Lewis to lead Alumni Association
Brown honored for academic advising
UConn soldiers honored on Veteran's Day
U.S. honors UConn for Katrina relief efforts
Student wins $25K on 'Millionaire'
M.B.A. alum addresses Winter Commencement
School Psychology program rated No. 1
Paul selected as new law dean
Urging social workers to fight racism
Telemedicine helps allied health fields
Residence halls renamed
Engineering professor honored with AAUP award
New dental school dean named
UConn on the Potomac
Fort Trumbull Reunion
Back to our agricultural roots
Urban service track builds pipeline for inner cities
UConn mourns another soldier
New endowed chairs at UConn Health Center
Sing & Shout!
Chemist receives Dreyfus Foundation award
Alumni elected to UConn Foundation board
Blood disorder center established with Lea's Foundation $1.24 M gift
Toscanos establish scholarships for School of Business
Society of Hispanic MBAs scholar recognized
Fans see another side of Husky student-athletes
Hathaway named to NCAA Men's Basketball Committee
Husky STATS - A fall bounty of titles, awards, and tourney play
True Blue Huskies
What you don't know about distance running
Honoring Hoop Heroes
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| Lisa R. Lewis, the new executive director of the UConn Alumni Association, in the Great Hall of the Alumni Center. |
| Photo by Peter Morenus |
Lisa R. Lewis, an association professional with experience in all aspects of managing higher education associations, was named executive director of the UConn Alumni Association in December.
Lewis arrives at UConn after serving as assistant vice president of communications for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and previously for seven years as president of the University of South Florida Alumni Association.
“I am confident that Lisa Lewis’s organizational skills and experience, coupled with excellent interpersonal attributes, will help lead the UConn Alumni Association to new levels of achievement,” says President Philip E. Austin.
“We are excited to begin working with Lisa and look forward to expanding the Alumni Association’s activities in supporting our alma mater,” says Francis X. Archambault ’69 (ED), president of the UConn Alumni Association.
An honors graduate of the University of South Florida with degrees in both marketing and public relations, Lewis held a variety of positions with the USF Alumni Association before being named president in 1999 and the concurrent title of associate vice president of alumni affairs at USF.
During her tenure at USF, she increased paid membership in the association by 60 percent, expanded revenue streams, established a corporate partnership program, reactivated alumni chapters around the country and guided the organization through a strategic planning process.
She is a member of the American Society of Association Executives and Center for Association Leadership and the Society for National Association Publishers.
She previously served as a member of the Council of Alumni Association Executives board of directors, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and Leadership Florida.
“UConn’s Alumni Association has positioned itself to become a key factor in helping the University to continue its ascent into the top tier of national higher education institutions,” Lewis says.
“I look forward to meeting many more proud UConn alumni and working with them.”
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| Kate Brown ’02 M.A. counsels students on everything from study plans to life skills. |
| Photo by Stephanie Gagliardi |
Kate Brown ’02 M.A., undergraduate program coordinator for human development and family studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, received the National Academic Advising Association’s 2006 Academic Advising Excellence Award for the state of Connecticut.
Students describe her as someone easy to talk to, a great resource, and a friend.
They also say she makes their experience at UConn “the best it can be.”
With more than 550 students in the program, Brown’s calendar is usually packed with appointments.
“I love my work,” says Brown, who counsels students on everything from study plans to study abroad opportunities and life skills.
“The students know that I’m here for them. I find that gratifying.”
Students agree that Brown has made important contributions to their lives.
“Kate has helped me tremendously,” says Christen Lynch, a sophomore.
“Whether it’s a problem about a class or schedule and you’re stressed out, she goes through the problem step by step. When you leave her office, you feel better.”
Brown says she sees a lot of students during their junior year, a time when they are deciding on a major course of study or evaluating whether a major is best for them.
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UConn recognized students and faculty who served in Iraq and Afghanistan during Operation Tribute to Freedom ceremonies on Veteran’s Day at Rentschler Field when the Huskies played Pittsburgh.
From left: Cadet Courtney Lawler ’08 (CLAS), a specialist with the 411th Civil Affairs Battalion of the Army Reserves; Cadet Michael Russ, Jr. ’09 (CLAS) of the 1st Armored Division; Maj. Christine Harvey, professor of military science of the 50th Signal Battalion; and Cadet Ryan McKenna ’09 (CLAS), a sergeant with the 82nd Airborne Division.
UConn is one of nine colleges and universities in the nation to receive a Katrina Compassion Award for excellence in hurricane relief service, placing it on the first-ever President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
UConn was the only institution in Connecticut to receive the award.
