Paul College will greatly miss long-time staff members Heather Smith, Sinthy Kounlasa, and Karen Schwendeman as they embark upon their next life journey, retirement! We thank them for their service to the college and to UNH.
Heather Smith
For the past 11 years, Heather has served as the administrative assistant to the Marketing Department. Over that period she kept the department running smoothly by getting a new chair (Tom Gruen) settled and up to speed,
working with an ever increasing number of students and faculty over the years, and serving as the key resource to all the faculty. To many of the students and adjunct faculty, Heather was the “face” of the department.
Heather was never “only” the Admin for the Marketing Department as she always wore multiple hats, serving in the Dean’s Office and in the Communications and Marketing office. Heather was instrumental in organizing searches, helping assure many department and college-level events were executed successfully, updating the web site and designing digital slides, and producing the faculty/staff blog and the former college newsletter.
Always respected for her clear thought and judgement, Heather took on the leadership roles in the college’s Staff Council. Despite carrying multiple and ever-increasing responsibilities, Heather always has a smile and a kind word for everyone. She cares about everyone and her servant heart always shines through the most challenging of situations. Over the last year, she helped transition another new chair into his role. We will miss her but are excited for her next venture.
-- Ludwig Bstieler, Department of Marketing, Chair
-- Tom Gruen, Professor of Marketing
-- Sharon Keeler, Director Communications and Marketing Office
Sinthy Kounlasa
After a long, distinguished career, Sinthy Kounlasa is retiring from Paul College. Sinthy’s career at UNH spans more than 30 years. Over the past several years, she served as the administrative assistant for the Accounting and
Finance Department and just before that she was a long-time admin assistant for the Economics Department. Sinthy loved helping anyone in need, and her dedication, persistence, and efficiency always led to a job well done. She was an inspiration to all who knew her and a truly extraordinary member of the Paul College community.
In addition to being an exceptional employee, many of us will associate Sinthy with running. She is a top runner in her age group, and as anyone who visited her office knows, she amassed a tremendous amount of medals from marathon competitions worldwide. She inspired countless others to take up the sport and developed many close friendships along the way.
Sinthy will likely spend a lot of time with her family, including several grandchildren, during her retirement. Although we will miss her greatly, lucky for us, she lives (and runs) locally, so we look forward to seeing her around town and around campus. We wish her all the best in her retirement!
-- Steve Ciccone, Accounting and Finance Department, Chair
Karen Schwendeman
Karen Schwendeman worked in the Undergraduate Programs Office for 20 years. In this time she supported five associate deans, two directors and more than 15 advisors. Karen began at UNH as an administrative assistant
and was promoted to senior pogram assistant in 2014. Karen was the heart of the Undergraduate Programs Office ensuring that policies were followed, processes were in place and the staff has everything they needed. Her efficiency, organization and especially institutional knowledge will be greatly missed. We wish her all the best in this next chapter. Jamie Willet will be taking over many of Karen’s responsibilities in a redesigned position in the Undergraduate Programs Office.
-- Tamara Rury, Director Undergraduate Programs
