmental college

SPRING 2013

Features Window on the World New GIS / Media Lab is Transformational 12

Big Man on Campus Structural Changes Propel College

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The “Green” Planet Solving 21st Century Challenges

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Perspectives Welcome to Prime Time Awards Validate Vision and Choices

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Thinking Like an Artist Seeking Eternal Truths in Nature

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Boots on the Ground Working to Ensure a Sustainable Future

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Unexpected Twists Delight A Purposeful Life as Nod to Beauty

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Seeds of Hope Reaping the Bounty of Nature

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In Our Element 24

Best and Latest Another Victory for Campus Sustainability

A Family Affair All Roads Lead Home

25 Knowing Where to Look Research Provides Valuable Clues

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Class Notes

The Magic Number A Universe of Reason at Hand

36 At the Crossroads of Thinking Alumni Profiles

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On the Cover

Alumni

“Green” Technology quickens pace of environmental problem solving. Getty Images.

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From the Editor

Unity Magazine Volume 26, No. 2 Managing Editor Mark Tardif

Project Manager Kate Gilbert

Student Editors

Heather Johnson ’16

Responding to Challenge Takes Willingness to Change In a complex world where it is so difficult to gain an accurate read on the scope of environmental challenges present in diverse ecosystems spanning the globe, the need for change is the part of problem-solving that is constant.

So it is that Unity College is changing to remain relevant in a world facing the challenge of global climate change.

Change is nothing new at Unity, a college founded by area townspeople in 1965 to address the need for regional economic development after the Maine Turnpike bypassed the town of Unity entirely. The town changed its focus from interstate traffic to the development of a small liberal arts college. That original vision morphed into what Unity eventually became, America’s Environmental College.

The strong position Unity now occupies in the higher education marketplace is thanks in part to its small size and ability to make dynamic, fluid decisions that capitalize on market factors. The business decisions that the College has made recently­— proactively organizing to stay ahead of business cycles instead of merely reacting to factors as they happen­—is interestingly similar to its approach to environmental education.

Unity has rallied to the banner of sustainability science. The importance of this emerging field prompted the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) to launch a new section of its journal dedicated to sustainability science, which it describes on the journal web page as “an emerging field of research dealing with the interactions between natural and social systems, and with how those interactions affect the challenge of sustainability: meeting the needs of present and future generations while substantially reducing poverty and conserving the planet’s life support systems.” Web page www.pnas.org/site/misc/sustainability.shtml Transformation has come to Unity, defined as a willingness to organize around sustainability science and pursue transdisciplinary education, or training students across disciplines. This is most appropriate since 21st century environmental problems require collaborative, transdisciplinary problem solving.

The pursuit of transdisciplinary education has reinvigorated the curriculum, some say, because students and graduates are making precisely the types of connections they must as they face real world environmental problems.

This issue of Unity Magazine samples the variety of ways that the College has embraced change to ensure its vibrancy in the 21st century global higher education marketplace, and closer to home on campus through academic collaborations. Several feature articles offer details about how departments are collaborating to help students develop multi-dimensional understanding of environmental problem solving.

The balance of the magazine shares the experiences of Unity students as they are on their journey to achieving a life in service to the natural world; checks in with alumni who add distinction to a Unity diploma each day; and explores other aspects of the College community that define its past, present and future. Enjoy.

Mark Tardif Managing Editor

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Designer

Skaar Design/Anneli Skaar

Class Notes Editors

Kate Gilbert, Debora Noone, Dot Quimby

Editorial Proofreaders

Reeta Benedict, Robert Fitzpatrick, Kate Gilbert, Debora Noone, Mirja Pitkin, Cynthia Schaub

Contributing Writers

Reeta Benedict, Joy Braunstein, Annie Gilmore, Michele Leavitt, Dr. Stephen Mulkey, Debora Noone, Jesse Pyles, Dot Quimby, Mark Tardif, Sara Trunzo ’08

Contributing Photographers

Amy Arnett, Kimberly Bach ’13, Reeta Benedict, Jamie Bloomquist, Brynna Bolger, Joy Braunstein ’96, Holli Cederholm ’07, Danni Dressel, Jessica Duguay, Emily Dunn, Matt Dyer ’13, Barb Gallupe-Kreitzer, Getty Images, Jonah Gula ’15, Hope Kanarvogel ’13, Shane Lawrence, Julie LeWinter, Carol Beth Lictenbaum, Jacob McCarthy, Annica McGuirk ’12, Greg Mullin, Melissa Mullen Photography, Carolyn Nietupski,Paris Leaf, Jill Porchetta, Jesse Pyles, Tom Savoy, Chris Schoppmeyer ’77, Cathy Smith, Mark Tardif, Sara Trunzo ’08, Photo Courtesy Holli Cedarholm

Board of Trustees

Mr. William Zoellick, Chair; Ms. Margot Kelley, Vice-chair; Mr. Bruce Nickerson, Treasurer; Mr. C. Jeffery Wahlstrom, Secretary; Dr. Stephen Mulkey, President; Mr. Pete Didisheim; Mrs. Martha Dolben; Ms. Hallie Flint Gilman; Mr. William Hafford` 08; Mr. Andrew Hamilton; Ms. Sarah Jeffords; Mr. Robert Kelley; Mr. Jeffrey McCabe `00; Ms. Melissa Merritt `13, Student Board Member; Ms. Nadine Mort; Mr. John Newlin; Mr. Benjamin Potter, Faculty Board Member; Ms. Linda Povey; Mr. William Roesing; Mrs. Arlene Schaefer; Ms. Gloria Sosa `80; Ms. Sarah Ruef-Lindquist; Mr. Travis Wagner `83.

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

Sustainability by the Numbers

2.9 TerraHaus Lives Up to Billing, Earns Awards and National Attention

By Jesse Pyles, Sustainability Coordinator When it was completed in August of 2011, Unity College’s TerraHaus opened as the first college or university residence hall built to the Passive House standard, one of the strictest building energy performance standards in the world. After a year housing Unity College students, TerraHaus has not only lived up to its energy efficient billing, but in April received the official designation of Certified Passive House by The Passive House Institute US of Urbana, Illinois.

More recently TerraHaus has gained broader recognition from the architectural community, winning numerous awards. Eco-Structure Magazine has named it their residential Evergreen Award winner and Builder Magazine gave it their Builders Choice award this year. TerraHaus also won the EcoHome 2012 Design Award program’s Grand Award, and the highly competitive New England Design Award from the American Institute of Architects. These juried prizes are a testament to the balance that TerraHaus achieves between architectural design and sustainability performance.

TerraHaus was designed and built by GO Logic Homes of Belfast, Maine, with landscape design services by Ann Kearsley Design of Portland, Maine, and significant input from students, faculty, and staff. The integrated design approach to TerraHaus ensured that Unity’s sustainability values and educational goals were primary considerations in the development and construction of the house.

The 2,100 square-foot residence is modeled to use the equivalent of 50-75 gallons of oil per year for space heating, less than 10 percent of the heating load for a home this size in this climate. It achieves this remarkable level of performance through efficiency from superior air sealing, super-insulation, and solar orientation. The TerraHaus relies primarily on these “passive” space heating methods with only minimal backup heating from active mechanical systems as needed – in this case, a cold-climate heat pump, a heat recovery ventilation system, and small electric baseboard units.

Unity College and GO Logic developed TerraHaus as a model for higher education, the building community, and the region. The GO Logic team has presented widely on the TerraHaus, as have Unity faculty, staff, and students. Professor Doug Fox’s passive house course introduced students to building energy concepts and engaged them in homeweatherization outreach in the local community. Since its completion, the College has hosted dozens of tours and special events at TerraHaus encouraging visitors to rethink green building in Maine.

The Passive House standard is a viable, achievable benchmark for building performance in cold climates. Our recent Evergreen and EcoHome Design awards recognize that stellar building performance can be attained in tandem with superior design.

Metric tons of carbon emissions per student last year: about onethird of the average for self-reporting four-year schools.

130,000

Number of dollars used to start the Unity College Sustainability Fund.

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Number of student workers collecting recycling, tracking emissions, tending gardens, and more as Sustainability office assistants.

5,710

Pounds of move-out waste donated or recycled last spring and kept out of the landfill.

58

Number of chickens raised on campus for hunger relief in 2012.

43,200

Number of kilowatt hours annually expected from Unity’s library solar electricity array.

1,008

Square feet inside the new teaching and production greenhouse.

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Number of hair dryers that would fully heat the TerraHaus on the coldest night of the year.

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Perspectives ENVIRONMENTAL

Finding the Unity of Science and Art

By Michele Leavitt Last summer, at the invitation of Trustee Sally Jeffords, President Stephen Mulkey and I attended a showing of Kaiulani Lee’s one-woman play, Sense of Wonder. The play is based on the life of Rachel Carson, perhaps America’s best example of the transformations human beings can accomplish when we unite science and the humanities. Believing that science and literature had the same aim – to illuminate the truth – Carson employed poetry and philosophy, logic and rhetoric to bring environmental science to the public consciousness.

Although we were both familiar with Carson’s work, especially with Silent Spring, the performance – written by Lee entirely in Carson’s own words – made us feel as if we got a chance to know Rachel Carson and her motivations personally.

We learned that she viewed politics as the nexus between art and science; she believed appreciation of beauty in the environment nourishes spiritual growth; and she trusted that engagement with the natural world could decrease our taste for its destruction.

Unity students, staff, faculty, and friends carry on this tradition today. Students are transformed when they meet the wilderness on their Nova trips. Staff members work in countless ways to sustain the beauty and community of our campus. Faculty members work to create meaningful discussion around environmental issues and to connect science with daily life. Organizations like Veggies for All apply the science of sustainable agriculture to cultivate our gardens. The gardens 4

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provide more than our food; we appreciate them as visual reminders of culture, of the passing seasons, and of the people who came before us.

In August, President Stephen Mulkey and I attended an event celebrating the fifth issue of Hawk & Handsaw: The Journal of Creative Sustainability. In its pages, the marriage of science and art – of creativity and sustainability – comes to life in words and images. As artist Avy Claire says in her definition of creative sustainability, “to be in a place of creativity is to be in a place of connectedness.” One task of science is to identify connections through cause and effect, both retrospectively and prospectively. Rachel Carson proved that the pesticide DDT was causing the death (and near extinction) of many animal species, such as the bald eagle. Avian studies since have proved that when we prohibit use of DDT many of those species will repopulate and thrive. Science shows us the connections.

The gardens provide more than our food; we appreciate them as visual reminders of culture, of the passing seasons, and of the people who came before us.

ENVIRONMENTAL Perspectives

We are the inheritors of all the great artists and scientists who have shown us that the universe is an interconnected whole that includes human beings.

Art often shows us surprising connections.

Sometimes it shows us things we already know, but may have forgotten. In her Hawk & Handsaw essay, “Bones and the Beast on a Leash,” Hannah Kreitzer ’12 discovers “a cyclical calm” she notices in herself and in the wider world, “in the people, the landscape, the movement of seasons and plant life and learning.” This seeing, she says, “erodes the isolation.”

Like any great artist or scientist, Carson held up local wonders and concrete realities as examples of the world as a whole. She pulled together scattered facts, saw their relationships, and bound them together with language in a larger unity. The year 2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Silent Spring, a book that truly changed our world by making connections clear. It inspired – perhaps required – the enactment of all of our major environmental legislation.

Noticing connections is the work of Unity College and its graduates today: we are the inheritors of all the great artists and scientists who have shown us that the universe is an interconnected whole that includes human beings. We are the inheritors of a local history that shows us we are a part of nature, and a global history that tells us how far we have come as a species. As we increase our store of wisdom, we recognize new opportunities to act as stewards of the planet for future generations and we create new ways of expressing and fulfilling those opportunities. We appreciate landscapes, seascapes, the atmosphere, and all the life that fills it – and what we appreciate, we work to sustain.

Come outside with us at Unity.

Bri Rudinsky ’12 Takes on Wildlife Management at the Federal Level

By Annie Gilmore, Outreach and Events Specialist, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wells, ME Bri Rudinsky has been building her resume since before she knew what a resume was. This Pennsylvania native developed a passion for wildlife conservation at a young age. “I wrote that I wanted to be a marine biologist in my fifth grade yearbook,” and though she has parted from the aquatic concentration, Bri has been actively pursuing that youthful dream. In middle school, Bri co-created the Schuylkill County Student Conservation. Through this Bri tagged elk calves, banded saw-whet owls, and organized cleanups of abandoned mining lands until she came to Unity College and majored in wildlife science. Bri’s most recent and enriching experience yet is her current internship with the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Wells, Maine, where, more than ever, Bri is immersed in the life of a wildlife biologist.

As an intern, Bri takes part in the everyday operations of a wildlife refuge. Bri monitors the state-endangered piping plovers, removes invasive plants, and completes countless other tasks pertaining to wildlife conservation.

In addition to refuge-wide projects, Bri has embarked on many of her own. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s seminal work, Silent Spring, Bri wrote a commemorative article for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife News magazine. She learned, “unlike Rachel Carson, not everything is published [so easily] (laughs).” Bri’s greatest challenge was to break out of her customary scientific writing style and to learn how to write for a news editor. “It feels good to have something published,” she says.

As Bri can testify, an internship with RCNWR provides unique opportunities and lasting memories.

“My favorite was going to the salt marsh to do sparrow work,” she noted. “It was really hands-on and you actually get to handle wildlife.

Monitoring shorebirds and this tie for my favorite. Terns are so cute... and I learned how to take good observational data.”

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Perspectives STUDENT

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Lillian Glynos ’15 Pursues Dream of Working with Orcas

Katrina Wert ’14 Plans Career Teaching Art

Courtney Tway ’13 Conveys the Joy of Learning

For as long as she can remember, Lillian Glynos has wanted to work with whales in general, Orcas in particular.

While on a trip to Sea World at the age of five, she was spotted by a trainer chastising other children for banging the glass of the dolphin observation tank. The trainer put Glynos and her mother in the stadium show with a false killer whale and bottlenose dolphin.

Now in her second year as a marine biology major, Glynos is well on her way to reaching her dream.

A native of Waterford, Connecticut, she spent the summer of 2012 on a research internship with the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. The research project she participated in primarily focused on studying the Atlantic sturgeon and short nose sturgeon population on the Connecticut River near Old Lyme. For an endangered species the sturgeon are little known, even by local fishermen.

“There are fishermen who catch sturgeon and don’t know what they are,” Glynos said.

Over the summer she also gained experience periodically assisting with other studies, including one that examined juvenile and pre-juvenile American chad, blueback herring, and alewives.

The result was a fulfilling experience that sharpened many of the skills that she had developed during her first year.

By the time that Katrina Wert began her studies at Unity College, she had seen more of the world than many people nearing retirement. The daughter of a career United States Marine, she travelled widely.

Her exposure to different people and places fueled her interest in the arts.

“I have always liked art,” Wert said.

“I’m a jack of all trades when it comes to art.” She does pottery, drawing, painting, and photography.

Though she enjoyed her studies as a marine biology major with a studio arts minor, when Unity announced its new major in arts and the environment, the path forward became crystal clear. She transferred into that program and regularly pursues a variety of arts projects as part of her new major.

