S ummer 2010

In Tune Alumni thrive in the world of music

war veterans return to class • LIVE ON SNL: IT’S BOBBY MOYNIHAN ’99 • KOREY STRINGER INSTITUTE

Karina Gonzales and her daughter, Jasmin

Every Day, people from throughout the region find the care they need from university specialists and nationally recognized physicians at the UConn Health Center. Our services range from routine physicals and prenatal care to 24/7 attention in the Farmington Valley’s only Emergency Department. And every day, we offer advanced services and technologies, such as:

n State-of-the-art cancer care, including n A full range of cardiovascular services, prevention, detection and Connecticut’s only from preventive care to sophisticated cardiac TomoTherapy radiation oncology system surgeries and angioplasty

n The region’s only freestanding center for With all these services, we can meet your bone and musculoskeletal health, including healthcare needs too … every day at the joint preservation and replacement surgery UConn Health Center.

Learn more by visiting www.uchc.edu. Make an appointment today by calling 800-535-6232.

263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington contents UCONN Summer 2010 Volume 11, Number 2

24 Homecoming to the classroom BY STEFANIE DION JONES ’00 (CLAS) There are about 250 military veterans who have returned to campus, many having served in combat. Readjusting to a routine of schoolwork and studying, they can find the transition to civilian life less than seamless.

ON THE COVER: Clockwise from left: Morris Pleasure ‘86 (SFA), Laurentiu Rotaru Preventing sudden deaths in athletes ’07 M.M. and Lui Collins 28 ‘74 (CLAS) are among the BY COLIN POITRAS ‘85 (CLAS) The Neag School of Education will many alumni who have be home to the Korey Stringer Institute, which will increase awareness, established successful education and advocacy about the proper precautions necessary to avoid performing careers in the the kind of heat stroke that caused the death of the star NFL lineman. music industry. 30 Why nuclear nonproliferation failed Departments BY SHANE J. MADDOCK ’97 M.A., ’97 Ph.D. A professor and scholar of history analyzes the politics of the nuclear age using recently declassi- 2 FROM THE EDITOR fied sources from the U.S. and international archives in an excerpt from his new book, Nuclear Apartheid. 4 FROM THE CHAIRMAN 5 LETTERS 32 Alumni in tune 6 AROUND UCONN BY JIM H. SMITH Earning a living as a musician is never easy, but 14 GIVING MATTERS alumni who perform in a wide variety of musical genres have found success touring the world as sidemen to major stars, playing in the studio, 16 HUSKYMANIA headlining on stage and teaching the next generation of musicians. 18 REPORT ON RESEARCH

21 CREATIVE CURRENTS

22 SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENTS

36 FOCUS ON FACULTY

38 ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES

48 THE LAST WORD

Stay connected with what’s happening at UConn Today with our online resources for news about the University community. facebook.com/uconntoday twitter.com/UCToday today.uconn.edu Bobby Moynihan ‘99 (SFA) is one of the stars of “Saturday Night Live.” See page 40.

SUMMER 2010 1 From the EDITOR Volume 11, Number 2, Summer 2010

EDITOR Kenneth Best Huskymania at Avery Point ASSOCIATE EDITOR Stefanie Dion Jones ‘00 (CLAS) baseball team reaches njcaa world series

ART DIRECTOR Jordanna Hertz hen the conversation turns to Huskymania, the first thoughts people have are PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Woften about NCAA basketball championship banners in Harry A. Gampel Pavilion Peter Morenus or the Big East Championships won by a variety of UConn’s 24 varsity teams. In this EDITORIAL ASSISTANT edition of UCONN Magazine, for example, we celebrate the seventh championship won Tina Modzelewski by the women’s basketball team and the recent successes of our golf, track and field, and CONTRIBUTING WRITERS baseball teams (see page 16). David Bauman, Christine Buckley, Craig Burdick ’96 (CLAS), ’01 (ENG), Chris DeFrancesco, Jane However, 2010 has also been a year of celebration for some of the other teams that Gordon, Michael Kirk, Lauren Lalancette, Jillian wear CONNECTICUT across the front of their jerseys – the athletic teams of the Avery Legnos ’12 (CLAS), Frank Litsky ‘46 (CLAS), Shane J. Maddock ‘97 M.A., ‘97 Ph.D., Jessica McCarthy, Renee Point campus. Montgomery ‘09 (CLAS), Carolyn Pennington, Colin Poitras ’85 (CLAS), Jim H. Smith, Richard Veilleux Avery Point is the only regional campus fielding NCAA-caliber teams – baseball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball – outside of Division I NCAA competition. The CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Margaret Aguirre, Kenneth Best, Lauren Avery Point teams compete at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Cunningham ‘13 (SFA), Frank Dahlmeyer ’10 (CLAS), level without athletic scholarships but with all of the same demands for practice, academ- Chris Defrancesco, Gino DeMaio, Derek Dudek, Al Ferreira, Michael Fiedler, Sean Flynn, Janine ics and expectation of success as their counterparts in Storrs. At one time, most regional Gelineau, Paul Horton, Alan Lurie, Kevin Mazur, campuses had athletics teams competing in the Connecticut Small College Conference Peter Morenus, Lanny Nagler, Mattias Ormestad, Rob Shanahan, Stephen Slade ’89 (SFA), Pete Souza, against other two-year programs in the state, including technical schools. But since 1985, Jessica Tommaselli ’11(CLAS) Avery Point has been the only regional campus with its own teams. This year, Avery Point teams have experienced highs and lows. The men’s basketball ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS James H. Walter team struggled through a 4-21 season. Women’s basketball nearly defended their 2009 NJCAA New England title, which sent them to the national tournament, by posting a 23-5 DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS Lisa R. Lewis record in 2010 and reaching the semi-final game of the NJCAA New England regional

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS championships. Meanwhile the baseball team, led by Roger Bidwell ’76 (ED), ’85 M.A., Patti Fazio ’90 (CLAS), ’92 M.A. won the New England regional championship, earning a second consecutive trip to the

MANAGER OF CREATIVE SERVICES NJCAA World Series. Leonard P. Blanks, Jr. ’86 (SFA) Bidwell, who has directed athletics at Avery Point since 1982, describes this year as “kind of magical.” EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Christine Dias, Mike Enright ’88 (CLAS), “We came out of the loser’s bracket, fighting, beating the No. 1 team (Western Jessica McCarthy, Carolyn Pennington, Oklahoma State) twice,” he says. “It was like a magic carpet ride. We got on and didn’t get Art Sorrentino ’75 (CLAS), Dana Wilder off until the last game. Hopefully we can get back there. It was really a culmination of my

UCONN is produced three times a year in March, July 29 years here.” and November by University Communications, University of Connecticut, 34 North Eagleville Rd., Unit 3144, Storrs, While the core of this year’s team from the World Series is moving on, two players – CT 06269-3144. Phone: 860-486-3530, Fax: 860-486-4064. third baseman Ryan Fuller ’12 (CLAS) and outfielder Chris Davidson ’12 (CLAS) – hope to E-mail: [email protected]. Letters to the editor and other comments are welcome. continue playing baseball in Storrs as they move toward completing their academic studies.

Send address changes to Twenty-five Avery Point baseball players have gone on to play professional base- The University of Connecticut Foundation Records Department, Unit 3206 ball after leading the team to the New England regionals seven times since 1990 and 2390 Alumni Drive to the NJCAA World Series in 1999 and 2004, including current major leaguers John Storrs, CT 06269 McDonald (1992-1994), shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays, and Rajai Davis (1999-2001), centerfielder for the Oakland Athletics. Besides the opportunity to see spirited NCAA competition, Husky fans will find an- other benefit of Avery Point Huskymania – a chance to spend time on the scenic coastline campus and, perhaps, take a walk on the beach. alumnimagazine.uconn.edu Celebrating Opening Shot perfection More than 20,000 fans celebrated the women’s basketball team’s second consecutive NCAA Champioinship and back-to-back perfect seasons at a gala parade on April 18, starting at the State Capitol grounds, moving around Bushnell Park and then back to the Capitol for remarks by head coach Geno Auriemma and Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Peter Morenus

SUMMER 2010 3 From the CHAIRMAN

Continuing to move forward search begins for new university president

he announcement in early May that TMike Hogan would leave UConn to return to his Midwestern roots as president of the University of Illinois was as startling as it was unexpected. Mike was a tireless advocate for UConn during his two-and- a-half year tenure as he led the University through some very difficult times and oversaw continuing momentum toward ex- cellence. However, we each can understand the need to be closer to our loved ones. We are grateful for his efforts on our behalf and wish him and his family well as they move into the next phase of their lives. experienced leader to guide us forward, Larry McHugh, chairman of the UConn Board of Trustees, left, with Interim President Philip E. As we conduct a nationwide search for particularly as we confront ongoing Austin at the Board of Trustees meeting in June. a new president, I want to assure you that budgetary challenges that all agencies and the momentum we have to move forward organizations in Connecticut face due to Trustees, who contributed many long hours and constantly improve the University the economic downturn in our state and of volunteer work for UConn. I also feel of Connecticut will continue under the nation. We also will continue working to grateful to the many graduates, donors and capable and experienced leadership of secure a renovated John Dempsey Hospital friends of the University who contribute President Emeritus Philip Austin, who has so powerfully to what we accomplish every agreed to serve as interim president. day. For these reasons, despite a challeng- As many of you know, Phil led UConn “During this period of ing state budget situation, the University of from 1996 through 2007, a critical period transition it is essential Connecticut enjoys growing prestige and of unprecedented growth for the University success and is well positioned to attract a that helped transform UConn into the in- that the University have strong new president. stitution it is today. Under Phil’s skilled and an experienced leader to The board has formed a broad-based successful leadership, we rose to become guide us forward ... ” committee to conduct a nationwide search one of the great public universities in the na- for a new president. We will keep the UConn tion – and we continue to be the best public community updated on the search process University in New England. Since stepping and a new patient tower at the Health as we move forward. Meanwhile, I hope that down as president, Phil has continued to Center, which is described on page 6. as alumni you will continue to provide the serve the University as a faculty member, During the past year, as chairman of same high level of support and encourage- teaching courses in higher education leader- the Board of Trustees, I have come to know ment to Phil Austin that has made the future ship. He also works actively on behalf of the firsthand the deep well of talent among of our University burn so brightly. University, participating in accreditation UConn’s students, faculty and staff. Our and other activities of the New England administration is composed of a talented Association of Schools and Colleges and the and committed team. We also have excel- National Collegiate Athletic Association. lent leadership throughout our University. Lawrence D. McHugh During this period of transition, it I feel personally privileged to be a part Chairman is essential that the University have an of it and to lead an outstanding Board of Board of Trustees

4 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Your LETTERS

to make a run on Stanford. The event organized by alumni and The Nutmeg Summer Theatre Spring 2010 first mention of club sports I the current team. began in the summer of 1957. have ever seen in the magazine Ed Davis ’78 (ENG) I was privileged to work with – good for you ... until I read the Frank, other department and article and saw no mention of school colleagues and Equity one of the premier club teams Nutmeg Summer Theatre actors and directors for many at UConn – the UConn Ultimate I was delighted to read that summers thereafter. A Frisbee team. summer theatre is to return to Donald L. Murray, Ph.D. Different Emeritus Professor, Dramatic Arts, Kind of the Storrs community in 2010. Learning Associate Dean of Fine Arts Participants in 40 club However, I am writing to cor- sports learn life lessons Why should I even notice? I and while representing UConn in competition rect inaccuracies in the article. a friend of mine, Dan Buckley Editor’s Note: According to the

• TALKING FOOTBALL WITH RANDY EDSALL • OUTREACH BY EXTENSION ’79 (CLAS), started the original EDUCATION LEADERSHIP ROUNDTABLE Connecticut Repertory Theatre UConn Ultimate team back in First, the Nutmeg Summer production history listed on its Theatre began in the Harriet S. website, the Nutmeg Summer Club sports 1974, when there were fewer Jorgensen Theatre in 1957, not Series began in 1949. Thank you for your fine article than 25 teams in the world. in the late 1940s. Second, the on UConn club sports and the Almost 36 years later, the team production of “All My Sons” in excellent graduates who have has always been a contender in Letters to the Editor 1954 pictured in the magazine participated in them. However, a sport that has more than 600 Letters must be signed and probably was done on the I encourage the University college teams in the country. should be no more than 300 gymnasium stage in the Haw- administration to reinstate In fact, Ultimate is the fastest- words. They will be printed as ley Armory, the major venue for space allows and edited for men’s varsity lacrosse and growing sport in the U.S., with department productions prior style, grammar, typographical bring UConn into parity with millions of active players. to the opening of the HSJ The- errors, content and length. other Big East, New England atre. I was new faculty in 1956 Send letters to: and nationally recognized It does not end there. We held and along with my colleague, UCONN Magazine universities. the sixth annual UConn Ulti- Bob Gustavson ’68 (ED), ’70 M.A. mate Alumni game up in Storrs Frank Ballard, comprised the 34 North Eagleville Road on April 24. We usually pull design and technical faculty for Unit 3144 Storrs, CT 06269-3144 I received the Spring 2010 50 to 60 people to this event, the Department of Speech and UCONN Magazine and started alumni from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, Drama. In the fall of 1956, the E-mail: reading it while watching the up to last year’s grads. It is a newly completed Harriet S. Jor- [email protected] UConn women finally starting great alumni-student weekend gensen Theatre was opened.

Rebecca Lobo first Husky inducted into Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame

Rebecca Lobo ‘95 (CLAS) led the 1995 women’s basketball team to its first perfect season and first NCAA championship, so it is fitting that she became the first former Husky player to enter the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She was introduced by head coach Geno Auriemma, who was inducted in 2006. The 2010 Class, inducted on June 12 during ceremonies in Knoxville, Tenn., includes, from left: Chris Weller, Leta Andrews, Teresa Weatherspoon, Lobo, Teresa Edwards and Gloria Ray.

SUMMER 2010 5 Around UCONN

Gov. M. Jodi Rell forward not just for signs legislation establishing the John Dempsey but UConn Health for “a health net- Network during ceremonies at work with incredible the UConn Health Center in June. reach throughout Connecticut and thou- sands of new jobs that will be associated with the network and the hospital.” It is projected the plan would create 6,800 new jobs by 2030 and 7,400 new jobs by 2040 by establishing bioscience enterprise zones around the area hospitals to attract researchers and entrepreneurs. Rell also says, “We are taking steps to put UConn’s schools of medicine and dentistry into the top tier of academics and research. We are moving to increase classroom and lab space for those students and offset the shortages we expect in those essential professions. And we are setting the stage for enormous improvements in the health care we provide and tremen- State approves $362M plan dous growth in the number of people that industry employs.” for UConn Health Center The legislation provides $207 million in additional UCONN 2000 funds for the lans to renovate John Dempsey vice president for health affairs and dean of construction of the bed tower and renova- P Hospital and build a new patient care the UConn School of Medicine. tions of current hospital facilities, as well as tower at the UConn Health Center in Laurencin thanked the “multidisci- $30 million to support a variety of collab- Farmington won legislative approval in plinary team” that invested considerable orative initiatives throughout the region. May, creating the opportunity to im- time, over many years, to help find a The initiatives include a shared prove health care services in the Greater long-term plan for the Health Center and Simulation Center at Hartford Hospital, an Hartford region. the region. Institute for Primary Care at Saint Francis The $362-million plan approved by Hospital, a Health Disparities Institute, the General Assembly is central to the support to seek national designation as establishment of the UConn Health “We are taking steps to a Comprehensive Cancer Network, an Network – a unique partnership with area put UConn’s schools of Institute for Nursing Excellence and hospitals aimed at creating jobs and im- support for the Connecticut Institute for proving access to quality health care in the medicine and dentistry into Clinical and Translational Science. The state. The UConn Health Network would the top tier of academics management of 40 neonatal intensive involve the cooperation of area hospitals, and research.”—Gov. M. Jodi Rell care unit beds would be transferred to the including Hartford Hospital, Saint Francis Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, but Hospital and Medical Center, Connecticut the beds will remain at the Health Center. Children’s Medical Center, Bristol Hospital “We are especially grateful to Gov. (M. The plan also includes applying for $100 and the Hospital of Central Connecticut. Jodi) Rell, Sen. (Christopher) Dodd and million in funding from federal or other “This is a significant legislative victory for our state legislative leaders for champion- sources, which University leaders say they the Health Center and the entire University,” ing this innovative plan,” Laurencin says. have prepared and already are working on says Cato T. Laurencin, the Health Center’s Gov. Rell called the vote a critical leap a submission.

6 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu COMMENCEMENT 2010 Eight UConn alumni address graduates

Alumni address graduates during Commencement ight distinguished alumni addressed E graduates, and two alumni received honorary degrees during 2010 Commencement ceremonies in May. Scott Cowen ’68 (BUS), president of Tulane University in New Orleans and recipient of the Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award, delivered the keynote address to the Graduate School and received an honorary Doc- tor of Humane Letters. Jerold Mande ’78 (CANR), deputy under secretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture who led the design of the Nutrition Facts label that now appears on vir- tually all packaged foods, spoke to graduates of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Keith Fox ’80 (BUS), chief executive officer of the Keith and Pamela Fox Family Foundation who was founder and chief executive officer of software and consulting company Brandsoft, delivered remarks to School of Business graduates. Robert Madonna ’82 (ENG), founder and chief executive officer of Savant Systems, addressed the School of Engineering. Joseph T. DiPiro ’78 (PHR), executive dean of the South Carolina College of Pharmacy and editor of The American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, delivered remarks during PharmD ceremonies. Julie Armstrong Muth ’95 (BGS), ’08 M.S., director of nursing/quality at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Payne Whitney, Manhattan, addressed students receiving the bachelor of general studies degree. Narissa Ramdhani ’92 M.A., a former anti-apartheid activist and a leading South African scholar and cultural archivist, received an honorary Doctor of Letters during the weekend.

