EARLY BIRD: Graduate student Erica Holm ’16 is one of several UNHers involved in a Hamel Center summer research project to evaluate bird communities in shrubbery that grows along power lines. An early morning in July found her and a feathered friend in Rochester, N.H.
A FOUR-STAR DAY: Gen. Lori Robinson ’81 was all smiles at UNH’s 146th commencement on May 20. The four-star general delivered the commencement address to members of the Class of 2017 and their families and reminisced about her own time at UNH. Photos and video
SAFEST CAMPUS: UNH has been named the safest college in the country by Alarms.org, the website of the National Council for Home Safety and Security. The national trade association used statistics from the FBI and the National Center for Education to compose a study of the top-100 safest four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. based on both on- and off-campus crime rates.
According to the study, UNH had the fewest incidents of local and on-campus crimes, drug-related charges and crimes against women. UNH was the only New Hampshire school to make the list.
GREEN-LISTED: The Princeton Review named UNH to its list of the top 50 colleges for sustainability on the 2016 Green College Honor Roll. From a total pool of more than 2,000 schools and a list of 361 "green colleges," the annual survey highlighted 50 institutions particularly distinguished for their sustainability practices, strong foundation in sustainability education and healthy quality of life for students on campus. UNH also clocked in at #21 on the Sierra Club’s “Cool Schools” list, up from #36 last year. Article
IP LAW LIBRARY TURNS 20: The University of New Hampshire School of Law’s intellectual property library—the only academic IP law library in the Western Hemisphere—is turning 20 this year. Featuring resources spanning hundreds of years, the library has been designated a World Intellectual Property Organization Depository and a Patent Trademark Resource Center by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The library’s collection features research-level IP materials collected over more than three decades, including approximately 13,000 print volumes highlighting intellectual property, commerce and technology. Ninety percent of the physical collection is unavailable in any electronic or digital format.
EXTENDING THE STRAWBERRY SEASON: New Hampshire’s strawberry season traditionally lasts only four to six weeks. But last year, researchers with UNH’s New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station were picking strawberries in Durham into November. Working as part of the multi-state TunnelBerries project, the UNH researchers harvested strawberries grown in low tunnels for 19 consecutive weeks, from mid-July through the week of Thanksgiving. Now in its second year, the TunnelBerries research project is being conducted at the UNH Woodman Horticultural Research Farm. UNH’s work is focused on improving berry quality and the role so-called day-neutral varieties, developed to produce fruit into the fall, may play in extending the length of the Northeast’s fleeting strawberry season. Article
A MOVING MOMENT: Students paid their respects at The Moving Wall, a mobile, half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., which made a stop at UNH in the spring. The wall was set up on the Great Lawn in front of DeMerritt Hall, visible from Main Street, from May 4-8. Campus and community visitors came around the clock to see the wall and honor the more than 58,000 servicemen and women killed in Vietnam whose names are engraved upon it.
FOUR GRADS, FOUR COUNTRIES: Four recent graduates of UNH will be abroad this fall studying, teaching and conducting research through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, one of the most prestigious scholarships in the country. Each year, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards grants to exceptional American students to study in more than 140 countries. UNH’s 2017-18 recipients include Graham Ayres '16, Onni Irish '16G (pictured above), Laurianne Posch '16 and Garrett Thompson '16. During the past five years, 20 UNH students and alumni have been awarded Fulbright scholarships. Article
FULL HOUSE: Wildcat Stadium delivered on its promise to be a facility for everyone as the host site for UNH’s 146th commencement exercises on May 20. The sun was out, the temps were mild and there was seating aplenty for 20,000 visitors—family members, friends and the university’s 3,500 newest alumni. While it was the first commencement for the new stadium, it may have been a throwback experience for some audience members seated in the Field House bleachers. As recently as 2007, the Field House served as the site for commencement, before moving to Memorial Field through 2016. Photos and video
AWARD WINNER: English professor David Rivard’s 2016 book, Standoff, received the 2017 PEN/New England Award for poetry at Boston’s Kennedy Library April 2. The PEN/New England awards recognize books by New England writers judged as best in their genre. "I feel so deeply honored by this recognition from PEN/New England, touched really, especially when I think of the astonishing community and tradition it represents,” says Rivard. “Last year was, as always, a banner year for books by poets from this region, among them some by my dearest friends in this life—I can’t imagine having written the poems in Standoff without their examples and affection in mind.” Rivard, who teaches poetry writing to undergraduate students as well as students in the university’s MFA program, is the author of five other books of poetry. Review in UNH Magazine
Originally published in UNH Magazine Fall 2017 Issue
