HER HERO DOCTOR // FROM RUSSIA TO STORRS // PENDERS’ PLAYBOOK

MAGAZINE UCONNSUMMER 2017

The Next Generation of Farming Young, sustainability-minded, tech-savvy college grads are finding “it” jobs in agriculture

SUMMER 2017 SNAP!

The Clothes Make the Ogre

At the Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), UConn’s dramatic arts students get the chance to act alongside professionals. During costume tests for CRT’s “Shrek the Musical,” which ran in April, Broadway’s Will Mann is fitted for his Shrek ears with Donkey aka Scott Redmond ’17 (SFA). This season CRT welcomes three-time Tony Award–winning actor Terrence Mann as the new artistic director of the Nutmeg Summer Series. Find out more at crt.uconn.edu. —Matthew Pugliese ’04 (SFA), photo by Sean Flynn.

UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 SNAP!

Color the World

Students celebrated the Hindu spring festival of Holi on Saturday, April 8. Holi, also known as the festival of colors or the festival of love, is celebrated in India and Nepal. It signifies the victory of good over evil, the end of winter, and the arrival of spring. “Every year, my temple at home hosts a Holi event, and I loved celebrating that with my family. Now I celebrate it with my UConn family,” says Rishita Jani ’17 (BUS), pictured here. Photo by Ryan Glista ’16 (CLAS).

UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 CONTENTS | SUMMER 2017 VOL. 18 NO. 2 SUMMER 2017 | CONTENTS

FROM THE EDITOR:

Confession: I enjoy watching many sports and playing far fewer, but I must admit to WEB some unattractive internal smirking whenever members of my cheering section start EXCLUSIVES high-fiving and chest-bumping and yelling, “We did it!” Maybe it’s the literal nature of magazine.uconn.edu an editor, but I can’t help but think, “What’s with the we? You didn’t make that tackle or drain that three or block that puck.” ARE TATTOOS TOXIC? Yet I fell totally and madly into the spell of we with this year’s women’s hoops team. Check into our video for I watched every second of play in previous years and cheered wholeheartedly for the a front-row seat in the teams. But this particular group stole my heart in a more thorough fashion. “Coveted Class” during Saniya’s quiet ferocity and seeming reticent delight at finally being a deserving which Pharmacy Professor center of attention. Gabby’s pogo sticking, yes, but also her pleasure in the vinyl records David Grant reveals just how experience. Katie Lou’s contagious joy and the toughness behind the giggles (what’s her harmful the toxic metals in puke-bucket-to-triples-bucket ratio?). Butler on the glass,the wisdom of Kia Nurse, tattoo ink are when injected the tenacity of Dangerfield, the sheer beauty of Pheesa’s offense and Geno’s purported into a human body. shock and awe at her accomplished defense. I thrilled with the crowd at every off-bench s.uconn.edu/tattoos minute from Lawlor, Bent, and Irwin. Still, I could have weathered all that individual wonder and not succumbed to the COACH PENDERS we. It was this team’s togetherness that got me. I felt inexplicably honored to be tied CONFIDENTIAL however peripherally to this soulful group’s generosity toward, and obvious joy in, one 18 28 34 38 Take a 360-degree interac- another. tive, annotated look inside They wouldn’t buy into the “rebuilding year” noise they heard early on and insisted the popular baseball coach’s on winning, time and time again. Until they didn’t — and the problem with falling for FEATURES SECTIONS Gampel office. the we meant feeling a tiny modicum of their pain. Peripheral pride kicked in again s.uconn.edu/penders watching them be as united and gracious following that defeat — one that should define 18 COACH PENDERS ’94 (CLAS) ’98 MA 1 them far less than their previous 36 wins. Congrats, women, on getting the program to Baseball is in the blood of Huskies’ longtime coach — not UCONN NOW THE UNSINKABLE that record-breaking 111. just figuratively but also, one may argue, literally. Leaping over buildings (aka MOLLY QERIM I can’t wait till we start playing next year! I mean, until they start playing. By Kenneth Best the sport known as parkour); A Q&A with Molly Qerim building a better South Street ’06 (CLAS), who holds her SCIENCE TO STARTUP 24 Seaport; challenging the own with passion and A Connecticut startup company’s journey in the land economy of charter schools; aplomb, amid some super- of innovation. By Colin Poitras ’85 (CLAS) the toxicity of tattoos; why opinionated fellow hosts on Lisa Stiepock black bears prefer the sub- ESPN’s “First Take.” [email protected] FREE TO BE IMPERFECT 28 urbs; mac & cheese please; s.uconn.edu/qerim A beloved doctor’s patients convince him to move to and more. UConn Health — where he plans to cure a rare liver DAIRY BAR TESTS disease. By Julie (Stagis) Bartucca ’10 (BUS, CLAS) 44 ITS CHIPS How do you decide which ELLEN LITMAN 34 UCONN NATION chocolate chip is the best? “In Russia, you simply couldn’t be a writer if you were Alums give back together Taste tests with students of Jewish,” says associate professor and acclaimed novelist across the country; hosting course. See how it’s done. Ellen Litman of her childhood. By Katharine Whittemore ESPN’s “First Take”; design- s.uconn.edu/chips ing and caring for America’s 38 THE NEXT GENERATION OF FARMING gardens (the Smithsonian); More and more young, sustainability-minded, tech-savvy training Iraqi troops. Plus college graduates are finding ‘it’ careers in agriculture. Class Notes, Tom’s Trivia, Cover photo illustration by: Peter By Sheila Foran ’83 (BGS), ’96 Ph.D. and more. Morenus and Christa Tubach

The University of Connecticut complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding non-discrimination, equal opportunity and affirmative action and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, sex, age or other legally protected characteristics in all programs Vice President for Communications Tysen Kendig Assistant Vice President for Brand Strategy Patricia Fazio ’90 (CLAS), ’92 MA Director of Strategic Marketing and activities and supports all state and federal laws that promote equal opportunity and prohibit discrimination, Communications John Morawiec Editor Lisa Stiepock Art Director Christa Tubach Photographer Peter Morenus Production Coordinator Steve Criss Student including the provision of reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. To request an accommodation Worker Emma Casagrande ’18 (CLAS) Contributing Writers Julie (Stagis) Bartucca ’10 (BUS, CLAS), Kenneth Best, Tom Breen ’00 (CLAS), Kristen Cole, Josh Garvey, or for questions related to the University’s non-discrimi-

nation policies, please contact: Title IX Coordinator, Office Bob Stowell Nicole Haiber ’17 (CLAS), Claire Hall, Kim Krieger, Grace Merritt, Elizabeth Omara-Otunno, Colin Poitras ’85 (CLAS), Jesse Rifkin ’14 (CLAS), Susan Twiss, Jeff of Institutional Equity; 241 Glenbrook Rd., Unit 4175; Contributing Designer Contributing Photographers Storrs, CT 06269; Phone: (860) 486-2943; equity@uconn. Wagenheim, Loretta Waldman, Katharine Whittemore John Bailey ’84 (SFA) Sean Flynn, Ryan Glista ’16 (CLAS) edu (non-discrimination policies); ADA Case Manager, From left: Katie Lou Samuelson ’19 (CLAS), Napheesa Collier ’19 (CLAS), Gabby Williams Copy Editors Sheila Foran ’83 (BGS), ’96 Ph.D.; Gregory Lauzon Web Designers Christine Ballestrini ’03 (SFA); Yesenia Carrero. Department of Human Resources; 9 Walters Ave., Unit 5075; Storrs, CT 06269; Phone: (860) 486-3034; [email protected] ’18 (CLAS), Kia Nurse ’18 (CLAS), and Saniya Chong ’17 (CLAS) cheer on teammates (not (accommodation requests). UConn Magazine is produced three times a year (Spring, Summer, and Fall) by University Communications, University of Connecticut. Email: uconnmagazine@ pictured) Molly Bent ’20 (ACES), Natalie Butler, Crystal Dangerfield ’20 (ACES), Kyla Irwin uconn.edu. Letters to the editor and other comments are welcome. Send address changes to The University of Connecticut Foundation, Records Department, Unit ’20 (CLAS), and Tierney Lawlor ’17 (CAHNR) during their Elite Eight defeat of Oregon. 3206, 2390 Alumni Drive, Storrs, CT 06269.

4 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 5 UCONN NOW

LETTERS

Michael Lynch’s cover story struck a nerve with many Tom’s Trivia of you. Most pledged to use this as a wake-up call to listen I love trivia. What a great way to learn to the opinions of others. A few, however, championed about the important history and tradi- divisiveness as necessary to discourse. A sampling is tions of UConn in a fun way! Keep up the below, along with feedback on other stories from our good work on the magazine. I actually Spring issue. read much of the magazine — I am an alum of UMass and also receive its mag- Have something to tell us? We’d love to hear it! azine, which I promptly toss due to lack Email the editor at [email protected] or post of interest. something on our website at magazine.uconn.edu. David Adams, ’71 Ph.D. Hadley, Massachusetts, via our website Saving Civility What a great subject! I’m a Democrat and guilty of the intellectual snobbery to which Show Him the Money you refer in your article. I think by my liberal posts on social media I’ve made a lot of Go Greg! Great article. I was a season Facebook friends; however, we all think we are right 100% of the time! I hope to get ticket holder, and I enjoyed Greg’s hustle updates on the project! and overall play. Susan Williams ’77 MD John E. McGinn, ’69 (CLAS) Danielson, Connecticut, via our website Sandwich, Massachusetts, via our website This research is very important. Reading your essay urges me to be more receptive and

tolerant to the viewpoints of others. I’m a very liberal person, but I realize that I’m too All Dressed Up Morenus Peter quick to contradict and search for a reason to refute the other person. You’ve provided It’s been many years, but I wonder if me with much to think about and process. Meantime, I’m listening and keeping my hidden somewhere in the deepest REMEMBER THIS? mouth shut. Thanks. recesses of your storage warehouse Virginia Arlene Cheatham ’78 (CLAS), ’80 MPA there might be lurking a lizard costume. CAPS AND GOWNS NOW IN UCONN BLUE (ALMOST) It would be from the summer of 1978. Clemson, South Carolina, via our website The traditional black robes in use since the University started using caps and gowns, in 1907, have been replaced with robes of navy The production was Edward Albee’s blue. The gowns also have a “green” aspect to them, as they are made from recycled water bottles — about 23 bottles per gown. They “Seascape.” Two such costumes were Listening takes time and patience. Time is something we have too little of these days are lighter weight and wrinkle-resistant, but ironing, for obvious reasons, is not recommended. After graduation, the gowns can be created, one for me and the other for in our fast-paced, instant-gratification society. So it is much easier to just impose our recycled — a good thing considering that UConn conferred more than 9,000 degrees in 2017, the most in its 136-year history. own ideas with a like-it-or-leave-it attitude and move on. Time saved! Nothing accom- Marta Urrutia. Continue the great work. plished. I applaud you for addressing this important issue of intellectual humility. Our Luke Lynch ’79 (SFA) society needs your work to bring us back together again. Only by working together will Milford, Connecticut, via our website our society as a whole survive. Thanks. Winifred Schroeder ’65 (NUR) Costume Shop Supervisor Susan Tolis Bradenton, Florida, via our website replies: I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that we have any lizard costumes in stock. New Research Proves that Some Kids “Grow Out” Lots of times these things get transformed of Their Autism Symptoms into something else for a new production. The treatments that are being described and the effects on brain pathways and activation areas demonstrate the effects of “mediated learning experiences” that are at the core of learning social skills. Adults and older children are intentional sources of modeling, and directed mediation can help autistic children (and others with various forms of brain damage) develop new pathways of learning when traditional, haphazard methods are ineffective. This study shows the new pathways that are developed, which is very encouraging evidence of real changes in the brain. Robert Kirschenbaum ’72 (CLAS),’78 MA,’82 Ph.D. Tacoma, Washington, via our website

The Voice of Women’s Ice Hockey Nice to see women’s ice hockey getting the attention it deserves! Kailey may have let a bit of sexism slip with the comment that hockey is “such a masculine sport.” I was BLISS a member of the team from 1977–1979 with my very lovely and feminine friend Ann Wassel Hughes ’78. And I was a home ec education major. Daniel Bronko ’15 (ED) recruited Jonathan XIV to help with his marriage proposal to Holly Korona ’13 (ED) ’14 MA. He asked Jona- “Hey, I know that lady!” Baby-Q reading up Linda LaFrance Garvey ’79 (ED) on his mama in #uconnmagazine  Caitlin than’s handlers to “happen by” as the pair walked near Mirror Lake while (ostensibly) on campus to visit Bronko’s brother Jordan ’18 Groton, Massachusetts Oswald ’09 (ENG) @caitlin oswald (CAHNR). When Korona kneeled to pet Jonathan she found a ring box attached to the husky’s collar. How could she say no?

