UConn Magazine

Category: The University

  • Tom’s Trivia

    Tom’s Trivia

    Challenge yourself to Tom’s Trivia!

    See if you know as much as King of UConn Trivia and University Deputy Spokesperson Tom Breen ’00 (CLAS).

    Scroll to the bottom to reveal the answers.

    Tom's Trivia

    UConn’s school colors of National Flag blue and white were made official in 1952. What were the earliest colors known to represent the institution?

    A: Orange and white
    B: Red, white, and blue
    C: Imperial blue and white
    D: Midnight blue and white

    The opening of the Downtown Hartford Campus this fall is the first time UConn has had an under- graduate campus in the capital city since 1970. How many previous locations have there been for the University in Hartford?

    A: One
    B: Three
    C: Five
    D: Six

    UConn’s Winter Weekend ”“ a bright spot during the cold New England months on campus ”“ began in 1979 with jugglers, an ill-advised parachute jump, and a “pajama party beerfest.” Only one activity has survived as a mainstay of campus life, though. What is it?

    A: The Senior Scoop
    B: A ski trip
    C: One-Ton Sundae
    D: Saturday basketball game

    What non-Halloween costume tradition disappeared from University life after 40 years?

    A: UConn’s president dressing once a year as the “Mayor of Storrs”
    B: A parade through campus led by someone dressed as the Pied Piper
    C: The football team and marching band swapping uniforms after the Spring Game
    D: Students dressing as the mascots of Yankee Conference rivals to mock their teams

    Students in Halloween costumes

    In 1904, some 40 students ”” a quarter of the student body ”” posed in their Halloween garb.

    Answers

    1. C. In the 1890s, UConn colors were white and a very light blue, known as Imperial Blue, which is the earliest known use of colors to represent the institution that would become UConn.
    2. C. Opening as an extension center on Bellevue Street in 1939, the campus rapidly expanded after World War II, moving first to a location on Woodland Street, and then to Barnard Junior High School before moving to rooms in Hartford Public High School. The last location of the old Hartford campus was the former Goodwin estate on Asylum Avenue.
    3. C. First scooped out in 1979, the One-Ton Sundae has been one of the most popular traditions at UConn ever since, the scene of hundreds of students eating ice cream outdoors in the dead of winter being one of the unique spectacles of campus life at UConn.
    4. B. From 1932 to 1972, the highlight of Freshman Week was the nighttime parade through campus led by the head of student government attired as the Pied Piper ”” who would often be thrown into Mirror Lake at the conclusion of the festivities.
  • Letters – Fall 2017

    Letters – Fall 2017

    To the Editor

    Letters

    Fall 2017 Cover

    Much of this issue’s mail either lauded the UConn Health doctor seeking a cure for the rare GSD disease or lambasted us for the headline “In Russia, you simply couldn’t be a writer if you were Jewish.” The fact that the headline was in quotes did not make it clear to all that it was Litman’s personal point of view. See her response below, along with a sampling of the letters we received on many subjects.

    Have something to tell us? We’d love to hear it! Email the editor at lisa.stiepock@uconn.edu or post something on our website.

    Free to be Imperfect

    Thank you for this article and Gayle ”” if you read this, thank you for persevering and getting Dr. Weinstein to Connecticut. My son is 6 and has GSD 1a, and this gives me so much hope that there will be a cure by the time he is a teenager.

    Tara Marchetti
    Deptford, New Jersey

    Thank you for this great article. We have a grandson who is 1 year old and has GSD 1a. We would love to see him get in to see Dr. Weinstein at UConn; he is on a waiting list now. What can we do on the West Coast to help with the cause?

    Robert Ford

    Editor’s Note: To inquire about seeing Dr. Weinstein, call his program coordinator: Traci Resler at 860-837-7800; to donate to the cause, visit www.GlobalCenterForGSD.com or www.AlyssasAngelFund.org.

    “In Russia, you simply couldn’t be a writer if you were Jewish”

    That is so biased and so not true! No one cares if you are Jewish in Russia. Actually, it is quite the opposite. There were and are so many accomplished Jewish scientists and artists in USSR and now Russia. I don’t agree with the points made on migration and the discrimination of Jewish people. No one has his/her nationality stamped into their passport.

    Kirill Karpenko ’19 MBA
    Hartford, Connecticut

    Associate Professor of English Ellen Litman replies:  It seems that the comments are about life/conditions in the present-day Russia, whereas my experience dates back to the eighties and early nineties. In those days, one’s nationality was absolutely recorded in one’s passport. I am glad to hear that this is no longer the practice now. On the point about discrimination of Jews, once again, I’d like to believe that the commenter is referring to the present-day conditions and that the discrimination my generation experienced is a thing of the past. While he is correct that there are and have been prominent Jewish writers, artists, and scientists, the path was by no means clear or obvious, at least in my experience.

    I would like to suggest one of the books mentioned to my book group. Are they available at Barnes & Noble in Storrs or through Amazon?

    Kathy Pepin (SFA)
    Springfield, Massachusetts

    Editor’s Note:  Litman’s books are in the Storrs Center Barnes & Noble, on BarnesandNoble.com,  and on Amazon.

    UConn Nation

    I read the article on “UConn Nation Gives Back” and want to be involved next year.

    Rick Leino ’64 (CLAS)
    Fairfax, Virginia

    Rebecca Lobo

    Congratulations to a wonderful, talented athlete and an unparalleled role model. A well-deserved honor!

    David Bostic ’83 (CAHNR)
    Granby, Connecticut

    Dispatch from Iraq

    Great article. I hope that the author took proper care to ensure that Gibrael or his family could not be targeted from the information in this article. It was probably unnecessary to insinuate that Gibrael was doing anything other than his duty as far as his relationship with U.S. forces.

    Joel Angle ’09 (CLAS)
    Washington, D.C. area
    U.S. Marine Lt.-Col. (ret.) 

    Michael Zacchea replies:  The reason we included Gibrael’s picture is he was killed in combat in November 2004 on the way to Fallujah. We remain in contact with several of the other Iraqis featured and have taken great care to hide their identities.

  • Class Notes

    Class Notes

    Class Notes

    1950
    1960
    1970
    1980
    1990
    2000
    2010

    Share your news with UConn Nation!

    Your classmates want to know about ”” and see ”” the milestones in your life. Send us news about weddings, births, new jobs, new publications, and more ”” along with hi-res photos ”” to: Alumni News & Notes, UConn Foundation, 2384 Alumni Drive, Unit 3053, Storrs, CT 06269.

    Submissions may be edited for clarity or length.

    1950s

    arrow dingbat Roland Boucher ’54 (ENG), who bought his first plane in 1952 when he was still a sophomore at UConn, reports that he is still flying and is now a retired engineering manager in Irvine, Calif. After college, he earned a master’s degree at Yale University, then worked for Hughes Aircraft Co. in Culver City, Calif., where he designed satellites for communication, navigation, and weather observation. After leaving Hughes in 1973, he obtained a patent for an electric-powered aircraft and developed both the first electric-powered battlefield drone aircraft and the first high-altitude, solar-powered, electric aircraft. A fan of the study of ancient civilizations, he recently presented an article he wrote on the use of the pendulum in the creation of a number of measurements during the Aerospace Systems and Technology Conference.

