Honoring philanthropy and service
Morgan ’84 and Tara Rutman have made giving back to the university — and the state of New Hampshire — a foundational element of their lives.
Morgan’s family moved to Durham in 1967 when his father joined the history department. After one semester at another university, Morgan quickly returned to Durham to earn his bachelor’s degree in business administration. He next set off for Wall Street, which marked the start of Morgan’s long, successful career in finance. That’s also where he and Tara met — a partnership that has been going strong for 37 years.
Morgan is a member of the USNH Board of Trustees and served for two separate 10-year terms on the UNH Foundation Board, including a stint as chairman.
Together, Morgan and Tara have generously supported numerous organizations around the Greater Seacoast and a number of key UNH initiatives and programs, including the Rutman Leadership Fellows program, the Rutman/Och Advancing Women’s Leadership Initiative Fund, the Shoals Marine Laboratory and the Rutman Distinguished Lecture Series on the American Presidency, which was established in honor of Morgan’s parents.
“UNH has been the most important place that has shaped me into the person I am today, and given me the tools to succeed in life,” Morgan shared with the audience.
Peggy Ann Shea’s decades-long scientific career researching the interplay between cosmic rays, solar particles and Earth’s magnetic field has helped set standards used by NASA and the FAA in aviation and space exploration. And her investigations into contemporary and historic solar phenomena and cosmic ray events have yielded valuable insights that are still being explored today.
She recalls that on the first day of an engineering drawing course, the instructor announced, “Well fellas, we’ve got two girls in here. How fast can we get ’em out?”
Luckily, they did not succeed. In the spring of 1956, she took a summer job as a data entry clerk for Dr. John Lockwood. The experience of monitoring and recording cosmic ray data from a neutron monitor on Mount Washington gave Shea the foundation for her future research. And when Soviet satellite Sputnik was launched the following year, she knew for sure that the time was right for a career in physics.
That career has taken her to more than 60 countries. At the Evening of Distinction event, she quoted a report introduction she authored: “‘The very nature of geoscience is worldwide in scope, and scientific expertise and achievements are not confined to international boundaries.’ … This is something I feel very strongly, as I have worked with individuals from many countries and cultures. I have learned much from them, and I hope they learned something from me.”
Shea has authored or co-authored more than 400 papers and has been a longtime editor for the journal Advances in Space Research. She has been honored by the U.S. Air Force, the Royal Astronomical Society, the International Academy of Astronautics, the American Geophysical Union and others.
She’s done all this with her husband, Don Smart, by her side. They published their first paper together in 1965 and have another forthcoming.
“Going above and beyond” is one of Dr. Nancy Kinner’s defining characteristics — second only, perhaps, to her signature red hat, which makes her instantly recognizable anywhere on campus.
Though retired from teaching at UNH, Kinner continues to serve as co-director of the Coastal Response Research Center, a partnership between UNH and NOAA, and director for the Center for Spills in the Environment since 2004. She played a critical role in the launch of the School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering, where she has served as associate director for research since 2019. She also continues to advise and mentor graduate students.
Kinner came to New Hampshire in 1975 to study at the Shoals Marine Laboratory. Those weeks on Appledore Island and aboard the R/V Westward cemented her career path: She would devote herself to researching and devising practical solutions to pressing coastal problems, such as oil spills, natural disaster recovery and renewable fuels.
Kinner’s scholarship and service in civil and environmental engineering and marine science have made impacts at the state, regional, national and international levels. She has testified before Congress and was a leading voice in the response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Because of her work, her colleague Scott Lundgren, of the National Ocean Service’s Office of Response and Restoration, has said, “It’s not a stretch to say that a large portion of oil spill research in this country has been discussed, coordinated or touched somehow by Nancy and UNH.”
Her dedication extends outside her academic disciplines, as an enthusiastic ambassador for UNH. She was there to welcome students to their first year on campus at the annual Cat Pack Kick-Off Rally and was there at commencement as chief faculty marshal for 15 years, to usher them into their future with her memorable rendition of “Happy Trails.”
She shared at the event, “I’m a lucky camper because I’ve got a great family, great students, great colleagues and fun research, and you never get to the top without being part of a team; it’s a great day to be a Wildcat!”
In September 2019, Vivian Pham ’14 joined the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission as the agency’s first chief of staff. The MRC has more than 800 employees and supports more than 42,000 people with disabilities in Massachusetts. After only a few months on the job, the COVID pandemic began, and Pham led the agency’s response. There were many challenges, but Pham met those challenges with curiosity, compassion and dedication — and helped transform the way MRC does its work: monitoring cross-agency projects, leading initiatives to foster diversity, equity and inclusion, navigating legislative relations and advising the MRC’s commissioner on strategy and operations. As a result, Pham’s been recognized as one of Boston’s 15 most influential Asian-American & Pacific Islanders Emerging Community Leaders and was part of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 Class of Outstanding Young Leaders.
Most recently, Pham has taken the next major step in her career and is currently a Commonwealth Bradford Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she is pursuing her master’s degree in public administration.
Pham’s commitment to leadership and public service has been apparent ever since she was a student at UNH, where she was involved with the Waysmeet Food Pantry, a member of Alpha Phi Omega (the community service fraternity) and a Governor John G. Winant Public Service Fellow.
At the event, she shared, “I feel so deeply humbled … to see the excellence that comes out of UNH. Sitting here listening to these other alumni still so committed to the work and having a ripple effect not only in New Hampshire but across the country and the world shows me all the other things I may be able to do in the next few years.”