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Lawn, New Jersey, native’s Schwartz. “I’d be a leader, and Play ball The district will include Schwartz at the Seaport District site (below) and CHECKING IN WITH... journey began at UConn. On a few hours later I’d be sitting a rendering (above) of what the finished project Schwartz swapped sports, some 300,000 square feet of might look like during NYC Fashion Week. Find more a campus tour “I was stand- side by side with some of the landing a job at Major League retail and restaurant space, renderings and photos of the developing site at ing in the co-op looking at players as peers.” Baseball, helping with the including a new eatery from South Street Seaport at s.uconn.edu/seaport. ANDREW SCHWARTZ all that navy blue and said to World Series, All-Star Game, celebrity chef Jean-Georges my mom, ‘You know, I think I Ice time and Hall of Fame events Vongerichten and a rooftop IS REVAMPING NYC’S could be in navy blue for the After graduation, Schwartz before switching to corporate performance venue. next four years,’” Schwartz landed a position with the sales and multimillion-dollar Schwartz and his high recalls. “The school spirit had events and entertainment sponsors. school sweetheart Jennifer SEAPORT DISTRICT captured me even before I division of the NHL, then the Along the way he coached have been married for 10 had been to a game at Gampel New Jersey Devils. the New York Sled Rangers, years and have two young Not long after getting com- to UConn? So did I. Can you Pavilion, even before our “It was one of the best part of a sled hockey program children. munications and marketing come in today?’ I put on my team had gone to Division 1-A hires I ever made. One of for the physically disabled. “I’ve been extraordinarily degrees at UConn, Andrew dad’s suit and went in that football.” the prerequisites was the fortunate,” he says. “I’ve been Schwartz ’00 (BUS, CLAS) afternoon. He hired me on By senior year, he was ability to skate, as there were If you build it . . . to 9 World Series, 12 All-Star cold-called Glenn Adamo, the spot.” head coach of the women’s occasions when this position Since August 2015, Schwartz Games, NBA finals, Stanley who had listed an open posi- Schwartz has worked for ice hockey club team as it would also act as the mascot,” has been senior vice presi- Cup finals, met Hall of Fam- tion in the office of the New several of the coolest orga- transitioned to Division 1-A says his boss at the time, dent for strategic partner- ers, met President George Jersey Devils NHL hockey nizations in entertainment, for the next season. He was the aforementioned Adamo ship at the Howard Hughes [H.W.] Bush in Houston in team. sports, and business: the handling all the purchasing, ’78 (ED), now president of Corporation, a national real 2004 at the MLB All-Star “He said, ‘Well, I’m very NHL, Major League Baseball, scheduling, traveling, and Ivanhoe Media & Entertain- estate development company Game.” busy, Andrew. Can you tell SiriusXM, the Brooklyn Nets, liaising with Pat Babcock, ment. with properties in 16 states. Asked if his New York City me a little about yourself the 19,000-seat Barclays the then-associate director “Well, Andrew fit the po- It is currently leading the real estate experience might over the phone?’” Schwartz Center, and his current posi- of athletics for the transition sition and more. He brought revitalization of the Seaport prepare him for a potential remembers. “I said, ‘Sure. As tion as senior vice president from club team to 1-A while an incredible work ethic, ma- District, aka South Street presidential run, Schwartz re- you know, I just worked at of Strategic Partnerships at also getting credits for his turity, sense of branding, and Seaport, the oldest neighbor- plies, “I’m bald, so I don’t have the NHL. Before that, I was the Howard Hughes Corpo- bachelor’s degree. “Two days sponsorship that really made hood in New York City, home anything to worry about from at the University of Con- ration, a real estate develop- a week we had practice at the staff respect and look to of the original Fulton Fish a comb-over perspective.” necticut.’ He said, ‘You went ment company. But the Fair the rink at 5:30 a.m.,” says him for his creative ideas.” Market and Pier 17. —JESSE RIFKIN ’14 (CLAS)

8 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU Hughes Corporation Howard The by provided Nelson (left); rendering Anthony SUMMER 2017 9 UCONN NOW

UCONN TALKS On the lack of physiological proof that men’s flu On predicting symptoms are worse than women’s: the future using cliodynamics: On pot & peppers: “MAYBE MEN JUST GET WHINIER.” My model “A common link indicated“ that between chili Laura Haynes, immunologist, in STAT, March 2, 2017 social instability peppers and and political marijuana has On cellphone addiction: On the fact that violence would implications “People are Puerto Ricans are peak in the for how we carrying around a U.S. citizens: 2020s.” treat diabetes portable dopamine “IN A RECENT and colitis, as pump, and kids Peter Turchin, professor of have basically been POLL, 41 ecology and mathematics, well as other carrying it around PERCENT OF Daily Mail, Jan. 5, 2017 conditions in for the last 10 RESPONDENTS years.” SAID THEY DID the digestive On checking tract.” NOT BELIEVE heartrate data from David Greenfield, THAT PUERTO an exercise monitor: Huffington Post on a assistant clinical study by Immunology professor of psychiatry, RICANS WERE “She may Professor Pramod in The New York Times, U.S. CITIZENS, have died if Srivastava, April 26, 2017 March 20, 2017 AND 15 she hadn’t TRADITIONS PERCENT WERE IN DEVELOPMENT checked her WE ALL SCREAM! On more E.R. visits tied to energy drinks: NOT SURE.” “. . . energy drinks are highly marketed to adoles- Fitbit.” This photo of students A UCONN ENGINEER IS HELPING NASA Charles R. Venator- processing ice cream at The cent boys in ways that encourage risky behavior, Dr. JuYong Lee, GET TO ALPHA CENTAURI — AND BEYOND Santiago, associate UConn John Creamery predates the open- ing of the Dairy Bar in 1955, Exploring beyond our solar system requires traveling enormous distances. The nearest star system including rapid and excessive consumption.” professor of political Dempsey Hospital, says Sara Putnam, director of to ours — Alpha Centauri — is 4.37 light years away, or 25 trillion miles; and distant star systems Dr. Jennifer L. Harris, UConn’s Rudd Center for Food Policy science, in Time, on NBC’s “Today communications at the Col- will take hundreds or thousands of years to reach, even in the best of circumstances. So scientists and Obesity, in Reuters, April 26, 2017 March 5, 2017 Show,” April 6, 2017 lege of Agriculture, Health, who want to send unmanned probes to another star system must create some innovative technolo- and Natural Resources. gies that can outlive them. On creating fake news: On treating a broken heart: UConn has been processing UConn researcher in the School of Engineering Seok-Woo Lee, who recently received an milk in one way or another Early Career Faculty grant from NASA, is working on one such technology. In collaboration with Believe it or not, Broken Heart Syndrome is since the early 1900s. researchers at Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory and Colorado State University, he has “DENIAL ALWAYS STARTS WITH A a real phenomenon . . . it presents similarly Recently the Dairy Bar developed a shape memory material (called ThCr2Si2-type intermetallic compounds) that can CADRE OF PSEUDO-EXPERTS WITH released two limited flavors: help in deep space travel by changing shape at low temperatures. Shape memory materials can be to a heart attack . . . and often is precipitat- Avery Point Coastal Crunch, deformed, but return to their original shape when exposed to a specific temperature, usually at SOME CREDENTIALS THAT CREATE ed by an emotionally or physically stress- a blue-tinted vanilla with high heats. Lee’s material, a solution-grown crystal, works at colder temperatures. A FACADE OF CREDIBILITY.” chocolate chips and graham Once a vessel leaves our solar system, the temperature drops below 50 kelvins, which will cause ful life event, such as a loss of a loved one. cracker swirl in honor of the the shape memory material to deform and activate an actuator, which in turn will power down the campus’ fiftieth anniversary, vessel. With minimal gravity in deep space, the vessel will continue in a set direction for hundreds Dr. Sara Tabtabai, Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center Seth Kalichman, professor of psychology, in and the Senior Scoop: Berry of years, slowly making its way to its target while depowered. If the vessel arrives at a new solar New Scientist, March 23, 2017 at UConn Health, Health News Digest, Feb. 9, 2017 Happy Husky, black rasp- system, even the very distant heat at the edges of a star’s reach will activate the shape memory berry with dark chocolate material, which would return to its original shape. On vending machines programmed to promote healthy snacks: chunks and raspberry swirl. The shape change would push the actuator, which would power up the vessel and allow it to begin recording and transmitting data back to Earth — long after the scientists who launched the “There is a risk that people would get upset with the delay because people know it’s How does the Dairy Bar vessel are gone. —JOSH GARVEY just to influence their behavior.”Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center, on NPR, March 31, 2017 test chocolate chips? Watch at s.uconn.edu/dairy. For more, go to s.uconn.edu/space.

