UNH The Magazine of the University of New Hampshire | Winter 2024

UNH Winter 2024
Tracing the psychological roots of why one guy’s greasy food-truck fare is the nostalgic UNH touchstone for generations of alumni
Winter 2024
UNH logo

Features

15
Alumni in the food biz share their journeys
24
Community fights food insecurity on campus
28
Why do so many Wildcats yearn for the snotties of yesteryear?
32
Farmers struggle with mental health; Cooperative Extension is here to help
40
Graduate School dean reflects on meaningful connections
UNH logo

IN THIS ISSUE

20

Rebekah Krieger ’04 among alumni sharing their success stories.

Bill and Eve Klotz sit at a dining room table with Joanne Ducas as they all share a meal
Arrow
Farmers share concerns, support with help of Cooperative Extension.
Christopher Hernandez in field of farm with pumpkins holding up stems
Squashes and pumpkins and melons, oh my: UNH cucurbit breeding program is country’s oldest.

Arrow

Arrow
Sweet, syrupy history: Female scientist from UNH created the taste of this kids’ fave.
Illustration of the captain crunch character
100 years of nutrition education.
Arrow
women standing at a table in a cooking lab
Alumni share their favorite food memories from their years on campus.
Arrow
The Witches Stew Cookbook
Evening of Distinction
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.”
Vivian Pham ’14

Outstanding Recent Graduate Award recipient

Departments

2
4
A briny bivalve comeback, the popularity of ecogastronomy, delectable Dining Hall data
44
Lauding a family business, $4M gift for Whittemore Center
46
A food scientist, a powerful advocate and a Wildcat moment in an airport
54
78
UNH logo
Editorial Director & Editor-in-Chief

Michelle Morrissey ’97

Writing

Paul Briand ’75
Larry Clow ’12G
Nicholas Gosling ’06
Emma Joyce
Michelle Morrissey ’97
Beth Potier
Claire Sasko ’23G

Photography

Alyssa Duncan
Jeremy Gasowski
Jackie Ricciardi ’97

Copy Editing

Joni Aveni
Monica Hamilton

Content Contributions

Caitlin Abrams
Tim Briggs
Scott Ripley
Sarah Schaier
Keith Testa
David Vogt
Morgan Wilson

Designer

Lilly Pereira / aldeia.design

Mailing Address:

UNH Magazine
c/o Michelle Morrissey ’97
Elliott Alumni Center
9 Edgewood Road
Durham, NH 03824

UNH Magazine is published twice a year by the University of New Hampshire’s Advancement Office and the Office of the President. Its audience is made up of those most closely connected to the University: alumni, supporters, volunteers, parents, faculty, staff and others who are champions of UNH and its mission.

Class Notes submissions are welcomed. Write your class correspondent or email Classnotes.editor@unh.edu. All submissions may be edited for length, clarity or content.

On the cover: We recreated the look of classic Karl’s snotties — cheese sauce, salty fries and (not seen in this picture) the red-striped containers they came in.

Cover photo: Jeremy Gasowski

© 2024, University of New Hampshire

cartoon headshot of Michelle Morrissey, UNH Magazine Editor-in-Chief
ILLUSTRATION BY KATHRYN RATHKE

Disclaimer: This isn’t everything on the menu

Welcome to UNH Magazine’s Food Issue, where we’re delving into the silly and the serious sides of perhaps the one thing we all truly have in common: we’ve got to eat. Here, we’ve curated a few tasty morsels of how UNH and the commonality of food intersect; stories from different perspectives to whet your appetite, you might say.

Oh, and I should have mentioned this upfront — spoiler alert: gratuitous food puns will be used throughout this column … you’ve been warned.

Current

Current

Ry Andruk ’23 works in the Kingman Farm fields as part of the cucurbit program.
See story.

PHOTo BY Scott Ripley

Current

The Oyster Is Their World

Decades of UNH research have restored oysters to Great Bay
Krystin Ward, a laboratory research supervisor at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agricultur, and her sister Laura Brown, owner of Fox Point Oysters.
Krystin Ward, a laboratory research supervisor at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, and her sister Laura Brown, owner of Fox Point Oysters.

Photo by Tim Briggs
On a recent summer day, Krystin Ward ’06, a laboratory research supervisor at UNH’s Jackson Estuarine Laboratory, navigated a small skiff in New Hampshire’s expansive Great Bay Estuary. Piloting the boat across choppy, dark water, she spoke of working in oyster reef restoration in Great Bay — supporting the efforts of research professor Ray Grizzle — and the beginnings of her own oyster farm, Choice Oysters, in 2011.

Ward’s Choice Oysters is one of 11 commercial oyster farms in the Great Bay Estuary; her sister, Laura Brown, operates another, Fox Point Oysters. In 2022, oyster farmers in New Hampshire (there’s one additional farm in the Hampton-Seabrook Estuary) harvested 821,157 oysters; since 2013, the value of oyster aquaculture in New Hampshire has grown more than 1,000 percent, according to New Hampshire Sea Grant.

UNH CLIMBS THE RANKINGS

The University of New Hampshire had multiple online programs recognized in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of best online programs recently.

UNH’s College of Professional Studies (CPS) was named No. 57 among Best Online Bachelor’s Programs, No. 39 for Best Online Bachelor’s for Veterans, No. 35 for Best Graduate Business Programs for Veterans and No. 105 for Best Online Graduate Business Program.

The online MBA program in Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics was tops in the Granite State and tied for fourth-highest ranked in New England. Paul College also ranked No. 39 for Best Online MBA for Veterans.

The latest rankings come on the heels of UNH being named the No. 7 “Best Value” public university in the country, and maintained its position as the No. 1 best value public college in New England, according to the U.S. News & World Report Best College rankings released last fall.

UNH CLIMBS THE RANKINGS

Cap'n Crunch logo

The University of New Hampshire had multiple online programs recognized in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of best online programs recently.

UNH’s College of Professional Studies (CPS) was named No. 57 among Best Online Bachelor’s Programs, No. 39 for Best Online Bachelor’s for Veterans, No. 35 for Best Graduate Business Programs for Veterans and No. 105 for Best Online Graduate Business Program.