One project she worked on early in the fall semester involved making a series of clocks in ceramics class in the image of a different relative. Next, for her environmental photo journalism class, she regularly photographed Pondicherry, a wildlife refuge in Jefferson, New Hampshire. The capstone of that experience came in October when she photographed a special bird themed weekend. Her digital photography is now being used in a variety of ways by the refuge in its educational and promotional efforts.

Courtney Tway ’13, conveyed the joy of learning to her students while immersing herself in an extended field experience at China Middle School in China, Maine, a school working to establish customized learning experiences for all students. During the spring semester she will pursue the last phase of her journey to receive her life science teacher certification for grades 7-12.

A native of Chillicothe, Ohio, Tway has grown to enjoy living in Maine and plans to stay after graduating from Unity College.

Tway’s broad experiences in marine biology and teaching and learning will help her kick start her career as a full-time educator.

“The teaching program here at Unity College is hands-on, innovative, and focused on the newest technologies and standards of teaching,” noted Tway. She praised the differentiated instruction approach to teaching and learning.

“We’re learning so much about differentiated instruction, which is a method to teach students in a manner they learn best,” Tway explained. “It’s a means of individualized instruction and utilizes a variety of instructional strategies. Direct instruction is just sit there and lecture, and I’m not ok with that.”

She is infused with a desire to teach.

“Can you imagine, some teacher had an impact on John F. Kennedy,” Tway said.

“The magic of teaching is in the possibilities of each student.”

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STUDENT Perspectives

Nicole Prescott ’13 Plans Career in as Federal Wildlife Officer Some people come to their life’s calling from the road less travelled.

Nicole Prescott ’13, a non-traditional student from Farmingdale, Maine, is one of these individuals. A conservation law enforcement major with an enviable array of training and professional work experience to her credit as she finishes her final semester, Prescott spent her first five years after high school working for Winthrop Ambulance Service in Winthrop, Maine.

The instructor of her scuba class in 2006 was a Maine State game warden.

“I actually ended up helping with his classes and did research on my own about being a game warden,” Prescott said.

As a Unity student, Prescott has distinguished herself as among the very best.

She participated in the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP), under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Beginning the program in the summer

of 2010, Prescott first worked in Kansas at the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, continued during the summer of 2011 at the Audubon Wetlands Management District in North Dakota, and most recently worked in Utah during the summer of 2012 at the Bear River

Migratory Bird Refuge.

“I haven’t officially heard yet but the plan is when I graduate that I will be converted from a student position in the SCEP to a full-time federal game warden,” Prescott said.

Sarah Bicknell ’13 Finds Her Passion in the Soil

By Sara Trunzo ’08 During an AmeriCorps apprenticeship at The Youth Garden Project in Moab, Utah, Sarah Bicknell ’13 discovered that “putting [her] hands into the soil was therapeutic.”

Bicknell, a Chelmsford, Massachusetts native, is deliberately intertwining her interests in growing food and connecting to community as she pursues a degree in sustainable agriculture. As part of her studies, Bicknell completed an internship with the Farm Viability branch of Maine Farmland Trust. In this position, she worked closely with farmers to coordinate a multi-farm CSA (community supported agriculture) that helps make locally

grown products accessible to low-income consumers.

“This area is the place to study food systems, we’re surrounded by foodies and farms,” said Bicknell, who now calls an off-the-grid homestead in Freedom her home. Outside of class, she is working to augment her food preservation skills, create a permaculture landscape, and get involved with town governance.

Bicknell says the experiential approach at Unity fits her personal learning style. “I look at the world and ask, ‘What needs to happen?’ Then I see how my passion can fit those needs.”

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Perspectives COMMUNITY

Living in Harmony with Sustainability

By Reeta Benedict, Associate Director of Annual Giving With its large spinning wheel, hand-made blankets, quilts, knitting basket and throw pillows, and its bucolic view of sprawling fields, Mike and Margie Shannon’s living room is proof that sustainable living doesn’t have to be about deprivation and self-denial. Like so many members of the Unity College community, the former Unity College professor and his wife are passionately committed to living in accordance with their beliefs.

In 1990, after 30 years of living and working on nature centers and wildlife sanctuaries in Connecticut, Ohio, and Massachusetts, Mike and Margie came to Maine. From 1994 to 2003, Mike was the ornithology professor under Professor Dave Potter. “My time at Unity College was a natural extension of what I valued then and still value now,” explained Mike.

Mike and Margie Shannon enjoy the pace of country life and have found sustainable living to be comfortable.

For them, retirement from work doesn’t mean retirement from their commitment to the environment, so they chose to move into the Belfast Cohousing and Ecovillage, a community dedicated to environmentally sustainable, affordable, multigenerational cohousing. “We wanted to spend this phase of our lives surrounded by a multi-generational community,” said Mike. “We like the idea of having children to seniors all living together in a close knit community. We all learn from each other.”

Community living also addresses the issues of pollution, consumption, and overall health issues.

“We are embracing a village living concept,” Mike explained.

“Our energy future needs to be based on this concept of living.”

Each Ecovillage house is built based on a prototype by GO Logic, the same firm that designed and built Unity’s version of community living – TerraHaus.

Like TerraHaus, these homes far exceed current energy efficiency standards and promote the same community living concept. “It pleases me immensely to see my former students working on this ecovillage with GO Logic,” Mike said.

In 2007, Mike and Margie began their adventures in the cohousing experience. “It was really slow going those first years. There was a lot of planning and deciding and financing that had to take place before a site could even be considered,” explained Margie. “Even after moving in, there are so many things to contemplate by the entire community that an average homeowner would not have to consider.”

Both Mike and Margie are members of the land use committee. Charged with how to manage the 42 acres of land within the development in a sustainable and collective way can be challenging, given the group dynamic. “Some days there will be community children playing in our front yard and I have to remind myself that yes, we do own our own land, but this is a community in which we share to a higher level than your ordinary community,” Mike said. “You have to train yourself to think differently.”

“We are embracing a village living concept,” Mike explained.

“Our energy future needs to be based on this concept of living.”

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COMMUNITY Perspectives Below: Kelly Martin ’00, farm crew team leader, at the Johnny’s Selected Seeds research farm in Albion, Maine, harvesting cherry tomatoes for their seeds.

Right: Holli Cederholm ’07, formerly served as Farmer-in-Residence at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association in Unity.

Nurturing the Planet, One Seed at a Time

By Debora Noone, Alumni and Parent Relations Coordinator “The ability to affect change is a matter of telling the right stories, of educating and of celebrating. Because of Unity, I can do that,” said Holli Cederholm ’07. She credits her environmental writing degree and Unity’s “core curriculum commitment to experiential learning” for guiding her toward a career that combined her educational passions, sustainable agriculture, and writing.

For Cederholm, a freshman year assignment to attend the Maine Organic Farming and Gardening Association’s (MOFGA) annual Common Ground Country Fair was transformative. She apprenticed on a certified organic farm before eventually founding Proud Peasant Farm through MOFGA’s journeyperson program.

“At Unity, I nourished a myriad of interests in literature, activism, ecology, agriculture and traditional knowledge with an interdisciplinary approach.” Cederholm has been telling the sustainable science story since, educating and celebrating the successes of the organic agricultural movement.

“With my writing focus, I had the opportunity to exercise my critical thinking skills and ability to communicate,” says Cederholm. She credits this extensive writing background for allowing her to easily transition into her position as general manager of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA), a national non-profit dedicated to protecting and promoting the organic seed trade and its growers. Cederholm, in charge of organizational development, technical assistance, and communications, maintains interactions with members,

drafts and edits blog and website content, and crafts and edits press releases.

Like Cederholm, Kelly Martin ’00, farm crew team leader at Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine, is using specific knowledge gained from Unity courses to succeed in her career.

She chose her courses carefully, knowing botany and plant physiology would teach her the principles to eventually work in the agricultural field.

“You can’t be a good farmer without understanding how it all works,” says Martin. “Environmental science classes taught me how plants function and interact with the surrounding environment. The oral communication class [I took] helps me in my daily interaction with my crew and other company staff.”

As Martin explains, customers must have trust in the company they’re doing business with. “At Johnny’s, where many of us graduated from Unity, having a knowledgeable staff ensures a productive season for seed crops and the trials and breeding projects to produce quality seeds.”

Both Cederholm and Martin were able to make their Unity education work for them as each built an agricultural career, before Unity instituted the sustainable agriculture major in 2008. As more emphasis is placed on local foods, organic and safe food production, and alleviating hunger through access to nutritious foods, Cederholm and Martin know Unity graduates are primed to step into new 21st century careers in this constantly evolving field.

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Perspectives TRUSTEE

New Trustees Bring Skill, Insights to College Community They are among the most important members of any college community, but often by choice are self-effacing and at times misunderstood.

Trustees are the life-blood of a college’s long-term financial health and key objective analysts with strong, broad skills to augment considerations when important decisions are being deliberated.

Early in the fall semester three new trustees offered their insights.

Andrew Hamilton, chair of the Environmental & Land Use and Municipal Law & Finance practice groups at Eaton Peabody, is impressed with the strategic direction of the College.

“The challenge for Unity College is to uniquely position itself,” Hamilton said.

This includes consideration of sustainability science as an additional focus for recruitment and reputation enhancement.

“Given the demographics of the marketplace in which Unity finds itself competing, I would say it will have to expand its geographic reach but at the same time not lose its sense of place, mission, and potential,” he said.

Adaptive management is a decision making process in the face of uncertainty that allows us to adapt and manage evolving trends via system monitoring, and it is an approach that President Mulkey and the board understands, Hamilton says. He believes that Mulkey’s belief that sustainability science holds a path forward for the College is correct, while adaptive management will help it adjust course when necessary. “You may have sound original vision that you think is right but you have the responsibility to tweak that to match data and social trends,” Hamilton said. “Unity will adjust as the marketplace demands.”

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resist being trendy. These attributes put the College in a position to chart an incredible course.”

“I would like to help Unity focus its mission and become more relevant as the source of sustainability leaders equipped to meet the significant challenges ahead,” said Linda Povey, vice president of strategic consulting for the Natural Marketing Institute.

A student leaves Quimby library on a clear, crisp day.

Though Unity will respond to the marketplace, it will remain true to its roots.

“Unity College is small, so it can be agile,” noted Hallie Gilman, associate general counsel at First Wind, a company that develops and operates utility-scale wind energy projects. “Unity has a clear mission, so as a community it is focused and comfortable in its own skin. It can

She and her fellow trustees will support the president at every turn.

“The board’s role is to support Dr. Mulkey so that he can be the most effective president possible,” Povey stated. “This is delivered through ideas, coaching, effective committee support and encouragement of his mandate.”

DEVELOPMENT Perspectives

Unity’s Future Proves a Wise Investment

By Reeta Benedict, Associate Director of Annual Giving While Unity has come a long way since it was founded in the fall of 1965, some things remain the same. The Student Center is still a central gathering place. Eastview and Westview still house many first year students.

Sandy Stream still beckons to kayakers and canoeists. The Unity Fund still supports the College’s greatest asset … its students.

A long-time employee and supporter of the College, Professor of Mathematics Barry Woods is very aware of the debt students incur. That is why he founded the Math Scholarship through the Unity Fund.

“I saw a need, and I wanted to fulfill it,” explained Woods. “Unity students are the reason this college is successful. I believe in our students and the work they do. I want to help them succeed.”

Retired Unity College Librarian Dorothy “Dot” Quimby supports Unity students through the Unity Fund. She knows that giving to Unity College ultimately benefits those who matter most: students.

“I still enjoy keeping up with what the students do on campus,” Quimby said. “It feels good to know that my gifts to the College contribute to what the students accomplish.”

Supporting Unity College students through the Unity Fund gives donors like Woods and Quimby the opportunity to support students with financial need. Donor support ranges from one dollar to ten million dollars, but the common denominator is that every dollar enhances the education that Unity students receive.

Dot Quimby, Professor Emeritae

Barry Woods, Professor

Elmina B. Sewall Foundation Grant Awarded to Sustainability Office

By Reeta Benedict, Associate Director of Annual Giving The Elmina B. Sewall Foundation granted the Unity College Sustainability Office $50,000 to continue its support of the Veggies for All project on campus.

“With the Sewell Foundation’s support, the project will create lasting capacity to address food security issues in our community and offer hands-on agricultural and organizational experience for our students,” explained Sara Trunzo ’08, Veggies for All co-manager and Unity College staff member. Veggies for All, a project of the Unity Barn Raisers, is a food-bank farm serving

approximately 1,500 citizens through the Volunteer Regional Food Pantry.

Trunzo explained that the Foundation will enhance Veggies for All’s collaboration with the College’s dining services to offer more fresh and local food to students.

“We’ll also be adding some much needed infrastructural capacity in the form of a ‘pack shed’ or special handling area for produce,” commented Trunzo.

Veggies for All is designed to directly impact food security for people in western Waldo County by bringing together Unity Col-

lege, Unity Barn Raisers, and the Volunteer Regional Food Pantry. This project continues the demonstrated collaborative efforts and leadership of the three organizations while also creating opportunities to connect diverse populations ranging from rural elderly to college students with an urban upbringing.

The gift enhances the College’s growing emphasis on collaborative leadership and community-wide coordination for increased food security.

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Multi-Media Classroom and Training Lab Open New Vistas

By Mark Tardif, Associate Director of College Communications On a humid afternoon in mid-August a sea breeze rhythmically lifted the curtains of an open window at the Belfast home of John Zavodny, professor of humanities and director of the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities.

The end of the summer and beginning of another academic year were in sight. He was at his computer, preparing teaching materials for The Unity Experience, a required course for all first-year students designed to give them the keys to success at the college level.

The materials Zavodny prepared involved a package of detailed computer lessons on the topic of preparing an e-portfolio, a task that every first year student in The Unity Experience will complete during the fall semester.

While Zavodny went about his work, so too were his colleagues pursuing similar course preparations that incorporated strong, hands-on use of technology.

For years Unity College faculty have been increasingly integrating technology into the curriculum, now they have the leading-edge resources to fully support both their current efforts and future aspirations.

Continuing several years of significant Information Technology (IT) infrastructure improvements, the Dorothy Webb Quimby Library is now home to a new Geographic Information Systems (GIS)/Multi-Media lab and classroom.

The lab and classroom were completed over the summer break and are located on the first floor.

Quality in Conception and Design

dedicated for classroom time and then be open for student access when classes aren’t going on,” said Zavodny. The training lab is a place that is always open for students to do their homework, or get online and do media projects even when the adjacent classroom is in use.

The training lab is also intended to be used for informal training by library personnel, faculty or staff professional development training, or for other uses.

When referring to the new array of technology available, Zavodny stresses that terminology is important. Make no mistake, Unity now has a multi-media lab and classroom.

“A media lab implies a limited use, limited application, like movies, video, photography, and sound,” Zavodny explained.

“The multi-media classroom is a hard working technology hub for us that serves both our intensive GIS modeling needs for students, but also addresses their media production needs.”

“In the multi-media classroom we’re going to teach all the computer classes that we’ve always done, anything in the curriculum that requires a computer classroom,” Zavodny said. “This will be the computer classroom for campus.”

The multi-media classroom replaces a GIS lab, previously located in Koons Hall. The former GIS lab space will be used as a traditional classroom during the fall semester.

The future of technology at Unity College is now.