The University was also one of 141 colleges and universities nationwide named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for General Community Service.
Students, faculty and staff from across the University came together to support victims of Hurricane Katrina.
UConn students from 20 community service, social and academic organizations established the Hurricane Katrina Relief Student Organization to raise funds for Katrina relief.
An estimated 1,000 students participated in fund raising projects for hurricane relief, contributing an estimated 11,000 hours of service.
Using a variety of creative techniques, including the donation of student dining hall meals, the group raised $75,000 in the fall 2005 semester alone and filled two buses with donated relief goods that were delivered to hurricane victims.
Students who returned from a University-sponsored service trip to Mississippi in January created the UConn Relief Corps to support continued Gulf Coast direct relief work.
The group organized and led two trips to New Orleans during spring break and during the summer of 2006.
Students cleaned, painted or gutted 19 homes, contributing a total of 3,700 service hours and saving residents an estimated $132,000.
Using a service-learning approach, in 2005-06 the University’s Community Outreach office also organized a trip to Mississippi during winter break and a trip to New Orleans during spring break, during which 3,800 hours of relief service were contributed by 100 students and staff.
Similar trips will take place again this year.
Matt Scherer ’07 (ED), a coaching administration major who is the captain of the UConn men’s hockey team and the Huskies’ all-time leading career scorer in Division I competition, below, won $25,000 in January when he was a contestant on the syndicated television show, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”
He is on the set with host Meredith Viera.
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| Photo by Peter Morenus |
Robert Diamond,’77 M.B.A. accepts a hood from Sally Reis, professor of educational psychology, after receiving an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree following his address to 880 graduates at Winter Commencement.
The Neag School of Education’s school psychology program and its faculty are at the top of their field according to three separate studies published in 2006.
In the most recent study, published in the September 2006 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Psychology in the Schools, UConn’s school psychology program ranked number one for the most journal articles published by the 56 programs accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) during the six-year period 2000 to 2005.
Other studies that rated the program high are The School Psychologist and Faculty Publications in APA-Accredited School Psychologist Programs 2000-2005.
On average, most of the individual faculty members in the accredited programs produced one article each year.
The Neag team averaged 14, which put them at the top of the individual rankings as well.
The Neag program faculty members are Thomas Kehle, professor of educational psychology, and Melissa Bray and Sandra Chafouleas, associate professors of educational psychology.
“Our three faculty members are extremely productive scholars who are dedicated to their profession, their school and their students,” says Thomas DeFranco, associate dean of the Neag School.
The UConn educational psychology program is considered elite, with 44 graduate students, and highly competitive with nearly 130 applicants for six available slots last year.
“Although we are school psychologists with a cognitive-behavioral orientation, we teach a diversity of theory and practice and help our students develop and pursue their individual research interests,” Bray says.
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| Photo by Lanny Nagler |
Jeremy R. Paul, a faculty member and an associate dean, has been named the new dean of the School of Law.
“I am delighted that a candidate has been selected who has devoted himself so fully to the law school for nearly two decades and is absolutely committed to its students, faculty and continued success,” says Peter Nicholls, UConn provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.
Paul joined the faculty in 1989 and served as associate dean for academic affairs at the law school from 1999 until 2004, when he was named associate dean for research.
A graduate of Princeton University and the Harvard Law School, Paul previously served as a law clerk to Judge Irving R. Kaufman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as professor-in-residence at the appellate staff of the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and as assistant to the president of TravelersGroup.
He has taught at the University of Miami as both assistant and associate professor and at Boston College Law School as a visiting professor.
“It is an extraordinary honor to be selected to serve as the dean of the University of Connecticut School of Law, a place I have been proud to call home since I had the privilege of joining its superb faculty 18 years ago,” says Paul.
Paul says he is committed to building on UConn’s legacy of talented students and increasingly successful graduates by seeking to draw an ever more diverse group of talented students and faculty to the School of Law.
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Tim Wise, author of the book White Like Me and a nationally known organizer and activist on the issue of anti-racism, addressed nearly 200 students, faculty and members of the campus community and the public at the School of Social Work in November.
Wise used the example of federal and local responses to Hurricane Katrina to explain the institutional nature of racism and how it pervades government, organizations, the media and society, urging students to address racism in their own environment as they begin their careers.
Social work faculty also had the opportunity to participate in a workshop with Wise. He offered them ideas on how to better prepare students to address racism through facilitated discussions.
