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Spring/Summer 2020
Contents
cover story:
As COVID-19 spread across the globe, closing public spaces and bringing new phrases like “social distancing” and “flattening the curve” into daily use, it quickly became clear that this pandemic would be an event for the history books. A number of UNH alumni photographers are among the many who are documenting the impact of COVID-19 across the U.S. and beyond.
On the UNH frontlines, faculty and staff members used UNH 3-D printers to manufacture face-shield headbands used by Seacoast-area healthcare workers.
Even as the COVID-19 pandemic sent UNH students home, leaving faculty members and administrators with the daunting task of shifting all coursework and professor-student interactions to a fully online format, helping to protect New Hampshire and provide as many resources as possible to those in need was not only a focus, but a priority.
Eleven-term State Sen. Lou D’Allesandro ’61 has spent the better part of five decades working in the New Hampshire state capital. But at the age of 81, the UNH Athletics Hall of Famer isn’t finished doing what he does best — serving as a champion for the people and state of New Hampshire — just yet.
Departments
Class Notes

Brian Murphy ’86
Dave Mackey ’92
Connor Roelke ’14
In Memoriam

Robert Deblois ’76
Catherine “Cassie” Heppner ’95
On the UNH frontlines, faculty and staff members used UNH 3-D printers to manufacture face-shield headbands used by Seacoast-area healthcare workers.
President’s Column
The View From T-Hall
Photo of Jim Dean

T

hose unfamiliar with UNH could look at three major issues confronting us — racism, COVID-19 and financial losses triggered by the pandemic — and call it a perfect storm. Indeed, these are serious challenges and addressing them requires the support of everyone across the university. But today, I am full of optimism for UNH’s future because of the character of our community, including our alumni.

On June 7, I attended a student-led Black Lives Matter rally in Durham. I was so proud to watch hundreds of students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters gathering peacefully, and I was deeply humbled to hear speakers share their perspectives on issues of racism, racial injustice and inequity that our nation, and even our university, still struggle to confront. It reminded me of the great civil rights marches of the 1960s, and Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Summer Home
More than a century ago, poet Celia Laighton Thaxter planted a garden on Appledore Island that provided flowers for her family’s hotel, a source of inspiration for her book “An Island Garden” — and a destination to hundreds of visitors from around the world who continue to make the 8-mile boat trip to the Isles of Shoals during the summer to take in heirloom hollyhock, dahlia, poppies, mignonette and more, planted in Thaxter’s original design. This year, however, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shoals Marine Laboratory had to cancel the garden tours and the seedlings that had been cultivated by Greenland, New Hampshire-based Rolling Green Nursery needed a new temporary home. Thanks to a generous donation from a local resident, Thaxter’s famous garden has found fertile soil for summer 2020 in Portsmouth’s Prescott Park, where volunteers recently planted the annuals. Shoals Marine Laboratory executive director Jennifer Seavey and others hope the garden will return to Appledore Island next summer; for now, visitors can enjoy the iconic blooms among Prescott Park’s other vibrant garden beds.
Image of Thaxter Garden
Summer Home
More than a century ago, poet Celia Laighton Thaxter planted a garden on Appledore Island that provided flowers for her family’s hotel, a source of inspiration for her book “An Island Garden” — and a destination to hundreds of visitors from around the world who continue to make the 8-mile boat trip to the Isles of Shoals during the summer to take in heirloom hollyhock, dahlia, poppies, mignonette and more, planted in Thaxter’s original design. This year, however, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shoals Marine Laboratory had to cancel the garden tours and the seedlings that had been cultivated by Greenland, New Hampshire-based Rolling Green Nursery needed a new temporary home. Thanks to a generous donation from a local resident, Thaxter’s famous garden has found fertile soil for summer 2020 in Portsmouth’s Prescott Park, where volunteers recently planted the annuals. Shoals Marine Laboratory executive director Jennifer Seavey and others hope the garden will return to Appledore Island next summer; for now, visitors can enjoy the iconic blooms among Prescott Park’s other vibrant garden beds.
Editor-in-Chief
Kristin Waterfield Duisberg

Design Director
Kasey Glode

Designer
Valerie Lester

Current Editor
Jody Record ’95

Class Notes Editor
Allison Battles ’02

Contributing and Staff Writers
Ali Goldstein
Colleen Flaherty ’09, ’10G
Karen Hammond ’64
Dave Moore
Michelle Morrissey ’97
Brion O’Connor ’84
Beth Potier

Contributing and Staff Photographers
Stephen Cloutier
Susan Currie ’88
Henry Duisberg
Caryn Crotty Eldridge ’93
Jeremy Gasowski
Ralph Morang ’72
Vinny Mwano ’15
Lisa Nugent
Gil Talbot
Matt Trappe

Editorial Office
15 Strafford Ave., Durham, NH 03824
alumni.editor@unh.edu

Publication Board of Directors
James W. Dean Jr.
President, University of New Hampshire

Debbie Dutton
Vice President, Advancement

Mica Stark ’96
Associate Vice President,
Communications and Public Affairs

Susan Entz ’08G
Associate Vice President, Alumni Association

Heidi Dufour Ames ’02
President, UNH Alumni Association

cover photo by Scott Yates ‘07

UNH Magazine is published three times a year by the University of New Hampshire, Office of University Communications and Public Affairs and the Office of the President.

© 2020, University of New Hampshire. Readers may send letters, news items and email address changes to alumni.editor@unh.edu.

