A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E - Colby-Sawyer College

PHOTO: Ed Germar
Serving Students and Society
Remembering Professor Donald Coonley
Donald E. Coonley, a professor who taught for 18 years
in the Communication Studies Program, passed away on
Wednesday, June 8, after a long illness. He joined the college
in 1989, leaving a tenured position at Connecticut’s Sacred
Heart University for the opportunity to start a new video
production program and community radio station, WSCS
90.9 FM, at Colby-Sawyer College.
Professor Coonley was known as a warm and inspiring
teacher, mentor and friend. In a 2007 interview for this
magazine, he explained his teaching philosophy: “I’m one
of many educators…who believes that the intellectual and
social life of students can be invigorated based on two
essential goals: to serve the needs of the students and to
serve the needs of society. Education must provide such
personal benefits as self-reliance and specific training, as well
as develop a wider sense of community responsibility.”
Through “Colby-Sawyer Insights,” the college’s first
student-produced video program, students learned as much
about storytelling and community service as they did about
video production. Professor Coonley often reminded students
that “this is not a video class...it’s a communications class
that uses video as its medium.”
Communication Studies graduate Katie Srednicki ’06 says
Professor Coonley’s influence changed the course of her
career. “I don’t know if I would have pursued production
without him,” she says. “I always thought I was going to be
a writer until I took his video classes and fell in love with
telling stories through a lens.”
Similarly, Rob Peaslee ’95, who now teaches in the College
of Mass Communications at Texas Tech University, says
Professor Don Coonley was recognized with the Faculty Award for Teaching
Excellence in 1992 and the Jack Jensen Award for Teaching Excellence and
Campus Leadership in 1994.
10 COLBY-SAWYER ALUMNI MAGAZINE
Professor Coonley on the set of “Wind Crossing” in 1980.
Professor Coonley continues to inspire him on personal and
professional levels. “I feel lucky to have known and studied
under Don. He remains the template for what I try to do on a
daily basis,” Peaslee says.
In 1999, Professor Coonley produced “Celestial Reckoning,”
a multi-media play he wrote about Colby Junior
College during World War II. The production highlighted a
fascinating time in college history, when First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt visited campus and President H. Leslie Sawyer
offered encouraging daily talks to students at chapel services.
“Celestial Reckoning” involved 75 students, faculty, staff
and area residents in a stage play laced with video sequences
that provided excellent learning experiences and a great
opportunity for community outreach.
Professor Coonley found the 1940s especially interesting
because he said “the kind of community that was here then
would never occur again. It was a time from which we were
far enough away that we could implicitly compare it to where
we are now.”
His best memories of Colby-Sawyer came from seeing
his students at work in the world, such as in 2001, when
he traveled to New York City with a class to do a story after
the terrorist attacks of September 11. “I’ve always been most
proud of the way our students went out into the community
and interacted with people. The students were always treated
professionally, and they became professionals as a result of
that respect,” he said.
Shortly before leaving Colby-Sawyer in 2008 to pursue
documentary filmmaking, Professor Coonley reflected on his
many years of teaching. “My hope is that my students will
one day say ‘Some of what I’ve become, I owe to Don.’”
Associate Professor of Humanities Donna Berghorn has no
doubt of his impact on his students and faculty colleagues.
“Don shared his passion for video and the visual image
with so many generations of students, and they have said
repeatedly that his influence on them will last throughout
their lives,” she says. “Working with him was one of the
greatest gifts of my life.”
COURTESY OF NANCY SERRELL