Few campus improvement projects in memory have been as extensive as this one. The impact of the multi-media classroom and training lab is expected to be immediate and far-reaching, touching virtually every part of the curriculum, giving Unity the tools to pursue a forward-leaning approach that reflects its comprehensive focus on sustainability science. These resources are expected to give Unity students important tools for success in internships, the job marketplace, and graduate studies.

In preparation for the GIS/multi-media classroom and training lab the Maintenance Department relocated the first floor stacks to the basement of Quimby Library. A small conference room adjacent to those stacks was expanded to serve as the training lab.

The multi-media classroom has 21 new high-end Windows workstations (see sidebar story for brand details) and four Apple iMac desktops. An additional nine Windows workstations and two Apple iMacs are available in the training lab.

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Serving Diverse Needs Effectively How will the new multi-media classroom and training lab enhance the curriculum?

From a GIS standpoint, the new PCs in the multi-media classroom will allow students to quickly and efficiently interpret data that is collected about deer populations and invasive insects like the Hemlock woolly adelgid or any number of other scientific modeling pursuits.

Both the multi-media classroom and training lab will be more than up to the task of serving the diverse needs of a college focused on interpreting sustainability science data for a variety of courses, Zavodny says.

He adds that the media production component is a dimension of both rooms that cannot be overlooked.

“It’s one thing to understand and be able to articulate the different connections between disciplines involved in sustainability science, it’s another thing to have a way to present that vision or understanding to a large audience,” Zavodny said. “One of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal now in the 21st century is media. Whether it’s a short video that demonstrates a scientific principle, a lecture, an explanation of a scientific element, or photographs of local farms that help people humanize the impacts of climate change or the issues surrounding local agriculture, all are enhanced through the use of multi-media.”

On the one hand GIS is interpreting and communicating data, while on the other media is presenting ideas in powerful, effective ways that reach people and make them want to hit the replay / rewind button.

The upgrades did not happen haphazardly or as an administrative whim. A new multi-media classroom has been part of the strategic plan, in particular a part of the Institutional Technology Advisory Committee Strategic plan, for the past several years.

Changing Assumptions, New Realities Through the Academic Master Planning process the curriculum was redeveloped and included updated computer and technology offerings. These updates allow for a sharper institutional focus on upper-end computing such as GIS and less on remedial computer classes.

“We’re changing requirements for students to assume a basic knowledge of technology,” Zavodny explained. He says students are arriving with a greater level of computer proficiency than ever before, so it makes good sense to locate them into more sophisticated technology classes earlier in their college careers.

“That more sophisticated technology instruction creates a need for more sophisticated technology space,” Zavodny stated.

“The new multi-media classroom and training lab is in large measure a response to both strategic and curricular planning.”

Every aspect of the multi-media classroom and training lab serve a purpose that relates to the current curriculum.

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will be well used by students who are taking new courses in digital media production, new media, and documentary film production.

“Students are going to be exposed to a production level that previously we could only tinker around the edges at,” said Zavodny. “So in the documentary film class, every student will have the experience of planning, shooting, editing, and producing a short documentary film.”

Zavodny’s example highlights how curricular planning – and planning for videography and documentary film in particular – has gone back years as faculty identified areas for improvement.

“Years ago we recognized that video is becoming an increasingly important tool for environmental scientists, educators, and advocates,” Zavodny said. “Without the capacity to produce high quality video products our graduates were going into the workplace at a deficit.”

He added that videography was identified as a priority issue due to its importance to the environmental science program, environmental humanities, and general education. Essentially most every part of the curriculum is touched by video in some way.

The bottom line is serving Unity’s environmental mission in ways that make sense for the environmental challenges of the 21st century.

“It’s irresponsible for an environmental college focused on environmental science not to place an emphasis on media because ultimately all the good science in the world is meaningless if it cannot be communicated,” Zavodny said.

“What we’re trying to do is develop the communication capacity of our graduating seniors so that they can go out into the world and immediately be effective communicators of the sustainability science that they have learned at Unity College.”

Equipping Unity for Technological Flexibility The technology tools in Unity’s multi-media classroom and training laboratory are state of the art. They are among the best and most advanced commercially available. The technology available to students in both the multi-media classroom and training laboratory includes:

• 30 HP Z1 workstations, all-in-one units with 27” screens and 3.3 GHz Intel XEON server-grade CPUs with 8 GB RAM and 2 TB of storage.

• 6 Apple iMac desktops with 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPUs, 8 GB RAM and 2TB storage.

• Each machine is loaded with a collection of software packages including Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection and ESRI ArcGIS software.

• The suite of technology is augmented by various photo scanners, high definition still and video cameras, microphones, lenses, and other multi-media peripherals.

• 2 Epson BrightLink 485wi interactive projectors, one per room, which turn ordinary whiteboards into “smart” boards that can host both traditional dry-erase markers as well as electronic pens for virtual drawing and image markup.

• Finally, an HP Z6200 large-format high-quality photo printer rounds out the solution, replacing an aging network plotter. This heavy-duty machine offers the campus community fast, photo-quality printing on paper and fabric rolls from 11 inches to 42 inches wide and up to 150 feet in length. It is capable of printing on coated and bond papers for everyday working comps and design proofs, satin and gloss photo papers for photo printing, museum-quality artist canvas fabrics, as well as clear, backlit and self-adhesive films, vinyl and Dupont Tyvek materials for indoor and outdoor displays, posters and banners and signage.

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From Wall Street to Unity and Back Again, the Life in Motion of Joseph Galli

By Mark Tardif, Associate Director of College Communications Few know better what unexpected twists and turns life brings than Joe Galli, outgoing interim vice president for College Development.

Galli’s path brought him from high-level positions on Wall Street to Unity College where he served as a transformative change agent and now, though strictly speaking not back to Wall Street, back to the world of high finance.

As the end of his time as a Unity employee was in sight, Galli mused about how Unity had changed him.

“I am enchanted, awed, and impressed by the commitment of those within the College community to its mission,” Galli said.

“My affinity for this community and its potential continues to grow, even as I leave for the West Coast. Unity is about being part of something greater than one’s self and committed to a mission that is forward thinking and comprehensive.”

After gaining extensive experience on Wall Street as a senior-level marketing executive for several global investment concerns, Galli was looking for a change that would satisfy his longstanding interest in environmental issues.

Galli held several different jobs at Unity, developing an affinity and permanent relationship with the College and its extended community.

He first worked in the Career Services Office and considered the experience an outstanding one. For a time he left to do consulting work in language simplification and branding in the Boston area. He also did consulting work with his own firm, Morton Hill Consulting.

One of his Morton Hill projects was with the AIDS Coalition on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the other was for the financial services firm that he joined in October, Altegris of La Jolla, California. Galli now serves as director of Marketing at Altergris.

Within a year of arriving for his second stint as a Unity College employee, this time in the newly created position of annual fund director, Galli became the interim vice president of College Development. Galli became a transformative change agent, applying business practices from his highly successful Wall Street career to help Unity College to reframe its organizational structure, in parallel with the steps President Stephen Mulkey urged to help the College position itself for success in the 21st century higher education marketplace. The changes that Galli encouraged have also allowed three areas of the College that are critical to its future success to become more focused than ever before on their primary missions. Those departments are

Admissions, Development, and the newly created Department of Marketing. Each department will report to the position of vice president for external affairs, who was hired during the fall semester.

Few would argue that he left Unity far better positioned to flourish in a hyper-competitive, global higher education marketplace than the college he first joined back in 2008.

Work, Family and Drive Define Success Galli’s path to Unity College involved an element of serendipity. In late 2006 while on his annual holiday to an offthe-grid island in the mid-coast region, Galli became interested in the plight of a dilapidated farm in Lincolnville Center that needed what he termed “tender, loving care.”

The ante was upped when Galli learned that a developer wanted to carve up the 70 acres.

“I wasn’t going to let that happen,” Galli said. So it was that he purchased the farm, restoring approximately 45 acres along with two older barns. Both barns were renovated, returning one to its original use and the other into part of his home, as well as creating a large sized tree farm.

Throughout his life, Galli has been drawn to challenge. It was this orientation that flipped his life upside down when President Mulkey turned to Galli at a critical time of transition for the College.

“During a bike ride President Mulkey asked about my experience in the corporate sector,” Galli noted. Tapped to be interim vice president for College Advancement, Galli accepted the challenge of largely surrendering his personal life to collaboratively work with Mulkey, senior administration, and a consulting firm to assist in rethinking Unity’s revenue producing capacity for long-term success in the 21st century.

Members of the College community are intimately familiar with the hours that Galli spent working to leave Unity better than he found it, but few know of the personal pain that shadowed his work.

Galli took on the enormous task of collaboratively bringing change to Unity after suffering the loss of his mother, Regina Esther Minelli Galli. This loss came as he was just coming to terms with the loss of his father, Guerino Galli.

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“Unity has lived its life in a reactive environment, it has allowed its environment to dictate how it was going to perform,” Galli stated.

“This new vision of allowing development, enrollment management, and marketing to operate with laser sharp focus under the strategic leadership of a vice president for external affairs, positions the College to develop a brand that is recognized both nationally and internationally.” life,” Galli said. That was just six days after he had stepped into his new role as interim vice president.

Despite the heartache he persevered and did not consider quitting to be an option. The values instilled in him from an early age stressed that when given the opportunity to make a positive difference, one should always take it.

Success on Wall Street The road to Wall Street success was a winding one for Galli.

A native of Peckville, Pennsylvania, he chose to attend college while his two older brothers pursued vocational training. After earning an undergraduate degree in accounting from Wilkes University, Galli went to work for Knight Ridder, a prominent newspaper chain in the ‘80s, where he had the opportunity to learn how business works and the importance of all units working in concert.

Galli (center) leads a Development Department meeting.

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At the same time he took fine arts courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, eventually earning a master’s degree in publication design and print technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

He moved to New York City during the ’91 recession.

Largely unemployed for 15 months, Galli started his own oneperson graphic design and branding firm, taking the infrequent projects that came along while networking for a more lucrative opportunity.

Someone he met while networking encouraged Galli to pursue marketing opportunities on Wall Street. Such a job would synthesize Galli’s acumen in business with his training in graphic arts and extensive management experience.

He applied to a small asset management firm called Neuberger Berman, founded by the world renowned art collector Roy Neuberger. The next thing Galli knew he was working in the marketing department, learning financial marketing from Andrea Trachenberg, the chief marketing officer.

A Perceptive Colleague Who Will Be Missed

Galli at a meeting with the Student Government Association. At his left is Reeta Benedict, associate director of annual giving.

“I became intrigued with branding and worked with her side-by-side marketing a company that went from managing $5 billion to $80 billion in assets under management,” Galli said. “She was my guiding light and mentor.”

Galli learned his lessons well. When Neuberger Berman went public and was subsequently acquired by Lehman Brothers, he was asked to run the global corporate marketing department.

The experience was life changing, taking him the world over. Galli worked in Asia, Europe, and the United States, putting together a massive global organization that supported the cause of marketing and brand risk management for Lehman Brothers.

Unity’s “Sweet Spot,” Transcending Place What Galli brought to Unity was a business background that proved to be remarkably valuable to the College.

“Unity has lived its life in a reactive environment, it has allowed its environment to dictate how it was going to perform,” Galli stated.

“This new vision of allowing development, enrollment management, and marketing to operate with laser sharp focus under the strategic leadership of a vice president for external affairs, positions the College to develop a brand that is recognized both nationally and internationally.”

He feels this structure will also help the College to bring the level of support that academics needs to continually improve. The root of what Galli advocated is change management.

“A college the size of Unity should be able to flip on a dime,” Galli said. That nimbleness needed to capitalize on market factors favorable to Unity’s strategic goals is still a work in progress, but is improving.

Galli credits President Mulkey with providing the leadership necessary to position Unity for long-term success.

“We need to credit the President for the tremendous amount of time he spent working with faculty and staff to secure Unity’s vision of sustainability science,” Galli said. “That vision will help the College do what it needs to do and fundamentally transcend its place in rural Maine.

Of course, its roots will always be here, but its mission and reach should know no boundaries.”

Few who worked closely with Joe Galli will forget him. Some of those who came to know him best describe him as a colleague with an uncommon range of abilities, including the ability to envision the possibilities created by virtually every set of facts.

“I think the most important values Joe brought to our College’s leadership team were a strong sense of integrity and dignity,” noted Gary Zane, dean for Student Affairs. “He cares about others and he could always be trusted.”

The first job that Galli held at Unity College was at the Career Resource Center. Nicole Collins ’00, career consultant/internship coordinator, considered Galli a mentor.

“Joe Galli is a dynamic professional who embodies an incredible combination of creative and strategic thinking,” noted Collins. “His highly refined and authentic people skills helped forge many lasting relationships with institutional partners.”

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs William Trumble worked closely with Galli on a host of complex projects. Their working relationship developed to the point where on occasion Galli felt free to display his ribald sense of humor.

Thanks to Galli’s vision, tact, and excellent personnel management skills the Development Office became an efficient, streamlined effort focused for the first time exclusively on fundraising, says Trumble. He likened the transformation to transforming raw materials into a sleek sailing sloop.

“Maybe for the first time the Development Office is able to sail ‘close to the wind’ and set out with a single destination, and that credit goes to Joe,” said Trumble. “I’ll also miss his good council and ability to challenge others’ thoughts without creating an ‘us versus them’ scenario.”

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Sustainability Science Rallies College Community

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It is the vanguard of cutting-edge environmental problem solving that is now a calling card of the Unity College curriculum. Sustainability science and its attendant transdisciplinary (collaborative learning / problem solving) approach to teaching connect each of Unity’s five academic centers: The Center for Biodiversity; The Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities; The Center for Experiential and Environmental Education; The Center for Natural Resource Management and Protection; and The Center for Sustainability and Global Change.

Sustainability professionals on campus point out that sustainability science is a framework for learning, and that framework influences not just the curriculum but also planning, governance and campus operations.

Like all new concepts that are implemented within complex organizations, there has been a learning curve within the College community as a whole concerning sustainability science and how it relates to Unity’s focus on sustainability. The College community includes students, alumni, faculty within each of the five centers, senior administrators and staff working within each department.

Informal discussions with members of the College community demonstrated that when engaged about the topics of sustainability science, the transdisciplinary approach to education and environmental problem solving, and sustainability, that these students, staff, alumni, and administrators possess a range of views, assumptions, perceptions, and on occasion misperceptions about Unity’s connection to these three issues.

After assembling their responses, four of Unity’s sustainability leaders were given the opportunity to review the material gathered and respond. The result is an unscientific inquiry into how the College is doing with respect to the integration of these concepts from the classroom to the Unity College booth at one’s local college fair.

The three experts responding most broadly were Professor Doug Fox, Food and Farm Projects Coordinator Sara Trunzo’08, and Sustainability Coordinator Jesse Pyles. Associate Professor Mick Womersley provided comments concerning the context that frames the challenges posed by unscientifically addressing these issues.

Sustainability Begins at Home Womersley urged greater rigor to gain a more accurate understanding of how sustainability has woven itself into the fabric of college life.

“My guess about what the results would say is that at this point in the development of the college’s sustainability science initiative, many non-specialist employees and students remain confused and questioning,” Womersley said. “Specialists like me and Doug (Fox) and most of our students would be much clearer.”

