Kudos: Policy Research Shop Assesses Lake Sunapee

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Dartmouth faculty, students, and staff are recognized for their achievements.

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In a study by the Class of 1964 Policy Research Shop, researchers Paul Hager ’22, Kelly Zeilman ’22, and Emery Rheam ’22 found that Lake Sunapee and its immediate environs bring in more than $4 billion to the New Hampshire economy through property values, property taxes, business revenue, tourism dollars, and water supply infrastructure.

Hager, Zellman, and Rheam undertook the study for the nonprofit groups Lake Sunapee Protective Association and NH Lakes, finding that visitors as well as part-time and full-time residents near New Hampshire’s fifth-largest lake contribute $412.6 million in property values, $52.9 million in property town tax value, $10.9 million in ski area infrastructure, $120.9 million in revenue from tourism, boating and fishing, as well as $885,000 in water infrastructure and supply.

The intent of the Policy Research Shop report for the lake associations is to establish a data-based economic value to Sunapee that “could be used to inform preservation and policy regarding the lake,” the researchers write.

“Paul, Kelly, and Emery, all PRS veterans, spent the last weeks of their Dartmouth College experience working on this project. Less than 72 hours before they graduated, they presented their findings to the leaders of NH Lakes and the Lake Sunapee Protective Association,” says Ronald Shaiko, director of the Policy Research Shop and senior fellow and associate director of curricular and research programs at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy.

Since its founding in 2005, more than 600 Dartmouth undergraduates working with the Policy Research Shop have produced 245 policy briefs for public, administrative, and legislative entities in Vermont and New Hampshire.

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Peter Orner, director of creative writing, received a starred review in Publishers Weekly for his latest book, Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin. “Orner brings his lyrical, mosaic style to the story of his own life in this gorgeous and contemplative memoir,” the reviewer writes.

The Publishers Weekly trade blog booklife notes in the frequently asked questions section, “Superlative books may receive the coveted PW star, an unbiased indication of truly outstanding quality.”

Orner, who has published two novels, The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo and Love and Shame and Love, and numerous short stories, nonfiction, and essay collections, also holds the Dartmouth Professorship in English and Creative Writing.

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Alex Joel ’25, was awarded a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to study the Russian language and area studies in Armenia this summer.

The fellowships, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fulbright Hays Group Projects Abroad, advance overseas Russian and Persian language study. Scholarships are awarded to eligible participants on the Advanced Russian Language and Area Studies Program in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Yerevan, Armenia.

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Robert Hill, assistant professor of biological sciences, has received a Klingenstein-Simons fellowship award in neuroscience for his work on “mechanisms underlying the removal of diverse cellular debris in the live brain.”

Through its collaboration with the Simons Foundation, the Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Awards in Neuroscience supports early career investigators engaged in basic or clinical research that may lead to a better understanding of neurological and psychiatric disorders, according to the Klingenstein Philanthropies website.

“Aimed at advancing cutting-edge investigations, the awards are presented to highly promising, early career scientists,” the award announcement states.

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Foreword Reviews Magazine’s Indies 2021 Book Awards has presented an honorable mention for the political and social sciences to Randall Balmer, the John Phillips Professor in Religion, for his new book, Passion Plays: How Religion Shaped Sports in North America.

After more than 2,500 individual titles spread across 55 genres were submitted for consideration, the winners were decided by an expert team of booksellers and librarians representing Foreword’s trade readership from across the country. 

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Lauren Azrin ’25 was selected for the prestigious Television Academy Foundation Internship Program. She is one of just 40 students chosen by Television Academy members from across the country for the 2022 summer program, which provides eight-week paid summer internships at top Hollywood studios and production companies to college students nationwide.

Azrin, a psychology and film major, will be interning this summer in the unscripted television development department at Magical Elves production company in Los Angeles. Magical Elves is known for Emmy Award-winning shows like Top Chef and Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen as well as Peabody Award-winning Project Runway.

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Olivia Shortt, Guarini ’23, will be performing music by the 2022 Pulitzer Prize winner Raven Chacon at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City this summer as part of the 2022 Whitney Biennial.

The series of performances, titled Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet As It’s Kept, run from July 16 to Oct. 16 and will also feature original work by Chacon, Terence Nance, Julie Tolentino, and Kwan Arce showcasing music, dance, and multimedia immersive design. The series features all Indigenous artists.

Chacon, who is a member of the Diné (Navajo) Nation, will perform For Zitkála-Šá on July 16, featuring the American Indian, First Nations, and Mestiza women musicians who inspired the 13 musical scores he drafted as part of the installation featured in the 2022 Whitney Biennial. In addition to Shortt, the evening will feature artists Autumn Chacon, Carmina Escobar, Joy Harjo, Candice Hopkins, Suzanne Kite, Koyoltzintli, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Ange Loft, Laura Ortman, Heidi Aklaseaq Senungetuk, and Jacqueline Wilson.

For more information, visit the Whitney exhibitions website.