Contributors
Photo of Tim O’Sullivan
1.
1. Tim O’Sullivan As a sports reporter and editor for the Concord Monitor since 2003, Tim O’Sullivan had, of course, heard of New Hampshire State Sen. Lou D’Allesandro ’61. But only after writing this story did O’Sullivan understand and appreciate the scope of D’Allesandro’s political experience and the depth of his commitment to the people of New Hampshire. Having covered UNH football for the Monitor from 2004-17, and as the color analyst for the Wildcat Sports Radio Network broadcasts from 2014-16, O’Sullivan also connected with the former-athlete side of D’Allesandro, who started for the UNH football team and played lacrosse for the Wildcats.
Image of Scott Yates
2.
2. Scott Yates ’07 Scott Yates says the vernacular of incredulous youngsters best describes his daily routine as a community photojournalist in the middle of a global pandemic: “Pics, or it didn’t happen.” Working from home doesn’t really exist for photographers; that’s why he’s relieved that journalists are still considered “essential workers” who are permitted to continue with appropriate safety precautions. While mindful of the risk he’s taking, Yates has kept shooting to demonstrate the value of professional, thoughtful photojournalism in a world that sees billions of new photographs for free every day. “Despite the sideways looks at someone with an allergy cough, despite a bustling downtown scene devoid of midday hustling, despite the danger of simply being present, it’s just another day of work to me.”
Image of Keith Testa
3.
3. Keith Testa Given that the most critical decision he faces most days during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order is choosing among the T-shirt and hoodie combinations he’s alternated almost exclusively as work attire, it would be safe to say Keith Testa has effectively socially distanced himself from the “front lines” of the battle. UNH, however, voluntarily has not, and Testa was excited to share the myriad ways in which the university has risen to the challenge of supporting New Hampshire through the devastating pandemic. “It’s incredible to realize how much of a difference many at UNH have been able to make simply by being compassionate and responsive. The sense of responsibility to help without hesitation is what makes the university community so strong.” Testa lives in Portsmouth, N.H., with his dog, Cooper (pictured), and cat, Jack, both of whom are ready for his hallway work conversations to involve other humans again.
Editor’s Desk
Photo of Kristin Duisberg
Henry Duisberg
From the Editor’s Desk
B

ack in March, when COVID-19 reached the United States and UNH joined schools and businesses across the country in shifting the majority of its daily work to a remote model in the interest of “flattening the curve” and limiting the spread of the highly contagious virus, I knew right away that certain stories we’d planned for the spring/summer issue would have to wait. The COVID-19 pandemic was far too disruptive, and far too significant a historic event, not to be documented by UNH Magazine. Two of the three features in this issue — “A World on Pause” and “UNH on the Frontlines” — were born out of that shift.

What I didn’t immediately grasp, however, was the impact the pandemic would have on our ability to print. COVID-19 has hit the bottom line of colleges and universities nationwide, many of which are choosing to suspend expenses that include their alumni magazines until their future financial picture is more certain. It’s a testament to the value the University of New Hampshire places on its connections to its alumni, and the spirit of innovation and ingenuity that has driven it for more than 150 years, that the decision was made to continue publishing UNH Magazine — for now, in digital form.

Current
Current
Jeremy Gasowski / UNH
Making History at the Whitt
Over the years, UNH’s Whittemore Center Arena has been host to a variety of visitors: collegiate hockey teams and student job-seekers, concertgoers and bridal- and garden expo attendees. And while June 11 wasn’t the facility’s first go-round as a venue for prominent political figures — President Barack Obama made a particularly well-attended campaign stop there during the 2016 election cycle — it was arguably the most historic. On that date, for the first time since the Civil War, the 400-member body of the New Hampshire House of Representatives met outside the State House in Concord, convening its first legislative session since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic on the floor of the Whitt. The 6,500-person capacity arena provided the perfect space for the state’s representatives to meet while observing social distancing and a full range of safety protocols. “I am so impressed and grateful to the university system and to UNH for being incredible to work with throughout this process,” says House speaker Steve Shurtleff. “With UNH being a land grant college and everything that all the schools in the system have done for our state, I think it’s great that we were able to hold the session at the Whitt.”
Safety Net
Donors rally to support students affected by COVID-19 crisis
Jamila Peguero '21
When Jamila Peguero ’21 learned that UNH Manchester would be switching to remote learning in the wake of the spreading COVID-19 crisis, she knew that meant she’d no longer be working at the university library, where she holds down a part-time job.

It’s okay, she figured. She’d go back to substitute teaching and working at an afterschool program to help make ends meet. But then schools started to close — first for two weeks, then for two more. Then came stay-at-home orders, and school closures into May. As someone who contributes to her family’s household costs and pays many of her own expenses, she started to panic.

“Those other jobs were my last resort; typically, I have two jobs at a time to stay afloat,” Peguero explains. “All of a sudden, I lost all of my jobs.” She says in these extraordinary times, there’s no shame in asking for assistance. “I mean, we all need help, right? It’s really important to put yourself out there, to think ‘this is something that I need, and it’s okay.’”

A Triumph of “Curious”ity
Theatre students put on spring play from home
S

ome historical references place the first use of the expression “the show must go on” back in the 1800s, when circus performers continued their acts regardless of tigers on the loose or falls from the trapeze. The phrase has been repeated throughout the years to describe just about any activity that refuses to be deterred by circumstances. So it was only fitting that theatre and dance professor David Kaye and his students would apply the thinking to their production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” which premiered via Zoom April 16, 17 and 18.

Theatre students put on a play from home
The original intent, of course, was to perform the play in person, in UNH’s Johnson Theatre. Students — including three seniors — were cast last November. Production was slated to start after spring break. And then, COVID-19 hit. A videoconference with cast and crew ended with the decision to get rid of the “would haves” and move forward with a virtual performance, adapted to reflect the challenges and realities of remote production. The show — renamed “The Curious Incident of a Curious Incident: A Pandemic Meta-Play” — indeed went on.