Womersley says that trying to identify the mental models and working with them, or working on changing them if they are scientifically inaccurate, is in fact a direct example of the sustainability science problem-solving approach. “In other words, at this stage you might easily choose to study in some depth, using more data like these quotes, why some employees are confused about, or unaware of, such a vital initiative and then use social science and problem solving directly to try and fix it, most likely through some outreach or professional development initiative that was informed by the data,” he stated.

For some staff members, commitment to sustainability involves their practices at home. One staff member points to her gardening and raising livestock as being emblematic of her personal commitment to sustainability. She would like to see more efforts made to educate faculty and staff on ways they can be sustainable at home and integrate the ethics of the College into their lifestyles.

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“I was raised on a farm where my family grew a good deal of what we consumed,” she said. “A lot of staff members are like me, they had a sustainable lifestyle before that word became trendy.

As for sustainability science at Unity College, that is part of the curriculum that I am just learning about. My understanding is that it involves problem-solving that incorporates many different disciplines. I want to know more including how sustainability science is attracting new students to study at Unity.”

Conveying Scientific Information is Difficult The term sustainability has been around for some time, Fox says. “We all have a general idea of what it means, figuring out how to live on this Earth in perpetuity without using up the resources needed for life and without poisoning ourselves with our wastes,” Fox said. “Sustainability science faces those challenges directly and systematically with frameworks for addressing the issues and with practical problem solving research.”

Fox offered his view that traditional science is under attack, sometimes unfairly, and oftentimes inarticulately, but despite the inaccuracies, critics have “a point.” That point is that traditional science is supposed to be value free and has as its goals either understanding (pure science) or predication and control (applied science). Publication of results in peer-reviewed journals is considered the ultimate validation of scientists’ work. “Even the

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most intellectually curious among us are beginning to question how much of today’s pure science is really satisfying humanity’s innate curiosity, ennobling the human project, or why, with two research papers published every minute, the world does not seem to be getting better,” Fox offered. “When humanity is clearly facing threats to its very existence shouldn’t we be more focused on finding solutions?”

“Sustainability science, as opposed to traditional science, makes no pretense of being value free: stemming biodiversity loss, mitigating or adapting to climate change, sustainable harvest of renewable resources and recycling of nonrenewable resources are clearly defined goals,” Fox said. “Sustainability science asks researchers to apply their vast knowledge, and their skills in literature review and quantitative analysis to solve real problems. During the pursuit of answers, new questions will be generated and addressed in a way that will look like traditional applied and pure research, but the questions addressed will be prioritized by the larger problem scientists seek to solve.”

Inevitably, Fox says, solutions to sustainability science questions around climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion will need to be transdisciplinary, that is, they will involve, very directly, natural and social sciences. “When Unity College students and faculty took on the problem of reducing energy use in the Town of Unity, we found that knowledge of deep energy retrofits was not enough,” Fox said.

“How do you encourage people to weatherize their homes beyond the level of economic payback?” Fox continued.

“When the economic downturn made the previous research on incentives obsolete, what do you do now? Even though our

sustainability scientists working on this problem were more comfortable discussing physics than sociology, we quickly realized that we needed the help of experts with social science methods background to conduct a survey that would get at how to frame our message: climate change reduction? Energy loss as waste? Future savings? Energy security? In the end graphical depictions of energy waste, coupled with promises of future energy savings turned out to be the message that got us in the door so we could then use our physical science knowledge to reduce energy use.”

Trunzo points to Unity’s established culture of both experiential and cross-disciplinary studies as assets at this juncture.

“You sometimes hear students ask ‘can you give me a real example?’ or ‘when can I try this for real?’” Trunzo said. “They see that theory, bookwork, and practice have their purpose, but also their limitations.”

“Sustainability science is about real problems and real solutions,” she continued. “It’s a big, meaningful frame around all the varied, evolving, messy work we categorize as sustainability. We can’t get more real than climate change, economic collapse, or inequity in our communities. There’s ‘real work’ (to be done) everywhere we look.”

Building a Coalition One Person at a Time Informal one-on-one discussions with students demonstrate their strong support for sustainability in general. Some firstyear students say they chose Unity in part due to its strong commitment to sustainability. One senior demonstrated a superior understanding of sustainability science, sustainability in general, and the transdiscplinary approach to environmental problem solving. This student effusively praised President Stephen Mulkey and had attended his speeches and public forums on campus.

Information sharing in a variety of ways seems to be the key to building a sophisticated coalition for sustainability that binds the diverse elements of the College community together.

The Sustainability Department has become a breathtakingly effective advocate for all things sustainability, using video, its blog and social media to near perfection. Pyles still urges his work study students to engage in one-on-one dialogue about sustainability.

Pyles says there is no doubt the College will be successful in building a strong coalition for sustainability, successfully engaging every part of its community.

“Unity is the perfect place for this kind of learning,” Pyles said. Besides, Unity’s track record speaks for itself. “We were environmental before it was cool, and we want to get out there and work through our education,” he noted. “Sustainability science demands this mix of detailed scientific research, realworld application, solutions focus, and knowledge work that Unity is tooled for.”

Stephenie Wade, assistant professor and director of writing (right, center) guides a student through a writing exercise.

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in our element campus news

Greenhouse Brings Learning, Food Security Work Under One Roof

By Sara Trunzo ’08, Food and Farm Coordinator When Veggies For All arrived on campus in 2009, it was a small project founded on a big idea: fight hunger with fresh, local food.

As the project grew in acreage, production, and volunteer powerthe need for more sophisticated infrastructure became clear.

Luckily, the needs of this expanding food-bank farm were similar to the needs of a growing experiential sustainable agriculture program.

Both partners needed staff support, agricultural equipment, and increased facilities. Support came through a generous gift from Jane’s Trust for many of the initial needs- including a multi-purpose greenhouse, which was completed this fall.

The 1,008 square foot, heated greenhouse offers students a “learning laboratory,” said Doug Fox, director of the Center for Sustainability and Global Change. “This not only increases opportunities in the classroom, but also strengthens our connection to community food efforts,” he said.

Faculty using the greenhouse, such as adjunct instructor Jean English, appreciate the heart-of-campus location and the access to soil it allows in the colder months. Learning to “start seeds and cuttings, transplant seedlings, and understanding season extension for vegetable crops” are some basic skills students are gaining to “reinforce classroom concepts,” said English.

Likewise, Veggies For All Field Manager Tim Libby, sees the

construction of a new greenhouse as a way to meet a vital need for the project. “Until now we’ve started all of our seedlings in greenhouses off site. As Veggies For All grows more and more food on Unity’s Campus, it will be a lot easier and more cost-effective to manage our seedlings in the College greenhouse,” said Libby.

This symbiotic relationship reaches beyond the shared use of equipment and infrastructure. “All the challenges we face as growers- and there are always new ones- are perfect opportunities for student learning,” said Libby.

Shayne Van Leer, a senior in the sustainable agriculture program, is excited to see any increase in agricultural infrastructure on campus. Van Leer grew grassfed beef and pastured poultry as an intern for a New Jersey farm this summer and said he misses the farming lifestyle now that classes are in session. “Getting out in the greenhouse helps,” he said. “Being able to get my hands dirty is the best way to learn about agriculture.”

After completion, the greenhouse was immediately put to use for coursework and end-of-season tasks at Veggies For All, such as curing winter squash. Early this spring, vegetable seedling production will be in full swing with the assistance of student workers, as the College and Veggies For All embark on another growing season together.

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campus news in our element

Research Enlivens Curriculum, Offers Real World Experience

By Mirja Pitkin, Office of Development Assistant As climate change destabilizes ecosystems the world over, some natural science disciplines must adapt.

“My training was completely different,” said Professor of Ecology Amy Arnett.

“We learned to manage a specific ecosystem. But as climate change puts ecosystems into flux—with species changing their ranges, invasive species and diseases coming in, for example—our challenge is how we get students ready to manage that change.” One way is by involving students in the multi-year, transdisciplinary Hemlock Ecosystem Management Study (HEMS).

Change is coming for Eastern hemlock trees. The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an invasive species from Japan, lethal to eastern hemlocks, has been found in southeastern Maine and is headed north.

With the help of dedicated Unity students, Professor Arnett and four other Unity professors are studying myriad aspects of mixed hemlock-hardwood forests. Their goal is to recommend forestry practices for managing the impending HWA invasion.

“This transdisciplinary project, focused on a whole ecosystem— plants, soils, microclimates, invertebrates, and processes such as decomposition — prepares students to

research how interconnected ecosystems support human life,” said Alysa Remsburg, associate professor of ecology. “Our students are thinking about how changes to the forest ecosystem affect timber growth, aesthetics, carbon sequestration, and water quality.” Studying a changing ecosystem is exactly the kind of research climate change necessitates.

Perhaps the most important lessons students are learning, both Arnett and Remsburg note, is that no one discipline has all the answers. With the complexity of the change they will be confronting and studying, transdisciplinary work in sustainability science is essential for their careers and for the future of this planet.

Student researchers from Unity College in the field near campus.

Mathematics Curriculum Transcends Expectations

By Mirja Pitkin, Office of Development Assistant Writing teachers have been telling students “Show, don’t tell” for years. Math teachers received the memo. In the past, they told their students math had many real-life applications. They then turned back to worksheets of differential equation models. No more.

At Unity College, the math department is not just telling students that math matters, it is convincing them it does through interdisciplinary approaches to math.

“Fisheries Science and Techniques is my favorite math/fieldwork course,” said Dave Potter, professor of fisheries and aquatic sciences. “(Professor) Barry

(Woods) and I collaborate for analysis of fish data collected by students from Unity Pond and local streams.” In this class and others, students learn vital math skills in an applied setting.

Professor Carrie Diaz Eaton, a specialist in mathematical biology education, addresses students’ fields of interest to engage them in her classes.

“I emphasize reading primary literature in their field and conducting dry labs, over detailed mathematical proofing in class,” Eaton said.

This, Eaton says, is vital.

“If they make connections to their interests and future professional lives,

then their interest in math will live on,” Eaton said. Her interdisciplinary approach to math is about giving students the tools to understand their field of interest at the highest level possible.

Interesting students in math now will help them find jobs in the future.

In particular, computer modeling and dynamical systems are the fundamentals for not just climate models, but also population management and cellular function models.

“The 21st century goal is to keep mathematics education relevant to the changing and advancing needs of science,” Eaton said.

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in our element campus news

Unity College and Center for Maine Contemporary Art Celebrate 5th Anniversary of Hawk & Handsaw After five years of consistently unique, highly creative issues that explore the boundaries of leading-edge creative sustainability, one Maine-based publication is enjoying growing public acclaim in addition to a vibrant association with a leading arts organization.

On Sunday, August 26, Unity College and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art celebrated the fifth anniversary of Hawk & Handsaw, a publication of Unity College with a focus on creative sustainability. The event was held at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport.

A slate of established and emerging artists spoke about their art. They were Meghan Brady, Avy Claire, Kenny Cole, Hannah Kreitzer ’12, Freddy Lafage, Dawn Potter, and Jeffrey Thomson.

“This event highlighted the quality work that has been published in Hawk & Handsaw, and celebrated the platform it has given to highly creative artists from Maine and beyond,” noted Joseph Galli, Unity College’s interim vice president for college development.

Galli also praised the growing association and developing partnerships on a number of creative projects between The Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities at

Unity College and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. “It is exciting to think of the developing opportunities to connect Unity College students with the Center for Maine

Contemporary Art,” noted Galli.

“This blossoming association will undoubtedly open new vistas for advancing creative sustainability and further enrich a vibrant arts community in Maine.”

Jeffrey Thomson, Mark Kelly, and Professor Kathryn Miles at the fifth anniversary of Hawk & Handsaw held at CMCA

Unity Grads in Demand

By Mirja Pitkin, Office of Development Assistant “Is there a Congeniality 101 at the College?” asks Rob Johnston, founder and chairman of Johnny’s Select Seeds, an employeeowned company that has a 40-acre organic research and production farm that supports their primary business of selling seeds. Johnston is also a member of Unity’s new Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Committee.

A former trustee, Johnston currently employs eight Unity alumni.

Johnston likes to hire Unity graduates. “They tend to be outdoorsy and many are experienced with plants,” he said.

John Luft ‘93, Liberty Branch manager of ReVision Energy, also mentions a love of the outdoors when he talks about the Unity alumni who work for him. ReVision Energy installs solar hot water and solar electricity systems, and Luft likens aspects of the installation

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work to mountaineering.

Six of the 13 employees in ReVision’s Liberty office have a Unity connection. Independence and an ability to think for themselves are what Luft values most about Unity alumni.

“They come from lots of different backgrounds and life experiences, which is great,” Luft said. “Having the ability to run rafting trips and hike the Appalachian Trail requires leadership skills. And these carry over into the workplace very well.”

Robert Richter, a biologist for NextEra Energy, Inc. in Waterville, also values Unity alumni. “I use Unity students as we have a good long term relationship with the College and the College has provided motivated students with basic biology skills,” Richter said.

GUEST AUTHOR in our element

Finding and Keeping a Family’s Sense of Wonder

by Joy Braunstein ’96, Former Executive Director of the Rachel Carson Homestead Association, Springdale, Pennsylvania Rachel Carson, in her timeless environmental classic Silent Spring, urges us to spend time with children, encouraging their sense of wonder, excitement, curiosity, and inclination to explore our natural world.

This can be a difficult and daunting task in an urban setting where our environments are significantly impacted by heavy human use and industrialization. Even in a place like my adopted home of Pittsburgh, which is widely celebrated for its rich culture, gorgeous landscapes, and architecture, it takes an extra level of commitment and focus.

From the time my three-year-old son, Jordan, was an infant, his father and I worked to expose him to flora and fauna—in our back yard, on walks through neighborhoods, in treks through parks, and on trips to various farms. He has chased butterflies, fed ducks, sipped the nectar of honeysuckle, encountered snakes, watched deer trek across our street in fresh deep snow, and spent a significant amount of time around horses. We stop and notice the birds singing and encourage the hugging of trees, but these are usually small and segregated parts of our weekly routine.

Recently, on a family road trip around New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, that changed. We spent over a week playing, exploring, and enjoying nature in some of the country’s most beautiful landscapes.

Without intending to awaken our family’s “sense of wonder,” we planned a bucolic vacation this past summer. The only urban setting of Burlington, Vermont, included a romp on the shores and in the waters of Lake Champlain. In Woodstock, Vermont we picnicked on sandwiches made from local ingredients, hiked, and swam in a river.

Then we hit the wonderful coast of Maine where we explored the tidal pools, beaches and harbor of Boothbay, catching hermit crabs and hiking in yet another unique ecosystem. We also went on a whale watch boat and saw large pods of dolphins and a group of four fin whales. Next, we spent

hours running and playing in the sand and surf, chasing ever-elusive sea gulls, on the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge and Parson’s Beach, in one of the most beautiful settings we encountered. In Ogunquit we played on another beach as the tide came in, and toward our vacation’s end, on the coast of northern New Hampshire, we feasted on fresh, locally caught, seafood.

In each of these remarkable places we watched our son grow more joyful and engaged in his surrounding, embracing and playing with the natural elements around him. And through his joy and wonder, we became more childlike—playing alongside him and enjoying the splendor of nature in a way that adults usually forget to do.

