President Sara Jayne Steen’s official portrait will join those of her predecessors in Lamson Library. Christopher Navin photo.

If you ask people what they consider to be highlights of President Sara Jayne Steen’s nine-year presidency, they’ll tell you about the beautiful new and renovated buildings, sustainability efforts, cutting-edge programs, and community partnerships. But they’ll also make a point of sharing their thoughts on her relationships with those on campus and throughout the community: how she makes everyone feel special and respected, how her calm demeanor puts others at ease, and how she genuinely cares about people, especially students.

In her introductory remarks for her first Faculty Day on August 23, 2006, President Steen said, “PSU’s future is something we’ll shape together.” What follows are just some of the many initiatives launched and nurtured during her presidency, as told by the people who worked with her to shape them.

Growing a University
When Sara Jayne Steen became the 14th president of Plymouth State University on June 30, 2006, the University was smaller both physically and programmatically. Since then, the campus has flourished. With the opening of Langdon Woods Residential Complex, one of the first and largest residence halls in the country to receive gold-level certification from the US Green Building Council, students are developing valuable life skills as they learn to live in an environmentally sustainable community. EcoHouse provides a new model of living that immerses students in a living laboratory that allows them to experiment with sustainable design, alternative energy sources, and a sustainable way of living. A new welcome center and ice arena has enhanced academics, athletics, and recreation on campus and beyond and has led to two MASCAC Championships for the men’s ice hockey team. The Museum of the White Mountains—the first of its kind—celebrates the art, history, and culture of the White Mountains region using multimedia and online tools and collections. The Enterprise Center at Plymouth serves as a resource and an incubator for small businesses and is enhancing economic development in the region. The construction of the new Active Living, Learning, and Wellness (ALLWell) North, an academic and athletic complex, will enhance recruitment and enrollment, provide jobs, and support academics, research, and outreach activities when it opens in October.

Longtime PSU Athletic Director John Clark ’71, ’73G fondly recalls when he and President Steen served on the planning committee for the ice arena and welcome center. “When she started at PSU, we’d already begun plans for a beautiful new ice arena,” he says. “But she made it more than that—because of her leadership, it became not only an ice arena, but also a welcome center for visitors, and an attractive ‘front door’ for PSU. This was her vision, and she wouldn’t accept anything less. To me, that facility truly reflects her leadership.”

Once the ice arena and welcome center opened, Clark—who has lived in Plymouth for more than four decades—was gratified to see how often community members visited campus, particularly to enjoy the ice arena. “Everyone in Plymouth, in the region, feels so welcome and comfortable here, and that’s because of President Steen,” he says. For Clark, one night in particular typifies the president’s vision. “In 2013, the men’s ice hockey team was in the MASCAC championship game. At the end of the night, we had lost the game,” he recalls. “But nobody left afterward. The stands were filled with PSU students and community members chanting ‘PSU! PSU! PSU!’ together. That’s the story I want to tell about President Steen. What she’s done for this campus and the community—we’ll never be able to thank her enough.”

Building a Sustainable Campus
Less than a year into her presidency, President Steen was a charter signatory of the Presidents’ Climate Commitment, pledging PSU’s participation in a broad effort by the nation’s higher education institutions to address global warming. The signing was a catalyst for the creation of PSU’s Climate Action Plan and its Office of Environmental Sustainability (OES), both initiatives to help move the campus closer to climate neutrality. The Mary Lyon Residence Hall remodel completed in 2008 joined Langdon Woods in earning awards for design and sustainable construction. Shortly after, EcoHouse opened and the Department of Environmental Science and Policy was created, offering both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. In 2010, PSU opened the energy-efficient Hanaway Rink and Savage Welcome Center, which garnered Business NH Magazine’s Lean and Green Building Award for cost containment and sustainability.

Professor Brian Eisenhauer, OES director, is at the center of Plymouth State’s sustainability and climate neutrality efforts, and has worked with President Steen to ensure PSU is the greenest it can be. “President Steen’s commitment to sustainability has established PSU as a leader,” he says. “Her support of sustainability throughout our capital planning, and in our daily operations, has been essential to our success. Because of her support, we have a Climate Action Plan, several programs that encourage conservation within the campus community and promote efficiency, and a growing sustainability presence in our curriculum. Removing trays from the dining halls to reduce food waste, installing low-flow fixtures across campus, and increasing our recycling efforts have been made possible by her leadership.”

Even more than her support of PSU’s sustainability initiatives, Eisenhauer appreciates President Steen’s support of students. “One of my OES student employees got to know President Steen very well; and I know the time that President Steen spent with her was sincerely appreciated,” he says. “Another student who works in OES received a scholarship. The president helped make that happen by recognizing her good work. I really appreciate President Steen’s support for students. Sometimes those efforts were visible, and other times she’s worked behind the scenes. In all cases her dedication to students and her advocacy for their well-being have been essential parts of her professional life that I greatly admire. She has positively impacted students’ lives, which should be our highest goal as educators.”

Meeting the Needs of the Twenty-first Century Student
In the last nine years, PSU has added several undergraduate and graduate degree options that prepare students for rewarding careers in growing industries, such as tourism management, environmental science, professional sales, and nursing.

