by Terry Rayno
Dr. Richard Wylie ’63 Katherine Eneguess ’72 Dr. Jim Hundrieser ‘90
Plymouth State University has always been known for producing educators, so it’s no surprise to find that so many Plymouth alumni are currently in senior positions as college and university administrators.
For some the move to administration was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream—for others, a natural progression from teaching. One thing they have in common, though: they all praise Plymouth State for providing a solid educational base and the opportunity to apply what they learned in the classroom in the real world—often at the same time.
Dr. Richard Wylie
Richard Wylie, who grew up in Needham, Mass., graduated from Plymouth with a degree in elementary education in 1963. He transferred to Plymouth on the recommendation of his father, a professor at Boston University, who was impressed with several of his graduate students who were on the Plymouth faculty.
Wylie went on to teach sixth grade in Gloucester, Mass. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Boston University and began teaching at the University of Connecticut. He moved to Temple University, where he was asked to fill a vacancy as division chairman in his department. He later served as dean at the University of Colorado where he was charged with establishing their new downtown Denver campus.
“That’s when I really began to love working in college administration. I began to realize how much you could accomplish as an administrator. You could play an incredibly important role in helping students to succeed,” he notes.
Eventually he wanted to return to New England and he became vice president of Leslie College in Cambridge, Mass. In 1988, he was named president of Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. When he took over, Endicott was a two-year women’s college with 500 students that was struggling to survive. Over the next 15 years, Wylie led a team of faculty and administrators to transform Endicott into one of New England’s great success stories. Today Endicott is a coed, four-year school with 3,000 students and master’s degree programs. The college’s acceptance rate has gone from 98 percent to 40 percent, and SAT scores are up by more than 240 points.
“I remember thinking, ‘this is a school that shouldn’t be in trouble.’ It was, after all, one of the most beautiful campuses I had ever seen. … It was an incredible experience to take an institution that was barely surviving and watch it become a huge success. I never thought it would go like it did. We planned some moves and changes, but after a while it took on a life of its own—success just bred more success,” he says.
Wylie’s other contributions to the field of education are numerous. Through the U.S. State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools he has worked to provide children in poorer countries with access to education, heading projects in Ethiopia, Brazil and Portugal among others. His publications include many educational materials as well as children’s books.
What he appreciates most about his career in higher education “is the incredible people I’ve worked with through the years. Being with them and around them has just been a pleasure. They are absolutely dedicated to helping students learn.”
He also sees that as one of Plymouth’s greatest strengths. “The faculty really cared. It developed confidence in me and opened up a lot of opportunities for me. I received a good education and Plymouth allowed me to enjoy college life. That’s the experience I want every student to have.”
Katherine Eneguess
Katherine Eneguess ’74 is interim president of the New Hampshire Community Technical College’s Berlin and Laconia campuses. The college’s board of trustees, Governor Craig Benson and the executive council approved her nomination in October 2003.
Eneguess, who grew up in New Hampshire, spent the last 15 years working with the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association in public policy. She concentrated on education, healthcare, community development, workers’ compensation and human resources. She had the dual function of BIA staff and executive director of the New Hampshire Business Roundtable on Education, which focused on partnerships between education (at all levels) and business. She has served as a public member from New Hampshire on the New England Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Higher Education.
She says the best part of her job is working with the faculty and staff to promote the educational needs of technical college students. “I feel we are blessed with an excellent faculty at both campuses. They are dedicated to providing a top-notch education to our students, who are often the first generation of their families to attend an institution of higher learning,” she notes.
She said she enjoys working with all who are involved with the two schools as they plan for the future. “We are certainly one of the fastest growing segments of higher education. We continue to grow exponentially—we’ve doubled in size in the last five years—and I don’t know how that won’t happen again,” she added.
For her, the only downside is not having enough time to do as much as she would like.
She received her B.S. degree in health, physical education and recreation. While at Plymouth State, she was a member of both the Plymouth ski team and the Canadian/American ski team, started the school’s first canoe and kayak club, founded a canoeing and kayaking camp in Errol, N.H., and competed at the regional and national levels.