SUMMER 2010 7 Around UCONN

UConn joins elite world research group

he University of Connecticut was projects around the world,” he says. “It will T elected to membership in Universitas increase UConn’s international visibility 21, a network of some of the world’s lead- and provide world-class international ing research-intensive universities whose research opportunities.” membership is by invitation. Through Universitas 21, UConn faculty UConn is only the second American and students will gain access to libraries, university invited into the network, museums and collections affiliated which includes top-ranked with institutional members and institutions in 13 na- the chance to join a host of tions, such as University projects, ranging from of Nottingham in the health science and psy- United Kingdom, Fudan chology research to dis- University in China, tance learning programs. University of Queensland Membership also Law library named in Australia, University gives students of Amsterdam in The and faculty ac- for Meskill ’56 J.D. Netherlands, National cess to fellowships University of Singapore and study programs around the he library at the School of Law and Tecnológico de Monterrey in world, with student exchange programs T in Hartford was named in honor Mexico, among others. The University offered to UConn students at each of the of Thomas J. Meskill ’56 J.D., former of Virginia is the other U.S. member. participating universities. governor of Connecticut, U.S. Con- Provost Peter Nicholls says Founded in 1997, Universitas gressman and federal judge, during participating in Universitas 21 provides 21 provides its membership with ceremonies in April. Gov. M. Jodi access to some of the best researchers and collaboration and bilateral alliances Rell addressed the audience that faculty in the world. that they would not have by operating included the late governor’s daugh- “Membership in Universitas 21 will independently. Its members must have ter, Eileen Meskill ’91 J.D., who also permit our students and faculty many ad- a global focus, be innovative and be delivered remarks. Thomas Meskill ditional opportunities for collaboration on research-led, comprehensive universities. died at age 79 in 2007.

First DNP degrees awarded hree nurses from the UConn Health Center are among the first class of graduates Tto complete the Post-Master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program in the School of Nursing. This unique practice-based program emphasizes innovative, evidence-based approaches to improve patient care. A relatively new discipline, the American Association of Colleges of Nurses began developing the curriculum in 2005. The UConn program is one of two in New England and the only one in Connecticut. The graduates are, from left, Victoria Odesina, who works with HIV and sickle cell patients; Karen Myrick, who sees patients in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery; and, seated, Paula McCauley, who works with patients in the Intensive Care Unit.

8 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu A work in progress Murals with a message have a well established tradition in the political history of Latin America and the Caribbean. So when the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies decided to commission a work of art, muralist and activist Marela Zacarias was a natural choice as its first artist-in-residence.

Business adds M.S. in The 15-month program emphasizes with finance professionals in Stamford financial risk management rigorous theoretical and quantitative and New York. analysis as well as practical and hands- “This new program will educate usiness professionals who want on experience addressing real-world professionals in risk management theory B to enhance their careers by fully risk management problems. These risk using a real-world approach, including understanding how to identify and manage management issues include credit, interest “practical applications, operational various types of financial risk now have rate, currency and market risk in asset and techniques and behavioral issues,” notes a new resource with the creation of a wealth management, arbitrage strategies, Chinmoy Ghosh, director of the MSFRM master’s degree program in financial risk restructuring and combinations, and program. “It meets an important need of management (MSFRM), beginning this alternative investments. The program’s the business community.” fall in the School of Business at UConn’s location in Stamford provides students in For more information, visit Stamford campus. the program ample opportunity to interact www.business.uconn.edu/msfrm.

SUMMER 2010 9 Around UCONN

Providing needed UConn dental students treat patients in Chile. Musculoskeletal dental care Institute earns tudents at the School of Dental ‘Blue Distinction’ S Medicine receive training not only across the state, but also in communities he New England Musculoskeletal beyond Connecticut. This is the fifth year TInstitute at the UConn Health Cen- UConn dental students have participated ter has been designated a Blue Distinc- in the National/International Service tion Center for Spine Surgery as well as Program, which provides much-needed a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and dental care for local residents and allows Hip Replacement by the Blue Cross and dental students to organize and conduct Blue Shield companies in Connecticut. a dental service project outside of the “Blue Distinction puts a high value state of Connecticut. This past year, the Team Tobatí on research and evidence-based health This outreach program – coordi- Project sent 12 dental students and four and medical information,” says Allan nated by a third-year dental student – has faculty to Tobatí, Paraguay, where they Korn, chief medical officer for the Blue served communities in Peru, Haiti, treated about 400 patients while work- Cross and Blue Shield Association. “Blue Trinidad-Tobago and South Africa in the ing with Paraguayan community dentists Distinction Centers show our com- past, while ongoing, established projects and dental students. They were accom- mitment to working with doctors and continue to bring UConn dental students panied by students from the Kingswood- hospitals in communities across the to carry out these externships in Chile, Oxford School in West Hartford, Conn., country to identify leading institutions Paraguay, Belize and the state of Montana. who acted as translators. that meet clinically validated quality standards and deliver better overall outcomes in patient care.” The Blue Distinction designation is awarded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality health care in the areas of bariatric surgery, cardiac care, complex and rare cancers, knee and hip replacements, spine surgery and transplants.

Exploring roots of the banjo éla Fleck, banjo; Anania Ngoglia, multi-instrumentalist; and John Kitime, guitar, B performed at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts earlier this year as part of “The Africa Project,” which explores the origins of the banjo in Africa. The performance included a viewing of “Throw Down Your Heart,” the award-winning film documenting Fleck’s travels and explorations of music in Uganda, Tanzania, The Gambia and Mali.

10 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Guaranteed admission expands to business

he Guaranteed Admissions Program, which provides Connecticut’s community col- T lege students the opportunity for guaranteed admission to any UConn campus, has expanded to include the School of Business, in addition to the established programs in the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Agriculture and Natural Resources. Originated in 2007, the program guarantees admission to UConn for graduates of Connecticut’s 12 community colleges who earn an associate’s degree in a liberal arts program with a 3.3 GPA. “This agreement will prove very beneficial to Connecticut students, the com- munity colleges, the University of Connecticut and to the state of Connecticut. It’s a win-win-win situation,” says University Provost Peter Nicholls. “This represents a major expansion of opportunity for community college students,” says Marc S. Herzog, chancellor of the community college system. “We’re very grateful to Still motivating students the University, its leaders, the leaders of our ‘pioneer’ colleges and all the academic lead- toward activism ers who developed, implemented and expanded the agreement beyond its beginnings.” arilyn Alverio ‘76 (CLAS), producer Mand founder of the Latinas and Power Symposium and principal of Ethnic Marketing Solutions in Hartford, Conn., speaks with a student following her presentation on “Latinas/os and Leadership” at the Homer Babbidge Library in April. Alverio was a student activist during the Puerto Rican Student Movement and was instrumental in the founding of the Puerto Rican and Latin T hen& American Cultural Center.

Gathering at the Now Student Union

he Student Union has been a focal point T for generations of students since its opening in 1953, but no more so than as a central location for getting a quick snack or relaxing during a meal. The snack bar, shown above in 1972, was a typical dining hall design. Since the expansion and reno- vation of the Student Union as part of the UCONN 2000 program, Union Street Market (right) provides a variety of meal choices for students as well as a more open and comfortable gathering space.

SUMMER 2010 11 Around UCONN

Ag biotech minor enhances career options

new minor in agricultural biotechnol- ment of Allied Health Sciences, says the Aogy will enhance studies and career interdisciplinary biomedical sciences class options for students in the College of is a laboratory-based course that offers a Agriculture and Natural Resources. theoretical basis and practical exposure to The minor includes several newly de- modern laboratory methods used in the signed courses, including plant gene trans- biomedical sciences for disease diagnosis. fer techniques, animal biotechnology and “In addition to lectures and lab work, diagnostic techniques for the biomedical students will explore various on-campus “Sophisticated, high-achieving high sciences, which is taught by a team of allied research facilities for exposure to biotech- school students with an interest in biology health sciences and pathobiology and nology techniques at work,” she says. seek these types of classes,” says Cameron veterinary science faculty. These courses While the minor in agricultural biotech- Faustman, the College’s associate dean for will benefit students considering careers in nology will attract students interested in academic programs. “If we can show them such fields as science education, business varied fields, particularly those related to an agricultural application, then we may and economics, law, agriculture, environ- medicine, biotechnology is also essential end up attracting some of the best and mental sciences, health-related disciplines to expanding the frontiers of our nation’s brightest minds to our disciplines, where and engineering. agricultural industries and improving the they can apply their interests in modern Denise Anamani, lecturer in the Depart- food supply. biology to improving food production.”

AROUND UCONN • EVENTS CALENDAR

HOMER BABBIDGE LIBRARY Nov. 6 Dec. 4 Oct. 22 860-486-4636 PINK MARTINI HOLIDAY POPS CONNECTICUT ENVIRONMENTAL Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra ACTION DAY Through Oct. 1 Nov. 9 EPIC SHADOWS: TOLU BOMMALATA THE SEASONS PROJECT, VENICE Dec. 10-11 AVERY POINT CAMPUS PUPPETS FROM ANDHRA PRADESH, BAROQUE ORCHESTRA RUFUS WAINWRIGHT ALEXEY VON SCHLIPPE GALLERY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE Robert McDuffie, leader and violin Cabaret OF ART BALLARD INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM 860-405-9052 OF PUPPETRY Nov. 12 Dodd Research Center Gallery and CEDAR LAKE CONTEMPORARY Through Sept. 5 Gallery on the Plaza BALLET DAN TRUTH AND CATHY DOOCY

REALITY CHECK BY FAITH OHMS Nov. 19-20 Stevens Gallery MERCHANTS OF BOLLYWOOD Cabaret Oct. 11-Dec. 17 NORMAND CHARTIER IN RETROSPECT BY NORMAND CHARTIER Dodd Research Center Gallery and Stevens Gallery

WOODBLOCK PRINTS IN THE ARTS AND CRAFTS TRADITION BY PAULETTE GNIDZIEJKO CONNECTICUT STATE MUSEUM Gallery on the Plaza OF NATURAL HISTORY 860-486-4460 Sept. 10-Oct. 22 LATIN VIEWS 2010 JORGENSEN CENTER FOR THE BIENNIAL EXHIBITION PERFORMING ARTS Sept. 18 860-486-4226 MUSEUM MUSHROOM WALK Oct. 29- Dec. 12 jorgensen.uconn.edu KAREN RAND ANDERSON, Oct. 11 DEBI PENDELL, JOY WILKE Oct. 15 WALKTOBER WITH CONNECTICUT AND CSABA SZEGEDI ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA STATE ARCHAEOLOGIST NICHOLAS Von der Mehden Recital Hall BELLANTONI, MASHAMOQUET Garrick Ohlsson, piano STATE PARK

12 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Helping others while on spring break

ight teams of 141 students led Eby 12 University staff members used their spring break this year as an opportunity to help people in need in various parts of the United States. The programs ranged in scope from repairing the homes of low-income families in the coal-mining communities of Beards Fork, W.Va., to working at homeless shelters in Washington, D.C. A group of Honors students, below, spent their time in Immokalee, Fla., to understand the lifestyles and hardships White leads Stamford campus of migrant farm workers.

Sharon J. White ‘74 (ED), ‘76 M.A. has been named interim director of UConn’s Stamford campus for the 2010-11 academic year. She has previously served as director of Student Services/Campus Dean in Stamford. She holds an Ed.D. from Columbia University.

School of Pharmacy pharmacology/toxicology, has a reputation as one of the best pharmacy education launches partnership programs in the nation and attracts some with Bridgeport of the best and brightest national and international students. unique new partnership between “We are very excited about this partner- A UConn and the University of ship with our colleagues from the University Bridgeport (UB) will qualify more students of Bridgeport and having a UConn presence from Fairfield County for UConn’s highly in the city of Bridgeport,” says Robert L. competitive School of Pharmacy. McCarthy, dean of the School of Pharmacy. Beginning in the fall of 2010, UB will “UB attracts a diverse group of students – offer a two-year pre-pharmacy program many of whom are first-generation college these students with an opportunity to pur- that complies with the rigid curricu- students – and we look forward to providing sue a career in pharmacy.” lum standards for UConn’s Doctor of “This collaboration will expand Pharmacy degree. pre-pharmacy education in the state of Students who complete their pre- Connecticut and allow new opportunities pharmacy requirements in Bridgeport, for a wide diversity of well-qualified students regardless of their permanent residency to pursue pharmacy as a career,” says status, will be eligible to apply to the David M. Brady, vice provost for the health doctoral program in pharmacy as part of sciences division at UB. “The UConn School the new partnership agreement. of Pharmacy has been wonderful and The School of Pharmacy, with its enthusiastic in supporting the University Doctor of Pharmacy degree and research- of Bridgeport’s desire to include expanded intensive graduate programs in me- quality pre-pharmacy education as part of its dicinal chemistry, pharmaceutics and offerings in the health sciences.”

SUMMER 2010 13 Giving matters

opera. She found it in Justin’s room. “I Love pays dividends at UConn was the first in my family to graduate from college,” says Carmen. “Getting an n love, geography is crucial. At education at UConn was important to I UConn, the chances of stumbling on me, and I met my husband there.” romance are better than one might think. So did Jeanne (Hinman) Bartman ’43 Thousands of couples have fallen in (SFS), who with husband Ray ’41 (ENG) love at UConn. And whether as a legacy established the Raymond and Jeanne to a beloved spouse or gratitude for the Bartman Scholarship in Family Studies place where they met and were educated, in 2008. Their relationship began when couples are saying thank you with schol- Jeanne headed up the steps to the Wilbur arships, bequests and other gifts. Behind Cross Library in the fall of 1941. Ray was those gifts are stories of love, sometimes headed down those same steps, and they of loss, but always of gratitude. collided. Though Jeanne had been dat- Stanley Juros ’63 (ENG) estab- ing a friend of his, Ray asked her to the lished the Juros Scholarship for the Engineers Ball, and she accepted. Neag School of Education and the “I have the opportunity to meet so Juros Scholarship for the School of many alumni of the University, and Engineering to honor his late wife. As I have found it commonplace that i a sophomore, he went to a social, spot- p husband and wife met at UConn,” says ted Suzanne (Albrecht) Juros ’63 (ED) UConn Foundation President John t S eve De no and married her soon after graduation. Martin. “UConn brought those couples “We spent a lot of happy years together ’89 (BUS) established the Justin and together, and we are thankful that they at UConn,” Juros says. “I thought the Carmen Murphy Scholarship Fund in are choosing to show their gratitude scholarships would be a nice memo- the School of Business. While her room- with gifts that help students today.” rial to have for her, and help to make mate visited with her boyfriend in their For more stories on UConn students’ lives a little bit easier.” residence hall room, Carmen searched couples who are giving back, visit Carmen ’88 (ED) and Justin Murphy for a TV showing her favorite soap www.foundation.uconn.edu/couples.