Kaye has been using Zoom for about two years to hire and rehearse actors around the country for UNH Power Play, the department of theatre and dance’s professional applied theatre company. He’s also used Zoom for other projects. “But this went way beyond that,” he says. “The students and I pretty much made this up as we went along.”

Abrita Kuthumi ’21 is UNH’s newest Truman Scholar
Jeremy Gasowski
Bringing the Daylight
Abrita Kuthumi ’21 is UNH’s newest Truman Scholar
I

n her application to become a 2020 Truman Scholar, Abrita Kuthumi ’21 proposed an idea that would provide educational resources for the lowest caste group in Nepal. She mapped out a plan offering economic assistance as well as support for students who face social challenges. She called the initiative “Daylight.”

“I named the program in the spirit of how sunlight hits people all the same, without discriminating against gender, income, caste and other social identities,” says Kuthumi, who moved to New Hampshire from Nepal when she was 10. “With the privilege of having an American education at UNH, I want to help disadvantaged social groups in developing countries receive an education.”

A political science and international affairs major, Kuthumi has traveled to Korea twice on Critical Language Scholarships. She also received the Helen Duncan Jones Award, The Washington Center President Council’s Scholarship, a TRIO scholarship and an Undergraduate Research Conference Award of Excellence. She learned she had been named a Truman Scholar — the university’s fifth — from Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Wayne Jones via Zoom.

A Peaceful and Powerful Event: Between 300 and 500 students, faculty, staff and community members gathered on T-Hall Lawn on June 7 for a Black Lives Matter protest and march, one of many public events held across the country and beyond following the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The event, organized by UNH student leaders, began with a number of Black students speaking about their personal experience with racism and appealing to their fellow community members to listen, learn and hold themselves and others accountable for committing or witnessing acts of racism. The event culminated with a march to Wildcat Stadium, where organizers shared a video. UNH President Jim Dean was among those who participated in the peaceful and powerful event. In recent weeks, Dean has called on the university community to “renew our commitment to providing a safe and inclusive environment for everyone at UNH, including in interactions with UNH and Durham police,” and announced a new university-wide action plan to address racism and intolerance.
Reduce, Reuse, Repeat Times 10
Trash 2 Treasure celebrates a decade
Trash 2 Treasure celebrates a decade
Lisa Nugent
W

hen Lauren Banker ’13, Alex Freid ’13, Emily Spognardi ’14 and Erica Vazza ’14 walked into the Gables community room in May 2011, they beheld dozens of lamps, couches and other dorm items. “It looked like a pawn shop,” recalls Spognardi.

“We knew students threw out a lot that could be reused,” adds Vazza. “We didn’t know if they would choose to donate it.”

Donate it they did, and by so doing helped solidify an idea that became Trash 2 Treasure (T2T), a student-led sustainability initiative to keep useful items out of the landfill and save students and the university money. A decade later, the program is the model for more than 400 universities that have implemented similar efforts on their own campuses.

Faculty and Staff News
In June, Nadine Petty was named UNH’s new chief diversity officer and associate vice president for community, equity and diversity. Petty, who will join the university on August 10, most recently served as the executive director of the Center for Diversity and Enrichment at the University of Iowa. While at Iowa, she collaborated with campus and community partners to lead and implement programming to enrich the campus experience of underrepresented students and also facilitated diversity training for faculty, staff and students. Before taking her talents to Iowa, Petty served as the director of TRIO student support services at the University of Louisville, where she also earned her doctorate in educational leadership and organizational development.
Jay Calhoun, who recently served as CFO and treasurer at Brown University, has been named UNH’s interim CFO. At Brown, Calhoun oversaw a reorganization and consolidation of two budget units, reconstructed the financial analysis and reporting for budget activities and managed a progressive reduction in the university’s endowment draw. Prior to joining Brown, Calhoun served as treasurer at Carnegie Mellon University. Calhoun succeeds Cathy Provencher, University System of New Hampshire vice chancellor for financial affairs and treasurer, who served as interim CFO for eight months.
Cache Owens-Velasquez joins UNH in July as the new director of the Beauregard Center. Originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin, Owens-Velasquez comes to UNH from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she earned her doctorate and has since worked in a variety of community engagement roles. Formerly known as the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, the Beauregard Center’s new name honors the life of Aulbani Beauregard ’22, who passed away in January 2019 and was deeply engaged in equity and justice work during her brief time at UNH.
UNH professor of anthropology Meghan Howey is just one of 27 scholars nationwide to be named a 2020 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. One of the country’s most generous and most prestigious fellowships, the Carnegie Corporation award provides $200,000 to fund scholarly research and writing aimed at addressing important and enduring issues confronting society. Howey’s fellowship will allow her to continue her work on the Great Bay Archaeological Survey, a multi-year interdisciplinary and community-engaged research program that has found and excavated 17th and early 18th century residences and amassed a collection of early colonial artifacts in the New Hampshire seacoast area.
Serita Frey, professor of soil microbial ecology at UNH, has been named a fellow of the Ecological Society of America, a lifelong appointment that reflects her “substantial contributions to our understanding of how soil organisms respond to environmental change … leadership within the field of ecology, service to the Ecological Society of America and tireless mentorship of the next generation of ecologists.” Frey’s research looks at microorganisms in soil and how they respond to environmental changes caused by human activities.
Assistant professor of physics and materials science Jiadong Zang recently received the 2020 International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Young Scientist Prize in the field of magnetism. Zang received the annual international award, given to those within eight years of receiving their doctorate, for his outstanding theoretical studies of the interplay between magnetism and topology. In March, Zang was also named an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow for Experienced Researchers for 2020-2022.
Associate professor of civil engineering Robert Henry was named the 2020 Engineer of the Year by the New Hampshire Society of Professional Engineers. The award is presented to an engineer who has made outstanding contributions to the engineering profession, public welfare and humankind. During his 40-year career at UNH, Henry has mentored more than a thousand students. He also led the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences as the associate dean from 2001 to 2012.
UNH professor emeritus of physics Terry Forbes has been selected as a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The AAS Fellows Program, established in 2019, recognizes achievement and extraordinary service to the field of astronomy. Forbes is part of the program’s one-time Legacy Fellows class, which includes more than 200 individuals honored for their outstanding research, teaching, mentoring and service.
Charles Schwab, professor emeritus of animal and nutritional sciences and a long-time former member of UNH’s dairy program, has received the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Fellow Award. The award recognizes dairy scientists who are members of ADSA and who have a record of distinguished service to the dairy industry for 20 or more years. Among other accomplishments, during Schwab’s 34-year career at UNH he helped establish the Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center, the Dairy Nutrition Research Center and the Organic Dairy Research Farm.
Inquiry
Virtual Reality
UNH’s undergraduate research conference goes online
illustration of a microscope
Illustration by Kasey Glode
F