Jordan Braunstein, 3, enjoying nature, hugging a tree.

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.” - Rachel Carson UNITY SPRING 2013 |

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in our element NEW FACES

NEW TRUSTEES Hallie Flint Gilman Hallie Flint Gilman is the current assistant general counsel at First Wind, a company which develops and operates utility-scale wind energy projects. She previously worked at Pierce Atwood as an energy attorney. Gilman received her juris doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center and an artium baccalaureus degree from Harvard University where she also served as varsity coach for Radcliffe Crew. She graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. Gilman lives in Portland, Maine, with her husband, Ned Flint, with whom she founded Portland Community Rowing Association where she coaches rowing.

P. Andrew Hamilton P. Andrew Hamilton is the chair of the Environmental & Land Use and Municipal Law & Finance practice groups at Eaton Peabody, a Maine-based law firm. He has over 25 years of experience in environmental law. The primary focus of his practice is on general environmental counseling and representing clients in proceedings under state and federal environmental laws. His experience in this field is wide-ranging, including regulatory compliance, natural resource permitting, hazardous substance and waste laws, and land use permitting. He earned a juris doctorate from the University of Maine School of Law and a bachelor of arts from Wesleyan University.

Sarah Ruef-Lindquist In April 2012, Sarah Ruef-Lindquist was named chief executive officer of the Maine Women’s Fund, a foundation focused on building economic security for Maine women and girls. Before joining the Maine Women’s Fund, Ruef-Lindquist ran a solo law practice focused on estate and trust planning. In 2008, she founded Planning for Good, a consulting practice focused on helping organizations maximize the value of planned gifts to grow endowments. In 2010, she was president of the Maine Bar Foundation and has served on 17 other boards throughout Maine. She received her juris doctorate from Franklin Pierce Law Center (now the University of New Hampshire School of Law) and graduated from Southern Methodist University. She lives in Camden, Maine, with her husband, Peter Lindquist, an artist.

Linda Povey Linda Povey is the vice president of strategic consulting for Natural Marketing Institute.

She has over 25 years of experience as a marketing strategist and brand creator. Povey specializes in the analysis of health, wellness, and sustainability trends, incorporating these and consumer insights into her clients’ brand identities and product offerings. She has worked with an impressive range of major consumer organizations, from Bausch and Lomb, Weleda, and Ikea. Previously, Povey was partner and chief marketing strategist of Kanter International, where she developed and strengthened business concepts for entrepreneurial companies. Povey is a communications professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, teaching courses in brand strategy. Povey lives in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Heath Durrans, and their three Shiba Inu dogs.

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NEW FACES in our element

New FACULTY AND STAFF Brenda Bonneville Brenda Bonneville has been named web content developer. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in communication. Bonneville is the founder and editor of maineartscene.com, an online arts and culture publication which promotes artists and arts organizations throughout the state of Maine. She also serves as a director on the board of Waterfall Arts in Belfast. She has a daughter in college, Emma, and one in high school, Lucie, and lives in Belfast with her husband, Thierry, younger daughter and black lab.

Meg Fournier Meg Fournier has been named manager and public arts coordinator for the Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts. She holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Southern Maine. She is the co-founder and director of the Belfast Free Range Music Festival in Belfast, Maine, overseeing programming, managing fundraising campaigns, grant writing, marketing and publicity. Fournier is a member of the board of directors at WERU Community Radio Radio 89.9 FM, where Professor John Zavodny, director of the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities, hosts a radio show.

Keith Jones Keith Jones has been named a senior accountant in the Business Office. Prior to joining Unity College, Jones was a senior auditor with Baker, Newman, & Noyes. He holds a master’s degree in business from Husson University and is a Certified Public Accountant. An avid outdoorsman and Unity native, Jones lives in Freeport with his wife Jenny and their two chocolate labs.

Janet Polimer Janet Polimer has been named administrative assistant for Admissions. She previously held positions as the database coordinator at Cape Cod Community College and as an office manager at several companies. She has experience as a circuit board designer and has certificates in Web Design, PCB Design and Drafting Technology.

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in our element NEW FACES

New FACULTY AND STAFF Kristy Trask Kristy Trask has been named office coordinator for Admissions. She holds a bachelor of arts in psychology and a bachelor of science in business management from Thomas College. She has experience in office management and customer service.

Christopher Vigezzi Christopher Vigezzi has been named associate director for Admissions Communications. He holds a bachelor of arts in political science with a minor in business management from the University of Maine at Farmington. He has experience in banking, management and customer relations.

Unity College Names Bob Fitzpatrick Director of Marketing and Communications A well-respected marketing professional with wide ranging experience in both higher education and the private sector has been chosen to lead the Department of Marketing and Communications at Unity College.

Unity College President Stephen Mulkey announced that Bob Fitzpatrick will lead a centralized marketing department. He will conceive and implement an ongoing effort to expand Unity’s national and international reach and brand visibility among key environmental constituencies, enhance student recruitment, and market innovative programs that educate 21st century

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environmental stewards, leaders and visionary sustainability pioneers.

Most recently Fitzpatrick served as the director of marketing at the University of South Dakota.

Fitzpatrick is delighted to join the Unity College community, stressing that it is poised to attain a legitimate place of recognition among the best small environmental colleges in the United States.

“This is an exciting time in the development of Unity College,” Fitzpatrick said. “Unity’s focus on sustainability science is timely because this approach is at the leading-edge of environmental problem solving.”

FACULTY & STAFF NOTES in our element

FACULTY & STAFF NEWS

Elizabeth Orcutt ’15 (left, facing) and Taylor Follette ’15 won “best undergraduate poster” at the 2012 Maine EPSCoR State Conference, which was entitled “Building Partnerships for Sustainability Solutions.” The conference was held on September 24, 2012 at the Wells Conference Center of the University of Maine, Orono. The students presented results from their independent research studying the impact of logging on ant abundance and diversity. Both Orcutt and Follette worked as undergraduate researchers for the Unity College Hemlock Ecosystem Management Study (HEMS) during the summer 2012. During the summer they collected environmental data in hemlock forests, along with ants and other invertebrates. This is a long-term research project investigating the socioeconomic and ecological changes associated with the logging of hemlock in Maine and the invasive forest pest, hemlock woolly adelgid. Entering the fourth year of NSF-EPSCoR funding through the University of Maine, the HEMS study is addressing socioeconomic, wildlife, and environmental issues around forestry management. Unity faculty working on the HEMS project are Professor Amy Arnett, Associate Professor Erika Latty, Associate Professor Alysa Remsburg, Instructor Kathleen Dunckel, and Assistant Professor Brent Bibles.

Assistant Professor of Captive Wildlife Care and Education (CWCE) Sarah Cunningham, and three students, Derrick Maltman ’14, Rachel Smedley ’14, and Maike Smith ’15, attended the American Association of Zoo Keepers (aazk.org) National Conference held in Syracuse, New York from Sep-

tember 23-27.

These three CWCE students were chosen because they have been named scholars from the Center for Experiential and Environmental Education.

Career Consultant / Internship Coordinator Nicole Collins was selected to serve

as the Maine State Director for NEACEFE (New England Association for Cooperative Education and Field Experience).

NEACEFE is an association which promotes the development and expansion of experiential education programs within New England high schools, colleges, and universities and the employers of their

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in our element FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS students. She also serves on the executive board of the Maine College Career Consortium.

On Saturday August, 25th in West Forks, Maine, Visiting Instructor of Adventure Therapy Jeremy Cass ’03 provided cinematography for a whitewater kayaking film entitled “Mainely Boating.” The film premiered at the Maine Outdoor Film festival in August at The Forks. The community oriented event highlights outdoor adventure experiences in Maine. Cass also assisted with cinematography and made an appearance in the film.

Professor Kathryn Miles recently published essays in Alimentum and Meatpaper. She has also been named to the faculty of the Chatham University low residency MFA program. Since 2005 Alimentum has been delighting readers with stories, essays, and poems that use food as a muse to inspire memory, ideas, humor, joy, melancholy, triumph and reflection. Meatpaper is a print magazine of art and ideas about meat.

Prior to the 2012-13 academic year Professor Mick Womersley was reelected as Faculty Moderator. His Maine wind survey research project has been extended for another year.

New work by Professor Ben Potter was featured at Perimeter Gallery in Belfast, Maine through November 25, 2012. The work in “Home Field” stems from recurrent forms and patterns in the local landscape and people who live nearby. Potter said he is interested in the “oscillation between representation and abstraction,” as well as the connotations of specific materials and how they complicate a piece. He is also one of the 17 artists selected for the 2012 Biennial Exhibition at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, Maine. The exhibition ran from September 29 through December 2.

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During the fall semester Professor Don Lynch was featured in two articles posted to Forbes.com; participated in an article published by the Long Island Business News; was featured in a Field & Stream Heroes of Conservation video; contributed to a story published by The Providence Journal, and contributed to story published in Campus News, a print newspaper that reaches 20 colleges in the Northeastern U.S. He was nominated for president of the Maine Counseling Association in the spring of 2012.

Assistant Professor Carrie Eaton was selected as a 2012-2013 Mathematical Association of America Project NExT Fellow. Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is a professional development program for new or recent doctoral degrees in the mathematical sciences.

It addresses all aspects of an academic career: improving the teaching and learning of mathematics, engaging in research and scholarship, and participating in professional activities. It also provides the participants with a network of peers and mentors as they assume these responsibilities.

A collaborative research paper co-authored by Katherine McDonald (Project Scientist at Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District) and Professors Lois Ongley and Barry Woods entitled “Sustainable Infrastructure Development in a Changing Cold Environment,” was published as part of the Fifteenth International Specialty Conference on Cold Regions Engineering held in Quebec City, Canada, August 19-22.

Assistant Professor / Director of Writing Stephanie Wade presented a paper entitled “A Plea for Earthly Writing: Permaculture Pedagogies and Rhetorics of Place,” at the 2012 Rhetoric Society of America Conference, held from May 25-28 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She also presented a paper entitled “Let Birdsong Into Your Heart,” at the 2012 Conference of Writing Program Administrators, held from July 15-18 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Food and Farm Projects Coordinator Sara Trunzo ’08 was named Unity Area Rotary’s 2012 Volunteer of the Year, for her work in community food security. Trunzo, who co-manages the Unity Barn Raisers Veggies For All project, also serves on the Volunteer Regional Food Pantry’s board of directors as special projects officer.

She successfully applied to the Maine Community Foundation and the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund for support of a kitchen renovation at the pantry that will increase distribution of local vegetables.

The Unity College hemlock forest research team, Professor Amy Arnett, Associate Professor Erika Latty, Associate Professor Alysa Remsburg, Instructor Kathleen Dunckel, and Assistant Professor Brent Bibles, completed a successful summer of undergraduate research.

The team worked with six Unity students during summer 2012 to collect the third year of data on study plots at three sites in Waldo County. The team initiated wildlife investigations, and added a treatment addressing impacts of invasive forest pests.

This research project recently received approval for a fourth year of funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Maine EPSCoR Sustainability Solutions through the University of Maine. The project has now brought in over $400,000 to Unity College in support of faculty and student research.

CLASS NOTES alumni

Common Threads Weave A Tapestry of Engagement

By Debora Noone, Alumni and Parent Relations Coordinator

1970

Your classmates are interested. Send your news to alumni@unity.edu for inclusion in the fall 2013 magazine.

I wish I could relate, word for word, every story I hear from Unity alumni. In this issue of the Unity Magazine a few of these stories are highlighted.

Although not planned, the alumni experiences in this magazine have a common thread: the art of writing.

Holli Cederholm ’07, Kelly Martin ’00, Jeff Duguay ’92, and Bri Rudinski ’12 underscore the importance of skills learned in their Unity writing and literature courses.

The four alumni are all scientists working in the field. But they use various writing techniques and styles every day.

Hannah Kreitzer ’12 majored in environmental writing, but gained writing and research skills through her environmental science elective courses. In her creative guest author piece, Joy Braunstein ’96 conveys through her writing the connection between her former work as executive director at the Rachel Carson Homestead Association and the sense of wonder experienced on her re-

cent family vacation.

In each story, alumni identify writing as a key skill learned during their years at Unity College.

Unity College emphasizes incorporating humanity skills with scientific hands-on experience to provide a transdisciplinary approach to sustainable science education.

Students learn to collaborate with all disciplines and to think critically as they work toward a solution. Unity graduates bring to the workplace the same writing and math competencies employers claim are so essential for on-the-job success.

As we move into the 21st century, Unity has stepped up to the plate to ensure graduates have the skills to find productive work or graduate school placement.

Join me in celebrating the accomplishments of our many alumni, as you read the examples we’ve highlighted in this magazine.

Gary Mueller is a manufacturing representative in Florida. He has two grandchildren.

Bob Portner, Steve Silver, and Steve and Michele (Mariotti) Bajardi are making plans to attend their 40th reunion in 2013.

Howard Rosenstein has worked for United Technologies in San Diego, Calif., for 15 years.

1971

1973

George K. Anthony aka. George A. Koukoulus is still teaching vocal and general music at a public school. He plans to retire in three more years.

Editor’s Note: Rumor has it the class of 1973 is planning to hold their 40th reunion in September 2013 at Unity College. Bob Portner ’73 hopes all will join in the fun.

Doug Thomas owns a firewood business with his son. He served six years in the Maine House of Representatives and is running for his second term in the Maine Senate representing six towns in Somerset County, all of Piscataquis County, and northern Penobscot County.

Louie Abramson starts his 37th year of teaching physical education to students in pre-k through eighth-grade in the Bayonne, N.J. schools. He mentors teachers for certification. In the winter he works with the high school fencing team. He has a son. Lou hopes to come to the Unity Community weekend in 2013.

Toni (Sampson) Johnson retired in June 2012, after 36 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District. She has a grandson and a granddaughter.

Steve Silver is a salesman for Estate Motors.

He has two children. Steve keeps in touch with Steve and Michele (Mariotti) Bajardi ’73, Marc Bane ’73, Lennie Freedenberg ’73, Doug Isaacson ’75, Bob Portner ’73, and Patten Williams ’82.

Unity Rocks! at night.

1972

Pat Feehan is director of sales and marketing for the largest snow management business in his area. He has two sons and a daughter.

Frank Millett retired as a social worker for the State of Maine. He is married to Sandy and enjoys music and playing his guitars.

Fred Dearnley is a photographer. He runs the printing service at the University of Maine Farmington.

Brenda Littlefield works in shipping with the Seafarers International Union of America.

Tim Mullins is manager of the R.M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center, a wastewater treatment plant for the City of Atlanta. He has a daughter.

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alumni class notes Judy Lindsey retired in December 2011 after 32 years with the Maine Department of Transportation. Judy plans to visit Senegal in 2013, where her daughter is in the Peace Corp.

1982

Jeanne (Brown) Allen is a private certified nurse’s aide and a personal service specialist in Waterville, Maine. Josh works at Ducktrap River Fish Farm in Belfast.

1980

Rick French owns Pack, Paddle, and Ski. Rick and his son went rock climbing in Utah and Colorado, using former Professor Jerry Cinnamon’s book.

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

Mark Hammond is a process engineer/planner for Murrietta Circuits in Anaheim, CA. He has three rescue dogs. His strong interest in genealogy has led him to become skilled in using DNA test results to understand ancient ancestry and more recent family connections.