Such dialogues, benefiting all participants, are key tools for social workers in the field to be effective practitioners.
Doctors monitoring the health of astronauts circling Earth helped usher in the age of telemedicine, the electronic delivery of health care, in the last century.
Today, UConn researchers are detailing the expansion of telemedicine into various areas of allied health professions in the homes of patients on the ground.
Tom Miller, a senior research scientist with UConn’s Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and four allied health graduate students in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources published “Telehealth Home Health Applications for Adults with Developmental Disabilities,” in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health.
Telemedicine, which is also called telehealth, includes the use of teleconferencing, video phones, electronic medical records, electronic stethoscopes and cardiac monitoring.
“It gives access to health care to many people who would otherwise not have it,” says Miller.
In the article, the students — Bruce Elliott, a physical therapist; Kathy Long, a physician’s assistant; Cheryl Manzenac, an occupational therapist; and Michelle Moder, a dietician — describe how they could use telehealth technology in their areas of specialization.
Miller says there has been increased use of video phones in home health care delivery in the past few years, particularly in rural areas.
Nurses use video phones for adherence and compliance purposes, observing patients taking their medications, he adds.
The article adds that physician’s assistants and registered nurses, who are often in remote locations, are “ideal candidates to utilize telehealth in providing quality care to the patients they serve.”
They evaluate patients, make diagnoses, devise treatment plans, provide counseling and monitor patients’ progress.
Miller was named a 2006 University Teaching Fellow for his teaching and dedication to the profession.
He will receive the 2006 Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Practice in the Public Sector from the American Psychological Association in August.
Hilltop Suites and the buildings that comprise the South Campus residence halls will be renamed for some of the University’s earliest alumni, recognizing their pioneering experiences as members of the first graduating class, as the first women to earn degrees and as the first African American student.
The name changes were proposed as part of UConn’s 125th Anniversary celebration, supported by the Division of Student Affairs and approved by the Board of Trustees.
The Charter Oak Apartments complex will honor the first graduates of the Storrs Agricultural School, the members of the Class of 1883.
These alumni include Frederick Brown, Charles S. Foster, Henry R. Hoisington, Burke Hough, Arthur Hubbard, and Andrew K. Thompson.
Charter Oak Suites will become the Alan Thacker Busby Building, recognizing the 1918 honors graduate who was the first African American to attend Connecticut Agricultural College.
The three unnamed buildings in South Campus will bear the names of Nellie Louise Wilson, Louisa Jane Rosebrooks, and Anna Mabel Snow, the first female graduates of the Storrs Agricultural School in 1894.
The fourth building in the complex has already been named for Lewis B. Rome, a former chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Hilltop Suites will be named for Harry L. Garrigus, who graduated from Storrs Agricultural College in 1897.
He became an instructor of animal husbandry, bought and sold cattle and horses in order to grow the College’s herd, and arranged for titles on properties adjacent to the College to be held in trust until the state could afford to buy them, thereby allowing the expansion of the College from about 300 acres to more than 1,500.
“By naming residential halls for these distinguished alumni, we’re honoring UConn’s history and informing current students of their predecessors’ accomplishments,” says Sam Miller, associate vice president for student affairs, the division that operates the University’s residence halls.
“Our students have a strong affinity for the places they live on campus, and the new names will strengthen our current students’ connection with the University’s past.”
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| Photo by Stephanie Gagliardi |
John Enderle, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of UConn’s biomedical engineering program in the School of Engineering, was recognized with the Excellence in Service Award from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The award is given for professional service that impacts citizens of the state, enhances the visibility of the University among prospective students, promotes program excellence and fosters cooperative activities.
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| Photo by Peter Morenus |
Lamont MacNeil ’89 M.D.S. is the new dean of the School of Dental Medicine, becoming the first dean chosen from within the dental school and the first to hold a UConn graduate degree.
MacNeil brings a broad range of experience to leading one of the nation’s top dental schools, with a background that includes general dentistry practice, academic administration, teaching, research and national professional service.
He has served at UConn as professor of periodontology and was named vice dean in 2005, when he gained responsibilities for academic affairs and curriculum development.
In addition to his career in academics and administration, MacNeil was in full-time, private general dentistry practice for six years.
His research has led to more than 25 publications, primarily focused on cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating tooth development, periodontal wound healing and tissue regeneration.
MacNeil is a consultant on curriculum for the Commission on Dental Accreditation and was a member of the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations from 2001 to 2005, serving as chair of the commission in 2004-05.