One of the most significant additions to PSU’s offerings, however, was the Doctor of Education in Learning, Leadership and Community program, launched in summer 2009. Given PSU’s long history in teacher training and education, a doctoral program in education was a natural next step, and had been a goal of many on campus for years. “One of the first questions President Steen asked when she started her presidency was, ‘Why don’t we have a doctoral program?’” recalls Kathleen Norris ’98CAGS, coordinator of the Doctor of Education program. “From that point on, she was determined to see that we would.”

Norris was part of the team of PSU faculty, staff, and administrators who worked to make the program a reality and says, “President Steen was part of every step in the process, and the fact that we received unanimous approval from the state legislature had a lot to do with her.”

President Steen remains highly involved with the program, promoting its success wherever she speaks, welcoming each incoming cohort, honoring its graduates, and attending the annual Doctoral Program Research Symposium. By doing so, says Norris, “She shows that she really values students.”

A University of Place
Part of PSU’s mission is to enrich the community and region in which it resides. The Silver Center for the Arts, the Hanaway Rink, the Enterprise Center at Plymouth, and ALLWell North all provide cultural, business, health and wellness, and recreational resources for the region. And the work of the Center for the Environment, the Center for Active Living and Healthy Communities, and the Center for Rural Partnerships—PSU’s centers of excellence for healthy places, healthy people, and healthy economies—benefit the region while providing learning opportunities for students and research opportunities for faculty.

Experiential education combined with regional service has become a hallmark of a Plymouth State education, and has earned PSU a place among only 311 other higher education institutions nationally that have received the community engagement classification from the Carnegie Foundation.

“Ours is not a town-gown relationship, it’s a dynamic partnership between the University, the town, local businesses, and nonprofits,” says Valerie Scarborough, a member of the Plymouth select board from 2009 until 2015. Scarborough has been a speaker for several fall Convocation exercises. “From the day students arrive, the message is there—the town leadership is a partner with the University. And when we celebrated Plymouth’s 250th anniversary in 2013, Sara Jayne was an honored speaker. That same day, the University held Summerfest in front of Mary Lyon Hall, and the community was invited to participate. There were people who’d been living in Plymouth their whole lives and hadn’t been on campus who came to enjoy the food, games, and music. It was wonderful! Sara Jayne has always invited community members to A Joyful Noise holiday concert, then to her house for Christmas cheer. It has gotten so popular that we had to move it to the HUB because her house wasn’t big enough!”

But it wasn’t just the good times when Plymouth could count on President Steen, Scarborough points out. “At the memorial service for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Sara Jayne and I both spoke,” she says. “After Hurricane Irene, we stood together by a flooded road, waiting for the Governor to arrive … celebrations and emergencies, she’s been there for all of them. We stood together, and I hate to see her go.”

Holderness residents and business owners Dick and Betty Hanaway have also been impressed with President Steen’s emphasis on community engagement. “Sara Jayne has done a wonderful job developing relations between the University and the community,” says Dick Hanaway. “She’s been able to captivate the imagination of our town and translate it into a mutually beneficial partnership with the University.”

Student Success
The first in her family to attend college, President Steen has dedicated her professional life to helping other first-generation college students experience the transformative power of education. Throughout her presidency she has ensured that PSU prepares its students for rewarding careers and lives enriched by service, global citizenship, and a lifelong love of learning.

Alex Herbst ’15 clearly remembers when he first met President Steen. “Our class came in right after Hurricane Irene came through,” the meteorology major says. “The flooding delayed Convocation and the first day of classes by a few days, so everything felt a bit off. When we did have Convocation, President Steen seemed so calm, so in control, and so welcoming, that it had a calming affect on us.”

In the years since, Herbst has seen President Steen regularly due to his involvement with student government. “She comes to the Student Senate meetings, listens to us, and shares what the administration is discussing,” he says. Moreover, he says, she is in tune with what students want and need, and is their staunchest advocate. “When we’ve asked her about something, there was never a time when she said, ‘No, that’s not possible.’ Instead she says, ‘We can do that,’ or ‘I will look into it.’ She holds students in high regard.”

Whether introducing herself to students and their families at Move-In Day, hosting students in her home, or simply having a conversation while walking across campus, President Steen makes the effort to get to know people on a personal level.

And according to Herbst, President Steen not only remembers students’ names, but also personal details. For example, he says, “A few days after Hurricane Sandy, President Steen made a point of checking in with me to see how my family was because she remembered that I was from New Jersey,” Herbst says. “I couldn’t believe it. And now that I’m ready to graduate, she’s asked me what my plans are. I never expected to have that kind of relationship with a college president. She’s a genuine, warm, and friendly person, and I hope the next president will connect with students as well as she has.”

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Julie Bernier has worked side-by-side with President Steen for her entire presidency. “Sara Jayne is a quintessential leader, an effective manager, and one of the most effective advocates Plymouth State has ever had,” she says. “It is her values however, that I appreciate most. She puts people first. It has been a joy to work with someone with whom I share values and vision for the future.”

President Steen certainly made good on her Faculty Day promise nine years ago. She and faculty, staff, students, and community members, have shaped PSU’s future together. —Barbra Alan

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