1975

James “JC” Harris is a pilot for UPS in Indiana.

L to R -Bob Portner ’73, Steve and Michelle Bajardi ’73 1974

Jeff Bailey was an Army medic for five years after graduation. He worked as a real estate agent until throat cancer made it difficult to speak on the phone.

1976

Mike Leighton has worked for the Maine State parks for 37 years. He has been a regional manager for three years. He has a grandson.

Franz Holzmann is a deck engineer machinist on the USNS Big Horn, an oiler for Military Sealift Command out of Norfolk Naval District. He takes 3rd Engineer tests from the Coast Guard in December 2012. Franz is married and has two sons.

John Thorn is senior manager of quality assurance at St. Jude Medical. He and Diana have four daughters, three of whom are married.

1977 1981

Jeff Sand retired from the State of Rhode Island Division of Developmental Disabilities. He enjoys riding and working on his motorcycle.

1978

Your classmates are interested. Send your news to alumni@unity.edu for inclusion in the fall 2013 magazine.

1979

David Burke is director of performance excellence and master black belt for Consumers Energy in Michigan. He has a patent on an environmentally friendly night light that generates no heat, lasts for years, and uses little electricity.

Steve Desroches is a printer in Barre, Vt. Steve has a daughter and two sons, all in college. .

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Vicki (Brown) Kupferman has been a freelance proofreader/copyeditor for 28 years. She has a private practice called The Rose Cottage where she is a certified hypnotist and Reiki master. She and Ken have two grown children.

Stephen Goulette is manager of Franklin County Cheese in Enosburgh Falls, Vt. He and Terry (Rustic) have two children and recently became grandparents.

Ed Hageman is the poultry program coordinator for the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture. He and wife Debbie started Primo Wildlife Control, a pest trapping and exclusion service that also repairs damage by critters to homes. They have three children.

Valerie (Kimball) Henderson lives in Belfast, Maine. She has a daughter.

Camille (Burns) Boisvert retired to work full time in her painting and jewelry studio.

She has published a short story.

Beth (NeHalsingh) Freiberger is a registered nurse in a pediatric emergency and neonatal ICU. She and Danny have three children.

Patrick McCabe was injured in an aircraft accident last year. At the time of the accident he worked as district sales manager for California Products.

Mike Shaffer is a professional surveyor in Belfast, Maine. He has two daughters.

1983

Laura (Doyle) Green is a clinical systems team leader at Southcoast Health Systems and Hospital Group. She lives in Westport, Mass.

Hollis Graham worked for Outward Bound, as a social worker for the State of New Jersey, as a family therapist for a non-profit, and as a commercial construction site consultant. They moved to Pennsylvania for his wife’s new position, and he is searching for work in the environmental and conservation field.

He and Anne have a son and a daughter.

Barbara (Hall) Krause sold her business, Growing Like a Weed. She and Dave have two sons and a daughter.

Marianne “Mame” (House) Winslow owns a gardening business. In the winter, she works for Chore Services, a program providing simple home care for the elderly. She has two daughters and a son.

Dan Lowell builds furniture and cabinets in Heber City, Utah.

1984

Lise Birch-Wooldridge is a general services administration sales coordinator for Adden Furniture, in Littleton, N.H., working on government contracts, bids, and quotes.

Patti (Wiggin) Bartlett is a personal trainer at Synergy Health & Fitness in Exeter, N.H., and an instructor in a cancer well-fit program. She plays drums at her church.

class notes alumni Jackie (Kennedy) Byrne owns a photography business, The Traveling Studio, and works full time as a counselor with traumatized adolescents at Community Health Resources.

1988

Dan Kinney owns Catamount Solar in Royalton, Vt. The company designs and constructs solar energy systems (www. catamountsolar.com). He and Carol have three children.

Kerrin Dame is senior physical scientist at Aberdeen Proving Ground. She is working on her master’s in homeland security management at the University of Maryland. She has a daughter.

1985

Bill Engvall co-owns Reclamation Dry Goods, an online shop (etsy.com). with his spouse. He is a massage therapist in Boston.

Mark Amato retired from the Pennsylvania State Police in 2011. He is an adjunct instructor for several companies and a contractor for the Pennsylvania Department of State. He and Rachael have five children.

Jessica ( Johnson) Whitney is a financial project controls manager at NyproMold, and is working on a certificate in plastics technology. She has one daughter.

John Jurczynski is co-general manager of Rockywold-Deephaven Camps, a family resort in Holderness, N.H. He has a daughter.

John enjoys long-distance bicycling and gardening.

1986

Steve Como works for the Hamilton Housing Authority. He is married and has three sons from a first marriage.

Pat Emig is contact liaison at K&H Custom Windows.

James “JD” Beauregard is a self-employed carpenter and landscaper. He is a drummer in the band THUNK. He has a daughter.

Suellen (Field) Bellows has been a paramedic in Greenfield and Pittsfield, Mass., for 11 years. She and Dennis have two daughters.

Dawn Olson has been a national park service ranger at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site for 15 years.

1989

Brian Adams is in his sixth year as a sales representative for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. He has two sons.

Melinda Angstrom is a guide dog supervisor at Guiding Eyes for the Blind.

Brian Camire works for a construction company. He and Denise (White) have two sons.

Jean (Santarsiero) Costanzi is an operations safety specialist for Waste Management. She has a daughter and a son.

Andy Wendell is senior chemist at ClearWater Lab in Newport, Maine. He and his wife Annie have produced 637 weekly shows for their radio show, The General Store, which is in its 12th year. He is expanding his garden, grafting apple and pear trees, and plans to add a hoop house to their greenhouse.

1991

Ken Broskoskie is a field services technician for Enterprise Integration, a computer services company in Jacksonville, Fla. Brock Clukey has been a Maine game warden for 15 years. He and Jane have two daughters.

Rich Fritz is a life enrichment coordinator at PACE Vermont, (Program of All-inclusive Care for Elders), a program that works to keep elders in their homes through therapy, medical and nursing care, home health, and a day program. He and Kristin have three children.

Jason Hurd is a correctional officer II and a state firearms instructor for the State of Vermont.

Pat McCarthy is database administrator for Eaton Vance in Boston, Mass. He and his wife have two children.

John Trzcinski was promoted to sergeant with the New York Police Department in 2009 and supervises a squad in the 69th Precinct Brooklyn South.

1990

Peter Wallace builds and restores canoes and works for two ambulance services as an emergency medical technician intermediate. He is in a paramedic program. He also teaches wilderness medicine for Wilderness Medical Associates and is a lead instructor for Outward Bound. He has two sons.

1992

Chris Foster works for Tuckerman Brewing Company in Conway, N.H., where he brews, filters, and packages beer. He plays bass guitar in a band and runs an open mic in Brownfield, Maine.

Chuck Eaton is executive director of the Boston Middleman Council Boy Scouts of America. Chuck and Jean have two daughters.

1987

Mark Genaris is a process engineer at Lohmann Animal Health, a pharmaceutical company in Winslow, Maine.

( Jon) Merlin Benner is owner and president of Wildlife Specialists in Wellsboro, Penn. He and Melissa have five children.

They are planning a trip to Papua New Guinea in February 2013.

Carolyn Jo (Bowker) Meserve owns Maine Barter, a barter membership organization. She and John ’82 live on his 200 acre family farm.

Geraldine McCarthy is document control and management quality specialist at Phillips Health Care in Andover, Mass.

Ed Hurlburt owns Ed Hurlburt Boat Moving in Lincolnville, Maine. He and Naomi have two children.

Phil Perhamus is a senior biologist at AMEC, Inc., in Somerset, N.J., specializing in wetlands and rare species. His has a daughter and two sons.

Lenore Reitze teaches special education in the Winslow, Maine schools. She has a son and twin daughters.

Carole Jean has worked at IDEXX Labs in Westbrook, Maine, for 18 years. She is now sales account manager.

Greg Pond is an aquatic biologist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Wheeling, W.V. He recently published two new papers in Hydrobiologia on biodiversity loss of aquatic insects in Appalachian streams. Sherri (Ells) works in a nature center in Wheeling. They have two children.

1993

Russell Adams is a police officer for the town of Jay, Maine. He and Kelly have two sons and a daughter.

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alumni class notes

Hannah Kreitzer ’12

Unity Education Provides New Lens on the Natural World

By Debora Noone, Alumni and Parent Relations Coordinator Hannah Kreitzer ’12 chose Unity College because of its setting and its mission.

“Unity helped me craft the awareness and vocabulary to be an educated voice in the debates that get stuffed into the broad ‘environmentalism’ envelope,” said Kreitzer. “My education, with huge support from faculty and staff, gave me a professional sounding board to refine my aptitude, cultivate future plans, and understand how my work could be useful and relevant.”

Having graduated with a degree in environmental writing, Kreitzer works two part-time jobs directly related to her sustainable agriculture electives, farming and gardening. “I’ve been able to draw relevant skills from opportunities across the board.”

Kreitzer explained, “Some of my best writing experiences came from a fisheries class; some of my favorite lessons in history and social sciences cropped up in an economics course.”

Kreitzer uses her writing degree in volunteer positions for the Maine Farmland Trust and the Tributary Fund, a Montana nonprofit linking faith traditions, culture, and science with community conservation efforts. Her writing for these two groups is enhanced by the range of subjects studied at Unity, from cultural anthropology to fisheries.

An introductory fisheries course deeply impacted Kreitzer. “That course sparked an unexpected fascination with fisheries science and techniques.”

Kreitzer went on to take a more in-depth fisheries course, acquiring valuable skill sets for scientific analysis and technical writing. “Convinced I didn’t have a ‘science brain,’ those courses taught me the limits of my aptitudes were more extendible than I’d thought, and provided me with a new lens on the natural world.”

In addition to a solid grounding in the sciences, Kreitzer advocates the need to be “computerliterate and web-savvy if you hope to reach a broad audience.” As a writer, artist, and farmer, Kreitzer knows the importance of using technical tools and critical thinking to supplement her hands-on experience.

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Dan Brunton is a government contractor for CACI International, Inc., He and Mary Ann have a son and a daughter.

Craig Frickman is a recreation therapist for the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. He and Nancy celebrated their 10th anniversary and have two children.

Todd Holden is a master plumber/ pipefitter, working for the same company for 12 years. He hopes to go into business for himself. He has two sons.

Melissa (McCalla) Manassee and family will be living in Paris for up to two more years. Their three children have adjusted easily to French life.

Maynard Pushaw is production specialist at FMC Biopolymer in Rockland, Maine, afirm that imports seaweed from all over the world and extracts carr ageenan which is used as a food additive. He is married with two children. They all enjoy gardening, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, and skiing.

Paul Racine owns a taxidermy business, Racine’s Painting & Sealing, and a concrete business in Rutland, Vt. He and Samantha have two children.

Craig Rennie is a land resource specialist for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, a certified wetland scientist, and a certified wildlife biologist for The Wildlife Society. He is co-founder and owner of Great North Woods Guide Service, which operates in New Hampshire and Maine. He is a certified archery instructor in the local schools. He and Priscilla have three children.

Gina Sawyer is a certified medical assistant at United Community & Family Services in Norwich, Conn. She lives with her partner, Todd Clement.

John Thompson is marketing manager at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash. He has two children.

1994

John Sahadi is a buyer for Trailblazer, a Connecticut-based outdoor gear and clothing store with five locations and internet sales. He has twin boys.

1995

Peter Abello is a soil conservationist, covering Waldo and Knox Counties for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. He and Amanda have a daughter.

Elizabeth Berney was promoted to access and collection services manager at the Duke University Center Library.

Jenna (Garvey) Beulow enjoys being a stay at home mom with her three-year-old. Her husband Chris is a restoration ecologist for the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (part of Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife).

Ruth (Hefty) Thornton is conservation information manager at The Nature Conservancy in Elkins, W.V. She is in a doctorate program at West Virginia University.

Chris Pancila is in law enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. He is married and has two children.

1996

Ron Dalphonse is a New Hampshire state trooper. He and Angela have three children.

Lou Gagnon is a fish culturist II for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

Brian Lippy is director of action sports for Metacafe.com, a video website targeted to young men. He produces and directs live TV and web cast productions. Recently, he helped set up a microbrewery called “Everybody’s Brewing Company” in White Salmon, Wash. His passion is surfing, and he is working towards a black belt in Kung Fu. Dylan Renfrew-Webber is a site foreman for Symonds Builders in Oxford, Maine.

1997

Hilari (Benson) Varnadore is director of Star Communities in Washington, DC, a group of over 200 stakeholders who are developing the nation’s first index for measuring sus-

class notes alumni tainability standards for communities (www.starcommunities.org) Hilari and Jason have a daughter and a son.

Aimee (Campbell) Lee is data administration manager at Celebrity Access, and is in her final year at the University of Connecticut working on a bachelor of general studies degree.

Jacob Connetti works in his family’s auto body business. He and Jessica have two sons and a daughter.

Mark Demgard works for Clean Harbors Environmental in Bow, N.H. He travels to Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Arizona, and New York. In Pennsylvania he worked with gas exploration companies.

George Menth is as an Army medic.

He returned from Afghanistan in July 2012. He shook hands with President Obama when the president visited the troops.

1998

Heather (Bryer) Lorrain is an administrative assistant in the guidance office at Boothbay Region High School. She owns a pottery business, Peaceful Acres Pottery. She and Jason have a daughter.

Pete Gregoire is director of IT Program Management for Time Warner Cable in Milwaukee, Wisc. He and Jody have two children.

John Guarnieri is a police officer with the Plymouth State University Police Department. He graduated from the Police Academy last April. John has a daughter.

David Hunter is a lieutenant with the Brunswick Fire Department and manages a small estate. He and Kristi have two daughters.

Mark Knapp is operations manager for a construction company. He visited Marc ’99 and Alisa (MacArthur) Arnts ’01 in Maine last year.

Mike Larrivee has worked at the Waldo County 911 Center for 12 years and is currently the daytime dispatch supervisor. He is a part-time police officer in Searsport.

Chris (McDonald) Okleshan is moving to Portsmouth, Va., where her husband Travis was transferred.

She plans to finish her master’s degree.

They have two children.

Matt Mooney works as client services manager for Dun and Bradstreet in Australia. He is a Boy Scout troop leader, whose troop is getting ready for the Australian Jamboree in January 2013.

Jim Newton is a computer technician for Geek Housecalls. He and Ying have a daughter.

Jason Pelchat is senior project manager for Sovereign Consulting, Inc., which has opened their 15th branch office in Concord, N.H., providing environmental assessment, investigation, design, and construction services throughout the U.S. Rebecca (Roy) Phelps and Ethan have a daughter. Rebecca works in conservation education for the State of Vermont.

Scott Philbrook is a corporal and patrol supervisor with the Milton Police Department in Vermont, where he has worked for 13 years. He and Tiffany have two children.

Michael Plante is president of MDP Research, Inc., in Colchester, Conn., a company providing patent and literature research for corporations. He has three children.

Kelley Stanton teaches fourth grade at Pleasant View Elementary School in Providence, R.I. Kim Verstringhe and her boyfriend opened an acupuncture clinic, Adirondack Integrated Health in Lake Placid, N.Y. She graduated from New York Chiropractic College in 2007 with degrees in acupuncture and oriental medicine.