10 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU Archives of Connecticut University A. Manter, Jerauld SUMMER 2017 11 UCONN NOW

David Grant at Shamrock Tattoo Company in the second half of class. “I’ve told other the science and the media hype. “It turns relatively high concentrations of heavy West Hartford, Conn. One of his most popular faculty I do this,” he says, “and they look out there’s no nutritional difference lectures is on the toxic heavy metals in tattoo ink. metals that are known toxins. So he asks: at me, like, ‘Are you crazy?’” However, between organic foods and conventional Does that make tattoos dangerous? any fears that he’ll be flooded with texts foods,” he says. That there’s an unques- Once again, the answer doesn’t align Class Description: at all times have not come to be. For tioned fear of chemical additives among with what a student might have heard Toxic Chemicals and Health is a fresh- Grant, the texting option simply casts a health food shoppers, says Grant, points from his or her mother after casually man-level lecture course that addresses wider net for student questions. “Those to our culture’s shaky relationship with mentioning at family dinner an intention the risks to human health posed by who are hesitant to speak up in class, for science. “We look for evidence to support to get a tat. exposure to various chemicals. fear of looking stupid,” he says, “now get our beliefs, and we find it, because there’s “You’re getting such a small amount Most of his teaching is with up- their questions answered.” so much out there,” he says. “But we of toxic material,” says Grant, “it doesn’t per-class science majors, so Grant was don’t look beyond what we want to find.” matter, probably.” Probably? excited when the opportunity came to When and Where: This year, for the first time, Grant will “Well, it’s very hard to determine teach this introductory course for non- The course is taught each spring in address the use of animals in scientific cause and effect, with so many variables,” scientists. A good many of the universi- Storrs. research. “A lot of people think scien- says Grant. The concentration of toxins ty’s athletes enroll, and Grant finds they tists abuse animals,” he says. “So we’ll in tattoo ink will vary, as will the size and often are among the best students in the Why We Want to Take It Ourselves: talk about how we are allowed to utilize internal makeup of people being inked class. “That makes sense to me,” he says, “Bioterrorism agents,” Grant says bright- animals — how the process works, and up. “So we just don’t know for sure,” he “because high-level athletes tend to be ly. He’s just been asked what topics are how we have to guarantee humane says. “And I know that ‘we don’t know’ interested in understanding their body’s most popular with students, and this is treatment.” is an answer that can cause some angst. interactions with supplements and the first thing to come to mind. When discussing environmental pol- But it’s honest, and that’s what I want substances that enhance athletic perfor- That may not be the most uplifting lution, Grant cites the dredging project students to take away from this class.” mance.” For one lecture, Grant brings in conversation piece, but it’s certainly a under way on the Hudson River in New —JEFF WAGENHEIM an emergency room physician who also concern for many in today’s world, and York and the infamously lead-contami- happens to be a triathlete. Grant keeps Toxic Chemicals and Health nated drinking water in Flint, Michigan. fresh by shaping lectures around current Another topic that hits home for Are tattoos toxic? Go to s.uconn. edu/tattoo to watch Grant pose that Grant’s Teaching Style: issues. In a talk about food additives, for students today is his tattoo lecture. Some question to his class — and explain In the Toxic Chemicals and Health example, he delves into organic food — tattoo inks, Grant points out, contain the answer. classroom, Grant says he’s been learning as much as teaching — learning, that is, what can be toxic to a large lecture environment. After spending two se- THIS JUST IN mesters trying to hold the interest of 175 Peter Morenus Peter students, he’s decided to no longer allow THESE BLACK BEARS CHOOSE SUBURBIA open laptops. COVETED CLASS “It’s not just that I’m annoyed when UConn wildlife biologists tracking Connecticut’s growing black bear population say students are paying attention to some- housing density is the most significant factor influencing where the bears are choosing thing else,” he says. “I’ve done some to live and roam. New data shows that the state’s black bear population is highest in the PHAR 1001: TOXIC research, and several publications sup- state’s outermost suburbs. These exurban areas are attractive to bears because they port the idea that people are distracted provide both the refuge of large hardwood forests and a scattering of homes just dense CHEMICALS AND HEALTH by multitasking.” Grant believes there’s enough that a tasty snack from a garbage can or backyard bird feeder is only a short also a benefit in taking notes longhand, distance away. The highest concentrations of bears are in areas where housing density The Instructor: “because you cannot simply type every- is between 2 and 20 homes per square mile, researchers found. “Everything is toxic,” David Grant likes to tell students early on in his time with them. thing the instructor is saying — you have “With low-density housing, we are actually creating a habitat that bears are using,” He will say it matter-of-factly and then pause, contentedly watching the wheels turn to summarize, which helps you learn. It’s says Tracy Rittenhouse, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology in UConn’s Depart- with the processing of unexpected and perhaps unsettling information. been scientifically shown.” ment of Natural Resources and the Environment. As lead scientist on the study, Ritten- As a mind-bending example, Grant, professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the But don’t confuse Grant for a techno- house spent four years gathering and analyzing black bear data with Ph.D. student Mike School of Pharmacy, cites a hazing incident at a California university a decade ago in phobe. His students all use the high-tech Evans and wildlife biologists from Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environ- which a fraternity pledge was forced to drink a massive amount of water. This triggered iClicker. With one of those devices in mental Protection. hyponatremia, an abnormal drop in the body’s sodium level. The student died from too the hand of each student, and a wireless The results were a little surprising. Most existing research about American black much water. receiver on the podium beside him, bears indicates they prefer rural areas, and it’s the amount of forest in those regions “It’s all about the dose,” says Grant, who loves hitting his students with surprising Grant can make real-time assessments that determines the bear population density. But that literature is generated largely in answers. He uses iClickers so students can answer his questions by clicking in, game of how well his lectures and other class western states like Colorado and Wyoming. This new information shows that Connecti- show style, and the congregate answers appear on a board at the front. Much of the materials are being received. cut bears — and likely bears throughout the more heavily populated Northeast — are time, their assumptions prove widely held — and wrong. “I can get a sense whether they’re different. They are adjusting to living in a habitat shared with humans. Often it’s due to the all-about-the-dose maxim, which holds true, Grant points out, understanding the concepts,” he says, “or Looking at the study results, the vast majority of the Nutmeg State is bear habitat, when it comes to many substances we generally think of as toxic. Cancer rates spike even paying attention.” Go to s.uconn.edu/bears for more, says Rittenhouse. “The bear population is expanding, essentially moving south and among populations exposed to radiation from a nuclear reactor meltdown, for instance, Grant also invites students to text including a link to UConn’s Center for east from the north and west,” Rittenhouse says. “People generally think that there are but one can undergo an X-ray without a significant health risk. “If I smoke a cigarette Land Use Education and Research’s him with questions during the break interactive website, where you can see a enough people along the coast that the bear population won’t expand that far, but our once in my life, it’s not going to hurt me,” he says. “Smoke two packs a day, that’s a dif- halfway through the 75-minute lecture. town-by-town record of bear sightings in models indicate there is enough forest for the bear population to extend all the way to ferent issue. Everything will kill you if you take in too much of it. Everything.” He addresses some of those questions in Connecticut. the coast.”—COLIN POITRAS ’85 (CLAS)

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TASTE OF STORRS UCONN’S TOP CHEF Alongside mac & cheese and chicken parm Rob Landolphi is dishing up vegan crab cakes and crepes to order

TOP 10 BEST SELLERS 1. Mac & Cheese, Union Street Market 2. Chicken Parmesan, Dining Halls KUDOS 3. Buffalo Chicken Wrap, South Grab and Go MICKI McELYA A 4. Mediterranean Salmon PULITZER FINALIST Salad, Chuck and Augie’s Associate History Professor Micki 5. Trumbull Smoked McElya’s book, The Politics of Mourning: Turkey Sandwich, Death and Honor in Arlington National Dining Cafés Cemetery (Harvard University Press), 6. Crepe Station, North was named a 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist 7. Chicken Apple for General Nonfiction. In its citation, Chipotle Burger, One Plate, the Pulitzer Prize committtee called Two Plates her work “a luminous investigation of 8. Garlicky Cheesy Pull- how policies and practices at Arlington Apart Bread, The Beanery National Cemetery have mirrored the 9. Cubano Sandwich, nation’s fierce battles over race, politics, Gelfenbien honor, and loyalty.” 10. “Not So Crabby” Vegan In the book’s introduction McElya

Crab Cakes, Putnam Morenus Peter writes, “Approaching Arlington

Peter Morenus Peter National Cemetery as a site that is ON CAMPUS inclusive of all the nation’s stories, the In a windowless kitchen on the third floor allergies, and ethnic dishes for the growing on practices used at each site to promote wonderful, the messy, and the terrible, of UConn’s Student Union, Rob Landolphi number of international students. environmental sustainability. AVERY POINT LIGHTHOUSE the awe-inspiring and shameful, the carefully plates a serving of his award-win- “Kids are more discriminating about That’s not enough for Landolphi. He is In early spring, Penny Vlahos, associate professor of marine sciences, replaces a sea- achingly beautiful and the devastatingly ning Vegan Crab Cakes (above). The culi- food than they have ever been,” he says. part of a nationwide effort to expand the sonal cartridge on an air sampling device attached to the Avery Point Lighthouse. The sad, is an opportunity to expand the nary operations manager of campus dining “We’re all about seasonal, sustainable, number of plant-based dishes on campus samplers are changed every 3 months and analyzed for persistent organic and emerging countours of the honorable and brave, services enjoys his job — and it’s a big one. locally sourced food that’s as clean as pos- menus. As a member of Menus for Change, pollutants. UConn Avery Point is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. not diminish them.” Landolphi oversees the feeding of what sible, and bigger, bolder flavors.” UConn has committed to increasing the amounts to a small city of about 30,000 Recently his team ran the numbers to number of fish- and plant-based offerings people. Under his direction, eight dining find the ten best sellers across all campus by 20 percent this year while reducing halls and assorted campus food venues, venues. Not surprisingly, students went the amount of meat on the menu by 10 THE WHOLE TRUTH including eight cafès, a food court, a food for comfort and convenience first: the top percent. This year Dining Services also truck, and Chuck & Augie’s restaurant, three sellers are Mac & Cheese (made with began serving a blended burger that adds ARE CHARTER SCHOOLS THE SECOND COMING OF ENRON? serve well over 200,000 meals a week. organic milk, butter, and Cabot cheese), mushrooms to reduce fat and calories. In a research paper that’s spurring a national conversation, Preston Green III and co-authors outline the many parallels they see Annually, his department dishes up nearly Chicken Parmesan, and Buffalo Chick- Even with all this innovation, some between today’s charter school systems and the early days of the subprime mortgage crisis, when aggressive business practices and 5.8 million meals in Storrs alone, making en Wrap. But crepes and Cubanos also student habits stay tried and true. “I love unchecked growth created a national housing bubble that threw the country into deep recession. UConn’s dining plan one of the largest in made the list. The days of cafeteria menus the jalapeño poppers,” says Courtney Green, professor of educational leadership and law in the Neag School of Education, is concerned that, as with the subprime crisis, the country in terms of meals served. featuring liver and onions, tuna casse- Dawless ’18 (ENG). insufficient regulation could result in the formation of charter school bubbles: a concentration of poorly performing schools in urban role, and chicken à la king — three dishes Keyion Dixon ’20 (ED) says he enjoys African-American communities. Despite his concerns, Green remains a believer in the charter school concept. He insists that the Palate Palette Landolphi found on some old UConn a bowl of Fruity Pebbles every night after paper he authored is not meant to be an attack on charter schools but rather an exposé highlighting issues of concern. Coming up with dishes that appeal to the menus — are long gone. studying, “It’s fast and easy.” “What we are saying is that there should be a deliberative and thoughtful process in overseeing charter schools to make sure that diverse palates and dietary needs of such a “Last night, I had French toast for the choices of parents and children are honored and, in the end, meaningful,” he says. The flip side of that scenario is daunting. “If large campus community is a never-end- Greenery dinner,” says Sara Nelson ’18 (ENG). charter schools aren’t sufficiently regulated,” Green says, “we could see a proliferation of poorly monitored schools in these commu- ing process that is equal parts art and This spring UConn became one of a “Sometimes I have pancakes. It’s college. nities. The proliferation of these poorly regulated schools could gather such momentum that it could be a while before people start to science. In formulating recipes, Landolphi select few public universities in the U.S. Anything goes.” —LORETTA WALDMAN realize there are problems, and by then, it will take some time to dismantle all that.” —LORETTA WALDMAN and his team factor in sales and meal plan to achieve the nonprofit Green Restau- data, on- and off-campus culinary trends, rant Association’s “green” certification For more of this story and all ten feedback from student focus groups, food for every dining hall on campus, based recipes, go to s.uconn.edu/topten. For more of this story and a link to the source paper, go to s.uconn.edu/charter.