The online MBA program in Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics was tops in the Granite State and tied for fourth-highest ranked in New England. Paul College also ranked No. 39 for Best Online MBA for Veterans.

The latest rankings come on the heels of UNH being named the No. 7 “Best Value” public university in the country, and maintained its position as the No. 1 best value public college in New England, according to the U.S. News & World Report Best College rankings released last fall.

GOOD TO KNOW

Tips from the person who helps keep UNH athletes healthy
Kaidy Cornell headshot
Kaidy Cornell ’19 believes her full-time role in UNH Athletics is a sign that nutrition education is increasing in importance to athletic programs, much as sports psychology and mental health support have become more prominent in college programs. All elements are equally important to student-athletes’ success.

Kaidy Cornell earned her bachelor’s in nutrition and dietetics from UNH in 2019 and a master’s in food and nutrition sciences from the University of Rhode Island in 2021.

So take it from her: if you’re trying to eat healthier, make sure you’re eating enough. Well, that’s at least true if you’re a competitive college-level student-athlete (maybe not so true for any of us who sit in front of a computer most days).

In her role as UNH’s director of sports nutrition, she’s responsible for helping some 500 student-athletes reach their peak performance while maintaining healthy routines and habits. She says the most common food issue for athletes is that they’re undereating — not realizing how many calories they should consume each day during their athletic seasons.

“There’s usually very little sports nutrition at the high school level, so some student-athletes come to college with a mindset of limiting what they eat, not realizing how much energy or what types of energy they really need to be consuming,” she says.

Breeding Success

That squash on your plate likely got its start at UNH

Blonde Beauty. Sugar Cube. First Kiss. Smooth Operator.

No, these aren’t pop song titles or lipstick shades: They’re seed names of squashes, pumpkins and melons — vining plants collectively known as cucurbits. They’re also among the 80-plus varieties of cucurbits bred by UNH during the past 60 years.

Those six decades make UNH’s cucurbit breeding program the nation’s longest running. The seeds to those tasty veggies, licensed to gardener-favorite companies like Johnny’s Selected Seeds or High Mowing Organic Seeds, have earned UNH $1.6 million in royalties since 2015.

The Loy Legacy

J. Brent Loy, professor emeritus and longtime NH Agricultural Experiment Station researcher, considered the father of UNH’s renowned breeding program, traced his love of plants and agriculture to his childhood in Utah. There, he planted and tended his own vegetable gardens from a young age and, as a teenager, worked on a local truck farm before and after school. After earning advanced degrees in genetics and horticulture, he came to UNH in 1967, where he taught classes in plant genetics and reproduction and vegetable production and mentored many graduate and undergraduate students.

In 2011, Loy was named the inaugural UNH Innovator of the Year for his research and its impact on the university’s commercialization efforts. The award, thereafter, was named the J. Brent Loy Innovator of the Year Award.

Waste Not

Beneath the eight-foot-wide and four-foot-high rows of what appears to just be dirt at UNH’s Kingman Research Farm is a 24/7 scientific reaction that is the key illustrator of a robust composting program at UNH.

The university’s composting program, which has been around since the mid-1990s, starts in UNH’s dining halls, where the emphasis is on reducing the overall waste streams by providing tools and information that minimize pre- and post-consumer waste (i.e., the amount of waste returned on diners’ plates and trays). Some of these methods include purchasing denuded (fat-trimmed) beef and growing some of the produce right on campus, including at two high tunnels managed by the Farm to YoU NH program. On the post-consumer side, methods include signage that encourages the importance of portion control to reducing waste, the use of serving spoons that are sized for single portions of the food they dish out and the Wildcat Plate with information on portion sizes.

Kevin Janelle and Richard Turcotte delivering food waste to a farm
illustration of colorful vegetables and fruits in a wheel barrow, on a plate, planted in the ground, and in boxes
IN THE CLASSROOM

EcoGastronomy shows full picture

Dual major program focused on food is prime example of the power of interdisciplinary study
It’s about food, but it’s not just about cooking. It’s about agriculture and sustainability, but it’s not just about crops and farms.

It’s EcoGastronomy, a course of study at UNH that has seen growing popularity since its inception more than a decade ago, as everyone seems to be paying more attention not only to what’s on their plates, but how it got there.

The program, a collaboration between Paul College, the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture and the Sustainability Institute, is offered as a dual major to students from any college. It combines gastronomy — preparing and eating good food — with factors that affect that food: social, economic, political and ethical issues associated with food production. There is also an international study component.

Experiential Learning

Recent grad says internship was a good career ‘try-on’

headshot of Alexandra Papadakis with a bright pink background
Alexandra Papadakis ’21 has long been interested in food. When she started at UNH, she thought that interest would take her in the direction of how it’s grown, harvested, marketed, consumed. So she majored in sustainable agriculture and food systems, adding the dual major ecogastronomy. Then she started thinking more about hunger.

During the summer following her freshman year, Papadakis participated in the Hamel Center’s Research Experience and Apprenticeship Program (REAP), designed for first-year honor students. Her goal was to get a better handle on food systems through research.

The following spring, Papadakis signed on with the UNH Sustainability Institute’s Changemaker Collaborative Semester in the City program to do an internship in Boston, working in the public policy department at the anti-hunger organization Project Bread.

Joe Faro preparing food
Joe Faro ’91
Joe Faro preparing food
Joe Faro ’91

Sauce Boss

Joe Faro ’91 turns undergrad idea into entrepreneurial empire
Joe Faro’s food and hospitality empire is growing in New Hampshire. It began with an idea while he was a senior at UNH, and these days can be seen in a massive real estate undertaking: revitalizing the site of the former Rockingham Park racetrack in Salem.

His Tuscan Brands empire, like so many successful ventures, began with an idea. During his senior year at UNH, Faro took second place in the Holloway Prize Competition, which awards entrepreneurs and innovators with cash prizes to help bring their business ideas to market.

Faro’s idea? Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta and Sauce. He took that academic endeavor and turned it into culinary gold: Launching it out of his parents’ attic based on his experience cooking with his very Sicilian and very culinary family as a youngster, and eventually selling the business to food giant Nestlé in 2006.

