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As she talks, Katherine Steere radiates enthusiasm. Her energy is absolutely contagious. Her UNH experience has been a remarkable journey of academic achievements and outstanding community contributions. She has clearly made the most of her time here.  She is a high honor roll student and a remarkably active leader on campus. In her relatively brief time here she has served in Student Senate, Faculty Senate, Library’s Dean Search Committee, and the President’s Violence Against Women Committee. She has also been very involved in Greek life serving as the President for her Sorority, Kappa Delta. Amazingly, she found time to study abroad for a semester as well. Katherine has seemingly indefatigable energy, genuine respect and affection for UNH students and faculty, and a profound sense of loyalty and dedication to the UNH community. As she says, “College is an amazing experience because it is an education that exists not only in the classroom, but in the relationships with the people that you meet along the way.”

Remarkably, Katherine was not involved in campus leadership during her first semester. Coming from Exeter, being the oldest of five siblings, Katherine looked at UNH as a place away from home. It was the next step after high school and not too far from home allowing her to maintain significant family contact. Katherine’s parents and her grandmother have been great role models for her. She credits them with teaching her to love learning.  Being the Co-Senate Representative for Engelhardt during her second semester brought her into contact with student leaders as well as the UNH community. That was the beginnings of her extraordinary turn to campus leadership. As the Health and Human Services Chair of Student Senate, Katherine sponsored a resolution for the return of condoms to the vending machines on campus, pointing out that such a move would create personal responsibility and improve access. Later, as the Senate Academic Affairs Chair, she introduced a resolution supporting academic freedom for UNH professors. She explains that the main goal was to affirm faculty in their efforts to foster “an inclusive academic atmosphere where a variety of beliefs and opinions can be discussed openly and honestly.” Katherine has worked on several others issues including health insurance for students and initiatives to prevent violence against women. She believes that all of these experiences have been a critical component of her learning. Because of her outstanding leadership and contributions in 2006 she received the Movers and Shakers Award from the UNH Leadership Center as well as the UNH Helen Duncan Jones Award for woman showing great promise in citizenship, leadership, and scholarship. She is also an UNH Presidential Scholar.

After introducing a resolution to give students a voice on Faculty Senate, Katherine became one of the students’ representatives to attend the Faculty Senate meetings, something quite remarkable for an undergraduate student. She believes a student representative on Faculty Senate is important because “learning is essentially a partnership between students, faculty, and administration.” Katherine values these opportunities to relate to faculty. She recalls attending receptions at the homes of some faculty members and getting to know them really well. “You see their human side, them as members of their families, and people like us who care and have a life.” She believes that UNH faculty members are incredibly generous with students, both inside and outside the classroom. Multiple professors have been good mentors and helped her clarify her own academic goals, sharpening not just academic ideas, but ideas she hold about herself and the UNH community. Dr. Ron Croce, Department of Kinesiology, Dr. Richard Kushner, Department of Psychology and Dr. Nadine Berenguier, an associate professor of French and Italian, have really inspired Katherine because of their passion for their subject matter and their engaging teaching style. She credits these relationships as playing a very important role in her decision to change her major from English to a double major in Communication Sciences and Disorders and French.

Katherine’s plans for the future include becoming a certified speech pathologist and working in a clinical setting before pursuing graduate school. She plans to earn a PhD in Education and return to a college in some administrative capacity. She sees education as the key to human excellence for everyone, regardless of their abilities. She will no doubt achieve such high goals and continue to positively impact the communities she serves.

“Students are the focus of everything we do.”