14 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 15 UCONN NOW

STUDENT PERSPECTIVE SHAY SUBRAMANIAN ’18 (CLAS) This finance student from Trumbull, Connecticut, by way of India, lives his life in leaps and bounds

What exactly is parkour anyway? And Why UConn? I was able to live there while it was how is it different from free running? I got into a bunch of schools — UConn happening. Parkour is the practice of getting from was actually supposed to be my safety point A to point B as efficiently as school. But I ended up really liking it Favorite class you’ve taken here? possible. Free running, then, is more here. I’m glad it turned out this way! Environmental Conservation. We had of a sister sport. It covers a lot of the this amazing final project where our elements of parkour, but with an empha- You’re featured on UCTV doing professor drove us out into the woods sis on moving creatively over obstacles. parkour around campus. What’s your and split us up into groups. He gave us In parkour, you may jump quickly over favorite spot to train Parkour? a tracking device and told us to find an three walls, whereas for free running Right behind Homer Babbidge Library. object in the woods. We finally tracked you might take the time to do flips It’s a surprisingly iconic spot in the it down after an hour or two. It was a in between. It wouldn’t get you over Northeast for parkour, and people travel stuffed animal, and he was waiting for us faster, but it’s more expressive of your just to train there. We host a gathering in the spot. creativity. once a year, and we’ve had people come from Montreal just to train for the What is your ultimate career goal? How did you get started in the sport? weekend. Right now I’m looking toward getting a I saw a documentary about parkour on finance-related job after graduation. the Discovery Channel when I was in You’re also the president of UConn And maybe in a couple years open a gym. tenth grade and I thought it was so cool. Parkour. Do you take in beginners? It was basically my childhood dream of Of course; that’s what the community is Do you plan to keep parkour in your becoming a superhero. I went outside all about. It’s the best community I’ve life after graduation? and started jumping off picnic tables, been a part of because everyone’s so I don’t see myself ever stopping parkour small stuff like that. open to teaching everyone. We started because, contrary to popular belief, you the UConn Parkour Club because we don’t have to be doing massive jumps in Were you good at it right away? wanted to get more people on campus to order to train. You could do it in really There’s definitely a learning curve! start training. There’s a huge emphasis small ways, like practicing balance. When I started, the community was on helping each other learn and grow Whether you’re 5 years old or 80 years small. It’s really blown up since. I didn’t together. Parkour can be dangerous old, there are ways to challenge yourself at times if you don’t know what you’re know anyone who was training when through movement. —NICOLE HAIBER ’17 doing or you’re not training safely. It’s all I started. I looked at videos online and (CLAS) went to gymnastics gyms in my area about progression. and eventually found other people who To see Shay in motion, go to trained. We built our community from Do you feel like UConn supported you s.uconn.edu/shay. scratch. It was hard when I was learning in pursuing this? by myself; finding a community helped UConn encourages anyone to make a me get more serious about it. club; it’s so much easier compared to other schools. I know friends at other Do they have parkour gyms in schools have had a lot of trouble starting the U.S.? a parkour club because people are afraid Yes; they are actually gaining in pop- that it’s too dangerous or a liability. But ularity. There’s a couple in Connecti- UConn really supported us and gave us cut. A new one just opened up in West a chance. Hartford. You studied abroad in Singapore for a Have you lived in Connecticut your semester. Why did you choose there? whole life? The National University of Singapore Well, as long as I can remember. I was is the best university in Asia and one born in India, and then I lived in the of the best in the world. The business

Middle East for a few years because program is amazing. But Singapore also Miller ’20 Tanya has a pretty awesome Parkour scene. my dad had a job there. I moved to the Left: Subramanian in Minnewaska State United States — to Stamford, Connecti- It hosts an event called Lion City Park Preserve in Ulster County, New cut — when I was three. Then we moved Gathering once a year and people fly in York, last fall and, above, studying at the to Trumbull right before high school. from all over the world to go and luckily, Homer D. Babbidge Library in Storrs.

12 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU Brandon Peter SUMMER 2017 17 If you thought farming was dead, sustainability, and more. In Connecticut ture. These days you’re just as likely to see consider this. The three-year-old alone, the annual economic impact of a beginning farmer on a smartphone or Modern Farmer magazine has a digital agriculture, commercial fishing, forestry, laptop as seated on a tractor. And, locally, reach well beyond a million and some and related businesses is about $4.8 billion the harvest varies from traditional crops 100,000 print subscribers. If you Google dollars. such as potatoes, apples, and milk to prod- “how to start a farm” you get more than Still, why this remarkable surge in ucts like honey and goat cheese, maple 3 million hits. And at UConn’s College of applicants? Cameron Faustman ’82 syrup, and eggs from heirloom poultry. Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resourc- (CAHNR), interim dean and director of Faustman says that enrollment in es (CAHNR), enrollment has risen 80% in CAHNR says that in his 28 years on the CAHNR has continued to prosper even the past decade. faculty at UConn he’s seen a real evolution as the number of students following a It’s clear that a lot has happened since in the way students relate to the environ- traditional route to family farming has the Storrs Agricultural School was found- ment. Current students have dramatically declined. “Students come to us to study ed in 1881. For one, women were officially more interest in being directly involved natural resources because they are inter-

The Next Generation of Farming Conventional wisdom be damned — young people are embracing farming. But we’re talking hydroponics, heirloom tomatoes, and small-batch goat cheese. Also, you’re as likely to find them on a laptop as a tractor.

by: Sheila Foran ’83 (BGS) ’96 Ph.D. photo art by: Peter Morenus & Christa Tubach

admitted in 1893 (there was a department with local food systems. They have a curi- ested in the environment, and they end up of home economics) and in that same year osity about where food comes from and a becoming backyard vegetable farmers as the school — by then the Storrs Agricul- genuine commitment to sustainable food a hobby because that’s a personal way of tural College — was granted land-grant production out of concern for the environ- living a sustainable lifestyle. They come status under the auspices of the Morrill ment. He also believes that some of this to us to study the biochemistry behind Act, which had been passed by the U.S. interest comes from “quite frankly, the food production. They may be pre-vet Congress in 1863 to promote the teaching birth and growth of the Food Channel.” students whose ultimate goal is working of practical agriculture, science, military However, the one constant Faustman in the pharmaceutical industry. They science, and engineering. sees in UConn students who are choosing may study soil science and put their Today, UConn is one of 106 land grant careers in agriculture these days is a seri- knowledge of chemistry to use to develop colleges and universities that produce ous commitment to the environment. lawn care products that are safe for the outstanding agriculture scientists and teachers, that lead in the study of biotech- The New Faces of Farming nology, and that have made countless While the time-honored model of passing Agriculture students Marisa Kaplita advancements in scientific research in on the hundred-acre family farm from one and Macario Rodrigues pose animal sciences, horticulture, nutrition, generation to the next has continued to “American Gothic” style at UConn’s agricultural economics, environmental fade, in its place is a new face of agricul- Spring Valley Farm.

18 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 “While food production has benefited from the technology revolution, people’s greatest sat- isfaction still appears to come from being intimately connected with the land.” Charlotte Ross and Jonathan Janeway of Sweet Acre Farm UConn Extension programs that help new farmers, whether they are alums or not, were key to helping environment. There’s no simple answer to Charlotte Ross and Jonathan Jane- why students come to us, except to say that way grow Sweet Acre Farm. much of what we do is interwoven with the The two had been working a things they are already committed to.” series of jobs since graduating from How someone defines farming, says college and noticed a pattern. Faustman, is up to the individual; the “We started having bigger and paths that eventually lead to agriculture — bigger gardens wherever our jobs either as a vocation or an avocation — are took us,” says Ross. “Finally, we as varied as the people making the journey. made the decision to intern at a “While food production has benefited 12-acre organic vegetable farm in from the technology revolution,” he says, Maine, and that’s when we knew for “people’s greatest satisfaction still appears At UConn’s Spring Valley Farm, students sure what our future would be.” to come from being intimately connected grow vegetables to sell to the community. Both are from Connecticut and with the land.” wanted to return to the state to Many CAHNR students join the start a farm. They knew, however, learning community EcoHouse, which that finding land would be a provides a culture of sustainability for With sustainability as their mantra, Extension has a series of programs aimed System associate educator of UConn’s farmland. For those wanting to grow veg- hurdle. Indeed, for several years students who are passionate about these beginning farmers embrace the at helping new farmers overcome those Department of Extension, which is part of etables, it’s difficult to find land not filled they leased land in Mansfield and environmental issues. A select group of high-tech alongside the low-tech, using hardships. CAHNR. In 2015, she was recognized by with rocks or overused by growing hay Hampton before finding the six students has the opportunity to live at the digital irrigation systems and advanced the White House as a Champion of Change or silage crops. It’s tough to find a parcel acres they now own in Lebanon. student-run Spring Valley Farm, which hydroponics to grow the strawberries, A Leg Up for Sustainable and Climate-Smart big enough to yield enough produce to Among the assistance provided is a collaboration among EcoHouse and melons, and lettuce they place in crates Say you’re not a CAHNR graduate; you’re Agriculture, one of only 12 people in the support a family. by UConn Extension has been ad- First Year Programs, Dining Services, and cart in pickups to the neighborhood simply one of those people who has country selected for the honor. So she’s got That’s why many farmers start out lit- vice on irrigation systems, organic Residential Life, CAHNR, the Office of farmers market. strolled through your local farmers market the credentials to administer a $600,000 erally in their own backyards, Martin says, pest control, soil assessment, and Environmental Policy, and the Office of “There is a market for all types of ethnic and picked up some sun-ripened toma- USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher De- and why partners or spouses often need access to legal assistance when Public Engagement — a true cooperative foods from bok choy to lemongrass and toes. Goat cheese. A couple of pints of low velopment Grant to support, with training to maintain off-farm jobs that provide a they were closing their real-estate where students sell the produce they grow okra to tofu made from organic soy beans, bush blueberries and a homemade biscuit and technical assistance, those who have regular income and health insurance. transaction. In their third season to the community. Many who live there do that we’re beginning to see at farmers for your dog. And as you pulled your car farmed or ranched for fewer than 10 years. While there’s not necessarily a typical of farming, while on rental land, so because they do not come from families markets everywhere,” says Faustman. It onto the road, you thought to yourself, “I The Department of Extension’s Solid profile of the new farmers who are the couple took advantage of the or communities that farmed, and this is helps counteract the inherent challenge could do that! I could grow vegetables, set Ground Farmer Trainings include classes attempting to make a living off the land, Beginning Farmer and Rancher their first taste of the real thing. of farming in a place like New England, up a roadside stand, maybe buy some dairy in such diverse subjects as soil health and Martin says they tend to share certain Development Grant administered More and more, farming is being done where land is at a premium and popula- goats and make cheese. I could quit my management, tractor safety and main- traits, desires, and needs. by Martin. by young people and not-so-young people tions are dense. “If a new farmer can find desk job and get close to the land, maybe tenance, and how to lease farmland and “These new farmers are really drawn Now firmly established, produce with no prior experience in agriculture — a particular niche, then high demand can even live off the grid.” negotiate tax regulations. to agriculture because they are concerned from Sweet Acre Farm can be folks with a desire to get out from behind a make up for less land and lower produc- Before quitting your job, trading in “Young people pursuing farming today about sustainability. Many of them are found at the Willimantic Food desk and into the fresh air. They believe in tion,” says Faustman. office attire for blue jeans, and Googling tend to be very debt averse,” says Martin, drawn to feeding their neighbors and Co-op and several local restaurants a quality of life that includes caring about Finding land is one of the biggest chal- “how to start a farm,” you might want “which is contrary to the typical financial feeding their community. They like the and farmers markets. And Ross the environment. They want to be self-suf- lenges in starting out in farming without to have a talk with Jiff Martin and her model for farming.” idea of a different type of lifestyle instead now works with UConn Extension ficient and give back to the planet — more a family farm to take over. But there are cohorts. That can be a challenge when one of of going to work and sitting in front of helping others get their farms off than they take from it. many more. UConn's Department of Martin is the Sustainable Food the first major hurdles is securing suitable a computer.” the ground.