Always thinking bigger, Faro began yet another venture four years later: opening Tuscan Kitchen and Tuscan Market in Salem, which now has franchises in Boston and Burlington, Massachusetts.

CRUNCH TIME

UNH alum created the sweet flavor of Cap’n Crunch
Cap'n Crunch logo
“Personally, I think it’s fun. It showed what you can do,” Pamela Low ’51 told UNH Magazine in 2002 of her work on Cap’n Crunch.
Pamela Low ’51 graduated from UNH with a microbiology degree and went right to a job at research firm Arthur D. Little. It was there that she was tasked with creating a sweet flavor for a new cereal.

She thought back to something her grandmother used to make: rice with butter-and-brown-sugar sauce.

That idea became the distinct flavor that coats each bite of Cap’n Crunch, which was introduced in 1963.

Low, a New Hampshire native, worked as a flavorist for Arthur D. Little for more than 30 years, and also tinkered with flavors for snacks such as Almond Joy and Mounds candy bars. In 1996 she created a scholarship at UNH for microbiology students. She passed away in 2007.

In a 2002 interview with UNH Magazine, she dismissed the idea that sugary cereals are the scourge of childhood nutrition. “I pooh-pooh that,” Low said. “Give the kids plain cereal and see how much sugar they put on it.”

“Ciao Italia”

From learning to teaching to television, Mary Ann Esposito’s fame started in Durham
Mary Esposito smiling in uniform
The host, historian and chef of Public Television’s longest-running Italian cooking show is UNH’s own Mary Ann Esposito ’91G. Her “Ciao Italia” show got its start at the NHPBS studio in Durham.

Esposito’s connection to UNH began when she started taking Italian lessons at UNH and enrolled in the Graduate School to earn a master’s degree in history in 1985. According to a previous UNH Magazine article, on one trip to Bologna, she discovered a 14th-century manuscript, “Libro de la Cocina del Secolo XIV,” which translates as “a book of cooking from the 14th century.” It became the basis for her thesis. “I used it to answer questions about society at the time,” she said.

She had also begun teaching cooking classes through UNH Cooperative Extension, and the idea came to her for a cooking show, combining her love of history, the culinary lessons of her grandmothers and her own interest in educating the public. She drew on her experience as a former elementary schoolteacher to speak to the audience: “I can talk to two or 250. I just wanted to explain Italian food to people,” she has previously said.

In the mood for Italian?

A lot of students are, and we don’t just mean pasta and sauce. Since 2002, the UNH in Italy study abroad program has offered a fully immersive experience in food, wine and culture.

UNH in Italy is the only year-round American university program in Ascoli Piceno, allowing students to experience a piece of the real Italy that few foreigners ever see. Participants enjoy an authentic Italian experience while still keeping them well connected to national and European transportation networks.

UNH-in-Italy’s curriculum explores the many dimensions of the Italian food system, allowing students to simultaneously study and experience the country’s food culture and history, agricultural practices and food traditions. Students also have the opportunity to explore concepts related to the sustainability of the food system.

This past fall, student outings included a trip to the Fermo province to visit Pasta Mancini, a farm and pasta producer, to a village in the Marche to learn about sharecropper history, and to an organic winery in the Umbria region.

Learn more: colsa.unh.edu/academics/study-abroad/unh-italy

A Look Back

100 years of nutrition education at UNH
women standing at a table in a cooking lab
Cooking lab in Thompson Hall, April 1921.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNH SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

1893

Ellen Swallow Richards, credited as the national founder of the fields of home economics and nutrition, teaches the first course at the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts (now UNH) to integrate fields of chemistry, management, nutrition and economics.

1919

Dietetics is added as a formal track at UNH. The following year, the U.S. government establishes professional regulations for dietitians and creates a pathway for dietitians to earn military status and help ensure soldiers are fed a proper diet.

Delicious Data

Checking in with UNH Dining

Good food, good news

Campus eateries earn high marks for sustainability

HoCo and Philly are climbing the charts: UNH became one of only two universities in the country to have all of its dining halls achieve a four-star rating from the Green Restaurant Association (GRA). Holloway Commons (HoCo) and Philbrook Dining Hall (Philly) earned the organization’s highest ranking available.

Each had previously held a three-star rating, but for the first time cleared the 300-point requirement necessary to attain four stars under the GRA evaluation, which focuses on environmental sustainability in a number of categories. UNH Catering and the Dairy Bar each earned three-star status, as well.

Holloway Commons and Philbrook Hall are the only four-star certified GRA restaurants in the state of New Hampshire.

Tom Kelly, chief sustainability officer and executive director of the UNH Sustainability Institute, called UNH Hospitality “a bright spot in our sustainability work for the last 25 years.

a low detail, soft pastel illustration of a chef wearing a white toque and coat and a black apron while cutting vegetables
20,000
gallons of milk
1,000
lbs. of guacamole
700,000
eggs used (2022)
63,000
pizza doughs
500+
gallons of marinara sauce
line art of a tomato, a small carton of milk, and two different sized avocado halves
PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION

President Dean shares updates

President James Dean Jr. delivered his final State of the University address in February, sharing with audiences updates on significant progress made across UNH’s three campuses, while acknowledging financial challenges that have longed plagued the university. He also shared points of pride with the audience. You can watch the full address on UNH’s YouTube page and below:
An announcement on who will succeed Dean is expected in April, a decision made by the USNH Board of Trustees after hearing a recommendation by the search committee.
RESEARCH SNAPSHOTS:

Marginalized Communities

Maria Carlota Dao
Nutrition researcher and Assistant Professor Maria Carlota Dao investigates the interaction between health, diet and the gut microbiome — the trillions of microorganisms living in our intestinal tracts. Dao is interested in the interplay of diet and gut microbiome diversity in ethnic minority populations in the U.S., like Hispanics, who make up more than 18 percent of the total U.S. population. Her team’s recent survey of more than 138 Hispanic New Hampshire residents assessed aspects of physical and psychosocial well-being, examining how Hispanic residents were coping mentally and physically during the pandemic. “The goal is for all of this information to feed into the development of nutrition strategies that support living healthy lifestyles,” says Dao.
ALUMNI IN THE FOOD BIZ

Recipe for Success

UNH Magazine talked to alumni in the food industry to hear about lessons they’ve learned, advice for a younger generation and what’s the “special sauce” in their approach to food, work or life. Each has had varied and vast experience honing their craft, but a common thread runs through each of the stories collected here: food is much more than nutrition and sustenance; it’s the thing that brings us together, across tables and across cultures, to connect us all.
STORY By
Michelle Morrissey ’97

photos by
Alyssa Duncan, Jackie Ricciardi ’97

ALUMNI IN THE FOOD BIZ

Jay
McSharry ’90

As the youngest of seven children, Jay McSharry ’90 saw his siblings work their way through school with jobs in restaurants. And like any good little brother, he followed suit. As an undergrad at UNH, he worked at Benjamin’s, a sit-down favorite in the Durham community.