Alumni supporting Our University. Our Moment. The Campaign for UConn

ith the help of alumni, parents, for the University – an effort that is meet the University’s academic goals. W students, faculty, staff and friends, all the more critical at a time of The campaign aligns with UConn’s UConn’s $600 million capital campaign, limited state support.” academic plan, which focuses on Our University. Our Moment. The Campaign Alumni participation providing support for critical for UConn, is well on its way to success. is vital to its success. areas in undergraduate Our University. Our Moment. has raised With nearly 40 percent and graduate education, $223 million since it was publicly an- of private support coming research, diversity and public nounced in September 2009. from alumni in the early engagement. For more “This campaign is the most ambi- phase of the campaign, it is information on the campaign go tious in our history,” says interim UConn clear that UConn graduates to ourmoment.uconn.edu. President Philip Austin, “and is a giant understand the importance of step forward in our long effort to increase their support for new dramatically the level of private support programs that will help

14 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu GIVING DIGEST SimplexGrinnell supports Health Center gala engineering and business raises funds for research Former Trustees chair increases A $140,000 gift from SimplexGrinnell will support for health professions provide scholarships to engineering and linician-scientists at the UConn Jack Rowe, former Board of Trustees business students and support experiential CHealth Center are at the fore- chairman, and his wife, Valerie, have pledged learning and the School of Engineering’s front of medicine, integrating clinical $2 million for a program encouraging gifted senior design project, an innovative care, research and science to bring students from underrepresented groups program where engineers from corporate new discoveries to patients’ bed- and low-income families to enter the sponsors mentor seniors as they design sides. To further these efforts, the health professions. The gift will support the their projects. The company also is a 2010 inaugural White Coat Gala in April John and Valerie Rowe Health Professions Presenting Sponsor of the Annual Students welcomed more than 500 guests Scholars Program at the UConn First Fund Golf Tournament, which and raised more than $450,000. Health Center. “Rowe Scholars provides assistance through “We are grateful to the many have been admitted to medical, private donations of faculty, staff corporations and individuals who dental and nursing schools, and students for students suffering supported the gala,” says Cato T. worked on honors theses unexpected hardships. Laurencin, vice president for health and served as campus affairs at the Health Center and dean leaders,” says Lynne A mother’s wish – an of the School of Medicine. “Their Goodstein, Honors education – becomes gifts will provide vital support for our Program director. “The her son’s gift clinician-scientists to make break- Rowes’ gift is a statement Through a $50,000 scholarship throughs in research and discovery.” of their confidence in the fund in the College of Liberal The evening also honored Board Honors Program to provide Arts and Sciences, Patrick of Trustees Distinguished Professor life-changing opportunities to Campion ’83 (CLAS) hopes to help of Medicine Lawrence G. Raisz, who deserving students.” UConn students achieve their goals. “When joined the Health Center 36 years I was young, we didn’t have the resources ago. Raisz has earned international Memorial gift ensures to go to college, and my mother drove us to prominence and numerous presti- a legacy of caring apply for scholarships and student loans and gious awards for his groundbreaking An art professor and director of the William jobs,” he says. “That enabled me to attend work in the management of osteo- Benton Museum, Salvatore Scalora ’71 (SFA) UConn. So I couldn’t be happier that I’ve porosis and metabolic bone disease. and his family have created a fund as a helped to create this scholarship.” tribute to his late wife, Mary ’80, ’92 (SSW). The Mary Deane-Scalora Endowment Fund Family with UConn ties provides scholarship support for graduate helps disabled veterans students enrolled full time in the school’s UConn connections run deep in the Hughes master’s degree program. family, carrying through to their growing family business and now philanthropic sup- Young alum pays back scholarship port for the University. A recent gift through For School of Nursing alumna Lindsay the Hughes Family Fund to the School of Bolt ’04 (NUR), the decision to give back Business focuses on veterans outreach and to UConn was based on a long-running training, including the new Entrepreneur- relationship with the donor who helped ship Bootcamp for Veterans, which Rob fund her education. Having repaid in full Hughes ’92 (CLAS) calls “a great effort that Lawrence G. Raisz, Board of Trustees the scholarship support she received, Bolt the University is undertaking, helping Distinguished Professor of Medicine, left, was honored during the White Coat Gala at the wants her own giving to leave a similar wounded warriors integrate with their com- UConn Health Center. He was introduced by munity and grow their own businesses.” Cato T. Laurencin, vice president for health legacy: “I’d like to look back and see that affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. there are still people getting the scholar- To read more stories about giving, visit ship well into the future.” www.foundation.uconn.edu

SUMMER 2010 15 HuskymaNIA

Reflection on a team of perfection by renee montgomery ‘09 (CLAS)

The women’s basketball team celebrates its seventh NCAA Championship in San Antonio on April 6.

know everyone growing up heard Are you kidding me? Winning never didn’t, but I am more than happy with the I the same things as I did. Things like, gets old. And the more you win, the more one I do have, and I was proud watching “Nobody’s perfect,” “You can’t have it all” you think that the next team you play is go- my teammates continue to win every game or “Everyone makes mistakes.” The sad ing to be ready for you. It didn’t matter to in 2009-2010 and bring another NCAA thing is, I believed that – until I got to us that we were winning by large margins, championship to UConn. UConn, where I saw that maybe one indi- because when the last game was over all Now, when I look back at my last vidual can’t be perfect, but a team can. that we focused on was that the next team season at UConn, it seems as if it was a Coach Auriemma would always tell us is going to come in here and try to beat us. movie, and I was watching it. I couldn’t that you can’t be great in one aspect of your It’s hard to name the one thing that have been a part of something so special. life and terrible in others. He would tell us changed from my junior to senior year as I couldn’t have met President Obama. I if you are going to be great, be great in the to why the team made such a transforma- couldn’t have gained a father figure in one classroom, be great in the weight room AND, tion. I can personally say that I was tired of the best coaches in America. I couldn’t of course, be great on the court. That really of losing, tired of crying at the end of every have slept with the championship net stuck with me, because to reach perfection season and, most of all, tired of having around my neck. And there’s no way in the you need to be great for a long period of time. to face reality when people asked, “How world I could have been perfect, because After we went undefeated in the 2008- many championships have you won at “Nobody’s perfect” … right? 2009 season, people would ask me, “Were UConn?” (You have no idea how many there some games where you just felt like times I have been asked that, and I’m so taking the night off? Were you ever bored? happy that now I can say ONLY one). I say Renee Montgomery, now a member of the Would it have been better if you had to “only” one because UConn has set this ex- Connecticut Sun of the WNBA, led the Huskies fight harder for it?” My answer to all those tremely high standard; people think if you to a perfect 2008-2009 season and the 2009 questions is “No.” go there, you will at least win two. Well, I NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship.

16 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Track and field sweeps of the winning 4x100 meter relay squad. 2010 outdoor season The relay team included Phylicia George ’10 (CLAS), Kristen Brown ’14 (CLAS) and he men’s and women’s track teams Mandela Graves-Fulgham ’10 (CLAS), T swept the 2010 outdoor season in who also set a UConn record winning the Princeton, N.J., as the Husky women won 400-meter dash. Hawthorne became the their third straight Eastern College Athletic first women’s track All-American when she Conference (ECAC) Outdoor Championship ran seventh in the NCAA Championships. and the Husky men won their first Mid-distance runners Brian Gagnon Intercollegiate Association of Amateur ’10 (CLAS) and Mike Rutt ’10 (ED) finished Athletes of America (IC4A) Outdoor Track first and second in the 800-meter run to and Field Championship. The two events help pace the men’s team to its first-ever have been combined since 1984. IC4A outdoor title. Sean Smith ’10 (BUS), Sprinter Trisha-Ann Hawthorne ’11 (ED), who was named the 2010 Outstanding Field right, named the ECAC Athlete of the Meet, Performer at the Big East Championships led the women’s team by winning both the after defending his decathalon title, quali- 100- and 200-meter dash and as a member fied for the NCAA Championships.

Baseball team makes NCAA run nfielder Mike Olt ’11 (CLAS) was one of the lead- Golf wins team New England D-1 Championship ing hitters on the Husky baseball team, which I The Huskies won the team title at the 2010 New England Division I Golf Championships earned a national ranking in the Top 20 for the first at Triggs Memorial Golf Course in Providence, R.I., led by Adam Vaccari ‘12 (CLAS), left, and Matt Dubrowski ‘11 (CLAS), right. The members of the team led by head coach Dave time since 1979 while setting a season-win record Pezzino and assistant coach Carl Girasoli also included Jeremy Troy ’11 (CLAS), Michael with 48, including a streak of 22 consecutive wins. Smith ’14 (CLAS), Chris DeLucia ’11 (CLAS), Kyle O’Connor ’10 (CLAS), Jeb Buchanan ’12 (BUS), Matt Dziubina ’12 (CLAS), Brian Hwang ’12 (CLAS), Brian Hughes ’14 (CLAS) and The Huskies reached the final game of the 2010 Matt Carroll ’12 (CLAS). Norwich Regional in the NCAA Tournament.

SUMMER 2010 17 Report on RESEARCH

E xploring origins of language C oppola studies unique homesign systems of the deaf in Nicaragua

t first glance, the assistant professor of psychology and linguis- A tics in UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a boy in rural Nicaragua seem to share little common ground. But they are able to communicate nonetheless, with Marie Coppola relying on her experience and research into the small “homesign” systems scattered about Nicaragua to interpret and respond to the gestures of the deaf teenager. Coppola’s research into the unique homesign systems used by deaf individuals in remote areas of Nicaragua without access to a conventional sign language is itself a fascinating subject. But Coppola and her colleagues – Ann Senghas at Barnard College of Columbia University and Susan Goldin-Meadow at the University of Chicago – are going one step further to explore the roots of the human species’ desire to communicate. Many people have explored how children acquire language. But children typically are surrounded by and immersed in a rich linguistic environment in which they learn the meaning of words Marie Coppola, assistant professor of psychology and linguistics, is using her and the rules of grammar by interacting with those around them. research to explore the roots of the human species’ desire to communicate. Coppola is among a handful of scientists exploring how and why human beings communicate when that natural input is taken away. language emergence in Nicaragua as part of her dissertation. The “My daughter is hearing us speak English in the house so Nicaraguan individuals Coppola studies are unique in that they she’s going to acquire English. That’s not a big surprise,” says were raised in areas that are extremely isolated and do not have a Coppola, the mother of a 9-month-old infant. “But if you’re a pre-existing sign language for them to learn to communicate. So homesigner who is not exposed to any language model would the individuals had to invent their own sign language, which was it be that surprising if you didn’t produce communication that shared only among their immediate family and friends. looked like language? Why should they? Yet they do. They are just And yet, Coppola says, her research has found some similari- driven to do it, and I think that reflects our natural endowment ties in the small homesigning systems used by the four individu- as humans for language and communication. We are the only spe- als she has studied for more than 10 years. It is the structures cies that produces complex language or indeed any language-like common to these unrelated homesign systems that are also communication in the absence of specific training.” characteristic of the world’s languages in general, whose origins Coppola is a native signer of American Sign Language who was Coppola seeks to understand. raised by Deaf parents. She capitalizes the word “Deaf” in describ- “These homesign systems are gesture systems that Deaf ing her parents in order to raise awareness about the cultural individuals invent so they can communicate with the hearing identity of the Deaf community. Coppola says that while her parents people around them,” Coppola says. “That’s not to say they don’t are audiologically deaf, they identify themselves as members of have any input. They obviously interact with people; they interact Deaf culture, i.e., they share a language with the Deaf community, with objects; they participate in their cultures. But they can’t hear identify not as disabled but as a cultural and linguistic minority, and the language that is being spoken around them and they aren’t participate in cultural events such as plays and social events. It is, exposed to a sign language. So what they see are the gestures for Coppola and many others, an extremely important distinction. hearing people use while they are speaking that are not them- Coppola got into her research field when she was a research selves linguistic, but that can be recruited as raw materials to assistant at MIT in the mid-1990s. Senghas was a graduate build a language-like system. Studying how they do that forms a student at MIT at the time, working on cognitive science and sign large part of my research program.”

18 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Coppola says she thinks of herself as a developmental psycho- Census of Marine Life linguist: “I’m studying how language develops from a psychologi- cal perspective. A linguist studies the structure of a language. The uncovers new species object of the study is the language. For me, the object of the study is the person using the language. I’m using psychological meth- he first report of a decade-long international research ods to elicit language samples from homesigners [by asking them T program aimed at assessing the diversity of ocean life to describe things] and then I use those data to understand not has been released – the Census of Marine Zooplankton, a only the underlying structure of the language – that’s the linguistic report on tiny sea creatures led by Ann Bucklin, head of the part – but also how our learning mechanisms and how our brains Department of Marine Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts interact with that language structure, especially when it’s not there and Sciences at UConn’s Avery Point campus. in the environment. Homesigners are creating new language The Census of Marine Life, with 14 differ- structures that didn’t exist before. It is our psychology, our endow- ent field projects, involves thousands of ment as humans, that allows us to do that.” researchers in more than 80 countries —Colin Poitras ’85 (CLAS) collaborating to describe the ocean’s biodiversity. Before the advent of the Census, about 230,000 ocean species were known to science, Geometric skeletons help but researchers estimate that to engineer designs two to three times this number actually exist. At least 5,300 new new way to define classes and families of geometric species have been discovered thus A skeletons proposed by a UConn engineering professor far in the Census. is expected to have profound implications in many industrial Bucklin says, however, that con- applications. vincing Census leaders that zooplankton – Geometric skeletons play a role in geometry similar to animals that drift on the ocean’s currents – were im- that of skeletons in the human body, in that they capture the portant to survey took some work. Although the Marine Life main features of the shape that defines them. Census began in 2000, the Census of Marine Zooplankton “If you see the skeleton of a mammal you can tell many didn’t begin until 2004. things about the animal that it comes from, even though you The Census started, she says, by surveying large marine may not know the actual details of the body surface,” says mammals and fish. “It took four years of going to workshops Horea Ilies, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, to convince them that zooplankton are also interesting.” whose research is funded by a new three-year grant from the The Census of Marine Zooplankton has discovered National Science Foundation. several hundred new species of zooplankton to date; however, Geometric skeletons are fundamental concepts in Bucklin and her colleagues suspect that once all their data practically all geometrically intensive areas of science and from collections around the globe has been analyzed, the engineering, from robotic current number of known surgery to dimensional species will double from reduction in engineering 7,000 to 14,000. In addition design and analysis. to sequencing the DNA of “This grant really is many of the project’s collected about proposing a new way species, Bucklin’s Avery Point to define and compute not lab has now trained more than just single, but also classes of skeletons,” says 20 students and post-doctoral Ilies. “This new way of looking at the problem researchers from around the allows us to compute these skeletons in many world to assist in the project. more situations than was previously possible.” The final Marine Life Census will be presented in London on Oct. 4.

SUMMER 2010 19 Report on RESEARCH

farmers. She brings a unique perspective to her work, having a fellowship in 2002 in Washington, D.C., where she worked for a year with policymakers and analysts in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Risk Assessment and Cost- Benefit Analysis. One of her current research projects involves GE switchgrass, a potential biofuel crop that could someday produce ethanol. Since pollen can be carried long distances by the wind, Auer wants to know the likelihood that GE switchgrass will enter wild switchgrass populations. The goal of her research is to provide the government with sound science to inform its decisions, and the goal of her policy work is to help create a better dia- logue between scientists and policymakers. Genetically engineered crops After that, she says, it’s up to federal agen- cies to make the tough decisions about the A uer seeks to bring cutting-edge research to policymakers commercialization of new GE crops. “Research doesn’t define acceptable ith many crops modified through grown in the United States have been risks and benefits,” Auer says. “Science W biotechnology to resist insects and modified through biotechnology. can provide information about the risk, herbicides, questions are being raised Carol Auer, associate professor of but it can’t decide what the acceptable level about the risks of genetically engineering plant science in the College of Agriculture of risk is. It’s important to bring cutting- (GE) plants. According to statistics from and Natural Resources, is focusing her edge research and science to policymakers. 2008, more than 80 percent of cotton, 86 research on future transgenic crops and Science often moves quickly, and it can be percent of corn and 92 percent of soybeans their potential risks after adoption by hard for policymakers to keep up.”

Preparing a glowing study pencer Nyholm, assistant professor of molecular and Scell biology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, conducts research on the immune system of the Hawai- ian bobtail squid, studying beneficial symbioses, which occurs when a symbiont, such as a bacterium, lives within and exchanges resources with a host animal or plant. The bacteria inside the squid lights up its underside and helps the squid to defend itself from predators such as fish, seals and sharks. In return, the squid provides nutrients and a D

safe haven to the bacteria. Nyholm’s study of the glowing A ST E

squid is funded by the National Science Foundation. M O

S A T MA R ti

20 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Creative CURRENTS

Community organizers face new challenges

hen President Barack Obama signed the national health W care bill this past spring, he hoped to put behind him nearly a year of partisan bickering. Robert Fisher, professor of commu- nity organization in the School of Social Work, thinks the yearlong debate would have been easier for the President had he returned to his roots as a community activist. “If there was a more aggressive group pushing for a single- payer system, and thousands of people pushing for it, there would have been no extended debate – something would have passed long ago,” says Fisher, who specializes in the study of commu- nity organizing and also is director of UConn’s Undergraduate Tri-Campus Urban and Community Studies Program. “At the least, we might have had the public option. Without organizing you don’t change much. Little happens if those disproportionately hurt don’t get it going. “When people were clamoring for help in the 1930s for the New Deal, FDR essentially said, ‘Make me do it,’” Fisher says. “They did.” Fisher, an expert on ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and, to a lesser extent, the Christian Coalition, published his sixth book, The People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing and the Struggle for Economic Justice, in late 2009, just a few months before ACORN leaders announced that the organization would close its doors. His most recent book, Contesting Community: The Limits and attacks proliferated, even as activists noted the positive work that Potential of Local Organizing, jointly authored grassroots groups perform. However, Fisher with James DeFilippis and Eric Shragge explains, many conservative groups, most (Rutgers University Press), published prominently the Tea Party organizers, continue in June, examines the proliferation of to co-opt the theory of community organiz- community-based efforts in the U.S., U.K. ing by using nearly every initiative put forth and Canada, emphasizing the limits and by Obama as another rallying cry and holding potential of contemporary efforts. raucous protests in cities across the nation. Community organizing has been “It’s all about Obama,” Fisher says. “(Sarah) around for a century or more, and for a Palin, (Rudolph) Giuliani and other Republican wide range of issues. Fisher says commu- candidates all mocked him and said, ‘Here’s this nity organizing came out of the volunteer radical appearing to be a moderate, but he’s re- movement and is responsible for a number ally a radical.’ And they used his prior commu- of major changes in America, including the nity organizing as proof. end of slavery, women’s rights, worker’s “Despite the dramatic demise of ACORN per rights and civil rights. More recently, it se, its work will continue, albeit in a different or- has been used to organize people around ganizational form and without a strong national local issues – nutrition, housing and foundation,” Fisher says. “ACORN’s legacy, while redlining, to name a few. In 2008, when imperfect and incomplete, has much to offer then-candidate Obama was described as a community organizing. It’s worth remembering. former community organizer, right-wing It’s worth replicating.” —Richard Veilleux