or many students, presenting monthslong research at UNH’s Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) is among the highlights of their college careers. Indeed, the program celebrated its 20th anniversary in April 2019 with more than 2,000 students presenting work over the course of 13 days. When campus closed March 18 and students were sent home to complete the spring semester remotely, it seemed inevitable that the 1,858 students who had registered to share posters, performances and projects at this year’s conference were bound for disappointment — but with a little ingenuity and the dedication of groups across campus, for the most part, that wasn’t the case.

Within a day of the university’s closing, the URC’s organizers in the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research had made the first move to take the conference virtual. “We had very little time to shift gears, identify one shared virtual platform that would work for most if not all 20-plus events, and work out the logistics,” says Hamel Center administrative director Molly Doyle.

By April 1, with the help of UNH Academic Technology, the virtual platform was identified. An online gallery to accommodate individual URC events was created, and guidelines were drawn up to aid faculty mentors and coordinators in shepherding students through the process of reimagining their in-person presentations for a virtual format. Students presented and recorded their projects remotely, then loaded them to the virtual platform for “visitors” to view at their convenience.

CoRE Strength
Six new interdisciplinary research projects will address coronavirus issues
E

ven as the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered campuses and compelled students and faculty members alike to learn new ways of engaging, it brought to the forefront one of UNH’s core strengths — or make that a CoRE strength: interdisciplinary collaboration. Launched in 2017, the Collaborative Research Excellence (CoRE) initiative represents a range of funding opportunities that reinforce a broad culture of interdisciplinary exchange, collaboration, planning and support across departments and programs at UNH. In response to COVID, some 23 interdisciplinary groups brought forward CoRE proposals for projects to address public health and welfare challenges related to the pandemic. Six of those are currently underway, harnessing expertise from across the university in fields as diverse as microbiology, digital literacy, environmental engineering and public health.

“The COVID-19 pandemic presents challenges that can only be solved through multidisciplinary collaborations,” says Marian McCord, senior vice provost for research, economic engagement and outreach. “The proposals were outstanding, and our research development team is committed to assisting each team in seeking external funding to support the proposed work.” McCord’s office and that of UNH Provost Wayne Jones will support each project with a one-year grant of $30,000.

— Beth Potier
Approaches to Inhibit an Enzyme Causing COVID-19
Development and Deployment of a Rapid Surveillance Tool for SARS-COV-2 in Environmental Samples
Tilde: Transformational Inquiry in Literacy and Digital Environments During COVID-19
Improved Application of UV Disinfection for Viral Pandemic Response
Investigating the Efficacy of Mutated Neutralizing SARS-COV Antibodies Against SARS-COV-2
Dynamics of Risk and Resilience in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Pandemic Baby Boom? Don’t Bet on It
UNH demographer Ken Johnson says a post-COVID birth spike unlikely
clipart stork flying with a baby bag
Illustration by Kasey Glode
I

t’s a joke that’s accompanied nearly every blizzard and blackout since the return of soldiers from World War II ushered in the United States’ first baby boom in the 1940s: brace yourselves for maxed-out maternity wards in nine months. But while punsters already have a handful of nicknames at the ready for the population that will join the world in early 2021 —coronials, anyone? Baby zoomers?— UNH’s Class of 1940 Professor of Sociology Kenneth Johnson thinks a spike in births is unlikely. In fact, he says the United States will likely see its birth rate continue to decrease.

“There’s no way that the number of births is going to go up,” says Johnson, senior demographer for the university’s Carsey School of Public Policy. “This is not the kind of environment in which people say, ‘let’s bring a child into the world now.’”

Johnson says a number of factors were already causing a slowing of the U.S. population’s rate of growth even before COVID-19 hit. Now, financial uncertainty related to the pandemic and the attendant shutdown of industries and businesses across the United States are making it more likely for couples to postpone the decision to start a family — or possibly to forgo parenthood entirely.

Johnson points to the economic downturn that began in 2007 as evidence. “Fertility dropped substantially,” he notes. “That’s not unusual. That often happens during difficult economic times.” What is unusual, however, is that the birth rate didn’t bounce back during a subsequent decade-plus of relative stability and economic growth. At the same time, the United States’ death rate has increased — primarily because the population is getting older, and the mortality rate of older individuals is higher. While for now the U.S. population continues to maintain a natural increase — a higher absolute number of births than deaths every year — the margin between those numbers is closing, a pattern that the current pandemic is likely to accelerate.