“I really like the fast pace of it, and the idea that we’re putting on a bit of a show for the night. In a restaurant you’re taking care of people, trying to make their night special … meet their needs before they realize they have them; I love that.”

He’s continued loving it — McSharry, the Jay behind Portsmouth fave Jumpin’ Jay’s restaurant, is owner of 13 other eateries, three boutique hotels, an event space and a specialty food market, along with his wife, Amanda ’08G.

McSharry, who was a 2020 James Beard Award semifinalist, is widely credited as a driving force behind a rejuvenated Seacoast restaurant scene. He has served on the board of The Music Hall, The Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth, and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

Jay McSharry, here in his latest restaurant, Nichinan, has served as an advisor to UNH ecogastronomy students, and in 2009 created the Jay McSharry ’90 Diversity Scholarship at UNH to support students with financial need.
ALUMNI IN THE FOOD BIZ
Phil Meldrum holding olives and smiling in orchard
Meldrum calls olives one of the “holy trinity” of ancient foods — along with grapes and wheat — that sustained humanity for thousands of years.

Courtesy Photo

Phil
Meldrum ’79

Phil Meldrum ’79 believes that food is love — as imperfect as love can be. He’s not just talking about serving your beloved Nana’s famous lasagna or bringing soup to a sick friend. He’s talking about something deeper: sharing your culture and what makes you unique through food — and appreciating that in others.

“There’s an emotional component to food,” says Meldrum. It’s something he realized on one of his early trips abroad. “Europeans have a different experience; they have centuries of traditional production of local food that’s very different than we Americans,” Meldrum explains. “You’ll hear someone say, ‘My local cheese, my local wine is the best in the world.’ There’s a real pride there in their culture and heritage.

“Food is an expression of your experience and what’s important to you and your community. It’s something you are proud of.”

That combination of food, cultural appreciation and honoring agricultural tradition and sustainability is what drove Meldrum to launch FOODMatch, a Mediterranean specialty food importing company, in 1996.

He had a long career in the food industry — from working in restaurants and a gourmet shop in his 20s, to eventually becoming a national sales manager with Hormel Foods.

But a trip to Greece with his wife Chantal in the early 1990s set him on a new path. He was struck by the antiquity and beauty of their surroundings — thinking about the olive trees that had been planted centuries ago, and then sharing a meal with friends around the simple but elegant ingredients of the region.

ALUMNI IN THE FOOD BIZ

Beth
Dooley ’77G

Beth Dooley had always wanted to be a writer, and was always interested in cooking. Growing up in New Jersey, she learned to cook from her grandmother, whom she previously called the only cook in the family. Dooley took to hiding cookbooks under her bed to read after she was supposed to be doing homework or sleeping. When she got interested in boys as a teenager, she found food was, indeed, a way to their hearts. As a college student she baked apple pies with a neighbors’ crop and sold them for beer money. In a sculpture class, her final project was made up of different kinds of breads. She once admitted to a reporter that she read the Joy of Cooking while still in her New Jersey childhood home “like it was a novel.”

It seems she was destined to blend storytelling and culinary skills not only in a career, but as her lifelong passion.

Soon after graduating from UNH’s MFA program in 1977, she and her husband moved to Minneapolis, where she wrote advertising copy for big corporations like Land o’ Lakes, but also started doing a newsletter for a local CSA, something fascinating to Dooley.

She was meeting farmers, learning about weather, soil, and “all of that lead me to wanting to know more,” he remembers.

“I became a chronicler of the local food system, which was so vibrant … there were more natural food crops here than anywhere in the country,” she says. “We’re in an area where you can see the impact of the large food system and the impact of this emerging local food system, as well as the influx of immigrants from farming cultures, bringing with them traditional practices.”

Beth Dooley posing in kitchen with mug, books on counter and wearing apron
In 1994, Dooley’s big break was when she and chef Lucia Watson co-authored “Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland.” It was written for editor Judith Jones (legendary for rescuing Julia Child’s cookbook from the reject pile).

PHOTO BY CAITLIN ABRAMS
ALUMNI IN THE FOOD BIZ

Rebekah
Krieger ’04

We’re scheduled to meet Rebekah Krieger on a fall morning at Two Bees Patisserie in Dover. She sits down for her interview, but nervously looks toward the kitchen of the eatery, which she opened with her husband Ross just over a year ago.

She seems a bit distracted, but justifiably so: one of her staff is out sick today, and they’ve just readjusted their hours at Two Bees, so they’re in the midst of figuring out just when the morning rush begins on a typical day. It could be any moment during the interview; she might have to pause our chat.

We offer to do the interview at another time — perhaps in the evening? No-go on that idea; that’s when she’s home with her toddler and baby.

She feels terrible, but accepts the offer to reschedule to another day.

But there’s no need to apologize: Such is the life of a busy entrepreneur, mom, chef, wife and boss.

“A typical day for me moves very fast!” she notes. She arrives each day at Two Bees at 6 a.m., where her morning baker has already been working for the past hour. “I make myself an Americano and get to work,” she says of the morning routine. The next step after the caffeine is the morning bake-off – no, not a cooking-contest show, but the proving and baking off all Two Bees’ pastries for the day, as well as the finishing touches like meringues, different creams and fruit.