He is president-elect of the American Dental Education Association’s Section on Academic Affairs.
“I believe the School of Dental Medicine is poised for even greater things in the future,” MacNeil says. “I know that together we can continue to be a leader and innovator in dental education.”
MacNeil arrived at the UConn Health Center campus in 1998 after holding academic positions at three dental schools: Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia; at Indiana University and the University of Michigan.
He received a dental degree from Dalhousie University, a certificate of advanced training in periodontics from UConn and a master of dental science degree from the UConn Graduate School.
MacNeil, the sixth dean in the history of the school, succeeds Peter Robinson, who stepped down after 10 years as dean.
After taking a sabbatical leave, Robinson will return to the school to continue his work in areas such as community outreach.
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| Photo by Brian Mahar |
Chris Murphy ’02 J.D., left, and Joe Courtney ’78 J.D. participated in a news conference in Washington, D.C., as part of orientation for newly elected members of Congress after they both won election to the U.S. House of Representatives last November. Murphy’s 5th District includes the UConn Health Center in Farmington, and Courtney’s 2nd District includes UConn’s main campus in Storrs and the regional campus at Avery Point.
Mark your calendars for Reunion Weekend June 1 & 2
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From its opening on Sept. 16, 1946, to its closing in June 1950, Fort Trumbull became the only residential UConn branch campus. With the end of World War II, tens of thousands of veterans returning home found higher education a better alternative than trying to land scarce jobs. And with the G.I. Bill of Rights offering them a subsidized college education, the sheer number of veterans presented a problem for all the nation’s colleges and universities.
More than 8,000 students were enrolled in the University of Connecticut in the 1946-47 academic year, four times the number registered in the period shortly preceding the war. And of those 8,000 students, more than half were veterans.
The UConn Alumni Association and the UConn Foundation are working with alumni to create a living legacy by establishing a Fort Trumbull Room at the Alumni Center, honoring the campus and students who attended classes at Fort Trumbull between 1946 and 1950.
The room will display memorabilia of this unique community while sharing the important history of our University. As part of the Reunion Weekend, you will be able to see the plans and offer support for this important project.
If you are interested in keeping the legacy of Fort Trumbull alive either through a financial contribution or by donating memorabilia, contact Jodi Kaplan at (888) UC-ALUM-1 or via email at jodi.kaplan@uconn.edu.
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| Photo by Jordan Bender |
Nicole Anderson ’07 (CANR) harvests turnips from the EcoGarden Club garden for use in meals at Whitney Dining Hall, part of an initiative to offer sustainable food grown on campus and throughout Connecticut. In addition to vegetables, cage-free eggs, dairy products and beef from local farms are served.
pipeline for inner cities
UConn’s four schools that prepare students for health care careers are collaborating to ease the growing shortage of health care workers and address the unmet health needs of urban communities.
Three to four students each from the Schools of Nursing, Pharmacy, Medicine and Dental Medicine will be selected as urban health scholars to participate in the program, which will provide mentorship, training and financial support designed to help graduates practice and be successful in urban communities.
The first group of students in the Urban Service Track will be admitted this fall.
The urban health scholars will gain clinical enrichment experiences in community agencies that already provide health care services to underserved patients, such as community health centers, and also participate in such programs as the clinics for migrant and seasonal farm workers, homeless people and mentoring programs.
“The Urban Service Track is for students who are passionate about three things: serving the underserved, working in urban settings and receiving inter-professional experiences,” says Carol Polifroni, interim dean of the School of Nursing.
“Nursing students will work with medical, dental and pharmacy students in health care teams. When care is delivered in a collaborative fashion, patient outcomes are better.”
“Our goal is to build a pipeline of diverse health care providers committed to working with the underserved in urban areas,” says Bruce Gould, professor of medicine and associate dean for primary care in the School of Medicine.
In addition to their science and clinical studies, the urban scholars will develop competence in areas such as health policy, advocacy, health care financing and management, community resources and cultural and language issues, says Charles Huntington, associate director of the Connecticut Area Health Education Center Program.
Students will gain exposure to the complex health care issues in the inner city, he adds.
“The future of pharmacy practice and education is dependent upon the profession’s ability to evolve with the ever-changing health care system,” says Philip Hritcko, director of experiential education and assistant clinical professor of pharmacy practice.
“By having our students train in an environment that has an established interdisciplinary process, they will develop into more effective health care professionals and have a better understanding of our underserved communities.”