20 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 21 UConn's New Faces of Farming Marisa (left) & Macario (right), our Modern American Gothic.

Gabriel DeRosa Tierney Lawlor Nick Laskos Marisa Kaplita Macario Rodrigues Anthony Chiozzi DeRosa ’17 (CAHNR) had a lot of friends Lawlor ’17 (CAHNR) grew up in Ansonia, Laskos ’15 (RHSA) had set his sights It is not often that we think of 11-year-olds As a youngster growing up in the Cape Chiozzi ’17 (CAHNR) is from the shoreline who lived on farms when he was growing Connecticut, and worked at a horse on a career in agriculture by the time as having epiphanies, but that’s more or Verde Islands, Rodrigues ’17 (CAHNR) town of Guilford, Connecticut. There’s no up in Bethany, Connecticut. And despite boarding facility during high school. “I was he graduated from the vocational/ less what happened to Branford, Con- took for granted that all food was local. farming in his background, but he devel- the fact that some of those farms had bitten by the bug,” she says. agriculture program at Trumbull necticut, then-sixth-grader Marisa Kaplita He couldn’t have imagined anything else. oped a keen interest in the environment livestock, he was always drawn to working She came to UConn as a civil engineer- High School. His original plan was to ’17 (CAHNR). At 16 he moved to Massachusetts with during high school. with his buddies when they tended vegeta- ing student but switched to CAHNR after major in horticulture in CAHNR, but “I was writing an article for the school his family and graduated from Brockton Chiozzi joined EcoHouse as a freshman, bles and other crops. Taking a year off after her first semester. “I knew right away I the benefits of the two-year program paper on broiler chickens and how they High School. A nine-year career in the U.S. started volunteering at Spring Valley high school, he worked doing landscaping needed my animals.” offered by The Ratcliffe Hicks School are slaughtered. That turned me into a Navy’s submarine service included a stint Farm, and soon got a job there 10 hours a jobs in order to help fund his education, Fitting in the necessary labs was a of Agriculture — with its emphasis on vegetarian. Then my earth science class in- in Groton, where he set his sights on some- week during the school year and full time and his attraction to plant life continued. challenge for Lawlor, however, who played hands-on-learning and an extensive troduced me to environmental issues, and day attending UConn. He says he found in the summer. In his final semester, When he arrived in Storrs, DeRosa on the women's basketball team (she is network of internships — led him to I was hooked. I knew then and there that his major in sustainable agriculture by Chiozzi interned at Sweet Acre Farm in decided to major in horticulture, a choice pictured above, front, giving teammate change course just a bit. one day I would go to college and study accident when a first choice fell through. Lebanon, Connecticut. It was eye-open- he calls “the best decision I ever made.” Katie Lou Samuelson ’19 (CLAS) a tour Laskos worked a number of in- environmental science,” she says. “It’s the best thing that ever happened ing, he says, to work with people whose He joined EcoHouse, but his first trip to of the UConn Dairy Barns). The college ternships, including one in the R&D True to her word, Kaplita graduated in to me,” he says, “because I discovered I livelihood is farming. “I learned things Spring Valley Farm was the result of his worked with her to create an individual- section of the hydroponic grow room June as an environmental science major have a passion for growing things. My about planning and budgeting and really bragging about his Italian culinary skills. ized major: sustainable farm and ranch at FarmTek in South Windsor. The with a concentration in soil sciences. Her courses and the people I’ve come into con- got a sense of what it takes to be a success- A friend invited him to the farm to make management, which would mix economics technology is promising, says Laskos, passion for sustainable living translated to tact with have taught me that the choices ful farmer,” he says. pasta sauce, and they went out into the and agriculture courses. “because it allows higher efficiency and a commitment to EcoHusky, the student we make about our food — from how we As for the future? “Making a living by field to pick fresh tomatoes. The sauce was “My long term goal is to have my own production with fewer or no pesticides group associated with UConn’s Office of grow it to how we transport it to how we farming is kind of counterculture, I guess. a success, but even more important was farm, my own business,” she says, adding or synthetic fertilizers. And you can Environmental Policy that is dedicated handle waste management — has import- It’s putting a way of life ahead of econom- the impression the farm made, and in the that after graduation she plans to head out grow 365 days a year — a plus in New to making campus more environmentally ant implications for our future.” ics. It’s caring about the environment, spring of his sophomore year, he moved in. west for some hands-on experience where England.” friendly, and to EcoHouse, the learning Rodrigues’ goal is to have a farm and having a voice politically, reducing the He and a friend applied for an Idea the land is bigger, more spread out. She did Now, just two years after he earned community associated with Spring Valley grow vegetables. And he’d like to use his carbon footprint, educating kids. A lot of Grant to build a greenhouse there using summer internships in the barns here and his degree, he has founded Gigafarm Farm. knowledge to help others here and abroad things that some people overlook but that aquaponic techniques. “We got the grant, favored working with the cattle. in East Windsor, Connecticut, where Kaplita lived and worked on the farm establish sustainable agriculture programs are important to me.” and with the help of the Facilities Depart- “I like working with cows. They’re just he plans to grow vegetables and herbs during her last six semesters on campus. that use the emerging technologies his While not sure whether he will make his ment, the greenhouse was built,” he says. laid back; they like doing what they do — to sell to local restaurants. There’s also Her duties ran the gamut from planting grandparents couldn’t have imagined. living with a position in natural resources The plan is to provide UConn’s Food Ser- they eat grass, they sunbathe. the potential to grow hops (Humulus seeds and weeding the plots of vegetables “When I was a kid I took my grandpar- or by farming, the soil is in Chiozzi’s blood. vices with lettuce and herbs year-round. “We need the younger population to lupulus) in support of the state’s bur- to harvesting the produce and preparing ents’ efforts for granted,” he says. “They “Whatever I end up doing, I will always DeRosa thinks grad school might be in come in and start farming, producing,” geoning microbrewery industry. it for market. She is keenly aware of global grew everything they needed for the garden. Once you’ve grown your own food, his future, with a possible career in plant says Lawlor. The property Laskos purchased is issues surrounding food production and is family without benefit of electricity or it’s really hard to spend money in the pro- research. But then he pauses and speaks “I think people today are more con- the site of a former tobacco field that particularly sensitive about decreasing the anything remotely modern. It was simply duce section of a grocery store.” wistfully about meeting volunteers on cerned with where their food is coming had become overgrown. Now cleared amount of food waste in the U.S. and other how things were done. Now, when I go Friday afternoons on the student farm. from, how it’s grown. This younger gener- and ready for planting, his ultimate developed countries. back to Cape Verde and visit my 84-year- “I would gather a group of people from ation understands this concern and wants goal is to have a vertically integrated Her immediate plans include a stint old grandfather, I have a real appreciation all areas of the University, tell them what to produce food to satisfy consumer needs company that will blend hydroponics in the Peace Corps. After that, she says, for the sacrifices he made.” we were working on, find their strengths in a more sustainable way.” and conventional agriculture. “I would love to eventually work with And then he adds with a smile, “I realize and weaknesses, and put them to work in farmers, restoring underutilized land that finding my major in sustainable the gardens. That was the most rewarding for agricultural purposes and helping to agriculture was a foregone conclusion. I’m experience, ever.” create sustainable local farms.” pretty sure that genetically I’m a farmer.”

22 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU From left: Peter Morenus, Courtesy of HBO, Courtesy of Nick Laskos, Courtesy of Marisa Kaplita, Sheila Foran, Courtesy of Anthony Chiozzi SUMMER 2017 23 A Connecticut company plays the startup game in the land of innovation.

BY COLIN POITRAS ’85 (CLAS) ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATIE CAREY

Biochemist Mark Driscoll is trying to in Connecticut’s bioscience corridor, not Farmington incubator in June 2015 with a crack open a stubborn microbe in his lab only results in an important breakthrough bold business concept but virtually at UConn’s technology commercialization for Driscoll’s and Jarvie’s new business — no idea of how to get it off the ground. incubator in Farmington, Connecticut. called Shoreline Biome — but also leads to Both had worked in the labs at 454 Life He needs to get past the microorgan- a proposal for more research, a new find- Sciences in Branford, Connecticut, one ism’s tough outer shell to grab a sample of ing, and at least one patent application. of the state’s early bioscience success its DNA. Once he has the sample, Driscoll In a broader sense, it also exemplifies stories that ended up moving to the can capture the bacterium’s genetic “fin- the collaborative relationships that San Francisco area. gerprint,” an important piece of evidence UConn and state officials hope will flour- Driscoll and Jarvie decided to stay in for doctors treating bacterial infections ish under the University’s Technology Connecticut. They had talked about start- and scientists studying bacteria in the Incubation Program (TIP), which pro- ing a business based on new technology human microbiome. It’s a critical element vides laboratory space, business mentor- that would more quickly and precisely in the new lab technology Driscoll and ing, scientific support, and other services identify different strains of bacteria in his business partner, Thomas Jarvie, to entrepreneurs in Connecticut’s the human microbiome, the trillions of are developing. growing bioscience sector. At incubators good and bad microorganisms living in But at the moment, his microbe isn’t in Storrs and Farmington, TIP currently our bodies that scientists believe play cooperating. Driscoll tries breaking into supports 35 companies that specialize an important role in our health and it chemically. He boils it. He pokes and in things like health care software, small well-being. The study of the microbiome pushes against the outer wall. Nothing molecule therapies, vaccine development, is a rapidly growing area of biomedical happens. This drug-resistant pathogen diagnostics, bioagriculture, and water research. There are currently more than is a particularly bad character that has purification. 300 clinical trials of microbiome-based evolved and strengthened its shell over The program has assisted more than 85 treatments in progress, according to the generations. It isn’t giving up its secrets startup companies since it was estab- National Institutes of Health, and the easily. lished in 2003. Those companies have global market for microbiome products is Stymied, Driscoll picks up the phone had a significant impact on Connecticut’s estimated to exceed $600 million a year and calls Professor Peter Setlow at UConn economy, raising more than $50 million by 2023. Health. A noted expert in molecular in grant funding, $80 million in debt and “It’s the most frightening thing I have biology and biophysics, Setlow has been pay equity, and more than $45 million ever done,” says Driscoll with a chuckle. cracking open microbes since 1968. in revenue. “As scientists, we know that 9 out of 10 A few hours later, Driscoll jumps on a “This is not a coincidence,” says new companies fail. That sound you con- shuttle and takes a quarter-mile trip up Driscoll as he recounts his microbe- stantly hear in the back of your head is the the road to meet with Setlow in person. cracking story in a small office across the hiss of money being burned. The pressure He explains his predicament. Setlow nods hall from his lab. “This is what govern- is intense. You have to reach the next level and says, “Here’s what I would do.” ment is supposed to do. It’s supposed to before your money goes to zero because And it works. set up an environment where these kinds when the money’s gone, you’re done.” of things can happen.” Fortunately, Driscoll and Jarvie’s deci- BREAKTHROUGH sion to launch a bioscience company came That brief encounter, that collaboration BOLD MOVES at a time when Connecticut and UConn between a talented young scientist and Driscoll and Jarvie, a physical chemist were committing resources to strengthen a prominent UConn researcher working and genomics expert, arrived at UConn’s the state’s bioscience research sector.