    1960s

    arrow dingbat David S. Salsburg ’67 Ph.D., recently released a new book, Errors, Blunders, and Lies: How to Tell the Difference, the first in a planned series on statistical reasoning in science and society, sponsored by the American Statistical Association. Salsburg shares that upon graduation, “I was the first statistician hired by Pfizer, Inc., and was involved in the development of new drugs for almost 30 years. Before that, I taught at the University of Pennsylvania and, while at Pfizer, taught courses at the University of Connecticut and Connecticut College. Since retiring, I have taught at the Harvard School of Public Health and have been an adjunct professor at Yale. My book on the history of statistics, The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century, has been widely used as a supplemental text in high school and college statistics courses.”

    arrow dingbat Perry Zirkel ’68 MA, ’72 Ph.D., ’76 JD, professor emeritus of education and law at Lehigh University, was honored with the 2016 Steven S. Goldberg Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Education Law, given by the Education Law Association. Zirkel’s research currently focuses on empirical and practical studies of special education law, with secondary attention to more general education law and labor arbitration issues.

    arrow dingbat Bill DeWalt ’69 (CLAS), ’76 Ph.D. was named chair of board of trustees of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Nature Conservancy. During his long and distinguished academic career, DeWalt authored or coauthored many books and articles about the relationship between humans and natural resources, advised many Ph.D. students, and won teaching and research awards at the University of Kentucky and University of Pittsburgh. He served as director of the renowned Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was also Distinguished Service Professor of Public and International Affairs. He then became director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and, in 2007, he was founding president and director of the new $250 million Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2014, he became executive vice president and museum director of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston. Now retired, he lives in Fox Chapel, Pa.

    1970s

    arrow dingbat Ed Nusbaum ’70 (CLAS), of Weston, Conn., has been selected an America’s Top 100 Attorneys Lifetime Achievement member for Connecticut. Less than one-half of a percent of active attorneys in the United States will receive this honor. He is principal and co-founder of Nusbaum & Parrino P.C., a family law firm based in Westport, Conn.

    arrow dingbat Steve Maguire ’75 (CLAS), ’76 MA, has just released a Vietnam War novel, Mekong Meridian. Much of the story is drawn from Maguire’s experience as an Airborne-Ranger Infantry officer with the 9th Division in 1969.

    arrow dingbat Tom Morganti ’76 (CAHNR), a veterinarian living and working in Avon, Conn., has just published a first novel, Totenkopf, a thriller set in Germany in the final days of WWII.

    arrow dingbat Richard Boch ’76 (CLAS), who was the bouncer at the notorious Mudd Club, a new-wave club in New York’s Greenwich Village during the late ’70s, reports that his memoir on the club was published this summer. The book, The Mudd Club, describes his life two years after graduating from UConn when he lived in Greenwich Village and worked at the door of the famous club with its eclectic core of regulars, including Johnny Rotten, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, and John Belushi. The ultra-hip club attracted no wave and post-punk artists, along with musicians, filmmakers, and writers.

    arrow dingbat Robinson+Cole lawyer Dennis C. Cavanaugh ’78 (CLAS) has been named the Best Lawyers 2017 “Lawyer of the Year” in Connecticut for construction law. He is a member of the firm’s construction group, where he focuses his practice on construction and surety law, including transactional work and litigation. He has more than 35 years of experience handling complex construction matters involving contract procurement, negotiation, financing, and commercial-related dispute resolution and litigation.

    1980s

    arrow dingbat Susie Bisulca Beam ’80 (CLAS) wrote a book, He’s Not My Husband, published by Xlibris Publishing.

    arrow dingbat Everyone in the Myers family is a Husky through and through. Peggy (Walsh) Myers ’86 (CLAS) played on the women’s basketball team, and her husband, Norm Myers, 1985 (CLAS), was a football player at UConn. Their daughter, Kelly Myers ’15 (CLAS), who earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and is earning her master’s in school counseling, was on the UConn track and field team. Their son, Tommy Myers ’17 (CLAS), graduated with a communication degree and is currently on the football team. He plans to earn his master’s in sports management.

    arrow dingbat Pamela Hackbart-Dean ’87 MA, director of the Special Collections Research Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, was inducted as a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) during a ceremony at the SAA annual meeting in Portland, Ore., in July. The distinction of Fellow is the highest honor bestowed on individuals by the SAA and is awarded for outstanding contributions to the archives profession. Hackbart-Dean, who earned a master’s degree in history and archival management at UConn, was nominated for distinguishing herself as a thoughtful leader and a skilled teacher.

    arrow dingbat Marikate Murren ’89 (CLAS), ’96 MA was recently named vice president of human resources at MGM Springfield in Springfield, Mass., which is due to open in September 2017.

    arrow dingbat Attorney Michael I. Flores ’89 (CLAS), of Orleans, Mass., was elected president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, Massachusetts Chapter, for a two-year term starting in September. The national organization has about 1,200 of the most distinguished divorce and family law attorneys in the United States.

    1990s

    arrow dingbat Vladimir Coric, MD ’92 (CLAS) rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on May 9, 2017, after the company he founded, Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd., went public. He reports that Biohaven raised $195 million in its IPO and was the largest biotech IPO at the time.

    arrow dingbat Jennifer Kaysen Rogers ’93 MA was promoted to associate director of employer relations at the University of St. Thomas Career Development Center in St. Paul, Minn.

    arrow dingbat Leighangela (Byer) Brady ’94 (Neag) ’95 MA was selected as superintendent of the National School District in San Diego, Calif., starting in the 2016”“’17 school year.

    arrow dingbat Rob Carolla ’94 (CLAS) was named president of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for the 2017”“’18 academic year at the organization’s annual convention in Orlando. CoSIDA is a 3,000-plus-member association for college athletics communications professionals. Carolla had served as an officer there for the past three years.

    arrow dingbat William Rice ’94 (ENG) has been appointed assistant executive director for schools and curriculum at Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES), a regional educational service center in New Haven, Conn. He oversees ACES schools and programs and works closely with ACES administrators and teachers to support innovative learning initiatives. Prior to ACES, Rice was the director of mathematics for Hartford Public Schools.

    arrow dingbat Jasmine Alcantara ’95 (CLAS), ’99 MBA, owner of JLA Group, was awarded the 2017 U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce Innovation & Performance Award at the National Small Business Federal Contracting Summit in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 2017.

    This prestigious award recognizes female small business owners who exhibit outstanding innovation and/or performance on a key contract that will significantly bolster their ability to secure future opportunities.