Financial support for the Urban Service Track is provided by UConn’s Center for Public and Health Policy and the Connecticut Area Health Education Center Program and by grants from external organizations, such as the Universal Health Foundation of Connecticut, the Richard Davoud Donchian Foundation and the American Savings Foundation.
Capt. Jason Hamill ’98 (CLAS) was killed Nov. 26 when a bomb exploded near his vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq.
Capt. Hamill was a member of the U.S. Army 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Hood, Texas.
Deployed to Iraq in December 2005, he was about to complete his one-year tour before returning home.
He previously had served in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
He was buried with military honors at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. Memorials: East Lyme Scholarship Association/Jason Hamill, Box 190, Niantic, CT 06357.
Capt. Hamill is the second member of the UConn community killed in Iraq. Marine Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson ’09 died last August.
at UConn Health Center
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| Photo by Frank Barton |
With the appointment of three new chair holders at the UConn Health Center, the University has a total of 78 endowed faculty positions, including 33 at the UConn Health Center.
From left: Andrew Winokur is the Dr. Manfred J. Sakel Distinguished Chair in Psychiatry, established last year with a gift from the late Marianne Hartly; Audrey Chapman is the UConn Health Center Auxiliary’s Joseph M. Healey Jr. Chair in Medical Humanities and Bioethics, established with a gift of more than $1 million from the UConn Health Center Auxiliary; and Daniel Connor is the Lockean Distinguished Chair in Mental Health Education, Research, and Clinical Improvement, established with an anonymous gift of $2 million.
Learning how singing and dancing define people
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| Photo by Peter Morenus |
When the provost’s competition for the development of general education courses was announced last year, Mary Ellen Junda, professor of music in the School of Fine Arts, jumped at the opportunity to plan a new class.
Junda, with a background in choral conducting and folk music, usually teaches music education majors and thought she had a good idea for a class that any student might enjoy, one that would teach America’s cultural traditions through singing American folk songs.
The class, “Sing and Shout! The History of America in Song,” offered last fall for the first time, features folk songs from a variety of cultures — Anglo American, African American, Native American, Irish American, and Hispanic American.
The songs date from colonial times through the early 20th century.
“Most students know of music as entertainment,” Junda says.
“They may not be aware of music that has strong cultural ties and defines people.”
Students in the class learn that folk music is music of a people and gives voice to those who may not otherwise be heard, including women and marginalized populations.
They also begin to understand that a musical style has an inherent social significance, which gave birth to and is articulated by that particular style.
Junda says that part of understanding and learning about folk music requires experiencing it, so students who take the class sing, dance and clap as part of their coursework.
“They didn’t have iPods, TVs, or stereos,” Junda reminds the class. “This is the way people met and played.”
Hoping to depart from traditional teaching models, Junda sought assistance from UConn’s Institute for Teaching and Learning, which provides support for faculty and assists them in trying new approaches in teaching. Instructional designer Desmond McCaffrey worked with her to hone her objectives, develop specific assignments, and design ways to measure what the students have learned.
“Our role is to support faculty — if they choose to work with us—to try out new things in terms of pedagogy and technology,” McCaffrey says, noting that Junda incorporated music and video into a PowerPoint program and used UConn Web sites to post assignments, syllabi and tests.
The new course seems to be meeting its objectives. Diana Chouinard ’10 (CLAS) had never sung before taking the class.
“I was extremely nervous at first,” she says.
“But as we worked on our own songs I became more confident. A lot of the songs have a message. They really teach you something about that era.”
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| Photo by Jordan Bender |
Jose A. Gascon, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, received a New Faculty Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation of New York City.
He is one of only 12 faculty members in the nation presented with the five-year, $50,000 award and the first from UConn to be honored with this recognition.
A physical chemist who joined UConn last fall, Gascon characterizes his work as biochemistry with a theoretical or computation spin.
He works at the interfaces of chemistry, physics and biology.
He will use the award to further his research on the quantum mechanical nature of chemical and physical phenomena—the underlying mathematical framework — that occur in proteins and enzymes at the molecular level.
Gascon is a native of Argentina and earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at Louisiana State University. He became interested in applying physical chemistry to biological problems, which he began working on during a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University.
He is interested in the protein rhodopsin, present in the retina of the eye, which traps light and contributes to vision, and in the study of enzymes that contain vanadium, a chemical element abundant in marine life.
Vanadium-containing complexes have shown potential for use in diabetes therapy.
His main research tool is a hybrid method that combines quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics, or QM/MM, to compute and describe the interactions of atoms in the protein.
