Craig and Linda Rydin both arrived at UNH as first-year students, making the adjustment to life on a college campus from the small industrial city of Berlin in northern New Hampshire. They thrived through that transition, and their UNH experiences opened doors that would likely not have been accessible otherwise, leading to both personal reward and professional success.

But their story is not unique — because they didn’t want it to be. For nearly two decades, their generosity has made it possible for deserving students to follow directly in their footsteps.

When the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS) officially unveiled the CEPS Makerspace in September of 2023, it represented the fulfillment of a vision Kevan Carpenter, director of the CEPS Technical Services Center, had been hoping to bring to life for years.

But he wondered if the students – the primary intended audience for the co-working space focused on innovation and creativity – would find the resource as valuable as he did.

He's not wondering anymore.

Every year, a chosen few of UNH’s outstanding faculty members from each college and school receive Faculty Excellence Awards in recognition of their achievements in teaching, scholarship and service. University-wide awards recognize public service, research, teaching and engagement. The 2024 award recipients include:

New Hampshire's Rapid Response mobile crisis response teams are on the front lines of the state’s mental health and substance use crises, providing immediate support to individuals experiencing a crisis in their communities. 

These responders come from diverse training backgrounds and work in pairs, often teaming up with professionals like peer support specialists or clinical responders to assess situations, de-escalate tensions and stabilize individuals — all without relying on hospitalization or law enforcement intervention. 

UNH celebrated a lively Homecoming weekend Oct. 18-20, welcoming enthusiastic crowds to campus for a variety of entertaining events. Former friends and classmates reunited in style and crowds flocked to several athletics venues to watch the Wildcats compete. Whether you took part and want to relive the weekend already or you weren't able to make it and want a taste of the celebration, we were there to capture some of the highlights.

The University of New Hampshire has been awarded $24.3 million by NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to build sensors for a high-priority alert system that will monitor the effects of space weather and the solar wind — caused by explosions on the sun — for potential interruptions to key technology like satellite communications, electric power grids and GPS systems.

UNH researchers brought in $252 million in competitive external funding in fiscal year 2024, supporting projects that aim to solve problems and improve lives in New Hampshire and beyond.

New student enrollment at the University of New Hampshire held steady from last year, with 3,203 new students arriving on campus this fall. That number includes 2,605 first-year students on the Durham campus, as well as 135 students at the College of Professional Studies in Manchester and 420 transfer students in Durham.  

“Given the declining number of high school age students in our region, as well as the challenges presented by last cycle’s federal financial aid delays, we are extremely proud of this result,” UNH President Elizabeth Chilton says.  

The data is seemingly everywhere. On the front page of newspapers around the country. Slowly crawling along the ticker of cable news channels. Blasted out on social media at an increasingly rapid rate. As the 2024 presidential election draws closer, political poll information has become truly ubiquitous.

But prevalence and accuracy are two entirely different things, says UNH expert Andrew Smith. And he recommends employing a healthy dose of skepticism when viewing poll results ahead of the big day.

For two decades, the federal government has turned to UNH as its trusted research partner in managing and preventing oil spills and other disasters.