You’ll find Rebekah Krieger ’04 playing many roles at Two Bees in Dover: plating sandwiches on the line, taking an order at the counter, then back to pastry prep, or placing orders, checking emails and making employee schedules.

portrait Alyssa Duncan
ALUMNI IN THE FOOD BIZ

Bobby
Wong ’77

Every Friday during his four years at UNH, Bobby Wong would board a Greyhound bus, travel about an hour down to a bus stop on Route 1 South in Saugus, Massachusetts, then use the pay phone at the stop to call over to Kowloon restaurant, asking for one of his parents’ employees to come pick him up.

And then, after working each Friday and Saturday night, on Sunday he’d be back on the bus, heading north to Durham.

Working every weekend in the family business wasn’t something new to Wong — he saw it as simply helping out the family, and continuing the work he’d been doing since he was 15 years old.

Wong is part of the sibling-ownership of the famous Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus, a decades-long favorite of locals and tourists alike. The landmark restaurant is known for its iconic décor throughout its massive footprint — with seating for roughly 1,200 people in one of its themed seating areas like Tiki hut booths, a faux shipwreck, or in any of the three bars on site.

Of his UNH days, Wong recalls: “I loved dorm life, like when there was a big game on TV in the common room, or in springtime everybody would put their speakers in their windows and play Frisbee outside. I had the best life at UNH; I had great roommates and made great friends there.”
plate with fork and knife making an X shape on top

Hidden Hunger

story by Larry Clow ’12G
Food insecurity is increasing on college campuses.
At UNH, the Wildcat community is stepping in to help.
I

t started with a paperwork error. A small mistake by someone else on a timecard meant that Amelia,* a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. at UNH, would miss a paycheck. A definite obstacle, but one that Amelia thought she and her family could weather.

But soon after, the family’s monthly health insurance cost jumped by $600; they need coverage for their daughter’s health condition. The effects of that missing paycheck rippled out, and Amelia and her husband quickly found themselves having to choose: gas or groceries? Rent or bills?

“You don’t even realize it’s happening,” Amelia says. “Until you see those questions [on surveys] like, ‘How often have you skipped a meal to save money?’ and you think, ‘Oh wow, that’s me.’”

The Karl’s Phenomenon

The Karl's Phenomenon title
story by
Michelle
Morrissey ’97
Salt & Fat & Memories typography
OPENING PHOTO BY JEREMY GASOWSKI
Tracing the psychological roots of why one guy’s greasy food-truck fare is the nostalgic UNH touchstone for generations of alumni
It’s 12 a.m. on a cold night sometime in the late fall of 1996. We’re in the throes of production night at The New Hampshire, UNH’s student newspaper. These are the days of “paste-up” — you printed out each headline, each story, each caption, carved them out of the piece of paper with an X-ACTO knife, ran them individually through a machine that coated them in a molten wax, then pasted them onto your layout. A few hours later, I would drive the flats out to Portsmouth, where the Portsmouth Herald printed our paper twice a week. But for right now, it’s madness — someone needs to make a Karl’s run, fast.
ON THE MENU
snotties
fries with
melted cheese sauce
brown cow
chocolate milkshake
little guy
cheeseburger
big guy
a trio of quarter-pound
burgers on a sub roll
sneakers
pickles
Karl Krecklow headshot
Karl Krecklow in 1996

Eve Klotz ’83 ’99G and husband Bill ’74 are offering support to fellow farmers, while dealing with the sunsetting of their own farm operation in Enfield. “For many, the farm is the center of their universe … it’s different than a typical career,” says Eve.

Farmers across America are suffering their own unique mental health crisis. In New Hampshire, UNH Cooperative Extension is connecting them to support.

A Growing Need

A Growing Need serif typography in blue and green
Story By
Emma Joyce

Photos by
Jeremy Gasowski

A scent of sweet raspberries wafts through the air on a sprawling farm tucked beside the Ossipee River in rural Effingham, New Hampshire. Inside the farmhouse, scones are fresh out of the oven, while two energetic dogs keep watch by staring through the kitchen window from the backyard. Down the hall from her home office, Eve Klotz ’83 ’99G speaks on the phone with a New Hampshire dairy farmer.

“If you wake up at 3:30 in the morning to milk cows, can you take five minutes to calm yourself for the day with a breathing exercise? That can become a tool for when you try to go to sleep at night or when you’re having a panic attack,” she says.

Klotz is a mental health care provider. She’s also a second-generation farmer. Although officially retired from her full-time job at Northern Human Services, today she’s on the phone with a farmer in need of support as part of a UNH Cooperative Extension program.

The (Selfless) Queen of Selfies

The (Selfless) Queen of Selfies
A propensity for snapshots reflects Dean Cari Moorhead’s belief in deeper connections
STORY By
Claire
Sasko ’23G

Selfies by
Cari
Moorhead ‘99Ph.D.

multiple selfie shots by Cari Moorhead with students and others
photo by Jeremy Gasowski
Ed Caron ’06 remembers the day he met UNH Graduate School Dean Cari Moorhead, who was then an academic advisor in UNH’s business school.

“I went for advising help late at night, and she was holding court: there were dozens of kids in the same boat as I was,” recalls Caron, then a freshman lost in a bit of first-semester class-schedule confusion. “She explained everything to me and helped me get switched into the right courses. And the next day, when I went to class in a crowd of hundreds of kids, she remembered me. That really struck me from the beginning.”

Invested
Digital renderings of the UNH Hockey Renovations Project
Preliminary renderings of some of the updates that could be part of the UNH Hockey Renovation Project

Athletics Pride

Donors bring Whittemore renovations closer to reality
Thanks to Anthony DiLorenzo, a member of the UNH class of 1987 and owner of Key Auto Group, the University of New Hampshire is one step closer to transforming and expanding the training and support facilities in UNH’s beloved Whittemore Center as part of the UNH Hockey Renovation Project.

The Whittemore Center, home of UNH Wildcat Hockey, and the Hamel Recreation Center will now join together as the newly formed Key Auto Group Complex — a multipurpose center on the Durham campus.

DiLorenzo’s $4 million gift has already inspired other donors to make significant gifts, and supplements $6 million in state funding. Together, these funds bring the project closer to a goal of $16 million toward improvements.