Johnson says it’s too soon to say yet what the long-term impact of this trend will be on the nation’s population. But last year, the U.S. population growth rate was the lowest since 1919—during the Spanish flu pandemic. With more than 100,000 deaths already from the coronavirus and little likelihood of any increase in births, it is very likely that the population growth rate will diminish again this year.

— Kristin Waterfield Duisberg
Sports
Senior Student-Athletes in the Spotlight
Alpine skier Emma Woodhouse ’20 and soccer player Josh Bauer ’20 received UNH Athletics’ highest honor — the Jim Urquhart Student-Athlete of the Year Award — during the department’s second annual Senior Showcase in May, held via YouTube. Given to the most outstanding senior student-athletes based on athletic success, community involvement and academic achievement, the award is named in memory of longtime UNH coach and administrator Jim Urquhart, who coached the New Hampshire men’s lacrosse team for 17 years and the wrestling team for 11 seasons.
Emma Woodhouse ’20 skiing
Emma Woodhouse ’20
Josh Bauer ’20 playing soccer
Josh Bauer ’20
Woodhouse ranked No. 1 in slalom points among all East skiers this season and was named to the All-East Second Team. She was a two-time Second Team NCAA All-American in 2019. A key member of the 2018 and 2019 America East Champion men’s soccer teams, Bauer was the first player in program history to earn First Team All-America honors and was also the first player in school history to be a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy. Bauer was the ECAC and America East Defender of the Year, and was named the America East Tournament MVP.

Ten other student-athletes were recognized for their achievements at this year’s Senior Showcase. Kaylan Williams ’20 of the women’s soccer team and Nelson Thomas ’20 (football) and Jack Crawford ’20 (men’s cross country/track and field) earned the Cathy Coakley Community Involvement Award. Swimmer Allison Stefanelli ’20 earned the Coaches Award, and women’s hockey player and men’s track and field athletes Abby Chapman ’20 and Edward Speidel ’20 claimed the Athletic Director’s Award for Academic Excellence. Bauer was the male recipient of the Performer of the Year Award, alongside Anna Metzler ’20 of swimming and diving. Rounding out the honors were Corinne Carbone ’20 (swimming and diving) and Evan Gray ’20 (football), who received the Tina True Award and Rookie of the Year awardees Maura Verleg ’20 (field hockey) and Max Brosmer ’20 (football).

— Kristin Waterfield Duisberg
Bookshelf
two books stacked on top of eachother
The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls
Ursula Hegi ’78, ‘79G,
Flatiron Books,
August 2020
O

n an idyllic summer day in 1878, just after the traveling Ludwig Zirkus wraps up its afternoon performance, a hundred-year wave bears down on the island of Nordstrand, carrying away all but the youngest of Lotte and Kalle Jansen’s four children. As life goes on for the other inhabitants of the German island, Kalle deals with his grief by joining the Zirkus to tend to its animals. Lotte, having lost the will to care for her surviving son, Wilhelm, is taken in by the nuns at St. Margaret’s Home for Pregnant Girls. Soon, Lotte comes to depend on Tilli, an 11-year-old St. Margaret’s resident whose growing attachment to the infant Wilhelm soothes her own grief after her illegitimate newborn is whisked away, and Sabine, the Zirkus seamstress whose teenage daughter remains perpetually childlike. Even as she creates this new family for herself, Lotte finds herself sinking deeper into the myths of her island, which hold the possibility that her lost children are still alive.

Dewey Defeats Truman: The 1948 Election and the Fight for the Soul of America
AJ Baime ’94,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
July 2020
I

n the months leading up to the 1948 presidential election, there was exactly one person who believed that Democratic incumbent Harry Truman could continue to hold the office he’d stepped into when FDR died suddenly a few short months into his fourth term — Truman himself. The country he sought to maintain was deeply fractured: Racism was rampant, foreign relations were complicated and fraught, and Truman was up against a Republican challenger, Thomas Dewey, who had effectively been anointed as the next president by the national press. In his follow-up to 2017’s “Accidental President,” Baime takes readers inside four campaigns — Truman’s, Dewey’s, Henry Wallace’s Communist-sympathizing Progressive Party and Strom Thurmond’s unapologetically white supremacist “Dixiecrats” — to witness the inner workings of America’s first postwar election and a battle for what Truman called “the very soul of the American government.” Set against a backdrop of impeachment headlines, fears that Moscow was trying to interfere with the election, a president in a feud with the press, unprecedented vitriol in the political dialogue and more, Baime’s latest is not only a vivid history lesson, it’s also a remarkably timely exploration of the politics of politics and their consequences.

Read more about Baime, his book and the role UNH played in shaping his successful writing career in UNH Magazine’s exclusive online interview

The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls
Ursula Hegi ’78, ‘79G,
Flatiron Books,
August 2020
O

n an idyllic summer day in 1878, just after the traveling Ludwig Zirkus wraps up its afternoon performance, a hundred-year wave bears down on the island of Nordstrand, carrying away all but the youngest of Lotte and Kalle Jansen’s four children. As life goes on for the other inhabitants of the German island, Kalle deals with his grief by joining the Zirkus to tend to its animals. Lotte, having lost the will to care for her surviving son, Wilhelm, is taken in by the nuns at St. Margaret’s Home for Pregnant Girls. Soon, Lotte comes to depend on Tilli, an 11-year-old St. Margaret’s resident whose growing attachment to the infant Wilhelm soothes her own grief after her illegitimate newborn is whisked away, and Sabine, the Zirkus seamstress whose teenage daughter remains perpetually childlike. Even as she creates this new family for herself, Lotte finds herself sinking deeper into the myths of her island, which hold the possibility that her lost children are still alive.