    JLA Group provides a wide range of consulting and advisory services ”” such as strategic planning and communications, project management, change and performance measurement, acquisition strategy and execution, and proposal and grant development ”” to government clients and commercial industries.

    arrow dingbat Stefanie (Pratola) Ferreri ’97 (PHARM) was recently promoted to clinical professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in Chapel Hill, N.C. She is also the current president of the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists and recently received the National Community Pharmacists Association Leadership Award. She lives in Durham, N.C., with her husband, Eric Ferreri ’95, and their 9-year-old twins.

    arrow dingbat John O’Hara ’97 MBA has joined ProHealth Physicians in Farmington, Conn., as a finance director. Previously, he had been director of Medicaid financial and business performance at Tufts Health Plan in Watertown, Mass.

    arrow dingbat Lynn M. Patarini, BGS ’97, released her fifth novel, Uncle Neddy’s Funeral, in May under the pseudonym L.M. Pampuro.

    arrow dingbat Aimée Allaire ’98 (CLAS) reports that she recently passed the halfway mark of an intensive study on the importance of motherhood in the modern world. Her work has been indirectly sponsored by various Connecticut companies, including UTC Power and, currently, Bauer, Inc., in Bristol. She lives in Mystic with her husband, Keith Brainard ’98 (ENG), and their four children.

    arrow dingbat Steven R. Jenkins, CPA, ’99 JD, ’12 MBA, ’15 MA has been appointed as a trustee to the Connecticut Laborers’ Pension, Health, and Annuity Funds. He is general counsel and compliance director for regional construction firm Manafort Brothers Inc., headquartered in Plainville, Conn.

    2000s

    arrow dingbat Michael Boecherer ’00 (CLAS), ’02 MA and his wife, Victoria, welcomed Nora Johnston Boecherer in June 2017. Baby Nora weighed in at 6 lbs., 6 oz. and measured 17 ½ inches long. Mom and baby are both healthy, and Papa is happy to be outnumbered two to one.

    arrow dingbat Kate Moran Connolly ’03 (CAHNR) is a physician’s assistant in the Burn Unit at Bridgeport Hospital. After graduating from UConn, she worked as a registered dietician at Bridgeport Hospital for several years. She earned her master’s in physician assistant studies at Philadelphia University in 2010, recently became a mother, and just spent a year as Bridgeport Hospital’s Employee of the Year.

    arrow dingbat Niamh (Cunningham) Emerson ’06 (CLAS) recently joined the Yale School of Nursing advancement team as associate director of development and alumnae affairs. She was most recently employed in Yale University’s Office of the Secretary as assistant secretary for corporation affairs, where she was responsible for the logistics of all aspects of Yale Corporation (board of trustees) and University Council meetings and was the staff liaison for the Corporation Honorary Degrees Committee.

    arrow dingbat Dr. Ryan Denley ’06 (CAHNR) graduated from the School of Allied Health with a BS in diagnostic genetic sciences in 2006. He worked as a cytogenetic technologist for five years after graduation, then graduated from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2015. He married Dr. AnnaMaria Arias in May 2016 and, most recently, was selected chief resident of internal medicine at Morristown Medical Center in N.J. Upon completion of his residency, he intends to pursue a fellowship in hematology/oncology.

    arrow dingbat Jesse M. Krist ’08 (CLAS) and Kimberley A. Sadowski ’09 (BUS) celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary in April. They were married in Siena, Italy, in April 2016.

    arrow dingbat Alphie Aiken ’08 MBA was honored at the Women in Business Summit on April 21, 2017. She is president of Junior Achievement Jamaica and previously spent 15 years at General Electric Co. Most recently, she was an eBusiness leader, overseeing $600 million in online sales annually. She has led the GE Women’s Network for Greater Hartford, as well as the GE African American Forum in the Northeast.

    2010s

    arrow dingbat Kerry (Coffey) Welton ’10 (CLAS) and Jeffrey Welton ’08 (BUS) are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Madeline Dina, in March 2017. “Born a Husky fan!” say her parents.

    arrow dingbat Brien Buckman ’12 (CLAS) and Alicia (Kruzansky) Buckman ’12 (CLAS) were married Nov. 20, 2016, in West Hartford, Conn. They now live in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

    arrow dingbat Nicole Lavoie ’12 (ENG) and Jordan Smith ’12 (ENG) were married June 4, 2017, in Bolton, Conn. surrounded by a large group of UConn friends.

    In Memoriam

    Alumni

    Faculty & Staff

    Below is a list of deaths reported to us since the last issue of UConn Magazine.

    Please share news of alumni deaths and obituaries with UConn Magazine by sending an email to: alumni-news@uconnalumni.com or writing to Alumni News & Notes, UConn Foundation, 2384 Alumni Drive Unit 3053, Storrs, CT 06269.