SUMMER 2010 21 S potlight on STUDENTS

yourself get it,” he says. This was a lesson Ngunjiri accepted early in life. Having lost both his parents to illness as a boy, he knew even at a young age that he wanted to understand disease. Having pursued his undergraduate education in Africa and a graduate degree in Japan, Ngunjiri is now in his fifth year at UConn, conducting doctoral research centered on virology – specifically, the influenza virus. While the flu has recently garnered international media attention with the global pandemic of H1N1, a strain of influ- enza, millions fall ill and anywhere from 250,000 to 500,000 deaths occur annually due to influenza epidemics worldwide, ac- cording to the World Health Organization. Understanding the virus and developing increasingly effective vaccines remain, then, imperatives in the research world. Viruses are known to replicate only inside cells of living organisms. While the influenza virus produces thousands of particles per cell, just 5 percent of those particles are infectious. John Ngunjiri ‘11 (CLAS) Ngunjiri wants to know works with Margaret Sekellick, why – and what role, professor-in-residence in molecular and cell biology. if any, the other 95 percent of particles may have in infec- tion. His research T hirst for knowledge focuses in part N gunjiri pursues new vaccine for influenza on describing and characterizing the aised in a Kenyan village, John realized that the library properties of two spe- R Ngunjiri ’11 (CLAS) was educated at had all the books I re- cific kinds of influenza a “bush” school that not only lacked gov- quired. So I read for myself.” virus particles – defective- ernmental support and qualified teachers Ngunjiri eventually passed interfering particles and nonin- but also had not yet produced any students the highly competitive tests that qualified fectious cell-killing particles. who went on to pursue a university degree. him to enter the state-supported university Ngunjiri has distinguished these two In spite of this, he believed he could system in Kenya’s capital city. He became types of flu virus particles conclusively, succeed if he worked hard enough, and a “village hero,” proving his aptitude publishing his findings in 2008 and 2009 largely taught himself. “I thought a lower- among students taught in the higher- in collaboration with his advisors – Board standard school should not determine my quality schools of Kenya’s urban centers. of Trustees Distinguished Professor fate,” says Ngunjiri, now a Ph.D. candi- “That is one lesson that I learned – if Philip Marcus, a renowned pioneer in date in molecular and cell biology in the you want something, sometimes if other viral infection research, and professor- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “I people cannot help you get it, you can help in-residence Margaret Sekellick, who has

22 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu partnered closely in research with Marcus could ultimately lead to the development of are in the lab, there are so many things to for several decades. more effective live-attenuated flu vaccines. discover that you may not do it all in your Ngunjiri is now investigating how Devising innovative experiments and lifetime,” he says. “Trying to understand these two types of virus particles interact coming up with new questions every day, what is behind the complex interactions of with one another and with other virus par- he never exhausts his enthusiasm for a virus and its host cell is what keeps me in ticles inside cells, with hopes that his work research. “No matter how many times you the lab.” —Stefanie Dion Jones ’00 (CLAS)

Passion for engineering EMILY TAO ’10 (ENG) ENJOYS TAKING UP CHALLENGES

n aspiring chemical engineer, Emily Tao for three summers carrying out analyses to A ’10 (ENG) has a passion for the profes- determine the causes of aircraft gear failure and sion that is even evident in her pastimes. to recommend whether to discard or repair, “I like to experiment in the kitchen, offered Tao a job upon graduation. because cooking is really chemistry that “The funny thing is, I didn’t know what engi- you can eat,” says the high-achieving neering was when I picked my chemical engi- Tao, who boasts not only a 3.8 GPA neering major,” she says. “I knew it had some- but also a designation as a New thing to do with math. I was good at that and England Scholar and a United chemistry in high school so I thought it would be Technologies Corporation a good choice. I also heard it’s really difficult, but Scholarship in Engineering. that didn’t faze me because I like challenges.” Tao also was named a At UConn, Tao has also taken on the chal- finalist earlier this year for lenge of refocusing her work from chemical to the Connecticut Technology biomedical engineering. “I took some biology Council’s annual “Women courses and the professor said he was looking of Innovation” Collegian for people to help in his lab. I spoke up, and next Innovation and Leadership thing I knew I was there,” she says. Award, an honor she attributes That professor, Yong Wang, assistant profes- to having served as treasurer sor of chemical, materials and biomolecular en- for the engineering honor soci- gineering, is attempting to create a drug delivery ety Tau Beta Pi, and to having system that zeros in on cancerous cells, negating tutored an introductory course chemotherapy’s harmful side effect of destroying with chemical engineering’s healthy cells along with sick ones. Tao describes Omega Chi Epsilon honor society. the research as “part biology and part chemistry” “I never thought I was good and just “a small chunk in the big picture” of at tutoring,” Tao said, “but when I ongoing efforts to cure cancer. Tao’s work on the helped freshmen, I saw myself sev- project involves identifying the DNA that make eral years ago. I related to how much cancer cells unique, so that an encapsulated med- they’re worrying about not under- icine can better target its cancerous destination. standing engineering concepts that I “Within the next 10 to 15 years I’d like to be an know they will understand in a couple engineering vice president,” Tao says. “I’ve met more years. I let them know there’s Sikorsky’s engineering and human resources vice light at the end of the tunnel.” presidents, who enjoy their high-stress jobs. I For Tao it is indeed a bright light. consider myself Type A, so I think I would enjoy Sikorsky Aircraft, where she has interned the stress.” —Lauren Lalancette

SUMMER 2010 23 Classroom ing to the omeco By Stefanie Dion H Jones ’00 (CLAS) War veterans return to campus with strong focus

24 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu ven as they continue to adjust to the academic challenges of life on campus, Estudents can find themselves worried about taking tests and writing term papers. But Evan Paradis ’12 (CLAS) is not a typical second- year undergraduate, rattled by demanding as- signments or lengthy exams. “There’s nothing that this place could throw at me that’s going to stress me out,” the 25-year-old says. Paradis started classes in Storrs this past fall as one of approximately 250 UConn students who are military veterans. It was not so long ago that he spent his days aboard an aircraft carrier that was home to more than 5,000 ser- vice members, as part of his six-year commit- Joel Angle ‘09 (CLAS), pictured above while on duty in ment to the U.S. Navy. Kirkuk, Iraq, served as an infantryman in the U.S. Army be- fore coming to UConn to pursue a degree in political science. Deployed three times to the Persian Gulf, Paradis worked as a machinist mate, operating nuclear reactors in the blistering 130-degree heat of the ship’s engine room. Being asked to write a 10-page paper, he says, is “nothing compared to what the alternative is. I want to be here. If I’m going to write a paper, I’m going to learn everything I can while I’m doing it.” Classroom theFrom Soldiers to Students to or Paradis, joining the military ensured a path to the any kind of plan coming out of high school. I wasn’t ing Fcollege education he otherwise would not have been looking past next week,” he says. Only after going to Iraq able to afford. Others choose to enlist out of a sense of did Haroian begin to develop a vision for his future, real- duty or in search of adventure. No matter what their moti- izing that he wanted to obtain his college degree. “Joining Homeco vation for enlisting, many student veterans ultimately cite made me more mature and let me have more of a plan their military experience as the catalyst that helped shape about what I wanted to do,” he says. Now a political sci- their time at UConn as well as their goals for the future. ence major, Haroian is considering getting his M.B.A. Army Reservist Timothy Haroian ’11 (CLAS) admits or law degree at UConn and then plans to join the Army having never been a very engaged student. “I didn’t have Special Forces with his degrees in hand.

SUMMER 2010 25 Timothy Haroian

Timothy Haroian ‘11 (CLAS), in his motor pool at Camp Taji, about 20 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq.

Similarly, rather than head to college after high school graduation, Dan Maloney ’13 (CLAS) joined the Air Force. Deployed to South Korea, Panama and Evan Paradis Afghanistan during his four years in the military, Maloney says the experience gave him the sense of direction he needed. “In high school, I was not the most successful student,” he says. “Now I’m more able to get the job done. I feel blessed that I have this kind of maturity now that I’m in school.” Meanwhile, Joel Angle ’09 (CLAS) lost interest in his studies during his first semester on a college campus. “At the time, the thought of being in school Daniel Maloney for another three years was more than I could bear,” he says. Joining the Army as an infantryman, he served a year in Iraq. That was when Angle says he began imagining what it might be like to get his degree. “For a few years, that’s VETERANS REUNION what kept me going – getting out and going to college,” says the 26-year-old, who eventually came to UConn and spent his senior year studying abroad UConn Armed Forces Alumni in Egypt on a prestigious Boren Scholarship, which focuses on geographic areas, languages and fields of study that are critical to U.S. interests and Pre-Game Tailgate underrepresented in study abroad. Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010 “I wanted to take advantage of any opportunity I had in college,” he says. Rentschler Field “Now I have my degree. I don’t take it for granted. It took a lot for me to get that thing.” We invite all UConn alumni who have For others, like Melissa Weaver ’11 (CLAS), her long-term ambitions seemed more achievable once she had returned from duty. “If I could go to Iraq for a served in the military to a pre-game year and do what I did, there’s nothing I can’t put my mind to and do here,” tailgate before the UConn vs. Texas says the 30-year-old, who served with the Army National Guard for eight years. Southern football game at Rentschler The psychology major now has her sights set on a UConn law degree. “I had Field. For more information or to always, in the back of my mind, wanted to go to law school. I now don’t think of register for this event, visit it as unattainable. If I want to go, I will; there’s no reason I can’t.” UConnAlumni.com If you have Connecting on Campus questions, please contact owever, some veterans arriving on campus find the transition to civilian Kim Lachut ’90, Manager of Alumni H life less than seamless. Readjusting to a routine of schoolwork and study- Programs at [email protected]. ing can initially pose a challenge. Others feel a disparity between themselves and their classmates. Given that most service members serve for up to eight

26 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu years, depending on the military branch in which they enlist, students in navigating veterans benefits paperwork, a recently des- student veterans tend to skew older than the traditional 18-year-old ignated 24-hour Veterans House on the Storrs campus offers these freshmen. But the significant difference in age is not always the students a place to socialize and also hosts a weekly support group. only source of disconnect. “There were a lot of challenges,” says Angle of starting classes Looking Beyond UConn at UConn after his time in Iraq. “I had a way of life and a value hile this community of only about 250 war veterans may system that was structured on what I did in the Army … I had dif- W often go unnoticed on a campus of more than 20,000 stu- ficulty connecting with people. I felt like I didn’t have anything in dents, the unique perspective they bring to their UConn education common with anyone. For at least six months, my conversations and their roles in the larger world after graduation are certainly were always focused on ‘When I was in Iraq’ or ‘When I was in the worth noting. Army.’ That was difficult – always feeling separate from everyone.” Lt. Col. Christine Harvey, head of the military science depart- “I think the biggest difference between me and the traditional ment, cites the “extremely high level of discipline, responsibility student is life experience,” says Tunde Szivak ’13 M.A., a former and strong personal values” that she sees student veterans bring Army captain who spent two deployments in Iraq and is now to the classroom. “I find that often our student veterans bring a pursuing a graduate degree in kinesiology. global and multicultural interest to their studies that they may “Somebody who’s known the college environment since they’ve have not have had prior to serving in the military,” she says. left Mom and Dad really have very little understanding of what it is “When you’re away on active duty, in the Army or Air Force, like out there,” she says. “Deploying and seeing the way other people it’s seven days a week,” says Lt. Col. Tony Esposito, assistant live really changes how you see yourself and how you see society in professor of military science. Once on campus, he says, student general … It’s really hard to come back to this and feel the same way veterans “seem to have a greater value for their time here. They about it. You feel like you’ve taken a lot of things for granted.” definitely seem to look over the horizon.” To ease the transition from military to civilian life, student vet- Having served overseas, Travis Mustian ’09 (CLAS), ’11 M.A., a erans can take advantage of several on-campus support services at former Marine and current UConn graduate student, says he now UConn. While the Office of Student Financial Aid Services assists has a “an appreciation for life in general … The main thing I took from it was that life is precious, and you need to do everything Melissa Weaver ‘11 (CLAS), on patrol in you can to enjoy it and minimize your regrets. That is something Baghdad, Iraq, served for that I will take with me for the rest of my life.” eight years with the Army National Guard. “The life Army veteran Angle agrees. “You may hear from combat lessons you learn you veterans and soldiers who have been in combat situations for can’t learn in any school,” she says of her experience extended periods of time that you start to see the world in a very as a service member. “It gave me a perspective on different way,” he says. “College is supposed to be about having life and everything else.” fun and exploring as much as it is about preparing for life after college. I encourage students to look beyond the borders of UConn and out

Melissa Weaver in the real world, and see how what they are doing now is going to open opportunities on the outside.”

Tunde Szivak

SUMMER 2010 27 Stringer

Instat Neag SEEKS to help preve ntutet sudden death in athletes By Colin Poitras ’85 (CLAS)

hen Kelci Stringer was have been relentless in their efforts to help studies and presented more than 300 times looking for a home for a me, and their commitment is unsurpassed. on subjects related to heat stroke, heat- W research institute honoring “I would like Korey’s legacy to be about related illnesses, hydration and prevent- her late husband – All-Pro NFL line- life and saving lives,” Stringer adds. “I ing sudden death in sport. A fellow of the man Korey Stringer – the University of don’t know a better way to do that than to National Athletic Trainers’ Association and Connecticut and its renowned kinesiology offer sports professionals and laypeople the American College of Sports Medicine, department were her first choice. Korey alike a go-to resource they can use to find Casa has successfully treated more than Stringer died from complications due the latest information, tools and education- 100 cases of exertional heat stroke. to an exertional heat stroke he suffered al opportunities they need to help prevent “Our goal with the Korey Stringer during a Minnesota Vikings pre-season heat stroke and sudden death in athletes in Institute is the eradication of death from training camp in 2001. At the time, the the future.” heat stroke within organized sport in University’s Department of Kinesiology in Casa will also serve as chief operating America,” Casa says. “That is our goal every the Neag School of Education was gaining officer and as chairman of the KSI medical single day when we walk into the office.” a national reputation as a leader in study- & science advisory board. A survivor of KSI was established with the support ing heat-related illnesses and hydration heat stroke who has dedicated his career to of the National Football League and in athletes in its highly touted Human raising awareness and preventing heat- Gatorade as founding partners to increase Performance Laboratory. related illnesses in other athletes, Casa has awareness, education and advocacy about After speaking to Douglas J. Casa ’97, published more than 100 peer-reviewed the proper precautions necessary to Ph.D., associate professor of kinesiol- avoid heat stroke among ogy and director of athletic training who organized sports teams served as an expert witness in litigation and the general public by she filed following her husband’s death, providing state-of-the-art Stringer was convinced she had found the information and resources person to lead the Institute. Kelci Stringer through its website, announced her decision to establish the ksi.uconn.edu. The NFL Korey Stringer Institute (KSI) at UConn at Players Association is also the 2010 NFL Draft in April. an active supporter. “With Doug Casa’s background at the Part of the Institute’s University of Connecticut’s Department mission will be to advise of Kinesiology and their reputation as a high schools across the national leader in the study of heat and country on setting up hydration in sports, it was practically divine emergency action plans intervention that I decided to work with in case athletes succumb them,” says Stringer, who will serve as the Douglas J. Casa ‘97 Ph.D., associate professor of to heat-related illnesses on the playing kinesiology, will serve as chief operating officer Institute’s chief executive officer. “They of the Korey Stringer Institute. field. Casa says the Institute’s website

28 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu emergency involving life-threatening “The health and wellness of players at hyperthermia, where an individual’s all levels of competition is of great impor- body temperature reaches 104˚ or higher. tance to the NFL,” says Gary M. Gertzog, Symptoms include confusion, combative- senior vice president of business affairs for ness, nausea, collapse and unconscious- the NFL and a member of the KSI Board ness. Many factors can contribute to heat of Advisors. “We are pleased to be working stroke, including intensity of exercise, with the Korey Stringer Institute to ensure hydration, heat of day, inability of the body that athletes stay healthy as they push to adjust to exertion in high temperatures themselves to be the best. and barriers to cooling, such as protective “This is a group of people who are going equipment, clothing, fever, medications to get it done … in a first-class way,” Gertzog and underlying medical conditions. If not adds. “[They] align themselves with people immediately treated, heat stroke can lead who are top-shelf, and they have done that to organ failure and death. However, with with the University of Connecticut.” kings i V prompt and aggressive medical treatment Scott Paddock, Gatorade’s director of a – such as immediate immersion in a cold- sports marketing, says the Gatorade Sports water tub – heat stroke patients can survive Science Institute will be an active partner and return to sport without any long-term with UConn in conducting research to medical complications, Casa says. help keep athletes safe. o

c urtesy theof Minnesot Casa has an expert team of advisors and a group of talented graduate students All-Pro lineman Korey Stringer of the Minnesota working with him. The team includes Vikings (77) died of heat stroke during a pre-season practice session in the summer of 2001. kinesiology department head Carl Maresh, a national authority on exercise in stressful will provide up-to-date information for environments, and professor Lawrence coaches, parents, athletes and medical Armstrong, a widely respected research staff. The research team will also advocate scientist in the field of heat exhaustion, for policy changes to improve athlete safety heat stress and hydration as it pertains to around the country. extremely active individuals such as ath- “The NCAA implemented guide- letes, laborers and military personnel. lines six years ago in terms of phasing in The research team uses state-of-the- practices for athletes, and they have been art equipment to conduct its studies. phenomenally successful in preventing Since its inception, UConn’s Human Kelci Stringer, widow of Korey Stringer, and James Gould, Stringer’s former agent, announce deaths during the August ‘two-a-days’,” Performance Laboratory has grown from the founding of KSI at UConn during a press a 250-square-foot lab with a conference at the 2010 NFL Draft. treadmill and centrifuge to an “ At first, I felt like Korey’s 8,000-square-foot facility in “Doug and his team represent the best Gampel Pavilion with several of the best,” Paddock says. “We’ve been priv- death was very random,” million dollars of equipment, ileged to work with Doug. I’ve known Doug says Kelci Stringer. “But including an environment- for many years, and I know the passion and controlled exercise chamber, commitment he has for this endeavor.” now I see it is not.” a complete biochemistry lab “At first, I felt like Korey’s death was and an array of high-tech very random,” says Stringer. “But now I devices for monitoring physi- see it is not. Heat-related illnesses such Casa says. “But only about half the states ological stress in the human body. as heat stroke unfortunately continue to in America have policies for high school With those kinds of resources avail- be problematic in sports and need to be football. There are states where you can do able, representatives of the NFL and eradicated. I strongly believe that with three, three-hour practices on the first day Gatorade agreed with Stringer that UConn proper information, those responsible for of football in full gear in 100-degree heat. was the proper home for the Institute she our young athletes can be fully educated as Obviously, that is not looking out for the envisioned to further research and prevent to how to provide proper care, so that these health and safety of those athletes.” heat-related tragedies from happening to kinds of tragic heat-related illnesses and Exertional heat stroke is a medical other athletes in the future. deaths can be prevented in the future.”

SUMMER 2010 29 Some Dummy Hedie Some dummy subhed in this spot herey it is only dummy herey subhed this is dummy Why NonProliferation Has Failed Someone Herey Shane J. Maddock ’90 M.A., ’97 Ph.D., professor of history at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., analyzes the politics of the nuclear age using recently declassified sources from the U.S. and international archives in an excerpt from his new book, Nuclear Apartheid: The Quest for American Atomic Supremacy from World War II to the Present.

By Shane J. Maddock ’90 M.A., ’97 Ph.D. ittle good has come from U.S. non- allies, such as West Germany and China. L proliferation efforts, and few lessons U.S. policy proved the most susceptible to have been learned. The misguided faith in alliance pressure. Overall, the subordina- American supremacy in nuclear physics tion of nonproliferation to other security resulted in the wrongheaded policy of considerations produced vacillation in selective proliferation in the military and U.S. policy, which in turn provoked civilian fields. Such an approach served resentment and cries of hypocrisy among only to speed the acquisition of nuclear non-nuclear nations. weapons by India, South Africa and Both superpowers also regarded pos- Pakistan. When Moscow responded with session of nuclear weapons as giving them nuclear aid of its own, China accelerated a special status. This attitude sent a clear its nuclear program. message to the rest of the world: Only Nonproliferation also failed because nuclear powers matter. The superpowers both Moscow and Washington subordi- denied that possession of nuclear weapons nated control of nuclear spread to other enhanced a nation’s international political security considerations. At times, both status, but their actions contradicted their countries dabbled with nuclear sharing to rhetoric. Nations that sought respect or offset perceived strategic advantages by From Nuclear Apartheid: The Quest believed they had a global role to fulfill in- the other power, exemplified by the United for American Atomic Supremacy evitably sought nuclear leverage. The Cold States’ basing of Jupiter missiles in Turkey from World War II to the Present by War arms race, moreover, drained the trea- and Moscow’s nuclear gambit in Cuba. Shane J. Maddock. Copyright (c) suries of both Washington and Moscow, At other times, the superpowers hesitated 2010 by the University of North while the former Axis powers, Germany to conclude a nonproliferation accord Carolina Press, unc.uncpress.edu. and Japan, refrained from nuclear milita- because they feared alienating important rism and thrived economically.

30 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu The spread of nuclear weapons to attemptLorem to persuadeipsum dolor the sitworld amet, that consecte- cheap alliance partners France and China and A t the dawn of the turand adipisicing safe nuclear elit, power sed dois aeiusmod phantasm. tempor the emergence of newly decolonized states nuclear age, Albert incididuntNuclear reactors ut labore will et always dolore serve magna as half- that refused to embrace either bloc weak- Einstein hoped aliqua.way houses Ut enim toward ad minimnuclear veniam, bombs, quisand the ened superpower hegemony. Moscow and that the menace of nostrudnuclear wasteexercitation that reactors ullamco produce laboris con- nisi Washington persisted in prioritizing their nuclear weapons utstitutes aliquip an ex environmental ea commodo timeconsequat. bomb. Duis An own geostrategic interests over those of auteinternational irure dolor effort in reprehenderit to produce renewable in volup- would “intimidate allied states. 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SUMMERSUMMER 2010 2010 31 IN TUNE Alumni thrive in the world of music It was nearing the witching hour on Halloween

1981, just after Ray Charles had played the

Homecoming concert. Clifford Solomon, the great

alto sax player who recorded with bluesman John

By Jim H. Smith Mayall and producer Phil Spector, stepped out of

the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts and

headed toward the band’s bus. He asked the young

man standing nearby where one could get a drink.

32 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu orris “Mo” Pleasure ’86 (SFA), already a multi-instrumen- of Music, introduced Small to prominent Boston saxophonist M talist who had led his own band in high school, offered to Jerry Bergonz, who performs with Earl MacDonald, director of the accompany Solomon to a nearby watering hole. By the time they UConn Jazz Studies program. Soon, Small was playing regularly had finished their beverages and a discussion about music, the with top Boston bands. veteran musician was sufficiently impressed to give Pleasure his “I saw good people performing and I realized what I had to card. Within a year of meeting Solomon, Pleasure was playing do,” Small says. “Thanks to Dave, I got really organized at UConn. with Ray Charles’ band. I began to think and operate like a professional musician.” Pleasure grew up in Guilford, Conn., and began playing the After graduation, he played professionally in Boston and New piano at age 4. He also was proficient on bass, trumpet, gui- York City. Now a resident of Brooklyn, he has toured the world tar, drums and violin and as a teenager started earning money three times with popular singer Michael Bublé. fronting his own group, The Pleasure Band. In deference to his Acclaimed jazz singer/composer Marilyn Harris ’72 (SFA) parents, he enrolled at UConn as an engineering student. In his says that, like Pleasure, she too was guided by Hale Smith, who heart, though, he knew that he was a musician. taught musical composition. “Hale showed me how to have a mu- After two years on the road with Charles, Pleasure returned to sic career, and I will always be grateful,” the Hartford native says. UConn to major in music as a seasoned performer with profes- The key, she says, is versatility. After graduating from UConn sional connections who would later help him find work in New she moved to New York, finding work copying scores for the pia- York City. nist/composer Gil Evans and other New York musicians. Later she “I got a wonderful musical education at UConn,” he says, wrote advertising jingles before moving to Los Angeles where her crediting faculty such as Ellen Rowe, Neil Larrabee and the late performing and recording career took off. Now living in Arizona, Hale Smith with helping to refine his talent. “I was playing Harris says establishing and maintaining a fan base is always in all kinds of bands – country, rock, top 40 – working all the challenging. Professional musicians have to be willing to find time, but it was my teachers who helped me stay focused on alternative ways to perform. “We cobble together a career over the professionalism.” years,” she says. Now a producer and president of his own label, Watersign Records, Pleasure has performed over the past 20 years with George Duke, Natalie Cole, Dianne Reeves, Many Ways to Roberta Flack and Janet Jackson and served as musical director for Earth, Wind & Fire. Throughout, he says, be a Musician the lessons learned at UConn about being a profes- career in music does not always sional musician have served him well. A mean a focus on performing. Composer and organist Peter Niedmann ’90 (SFA) has enjoyed a multifac- A Pastiche of eted career as director of music at the Church of Christ, Congregational in Musical Variety Newington while also performing weekly leasure is among many alumni at Hartford’s ON20 Restaurant. He P who have distinguished them- has written a variety of compositions, selves as professional musicians. commissioned by many organiza- From jazz artists to folk singers to tions. To make it as a professional, composers, they all, like Pleasure, “you’ve got to be blessed with acknowledge a debt to UConn. talent,” he says, “and you need Saxophonist Mark Small ’97 self-confidence. Finally, you have to G (SFA) played gigs as a high school E be able to market yourself and find ures/A student in Norwalk, Conn., but t ways to make a living.” c

started to consider a music ny Pi o S career when he met bassist Dave Morris Pleasure ‘86 (SFA), opposite Santoro at UConn. Santoro, now page in the studio, and, left, with other members of the Michael Jackson o on the faculty at Berklee College c urtesy of Band at the premiere of “This Is It.”

SUMMER 2010 33 Left: Laurentiu Rotaru ‘07 M.M. as Dulcamara in an opera by Gaetano Donizetti, performed by the Connecticut Lyric Opera. Above: Marilyn Harris ‘72 (SFA) in concert.

Composing was the emphasis of Dana Wilson’s ’75 M.A. work competitions, Rotaru has performed as a soloist in numerous as a UConn graduate student in the 1970s. Now a music professor ensembles in his native Romania and in Greece, Austria, Hungary at Ithaca College, Wilson has written for ensembles, including the and the U.S. as Leporello in “Don Giovanni,” Don Basilio in “Il Buffalo Philharmonic, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and U.S. Baribiere di Siviglia,” Méphistophélès in “Faust,” and many other military bands. His compositions have been performed all over roles. In 2004 he debuted at Carnegie Hall. the world. Yet Rotaru, who graduated from theological school in Folk singers have always found persistence is a virtue in carv- Romania and contemplated a career in the clergy before turn- ing out a career. Lui Collins ’74 (CLAS), who began establishing ing to music, could not speak English when he migrated to the herself as a performer at UConn coffee shops and other venues United States in 2001. Today, thanks to the fact that he’s not only near Storrs in the 1970s, has released nearly 10 solo albums in a talented singer, but gifted with a bass vocal range, the rarest in the past three decades. She enjoyed a long career as a performer opera, he has become a much sought-after performer. traveling the country, before settling down in Vermont to devote “This is a very tough business,” he says. “Someone who wants time to her children. a career in music should think very carefully. To succeed requires She still performs occasionally, but closer to home. Most of a very great commitment.” her time is devoted to a program for babies, toddlers and their parents, called Music Together, for which she says her UConn education in music theory was great preparation. Musical Calling “People need music. They thrive on it,” she tells aspiring musi- cians, but she is quick to temper that optimism with a dose of real- everal alumni have found careers in music, even as they ity. “Follow your bliss, but don’t ever expect it to be easy. There are S pursued other studies. many ways to be a musician. Tenacity is the thing you need most.” An honors student in business, Manchester, Conn., native If the struggle for success in music sounds as if it can reach Vanessa Kafka ’06 (BUS) was a popular performer on and off operatic proportions, that’s because it can. It is something to campus. She released her first EP in 2005. A 2008 Northeast tour which Laurentiu Rotaru ’07 M.M., who earned his master’s in support of her debut album, “Into Place,” helped her establish degree at UConn, can relate. Winner of several singing and opera a solid fan base.

34 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu NOTABLE ALUMNI IN MUSIC SARAH CALLINAN ’03 B.A., ’04 C.V.P. Soprano; has performed with opera companies in Arizona, New Jersey, Mississippi, Connecticut, Michigan and Massachusetts; winner of the Jenny Lind and Connecticut Opera Guild Competitions.

MEGAN FRIAR ’85 B.S., ’87 M.M. Mezzo-soprano; has appeared with opera companies in Florida, Connecticut, Virginia, Iowa, New York and in the national tour of “Phantom of the Opera.”

MATT JANISZEWSKI ’05 B.S., ’05 B.A. Saxophonist with Frank Sinatra Jr., Eddie Palmieri, Edward Simon, Lewis Porter, Michael Mossman, Ralph Bowen and Conrad Herwig, among others, and in such venues as Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note and Trum- pets Jazz Club.

ALBERT RUDOLPH LEE ’98 B.M. Tenor; has appeared with op- era companies in Missouri, Florida, Kentucky and Connecticut and performed with the Collegiate Chorale of New York City, Pro Arts Symphony, Missouri Symphony, New Haven Chorale, Heritage Chorale and at the Caramoor International and Aspen Music Festivals. Saxophonist Mark Small ‘97 (SFA) has toured the world three times DAVID PITTSINGER ’84 B.M. Bass-baritone with Metropolitan with popular singer Michael Bublé. Opera; performances in “Don Carlo,” “The Rake’s Progress,” “Giulio Cesare,” “La Bohème” and “The Magic Flute”; Broadway debut in the Tony award-winning production of “South Pacific”; Artist of the Year awards from New York City Opera, Florida Naomi Sommers ’01 (CLAS), who studied literature and Grand Opera and Pittsburgh Opera. music at UConn, devoted herself to music full time after graduation, settling in Boston in 2001 to launch a solo career. ELISE QUAGLIATA ’00 B.A. Mezzo-soprano; has performed She has released four albums, including 2008’s “Gentle as with opera companies in Florida and Iowa, with the National the Sun,” produced by Jim Rooney (John Prine, Iris Dement, Philharmonic, American Symphony and orchestras in Nevada, Nanci Griffith, Bonnie Raitt). That same year she performed at California, New York, Florida and New Hampshire. the GRAMMY Foundation’s Starry Night Fundraiser in honor of Beatles producer Sir George Martin, sharing the stage with FRED TINSLEY ’65 B.A. Bassist for Los Angeles Philharmonic legendary guitarist Jeff Beck and composers Burt Bacharach, Orchestra since 1974; previously played with the New Haven Jimmie Webb and others. Symphony and New York Philharmonic; member of the faculty Connecticut State Troubadour Lara Herscovitch ’95 M.S.W. of California State University, Fullerton. says she “narrowly escaped law school,” instead embarking upon a career in social work. Though she began playing piano GARY VERSACE ’91 B.S., ’91 B.M. Jazz organist, pianist and and writing when she was young, music remained principally a accordionist for John Scofield, John Abercrombie and Marian hobby until Bridgeport’s Acoustic Café opened in the 1990s and McPartland, among others; performed as accordionist on she began performing at “open mic” nights. “Suddenly, I was Maria Schneider’s Grammy-winning recordings, “Concert in awake,” she recalls. “I knew music had to be part of my life in a the Garden” and “Sky Blue,” and as pianist on John Hollenbeck’s more serious way.” Grammy-nominated large ensemble recording, “A Blessing.” While continuing her social work career, she has successful- ly taken on a parallel music career, performing at such notable ROBERT WENDEL ’76 M.A. Conductor with major symphony venues as the Towne Crier in Pawling, N.Y., Club Passim in orchestras in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Baltimore, Atlanta, Cincinnati Cambridge, Mass., and at Bleecker Street’s legendary Bitter End, and Dallas; toured the U.S. and Europe as conductor for Harry building what music website smother.net calls “a rabid fanbase.” Connick Jr.; performed at the 1993 Presidential Inauguration and “Being a musician isn’t a choice,” she says. “It’s hard work. in the concert for the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. Why would you pick this? You do it because you must.”

SUMMER 2010 35 Focus on FACULTY

Exploring the role of the ‘diva’ in the drama of Shakespeare

hakespeare created some of theater’s S most famous female roles, from Juliet to Cleopatra. Yet in Shakespeare’s time, while professional actresses were becoming popu- lar across Europe, such challenging female roles were played on England’s traditionally all-male stage not by women, but by boys. “The question that Shakespeareans, and anybody who has studied Renaissance drama, have always asked is how the English – alone among the nations around them in Europe – kept out the actress. Why and how?” says Pamela Allen Brown, an associate professor of English based at UConn’s Stamford campus and an expert in Shakespearean drama and Renaissance literature. Brown, an avid theatergoer as well as a poet and playwright, believes that the English managed to keep their stage all-male by creating dynamic new roles that put theatrical foreign “women” at the center of some plots. Shakespeare and his colleagues, Brown says, were pressured to

Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare “I started thinking about the characters I would call the became acutely aware of the need for the leading or star players on the English stage and how all-male commercial stage to compete with dual-gender European rivals, and began to they related to characters and actresses in Europe.” create major new female roles that would —Pamela Allen Brown be performed by boy actors. These central female characters, fa- do so by the emergence of the professional National Endowment for the Humanities, mous for their dramatic scenes of suicide, actress on the Continent in the mid-16th a prestigious award that helps fund madness and passion, were unprecedented century, especially in the renowned Italian individuals pursuing advanced research in their theatricality. Juliet, for instance, theatrical troupes called the commedia of value to scholars and general audiences delivers an erotically charged soliloquy dell’arte. in the humanities. Brown also has won framed by her window, and performs both “I started thinking about the characters a grant from the Huntington Library in faked and real death scenes, while Ophelia’s I would call the leading or star players on Pasadena, Calif., where she will hold the mad scene in Hamlet is a tour de force of the English stage and how they related Francis Bacon Foundation Fellowship. tragicomic acting and singing. In creating to characters and actresses in Europe,” As the international reputations of roles that demanded star quality perfor- says Brown, whose work-in-progress, actresses in Europe flourished, and Italian mances from “boy divas,” and stressing Extravagant Stranger: The Foreign Actress in troupes began to cross the English Channel their uniqueness and special skills, Brown Shakespearean Drama, recently earned the and appear at Elizabeth’s court, Brown says, English playwrights effectively kept support of a yearlong fellowship from the theorizes, playwrights such as Thomas Kyd, actresses off the stage for almost a century.