Dewey Defeats Truman: The 1948 Election and the Fight for the Soul of America
AJ Baime ’94,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
July 2020
I

n the months leading up to the 1948 presidential election, there was exactly one person who believed that Democratic incumbent Harry Truman could continue to hold the office he’d stepped into when FDR died suddenly a few short months into his fourth term — Truman himself. The country he sought to maintain was deeply fractured: Racism was rampant, foreign relations were complicated and fraught, and Truman was up against a Republican challenger, Thomas Dewey, who had effectively been anointed as the next president by the national press. In his follow-up to 2017’s “Accidental President,” Baime takes readers inside four campaigns — Truman’s, Dewey’s, Henry Wallace’s Communist-sympathizing Progressive Party and Strom Thurmond’s unapologetically white supremacist “Dixiecrats” — to witness the inner workings of America’s first postwar election and a battle for what Truman called “the very soul of the American government.” Set against a backdrop of impeachment headlines, fears that Moscow was trying to interfere with the election, a president in a feud with the press, unprecedented vitriol in the political dialogue and more, Baime’s latest is not only a vivid history lesson, it’s also a remarkably timely exploration of the politics of politics and their consequences.

Read more about Baime, his book and the role UNH played in shaping his successful writing career in UNH Magazine’s exclusive online interview

A.J. Baime headshot
Q&A with
A.J. Baime
A.J. Baime ’94 is the author of four widely acclaimed historical nonfiction titles: “Big Shots,” “The Arsenal of Democracy,” “The Accidental President,” and “Go Like Hell” — the last of which is the basis for the 2019 film “Ford v. Ferrari.” Baime’s latest book is “Dewey Defeats Truman,” a gripping account of the 1948 presidential election. UNH Magazine connected with Baime recently to learn more about the book and his time at UNH.
A.J. Baime headshot
Q&A with
A.J. Baime
Q&A with A.J. Baime
A.J. Baime ’94 is the author of four widely acclaimed historical nonfiction titles: “Big Shots,” “The Arsenal of Democracy,” “The Accidental President,” and “Go Like Hell” — the last of which is the basis for the 2019 film “Ford v. Ferrari.” Baime’s latest book is “Dewey Defeats Truman,” a gripping account of the 1948 presidential election. UNH Magazine connected with Baime recently to learn more about the book and his time at UNH.
This is your second book about Harry Truman. What sparked your interest in Truman in the first place?
When I was growing up, my father had a portrait of Truman hanging up — actually two of them; one at home and one at his office. But it wasn’t until many years later, when I read David McCullough’s biography [“Truman,” published in 1992], that I started to realize how amazing Truman was as a character, and how central he was to the most spectacular stories I had ever heard about the history of our country. My dad and I bonded over Harry Truman, although when I first told him I wanted to write about Truman he told me there was no way I could, because David McCullough’s biography was so good and so thorough that nobody should ever write about Truman again. But I thought there were still good stories to tell about Truman, and as compelling as the events of the time were, for me, it was the character of Truman himself that makes the story work so well. Because he was such a sympathetic character. He was a family man. He loved his country so much. And he was funny. As a writer, if you were to create the character of Harry Truman, you couldn’t do a better job if it was fiction.
Get Puzzled
artwork of professional puzzlemaker Brendan Emmett Quigley ’96
Professional puzzlemaker Brendan Emmett Quigley ’96 creates custom puzzles for UNH Magazine that include clues from one or more of the issue’s feature stories.
Jeremy Gasowski / UNH
UNH on the
Frontlines
UNH is helping to lead New Hampshire’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
By Keith Testa
Photography by Jeremy Gasowski
K

en Kruger ’03 can flip through memories from his time on the UNH campus like he’s thumbing through crates of used records, pausing for just a second to revel in each one before moving effortlessly to the next.

He spent one of his undergraduate years as student body president, relishing his time as a leader among his classmates and interacting with university administrators. He completed the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, taking the first steps toward a fulfilling career in the New Hampshire National Guard, where he has achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He fondly recalls days and evenings spent hanging out in the Memorial Union Building (MUB), which he refers to as “the nexus” of social activity on campus.

But Kruger’s mental archives don’t end at graduation — in fact, if anything, the scenes he’s added since he earned his degree are even more vivid.

Icons
Jeremy Gasowski / UNH
UNH on the
Frontlines
UNH is helping to lead New Hampshire’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
By Keith Testa
Photography by Jeremy Gasowski
K

en Kruger ’03 can flip through memories from his time on the UNH campus like he’s thumbing through crates of used records, pausing for just a second to revel in each one before moving effortlessly to the next.

He spent one of his undergraduate years as student body president, relishing his time as a leader among his classmates and interacting with university administrators. He completed the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, taking the first steps toward a fulfilling career in the New Hampshire National Guard, where he has achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He fondly recalls days and evenings spent hanging out in the Memorial Union Building (MUB), which he refers to as “the nexus” of social activity on campus.

But Kruger’s mental archives don’t end at graduation — in fact, if anything, the scenes he’s added since he earned his degree are even more vivid.

Icons
His professional duties have repeatedly brought him back to campus during seismic times of uncertainty in the region and the country. He was there in the aftermath of 9/11, working with university stakeholders as he did while leading his class years earlier, and he was there again this spring when UNH created overflow hospital capacity to help New Hampshire navigate the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, assembling more than 250 cots in the Hamel Rec Center.

It’s safe to say “turning the site of my college fitness center into a makeshift hospital during a global pandemic” wasn’t on the list of memories Kruger anticipated making at UNH.

But that doesn’t make it any less gratifying.

“All the stops were pulled out by UNH to make this happen, and the National Guard was there to facilitate and provide direction. It was definitely a source of pride,” Kruger says. “It was inspirational to see that as a community, we can be stronger than COVID-19. The attitude of the university was, even if this helps save one person, it’s worth it.”