The computations involved in Gascon’s research are complex, and he also has grants to work at two major super-computing centers, in Pittsburgh and California.
His work has many applications, from improving the understanding of the chemical reactions going on inside the protein, to drug design, such as designing a molecule to interact with and inhibit the enzyme of a disease-causing protein.
At UConn, he hopes to interact with materials and polymer researchers, inorganic chemists and “wherever there’s a problem that requires molecular detail.”
While at Yale, Gascon says, he followed the work of Robert Birge, Harold S. Schwenk Sr., Distinguished Professor in Chemistry, now his colleague at UConn, whose work also crosses the boundaries of scientific disciplines.
“Being a few offices away from him is an honor,” Gascon says.
“The UConn Chemistry Building is one of the best chemistry facilities in the U.S.”
Alumni elected to UConn Foundation board
Seven alumni have been elected to serve on the board of directors of the University of Connecticut Foundation, Inc.:
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David Barton ’61 (BUS) is the retired chairman, president and CEO of OSI Specialties Inc. He is an emeritus director and former chairman of the Foundation.
Andy Bessette ’75 (CLAS) is executive vice president and chief administrative officer at St. Paul Travelers.
Anthony Crosby ’85 J.D. is an attorney in private practice in Southington, Conn.
Keith Fox ’80 (BUS) most recently was the founder and chief executive officer of Brandsoft Inc. He was inducted into the University’s School of Business Hall of Fame in 2001.
Coleman Levy ’61 (CLAS), ’62 M.A., ’66 J.D. is a founder and senior principal of Levy & Droney P.C. and chairman and co-owner of the New Britain Rock Cats minor league baseball team.
David Marks ’69 (BUS), ’71 (CLAS) is chief investment officer for both CUNA Mutual Group in Madison, Wis., and the CUNA Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Waverly, Iowa. He serves as president and chief investment officer of MEMBERS Capital Advisors. He is former president of the UConn Alumni Association, an emeritus director of the Foundation board and a member of the board of directors of the UConn Health Center.
Elease Wright ’76 (SAH) is senior vice president of human resources at Aetna Inc. and a member of the School of Business Board of Advisors.
Blood disorder center established
with Lea's Foundation $1.24 M gift
A new center to study and treat blood diseases will be established at the UConn Health Center with a $1.25 million pledge from the Lea’s Foundation for Leukemia Research.
The center, to be known as the Lea’s Foundation Center for Hematologic Disorders, will focus on advancing research and improving treatment and care for patients with benign and malignant blood disorders such as leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease and multiple myeloma.
It also will provide a dedicated space for the children of patients, allowing parents to undergo treatment without having to worry about childcare.
“Through this gift, we will be able to translate the latest research directly into patient care,” says James Thibeault, director of Signature Programs at the UConn Health Center.
“There aren’t too many blood centers affiliated with a cancer center, as we will be able to do here. There’s a tremendous demand for these services.”
Carolyn Runowicz ’73 (CLAS), director of UConn’s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, says the synergy of research and treatment will also attract top faculty.
“This allows us to recruit high-level physicians and national experts in hematological disorders to the UConn Health Center,” she says.
“Connecticut residents will benefit tremendously because they will be able to access leading researchers in the field.”
Lea’s Foundation for Leukemia Research was established in 1998 to honor the memory of Lea Michele Economos, who died of leukemia at the age of 28.
Michael Economos, who with his wife, Bess, created the foundation in their daughter’s memory, says the leadership of the Lea’s board of directors has long been impressed with the services offered at the UConn Health Center.
Toscanos establish scholarships
for School of Business
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Two new undergraduate scholarships will enable deserving students to attend UConn’s School of Business. Alumnus Daniel Toscano ’87 (BUS) and his wife, Tresa, have established an endowment to fund need-based scholarships in their parents’ names: the Joseph P. and Rose M. Toscano Memorial Scholarship and the Santos and Patricia Mercado Memorial Scholarship.
“This is about promoting education and honoring our parents,” says Toscano.
The scholarships, which will cover tuition and room expenses, will be awarded to incoming freshmen enrolled in the School of Business.
In the case of the Mercado scholarship, preference will be given to Hispanic candidates.
Both scholarships will be renewable for four years, contingent upon maintaining a high level of academic achievement, ensuring support through graduation.
“Students coming from low socio-economic backgrounds may not be as well prepared as students from suburbs,” says Mohamed Hussein, interim dean of the School of Business.
“That [the Toscanos] made this scholarship need-based is important.”
Toscano, who worked his way through college, understands the burden tuition places on low- and middle-income families.