1999

Jim Buckle and his partner, Wendy, have an organic farm in Dighton, Mass., raising vegetables, fruit, and meat.

Todd Chilton is an officer with the Lincoln County Sheriff ’s Office. He and Erika have two sons.

Jeff Duguay ’92

Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ornithology, and Wildlife Labs: One Path to a Beloved Career

By Debora Noone, Alumni and Parent Relations Coordinator Jeff Duguay ’92 has a job he is passionate about.

What he values most from his Unity experience is something he carries with him daily, his love and enthusiasm for the environment.

Duguay, who earned a master’s in ecology from Eastern Kentucky University and a doctorate in wildlife management from West Virginia University, admits he came to college in an indirect way. He was not fond of high school and went on to work in a warehouse for five years. When he was ready for college, finding a small campus where he wasn’t just a number was important.

“At Unity, I found the direction I was looking for in a career,” said Duguay. Like all Unity students, he interned each summer. Ornithological field research prepared him for his current position as research and survey program manager for Mourning Doves and American Woodcocks at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Duguay credits his professional success to the hands-on education and personal attention he got from his professors.

Duguay uses both Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), skills he learned at Unity, to monitor wild turkey movements, before, during, and after nesting, using the information to create additional nesting habitat and ensure sustainable turkey populations.

As part of the Unity curriculum requirement to have a specialization in a field outside a student’s major, Duguay chose literature, which included reading Maine authors and writing creatively.

“As a regular part of my job, I have published several manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and written technical reports,” said Duguay. “These classes proved invaluable to me.”

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alumni class notes Dennis Wilson (formerly Croke) has changed his name to his mother’s maiden name and now goes by Dennis Wilson. He earned a master’s in entomology from the University of Nebraska/Lincoln this summer and plans to go on for a doctorate. He was a state forester in Florida and is now living in Minnesota.

Norman “Budd” Veverka is a game land research biologist for the Indiana Division of Natural Resources and is the coordinator/ editor of the National Wild Pheasant Conservation Plan. He and Alisa (Butler) ’00 have a daughter.

Tony DaSilva has his own business, Maine Masonry Craft, building masonry heaters.

Christy Aucoin works on her family’s farm.

She and her husband are building a new house, mostly out of recycled materials, in Cabot, Vt. They have two children.

Meg (Diviney) Fearing enjoys being a stay-at-home mom with her two-year old.

Tom Laskowski is a firearms instructor for U.S. Fish and Wildlife at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga. He and Misty were married last year and live on St. Simons Island.

Chrissy (Hayward) Bouschor keeps busy with four children. She moved to a new home on the Entiat River in the State of Washington.

Steven Hills and his wife Judi welcomed Ian Patrick, born in 2011. They also have a son and daughter. Steve is a Computer-aided design (CAD) draftsman for Tecton Architects in Hartford, Conn.

Patti Kallfelz-Werts is a wetland scientist for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., a transportation, land development, and environmental consulting firm. She and her husband, Zev Werts, have a son born in November 2009.

Alvah Maloney’s family-owned company, Maine Kayak, Inc. in New Harbor, Maine, was featured in the August 5, 2012, Boston Globe article, “4 Ways to Get on the Water in New England.”

Lindsay Peterson and Tom Lannan were married December 17, 2011. Michelle Fisher ’00, Kevin ’99 and Donna (Hyslop) Furlong ’99, and Lisa (McNeil) Irwin ’00 attended the wedding. Lindsay works as a legal secretary for a law firm in Boston.

Jimmy Piccuito is an environmental engineer/GIS analyst for Jacobs in Bourne, Mass.

He has been working at the New Bedford Harbor Super Fund Site and doing soil boring and drilling in Fall River. He and Elaine have been married 12 years and have two children. Jimmy coaches his son in baseball and basketball.

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2000

Dan Bowker is an environmental and geographic information system coordinator for Cherryfield Foods. He also is fire chief in Marshfield and assistant fire chief in Machias. He married Rose in September 2012.

Lisa (Bunch) Martin showed her fine art photography at the Kahbang Art’s Spring Gallery Exhibition in Bangor in March and April of 2012. She is an adjunct instructor in art history and photography at Unity College. She and Jeremy have a daughter. Editor’s note: in the Winter 2011 magazine, Lisa was mistakenly listed in the class of 1999 Peter Deane is a U.S. customs and border protection officer in Vermont and Lee Anne (Ouellette) ’00 is a law enforcement assistant at Vermont Fish and Wildlife.

Heather (Lindquist) Gerquest has a service dog, Rosie. Heather is a photographer in addition to making gnome houses and wreaths. Chris ’90 is now back in Maine after being a chef in Oregon for two years.

Bob Giolito is a Vermont State trooper in the K9 Unit with his dog Mitch. He received a life saving award from the State of Vermont for pulling a woman away from a burning car. He guides rock and ice climbing groups on his days off and has started a Search and Rescue in Killington, Vt. Amber Hayden finished work for International Committee for the Red Cross where she managed construction and scientific marine mammal monitoring in addition to overseeing storm water pollution prevention.

She, John, and their child will be moving to Oregon to start a farm, and Amber will return to school.

Patrick Kieran is a wildland fire fighter for the Bureau of Land Management, and Sarah (Thornbury) ’02 is a special education teacher and is finishing her master’s of education with a focus on administration at Mesa State University. They have two sons.

Elisha (Lindquist) Boatman is a registered nurse at Maine Medical Center in the ambulatory surgery unit, works with home health visiting nurses, and is an adjunct faculty instructor at the University of Southern Maine. Tom ’97 works for UPS, is a member of the White Mountain National Forest Trail Crew, and is a wildland firefighter. They have two daughters.

Katie Merrill is science curriculum coordinator for the Springfield, Mass., museums.

She volunteers at the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation in Bloomfield, Conn., which breeds and trains German shepherds to work with the visually impaired.

Marcie (Pierce) Wistar and Roger have a second son, born in April 2011. Marcie teaches science and is assistant director of the middle school program at the Kildonan School.

Justin Preisendorfer is a recreation specialist for the U.S. Forest Service in the White Mountain National Forest.

2001

David Bolanowski is senior research associate at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center Surgery Department. He conducts research on liver transplants. David and Danielle have a daughter.

Lisa Ferrisi-Guttman received her master’s in environmental science with a focus in sustainable development and climate change from Antioch University in Keene, N.H. She completed an internship with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (a civil engineering firm) in environmental services. She has a sixmonth bio-monitoring internship with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services in their watershed management bureau.

Sharon Hupe works part-time in maintenance at Cranmore Mountain and is training for a mini-triathlon. She has a daughter.

Jennifer (Madigan) Reifler is a tour bus driver/guide at Denali National Park in Alaska. She and Michael have two children.

They spend summers in Alaska, fall and part of spring in New Hampshire, and winter in Mexico.

Daniel Rock is an adaptive sports instructor/guide for the National Sports Center for the Disabled in Winter Park, Colo. This fall he and his girlfriend, Gabrielle Harris, finished the southern half of the Appalachian Trail.

class notes alumni 2003

Nate Swisher and his wife Amy have twin daughters, Katherine and Emmaline, born June 24, 2011. Nate is a park ranger for the town of Danvers, Mass., and a police officer for the town of Hamilton, Mass.

Steve and Angela (Coache) Thorp have a daughter, born April 13, 2012.

Colin Wheeler received the New Hampshire Medal of Honor last year for saving a man’s life. He is a police officer with the Farmington Police Department. Robyn ( Jacques) ’00 is an emergency and oncology veterinary nurse at the Oyster River Veterinary Hospital in Lee. They have three children.

2002

Keith Brennan and his wife Lindsay have a daughter. Keith works for his father-in-law delivering home heating and diesel fuel.

Craig Cavanna is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge officer at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Florida, working six months each in Crystal River, protecting manatees, and on Egmont Key, protecting nesting habitats for endangered and threatened shorebirds.

Ted Frazer is U.S. Forest Service fuels crew leader in the Ashland Ranger District in Belle Fourche, S.D., and Jen Nagy ’02 is a geographic information system specialist for the Bureau of Land Management.

Jan Lovy has finished his post doctorate work in the virology lab at the Pacific Biological Station in British Columbia and is a state fish pathologist/research scientist in the Office of Fish and Wildlife Health and Forensics in the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife. He monitors wild fish and the health of fish in the state hatcheries.

Jonica (Martin) Rollins is in her eighth year as an embryologist at New England Genetics working with in vitro fertilized embryos.

Colleen (Waldron) Pelczar and Eric have a son, born in 2012. They bought a house in Bradford, Mass.

Devon Witherell is geographic information system coordinator for the Maine Department of Transportation and is looking at graduate schools in the field of geographic information systems. She likes to hike and run.

Kristie (Barr) McNulty and Anson ’02 have a son, born May 20, 2011. Kristie is a medical director and veterinary technician for a low-cost spay/neuter clinic, and Anson is assistant program director for Summit Achievement.

Megan (Bogi) McHatten is a registered nurse at the Mercy Hospital and OA Center for Orthopedics in Portland, Maine.

Mike Dumont and Melissa Butrie ’06 were married January 15, 2012. Both work at New England Peptide, a biotech company in Gardner, Mass. They bought a house in Rindge, N.H. Priscilla Gagne is working in New Hampshire. She married Eric Muske in July 2012.

Shawn Jeanson is a land surveyor for Central Land Surveying in Bristol, N.H. and is a New Hampshire marine patrol officer with the State Police Department of Safety. He and Nicole have a daughter, born May 11, 2011.

Amy-Sue (Littlefield) Marden and Tim own their own business, Marden’s Lawn & Garden Care, in Morrill, Maine. They sell incubator-raised egg-layer baby chicks. They have a son.

Tim McClary was a flight medic in the Army and served in Iraq. He works for Delta Ambulance. He is married and has two daughters.

Ashley Messner has a son and a daughter.

Editor’s note: The Summer 2012 magazine incorrectly reported Ashley has two daughters.

Kyle Purington is a project/operations manager for Wireless Construction, Inc., in Standish, Maine. The company builds, maintains and services towers and equipment all over New England. He and Sonya (Harrington) ’04 have two sons.

Heather (Sirotnak) Manzi is a U.S. geological survey hydrologic technician in Lake Tahoe, Calif. She works in Tahoe Stanislaus/ Mokelumne National Forests and Mammoth Lakes organizing national data conferences and teaching surface water classes. She plans to earn a master’s in hydrologic science.

Hillary Szteliga is a corrections officer at the Franklin County Jail and works parttime as an emergency medical technician intermediate in Shelburne Falls. She is working on her paramedic degree.

A student enjoys AppleFest on campus this past October.

2004

Emily Brodsky earned her master’s in ecological planning at the University of Vermont in May 2012.

Cheri Brunault is a restoration ecologist/ urban forester for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Nate Gould is a quality wood scaler for SAPPI Paper in Westbrook, Maine. He also harvests timber. He and Tracey have a son and are expecting another child in December 2012.

Josh Hazelton is bar manager at Ricks Cafe in the summer and works at Sunday River Ski Area in the winter.

Craig King is a marine resources specialist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources. He works on a trawl survey project out of Boothbay Harbor assessing juvenile ground fish throughout the Gulf of Maine.

Joe Link is a rigger for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees local in Las Vegas. For seven years he was a hiking guide for the Yosemite Mountaineering school. Recently, he has explored Key Hole Canyon, Red Rock Canyon, and Lake Mead, Nev.; Walnut Canyon National Monument and Flagstaff, Ariz.; and Yosemite and Bishop, Calif.

Courtey (Lowell) Post Van Der Burg and Ladd welcomed a second son, born January 1, 2012.

Aaron Paul is the facility manager for UARRC (Unity Area Regional Recycling Center). Editor’s note: the Winter 2012 magazine incorrectly reported the wrong occupation.

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alumni class notes Matt Soucy is a cheese specialist for Whole Food Market’s flagship store in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. In August 2012, he took the American Cheese Society certified cheese professional exam. He and Kim will marry in October.

2005

Wesley Dean is a marine patrol officer for the Maine Department of Marine Resources. He and Emily were married August 20, 2011.

Shannon Heath studied to be an emergency medical technician, passed her practical and national registry tests, and is waiting for her state license. She is volunteering with the Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue in Maine.

Shawn Guilmette is a law enforcement specialist for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Williston, Vt. He is working towards becoming an immigration enforcement agent.

Jake Overlock is a fisheries biologist for the Maine Department of Marine Resources. He and Erin welcomed a daughter, born January 7, 2012.

Connie (Schuler) Bond and her husband Ben welcome a son, born March 25, 2011, and are expecting a baby in January 2013.

Nate Webb is a customs and border protection officer for the Department of Homeland Security in Haines, Alaska.

Nate Jack ’08 is a deputy for the Knox County Sheriff’s office.

2006

Tyson Demers works at the Smuttynose Brewing Co. Kenneth Dooley is supervisor of custodial services at the SAU 29 Keene, N.H., school district. He and Kayla married in October 2011 and have a son.

Jeff Hunter graduated from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy in 2011 and is a law enforcement ranger at Natchez Trace Parkway in Tupelo, Miss.

Kyle Koch is a restoration technician for Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group in Washington. He summited Mount Rainier and six other local peaks.

Tim Miller returns from serving in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and is now a zookeeper of African animals at the Utica Zoo. He attends nursing school.

Garrett Noyes is an AmeriCorps watershed technician at Huron Pines in Grayling, Michigan. He is married to Blythe.

2007

Ryan and Tiffany (Pulli) Caudle welcomed a daughter, born March 7, 2011. Ryan is team lead in the customer service department at the National Passport Center, and Tiffany is a program manager with Residential Resources.

Holli Cederholm is the general manager for the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA). Hired in May 2012, Holli is in charge of technical assistance, organizational development, and communications. According to the OSGATA press release, she joins OSGATA with experience as an organic farmer, seed grower, seed company professional, and freelance writer.

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Chris Hilton and Nicole Folsom will be married Dec. 1, 2012. Chris is a Maine marine patrol officer and recently received his pilot’s license.

Ryan Howes is owner and guide of Maine Mountains Institute. He was in Mt. Desert Island during the 2012 summer. He took the Alpine Guides Course with the American Guides Association in Boulder, Colo., in spring 2012 and in fall 2012 he will be out west for two months to continue developing his climbing skills Nick Josselyn works at Creative Exteriors, an irrigation, lighting, and landscaping company based in Dillsburg, Penn.

Meredith Kellogg earned her master’s in American and New England studies in May 2012 from the University of Southern Maine. Her thesis is an analysis of the historical use of wolf pits as predator control in colonial America. She serves as education outreach coordinator for the Maine Wolf Coalition.

Michael Kinson is an engineering technician for Fay, Spofford & Thorndike, consulting for the City of Boston Public Works Department in the Construction Management Division. He is an assistant to the supervisor of Utility Coordination and Compliance Stephenie MacLagan is a shoreline zoning coordinator for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. She volunteers at the Sunkhaze Wildlife Refuge in Milford.

David Curtiss is earning a master’s degree in marine and environmental biology at Nicholls State University and will complete his degree in December 2012. Editor’s note: the Summer 2011 issue incorrectly reported David’s degree.