38 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 25 be more than your will to the type of place where you can find out TIP, says the fact that two top scientists live,” says Driscoll. “But what those unknown unknowns are and “YOU CAN SIT AROUND AND like Driscoll and Jarvie decided to stay in here, the rent is graduat- start to address them.” Connecticut speaks to the state’s highly ed. So we were able to stay Outside investors also are invited to HOPE THAT COMPANIES FORM, skilled talent pool and growing innova- here in the beginning for visit with startups and learn more about tion ecosystem. just a few hundred bucks them. The fact that CBIF had other sci- OR YOU CAN TRY TO MAKE “Instead of going to Boston or New a month.” entists and business professionals screen York they chose to stay in Connecticut, The pair also obtained and approve Shoreline Biome’s new tech- YOUR OWN LUCK.” taking advantage of UConn’s TIP and $150,000 in pre-seed nology and business plan prior to making other innovation programs provided by funding from Connecticut its investment bolsters the company’s the state to grow their company, cre- Innovations, the state’s standing with potential investors. that well.” want to know how it gets in there,” says ate jobs, and benefit society with their quasi-public investment Using the TIP location also allowed Jarvie describes the difference this way. Driscoll. “Does it come from visitors? cutting-edge advances in microbiome authority supporting Driscoll and Jarvie to save money on Say you are running tests for mammals on Does it come from doctors? You have all research,” says Analoui. innovative, growing com- purchasing high-end lab equipment. three different samples. Current sequenc- these spores floating around. You can UConn provides critical support to panies; and a $500,000 When they need to run a DNA sequencing ing technology would identify the samples answer that by looking at the bacteria’s ventures at all stages of development, but equity investment from test on a bacteria sample, they just walk as a primate, a canine, and a feline. With genetics. But if you can’t get to the bacte- it is especially important for startups, says the Connecticut Biosci- down the hall to a UConn researcher’s Shoreline Biome’s technology, the results ria’s DNA, you can’t identify it. Jeff Seemann, vice president for research ence Innovation Fund lab. Located in UConn’s Cell and Genome are more definitive. They would say you “Our tool cracks open the microbes at UConn and UConn Health. (CBIF). Sciences Building, TIP shares space with have a howler monkey, a timber wolf, and so you can get at their DNA and finger- When asked if they still have those mo- Along with the pre-seed the University’s Stem Cell Institute. a mountain lion. print the bugs to see what you have,” says ments of abject fear that they aren’t going investment funds, CBIF’s “We need certain types of equipment That level of specificity is important Driscoll. “It lets people see everything. to make it, Driscoll and Jarvie laugh. staff helped guide Driscoll to process our samples, and they have one to researchers and medical professionals And we’ve simplified the software so you “Every day is a deer-in-the-headlights and Jarvie through the of those up the hall,” Driscoll says. “They studying or tracking a bacteria strain or don’t have to be a skilled microbiologist moment,” says Driscoll. “Even when early stages of busi- use it maybe once a day, and the rest of the disease. Driscoll says the kit is not limited to do it. A person in the lab can sit down things are going well, it’s still a huge risk.” ness development and time it sits there. So we asked if we could to identifying harmful bacteria like and with just a few clicks, all of this stuff “It never goes away,” agrees Jarvie. But introduced them to the in- use it for like five minutes a day, and they salmonella, listeria, or MRSA. It also comes up and tells you these are the bad during a recent visit to the Shoreline As part of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s Bio- vestment community. And CBIF member said, ‘Sure, just pay us a little bit of money can assist researchers investigating the guys, the infectious organisms that are science Connecticut initiative approved Patrick O’Neill took a seat on Shoreline to help keep it maintained, and we’ll let microbiome’s role in maintaining the so- present, and these are the good guys.” in 2011, Connecticut’s legislature allo- Biome’s board. O’Neill’s business savvy you do that.’ They get a little bit of cash in called good bacteria that keeps us healthy cated $864 million to efforts that would has been crucial to the company’s early the door, and we get access to a machine as well as its role in other ailments such as DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS position the state as a leader in bioscience success, says Driscoll. we couldn’t possibly buy ourselves.” diabetes, multiple sclerosis, While their focus is certainly on research and innovation. That initia- and even mental health disorders like growing Shoreline Biome, Driscoll tive included the expansion of UConn’s UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS TRACKING THE BAD GUYS schizophrenia. and Jarvie also have come to technology incubator site in Farmington, Shoreline Biome also benefits from The lab kit Driscoll and Jarvie are cur- For example, the kit easily enables a re- appreciate Connecticut’s broader the opening of The Jackson Laboratory the internal camaraderie and technical rently testing is a low-cost, off-the-shelf searcher to compare 50 bacteria samples effort in building a strong biosci- for Genomic Medicine (JAX), and major expertise provided through TIP. tool that replaces hours of painstaking from individuals with multiple sclerosis ence research core to help drive the upgrades at UConn Health to boost its “If we were on our own in Wallingford hands-on processing of patient samples against 50 samples from individuals who state’s economy. Providing scientist research capacity. or Branford, there would be no place to for bacteria DNA testing. It’s about getting don’t have the disease to see whether entrepreneurs with an affordable Those resources were tailor-made for a go to ask questions,” says Driscoll. “But at DNA out of the bacteria from a compli- the presence or absence of a particular base of operations, working labs, ac- fledgling bioscience company like Shore- TIP, you can wander around and just ask cated environmental sample — and doing bacteria in the microbiome plays a role in cess to high-end lab equipment, and line Biome. Driscoll and Jarvie remember people. Companies that are ahead in the that in a fast, cheap, and comprehensive impacting the body’s nervous system. a cadre of science peers ready to help the early days when company “meetings” process are mentoring those just starting. way, explains Jarvie. “If you don’t make it cost effective, if takes some of the pressure off when took place at a local Starbucks, their offi- They can help if you have questions about Researchers and medical professionals you don’t make it practical, people won’t launching a new company. cial address and warehouse was Driscoll’s finding a patent attorney, or writing up have previously relied on targeted testing do it,” says Driscoll. “It’s like going to the “This is all part of a plan the governor garage, and they didn’t even have a lab. a workplace-hygiene plan, or getting and laboratory cultures to identify differ- moon. Sure, we can go to the moon. But and the legislature put together to have But they did have a vision of what business insurance. Even if they can’t give ent bacteria strains. But many bacteria it takes a lot of time and money to build this stuff here,” says Driscoll. “You can sit Shoreline Biome could be. They knew that you an answer, chances are they know species are hard to grow in the lab, making a rocket and get it ready. With our kit, all around and hope that companies form, or George Weinstock, one of the world’s fore- someone who can.” identification and confirmation difficult. that stuff for the moon shot is already pre- you can try to make your own luck. You most experts in microbial genomics and As part of its services, TIP holds Even when scientists can confirm the made. We provide the whole system right set up a situation where you are likely to one of their customers at 454 Life Scienc- monthly business meetings at its incuba- presence of a bacteria such as salmonella off the shelf. You don’t need to know how succeed by bringing in JAX, opening up a es, had just arrived at JAX. They reached tors where CEOs can exchange ideas, ask in a patient sample, the findings are often to extract DNA fingerprints, or use a DNA UConn TIP incubator across the street, Biome lab, both men are in good spirits. out to him with an offer to collaborate. questions about anything from account- limited, which can impact diagnosis and sequencer, or analyze DNA. All you have and setting up funding. Is that going to The company met the 12-month goals Weinstock not only agreed; he became ing practices to business law, and hear treatment. to do is buy our kit and turn the crank.” start a company? Who knows? But then set in its CBIF funding agreement in just their principal scientific advisor. presentations from different state agen- “The DNA fingerprint region in a bacte- As part of its product testing, Shore- you have Tom and me, two scientists six months. For that effort, Driscoll and About the same time, Driscoll and Jar- cies and research departments at UConn ria is about 1,500 bases long,” says Jarvie. line Biome is working with researchers kicked loose from a company, and we Jarvie received another $250,000 check, vie began exploring the possibility of rent- that might be able to help them. “Most of the sequencing technologies out at UConn Health and JAX to learn more notice all these things happening here. the second of their two CBIF payments. ing space at TIP in Farmington because of “To channel [former Secretary of De- there are only getting a fraction of that, about a particularly toxic and potentially We could have left for California or the In the world of business startups, its proximity to people like Weinstock and fense] Donald Rumsfeld, there are things like 150 bases or 10 percent. It’s like rely- fatal intestinal bacterium, Clostridium Boston-Cambridge research corridor, but however, there is little time for extended Setlow. “If you’re looking to start a biosci- that you know, things that you don’t know, ing on a small segment of a fingerprint as difficile, otherwise known as C.diff. we decided to stay in Connecticut.” celebration. The two scientists mark the ence company, in some parts of the state and things that you don’t know you don’t opposed to getting the entire fingerprint. “People who track this disease, espe- Mostafa Analoui, UConn’s executive di- milestone with smiles and a fist bump, the cost for commercial space is going to know,” says Jarvie. “This environment is You can’t really identify the organisms cially in hospitals where it is a problem, rector of venture development, including then turn around and get back to work.