That attitude is what fueled the university to spring into action almost immediately as COVID-19 began spreading, prompting significant contributions to mitigate the impact throughout the state.

The Dean of New
Hampshire Politics
Lou D’Allesandro ’61 puts people above party in decorated public service career
By Tim O’Sullivan
F

or many, the word “politics” conjures up negative images of entrenched lawmakers bickering across party lines. Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer has a solution for that.

“If someone were to say to me, ‘I hate government and I hate everyone in government,’ my response might be, ‘If you can give me 30 minutes I’d like to introduce you to my friend Lou D’Allesandro, and then I want you to give me your opinion afterward,’” Hosmer says. “Because with Lou it isn’t about self-congratulations; it isn’t about collecting awards. It really is about serving others. He’s an old-school public servant.”

D’Allesandro, 81, has been serving the people of New Hampshire for the better part of five decades. He’s been a member of the state’s House of Representatives and Executive Council, and he’s currently serving his 11th term in the State Senate. He’s been a champion of education as a long-time member of the New England Board of Higher Education — where he recently completed a nearly 20-year run — and in the private sector as a top-level adminstrator at three colleges.

Jeremy Gasowski / UNH
Lou D’Allesandro ’61 in front of capitol building
New Hampshire College Hall of Fame basketball 1970
As Hosmer says, D’Allesandro ’61 may shy away from self-congratulations, but he has collected his share of recognition, including honorary doctorates from four universities. He’s been honored for his work combating domestic and sexual violence and for helping the mentally ill, and he’s been inducted into the sports Hall of Fame at two universities.

It’s a remarkable list of accomplishments, and they all have some roots at the University of New Hampshire.

“Going to UNH turned out to be my life-altering experience,” D’Allesandro says.

One of his most important, and entertaining, life-altering moments at UNH came in the spring of 1960 when he was a junior. John F. Kennedy was making a campaign stop in Durham and D’Allesandro was eager to see the senator from Massachusetts, who had also been the U.S. Congressional Representative for the East Boston neighborhood where D’Allesandro was born and raised.

Alumni Covid-19 Photo Essay
Individually assigned PPE, including face masks and goggles, hang from hallway walls in the COVID-19 wing at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois.
Scott Yates ’07
C

losed campuses and makeshift medical units. Vacant stores and streets and beaches. As the novel coronavirus COVID-19 spread across the globe earlier this year, it prompted dramatic changes in wide-ranging landscapes. Once-empty spaces that were now full. Once-full spaces that were suddenly empty. While this worldwide pandemic has virtually halted 21st-century life as we know it, a number of UNH alumni photographers have joined other essential workers whose service remains unflaggingly public to document these altered vistas. From the United Kingdom to the United States, from Maine to Washington, D.C., to Florida, their images will serve to chronicle this pivotal moment in history for years to come.

Individually assigned PPE, including face masks and goggles, hang from hallway walls in the COVID-19 wing at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois.
Scott Yates ’07
Reporters use boom poles with microphones to maintain at least six feet of distance from Dr. James Cole
Reporters use boom poles with microphones to maintain at least six feet of distance from Dr. James Cole, trauma medical director for Rockford’s SwedishAmerican Hospital, speaking in advance of a COVID-19 preparedness drill on March 26, 2020.
Scott Yates ’07
Registered nurse Jenny Koritz dons personal protective equipment
Registered nurse Jenny Koritz dons personal protective equipment (PPE) including a powered air-purifying respirator before entering the room of a COVID-19 positive patient at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford on April 29.
Scott Yates ’07
Class Notes
Class Notes
This unidentified photo popped up in the UNH Archives recently, with little information regarding era or location — never mind the identities of the alumni pictured. Do you recognize and of these young Wildcats? Drop us a line at alumni.editor@unh.edu and help us solve the mystery!
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Class Notes
This unidentified photo popped up in the UNH Archives recently, with little information regarding era or location — never mind the identities of the alumni pictured. Do you recognize and of these young Wildcats? Drop us a line at alumni.editor@unh.edu and help us solve the mystery!
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Jump to Decade

Don’t see a column for your class? Please send news to your class secretary, listed at the end of the class columns, or submit directly to classnotes.editor@unh.edu. The deadline for the next issue is September 15.

1939
Class Notes Editor
classnotes.editor@unh.edu
UNH Magazine received word that Norman G. Wilder, a resident of North Bennington, VT, passed away last Nov. 20 at the age of 102. Norman served in the Pacific during World War II after earning his degree in forestry. After the war, Norman established his life and career in Delaware, serving as director of the Delaware Fish and Game Commission, special assistant to the Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and director of the Delaware Nature Society. Following retirement, he lived in Landrum, SC, before eventually settling in Vermont. He was predeceased by his sister and his wives, and is survived by two daughters, a granddaughter, two great-grandchildren, eight step-children and numerous step-grandchildren and their children.
1941
Nancy Bryant on behalf of Lonnie (Eleanor) Gould Bryant
9 Rickey Drive
Maynard, MA 01754
bryantnab@yahoo.com; 978-501-0334
I am sorry to report that Elizabeth (Betty) Buxton Burns, a lifelong resident of Hudson, NH, passed away on Feb.14. As a teenager, Betty worked summers at Benson’s Wild Animal Park. Her UNH degree in social work led her to working for the State of New Hampshire Welfare Administration prior to starting her family. Betty later worked as a real estate broker for 30 years. She and her husband Dick had a Saturday night tradition of square dancing. Betty also enjoyed crafts, crocheting and card games. She was predeceased by her husband and is survived by a son, daughter, two grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. I received a lovely hand-written note from Bob Kimball of Hernando, FL, who enjoys reading the UNH Magazine. Bob celebrated his 100th birthday on December 5, and we wish him much good health and happiness! I am writing this news column on behalf of my Mom (Lonnie (Eleanor) Gould Bryant), who passed away in 2014. I just want to personally say that all the ’41ers have my greatest respect. The Class of ’41 grew up during the Great Depression and witnessed World War II, yet they still had such a zest for life! They passed along their wisdom, knowledge and experience to their kids, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and they volunteered and worked hard to build strong and vibrant communities, and our society will be forever grateful. To fellow ’41ers and their families and friends, please send me your news and your memories about your days at UNH! Hoping to hear from you!
Alumni Profile
By Dave Moore
Calling It a Career
Brian Murphy - Courtesy NHL
Courtesy NHL