    Alumni

    arrow dingbat Robert David Mariconda ’73 (CLAS)
    May 4, 2007

    arrow dingbat Reena “Connie” Trunk Fink ’54 (CLAS)
    Oct. 22, 2016

    arrow dingbat John Petrucelli ’77 (ENG)
    Jan. 21, 2017

    arrow dingbat Kathryn Shapiro Rubin ’79 MSW
    Jan 29, 2017

    arrow dingbat Anthony C. Chapell ’48 (CLAS), ’49 MS
    Feb. 5, 2017

    arrow dingbat Edward Allen Rothman ’55 (ENG)
    Feb. 9, 2017

    arrow dingbat Herbert Raymond Tschummi ’50 (BUS)
    Feb. 23, 2017

    arrow dingbat Steven F. Conti ’82 (CLAS)
    Feb. 24, 2017

    arrow dingbat Sister Patricia Coughlin ’50 (CLAS)
    March 1, 2017

    arrow dingbat Deborah Chase ’87 MA
    March 5, 2017

    arrow dingbat Gloria Bidwell ’51 (CLAS)
    March 5, 2017

    arrow dingbat John D. Adams ’59 JD
    March 8, 2017

    arrow dingbat Thomas C. Burrill ’66 (RHSA)
    March 25, 2017

    arrow dingbat Barbara Goossen Capelle ’50 (CLAS)
    April 6, 2017

    arrow dingbat Francoise O. Alshuk ’57 (BUS), ’97 MSW
    April 7, 2017

    arrow dingbat Julio Loureiro ’63 MS
    April 7, 2017

    arrow dingbat Robert Hall ’54 (CLAS)
    April 8, 2017

    arrow dingbat Dorothy (Kalinauskas) Bowen ’53 (CLAS)
    April 9, 2017

    arrow dingbat Judith Larson ’70 (NEAG)
    April 9, 2017

    arrow dingbat Frederick J. Prior ’62 (BUS)
    April 12, 2017

    arrow dingbat Howard E. Katz ’59 (BUS)
    April 14, 2017

    arrow dingbat Ronald K. Jacobs ’52 JD
    April 14, 2017

    arrow dingbat John T. Bell ’54 (CLAS)
    April 15, 2017

    arrow dingbat Ira “Bob” Wasniewski ’52 (CAHNR), ’55 MA
    April 19, 2017

    arrow dingbat Jerome S. Nisselbaum ’49 (CLAS)
    April 20, 2017

    arrow dingbat John Tumicki ’52 (BUS)
    April 20, 2017

    arrow dingbat Irwin Hausman ’65 (CLAS), ’68 JD
    April 22, 2017

    arrow dingbat Joseph J. Vitali ’54 (CLAS)
    April 22, 2017

    arrow dingbat Robert Samuel Hussey ’52 (BUS)
    April 22, 2017

    arrow dingbat Donald Francis Fenton ’57 (CLAS) ’13 JD
    April 25, 2017

    arrow dingbat Troy Antwon Walcott Sr. ’02 (CLAS)
    April 27, 2017

    arrow dingbat Rachel Parsons ’07 (CLAS)
    April 28, 2017

    arrow dingbat James B. Carroll ’67 Ph.D
    April 29, 2017

    arrow dingbat Rita Gerzanick ’56 MA
    April 29, 2017

    arrow dingbat Charles M. Hensgen, MD, ’70 MS
    April 30, 2017

    arrow dingbat Toby Kimball ’65 (BUS)
    May 1, 2017

    arrow dingbat Carolyn W. Arnold ’86 (CCS)
    May 3, 2017

    arrow dingbat Martha D. “Pepper” Hitchcock
    May 3, 2017

    arrow dingbat Ambrose M. Fiorito ’57 (BUS)
    May 5, 2017

    arrow dingbat K. Scott Christianson ’69 (CLAS)
    May 14, 2017

    arrow dingbat Francis Mike Dunn ’62 (BUS)
    May 18, 2017

    arrow dingbat Patricia H. Ferguson year ’77 MA
    August 17, 2017

    Faculty & Staff

    arrow dingbat  Alexinia Young Baldwin, ’72 Ph.D
    Jan. 21, 2017

    Alexinia Young Baldwin, ’72 PhD, emeritus professor of education, died Jan. 21, 2017. After graduating from Tuskegee University and earning a master’s at the University of Michigan, she began her career as a music and physical education teacher in the Birmingham, Ala. Public Schools, where she became a teacher of the first gifted class for black students in the city. She then earned her doctorate at the University of Connecticut and became a professor of curriculum and education for the gifted at the University of New York at Albany. She returned to UConn as a full professor and chair of the department of curriculum and instruction. She was a civil rights litigant in the landmark case of Baldwin vs. the City of Birmingham over the desegregation of the Terminal Station waiting room. This litigation established a non-segregation rule for the entire country. She was also the first minority president of Altrusa International, Inc., Service Organization for Executive and Professional women in 1999.

    arrow dingbat  Tom Lewis
    Jan. 26, 2017

    Tom Lewis, an associate professor-in-residence in the UConn Geography Department, died Jan. 26, 2017. He spent 15 years at UConn, after teaching 29 years at Manchester Community College. He also served as the Connecticut Geographic Alliance Coordinator for many years. He had a tremendous impact on geography and geography education in Connecticut and much further afield.

    arrow dingbat  Michael Gerald
    Feb. 4, 2017

    Michael Gerald, former dean of the UConn School of Pharmacy who was known for his instrumental leadership and love of teaching, died Feb. 4, 2017. He graduated from Fordham University’s College of Pharmacy and received a commission from the U.S. Air Force as a second lieutenant. He began his career at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy in 1969 as an assistant professor of pharmacology. He moved up the ranks, eventually becoming associate dean.

    At UConn, Dr. Gerald helped the School of Pharmacy move from a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy to a Doctor of Pharmacy program and greatly expanded the clinical faculty. He also played a major role in developing the new Pharmacy-Biology Building. As much as Dr. Gerald enjoyed his role as dean, he also loved his time spent teaching where he was able to work closely with students.

    arrow dingbat Sigmund “John” Montgomery
    Feb. 27, 2017

    Accounting Professor Sigmund “John” Montgomery, who helped develop the graduate business programs portfolio at UConn, including the MBA program in Stamford, died Feb. 27, 2017. He was known as a demanding professor with high standards and expectations. He was among a core group of dedicated faculty who anchored the undergraduate and graduate programs at Stamford and established high principles for the adjunct faculty as well.

    After graduating from Columbia University, he served in the 8th Air Force, becoming a Major with a Bronze Star. He returned to Columbia, becoming an assistant professor at Columbia’s Engineering School. He earned a doctorate in accounting from NYU’s Stern School of Business and then moved to UConn where he taught at the Stamford campus.

    arrow dingbat  Ralph Porter Collins
    March 9, 2017

    Ralph Porter Collins, emeritus professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, died March 9, 2017. He grew up in Alpena, Mich. and earned a BS, MS, and a Ph.D. in botany and plant pathology from Michigan State University. In 1957, he began his career at the University of Connecticut as an instructor in botany. He retired from UConn in 1989 as a full professor and head of the botany section. After leaving UConn, Collins took a research position with the National Cancer Institute as an AIDS Expert in the Division of Cancer Treatment, retiring in 2001.

    arrow dingbat  Joseph J. Comprone
    May 1, 2017

    Dr. Joseph J. Comprone, UConn professor emeritus of English, who was an inspirational leader and a pioneer in rhetoric and composition, died in Louisville, Ky., on May 1, 2017. He served as associate vice provost at the Avery Point campus from 2002 to 2010, and taught English at Avery Point and then at Hartford until 2014.

    His goal was to build programs and campuses that would best nurture and serve the needs of students, faculty, and community alike. One of his proudest achievements was the student center on the Avery Point campus. Among his accomplishments, he wrote five books, published more than 50 articles, and directed 20 dissertations, helping to shape generations of scholarship in rhetoric and composition.

    Share your news with UConn Nation!

    Your classmates want to know about the milestones in your life. Send news about weddings, births, new jobs, new publications, and more to: alumni-news@uconnalumni.com

    Submissions may be edited for clarity or length.

  • Jonathan’s New Vets are Married Alums

    Story from UConn Today

    Off Campus

    Jonathan’s New Vets are Married Alums

    It’s a beautiful summer morning, and Jonathan XIV is oblivious to his status as the furry standard-bearer of UConn school spirit.

    Mostly, he wants to explore the many new sights, sounds, and smells of Fenton River Veterinary Hospital and to nudge his suede-smooth nose into Dr. Heidi Morey’s hand in search of treats.

    Jonathan and his de facto brother, the emeritus mascot Jonathan XIII, will soon become very familiar with the Tolland-based veterinary practice, where UConn alums Drs. Scott and Heidi Morey recently became the official veterinarians for both dogs.

    “I never imagined in a million years that we’d get such a cool opportunity,” says Scott Morey, whose first memory of the UConn mascot tradition was seeing an earlier Jonathan at a UConn soccer game when he was 6 or 7 years old.

    “We hoped when we opened the practice that we’d have UConn people coming in, but never would have believed we’d get to care for the Jonathans,” says Morey, a Tolland native.

    Veterinarians Heidi Morey '05 (CAHNR) and Scott Morey '06 (CAHNR) examine Jonathan XIV at Fenton River Veterinary Hospital in Tolland.
    Veterinarians Heidi Morey '05 (CAHNR) and Scott Morey '06 (CAHNR) with Jonathan XIII (left) and Jonathan XIV at Fenton River Veterinary Hospital in Tolland.

    Peter Morenus

    Scott Morey ’06 (CAHNR) and Heidi (Claus) Morey ’05 (CAHNR), who met in local 4-H circles as children while showing cows, started dating while they attended UConn. They later wed and graduated from veterinary school at Kansas State University, returning to Connecticut in 2014 and opening the Tolland-based veterinary practice one year later.

    They became the Jonathans’ veterinarians and sponsor in June after the previous provider, Dr. Frieda Hottenstine at All Creatures Veterinary Hospital in Coventry, relocated out of state.