Now a managing director and group head at Deutsche Bank Securities, he is pleased to be able to give promising students the same opportunities he had to build a strong foundation for future success.
There are students who “have everything going their way except the financial resources,” Toscano explains.
“We want to reach out to students with potential who don’t have the financial means to attend an institution like UConn, and do what we can to help them.”
Society of Hispanic MBAs scholar recognized
Rosalina Mendoza ’07 M.B.A., a second year MBA student in the School of Business concentrating in management consulting and marketing intelligence, received her second scholarship from the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA), the nation’s most prestigious Hispanic organization promoting higher education.
Mendoza is one of 256 Hispanic students in 26 states and Puerto Rico to receive the NSHMBA scholarship and is the only recipient from Connecticut.
Fans see another side of Husky student-athletes
Student-athlete advisory committee organizes community support activities
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| L-R Kali Garges ‘07 (CANR) of the women’s rowing team and Janet Williams ‘07 (SFA) of the lacrosse team, who is president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, collect books for children before a basketball game at Gampel Pavilion. |
| Photo by Peter Morenus |
Fans attending basketball games at Gampel Pavilion or football games at Rentschler Field are seeing a different kind of Husky team uniform on student-athletes.
Wearing red shirts with a Husky paw and “SAAC” on the front, they are members of UConn’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which plans and conducts community service activities to benefit local Connecticut charities.
SAAC, whose members include 62 student-athletes representing all UConn varsity teams, organizes efforts throughout the year to collect clothing, food, toys and books that are distributed to charitable organizations across the state.
“As student-athletes, we are given a great opportunity to attend an awesome institution and compete at the highest level of athletics,” says Janet Williams ’08 (CLAS), lacrosse player and president of SAAC executive board.
“We feel it’s important for athletes to give back to the community and realize it’s important to develop that kind of character.”
Williams says SAAC members have worked to get more involved with projects involving children.
“We try to make the connection between athletics and academics—that they both are connected and success in one feeds off the other,” she says.
Williams led a group of SAAC members to Hartford to distribute more than 700 books to the Burgdorf Health Center and the Village South-Center for Community Life.
“We consider SAAC an important part of the student-athlete experience at UConn because it helps our students understand that the support they receive from Husky fans is not based solely on what they do as competitors wearing a UConn uniform,” says Jeffrey Hathaway, UConn director of athletics.
“They are also part of the Connecticut community we live in, which has a long and proud history of helping others.”
Hathaway named
to NCAA
Men’s
Basketball Committee
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UConn Director of Athletics Jeffrey Hathaway has been appointed to a five-year term on the 10-member NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, which oversees administration of the NCAA Basketball Championship including the selection and seeding of teams, beginning Sept. 1.
A fall bounty of titles, awards, and tourney play
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Max Feldman ’07 (ENG) qualified for the NCAA Championships with an eighth at NCAA regionals and 12th at Big East Championships.
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Senior Jillian Sullivan ’07 (NUR) earned All-America honors.
FIELD HOCKEY
The team finished 21-4, won the Big East tournament and advanced to NCAA national semifinals for head coach Nancy Stevens, who was named Mid-east Region Coach of the Year by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association.
Lizzy Peijs ’08 (CLAS), Jen Kleinhans ’09 (ENG) and Meagan Hoffman ’07 (PHR) were named All-Americans.
Pejis was a finalist for the Honda Sports Award, the sport’s top honor, and Kleinhaus was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year.
FOOTBALL
Rhema Fuller ’07 (BUS) was named a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete.
He and Donald Brown II ’10 (ED) were named to the All Big-East, Second Team.
Fuller, Brian Kersmanc ’08 (CLAS), Alex LaMagdelaine ’10 (CLAS), Rob Lunn ’09 (CLAS), Chris Pavasaris ’07 (CLAS) and Graig Vicidomino ’07 (CLAS) were named to the Big East All-Academic Football Team.
MEN’S SOCCER
Team played in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth straight year.
Julius James ’08 (CLAS) was named to the All-America Team, was the Big East Defender of the Year and a Herman Trophy Semifinalist.
Toni Stahl ’10 (CLAS) was named Big East Rookie of the Year.
O’Brian White ’09 (CLAS), Karl Schilling ’08 (CLAS) and Akeem Priestly ’09 (CLAS) were named All-Big East.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
The team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships.
Meghan Schnur ’07 (ED) and Annie Yi ’10 (CLAS) were named First Team All-Americans.