Tom Paine earned his International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist certification and uses it in his position as park maintenance supervisor for the City of San Antonio, Texas. Amanda (Gonzales) ’08 is a certified vet tech at The Ark Pet Hospital in San Antonio.

Mike Dahms is property maintenance manager at Brookscapes Property Services in Portland, Maine.

Megan Schwender is earning her master’s at Utah State University and will be defending her thesis “Characteristics of Successful Wildlife Crossing Structures in Utah” in the fall of 2012. She has a food blog.

Angela (Ebert) Bartlett-Kolewe is in her seventh year working as a wildlife biologist for the USDA/APHIS Wildlife Services. She arrived home in January after a year-long mobilization at Fort Dix.

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Catherine “KT” Haase is a doctorate student at the University of Florida in the wildlife ecology and conservation program, studying manatee habitat selection and movement in the Gulf of Mexico with the US Geological Survey Southeast Ecological Science Center.

Heather Scott is a receptionist at the Natick Animal Clinic in Natick, Mass.

class notes alumni Doug Wilson participated in the August 19, 2012, Hampshire 100, a hundred-mile mountain bike race.

2008

Tori Arnold earned her master’s in education from Lehigh University and is an elementary school science teacher at the Banner School in Frederick, Md. Tom Frezza was promoted to superintendent of the Pry House Field Hospital Museum at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Md. He redesigned the exhibits in preparation for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, which is the battlefield where Pry House is located.

Lisa Bates is a wildlife technician for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife She works on the bear project and was pictured holding a yearling bear on the front page of the February 26, 2012, Maine Sunday Telegram.

Eric Bragg is lead climber and foreman for Bartlett Tree Experts in Woodstock, N.H., and owns a fish hatchery business raising trout and bait fish.

Dan Cavanaugh signed on for his third year as a field biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit focusing on the endangered snail kite.

Franki (Dalton) Delaney is the oil and hazardous material responder for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. She and her husband bought a home in Alfred.

Tom Freedman is a hatchery technician for Cooke Aquaculture USA in Oquossoc, Maine.

Will Hafford finished his doctoral degree course work in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University New England and began his internship year this fall. He and partner, Eileen McCue, are building a house in the Monmouth area. They have a daughter.

Nate Jack is a sheriff ’s deputy for Knox County and lives in Tenants Harbor.

Jeff Ruckert earned his paramedic license in February 2012 and is a paramedic and dispatcher for Delta Ambulance in Waterville, Maine. He volunteers for Unity Ambulance and is a per diem paramedic for Sebasticook Hospital.

Isabel Streichhahn-Demers is finishing her master’s in acupuncture and oriental medicine.

Josiah “Josh” Towne is a forester foreman at Spider Creek Logging and Tree Service in Deering, N.H. Sara Trunzo, Unity College food and farms project coordinator, received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Unity Area Rotary Club in June 2012. She is active in area agencies and on multiple advisory boards which address issues of hunger, food access, sustainable agriculture, and community development. Her award was for bringing together the work of all the local food related interest groups. The president of the Unity Rotary, Don Newell, cited Sara’s “passion for improving community access to fresh, healthy food for all people,” as the impetus behind giving her this award.

Kenyon Twitchell is a fish culturist at the Maine State Fishery at Grand Lake Stream, where they raise salmon and brook trout. He married Angela Lynn Stevens on July 23, 2011.

Nick VanderHeld is a seasonal park ranger for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, helping to run their Off Road Vehicle permit program in the state parks.

Nate Williams is a Maine National Guard recruiter for the central coastal area of Maine.

2009

Megan Anderson was promoted to inspector of international sales at Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine. She works with the USDA to inspect and certify all seed lots shipping outside the United States and Canada.

Mark Mullen is a venomous keeper/presenter at the Naples, Fla., zoo.

Aaron Cross is a Maine Game Warden corporal. He and Cassie had a baby girl in June 2012.

Brian O’Donnell works in corporate security in an executive support group for Fidelity Investments in Boston. He is working to become an emergency medical technician. He fishes for Bluefin tuna.

Jake Deslauriers worked the summer of 2012 as ranger and work coordinator with the U.S. Youth Conservation Corps at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Eric Fluette is a New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation officer assigned to work on the seacoast.

Chris Hayward is an assistant lead coordinator for MRAG Americas. He assigns fisheries monitors and observers to commercial fishing boats from Maine to North Carolina. He and Lisa Casagrande ’10 are engaged. Lisa is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge officer in Cape May, N.J. Nathaniel Jack is a deputy sheriff for the Knox County Sheriff ’s Department.

Julie Lachance works for Maine Huts and Trails, and is in the ski patrol at Sugarloaf.

Bryan Lane is a public health sanitarian for Chenango County in New York and is the county coordinator for the rabies program.

Lon Robinson is a fish culturist II for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Inland Fisheries Division at the Milford State Hatchery, where Lou Gagnon ’96 and Sterling Baker ’08 also work. Lon and his wife have two children.

Joshua Slawek is a maintenance ranger for the Maine Department of Conservation at Mt. Blue State Park.

Zoe Turcotte is a teacher’s assistant, head coach of the boy’s middle school basketball teams, and runs an after-school program on Martha’s Vineyard. She has earned an educator license to teach science in Massachusetts, and she is working on her master’s of education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass.

Amanda Walker, with a wildlife care and education degree from Unity, is working seasonally with the United States Fish & Wildlife Services as a ranger at the Silvio O. Conti National Fish and Wildlife Preserve, encompassing the 7.2 million-acre Connecticut River watershed in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. She lives in Hadley, Mass. She completed her degree in environmental science at the Middlebury Community College of Vermont.

Josh Youse is a surf camp instructor in the summer in Wrightsville Beach, N.C. In the winter, he works in customer service at a food co-op in Wilmington, N.C., and as a residential assistant /direct care staff in Leland, N.C. In February 2012, he traveled to Nicaragua on a surf/volunteer trip.

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alumni class notes 2010

Charlotte Berry is working on a master’s in biology at Nova University. She is a scientific scuba diver working this past summer on collecting data for her thesis, “Conch Aggregation Population Demographics and Habitat Association North and South of Port Everglades, Florida.”

Jonathan Cooper is a National Park Service ranger at Mt. Rushmore National Memorial’s Lakota-Nakota-Dakota Heritage Village, where he tells the story of the area’s native people from prehistoric times.

Mike Curran is a conservation officer for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.

Arie “A.J.” Goulet is an apprentice plumber for Waterline Industries in Seabrook, N.H., working throughout New England on well water and waste treatment plants.

Kristin Grivois is office manager at Sprigs and Twigs in Gales Ferry, Conn.

Heidi (Kowalski) Neely and Matt were married December 31, 2011. Heidi is a medical transcriptionist at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass.

Erik Larson is continuing his doctorate program in earth and atmospheric sciences as a teaching assistant at Mississippi State University. He was conducting field work in Curacao; Mallorca, Spain; and the Bahamas for his research on island karst.

Erin Schoppmeyer ’11 and Eric Fluette ’09 measure and record the lengths of trout caught at the June 2012 Newmarket, N.H. Resident Youth Fishing Derby. During the derby four Unity College graduates ( James Benvenuti ’11, Chris Schoppmeyer ’77, Erin Schoppmeyer ’11, and Eric Fluette ’09) chipped in to help out the children in town enjoy a day of fishing.

Colton LeBoeuf moved to Vermont, where he is a police officer with the Caledonia County Sheriff ’s Office. Most recently, he worked as a police officer in the Rockland Maine Police Department. His wife Rachel (O’Brien) ’11 taught at the Rockland Middle School.

Allison Masson returned to Alaska the summer of 2012 as a visitor-use assistant at Denali National Park. During the past winter she worked at a local hospital.

Henry Moncrief works for Entergy Corporation which owns the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, where he is in environmental security. Henry is working on his master’s in environmental safety and national security.

Nate Miller is base site manager/head logistics coordinator for the Florida Sea Program of the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, a sailing program in Key Largo. Nate has worked with Outward Bound since his junior year at Unity.

Patrick O’Roark is a field teacher naturalist at the W. Alton Jones Environmental Education Center in West Greenwich, R.I. Josh Ross is working to make his family farm in Dixmont an interpretative garden and forest. He planted fruit and nut trees and is especially interested in permaculture and edible landscaping.

2011

Deirdre Birbeck is a plant breeding technician at Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine. She works with cucurbits (summer and winter squash).

Jess Cote works at Greenpeace in Boston and is interning at the Museum of Science Live Animal Center.

Jason Gobar joined the Connecticut National Guard following graduation and is training as a wheeled vehicle mechanic for deployment to Afghanistan.

Chris Howe is an outdoor guide in Vail, Colo., and works seasonally for the New England Outdoor Center in Millinocket.

Wendy Perry is a lab/boat technician for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in Sandusky, Ohio.

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State trooper John T. Dressel ’11 assigned to the Rockville Barrack in Maryland.

Leslie Van Niel is an AmeriCorps volunteer at the McCall Outdoor Science School, working as a field instructor for middle school students. She will finish her master’s in natural resources at the University of Idaho in December 2012.

Daniel Vasquez is an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Game.

Chelsea Vosburgh has spent the last year creating the website BallonsBlow.org and gained over 1,460 supporters on social media sites. Chelsea developed her business plan in Professor Tom Mullin’s administration and operations class and is now the president of the official nonprofit named Balloons Blow, Inc. Chelsea works on the coast of Maine conducting seabird research Linsdsay Certain ’12 is a zookeeper at York’s Animal Kingdom, in York, Maine

class notes alumni for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. During the summer of 2012, she worked as a seabird researcher on Matinicus Isle for the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge studying terns, guillemots, storm petrels, and eiders.

Annica McGuirk finished working for Johnny’s Selected Seeds and is back in New Hampshire working as a night desk clerk at the beach this summer. She will write grants for Balloons Blow, a nonprofit started by Chelsea Vosburgh ’11.

2012

Jackie Mendana works for the Miami Zoo, after finishing her summer job as a camp counselor.

Bethany Boucher is a herpetologist/ keeper at the Rainforest Reptile Shows.

Dylan Brooks is a resource assistant for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection at the Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area in Burlington, Conn.

Lindsay Certain is a zookeeper at York’s Animal Kingdom in York, Maine. She lives in Tenants Harbor.

April Clark is a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator at the Wildlife Center of Venice in Venice, Florida.

Danielle Floyd is earning a master’s at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Tim Godaire is earning a master’s at the University of Maine through the Climate Change Institute.

Ashley Kuplin was logistics coordinator and instructor for Northwest Outward Bound in the Central Cascades of Oregon for a third summer.

Kelsy Morganwalp is an instructor at the North Carolina Outward Bound School in Asheville, N.C. Henry Obrey is a seasonal assistant for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in Enfield.

Chad Pin is a grounds man for Lucas Tree Experts.

Melanie Renell is a field technician for a Utah State University graduate student, conducting habitat analysis on Mexican spotted owls in Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Soon, she will work in Zion and Canyonlands National Parks and plans to apply for graduate schools.

Bri Rudinsky works at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Wells, Maine. She will marry James Benvenuti ’11 in September 2013.

Ashley Van Riper is an aquarist at the Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor, ME.

NEWS OF FORMER STAFF AND FACULTY Chip Curry teaches at the Montessori School in Belfast. He is running for the Maine State Senate in November. He and his wife Chris Goosman have a daughter.

IN MEMORIAM Paul Blauvelt ’74 died May 19, 2012, after a valiant bout with esophageal cancer. He was an accountant at Brunswick Ford for many years and at Paul Blouin Precision Motors as comptroller for the last 16 years. He is survived by his mother, his wife Hedy (Page) ’74, two children, and three grandchildren.

Raymond Clement ’72 died January 27, 2012. He was a fish culturist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for 35 years and served as town selectman. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, and grandchildren.

Andrew W. Letourneau ‘00 died October 27, 2012. He received his bachelor of science in Conservation Law Enforcement and was employed by Oliver Associates Inc. as a senior designer. He was a master Maine Guide and was a hunting and fishing enthusiast. He is survived by his wife, Rachel, their two daughters, his parents, grandmother and brothers.

Patrick Moriarty ’72 died September 3, 2009, from pancreatic cancer.

Recently married? New parent? Exciting job?

Tell us your news!

Your classmates are interested. Send class notes to alumni@unity.edu.

Photos are worth a thousand words.

Reunion with classmates—send a photo of the party.

Newly married—send a photo of you and your classmates in attendance.

On the job—send a photo of you in your work environment.

New baby—everyone loves a baby photo!

E-mail digital images to: alumni@unity.edu. Image should be sized at 300 dpi in .JPG or .TIF format to ensure adequate print quality.

Deadline for the Fall 2013 issue is: March 1. Please include the following information with a photo: (1) Names left to right facing (including maiden names) and class years of everyone pictured. (2) Relevant information about the photo, such as location or name of the event. (3) Name of photographer, for photo credit in the magazine. Please ensure that you either hold the copyright for the photo or have obtained permission from the photographer for any photo submitted for use in the Unity Magazine.

UNITY SPRING 2013 |

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END NOTEs

“I believe that Unity College has a leadership role to play on the national stage.�

Our sustainability crisis is really a crisis of leadership. We must have large scale collective action and fundamental change in our economy. This requires courageous, visionary leaders who can agree that such change is not only necessary, but in the long run will be the shortest route to wellbeing. The world is hungry for leadership on climate and sustainability.

If leadership is so important, what do we do when our leaders are unwilling or unable to act? I am planning for a world that will be very different from the one that we grew up in. Like any dad, I am concerned for my kids (Andrew and Sachi), but I also consider it my duty to prepare the students whose lives I can touch here at Unity.

Over the last year I have come to know many of our faculty and I have found that their dedication to this mission is as fervent as or more so than my own. I believe that like-minded people will increasingly come together to plan for adaptation and create resilient communities. In the vacuum of leadership, we can see this already occurring (e.g., the transition movement).

I believe that Unity College has a leadership role to play on the national stage. Recently an individual from the community asked me why Unity should have such a grandiose mission. After all, we could be just another small liberal arts college specializing on certain fields in applied conservation. Instead, we have declared that we have a role to play in the renewal of civilization through sustainability. My answer is that, although small, we can change the world if we are an example for other institutions. Across the United States, arguably most big universities are deadlocked in bureaucratic paralysis. Unity College has taken the lead and adopted sustainability science as a framework. Although we are only a few months into developing this paradigm, we are already blazing a trail.

So, unlike our elected officials, Unity College can and must be a leader. Because we can be innovative and foster comprehensive institutional change, we have an opportunity to produce graduates who can step up to the challenges of this century. This is the only way that the huge investment in our mission makes sense. There are plenty of colleges and universities that can give students the means to get a job. Indeed, a college degree is now a commodity, like rice or corn. You pay your money and get your degree after four years, and at many institutions learning can be a secondary consideration.

At Unity College, we must take the process one step further and produce graduates who can not only get jobs, but who can help create the new green economy. Our graduates should not be mere workers. They should help change the world. ~ Stephen Mulkey, President

SUPPORT THE COLLEGE YOU LOVE.

Unity College provides an education relevant to changing times.

THE UNITY FUND PROVIDES up-to-date classrooms, labs, and equipment to better prepare students for their 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.

Support a 21st Century Education DONATE ONLINE at www.unity.edu

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