    As sponsor, the Fenton River Veterinary Hospital covers the costs of both dogs’ routine checkups and preventative care, while any unusual medical issues are covered by Alpha Phi Omega, the co-ed service fraternity that is responsible for the Jonathans.

    On that recent summer morning at the clinic, Jonathan XIV instinctively stopped and cocked his head in a regal pose when he spotted a visitor pointing a camera his way. Just as some dogs know that the creak of a particular kitchen cabinet leads to treats, Jonathan knows that the presence of a camera or cell phone means it’s picture time ”“ and he’s known as a bit of a ham, to the delight of the selfie-seeking fans he encounters on campus.

    The 80-lb. purebred Siberian Husky, born in October 2013, is still as sociable and energetic as he was when he was introduced in early 2014 as a 15-lb. puppy.

    His predecessor, the all-white Jonathan XIII, is more reserved and sticks close to Jonathan XIV, though he’s no pushover when it comes to getting his share of treats, despite being almost six years older and about 25 lbs. lighter.

    “They seem to balance each other out well,” says Heidi Morey, as the dogs patiently allow her to check their teeth, occasionally reaching over to lick or nudge her cheek.

    Like her husband, she’s excited to be caring for the Jonathans. It’s an extension of her longtime affiliation with UConn through her animal science education and her current role as a 4-H program leader. A native of Willington, she also was part of UConn Rowing as an undergraduate.

    The Moreys’ 4-year-old daughter Ashlynn and 2-year-old son Jackson aren’t quite old enough yet to understand the significance of being the Jonathans’ official veterinarians, but the social media world does: The practice’s Facebook page garnered more than 20,000 views of its post when the announcement was made that the Jonathans had become part of its clientele.

    The Husky legacy dates to 1934, when the University’s name changed from Connecticut Agricultural College to Connecticut State College, and athletic teams were no longer known as “Aggies.” The first pup to join the school as its mascot arrived in 1935 and was named Jonathan in honor of Colonial-era Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, starting a decades-long tradition of beloved Husky mascots.

    The tradition nearly ended in 1970, when the Student Senate declared that the mascot “represented the establishment” and voted to sell Jonathan VII as part of ongoing protests against the Vietnam War. Other students petitioned successfully to save him, and all Jonathans since then have been owned by the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity instead of the University itself.

    The Jonathans traditionally attend a multitude of on- and off-campus events, including athletic games, student programs, and local events.

    As the current mascot, Jonathan XIV is usually the official representative at University events, but he and Jonathan XIII live in the same host family home and can often be seen being walked together on campus by Alpha Phi Omega members.

    As UConn alumni, becoming part of the Jonathan legacy is particularly special to the Moreys and others at the Fenton River Veterinary Hospital, and they say they look forward to many years of helping the dogs retain their good health and bring spirit and smiles to UConn Nation.

    “Some of our veterinary technicians and other employees also graduated from UConn or went through the 4-H program, so several people here feel a strong connection to UConn,” Heidi Morey says. “It’s really an honor for all of us here to have a chance to care for the Jonathans.”

    More Jonathan XIV

    Follow him on Instagram @jonathanhusky14

  • UConn Stamford Open Dorms

    UConn Stamford Open Dorms

    This Just In

    UConn Stamford Opens Dorms

    UConn Stamford’s first residence hall opened this fall. The six-story, 116-unit building at 900 Washington Blvd., just two blocks south of UConn Stamford, will house almost 300 students annually and will operate in the same way as the Storrs residence halls, with resident assistants and study lounges. It is halfway between the main campus and the Stamford Transportation Center.

    It is the culmination of several years of work that responds to student demand at that campus, which is UConn’s largest regional location, with 1,700 undergrads and 600 graduate students. Although the campus has been growing, the vast majority of students had to commute from other communities because they could not afford Stamford apartment rents.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh6oFtKk1tQ

    President Susan Herbst said at the opening that the housing also will help students have a genuine urban university experience, in which they can take advantage of Stamford’s many offerings while creating community with others who live in the hall.

    “With an array of internship opportunities, cultural offerings, prominent employers, and the unique aspects of city life right outside their front door, the students who choose to live here can enjoy a dynamic urban university experience,” says Herbst.

    “This experience will pay dividends long into the future for our alumni, the University, and the city,” she added.

    Governor Dannel P. Malloy, a former Stamford mayor, has been a strong supporter of UConn’s plans for student housing there.

    “With leading programs in digital media and business, a location in a vibrant city, and access to an established transportation hub linking students to the entire eastern seaboard, it is no surprise UConn Stamford is growing and thriving,” said Malloy.

    “We are thrilled this new residence hall will connect hundreds of students to their campus, internship opportunities, and cultural experiences right here in downtown Stamford,” he said.

    UConn has had a presence in Stamford since 1951, when it began offering extension courses in the former Stamford High School. UConn Stamford moved to its current downtown location in 1998. ””stephanie reitz

  • UConn Class of 2021

    UConn Class of 2021

    Snap!

    UConn Class of 2021

    The 5,230 freshmen who make up UConn’s Class of 2021 include 3,650 who are making Storrs their home. This class includes a record-breaking 184 valedictorians and salutatorians; and 54 percent of the newbies were in the top 10 percent of their graduating high school classes. Outside Storrs, one-third of incoming freshmen chose to attend regional campuses. UConn Stamford saw a 50 percent increase in enrollment thanks in part to its new student housing so close to New York City. Meanwhile, a move downtown for UConn Hartford drove its enrollment up 14 percent. Congrats to all of this year’s freshmen, who were competing in a field of some 36,900 applicants.

    Snap!

    UConn Class of 2021

    The 5,230 freshmen who make up UConn’s Class of 2021 include 3,650 who will make Storrs their home. This class includes a record-breaking 184 valedictorians and salutatorians, and 54 percent of these newbies were in the top 10 percent of their graduating high school classes. Outside Storrs, one-third of incoming freshmen chose to attend regional campuses. UConn Stamford saw a 50 percent increase in enrollment thanks in part to its new student housing so close to New York City. Meanwhile, a move downtown for UConn Hartford drove its enrollment up 14 percent. Congrats to all of this year’s freshmen, who were competing in a field of some 36,900 applicants.

    UConn Storrs campus in the fall
  • Staying in College to Help Others Graduate

    Staying in College to Help Others Graduate

    Staying in College to Help Others Graduate

    Mentors and guidance counselors helped Erik Hines, an assistant professor of educational psychology, find his path. Now he is paying it forward.

    by Julie (Stagis) Bartucca ’10 (BUS, CLAS)
    photos by Peter Morenus

    “All I think about now is solutions for improving the graduation rate for black males.”

    Erik Hines is passionate about helping black male students succeed at UConn. The assistant professor in the Neag School of Education says he is on a mission to help attract and retain African-American male students.

    As faculty director of the new learning community ScHOLA²RS House, Hines hopes to gain a deeper understanding of the variables that influence positive academic and career outcomes for black males, the subject at the heart of both his day-to-day counseling work and his academic research. (ScHOLA²RS stands for Scholastic House of Leaders in Support of African-American Researchers & Scholars).

    “He is all in,” says Sally Reis, the former associate provost who brought Hines in to work on the newest of the University’s learning communities. “He is completely dedicated to these young men, focused on their graduation from UConn and their success in graduate school and work. He is passionate, committed, and a remarkably strong mentor.”

