Keene State College


Keene State College is a public liberal arts college in Keene, New Hampshire. It is a member of the University System of New Hampshire and of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges.
Founded in 1909 as a teacher's college, Keene State College has around 4,300 students as of 2017.

Academics

Some of the largest academic programs at Keene State College are Safety & Occupational Health Applied Sciences, Education, Psychology, Health Science, Management, and Communications, according to the declared majors reported in the Keene State College Factbook.
Keene State College offers more than 40 areas of undergraduate study in the liberal arts, social sciences, sciences, and professional programs, as well as selected graduate degrees.
Other notable majors include geography, architecture, environmental studies, music, theater and dance, and journalism. Keene's Factbook 2010-2011 shows that film studies and communication are some of the fastest growing majors.
The Safety & Occupational Health applied sciences program recently became the largest major on campus. This program began holding an annual professional development conference in conjunction with the student ASSE chapter.
The education major at Keene State College is a respected teacher education program. The college hosts major annual seminars in children's literature.
The film studies program hosts an annual student film festival.
The geography department hosts the annual New Hampshire State Geographic Bee, the winner of which competes in the National Geographic Bee, hosted by Alex Trebek.
Keene State College recently became the first accredited university in the nation to offer a four-year undergraduate degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

Athletics

Keene State, known athletically as the Owls, is an NCAA Division III school, competing in the Little East Conference. Their mascot is Hootie the Owl, and their colors are red and white.
Current programs include cross-country, basketball, soccer, volleyball, field hockey, baseball, softball, track, lacrosse, swimming and diving, as well as four club sports: men's soccer, men's and women's rugby, and ice hockey. Keene State's softball team appeared in one Women's College World Series in 1972.

Rankings

Keene State is one of 224 select colleges and universities in the Northeast that The Princeton Review profiled in its 2006 edition of The Best Northeastern Colleges. The most popular majors are Safety & Occupational Health Applied Sciences, Education, and Psychology.

Greek life

Governing boards

TDS Center

This building is used for the architecture department as well as the product design students. It also houses the safety and occupational health applied sciences program - the increase in number of students majoring in the safety program has allowed it to grow into a Master's program.

Elliot Hall

is home to on-campus services, including Admissions, the Bursar's office, Health Services, and the office of Alumni & Parent Relations. The Education Department's Child Development Center is located within this facility.

Fiske Hall

The oldest building on the campus, Fiske Hall has been a part of the college since its founding in 1909. It underwent renovations during the spring semester of 2007 following the opening of new residence halls elsewhere on campus, and reopened for the Fall 2007 semester.

Holloway Hall

A first-year residence hall that consists of three co-ed floors with a kitchen on each one. Each suite consists of two main rooms with shared bathroom located between them. Each room houses two or three residents, totaling up to 5 people per suite. Floors are broken up into parliaments by common interest.

Huntress Hall

A co-ed residence hall situated on the main quad. It is one of the oldest dorms on campus and is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of its namesake, Harriett Huntress, a former administrator in the New Hampshire Department of Education. The ghost was briefly mentioned on a show on the Travel Channel.

Media Arts Center

The Media Arts Center opened in the fall of 2006. It contains offices, classroom space, and lab space for the Film, Graphic Design, Communications, and Journalism departments. It was constructed in the former Zorn dining commons building following the completion of the New Zorn Dining Commons.

Mason Library

The Mason Library is home to the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. This facility also houses KSC's reference collection, as well as a periodicals collection, a newspaper archive, and a video and DVD collection, which is surpassed by the collection held by the film department in the Media Arts Center.
The library is named for Wallace Edward Mason, who was the President of Keene Normal School from 1911 until 1939.

Pondside II

Pondside II houses 120 co-ed residents - all juniors and seniors - in four-person, carpeted apartments. Each apartment consists of four single bedrooms, a shared bathroom, living area, and a kitchen equipped with a stove, oven, microwave, and refrigerator. Overhead lighting is provided in each bedroom and common area. Students who live in this area are responsible for cleaning and supplying their bathrooms.

Putnam Science Center

The David F. Putnam Science Center was recently renovated and is home to the Computer Science department and other major science fields. The KSC Science center includes several computer labs containing 440 computers in total. All computers dual boot Windows/FreeBSD and have access to the wireless network.

Redfern Arts Center

The Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond is home to the performing arts and visual arts on campus. It has three performance venues: the Alumni Recital Hall, home to musical performances and the annual KSC Film Festival; the Main Theatre, which hosts touring performances and college productions and can seat 572; and the Wright Theatre, which was named after Ruth McCaffery Wright '29, and dedicated in May 1995. The Wright Theatre is a flexible black box theatre, allowing for a variety of theatre configurations. It is used primarily by the Theatre and Dance Department as a performance space and classroom. The building also houses fine arts classes including painting, drawing, sculpture and printmaking.

Spaulding Gymnasium

The Spaulding Gymnasium and Recreation Center is open to all KSC students and faculty free of charge, and to the general public for a fee. In addition to the large main gym, it includes a pool, a suspended track, a weight room, and an aerobics room. Spaulding houses the exercise science and athletic training majors.

Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery

The Thorne-Sagendorph art gallery displays student work from the various traditional arts. It is occasionally host to touring exhibits and is open daily for viewing.

Young Student Center

The Young Student Center was named for Lloyd P. Young, who served as the school's president from 1939-1964. It is one of the tallest buildings on campus and is home to the campus bookstore, campus convenience store, several food vendors, the campus mailroom, the Mabel Brown auditorium, and student organization offices.

Zorn Dining Commons

The Zorn dining commons was formerly located in the building now known as Media Arts Center. Keene State built a much larger facility that opened in the fall of 2005. It features a variety of dining options. Within the Zorn building but outside the dining area proper is the Hoot-N-Scoot, a take-out facility with prepackaged meals.