UNH President Jim Dean wheeling around with fourth graders at Gossler Park Elementary in Manchester as a part of the university’s Embrace NH bus tour. UNH’s Northeast Passage engaged the students in a lesson-learning wheelchair exercise to explore shared similarities regardless of ability. UNH visited several local partners, including XMA Corporation, Waypoint and ARMI, to highlight innovative ways UNH is working with businesses, schools and non-profits to strengthen the state’s workforce, help educate the next generation and provide valuable professional resources to fight substance abuse, homelessness and the state’s mental health crisis. Courtesy photo/Jeremy Gasowski/UNH

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Last week, University of New Hampshire (UNH) officials took a tour of Manchester to meet with local officials and discuss the university’s role in supporting organizations around the region.

The event, dubbed the Embrace NH Tour, began the day at Gossler Park Elementary School, followed by stops at XMA Corporation, Waypoint and ARMI.

The tour was the second of its kind, following similar tours where UNH officials toured stops in the northern and central parts of the state.

UNH President Jim Dean said that the tour was part of the university’s responsibility not just for its own students by for the state as a whole as New Hampshire’s public flagship university.

“While New Hampshire is not that big of a state, it’s really diverse. The North Country has a different set of problems than what is being faced here in Manchester and we want to understand the whole state,” said Dean. “There’s so much to learn and if we want to keep on being the flagship university of the state, we want to provide as large of an aperture as possible.