26 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 27 Free to Be Imperfect A beloved doctor’s patients convince him to move to UConn Health — where he plans to cure a rare liver disease

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

Imagine not being able to fall asleep Not long ago, a 13-year-old — who we watching your favorite movie because you won’t name to protect his family’s privacy might not survive the night. Or waking — fell asleep in front of the TV, missed his up every 90 minutes to make sure your therapy, and died. daughter’s feeding pump is keeping her All are victims of Glycogen Storage sugar stable enough that she won’t slip Disease (GSD), a rare genetic liver disor- into a coma. Or dropping everything 16 der that leaves patients slaves to the times a day to test your blood and drink clock because the only known treatment a formula that’s the caloric equivalent of is taking a cornstarch mixture every few half a pound of pasta. Or feeling hopeless hours or less, depending on the patient. about keeping your newborn twins alive It’s a world where one mistake can be because they can’t process food and no fatal. one can help. GSD affects only 1 in 100,000 people Gayle Temkin, a mom of two from West worldwide and long was considered a Hartford, hasn’t slept more than two childhood illness because patients did not hours at a time for 11 years. Her daughter, survive into adulthood. The life- Alyssa, stops what she’s doing — dancing, saving cornstarch treatment that was Alyssa Temkin, guitar lessons, acting in a play, playing on discovered in the 1970s changed that, age 11, pauses in her school’s basketball team — every 90 yet little progress in treating the disease the middle of a minutes to test her blood sugar and drink has been made since. And then Dr. David a special formula. Weinstein entered the picture. school basketball For more than a year after giving birth Weinstein, who in January moved his game to test her to her twin boys, Kathy Dahlberg waited world-renowned GSD program from the blood sugar. for liver transplants that could save them. University of Florida to UConn Health

28 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 29 and Connecticut Children’s Medical When Gayle and Steve Temkin brought While the Temkins do everything Center, has spent the past two decades baby Alyssa home from the hospital at they can to make Alyssa’s life normal, researching the disease. He’s the only three days old, Gayle knew something there are constant reminders that it is doctor in the world dedicated to the was wrong with her daughter. By the time anything but. illness, and is so beloved that his patients they got to a hospital that night, Alyssa During the night, a pump attached to a nominated him for the Order of the was in full liver and renal failure. Her feeding tube in her stomach feeds Alyssa Smile, an international humanitarian sugars were undetectable. Without in- dextrose (which is less filling than Tol- award he shares with the likes of Oprah tervention, she wouldn’t survive an hour, erex, but metabolizes faster). Her parents and Nelson Mandela. And now they have doctors said. wake up every 90 minutes to check her more reason to applaud him: He’s closing It was six months, several hospitals, sugar, but her feeding is done automati- in on a cure. countless invasive tests, and second and cally through the pump. Weinstein and his team are on the third opinions before Alyssa was diag- Gayle spends every day at Alyssa’s verge of testing in a human clinical trial nosed with GSD at Mount Sinai Hospital school. For years, she would go into the the first GSD gene therapy, which has in New York City. classroom to feed Alyssa, first through worked for canines and mice with the Alyssa is now 11, a smiling, soft-spoken her feeding tube and, more recently, with illness. For the patients and their families who live in a constant countdown to the next feeding, the new therapy would mean freedom. A normal life, where mis- takes can be made. Where they no longer have to be perfect. “There was no research Fatal Mistakes “The problem with this disease is that people need cornstarch every four going on anywhere in hours. People have died because their parents overslept,” says Weinstein. One missed alarm and a patient could die. A the world on this disease. malfunctioning piece of medical equip- ment could mean a dangerous seizure. In a healthy liver, excess sugar from And if there’s no food is stored as glycogen and released into our bloodstreams when we need it as glucose. For those with GSD, the liver research, that means fails to convert glycogen into glucose, causing the body’s blood sugar levels to drop dangerously low, which can lead to there’s no hope.” seizure or death. “One of the parents was giving a talk recently and said, ‘Do you know what it’s like to have to be perfect all the time?’” Weinstein says. “And that’s what these sixth-grader who enjoys playing sports, a drinkable formula. This year, Alyssa has families live with. It’s extreme stress.” acting in plays, and learning to play gui- gained some freedom. An Apple Watch Weinstein and his team have made tar and dance. She gets good grades and reminds her when it’s time to test her great strides. When he started studying loves her friends. But every 90 minutes, blood and drink, and she reports her GSD, the only long-term treatment was every single day, she must check her sugar level to her mom via a walkie-talkie. a liver transplant to combat complica- blood sugar and drink Tolerex, a special Gayle, a former social worker, stays close, tions. Now, patients are doctors, athletes, formula that keeps her sugar up. Alyssa just in case. mothers — more than 50 babies have is the only known GSD patient who can’t If Alyssa’s sugar gets too low, she been born to mothers with GSD since tolerate cornstarch, and Tolerex doesn’t doesn’t feel it. Unlike most people, GSD the first in 2003. But they still live under last as long, so the time between her patients don’t feel shaky or get headaches constant pressure. The disease is relent- treatments is even shorter than it is for when their sugar drops — at least not less, unforgiving. most GSD patients. until it’s too late. By then, they could be

For Alyssa and mom Gayle (top left and middle), a typical day of trying to be as normal as possible involves Gayle at school in a room near the office, staying in touch with her daughter by walkie-talkie. Alyssa tests and doses herself in class, gym, and while playing on the school’s athletic teams. But GSD patients don’t feel the effects of low blood sugar until they are moments from a seizure, so Gayle stays close around the clock. Lily, 9, likes to tag along to appointments with Weinstein. “He’s her hero — he saved her sister,” says Gayle.

38 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 31 Knowing no one at the conference, he sat cure GSD, Temkin thought there was organization will continue to raise money down for lunch next to Kathy Dahlberg, another thing she could do. to support Weinstein’s program. They are who had one-year-old twin sons already She wanted Weinstein to come to working to set up other forms of assistance on the liver transplant list. She told Wein- Connecticut. for patients and their families, including a closet with free supplies at the clinic, and support programs for families once the clinical trials start. Because GSD patients are now surviv- ing well into adulthood, the partnership “The world didn’t need between the two institutions makes great sense. “We’re much stronger working together,” says Weinstein. another diabetes doctor. Although Weinstein is the only doctor in the world dedicated to curing GSD, he says he’s not doing it alone — far from it. This is where I could “I’ve never seen a program like ours. I only do one disease. Everybody on my team does just one disease,” he says. make a difference.” “This is personal. Most people have a connection to the condition, and so they’ll work until everything’s done. It’s just a dedication that I’ve never experienced stein how sick her children were, and Early last year when Weinstein was anyplace else.” that her only hope was that they’d live in the state for a speaking engagement, The bulk of Weinstein’s Florida team long enough to get their liver transplants. Gayle brought together a group in her came to Connecticut with him. His team Weinstein had a son at home a month family room that included prominent includes GSD patients and parents, includ- younger than the twins. Hartford-area philanthropists Alan ing several who have called him out of the “Over lunch at that conference, I decid- Lazowski, Eric and Jessica Zachs, and blue to tell him all they want is to work ed that somebody had to care about these Pia and Mickey Toro. A 2012 fundraiser with him. children. The children shouldn’t have to hosted by Lazowski had raised $470,000 One, who moved to Connecticut from suffer just because it was a rare disease,” in one night to support Weinstein’s Minnesota to join the new center, is Weinstein says. “The world didn’t need research, and she wanted to provide an Kathy Dahlberg, the mother who changed another diabetes doctor. This is where I update on the work and how close the Weinstein’s course all those years ago. Her could make a difference.” gene therapy was to being a reality. But twins are now sophomores in college. As soon as he returned to Boston, the group also had come on board to push And, after nearly two decades of dedi- Gayle’s idea of having the doctor move to Dr. Weinstein has treated Alyssa since she was six months old. The Temkins were Weinstein shifted his research focus to cated research, Weinstein’s next step is the GSD and built the program there before Connecticut. one he’s been working toward all along. instrumental in bringing him to Connecticut, where he is about to begin human clinical moving it to the University of Florida in It became “almost like an interven- Human safety trials of his gene therapy, in trials of a gene therapy they all hope will lead to a cure. 2005 in order to work with the veterinary tion,” she says with a laugh. “We gave him conjunction with Dimension Therapeutics program. He has successfully treated a safe space to talk about what was work- in Cambridge, Mass., are expected to start dogs with his gene therapy, turning a fatal ing, what needs to be different, and what this year. UConn will coordinate the trials disease into one where dogs born with he thinks he can do with the program. We with collaborating centers all over the GSD are thriving. really wanted him to see what it’s like to world. Full-treatment trials should start moments from having a seizure. “David [Weinstein] stayed on the when he was invited to a national con- Today, Weinstein sees 500 patients have a community really embrace him. in 2020. “I sit in her school all day,” says Gayle. phone with us the whole time,” says ference of the Association for Glycogen from 49 states and 45 countries. With We made him understand this is where he The ultimate goal for the gene therapy, “I have a master’s. I’m a social worker. Gayle. “He was booking a flight to Con- Storage Disease. help from Alyssa’s Angel Fund — started needs to be.” according to Weinstein, is to prevent low But I do what I have to do.” necticut. We really thought he was going “I showed up at this meeting and was by the Temkins when Alyssa was a baby The group tapped into connections blood sugars, eliminate the dependence Because she knows too well what can to be coming for a funeral. shocked by what I saw,” he says. The — and other charities, he has established at UConn and Connecticut Children’s. on cornstarch, and give patients normal happen. “There is nothing about this disease conference started with a moment of centers all over the world. Within hours, Weinstein was on the lives where oversleeping isn’t a worst-case In February 2015, the family had re- that’s forgiving. It doesn’t matter what silence and a reading of the names of all phone with UConn School of Medicine scenario. turned from a trip to Italy and decided to regimen you’re on; it could be a bad the children who had died from GSD that All the Way Dean Dr. Bruce Liang. From there, the “If we can accomplish that, we’ve come “camp out” together in the same room. As batch of something. We think we’re year. The research presented was decades It was in her “little room” at Alyssa’s wheels were set in motion. all the way,” he says. Gayle and Steve dozed off, Lily Temkin, 9, doing everything right, and the pump old. And the only treatment option being school that Gayle Temkin started toying In January, the GSD lab moved to “He knew he could do this,” says Gayle. stayed up, reading, unable to fall asleep. malfunctions.” discussed was liver transplantation to with an idea. UConn Health’s Farmington campus. At “It’s all of the pieces falling into the puzzle “I hear Lily saying, ‘Alyssa, come on, combat complications from the disorder. Sure, the charity her family started the same time, a clinical and research in the right direction; it’s really like a want to play with me? Alyssa, you want to Research = Hope “There was no research going on had enabled 100 patients to see their unit supported financially by the Temkins miracle. read with me? Alyssa, Alyssa.’ And then, Weinstein had no intention of dedicat- anywhere in the world on this disease,” hero doctor. It had sent supplies to those and other local philanthropists opened “When we first brought Alyssa to screaming,” recalls Gayle. ing his life to curing GSD. As a young Weinstein says. “And if there’s no re- in need and helped Weinstein establish at Connecticut Children’s. Gayle Temkin, him, he said, ‘By her bat mitzvah, by the Alyssa’s pump had stopped working. physician at Boston Children’s Hospital search, that means there’s no hope.” centers to see patients and train doctors Alan Lazowski, and Barry Stein are the time she’s 12 or 13, we should be able to She was having a seizure and remained specializing in sugar disorders in 1998, he A conversation with a mother there all over the world. trustees for the Global Center for Glyco- cure her.’ And she’s 11,” she says. “We’re unconscious at the hospital. was caring for just two patients with GSD changed the course of Weinstein’s life. But to accomplish the grand goal, to gen Storage Disease, and through the new almost there.”