    Born and raised in Tampa, Hines decided to become a school counselor while attending community college there. He went on to earn his bachelor’s in social science education at Florida State University, his master’s in education for school counseling at the College of William & Mary, and his Ph.D. in counselor education at the University of Maryland. He joined the UConn faculty in August 2014.

    Hines says he is doing the work he set out to do at age 19. “My career feels purposeful, fulfilling, and empowering. All I think about now is solutions for improving the graduation rate for black males, recruitment of black males in STEM and career fields in which they are underrepresented, and how we help first-generation and other vulnerable populations be successful, too.”

    We caught up with Hines over the summer in his Gentry Building office, which overlooks a grassy, tree-lined knoll next to The Benton.

    Erik Hines

    “We want to cultivate all of our students to be the best and brightest.”

    Erik Hines

    Hines teaches his students how to use data to identify areas that need improvement and discover ways to make those improvements. He says he does the same thing when developing programming as faculty director for ScHOLA2RS House, a living-learning community for black males.

  • UConn: The Heart of Hartford

    UConn: The Heart of Hartford

    UConn:
    The Heart
    of Hartford

    Restoring the grand Hartford Times building is just the beginning of what having UConn back in downtown Hartford will mean for the city. The energy these students bring will be “a complete game changer.”

    By Rand Richards Cooper | Photos by Peter Morenus

    The past half-century has not been kind to Connecticut’s capital. Against a fading memory of Hartford in its heyday ”” a cultural and commercial center that drew visitors from all over New England ”” the city languished. Thriving cities exert a gravitational force on communities around them, pulling people in. But in Hartford the force dwindled. City planners razed old neighborhoods, laid down highways to facilitate suburban access, and built gleaming office palaces. Over time the city center became a place that emptied out at 5 p.m. Fewer people came in at night and on weekends. Downtown effectively died. 

    This is a test of the beaver builder update. Anyone hoping to revitalize a city’s downtown faces a stubborn paradox. To get people there, you need amenities. To justify and attract amenities, you need people. How to break into that cycle and restore a city’s gravitational force?

    In August a key piece of the puzzle clicked into place, with the opening of the University of Connecticut’s Hartford campus. UConn’s former West Hartford branch now occupies a stretch of Prospect Street, parallel to Main Street, reaching from the Hartford Public Library north to Constitution Plaza and the UConn School of Business. The move installs some 3,400 students, faculty and staff in the heart of downtown’s Front Street district, alongside the Wadsworth Atheneum, City Hall, the Public Library, the Travelers, and the Hartford Club.

    For University President Susan Herbst, the decision to relocate was a no-brainer. “When I came to UConn and heard that the Greater Hartford campus was actually in West Hartford, I was surprised and, frankly, disappointed.” With the campus experiencing dilapidation and facing a multimillion-dollar overhaul, the time was right for a move. Herbst knew exactly where UConn needed to go.

    “We really wanted to bolster our connection to the city and be part of the resurgence of Hartford,” says Herbst. She points out that before opening the suburban campus in 1970, UConn had been in Hartford, occupying several different locations, going back nearly a century. “So this is really a homecoming for us.”

    The project was a big push, Herbst admits. “Let’s face it, people don’t like to move. But I have been stunned by the gush of positivity and enthusiasm for doing this.”

    panoramic of city of Hartford

    Main UConn building

    Hartford Public Library

    Wadsworth Atheneum

    Travelers Tower

    Constitution Plaza

    Connecticut Science Center

    Front Street

    Connecticut Convention Center

    A College Town

    “The UConn campus is a game changer for the city,” says Matt Ritter, a Hartford state representative and the House Majority leader. “Adding thousands of young people downtown will bring an energy we haven’t seen in some time.” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin says the move is crucial to the city’s “long-awaited revitalization; the new students will be a big part of making Hartford a more lively, vibrant place.”

    To get why Hartford is so excited, you have to understand the special, galvanizing role colleges and universities play in boosting a city’s dynamism. Students are often the first wave of an urban renaissance. Visit any number of thriving medium-sized cities across the country, from Providence to Asheville to Boulder, and you instantly see and feel the vitality supplied by students and recent graduates. Where they pop up, restaurants, galleries, and entertainment venues soon follow.

    And eventually companies do, too. “Bringing UConn into Hartford is an obvious and necessary thing to do,” says Bruce Becker, an architect and developer who converted the former Bank of America building into apartments at 777 Main, a short walk from the new campus. Becker is currently in discussion to relocate a suburban company to retail space in his building. “The only reason they’re thinking about it is the growing reputation of Hartford as an attractive place to work,” he says.

    For years, Hartford residents have glanced peevishly at Providence or New Haven and said, “Well, if you took a world-class university and put it down in the middle of our city, we’d look pretty good too!” And while that hasn’t happened in one fell swoop, Hartford has been assembling a higher-education corridor at its center, one piece at a time. Trinity College is moving a graduate program to Constitution Plaza, partnering with Capital Community College, located in the refurbished G. Fox building just up Main Street. The University of St. Joseph has its pharmacy school nearby. There’s Rensselaer Polytechnic’s Hartford campus. And now, capping it off in a big way, is UConn.

    UConn students, a large majority of them from Connecticut, represent the next generation of homegrown professionals ”” exactly the people a city like Hartford needs to attract. In this sense, the downtown campus represents an urban field of dreams: If you build it, they will come. And if they like it, they will stay.

    “We want that 7-year-old to be able to go up, hands pressed against the glass, and see what that student is doing.”

    UConn Hartford PUBLIC Library Director michael howser

    “We want that 7-year-old to be able to go up, hands pressed against the glass, and see what that student is doing.”

    UConn Hartford PUBLIC Library Director michael howser

    MAKING CITIZENS

    The centerpiece of that field of dreams is the remarkable new building UConn has created from the former Hartford Times offices. The Times was a daily paper that operated, in fierce competition with the Courant, from 1817 to 1976. Built in 1920, the Beaux-Arts building that housed it for the last half-century of its run was itself already a novel reclamation project. Its architect, Donn Barber, who also designed the iconic Travelers Tower across the street, salvaged granite columns, massive oak doors, and marble steps from the Madison Square Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. He redeployed these elements in the Times’ monumental portico, conferring a sense of the sacred. The high walls of the portico’s arcade are decorated with murals depicting allegorical figures for Poetry and Prose, Time and Space, Insight and Inspiration.

    Preservationists have long viewed the Hartford Times building as a treasure, and shuddered at the thought of its demolition. Its importance is more than mere architectural beauty. Buildings like this are a city’s “good bones.” They carry the city’s stories in them, forming enduring points of civic reference. Four U.S. presidents spoke from the terrace of the Times building ”” including John F. Kennedy, who gave the final speech of his 1960 campaign, one day before he was elected. “We preserve historic buildings because they give us a sense of our past and tie that past to us,” says Sara Bronin, an architect and UConn Law professor who chairs Hartford’s Planning and Zoning Commission (and is the wife of Mayor Luke Bronin.)