Jones family together on their farm
Terry and Jean are stellar examples of our alumni aligning their intellectual curiosity and capacity with their commitment to land and community,” says Anthony S. Davis, dean of the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture.

‘Be Good to the Land’

Spoken more than 150 years ago by Philip James Jones, the credo is engraved in a large stone monument at the Jones Family Farms and Winery in Shelton, Connecticut, run by Terry Jones (Philip’s great-great-grandson) and wife Jean, both UNH class of 1969. The couple was recently honored as the 2023 recipients of the Sand County Foundation’s New England Leopold Conservation Award, which recognizes those who inspire others with their dedication to land, water and wildlife resources in their care.

Terry traces the origin of his conservation ethic to his childhood, working on his family’s 500+-acre farm — then a dairy farm — alongside his father and grandfather. As a teen, he sold vegetables on a card table to families coming to their farm to buy raw milk — with proceeds from his sales helping to pay his tuition at UNH.

Alumni News

Alumni News

AN AWARD-WORTHY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Peggy Ann Shea ’58 ’61G ’18H knows the key to a good speech is having the right props. Here, she digs in her bag for a lightbulb to hold over her head during her acceptance speech at the 2023 Evening of Distinction event, during which she recalled that seeing the 1957 launch of Sputnik gave her a lightbulb moment that she could have a career in space science.

Read more about Shea and her fellow award winners.

Alumni News

Science in the Kitchen:
Guy Crosby ’64

Guy Crosby '64
UNH chemistry grad Guy Crosby has been part of America’s Test Kitchen, an associate professor at Framingham (Mass.) State University and an adjunct professor at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
When Guy Crosby thinks of Brussels sprouts, he’s not picturing what they’ll be a side dish to — grilled chicken breast? seared filet mignon? Neither. Crosby is instead thinking of how their amino acids react to their sugars as part of the chemical reaction of cooking.

Sound more like a science lesson than dinner prep? For Crosby, they’re one and the same. Since graduating from UNH in 1964 with a degree in chemistry, his career has focused on the science of food — specifically how chemistry plays an important role not only in how our bodies deal with the food we eat but also in the preparation of the food itself.

He’s worked for many years in food-related research and development, and is co-author of the popular Cook’s Illustrated books “The Science of Good Cooking” and “Cook’s Science.” In 2019, Columbia University Press published his book, “Cook, Taste, Learn: How the Evolution of Science Transformed the Art of Cooking,” which toured the history and science behind cooking, from the ability to control fire to modern science’s understanding of what happens at a molecular level when we apply heat to food.

Awardees Nancy Kinner and Peggy Ann Shea
Vivian Pham and Morgan Rutman
Peggy Ann Shea laughing

Honoring philanthropy and service

The 2023 Evening of Distinction celebrates university pride
The honorees at the 2023 Evening of Distinction celebration were deeply humbled, incredibly proud and, as always, quick to remind those in attendance that, indeed, every day is a great day to be a Wildcat. The fall event honored service and philanthropy by recognizing the work of Morgan ’84 and Tara Rutman, Margaret (Peggy) Ann Shea ’58 ’61G ’18H, faculty member Nancy Kinner ’80G ’83G and Vivian Pham ’14.
Shirley Newcomer Wagner from her UNH Granite yearbook photo

A centenarian weighs in

Editor’s Note: When we ran a story commemorating the 100-year anniversary of UNH being named a university, we asked alumni or family of alumni who were near or at that same 100-year mark to write us. Inspired by that, her 100th birthday in January and Joan Lamson ’49’s story of her laundry case, Shirley Newcomer Wagner ’46 shared her story:
“I enjoyed reading Joan Boodey Lamson’s story about her laundry case. How well I remember those cases. Sometimes the laundry case was returned to the student with homemade cookies or other goodies. When I returned to the UNH campus for my sophomore year in 1943, I found it swarming with young soldiers. Most of these men had been through basic training and had some college credits. ”
vector graphic of a hand holding up airplane tickets

Because you just never know…

Don Bliss ’73 shared this lesson: You should always wear something that shows your Wildcat pride, as he was doing during a recent trip to D.C.

“I was traveling to attend a meeting of the FEMA National Advisory Council leadership team. I arrived at Logan Airport, and as I was about to go through security, I realized that my boarding pass didn’t indicate that I had TSA Pre-Check. I had to go all the way around to the long line and was fully prepared to take out my computer and liquids and take off my shoes, etc. When I got to the TSA agent, he said that I couldn’t go through because the date of birth on my reservation was wrong. Apparently, the FEMA travel agent put in the wrong date. He said I had to go to the JetBlue service desk to see if anything could be done.

“As I walked to the service desk, I was imagining a scenario of missing my flight and not being able to attend the meeting because of a silly mistake. I walked up to the service counter, the young woman looked up at me and without pausing said: ‘It’s a great day to be a Wildcat. How can I help you?’ Turns out she was a 2012 grad and couldn’t be more helpful. It took her about 30 seconds to fix the problem and issue me a new boarding pass with the TSA Pre-Check designation. It’s ALWAYS a great day to be a Wildcat!”

Michael Stewart Foley
ALUMNI PROFILE

Cultural Impact

Michael Stewart Foley ’94G ’99 Ph.D.
It’s a Saturday evening, and cheers from a crowd of 22,000 people fill the Ruoff Music Center amphitheater in Indiana, in anticipation of headlining performer Willie Nelson.

Fans have been privileged to a stellar lineup of musicians all day, but Nelson is no doubt the main event – the 90-year-old Country Music Hall of Famer is anchoring the Farm Aid festival for the 38th year.

The stage goes dark — and there’s a problem.

The man holding a guitar in the center of the stage doesn’t have two long braids or wear an iconic red bandana. Audience members look at each other in confusion. Where’s Willie?

A low, gravelly voice starts to sing.

Alumni News

Durham to D.C.

Alumni success in the food biz extends outside New England
hand holding up a plate of lobster roll from The Walrus Oyster and Ale House
Maryland’s best lobster roll at The Walrus Oyster and Ale House
Two former Wildcats are making big headlines in the food arena with restaurants and hospitality successes, especially in the nation’s capital.

After working with Marriott International for more than three decades, Stu Damon ’78 co-founded Star Restaurant Group (SRG), currently operating D.C.-area restaurants like Chicken+Whiskey (featuring Peruvian food), The Walrus Oyster and Ale House, which won the title of Maryland’s best lobster roll, Bennie’s Pizza and Vietnamese street food joint doi moi. Damon, who graduated with a hospitality degree from UNH before earning his MBA at William & Mary, is proud to host UNH interns and hire UNH grads to become part of the SRG family. He was back on campus last year guest-lecturing in a few Paul College classes and meeting with students.

Steve Salis, who attended UNH in the early 2000s as a basketball recruit, is gobbling up restaurants and other eateries in the D.C. area — names that Washingtonians will recognize like Ted’s Bulletin, Federalist Pig and Kramerbooks. Salis first made it big as the co-founder of &Pizza, with the first shop opening in 2012. The chain was praised as the “future of pizza” for its fast, casual approach. He’s since sold it and now operates Salis Holdings, the umbrella of his business ventures.

SPEAKING OF LOBSTER…

Thank you to all who answered our reader survey: we received 700 responses! Your feedback will help inform content of future issues. Every response shared a common thread: how the magazine keeps you connected to UNH, either through nostalgic stories of the past or through coverage of current students and the latest research. We’ll soon do the drawing for the reader survey “raffle prize” — a lobster dinner for two — and will share an update in the next issue. And we’ll keep asking for feedback, so be sure to keep an eye out for the next survey.
three law school alumni gathered for the 50th anniversary
Law School alumni who gathered for the 50th anniversary were told by Dean Megan Carpenter: “Whatever the future holds … we will be pioneering, principled, and we will chart the path as a national leader in practice-ready legal education.”

UNH Law celebrates a half century

Hundreds of alumni, faculty, staff and students gathered for the 50th anniversary of the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law last fall. The weekend-long festivities included a golf tournament, a film screening and plenty of opportunity for alums to reconnect with each other and their school.

There was fun (like a video montage of a now-defunct tradition of a faculty talent show) but also serious moments, from distinguished speakers to a memorial service for classmates and faculty who have passed. “We wanted the graduates to come back and be able to experience the feelings they had when they were in school and recall why they love the institution,” says Professor Emerita and Alumni Liaison Ellen Musinsky, one of the primary planners of the 50th anniversary events. “But we also wanted some level of seriousness as well. I think we struck a great balance.”

See full coverage of the weekend here: law.unh.edu/people/alumni

Alana Davidson sitting at her desk in front of her laptop

Hunger for Change

Alana Davidson ’17 wants to end food insecurity
When Alana Davidson arrived at UNH as a freshman in August 2013, she was interested in sports nutrition as a major. But by her sophomore year she realized that she wanted to focus on something more specific: food insecurity. That year, she conducted a research project on food insecurity among college students that included a campus survey. The results were eye-opening: Of the nearly 1,000 students who responded, 25 percent reported being food insecure — they did not have reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food.

Not content to simply share her results, Davidson worked with the UNH faculty and administration to create Swipe It Forward, a program that makes donated money for meals available to UNH students who qualify. Students can scan their fingerprints or use their meal cards to access meal credits that have been donated to the “swipe bank.”

Class Notes

Don’t see your class here? Send news via email or mail to your class correspondent, or to Classnotes.editor@unh.edu, or mail: UNH Magazine, 9 Edgewood Road, Durham, NH 03824. Submissions may be edited for clarity, content or length.

1947

Class Notes Editor
Nancy Wills Keteku wrote to share that her mother, Arline Kiessling Wills, died on September 1, 2023, at the age of 98. Arnie transferred to UNH in 1946 after her marriage to Charles B. Wills, and they graduated together in 1947. A native of Melrose, Massachusetts, she lived in Lynnfield, Massachusetts for 72 years, contributing to the town through the Historical Society and the Friends of the Library. Arnie published two books, a Wills family genealogy and a history of Lynnfield, and numerous articles on European travel, another of her favorite activities. A voracious reader, she belonged to the same book club for 50 years. Charlie and Arnie raised four children and adored her seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

1951

Class Notes Editor
Jane Hayes Brown wrote in to share a bit of family history: “My father, Robert Hayes, graduated from UNH in the class of 1916 with a degree in electrical engineering, I graduated in 1951 with a degree in psychology. My nephew, Bob Lyon, graduated in 1975 with a degree in hydrology. Our grandson, Tim Brown, graduated in 2015 with a degree in mechanical engineering. I never talked with Tim about attending UNH. He just liked what he saw about his field of interest and loved the campus,” she notes. “How’s that for four generations of UNH grads!”
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Bright Shall Thy Mem’ry Be: In Memoriam

Gary R. O’Neal ’73

A talented producer and costume designer, his effervescent personality attracted a legion of loyal friends
Studying theatre at UNH left Gary O’Neal with a passion for the arts that he would have pursued upon graduation — were it not for a promise he made to his father. In exchange for the freedom to travel and focus on his interests while at UNH, Gary kept his word to join the family business, Paper Service, Ltd., a mill in Hinsdale.

He soon made the mill more environmentally friendly and improved work conditions. He hung artwork. He organized employee potluck suppers. Workers knew they could count on him for assistance in an emergency. When a devastating flood in 2005 forced the mill’s permanent closure, Gary helped employees find jobs and put customers in touch with his competitors before devoting himself to his love of theatre that had been obvious since his student days.

Gary R. O'Neal '73 headshot
Among other commendations, Gary O’Neal ’73 earned a Governor’s Award for New Hampshire Volunteer of the Year.
Courtesy photo
John in a white sweatshirt and green overalls, on a rocky coast looking at seaweed
Jack Kingsbury believed in hands-on research.
Courtesy photo

John ‘Jack’ Kingsbury

Founder of Shoals Marine Lab, noted botanist
“Appledore Island is a magic place,” John “Jack” Kingsbury once said. “Even the casual day visitor senses it. Appledore Island displays the natural world as it is, sometimes raw, sometimes exquisite, always absorbing.”

Kingsbury’s vision for Appledore Island, part of the Isles of Shoals chain of rough, rocky islands off the coasts of New Hampshire and Maine, allowed undergraduate students studying marine science to become hands-on researchers at the Shoals Marine Laboratory — a seasonal field-station collaboration between Cornell and the University
of New Hampshire.