In 1975, she started a high school for ski racers in Colorado, the Colorado Ski Education Foundation, and eventually saw several students make the U.S. ski team and the NCAA champsionships. Family drew her back to New England several years later.
Eneguess worked for Franklin Pierce College in admissions and continuing education, and established the school’s Nashua campus. She has taught at a number of New England colleges as an adjunct professor. She earned her master’s degree in curriculum planning and design from Johnson State College and pursued doctoral coursework in organizational development and management from the Fielding Institute.
She notes that Plymouth offered her the freedom to work within the school’s curriculum and still go where she wanted to go. “Plymouth was everything I wanted—it was a good solid education in an area that I loved.”
Eneguess welcomes the challenge and opportunity of providing students with the promise of a bright future, saying, “I want all of our students to have a chance at success.”
Dr. Jim Hundrieser
Jim Hundrieser is in his first year as vice president of student affairs at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. He received his M.Ed. in education administration from Plymouth State in 1990. His position at Marymount is the fulfillment of a dream he has had since he was a junior in college.
“That’s something I have always wanted to do. I wanted the title of college president or vice president,” he notes.
Hundrieser grew up outside of Chicago, Ill., and received a B.S. in management from Northern Michigan University. He chose Plymouth to pursue his master’s degree because it offered him a chance to study and be a hall director at the same time.
“It was the perfect situation for me,” recalls Hundrieser. “I had the ability to apply what I was learning in the classroom in my residence hall. The small class sizes and a caring faculty created a dynamic combination that encouraged student success. Which is what I try to do now.”
Hundrieser also describes Plymouth as a great place to live. “It’s a wonderful place with a supportive environment and the beauty of the White Mountains. I remember one fall afternoon walking out of the library and thinking I was in another world with all the brightly colored leaves and trees. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen,” he said.
He notes the contrast in environments between Plymouth and Marymount, which is an urban campus with 2,100 students on the Upper East Side of New York. “Here, if we want to have a barbecue, we have to walk two blocks over to Central Park.”
Hundrieser received his Ph.D. in leadership in 1999 from Berry University in Miami, Fla. His first job as a college administrator was as a residence hall coordinator at the University of Wisconsin–Stout. Other positions included area coordinator for housing at the University of Hartford in Connecticut, then dean of assessment at Lynn University, in Boca Raton, Fla. He gained experience in the private sector as the associate vice president of retention services for Noel-Levitz, the nation’s leading consulting firm for college enrollment management before taking the job at Marymount.
At Marymount, he strives to be an advocate for the students. “I work to create a process and place that is student friendly,” Hundrieser notes. “I want students here to feel that they are valued, welcomed, encouraged and embraced.”
And the Others
The list doesn’t stop there, though. Among the other college administrators known to PSU’s alumni office are: John “Jake” Julia ’81, vice president for the office of change management, Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill.; William P. Landry ’74, dean of science and mathematics, Trident Technical College, Charleston, S.C.; Ann M. Rancourt ’70, associate vice president for academic affairs, Keene State College, Keene, N.H.; John R. Humphrey ’88, assistant dean, College of Human Science and Services, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, R.I.; Cheryl A. Dorfman ’74, acting academic dean (spring 2004), assistant dean of nursing and health services, Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, Mass.; Charles R. Duke ’62, dean, Reich College of Education, Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C.; Terry L. Conrad ’73, vice president (retired), Salem State College, Salem, Mass.; Charles A. Wood ’72, vice president for university advancement, Radford University, Radford, Va.; Gerald L. Boothby ’85, acting vice president and chief financial officer, Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C. John J. Pierog ’72, vice president of student affairs, SUNY–Broome Community College, Binghamton, N.Y.
Terry Rayno is a freelance writer and a marketing, public relations and communications consultant. He is principal of TMR Promotions and Systems in Bow, N.H.