    From the start, Susan Herbst was committed to saving the Times building, viewing it as a way for UConn to honor the state’s history while situating the university’s new campus in the cultural, governmental, and business nerve center of the city. Herbst also perceived an institutional continuity with a newspaper whose offices lauded “Insight” and “Inspiration.”

    “The building is very high-minded,” she says with obvious enthusiasm. “It really fits with our own public mission as a university dedicated to making citizens.”

    Preserving it was not simple. The renovation involved shearing off the old structure’s facade and wings, then joining them to a roughly 140,000-square-foot new building. To do the job, UConn hired RAMSA, the renowned New Haven and Manhattan based firm headed by Robert A.M. Stern, former Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, whose resumé includes Yale’s recent $500 million expansion. “Stern is a really talented designer,” says Sara Bronin. “He’s known for neo-traditional institutional buildings, and that’s why he was the right choice for this project. It’s a super flashy project for our city.”

    The building, with its bold neoclassicism, offers plenty of wow factor. Students entering from Prospect Street ascend one of two winding staircases and pass through giant arched doors to an interior that matches the facade for grandeur. At the center is a three-story high atrium, naturally lit via a steel-and-glass facade to the south, with massive square limestone columns girding the space and adding to its imposing beauty and strength. Mezzanines look down over a student collaboration area, on an elevated platform beneath circular halo lights, to the terrazzo floor below, where students will hang out. “It’s equipped in state-of-the-art ways that reflect how people learn,” says Herbst, adding with a laugh, “let’s just say that there are a lot of outlets!”

    The five-story building houses classrooms and labs, meeting and work areas, and faculty and administration offices. The atrium opens to a south-facing courtyard, landscaped with trees and grass. Oversized windows in the science labs offer views so enticing, one worries about experiments gone awry. Faculty offices on the top floors boast panoramic vistas of city and countryside. A wood-paneled conference room overlooks the atrium through floor-to-ceiling windows. It’s a soaring building, bright with natural light. Says James Libby, UConn’s Design Project Manager for the campus: “We’re setting a new standard for how these buildings look.” Architect Bruce Becker agrees. “This is a flagship type of building,” he says. “It brings a whole new educational institution not of the scale of Yale, but of the quality.”

    The Zachs Atrium
    President Herbst and Director Mark Overmyer-Velazquez

    “The city has a lot to offer … This building represents a big investment for UConn and for the state. It’s worth it. And it’s forever.”

    UCONN President Susan Herbst

    UConn President Susan Herbst and UConn Hartford Director Mark Overmyer-Velázquez in a fifth floor meeting space. The orange through the window is the iconic Alexander Calder “Stegosaurus” statue.

    Taking it to the streets

    When you tour the new building, with all its gleaming amenities, you’ll notice something that is not there: a place to eat. This omission-by-design is intended to send hungry students out into the neighborhood, and reflects lessons learned in other, similar relocations.

    “We don’t want our building to be a vault,” says Herbst. “I decided early on, no food service in the building. We must have students out on the street!”

    Students out on the street: the phrase surely has a different valence than it would have had fifty years ago, and its significance is not lost on Jamie “The Bear” McDonald, the barbecue impresario whose five Hartford-area restaurants include two in the Front Street business zone adjacent to the new UConn campus. McDonald says that the new building’s lack of food and function spaces will benefit hotels and restaurants in the vicinity. “We can do the catering for small-group functions, faculty meetings, and the like. That’s the key thing about the new campus ”” it’s not an island. It’s integrated with the community, and we’ll get the benefit.”
    The new campus has been planned and designed to maximize connection to the neighborhood in a host of ways. Students use the same parking garages everyone else does. Ground-floor retail spaces in the main building open both to the street and to the atrium. At the campus’s southwest corner, a grand plaza welcomes the Hartford community and links diagonally to the landscaped courtyard, also publicly accessible. The Barnes & Noble UConn, the first bookstore in downtown Hartford in many years, occupies the ground floor of the Front Street Lofts across the street. A new CVS is in 777 Main, a few blocks away. Lectures and perhaps classes will be held in the Atheneum across the street. Large-scale events can use the Infinity Hall concert venue or the Science and Convention Centers just down the street. And discussions are underway for a plan whereby students can use Husky Bucks at neighborhood businesses.

    The emphasis on community is especially fitting for the School of Social Work, which moved into a stately brick building at 38 Prospect Street early this summer. “Being in downtown Hartford will make it really easy to connect with organizations,” notes Lauren Chapman, a 23-year-old graduate case-work student from Hebron. Chapman believes that the campus’s setting makes it more than a mere commuter school. “People will stick around and use the area, both between classes and after. You couldn’t do that at West Hartford. Here people can go into a restaurant or cafe or bar and socialize, or get some work done. It’s conducive to that.”

    These sentiments are echoed by Chapman’s teacher, social work professor Lisa Werkmeister-Rozas. “It was always strange for us to be in a suburban setting,” she observes. “Our students are dealing with urban populations, and now they can see the everyday situations that their clients talk about. I think it will be a really important learning experience.” The move is practical, Werkmeister-Rozas says, since many social-work internships are based in the city. “And from a pure advocacy perspective, being able to participate in the renewal of Hartford is a good thing.”

    No feature of the new campus better illustrates the town-gown symbiosis than the arrangement with Hartford Public Library, where a $4 million renovation will facilitate use by as many as 1,000 students a day, with classes taking place in several new classrooms. UConn students will enter via the Arch Street entrance, passing a massive 1870 Colt’s Universal Platen Press. Inside, they’ll find an impressive array of more contemporary information technologies, like a video studio where professors can record lectures using a virtual blackboard, or the Digital Scholarship Studio, where up to 12 screens can be mosaiced together so that research teams can compare data dashboards.

    Library staff on both sides are thrilled about the joint effort. “We’ve been focused on collaboration from day one,” says UConn Hartford Public Library Director Michael Howser. Brenda Miller, who heads the Hartford History Center at HPL, lists the contributions UConn has already made, from a baby grand piano for the library’s popular jazz series, to support for a Learning Lab, to a new storage unit to house the library’s historical collection. The partnership will enable a broad array of events and programming, like a recent series of discussions on the founding documents of American democracy, developed with UConn’s Public Humanities Institute and the Wadsworth Atheneum. Already the library has hosted a drop-in writing workshop conducted by a UConn professor, where city residents could bring in a poem, resume, or application letter and get help with it.

    The new spaces in the library have been configured to spur interaction between UConn students and the general public. “There’s no bouncer at the door, no gatekeeper,” says Howser. “We want to be open and welcoming.” Anyone with a Hartford Library card can borrow from UConn’s books. The new layout offers joint study areas and classrooms; there’s a conference room with glass walls on both sides, making it totally transparent. “We want people to see the students in action,” says Howser. “We want that 7-year-old to be able to go up, hands pressed against the glass, and see what that student is doing.” In addition to the many tangible benefits, the UConn presence will offer a standing role model for urban kids from non-college-educated backgrounds.

    “Hartford Public Library is a cornerstone of democracy, open to anyone,” observes the library’s Director of Communications, Don Wilson. “But the one segment we haven’t had en masse is college students. There’s an ecosystem here, and when students are introduced into that, both sides will benefit. I’m very excited to see what happens.”

