Lisa Roth and Peter Hester

Dr. Peter Hester and Lisa Roth are happily united in marriage, as Rider colleagues, and as folk concert promoters.

Hester, assistant professor in the department of teacher education, and Roth, an adjunct instructor in the department, recently helped produce the 10th anniversary show of the Concerts at the Crossing folk music series at the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing, located in Hopewell Township. The October 22 concert featured the trio, "Sons of the Never Wrong."

Hearing from their long time friend Scott Cullen, a folk concert promoter, that he might have to end the concert series after nine years because it was dwindling in attendance and needed financial backing, they jumped at the opportunity to help out. We enjoy the music and sought the camaraderie of participating in such a worthwhile cause," said Hester, who with Roth, has hosted house concerts in their Ewing home. "We did not want to see the series end. We talked to some other volunteers and decided to become partners with Scott and take on more responsibility.

The job entailed publicizing the show and working with the artists to make the evening a success.

With the help of the National Folk Alliance, the group, which in addition to Cullen, Hester and Roth, includes Susan White, a travel agent; Ree Smurthwaite, an architect; and Fiona Rimmell, a recent transplant from the United Kingdom, has become a nonprofit organization. The team is now planning the 2006-2007 concert series.

Prior to joining at Rider in 2001 and 2002 respectively, Hester and Roth had been involved in different aspects of the music business. While living in Colorado, they worked with producers of the national radio program, "Etown," which airs on stations across the country. Hester worked behind the scenes as a driver, security man and stage hand. Roth was a recording assistant and stage manager.

"We had the pleasure of working with many inspiring and exciting people, including David Crosby, Graham Nash, James Taylor, Bruce Cockburn, Shemekia Copeland, Natalie Merchant, Joan Baez, and Gordon Lightfoot, among others," said Roth.

Both, along with the team, put their creative juices to the test with the recent Concerts at the Crossing 10th anniversary concert. "Even though the Sons of the Never Wrong had played before in the series, the band was not widely known and it was a challenge to figure out how to get people to come to the show," added Hester. "We even consulted with Dr. Edward Bonfield, a professor of marketing here at Rider, because we had seen him attending previous shows. We all came together to brainstorm strategies for publicizing the series. The night of the anniversary show we had a sizeable audience who enjoyed a great show with a wine and cheese party during the intermission."

Hester's and Roth's enthusiasm for making things happen carries over into their classrooms. Hester helps prospective teachers identify and address gaps in their science content knowledge through the use of electronic concept maps and other teaching resources. He also teaches MAR 380: Teaching and Learning Marine Science, a course he developed with Dr. Reed Schwimmer and Dr. Richard Alexander, in the department of geological and marine sciences. Roth supervises student teachers. Both are also collaborating on teaching ELD-376: Teaching Science, Social Studies and the Arts.

"Teaching excites and energizes us when our students begin developing their own intellectual agenda," said Hester, who is also a faculty advisor for Rider's Kappa Delta Pi, an international education honor society. "We encourage our Rider students to be self-directed, reflective, and responsive to the needs of their students. We urge them to support their own future students intellectually and emotionally."

Just as they love to promote concerts, they do not hesitate when it comes to expressing their feelings about the University.

"We love working at Rider," said Roth, who with Peter served as a judge for Rider's Greek talent show last year. "The small class sizes enable us to get to know and work closely with our students. We have both enjoyed collaborating with faculty from the department of teacher education and Pete is excited about his collaboration with faculty in physics, biology, geological and marine sciences, chemistry and mathematics.

An added bonus is that we live near by and love to attend Rider theater productions and other campus events. What more can you ask?"

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