Schnur was named Big East Midfielder of the Year. Yi and Elizabeth Eng ’09 (CLAS) were named All-Big East, Third Team.
VOLLEYBALL
The team finished 19-11 led by freshman Bridget Denson-Doman,’10 (CLAS), who was named All-Big East, Second Team.
True Blue Huskies
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| When Megan Campbell Cersosimo ’01 (CLAS), front row center, was named head coach of the women’s lacrosse team in November, she became the sixth former UConn student-athlete who now serves as head coach of a Husky team. Front row (L-R): Karen Mullins ’79 (ED), ‘80 M.A., softball; Cersosimo; Len Tsantiris ’77 (ED), women’s soccer. Back row (L-R): Glenn Marshall ’89 (SFA) ’94 M.A., tennis; Jim Penders ’94 (CLAS), ’98 M.A., baseball; Bruce Marshall ’85 (ED), men’s ice hockey. |
| Photo by Peter Morenus |
What you don’t know about distance running
Four years ago, Jillian Sullivan ’07 (NUR) was recruited to UConn as a walk-on for distance running. Last fall she became the Huskies’ first All-American in cross country and the first UConn distance runner to qualify for the NCAA Championships in a decade, since Danyelle Wood ’99 (SFS). Sullivan also holds the UConn record for 3000 Meter Steeplechase.
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| Photo by Peter Morenus |
There are drills for cross country runners.
People think we just go out and run and run, but we have workouts and drills.
We do go out and run, but we have to hit certain times for the mile and we have varied distances each day when we train.
Sunday is our long run of between nine and 10 miles. We have a day of weight lifting and yoga stretching.
Other days we have different workouts of tempo—two, three and five minutes each. We also have a maintenance run, where I usually hit a pace of 6:40 for six miles.
Race strategy involves quick thinking and keeping
a clear head.
The first two minutes we need to get off the line quickly because there are so many people running. It’s easy to fall behind with so many people out there.
If you don’t get a good position, you might be better than the girl in front of you, but she can hold you back later on.
There can’t be negative thoughts; if there are you have to turn them into a positive.
You might think, “She’s just too strong, I can’t stay with her for another minute.” You have to turn it around and say, “Stay with her for another 24 seconds,” or “I know I’m stronger.”
The hardest part about being a distance
runner is not the running.
You need to develop mental toughness. Some days it’s hard to hit your marks.
Every time I don’t want to do another push up, sit-up crunch, or run another mile, I remember that I want to do well in meets.
Every day you have to go out and run those miles. It’s not easy. It develops over time.
Every runner’s routine is different.
I have to warm up properly and work out after the core workout—push ups, strengthening and do my stretch. I won’t leave until I stretch for 15 minutes.
Honoring Hoop Heroes
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| Two players who helped launch UConn’s rise as a national basketball power were among the first class of inductees into the Huskies of Honor. Chris Smith ’92 (CLAS), left, with Jeffrey Hathaway, UConn director of athletics. Kerry Bascom ’93 (CLAS), right, with women’s head coach Geno Auriemma. | |
| Photos by Stephen Slade | |
New displays celebrating the most successful UConn basketball teams were hung at Gampel Pavilion this past season.
The displays include the Huskies of Honor, recognizing the Huskies’ greatest players and coaches from the men’s and women’s teams.
The first class of women inductees included All-Americans Kerry Bascom ’93 (CLAS), Rebecca Lobo ’95 (CLAS), Jennifer Rizzotti ’96 (CLAS), Kara Wolters ’97 (CLAS), Nykesha Sales ’98 (BUS), Svetlana Abrosimova ’01 (BUS), Shea Ralph ’01 (SAH), Sue Bird ’02 (CLAS), Swin Cash ’02 (CLAS), Diana Taurasi ’05 (CLAS), and Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma.
The men’s inductees included members of the All-Century Team: Walt Dropo ’48 (CLAS), Vin Yokabaskas ’53 (ED), Art Quimby ’56 (ED) ’68 M.A., Toby Kimball ’65 (BUS), Wes Bialosuknia ’70 (CLAS), Tony Hanson ’81 (ED), Corny Thompson ’86 (BUS), Cliff Robinson ’89 (SFS), Chris Smith ’92 (CLAS) and All-Americans Donyell Marshall 1991-94 (CLAS), Ray Allen 1993-96 (CLAS), Richard Hamilton 1996-99 (CLAS), and Emeka Okafor ’04 (BUS).
Also inducted were coaches Hugh Greer 1946-63, Dee Rowe 1969-77 and Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun.