HANOVER — Barbara Couch, who founded the Hypertherm Owners’ Philanthropic Endeavors Foundation, is stepping down after leading the nonprofit organization for a decade. Jenny Levy, Hypertherm’s vice president of people, community, and environment, who has worked at Hypertherm since 2004, will take her place, according to a news release.
The HOPE Foundation provides money for nonprofit organizations and projects in the area. Hypertherm employees play a role in deciding where the funding goes. The three focuses of the organization are STEM education, substance use disorders and early childhood development.
Couch joined Hypertherm in 1987 and has played a large role in the company’s nonprofit work, including the Community Service Time program which allows employees to use company time to volunteer at Upper Valley organizations.
She decided to step down, in part, to focus on the Couch Family Foundation, which her family runs.
“My decision to step back as president of HOPE has been carefully planned and the Foundation could not be in better hands,” she said in the release.
Levy was promoted to a vice president position at Hypertherm in 2015. She earned her undergraduate degree for Wesleyan University and an MBA from he Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
SPRINGFIELD, N.H. — A nearly 25-acre plot of land that’s prime habitat for wildlife has been gifted to the Ausbon Sargent land trust.
The land — located on Nichols Hill Road in Springfield, N.H. — was donated by Cheryl Cummer and is called “Christopher Cummer Preserve” after Cummer’s brother.
It is adjacent to the Cummer/Lyle Conservation Easement and is within the Sawyer Brook watershed.
WOODSTOCK — The Norman Williams Public Library is looking for submissions to an upcoming virtual Zentangle Art exhibit.
Zentangle is form of meditative art that involves using patterns and doodles to create pieces. Participants are asked to submit five-six high-resolution photographs of their work to libraryartcommittee@gmail.com by Feb. 7 along with a couple sentences about what they were thinking when they created the piece.
CONCORD — Five Upper Valley residents are among 26 students who Rep. Annie Kuster nominated to attend three United States Service Academies.
Daniel J. Kelliher, of Cornish; Jonathan Y. Li, of Hanover; Lukasz Z. Ricci, of Meriden; Theodore S. Ruth, of Hanover; and William S. Walker, of New London were nominated to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
Among the 26 students, six were nominated to the Naval Academy and 10 each to the Military Academy and Air Force Academy, according to a news release.
“Preparing for military service is an admirable but difficult endeavor, and these students have shown they are up to the task,” Kuster said in the release. “I know they will make our state and our country proud.”
HANOVER — Dr. Elizabeth Talbot, a physician at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center who specializes in infectious disease, public health and pandemic response, will lead a webinar titled “COVID-19 Vaccine Communication, Misinformation, and Fear” from 6-7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Talbot, who also serves as the associate epidemiologist for New Hampshire, will be joined by Punam Keller, senior associate dean of innovation and growth and Charles Henry Jones Third Century professor of management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth; Dr. Gregory Johnson, chief medical officer of hospital medicine at Sound Physicians; and Lindsey Leininger, clinical professor of business administration at Tuck and “Nerdy-Girl-in-Chief” at DearPandemic.org.
People can register for the webinar at dhmcalumdev.hitchcock.org/COVID-19-Vaccine-Series or call 603-653-0755 to request a phone number access the program by phone.
The vaccine webinar is the first in a series of three being hosted by the Geisel School of Medicine.
“Translating Discoveries Faster: Lessons Learned from COVID-19” will take place Feb. 17 and “Eye on Equity: COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution in the U.S. and Worldwide” is on Feb. 22.
Editor’s note: Email community news items to calendar@vnews.com. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com.