B

rian “Murph” Murphy ’86 grew up in Dover, New Hampshire’s hockey ecosystem, where everything from family stick-and-puck sessions and school competitions to weekend nights at UNH watching the Wildcats take on the nation’s best collegiate teams and the Big Show — the Boston Bruins — are connected.

For a kid ensconced in the life, the Stanley Cup Finals were something special. “My parents always let my brother Mike and I stay up, no matter how late, to watch the official presentation of the cup on T.V.,” recalls Murphy. “There was nothing like it in all of sports . . . the way the guys lined up to shake hands just moments after going so hard at each other for so long.”

Murphy played at Dover High under coach Dan Raposa ’83, ’87G. At UNH, he didn’t try out for hockey, but he stayed in the sport by playing in pick-up games and working the Zamboni at Dover Ice Arena. It was at the arena that he got his “this-should-be-my-life!” calling. “I was cleaning the ice between games. Afterward, I asked one of the refs how much he got paid. When he told me, I thought, “Hmmm, this just might work!” When Raposa, who became an NCAA hockey official himself, strongly encouraged Murphy’s interests, his future course was set.

Alumni Profile
By Brion O’Connor ’83
Going the Distance

B

y spring 2015, Dave Mackey ’92 had a hard-earned reputation for toughness. The Maine native and onetime UNH soccer player was a decorated ultra-runner, competing in races of 100 miles or more and garnering multiple runner of the year awards. He was a physician’s assistant, married to fellow Wildcat Ellen Bilek ’92 and father to two young children, living in the endorphin capital of Boulder, Colorado.

But Mackey’s life changed forever on May 23, 2015, the day he headed out for a typical three-hour training run through the hills surrounding Boulder. On Bear Peak, he stepped on a boulder he’d pushed off of hundreds of times before. This time, however, the rock dislodged, loosened by days of heavy rain. “It was about a 300-pound rock,” Mackey recalls. “I tumbled about 60 feet and landed on my back, amongst some scree.” He survived the fall, but the boulder tumbled behind him and came to rest on his left leg, pinning him down and creating an open tibial fracture.

Dave Mackey running across a field
Matt Trappe
Alumni Profile
By Ali Goldstein
Grounds for Giving Back

D

uring his senior year at the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, Connor Roelke ’14 witnessed the “ridiculous trajectory” of the then-emerging craft beer scene and had an epiphany about nitrogen kegerators. It just didn’t happen to be about beer.

No, Roelke wanted to brew coffee. Specifically, nitrogen-infused cold brew coffee. So he developed a business plan, prototype and pitch for a company called NOBL Beverages and entered Paul College’s annual Holloway Prize Competition, taking first place in his category. That was enough to convince him he could make a go of his business in the real world, and shortly after graduation Roelke found himself with a driveway’s worth of kegerator equipment — and the need for more capital and plain-old persistence than he’d initially anticipated.

Connor Roelke making cold brew coffee
Courtesy Connor Roekle
Memoriam
Karen Hammond ’64
Bright shall thy mem’ry be

Robert Charles DeBlois ’76
Innovative and compassionate, he devoted his life to helping students succeed.

R

ob DeBlois liked to say he was “born on third base” — his way of acknowledging a happy childhood filled with advantages. Growing up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, he hiked and skied at his family’s vacation home in the White Mountains, and as a teenager he attended Cranwell, a private Jesuit prep school in Massachusetts.

Catherine Heppner ’95
She was not the tallest person in the room, but she had a big personality and an even bigger heart.

“I

Am Not Short, I Am Fun-Sized,” reads a refrigerator magnet in the Sunday River vacation home Catherine (Cassie) Heppner shared with her husband Michael Cormier and their son, Jack. Whether she was delivering a witty maid of honor toast at the wedding of her sister Eleanor Hershey, cheekily cheering for the Yankees while wearing a Red Sox jersey or skiing or wakeboarding, Cassie did everything with enthusiasm and spirit.

Parting Shot
UNH Class of 2020 Graduates
Collage by Kasey Glode
A Different Sort of Celebration
When COVID-19 reached the United States in March 2020 and quickly spread, closing college campuses across the country and leaving students to complete their spring semesters remotely, traditional commencement ceremonies were among the pandemic’s many casualties. On May 16, the day on which the 3,000-some members of the UNH Class of 2020 had expected to gather at Wildcat Stadium to graduate, the university instead put on a virtual conferral to mark the official bestowing of degrees, with the promise of an-in person celebration down the road. And members of the class, demonstrating the resiliency and the creativity that had gotten them through four years of lectures and labs, of projects and presentations and research papers, adapted. They celebrated at home, with their families and with friends, in caps and gowns and not. While it may not have been quite what they’d long envisioned, they made the most of a major milestone in their lives. Congratulations, UNH Class of 2020!
— Kristin Waterfield Duisberg
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Thanks for reading our Spring/Summer 2020 issue!