36 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Seeking to understand the dynam- the 1560s through 1616 by such greats as and having women on stage in England?’” ics behind these aspects of the English Shakespeare, Marlowe and John Webster. Brown says. “Somehow the professional theater’s past, Brown has set out to study “I’m asking, ‘What was it like before companies managed to turn back the historical materials relating to English and the advent of the actresses? What were the threat of the actress ... through the means Italian actors and troupes along with all female roles like? Where was the pres- of creating these incredible dramatic plays with major female roles written from sure point the greatest to start training roles.” —Stefanie Dion Jones ’00 (CLAS)

Fuller leads first responders into disaster areas

n the immediate aftermath of a disaster, medical providers Just days after the earthquake in Haiti, Fuller was on the I with a calm head and compassionate heart are a necessity in island trying to get the Port-au-Prince Hospital Universita et Haiti the midst of chaos. Robert Fuller, head of emergency medicine at up and running amid the devastation. “The hospital only had the UConn Health Center, has established just such a reputation capacity for 700 patients when it was fully operational and there around the world. were nearly 1,000 patients sitting outside waiting for care every International Medical Corps’ (IMC) Emergency Response day,” Fuller says. “It was very tricky to try and squeeze all of those Team has responded to humanitarian emergencies in more than patients into a place that couldn’t fit them to begin with.” 50 countries on four continents. Fuller is among IMC’s select In Haiti, injuries included crushed extremities, exposed bones group of volunteer health care specialists who are ready to deploy or torn muscles and infected wounds, many of which required to a disaster anywhere in the world within hours. hundreds of extremity amputations. On top of those challenges, Fuller, an emergency medicine physician, has experience medical supplies such as IVs, pain medicines and bandages were assisting in setting up and organizing hospitals in order to care often extremely limited, especially in the days following the disaster. for mass casualties in devastated areas. He has been in charge of Fuller’s experience in Haiti was the latest in his many world- coordinating with nongovernmental organizations, dealing with wide efforts to help in a disastrous and seemingly helpless situa- the U.S. military and the supplies it brings in, and making sure tion. His first such experience began much closer to home on Sept. health services are delivered. 11, 2001, when he was part of the UConn medical response team that provided specialized emergency medical care and assisted in search and rescue efforts at ground zero in New York City. Among his notable IMC missions, Fuller traveled to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after a tsunami killed 300,000 people in December 2004, when IMC volunteers were among the first to reach the most remote areas and begin providing medical care. There, Fuller served as the interim director of emergency medicine at the large regional referral hospital, Hospital Zianel Abudin. He spent a month there making sure the victims received emergency care and worked with organizations from around the world to coordinate care at the hospital. Fuller’s work with the IMC has inspired others at the Health Center to join him by forming support teams, including a group of 11 doctors and nurses who traveled to Port-au-Prince this past March to assist with the ongoing medical efforts. “Unlike many other relief organizations, IMC workers stay long after the crisis has ended to help communities fully recover impor- tant health care infrastructure and get back to self-reliance,” says Fuller. “We believe no emergency response effort is complete without training and education to pass on the skills and resources communi- ties need to be able to care for themselves.” —Carolyn Pennington

SUMMER 2010 37 We want to hear from you! A lumni Let your fellow UConn alumni know about the News&Notes milestones in your life. 1950s Jack C. Norbeck Roger Nelsen ’69 (BUS) was immunopathology mechanisms ’64 (CANR) is vice appointed to the board of in Type 1 diabetes. She has written Nancy (Canevari) chancellor of the directors at UV Flu Technologies articles, presented research findings Lindemeyer ’56 World Academy of Inc., in Centerville, Mass. He brings and received more than (CLAS) is the au- Letters. He lives in more than 36 years of experience $3 million in research funding. thor of My First Best Coplay, Pa. to the position. Friend published John F. Brinnier by Stewart, Tabori Tom Bowler ’66 (ED), ’81 6th Year, 1970s ’73 (CANR), & Chang in March. received the President’s Award vice president from the Sports & Recreation Law Abraham C. Reich of corporate Daniel M. Uman ’57 (CANR) Association at its annual conference ’71 (CLAS), partner quality for Watson received senior membership from in Albuquerque, N.M., in March and co-chair at Pharmaceuticals the Royal Institution of Chartered 2010. He worked as a teacher for Fox Rothschild LLP, in Morristown, Surveyors. He has 38 years of 33 years in Vernon, Conn., until his co-contributed to N.J., and Sharon A. Brinnier ’73 experience in heavy construction retirement in 1999. Currently, he a chapter on ethics (CLAS) celebrated their 35th worldwide. He lives with his wife, is an expert witness for attorneys in the 2010 edition wedding anniversary in Hawaii Judith, in Portland, Ore. throughout the United States. of Successful Partnering Between with their children. Inside and Outside Counsel, a multi- Barry E. Herman ’58 M.A., Frank volume treatise. Tom Howarth ’73 (CLAS) is ’67 Ph.D., adjunct professor Gwazdauskas ’66 director of the Father McKenna of education at Sacred Heart (CANR), the David Nancy Danforth Ciesla ’72 (ED), a Center at Saint Aloysius Church in University in Fairfield, Conn., is the R. and Margaret physical therapy clinical specialist Washington, D.C. He also serves as host of the television show “The Lincicome at John Hopkins Hospital, received chair on the board of Salvadoran Jewish Forum” on Comcast and Professor in the the fourth Outstanding Physical Enterprises for Women. He previ- Citizens Television PBS Channels Department of Therapy Professional Award from ously worked for U.S. Sen. Frank R. in the Greater New Haven, Greater Dairy Science at Virginia Tech, the Neag School of Education Lautenberg of New Jersey. Bridgeport, North Haven and Valley received the 2010 Certificate of Alumni Society in May. areas. He is the president of the Teaching Excellence from the Janice Kasper ’73 (SFA) served as Ethnic Heritage Center at Southern College of Agriculture and Life Alan J. Desmarais ’72 (CLAS) is an artist-in-residence at Isle Royale Connecticut State University in New Sciences at Virginia Tech. a senior benefits consultant for National Park in Michigan during Haven, Conn. Milliman Inc., in Hartford, Conn. He the summer of 2009. Robert Brzozowki previously was director of finance Al Lotring ’58 (CLAS), retired from ’68 (ENG) received for the town of Manchester for 17 Lisa L. Landa ’73 (ED), ’78 M.A., the Naval Underwater Research his M.B.A. from years before retiring in early 2010. English teacher at Daniel Hand High Center in New London, Conn., Pennsylvania He is adjunct faculty for UConn’s School in Madison, Conn., received published his first novel, Goodfellow State University in Department of Public Policy the Outstanding School Educator Associates, with Bookstand August 2009. master’s program. He is a member Award from the Neag School of Publishing. of the Connecticut Municipal Education Alumni Society in May. Finance Advisory Commission, a William D. Pardus ’58 (ED), ’60 Christos P. Tsokos ’68 Ph.D., board member of the Connecticut Michael J. Nielsen ’73 (CLAS) M.S., professor emeritus of music Distinguished University Professor Resources Recovery Authority and retired after more than 35 years at Keene State College in Keene, and director of the statistics gradu- chairman of the Board of Trustees of with the Regional Transportation N.H., presented his lecture “From ate program in the department Oak Hill – Connecticut Institute for Authority and Metra Commuter the Classroom to the Business of of mathematics and statistics at the Blind. He and his wife, Joan Carey Rail System in Chicago, where Music” at a UConn music depart- the University of South Florida, Desmarais, have three children. he worked in various senior ment convocation for students and received the Distinguished Alumni management positions. He lives in faculty on April 6, 2010. Award from the UConn Department Marcia McInerney Oak Park, Ill. of Statistics in April. ’72 (CLAS), professor and chair Joseph Wocoski ’73 (CLAS) is the 1960s Dennis Hampton ’69 (CLAS), of the medicinal author of Our Seasons of Ardent Love, editor and publisher of Hearing and biological a series of 21 sonnets for his wife. HealthCare News, was awarded Mary Ann Gilleece ’62 (ED), chemistry the Honors of the Association Paul Spencer ’74 partner at Holland & Knight, a law department by the New York State Speech- (CLAS) is the lead firm in Washington, D.C., has been in the College of Pharmacy at Language-Hearing Association. physician assistant elected chairman of the executive the University of Toledo, was He recently served as president of in emergency board of the Veterans Consortium selected by the university as a the American Speech-Language- medicine at St. Pro Bono Program. Distinguished University Professor. Hearing Foundation. Her research focuses on defining Joseph Hospital in Bangor, Maine.

38 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Send your updates and a photo to: Fax: (860) 486-2849 Alumni News & Notes University of Connecticut Email: [email protected] Alumni Association 2384 Alumni Drive, Unit 3053 Submit your information at Storrs, CT 06269 uconnalumni.com/HAN

Kathryn Calibey ceremony in March. She lives with research and Extension activities, company Simonds International of ’75 (CLAS), at- her husband, Marty, in their homes which benefit compost use on soil Fitchburg, Mass., was elected to the torney for law in Stratford, Conn., and Freeport, and water quality. The award was board of directors at Worker’s Credit firm RisCassi & Bahamas. presented at the council’s annual Union of Fitchburg. Davis in Hartford, conference in Orlando. Conn., received Susan Cooper ’75 (ED), direc- Laura (Schlesinger) Minor ’77 the President’s tor of recreation for Newport, Kevin Flaherty ’75 (CLAS), ’77 (CLAS) is a program manager and Award for Excellence from the R.I., received the Outstanding M.B.A. is senior vice president at professional trainer at Wheeler Hartford County Bar Association Professional Award from the Neag Webster Bank, where he directs Clinic, a nonprofit, multi-service be- on April 15, 2010. She is a co-chair School of Education Alumni Society new business development for havioral health agency serving cen- for the Connecticut Supreme in May. mid-size commercial borrowers in tral Connecticut, Greater Hartford Court Historical Society Program northern Connecticut and western and beyond. She is also a justice of Committee and is on the com- Gregory Evanylo Massachusetts. the peace and the host of a local mittees of the Connecticut Bar ’75 (CLAS), profes- television talk show. Her husband, Association and the Connecticut sor and Virginia Peter Kirk ’75 (CLAS) and Marsha Craig Minor ’80 (CLAS), is the town Trail Lawyers Association. Cooperative (Smith) Kirk ’75 (CLAS) have planner for Cromwell, Conn. Extension specialist retired as executives of the Bank of Marilyn B. Cole ’75 (ED), professor in the Department New Canaan. They live in Waterford, Clarence Silvia ’77 (CLAS), ’79 emerita of occupational therapy of Crop and Soil Conn., but are looking forward to M.B.A. is president and chief in the School of Health Sciences at Environmental Sciences in the relocating to Hurricane, Utah. executive officer at the Hospital of Quinnipiac University, received the College of Agriculture and Life Central Connecticut in New Britain, Award of Merit at the Connecticut Sciences at Virginia Tech, received William Trubeck ’76 M.B.A. is a Conn., and president of Central Occupational Therapy Association’s the 2010 Rufus Chaney Award from member of the board of directors at Connecticut Health Alliance (CCHA), annual conference and awards the U.S. Composting Council for his WellCare Health Plans, Inc., in Tampa, the hospital’s parent organization. Fla. He previously was executive vice He previously was senior vice president and chief financial officer president and chief operating at H&R Block and held several senior officer for CCHA and the hospital. management positions at Waste Management, Inc. Rocco Orland III ’78 M.D. is senior vice president and chief Curtis T. Walker ’76 (CLAS) was medical officer for Hartford elected president of the Akron Healthcare and Hartford Hospital (Ohio) Public School Board for the in Hartford, Conn., where he second time in January. He has provides leadership to the clinical served on the board for 10 years. staff of three acute care hospitals He is married and has five children and several specialty health care and seven grandchildren. providers. He previously was vice president of Connecticut Surgical Bill Cullen ’77 (CLAS), a partner Group in Hartford. with Sexton, Cullen, Hobson & Garfield, P.C., was named one of the Ellen (Bangasser) Rizzo ’78 (BUS), top lawyers in Birmingham, Ala., by ’84 M.B.A. is chief financial officer B-Metro Magazine. at Hanover Insurance Group in Worcester, Mass. She previously Sok-Ja Janket ’77 was senior vice president and chief D.M.D. is research financial officer of business insur- associate professor ance at Travelers Companies. in general dentistry at the Henry M. Robb Delprado ’79 (BUS) is chief Pepper featured in N.Y. State Artist Series Goldman School of operations officer at Western Data Dental Medicine at Systems, Inc., in Houston, where Jen Pepper ’89 M.F.A., associate professor of studio art and art gallery Boston University, where she also he lives with his wife, Cheryl, and director at Cazenovia College in Cazenovia, N.Y., had a solo exhibition of has an appointment as assistant daughter, Amy. He previously was a her installation art earlier this year titled, “that which cannot be held,” professor of periodontology and consultant for RMI Corporation. as part of the New York State Artist Series at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in international oral biology. and national venues since 1990 and has received grant awards from Shapleigh Drisko ’79 (CLAS) is a variety of organizations and foundations, including the National Raymond Martino ’77 (CLAS), ’81 director of the Office of Small and Endowment for the Humanities. M.B.A., president and chief execu- Disadvantaged Business Utilization tive officer of the manufacturing for the U.S. Department of State.

SUMMER 2010 39 ni pr m of u i l l ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES a e

Live from New York – it’s Bobby Moynihan ’99 (SFA)!

riends of Bobby Moynihan ’99 (SFA) F understand when he says he’s busy most Saturday nights. After all, giving up a weekend day is a small price to pay when you’re part of the cast of NBC’s leg- endary comedy improv show “Saturday Night Live.” Moynihan has been a featured player on SNL since 2008. The 33-year-old na- tive of Eastchester, N.Y., will be the first to tell you that having an opportunity to Opera House, Long Wharf Theatre and Bobby Moynihan ’99 (SFA), right, performing in a skit with fellow cast members on “Saturday Night work on the same stage that hosted the Yale Repertory Theatre, among others. His Live.” From left: Guest host Zac Efron, Bill Hader, likes of John Belushi, Bill Murray, Chevy professors say he had a natural gift at por- Andy Samberg, Abby Elliott and Moynihan. Chase and Gilda Radner for the past three traying endearing characters and making decades is one awesome ride. people laugh. gave me that confidence.” “Every time the music starts and the “Bobby is not somebody who you After graduating, Moynihan moved band starts playing at 11:25, you feel it,” forget. He is one of the top people we ever back to New York where he became a Moynihan says. “Here is this amazing had here,” says Robert McDonald, one regular member of the Upright Citizens 35-year-old show, and you’re a part of of Moynihan’s former mentors, now a Brigade and then was a sketch regular on it. When they put my picture up on the professor emeritus of dramatic arts in the “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” begin- wall as a cast member, well, that was it School of Fine Arts. “He’s got an incred- ning in 2006 and, in 2008, did television for me. I’ve had a lot of mind-blowing ible ability to get at our heartstrings as a ads for ESPN Radio. Sundays where I’ll wake up and just can’t believable weaker person.” While Moynihan has appeared in believe what happened.” Moynihan credits his acting coaches several films (“When in Rome,” “The Moynihan was part of a dream team at UConn with furthering his career. Invention of Lying,” “Mystery Team”), he of actors that rolled through the School “Bob McDonald was the greatest. He says he’s in no hurry to step away from of Fine Arts in the late 1990s. He was taught me everything,” Moynihan says. the SNL set. one of the stars of the Connecticut “I initially thought, why did I go to acting “I’ve done a couple of movies, and it Repertory Theatre’s production of “The school? But it has helped me tremen- was so much fun,” says Moyinhan, who Boys Next Door,” which received the dously. Part of being a good comedian received the School of Fine Arts Alumni 1999 Connecticut Critics Circle Award is that truth-in-comedy kind of thing. At Award in April. “But I’ve waited my whole for Outstanding Ensemble Cast, beating SNL, my acting background has helped life to get here (to SNL), so I’m in no rush out other ensembles from the Goodspeed me to have confidence on stage. UConn to leave.” —Colin Poitras ’85 (CLAS)

Carol (Stanley) Little ’79 (BUS) is 1980s Marylouise Welch Phil Knight ’81 (CANR) is the founder and president of A Good ’80 M.S., ’90 author of Into Deepest Yellowstone, Laugh, Inc., a charity dedicated Michael Alberts ’80 (CLAS), ’87 Ph.D. was recently his first book, published by to providing therapeutic humor M.B.A. is vice president and com- recognized as PublishAmerica in November 2009. to people affected by illness, mercial relationship manager at Professor Emerita injury or trauma. She lives with her Simsbury Bank in Simsbury, Conn. of Nursing at Saint Frank Minerva ’81 M.B.A. is chief husband, Mike, and son, Chris, in He was previously senior vice presi- Joseph College in operating officer at UBS Financial Shrewsbury, Mass. dent and senior commercial loan West Hartford, Conn. She lives in Services in New York, N.Y., where he officer at Putnam Bank. West Hartford. previously led the New York office of the company’s private wealth

40 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu management. He has worked for Marvin Goldwasser ’83 (BUS) is Judith Pepin ’84 M.S., ’87 Ph.D., to the board of directors of the UBS for 21 years. senior vice president of marketing a senior scientist with Proctor & Connecticut Technology Council. at Continuity Engine in New Haven, Gamble’s scientific writing and John H. (Buzz) Tarlow ’81 (CLAS), Conn. He previously was vice editing section, will serve a third Peter Linn ’86 a partner in the law firm Tarlow president of marketing for Eclipsys term as treasurer of the American (ENG) is vice Stonecipher & Steele, PLLC, in Corporation. Medical Writers Association. She is president and busi- Bozeman, Mont., has been elected also a member of the association’s ness development a Fellow of the American College Kim (Taylor) Manning ’83 (CLAS) Budget and Finance Committee. manager for the of Construction Lawyers, which is partner and chief operating General Insurance comprises the top 1 percent of officer at Cronin and Company, a Stephen P. Reilly ’84 (ED) is Customer the construction bar in the United marketing communications firm in president and chief executive Management team at Zurich in States. He resides in Bozema with Glastonbury, Conn. officer of Northwest Community New York, N.Y. He previously was his wife, Holly. They have two Bank, based in Winsted, Conn. director of corporate customers children, Sarajana, now working David Minicozzi ’83 (CLAS) was He is involved in United Way and distribution management and for NBC in New York City, and Jed, a appointed as a commissioner for of Northwest Connecticut, the risk engineering. freshman at the University of Puget the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter Torrington Rotary Club and the Sound in Tacoma, Wash. Commission in Branford, Conn., Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Mike Baldassari where he will assist in fundraising Commerce. He and his wife, Meg, ’87 (SFA) designs Steve Wolfberg ’81 (CLAS) is part- activities. have three children and reside in theatrical lighting ner, president and chief creative Prospect, Conn. for feature films officer at Cronin and Company, a Robert O’Connor ’83 M.B.A. is including “Nine,” marketing communications firm in president and chief executive offi- Vikram Desai “Sex and the City Glastonbury, Conn. cer at Loftware, Inc., in Portsmouth, ’86 (CLAS) is 2,” “Going the N.H. He previously was president president and Distance” and the “Neil Young Trunk Mary J. Meehan ’82 M.B.A. is and CEO of Softrax Corp. and held chief executive Show.” He has also designed recent first vice president of commercial various senior executive positions officer of Liquid tours for Neil Young and Alice in lending at People’s Bank in Holyoke, at RBS Group. Computing in Chains. He lives with his wife, Arlene, Mass. Previously, she was vice presi- Stamford, Conn. and daughter, Sophia, in Hoboken, dent of commercial lending. Leslie (Wenc) Turner ’83 (CLAS) N.J., and East Hampton, N.Y. received her master’s degree in Tom Flynn ’86 Nicholas Randazzo ’82 (CLAS) library and information science from (CLAS), ’89 J.D., Tracy (Proll) Block ’87 (BUS) owns is vice president of sales at PHT Simmons College in January 2010. partner at the Professional Business Services, a Corporation in Charleston, Mass. law firm Shipman bookkeeping and payroll service Merrill Eisenberg ’84 Ph.D., assis- & Goodwin in in Southington, Conn. She is a Michael Sheehan ’82 (BUS) is tant professor in the Mel and Enid Hartford, Conn., certified bookkeeper, a Quickbooks vice president and mortgage and Zuckerman College of Public Health was elected Proadvisor and a member of the consumer loan department head at the University of Arizona’s Tucson at Simsbury Bank in Simsbury, campus, is president-elect of the Conn., where he leads the bank’s Society for Applied Anthropology, mortgage and consumer lending where he will serve a two-year term sales and service. He previously was beginning in 2011. mortgage lending division head at Webster Financial. Rosemary (Keating) Leitz Susan L. Weston ’82 (BUS) is chief ’84 (BUS), talent officer for BlumShapiro in senior counsel West Hartford, Conn., the largest for Northeast regional accounting, tax and Utilities, was business consulting firm based in elected treasurer Connecticut and one of the largest of Chrysalis Center, Inc., a private in New England, with nearly 300 nonprofit health care agency professional and administrative serving the Greater Hartford area. staff. She previously was manager She and her husband, Jeffrey of finance leadership development Leitz ’83 (CLAS), CEO of Walbridge at United Technologies Corp. Capital, live with their son, Desmond, in West Hartford, Conn. Mark Dripchak ’83 (CANR) is program manager at Mercy Corps Deborah (Hutchins) Murphy ’84 in Kunduz, Afghanistan, with (BUS) is vice president of market Da Nuh Nuh, Da Nuh Nuh responsibility for the Kunduz and channel development for Integrated Water Initiative and the specialty printing solutions for Mike Soltys ’81 (CLAS), vice president for U.S. communications at ESPN, second phase of the Catchment Zebra Technologies Corporation in visited the Marketing Society in the School of Business in March, provid- ing students with details of new ESPN projects and advice on the skills Development Project, both funded Vernon Hills, Ill. She has served in needed to obtain internships in the marketing-communications industry. by the European Commission. various marketing positions at the company for 14 years.

SUMMER 2010 41 ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES

American Institute of Professional doctorate in education leadership Bookkeepers. She is married and from the University of Hartford. has a daughter, Madison. Dana Ricard ’90 Michael J. Frechette ’87 Ph.D., (CLAS) is a real superintendent of schools for estate agent for Middletown, Conn., received the William Raveis Real Outstanding Superintendent Estate in Hingham, Award from the Neag School of Mass. She lives Education Alumni Society in May. with her husband, Eric, and daughters, Olivia and Colleen Anne Alexis, in Scituate, Mass. Richard ’88 M.S.W., ’05 Ph.D. Kelly (Kirby) Shaw ’90 (PHR) and is a professor at her husband, Joseph, announce Tunxis Community the birth of a son, Neal Ryan, on College in Oct. 17, 2009, in Toronto, Canada. Farmington, Conn., He joins an older sister, Paige. where she has served as the hu- man service program coordinator Rachel Baker- for 12 years. Blackwell ’91 M.S.W., a prac- Peter Sherr ’88 (CLAS) is senior titioner of social vice president of corporate strategy services, was pro- at CA Software and was elected filed by the New to the Board of Education in Jersey Chapter Greenwich, Conn. of the National Association of Social Workers as the spotlight Ron Corey ’89 M.B.A. is vice individual for 2010 in the as- president of clinical and proj- sociation’s NewsWire publication. O ect management for Asubio She is a member of the National I M Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in Rochelle Association of Social Workers and E

Park, N.J., assuming expanded lives in East Millstone, N.J. responsibility for managing the GINOD A project management and clinical Brian LeBlanc trial management groups. He was ’91 (CLAS) is formerly executive director for celebrating ‘Many Hearts’: Tribal clinical and project management. 25 years with Walgreens leader for a new century Steven Peeters ’89 M.B.A. is Pharmacy. He and vice president of commercial his wife, Diane, live L ynn Malerba ’08 M.P.A. becomes new lines product at The Main Street in Middletown, Del. chief of Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut America Group in Jacksonville, Fla. He previously was president and Noemi chief operating officer at Zurich (Hernandez) arlier this year, when the tribe’s chief from 1937 Insurance Services. Macumber ’91 the time had come to to 1952, she was surprised (BUS) is a mis- E select a new chief for the to learn they had someone J. Scott Roman sionary for the ’89 (CLAS), a International Mohegan Nation, Marilynn else in mind for the posi- senior principal Mission Board. She (Lynn) Malerba ’08 M.P.A. tion – her. scientist at Merck lives in Ocala, Fla. submitted her nomination “When they told me, & Co., and his wife, Michele, a federal Jonathan A. Plucker ’91 (CLAS), ’92 for a tribal member who you could have knocked pretrial officer with M.A., professor of educational psy- had worked many years to me out of a chair,” says the U.S. District Court, were chology and cognitive science at the gain federal recognition for Malerba, a rising leader in married on Oct. 26, 2008, in West University of Indiana at Bloomington, the tribe and whose efforts the tribe who had become Milford, N.J. The couple resides in received the 2010 Outstanding Stewartsville, N.J. Higher Education Professional Award ultimately helped establish chairwoman of the nine- from the Neag School of Education the successful Mohegan member Tribal Council in 1990s Alumni Society in May. Sun Casino. 2009 after serving on the But when the Council of council for five years. She Jill Carey ’90 (ED), ’99 M.A., princi- Phil Almquist ’92 M.B.A. pal of the Academy of Engineering graduated from the Connecticut Elders asked to meet with is to be installed as the 17th and Green Technology at Hartford School of Broadcasting in Cherry Malerba, the great-grand- chief of the 1,800-member Public High School, earned her Hill, N.J., on March 16, 2010. daughter of Burrill Fielding, Mohegan Tribe in August.

42 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu ni pr m of u i l l a e

with the Mohegan community to learn department before joining the Council. what they expect from their new chief. In January, she was named to Global “The role of the chief is not concretely Gaming Business magazine’s annual list defined because each chief will have chal- of “25 People to Watch” as a leader of “the lenges in their lifetime that others have not government of a tribe with a multibillion- faced,” she says, noting that her experience dollar gaming empire employing some on the Tribal Council and as its chair- 8,000 people at Connecticut’s Mohegan woman will provide insight into how to Sun resort alone.” advise the tribal leadership. “I see the chief Malerba’s growing responsibilities as someone who provides continuity. I have within the Tribal Council led to her deci- known a lot of our past leaders. We have to sion to pursue a master’s degree in public carry their thoughts and wishes forward.” affairs at UConn. One area Malerba notes as one of “I was looking at broader policy issues her priorities is ensuring a secure future even in my position as health and human for the next generation of Mohegans. services director,” she says. “You have to The downturn in the national and local look at things in a different way, address economy has affected all Connecticut busi- critical issues in a very broad and encom- nesses, including Mohegan Sun, which passing way, so as you are setting policy has delayed new projects. for the future, it is enduring and not just “We have a very young tribe. Forty-five being reactionary.” percent of our membership is under the Until her selection as chief, Malerba age of 18,” says Malerba. “If we want the had not chosen a tribal name, something next generation to enjoy the benefits of that she had been reluctant to do when health care, retirement community housing younger, saying she was not comfortable and education, we need to endow those with giving herself a new name. As chief, services. We’ve been very fortunate in it was necessary. She followed tradition in consulting with the tribe’s medicine “It is a big responsibility. You will be woman, discussing who she was as a the enduring face of the tribe for as long as person and who the tribe hopes she would you are able to be,” she says. be as a leader. With her history as a nurse, Malerba will be the second woman her deep knowledge of Mohegan culture to serve as tribal chief. For a brief period and history, and the many people whom in 1723, Anne Uncas served as interim “It is a big responsibility. she has helped over her lifetime, her tribal chief. Among the 580 federally recognized You will be the enduring name seemed clear – Mutawi Mutahash, Indian tribes, many are led by women, translated as “Many Hearts.” according to the National Congress of face of the tribe for as long According to tradition, a mark repre- American Indians. Under the Mohegan as you are able to be.” senting the chief was created. It includes a constitution, the chief has a lifetime ap- heart that represents all the hearts she has pointment and advises the two councils in cared for and all those to come. Two flow- matters of policy. Many ceremonial func- providing those services for the current gen- ers/cornstalks represent her two daughters tions also are performed by the chief. eration, but we need to think about endow- and corn, which is considered medicine Malerba says women always have been ing those services for future generations. or food of life. Three dots each on the left informal leaders within Indian tribes, with Looking to other business sectors (beyond and right sides of the heart represent the or without a formal title. “Tribes were al- gaming) would be a very wise decision.” three generations of her great-grandfather, ways egalitarian, more so than perhaps the As chief, Malerba will be the public including her mother and past, present rest of society was in the past,” she says. “I face of the Mohegan Tribe and the busi- and future Mohegan family members. certainly interact with many women lead- ness interests she has helped to guide as “‘Many Hearts’ are the hearts I’ve cared ers in Indian Country at the national level.” chairwoman of the Tribal Council. A for- for in the past, the ones I know today and Malerba says because the role of chief mer critical care nurse and hospital admin- those I have yet to meet,” Malerba says of does not have a formal job description un- istrator, she served as executive director her chief’s mark. “That felt right for me.” der the tribe’s constitution, she will meet of the tribe’s Health and Human Services —Kenneth Best

SUMMER 2010 43 ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES

Maureen Hanley- Conn. He has worked for the Anne (Tikky) Fountain ’93 M.P.H. Mountain Medicine Division at the Bellitto ’92 (CLAS) Foundation since 2006 as a senior was named interim director of United States Army Research Institute is regional vice editor and writer. health and social services for the city of Environmental Medicine in Natick, president for of Stamford, Conn. She has served as Mass., received the Outstanding Fairfield County Shawn Stzurma the city’s public health emergency Kinesiology Professional Award from at TD Bank, where ’92 (ENG) is a response coordinator since 2004. the Neag School of Education Alumni she is responsible principal sales Society in May. for managing a commercial lending consultant for Sandra Knapp Wheeler ‘93 (BGS), team and overseeing a 21-store Pegasystems, a owner of For Peace of Mind, LLC - Brian P. Richardson ’95 (BUS) is network across the region. business process Professional Organizing for home a tax manager for the accounting management and office - has been elected 2010- firm Pue, Chick, Leibowitz & Blezard, G. Duncan Harris ’92 (CLAS) software solutions company. 11 President of the Connecticut LLC, in Vernon, Conn. He is a mem- is the dean of student affairs at He lives with his wife, Lisa, and Chapter of the National Association ber of the Connecticut Society of Manchester Community College in daughters, Katja and Annika, in of Professional Organizers. She Certified Public Accountants and Manchester, Conn. He is a member Somerville, Mass. is also the chapter’s director of the American Institute of Certified of the UConn African American communications and technology. Public Accountants. Alumni Council and resides with Shanyelle Young She is a member of the Chamber of his wife and three children in ’92 (CLAS), a real Commerce of Eastern Connecticut Fahd Vahidy ’95 (CLAS), ’98 M.A., Windsor, Conn. estate agent with and had 20 years of corporate executive director of Public Allies Gillette Real Estate experience before creating her Connecticut and co-founder of James O’Meara ’92 (BUS), ’00 in Windsor, Conn., own company. Street Smart Ventures, was elected M.B.A. is senior vice president was awarded the to a three-year term on the board of commercial banking and Top Realtor of 2009 Rob Carolla ’94 (CLAS) and Annie of directors for the Connecticut chief of staff at Webster Bank in for her sales, commissions and Carolla announce the birth of a son, Association of Nonprofits. He is an Hartford, Conn. He previously number of transactions. Carson Jeffrey, on March 1, 2010, active member of the community held a leadership role in the in Dallas. and lives with his wife, Monika, in bank’s expansion into Boston in Francis Culkin ’93 (BUS) is vice West Hartford, Conn. December of 2009. president of client services at John Curley ’94 (CLAS), an equity Razorsight Corporation in Fairfax, sales trader at JP Morgan, and his Christopher Ayers ’96 M.B.A. is John Sponauer ’92 (CLAS) is Va. He was previously employed wife, Mary, announce the birth of chief operating officer at Alcoa Inc., assistant director for eMarketing in key client delivery positions at their second son, Brendan, who in Independence, Ohio. He previ- at the UConn Foundation in Storrs, Ventraq and Martin Dawes. joins an older brother, John, 2. The ously was president of forgings and family resides in Greenwich, Conn. special metals division at Precision Castparts Corp. Matt Proulx ’94 (CLAS) and Chrissy (Sherriff) Proulx ’95 Jennifer Rizzotti ’96 (CLAS), (NUR) announce the birth of their head coach of the women’s third child, Molly Romayne, on Sept. basketball team at the University 2, 2009. She joins older siblings, of Hartford, was named coach of Emily Rose, 9, and Matthew Rene, 7. USA Basketball’s Under-18 women’s The family lives in Fairfield, Conn. national team, which competed in the FIBA Americas Championships Jonathan at the U.S. Olympic Training Center Rapoport ’94 in Colorado Springs, Colo., in (BUS) is founder June. She previously served as an and chief executive assistant coach in 2006 for the USA officer of Great U18 national team, which won a Work Perks, LLC, a gold medal. company in Santa Monica, Calif., that provides free Jeffrey A. Schumann ’96 6th Year, employee discount programs. ’05 Ph.D., assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Kerryann West Hartford, Conn., received the Tomlinson ’94 Outstanding School Administrator M.S.W. is vice Award from the Neag School of president, com- Education Alumni Society in May. Hosting the President and First munity relations Lady in Pittsburgh for Madison Square Chantelle Shimono-Legault ’96 Garden Sports (NUR) received a master’s in nurs- Richard V. Piacentini ’84 M.S., executive director of the Phipps Teams, where she oversees com- ing from Southern Connecticut Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, presents President munity relations efforts for the New State University in 2009. She is an Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama with a bowl created by glass artist Hans Godo Frabel during the 2009 G-20 Summit. The Phipps York Knicks, Rangers and Liberty. advanced practice registered nurse Conservatory was the host site for a working dinner of world leaders and a board certified family nurse attending the global economic summit. John W. Castellani ’95 Ph.D., a practioner at the Yale University researcher for the Thermal and Department of Anesthesiology.

44 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu website about sports and food, and 30tomidnight.com, an entertain- 2010 ALUMNI & FACULTY AWARD RECOGNITION ment guide for those over 30. F r i d a y , O c t . 1 , 6 p.m. r O me Hall Ballr oo m , S t o r r s C a m p u s Carolyn Ray ’98 M.D. is a specialist in hematology and oncology at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Humanitarian Alumni Award Faculty Excellence in Research Center in Hartford, Conn. T. Scott Case ’92 (ENG) (Humanities/Social Sciences) Chairman, Network for Good/ Laura Crow Hugh Bailey ‘99 (CLAS) and Carrie Direct Help Department of Dramatic Arts MacMillan ‘99 (CLAS) announce Vice Chairman, CEO School of Fine Arts the birth of a boy, Colin Lenihan of Malaria No More Bailey, on March 14, 2010. The fam- ily lives in Oxford, Conn. Alumni Association Faculty Excellence in Research Service Award (Sciences) Rodney Butler ’99 (BUS) Richard Carbray ’75 (PHR) Yaakov Bar-Shalom Ph.D. was named chairman of the Owner, Apex Pharmacy Department of Electrical & Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Former Alumni Association Computer Engineering Council. He previously was trea- Board President School of Engineering surer for the tribe when he was initially elected in 2004. Honorary Alumni Award Faculty Excellence in Teaching Randy Edsall at the Undergraduate Level John Grasso ’99 (BUS), ’06 M.B.A. UConn Football Coach David Mills Ph.D. and Erin (Montemerlo) Grasso ’01 Department of Music (CLAS) announce the birth of a son, School of Fine Arts Luke Gregory, on Jan. 26, 2010, at Hartford Hospital. He joins an older brother, Jack. University Service Award Faculty Excellence in Teaching William Morlock ’57 (BUS) at the Graduate Level Jeffrey Simon ’99 (BUS) is a Former UCAA Board Member Bandana Purkayastha ’99 Ph.D. real estate agent with Prudential School of Business Society Department of Sociology Connecticut Realty in West Chairman of Board of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Hartford, Conn. Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and of the Jaime (Wiener) Smolin ’99 Connecticut Archaeology Center Nominate outstanding alumni or faculty members for (ED), ’00 M.A. and Craig Smolin announce the birth of a son, Distinguished Alumni Award the 2011 Alumni and Faculty Awards! Benjamin Jacob, on Aug. 25, 2009, David Stockton ’76 (CLAS) at Bridgeport Hospital. The family Director, Division of Research For more information, visit uconnalumni.com/awards. lives in Norwalk, Conn. and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Matthew Udal ’99 (BUS) and Reserve System Betsy Udal announce the birth of a daughter, Victoria Elizabeth, on Dec. 14, 2009, at Hartford Hospital. Michael Synott ’96 (CLAS), ’98 Carter John, on Aug. 1, 2009. He American College Theater Festival, M.B.A. is chief financial officer at joins an older sister, Hannah, 4. The which allows her to present her work Carrier Corporation in Cairo, Egypt. family resides in Farmington, Conn. at a conference in Leibnitz, Austria. 2000s He previously was finance director She was featured in the March 2010 with the company. Huasong Shen ’97 M.B.A. is vice issue of American Theater Magazine. Jeffrey King ’00 (CLAS) and Carrie president of finance at Sino Green (Buggie) King ’02 (ED), ’03 M.A., James Altemus ’97 (BUS) is Land Corporation in China. He was Monica (Fortier) Edwards ’98 ’08 6th Year announce the birth of manager of marketing and creative previously managing partner at (ED), ’99 M.A. and Dan Edwards a daughter, Megan Jean, on Nov. at Skip Barber Racing School in Great Wall Research. ’99 (BUS) announce the adop- 17, 2009, at Saint Francis Hospital Lakeville, Conn. He previously was tion of a daughter, Madeleine in Hartford, Conn. Megan joins a marketing coordinator for the Robin Carr ’98 M.F.A., associate Genevieve, born Jan. 22, 2009, and brother, Josh. The family lives in company. He and his wife, Aimee professor of voice and acting at the brought home on Jan. 27, 2009. Portland, Conn. (Conlan) Altemus ’97 (CLAS), also University of Southern Mississippi, announce the birth of a daughter, won a Regional Teaching Artist Karen (D’Angelo) Hopp ’98 (CLAS) Gregory Kivenzor Emma Katherine, on Feb. 15, 2010, Award in performance studies from and her husband, Eric, announce ’00 M.B.A. is as- at the UConn Health Center. the Kennedy Center American the birth of their first child, William sociate professor College Theater Festival and a John, on Dec. 2, 2009. of business admin- Julie (Machol) Hughes ’97 (CLAS) Mississippi State Alliance for Arts istration at Rivier and her husband, Jason Hughes, Education Award. She received a Sara Pepitone ’98 (CLAS) runs College in Nashua, announce the birth of their son, grant from the Kennedy Center ScoreboardGourmet.com, a N.H., where he

SUMMER 2010 45 ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES teaches strategic management and announce the birth of a daughter, marketing. Previously, he was an Evelyn Clara, on April 11, 2010. The associate professor at Oregon State family lives in Springfield, Va. University. He earned his Ph.D. in quantitative sciences at the State Belachew Tessema ’03 M.D. is a University of Geodesy and Aerial specialist in otolaryngology at Saint Imaging in Moscow. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Conn. He is a Diplomate Jacob B. Sellers of the American Academy of ’00 (CLAS) is Otolaryngology and Head and an associate in Neck Surgery. the Creditors’ Remedies & Kevin Clarke ’04 M.D. is a pedi- Bankruptcy Law atric HIV clinical advisor with the group at the South-to-South Partnership for law firm Winthrop & Weinstine in Comprehensive Family HIV Care Minneapolis, where he provides at the University of Stellenbosch counsel to creditors and trustees in in Cape Town, South Africa. He matters related to Chapter 11 and previously was a physician for Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases. the Pediatric AIDS Corps with the Baylor International Aids Initiative. John Silver ’00 (CLAS) and Shannon Silver announce the birth Brohinsky honored by UConn Club Alison (Warren) Considine of a son, John F., on Oct. 10, 2009, in ’04 M.D. is a specialist in an- Scott Brohinksy ’76 J.D., retired director of University Relations at New Britain, Conn. He joins an older UConn, received the Dr. A.J. Pappanikou Outstanding Contribution esthesiology at Saint Francis sister, Julia, 3. Award in April from the UConn Club, presented annually to individuals Hospital and Medical Center in who have made a significant contribution to the Division of Athletics. Hartford, Conn. She is a member Luke Baumstarck ’01 (CLAS) has He shared the 2010 award with Lorraine Aronson, retired vice president of the Society for Education in and chief financial officer at UConn. Both were actively involved with joined the law firm Williams Venker UCONN 2000 and the support for construction of Rentschler Field, Anesthesia, the American Society & Sanders LLC in St. Louis, Mo., as an the financing of The Burton Family Football Complex and the Mark R. for Anesthesiologists and the honor associate. A former assistant circuit Shenkman Training Center and renovations to Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. society Phi Beta Kappa. attorney for the city of St. Louis, he From left: Rob Crovo ’74 (ED), president of The UConn Club; Aronson; Brohinsky; and Jeffrey Hathaway, director of athletics at UConn. has extensive litigation experience Katherine and will concentrate on personal in- (Stafford) Mason jury, products liability and premises ’04 (CANR), liability while also working within Choice at SAND Elementary School Tyler Joseph, on March 5, 2010. ’04 (PHR), ’06 the firm’s health care law and toxic in Hartford, Conn., received the Pharm.D., pharma- torts practice groups. Promising Young Professional Daniel Brooks ’03 (BGS) was cy manager at CVS Award from the Neag School of elected a town meeting member in Londonderry, Daniel Gottfried Education Alumni Society in May. for the 2010-2011 legislative season N.H., married Dan Mason, a legisla- ’01 (CLAS), ’04 in Greenwich, Conn. tive policy assistant for the New J.D. is a partner at Sopheap Theam ’01 (BUS) is Hampshire House Majority Office, the law firm Rogin a principal committee team Adrienne Cerulo ’03 (BUS), on Oct. 3, 2009, in Derry, N.H. The Nassau in Hartford, member of the “More Than A ’04 M.S., ’06 M.B.A. has joined couple lives in Manchester, N.H. Conn., where he fo- Number” project associated with Longroad Capital Partners as cuses on domestic Light of Cambodian Children, controller in Stamford, Conn. Kelsey J. McCoy ’04 (CLAS) and international tax planning and an organization that collects She previously was corporate received her master’s in pub- business transactions. information and photographs of accountant at Weston Capital lic administration from The individuals to raise awareness. Her Management. George Washington University in Brenda (Velez) Krulik ’01 own family’s survival story is on Washington, D.C., on May 16, 2010. (CLAS) serves as director of display at the exhibit. Mike Jaffe ’03 (CLAS), ’04 M.S. and communications for the National Jen Jaffe announce the birth of a Daniela Action Council for Minorities in Rebecca Andrews ’02 M.D. is a pri- son, Mark David, on March 15, 2010, Nussbaumer Engineering in White Plains, N.Y. mary care physician at the UConn at Hartford Hospital. ’04 (BUS) She previously was a publicist Health Center in Farmington, Conn. married Monte and communications manager Lara Reglero ’03 M.A., ’04 Ph.D. Nussbaumer on at Newsweek. Jared Cohane ’02 J.D. is a partner is associate professor of linguis- Nov. 3, 2009, at St. in the construction and public con- tics at Florida State University in Cecilia’s Church in Seth Kurpiel ’01 (CLAS) and tracts law group at Hinckley, Allen & Tallahassee, Fla. Beaverton, Ore., where they reside. Morgan Kurpiel announce the birth Snyder LLP in Hartford, Conn. of a son, Riley Edison, on March 1, Lisa (Schwartz) Stover ’03 Jesse T. Grano ’05 (BUS) returned 2010, in New York, N.Y. Kristin (Volpe) Lentini ’02 (ED), (BUS), controller for the National home from a four-month, two- ’03 M.A. and Bryan Lentini ’01 Cathedral in Washington, D.C., day deployment aboard the U.S.S. Desi D. Nesmith ’01 (ED), ’02 M.A., (PHR), ’03 Pharm.D. announce the and Myles Stover ’04 (CLAS), an Samuel B. Roberts on March 15, 2010. ’09 6th Year, principal of America’s birth of their second child, a son, analyst for the federal government,

46 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Rupendra Paliwal Joshua Schreier ’07 (CLAS), ’08 Morris George ’08 Ph.D., a ’05 Ph.D. is as- (CLAS), an academics assistant marketing professor in the In Memoriam sociate dean for at the University of Connecticut Hankamer School of Business at academic affairs in in Storrs, Conn., has been named Baylor University, won the 2010 ALUMNI the John F. Welch a Carl Wilkens Fellow by the Davidson Award for his 2008 article, Zachary Fortunato ’49 College of Business Genocide Intervention Network “Cross-Buying in Retailing: Drivers Jeffrey Norland Shinn ’51, ’53 at Sacred Heart for his commitment to fight and Consequences” in the Journal Thomas Kaczynski ’52 University in Fairfield, Conn. genocide. He is the media relations of Retailing. Cleora B. Thompson ’53 representative at the Connecticut Robert Lepper Jr. ’54 Jason Wesalo ’05 (CLAS) gradu- Coalition to Save Darfur and Heather Capalbo Lawrence F. Montgomery ’57 ated from the Stillman School of a member of the Genocide ’09 M.S., a David B. Uman ’57 Business at Seton Hall University, Intervention Network. senior accoun- Theodore Thomas Tylaska Jr. ’68 earning an M.B.A. with a concentra- tant at Marien + William R. Radomski ’70 tion in marketing. He is currently a Saurav G. Chatterjee ’08 (CLAS) Company, LLC, an Thomas F. Dicorleto ’71, ’72, ’74 producer for ABC News Radio. graduated from the U.S. Coast accounting firm in Lisa (Neubauer) Deshais ’01 Guard Recruit Training Center in Norwich, Conn., is FACULTY Christina M. Cotter ’06 (CLAS), Cape May, N.J. a certified public accountant. Evan Hill an associate at the law firm Phillips Frank W. Ballard Lytle LLP in Buffalo, N.Y., was admit- Tom Dillon ’08 (CLAS), an Erik Christensen ’09 M.S. is a certi- ted to the New York State Bar. associate engineer for Yardney fied public accountant. STUDENTS Technical Products in Pawcatuck, Sagar Faldu Sarah Morrison ’06 (CLAS) mar- Conn., married Laura (Sharpe) Merim Djumalieva ’09 M.B.A. For an updated list go to ried Brian Phair ’07 (CLAS) on Dillon ’08 (CLAS), who works for has joined Covidien Surgical in uconnalumni.com/inmemoriam March 23, 2010, in Massachusetts. MetLife Auto and Home in Business Landover, Md., as a global market- They reside in Somerville, Mass. Planning and Administration in ing analyst of soft tissue implants. Warwick, R.I., on July 19, 2008, in Tyler Jenkins ’07 (CLAS) is inside Providence, R.I. Ciaran Heavey ’09 Ph.D., a Tricia Hyacinth ’09 M.B.A. is a sales representative for EMC lecturer at Smurfit Graduate community engagement team Corporation in Franklin, Mass. Brett Eagleson ’08 (BUS) is a Business School at the University project manager at Hands On commercial real estate broker at College Dublin, defended Hartford, a private, non-profit Michael Ruwet ’07 (BUS), ’08 M.S. O, R & L Commercial in Branford, his dissertation, “A Dynamic social services agency, located in is an auditor with Deloitte & Touche Conn. He was previously the Managerial Capabilities Model of Hartford, Conn. in Hartford, Conn. He is a certified assistant controller in the Organizational Ambidexterity.” public accountant and resides in company’s finance department. Torrington, Conn.

HOME COMING Come Home, Huskies! UCONN HOMECOMING 2010

Celebrate your blue & white pride at these annual events. For more details, visit uconnalumni.com/homecoming

Sunday, September 26 Friday, October 1 Homecoming Parade and Carnival UConn Alumni Association Alumni Storrs Campus & Faculty Awards Celebration Storrs Campus Wednesday, September 29 Royalty Pageant Saturday, October 2 Storrs Campus UConn Alumni Association Spirit Village Rentschler Field, East Hartford Thursday, September 30 Connecting Alumni. Annual Student Lip Sync Homecoming Football Game Supporting Students. Gampel Pavilion UConn vs. Vanderbilt Rentschler Field, East Hartford Strengthening UConn.

SUMMER 2010 47 The LAST WORD

Summers on campus back in the day

By Frank Litsky ’46 (CLAS)

f you could view summertime on the campus one day and in the Army the next. had five days of classes, each class for 75 I Storrs campus in the 1940s, you might In the summer of 1943, there were 100 minutes, which worked out to the same think you were on a movie set that was just male freshmen in ROTC. By the summer number of hours in spring or fall classes. starting to be built. of 1944, only two of us, both physical re- There were fewer classes available because Unlike now, where the rolling hills be- jects by the military’s standards, were left. the war resulted in fewer professors and a neath the blue sky are sometimes invisible My first summer residence was smaller student population. beneath department buildings, classroom Holcomb Hall, until then a women’s dormi- That downsizing affected curriculums enclaves, dormitories and apartment com- tory, and it sort of remained that way. Girls in the spring and fall, too. In my major, plexes, everywhere was grass – very green were on the first floor, boys on the second government (now known as political grass. Where newer buildings exist now, and third. The doors between the first and science), only two professors remained. I there was green space. It was beautiful. second floors were locked, and there was no don’t recall any government courses being I crowded my college education into intermingling … well, not too much. available in the summers. three years by attending nine semesters, My other summers were spent at Wood But there were glorious positives. One including three summers. That meant Hall. We ate at a nearby dining hall where summer, I took fascinating courses in ad- starting at UConn a week before high there was one main course each night – take vertising and criminology. The advertising school graduation and never having more it or leave it. At least the price was right. One professor was the youthful Sam McMillan, than a week or two off. summer, for two six-week mini-semesters, a demon in intramural softball as well as Because World War II was on, enroll- UConn hit me for $100 for room, $100 for in teaching. On summer afternoons, we ment was down to 2,000 or so in the board and nothing for tuition. would abandon the classroom and sit on spring and fall and 400 or so in the sum- In each six-week Summer Session, I the grass listening to a man who obviously mers. And many of those students were on took the normal load of two courses. Each loved his work. It was a nice way to spend the summer. Students enjoying With such a small a picnic lunch during Summer campus population, Session classes extracurricular life in 1942 near the center of the was limited. There Storrs campus. were few cars, and gas was rationed. One weekly feature with friends was dinner in Willimantic, now part of the town of Windham. Weekends often involved a trip home to Waterbury. The mode of trans- portation was hitchhiking, an honorable alternative then. I started at UConn at 16 and gradu- ated at 19. Maybe that was too much too quickly, but those Storrs summers made it all worthwhile.

Frank Litsky was a New York Times sportswriter for more than 50 years. He retired in 2008.

48 UCONN MAGAZINE today.uconn.edu Final_Nathan_Hale_UConn_Alumni_Magazine copy.pdf 6/9/2010 8:25:05 AM Nonprofit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID 34 North Eagleville Road Hartford, CT Storrs, CT 06269-3144 Permit No. 4759

Mastracchio’s mission stronaut Richard Mastracchio ‘82 (ENG) made repairs to the International Space A Station in April, below, after arriving on the shuttle Discovery. He carried two UConn-themed pennants with him into space, one designed by engineering students and another honoring slain football player Jasper Howard. He visited Storrs in early June to discuss his career as an astronaut with students and faculty, left.

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