    The Barnes & Nobel UConn bookstore

    Going Up

    And so are Hartford residents ”” excited not merely about the library, but about the overall impact of UConn. Those of us who have lived here over the last 20 years can recite a litany of losses and failures, indignities and dashed hopes. The demoralizing departure of the city’s only major-league sports franchise, the NHL Whalers, and the subsequent sorry attempt to lure the Patriots. The ouster of a mayor charged with corruption. The city’s designation, at one point, as the second poorest in the U.S., after Brownsville, Texas.

    Amid such slings and arrows, hope has always persisted, and we have eagerly reached for Mark Twain’s celebrated line about reports of one’s death being greatly exaggerated. Now, at last, the quip seems apt. Hartford faces significant ongoing challenges, but signs of a downtown resurgence abound, reflected in rising rents and real-estate values, new residences with high occupancy rates, flourishing restaurants, and the success of citizen initiatives such as Riverfront Recapture. Months ago the historic Goodwin Hotel re-opened after nearly a decade. Come next year, true commuter rail will connect the city efficiently to New Haven, and by extension New York. Meanwhile, painters and sculptors, designers, photographers, and other arts and entertainment entrepreneurs are incubating small-business ideas and energies. From Coltsville to Dunkin’ Donuts Park, a rejuvenation is underway. UConn’s new campus puts a gleaming seal on the deal.

    “Lively, diverse, intense cities,” wrote Jane Jacobs in her influential 1961 book, The Death and Life of American Cities, “contain the seeds of their own regeneration.” Jacobs insisted that restoring a city’s gravitational pull means building on what is already there ”” developing precious resources, rather than trying to obliterate them and start anew. That effort is the essence of the new Hartford campus. It represents the state’s commitment to deploy the knowledge economy in boosting its capital city’s vitality while building on its tradition.

    The benefit promises to be mutual. For UConn students, Hartford provides another option, one that will excite those eager for an urban experience and all it involves. “The city has a lot to offer,” says President Herbst. “We needed a stronghold there.” Anchoring that stronghold is a building she calls a metaphor for excellence.

    “This building represents a big investment for UConn and for the state,” she says. “It’s worth it. And it’s forever.”

    Chemistry lab
    Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin

    “the new students will be a big part of making Hartford a more lively, vibrant place.”

    hartford Mayor luke bronin

    Rand Richards Cooper’s writing has appeared in Harper’s, Esquire, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. Cooper, who is a contributing editor at Commonweal, lives with his wife and daughter in Hartford and writes a monthly column, “In Our Midst,” for Hartford Magazine.
  • Tom’s Trivia

    Tom’s Trivia

    Challenge yourself to Tom’s Trivia!

    See if you know as much as King of UConn Trivia and University Deputy Spokesperson Tom Breen ’00 (CLAS).

    Scroll to the bottom to reveal the answers.

    Tom's Trivia

    In May 1970, hundreds of students occupied the ROTC hangar on campus and staged a “paint-in” because they wanted the building converted to what?

    A: A center for peace studies
    B: A day care facility
    C: A student recreation center
    D: Communal housing for male and female students

    The UConn men’s basketball team made its first NCAA tournament appearance on March 20, 1951, in a game that had so many UConn students in attendance a special train from Willimantic to New York was chartered. Who defeated the Huskies on that occasion?

    A: St. John’s
    B: Georgetown
    C: Boston College
    D: Syracuse

    The Josephine Dolan Collection at the School of Nursing includes everything from period medical uniforms to a 500-pound iron lung. Who was Josephine Dolan?

    A: UConn’s first dean of nursing
    B: An alumna of the nursing school
    C: The first nursing instructor at UConn
    D: A Connecticut nurse who traveled the world collecting medical artifacts

    Between the end of World War II and the mid-1950s, an area on the north side of campus became known as “Oil Can Alley.” What was this area used for?

    A: The university motor pool
    B: Experiments by the School of Engineering
    C: Construction equipment storage
    D: Faculty housing

    Nursing School

    Nursing students in a dissection course circa 1946. The program is celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary.

    Answers

    1. B. About 200 students painted the interior and exterior of the building in a “daycare” motif, demanding the ROTC be evicted from the premises. Days later, around 300 students volunteered to repaint the building in its original color scheme.
    2. A. UConn fell to St. John’s by a score of 63-52. The game began a long association between UConn and Madison Square Garden, though, and when Jonathan IV was led into the famous arena for the game against St. John’s, one sportswriter wrote the dog received the loudest ovation of any mascot in Garden history.
    3. C. The School of Nursing opened at UConn in 1942 with 13 students. Dolan was the first full-time instructor, teaching for over 35 years, and donating her extensive collection of documents and artifacts to the School of Nursing in 1996. Permanent and rotating exhibits are on display in the school’s Widmer Wing
    4. D. Located behind a heating plant, a series of four-room apartments with insufficient heating and children’s playground dangerously close to North Eagleville Road, the temporary faculty houses here were a product of the rapid expansion of the university after the war, and were gone by 1956.

  • UConn in the Media

    UConn in the Media

    UConn Talks

    On pot & peppers:

    “A common link between chili peppers and marijuana has implications for how we treat diabetes and colitis, as well as other conditions in the digestive tract.”

    Huffington Post on a study by Immunology Professor Pramod Srivastava, April 26, 2017

    On vending machines programmed to promote healthy snacks:

    “There is a risk that people would get upset with the delay because people know it’s just to influence their behavior.”

    Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center, on NPR, March 31, 2017

    On the lack of physiological proof that men’s flu symptoms are worse than women’s:

    “Maybe men just get whinier.”

    Laura Haynes, immunologist, in STAT, March 2, 2017

    On cellphone addiction:

    “People are carrying around a portable dopamine pump, and kids have basically been carrying it around for the last 10 years.”

    David Greenfield, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, in The New York Times, March 20, 2017

    On more E.R. visits tied to energy drinks:

    “. . . energy drinks are highly marketed to adolescent boys in ways that encourage risky behavior, including rapid and excessive consumption.”

    Dr. Jennifer L. Harris, UConn’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, in Reuters, April 26, 2017

    On the fact that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens:

    “In a recent poll, 41 percent of respondents said they did not believe that Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens, and 15 percent were not sure.”

    Charles R. Venator-Santiago, associate professor of political science, in Time, March 5, 2017

    On predicting the future using cliodynamics:

    “My model indicated that social instability and political violence would peak in the 2020s.”

    Peter Turchin, professor of ecology and mathematics, Daily Mail, Jan. 5, 2017

    On checking heart rate data from an exercise monitor:

    “She may have died if she hadn’t checked her Fitbit.”

    Dr. JuYong Lee, UConn John Dempsey Hospital, on NBC’s “Today Show,” April 6, 2017

    On creating fake news:

    “Denial always starts with a cadre of pseudo-experts with some credentials that create a facade of credibility.”

    Seth Kalichman, professor of psychology, in New Scientist, March 23, 2017

    On treating a broken heart:

    Believe it or not, Broken Heart Syndrome is a real phenomenon . . . it presents similarly to a heart attack . . . and often is precipitated by an emotionally or physically stressful life event, such as a loss of a loved one.

    Dr. Sara Tabtabai, Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at UConn Health, Health News Digest, Feb. 9, 2017