Fifty years after its founding, students still spend their summers at Shoals Marine Laboratory, and alumni still participate in learning vacations, conducting studies on the island and on the lab’s research vessel, the John M. Kingsbury — his namesake.

Colette Helene in a red sweater over a black shirt, standing over a raised garden bed
Colette Helene Janson-Sand was issued the state’s first dietitian license in honor of her work in the field.
photo by jeremy gasowski/file photo

Colette Helene Janson-Sand ’69G ’80Ph.D.

‘Heart and soul’ of UNH’s nutrition program
Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine,” a directive that professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics Colette Helene Janson-Sand took to heart during her long career. She came to her life’s work unexpectedly while pursuing a doctoral degree in animal science with a focus on laminitis, an inflammatory disease of horses’ hooves thought to be related to nutrition.

At UNH, a scholarship she received to study with famous nutritionists at MIT so inspired her that she changed her academic focus from horses to the effect of food on the human body. And when her advisor asked her to help teach his popular undergraduate course Animals, Food and Man, her interest in nutrition as related to diabetes was piqued, and her career path set.

Bright Shall Thy Mem’ry Be: In Memoriam

Faculty & Staff

  • Chris Balling IV
    Faculty Emeritus
    February 26, 2023
  • Dennis P. Biggie
    Former Faculty Member
    March 6, 2023
  • William E. Bonnice
    Faculty Emeritus
    February 15, 2023
  • Joanne W. Chadbourn
    Former Staff Member
    July 7, 2023

1940s

  • Donald F. Bent PhD ’48, ’53G
    June 20, 2023
  • Sylvia-Jane Whittemore Foulkrod ’45
    April 27, 2023
  • Hope I. Amos French ’43
    February 18, 2023
  • Mary Williams Jordan ’45
    April 27, 2023

1950s

  • Marion L. Butson Allen ’59
    March 25, 2023
  • Barbara J. Potter Barbieri ’58
    March 20, 2023
  • John K. Barnes ’55
    March 02, 2023
  • Joyce Hartshorn Beairsto ’58
    June 24, 2023

1960s

  • Sanford R. Abbey ’66
    June 17, 2023
  • Thomas R. Agan ’65G
    November 04, 2022
  • Richard H. Aliotti ’61
    June 26, 2023
  • Michael G. Aponowich ’69
    April 12, 2023

1970s

  • David W. Austin ’72
    August 09, 2022
  • Walter J. Beatty ’72
    June 06, 2023
  • Henry A. Beaudin Jr. ’73
    May 07, 2023
  • James J. Cady ’77
    March 26, 2023

1980s

  • Robert E. Allen ’83
    July 01, 2023
  • Stephen R. Birrell ’80G
    May 17, 2023
  • Cheryl J. Boone ’82
    March 28, 2023
  • John E. Dabuliewicz Esq. ’81JD
    April 08, 2023

1990s

  • Adam S. Aiken ’99JD
    July 28, 2023
  • Mark W. Anderson ’91
    April 21, 2023
  • Sheila L. Bamberger ’96G
    April 16, 2023
  • James L. Colantuoni Jr. ’90
    May 11, 2023

2000s

  • Seth P. Berman ’03
    March 22, 2023
  • Jenna M. Carruthers ’05
    July 07, 2023
  • Robert E. Donohue ’09G
    April 26, 2023
  • Douglas E. Flanders ’00
    July 11, 2023

2010s

  • John R. Curl-Larson ’18, ’24G
    June 01, 2023
  • Morgan J. Desilio ’10
    March 24, 2023
  • Michael K. Howard ’10
    April 03, 2023
  • Heather A. Mamos ’13
    June 26, 2023

2020s

  • Diane M. Chobanian DeVries ’20
    February 11, 2023

Sound Bites

What campus restaurant do you miss the most?

Quote mark
digital illustration of a slice of pizza
As for the restaurant I miss the most, it was closed by the time I was a student at UNH. My father, Brian Johnson ’67, was a lecturer in the computer science department at UNH and brought me in as a child. We would go eat at The Sub Stop, which was located on Jenkins Court. I miss that place; they had the best meatball and sausage subs. Favorite still-open restaurants? Franz’s Food, Wildcat Pizza and Durham House of Pizza.

Ken Johnson ’15
old copy of The Witch's Stew Cookbook
Witch’s Stew was a great soup and bread shop at the laundromat — many great memories and I still use the cookbook.

Jen Petersen ’94
I miss the restaurant in the New England Center. The restaurant had a beautiful view and was nice for fancy and casual occasions. It was always crowded on UNH hockey game nights.

Katherine Horrigan ’82
digital illustration of an ice cream scoop
The Ice House — the first time I’d ever seen ice cream delivered to my door was like a miracle to me. Ice cream was my favorite food, and now I didn’t even have to break from studying to get some? Amazing! Young’s — just an institution. I loved the chance to get breakfast there when I had the chance, which I tried to do regularly. It was such a comfortable place to slow down for a bit and enjoy a relaxing morning.

Melissa (Streeter) Cardin ’05
digital illustration of a side of french fries
I miss Lexi’s, especially getting a farmhouse burger with a chocolate milkshake and fries after classes.

Victoria Madore ’20
I loved Young’s! Such a wonderful place that my Waysmeet people would gather for a great meal!

AnhThu Truong ’09
digital illustration of a falafel
I looooooved Paulie’s Pocket and Franz’s Food (maybe I just love alliteration?) Paulies, for a perfect falafel, Franz’s for a greasy food kick!

Jessica Sargent ’07
For me, the eatery I miss most is Lickies, the combo candy and ice cream shop on Main Street.

Christine Pilar ’91
Quote mark
digital illustration of a hot dog with mustard
Karl and his food truck were legendary. From ‘snotties’ to ‘big guys’ to ‘super lightning sled dogs,’ Karl’s grill and vulgar late-night banter made hunger pains and hangovers something to look forward to at 2 a.m.

Jim MannIng ’92
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UNH research is bringing the most beloved briny bivalve — the oyster — back to Great Bay. See story.
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