32 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 33 “In Russia, you simply couldn’t be a writer if you were Jewish”

Associate professor and acclaimed novelist Ellen Litman talks about her childhood in Russia and her life in Connecticut by Katharine Whittemore photo by Peter Morenus

“I’m interested in the intersection of the subtle one-liners.” In 2008, Litman was but also fur-lined boots right out of “Doc- historical and the personal,” says Ellen a finalist for the New York Public Library tor Zhivago.” The sun streamed over her Litman, a Russian-born novelist, short Young Lions Award, given to promising wheat-colored hair as she sketched out, story writer, and associate professor and writers under age 35. in a lyrical Russian accent, her personal associate director of creative writing in In 2014, her second book came out, history. the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. also from Norton: Mannequin Girl, a No wonder she’s interested in that inter- sharp, poignant coming-of-age novel that Q: Let’s start with your neighborhood section: she’s sitting here in a Starbucks in reads uncannily like a memoir, since it’s in Moscow. Was your world “orderly, Storrs instead of heating up a samovar in a about a young Russian Jewish girl who like a sheet of ruled paper, like hop- Soviet-style flat in Moscow. has scoliosis (or curvature of the spine, as scotch squares,” as you write in Manne- And all because of one historical mo- Litman has) and must attend a govern- quin Girl? ment that changed her life forever. ment boarding school for others similarly Litman: All the apartment buildings It was 1990, and the heady reforms of afflicted (as Litman did). were identical. Tall cement boxes, light Perestroika had begun to brew up a back- Several novelists showered praise on gray, built in the ’60s and ’70s. We lived lash. One night, a prominent general went it: Margot Livesey called it “entrancing in the northwest of Moscow in one of on state television to call for new pogroms and evocative” and Lara Vanpyar called the new neighborhoods. Outside every against Soviet Jews, darkly insisting that it “beautiful and tender.” Wally Lamb ’72 apartment building entrance, a group of Russia should be for Russians only. “The (CLAS), ’77 MA called Kat, the protag- grandmothers would sit, socializing. They Chechen war hadn’t started yet,” recalls onist, “the kind of character I love: an minded your business and always told Litman, who is Jewish. “The Chechens endearing, flawed, vulnerable young you what you were doing wrong! would soon replace Jews as the main person who can be cruel one moment, enemy. But at the time, Jews were still compassionate the next, haughty in her Q: Your father was a chemical engineer being watched.” insecurity; hormonal and humane in and your mother taught math. Your Her parents decided it was no longer equal measures.” sister has worked in IT for Amazon and safe to stay, and began the arduous Today, Litman lives with her husband Microsoft. You went to the Moscow process of applying to emigrate. In 1992, and two young daughters in Mansfield. Institute of Electronics and Mathemat- when Litman was 19, her family of four fi- Last semester, she taught two classes in ics, got a B.S. in information science nally arrived in Pittsburgh, where an aunt Storrs: Graduate Creative Writing, which from the University of Pittsburgh, and already had settled. That raw, traumatic, studies works that overlap in genre, such had a career in IT in the U.S., too. Your sometimes bleakly funny adjustment as graphic novels or prose laced with poet- whole family was good with numbers — period informs Litman’s debut book, The ry, and Honors I: Literary Study Through but you ended up making a living from Last Chicken in America: A Novel in Stories Reading and Research on immigrant words. How did that happen? (Norton, 2007). narratives. That second one, of course, Litman: In Russia, you simply couldn’t The book’s linked stories thread hits close to home. be a writer if you were Jewish. You through one main character, teenage We caught up with Litman one snowy couldn’t aspire to certain things. We were Masha, and those who share her Squirrel day this past winter at the Starbucks on taught very early that you have to work Hill neighborhood in Pittsburgh. The Storrs Road, chatting against the din of twice as hard as others to get things. I New York Times Book Review positively competing student conversations and kept a journal and wrote poetry, but there clucked about Chicken: “It’s warm, true coffee beans in mid-grind. She wore a was no way to “be a writer.” and original, and packed with incisive, quintessentially American fleece jacket You have to understand that Russian

UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 35 Jews were never considered Russians. Q: How does your scoliosis affect Adult Education and then GrubStreet [a On my passport under nationality, it said you now? 20-year-old Boston-based creative writ- “Jewish,” not “Russian.” Being Jewish Litman: It doesn’t affect me too much. ing center]. Julie Rold [a fiction writer affects a lot of things, unofficially and Oh, it can be hard to find clothes that fit and liberal arts professor at the Berklee officially. Which college you can attend, properly. There’s on and off pain, espe- School of Music] was the first person to which job you can get. Some colleges cially in winter, and if I stand on my feet say I had real talent. It was one of those won’t accept Jews because “they have bad more than 20 minutes, it takes its toll. I moments that changes everything. vision.” Others admit under a quota from don’t do physical therapy any more, but I But writing was always a spare-time the local party district. do a lot of swimming. thing. I thought that maybe, if I got lucky, I could write part-time and do computer Q: In Mannequin Girl, you write this of Q: Growing up in Russia, what was work part-time — but the value of what I Kat: “She’s scared of changes ... they’re your impression of America? was doing was edging out the computer almost never good. They start with this Litman: In the early ’90s, they allowed stuff. And I was getting a lot of encour- thinly veiled secrecy — a dismissal, a one week of American TV per year. You agement from teachers like Steve smile, a cryptic hint — only to explode could see “The Flintstones” and “Beverly Almond [author of 10 books, including in your face, breaking your life into Hills, 90210” and “Dallas.” It was kind of 2014’s Against Football: One Fan’s bits, scattering them without a second like, wow, there was this bright and shiny Reluctant Manifesto]. He’s wonderful. thought.” Like Kat, you were diagnosed gloss on everything in that world. I was And so I decided to give myself a few with scoliosis as a little girl, had to wear very much aware I cannot have that gloss, years to really work on writing, and I a brace until you were a teen, and had and did not know how to get that gloss. applied to graduate programs. to go to a special school. How did the diagnosis change your family’s story? Q: You attended the MFA program in Litman: It transformed our whole creative writing at Syracuse University, life. I was 3, and would start school when “I realized that studying with such luminaries as Gary I turned 5. We had to move to a new Lutz, the poet and short story writer; neighborhood closer to the Number it wasn’t that there and George Saunders, the MacArthur A young Litman in her family’s apartment in the Moscow neighborhood of Kuzminki, where 76 School, which treated children with “Genius” Award winner and author she lived until age 5. And with her younger sister and her grandfather in Rechnoy Vokzal or River scoliosis. In Russia then, you couldn’t of this year’s acclaimed Lincoln in the were no disabled Terminal — where they were forced to move so that Ellen could attend the Number 76 School, which just move and buy or rent another place. Bardo. How was that experience? treated children with scoliosis. Her mother quit her job to stay with Ellen. You had to go to an exchange bureau people in Russia. Litman: I got incredibly lucky! George and organize a swap, our apartment in Saunders became my thesis advisor, and our neighborhood for someone else’s They were just he was generous to me, and to all his en in America, I thought I’d see where out on a coffee date. I said yes. good reason. In my day, rudeness was just apartment in another neighborhood. My students. I learned a ton from his litera- it took me. The poet Penelope Pelizzon He left for home the next day, but we part of the reality in Russia. Everything mother quit her job in order to work at hidden away. ture classes, and I learned how to teach [associate professor, Department of emailed and Skyped, met in London, and is state-run. There was no competition. my school. creative writing classes too. He had a very English] was on the search committee were married six months later. Why be nice? It’s not like you’ll go to a In the world we lived in, we did not In America, they intuitive approach to responding to stu- at UConn. She was the one who really different store. know about bad illnesses or situations, dents’ work, and to the energy of a class. loved the book. She’s been my champion Q: In the book, Kat’s parents are so we didn’t know what to do when we were visible.” He always talked about having respect and mentor and supporter ever since. We dissidents. Were your parents dissi- Q: What are you working on now? learned I had scoliosis. A lot of things for the reader. Think of your writing as if went on to co-direct the Creative Writing dents, too? Litman: I’m in the middle of three were kept out of the society. If a child had you’re driving a motorcycle, he’d say, and Program in the English Department. It’s Litman: No. My parents were part of different projects. One is a sequel to limitations, that child was hidden from Q: What was it like to be an immigrant, the reader is in the sidecar right next to a really great program. It’s not a big pro- a generation that had experienced many Mannequin Girl, with some of the same the world, sent to a special school. and start over in a new country? you. You don’t want to condescend. The gram, but it’s found a lot of people whose hard things, and they did not want to be characters, set in the late perestroika When we first immigrated to Pitts- Litman: The Last Chicken in America reader is an equal. work I admire. involved. They were very cautious and years. Having lived with perestroika, I’m burgh, I wondered why there were so was about the initial immigrant experi- Half of us were doing traditional I started here in 2007, before I had needed to be cautious. It was ingrained in very much interested in how it shaped many disabled people on the streets, on ence. Immigration is really hard on your writing, half were more experimental. kids. And then when I had kids (Polina, me, too, to be cautious. one’s political sensibilities. the bus. Then I realized that it wasn’t ego. Even the simplest conversation is I’m more traditional. Gary Lutz ap- 7, and Olwen, 3), I have found it to be a But I did have these two charismat- But of course, corruption set in after that there were no disabled people in hard. My English was barely service- proached language like a poet would. really supportive family-friendly envi- ic literature teachers in my life, who I perestroika, and eventually this led the Russia. They were just hidden away. able, but it was the best in the family, And the teachers all offered gentle ronment. I love this place. just adored. Anechka and Misha [Kat’s way to Putin. In America, people may In America, they were visible. so I had to make appointments and ask encouragement if something could be parents in the book] were a product of believe in a leader. I don’t think many directions. Your whole sense of self and improved in your writing, if each word Q: Speaking of family, let me mention that. But once I had these characters, I Russians have that idealism. Q: Was it hard to leave Russia? identity changes. It was incredibly hard was the best possible choice. I wrote the your husband, Ian Fraser. He’s a native couldn’t rely on my own experience so In my Immigrant Narrative class now, Litman: When we decided to go, I was on my parents. It felt like everything was bulk of the stories for Last Chicken at of Johannesburg, South Africa, and much. I was more well-behaved than Kat. we talk about how America is supposed destroyed. In Russia, you never expect to breaking apart in various ways. Nothing Syracuse, and had the manuscript by was a playwright, fiction writer, and My eldest daughter is very self-confident to be the land of immigrants. But it’s move. There are not equal opportunities felt normal. the time I finished. standup comedian there. How did you and will debate her teacher and ask for never been equally accepting to immi- in other cities within Russia, so hardly two meet? help. And I’m this mouse! grants, letting in European immigrants anyone leaves the place where they were Q: After college, you worked a number Q: How did you end up at UConn? Litman: On the T! We were on the Red Part of it is that my daughter’s a prod- but not Asian immigrants in the past, born. You expect to stay in the same of IT jobs, in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Litman: After I taught some work- Line in Boston. We both got on at Park uct of where she was born, and I’m still a for instance. My students can find this a neighborhood and have the same friends Boston. Were you also doing creative shops at Syracuse, I taught at the Univer- Street and got off at Harvard Square. He product of where I was born. In Russia, revelation. With what’s going on in the forever. Everything my life was built on writing on the side? sity of Wisconsin-Madison and also at was visiting America and asked if he was in my brace, I had to brace myself. I was news with immigration, every day, it all was disappearing. It felt unimaginable Litman: Not at first, but I started tak- Babson College in Wellesley, Massachu- on the right platform, which started a pointed at. And anyone, at any time, a completely resonates with them now. to leave. ing writing classes at night at Cambridge setts. After Norton published Last Chick- conversation, and he asked if I’d like to go neighbor, a clerk, will yell at you for no And with me.

36 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 37 The Quiet Genius of COACH PENDERS CON U N • • 18 96

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• B A L Cold-weather baseball teams aren’t supposed S E B A L to have the kind of success Jim Penders has had in his 14 seasons as head coach of the Huskies. It’s in his DNA, other coaches insist — and they may be right.

By Kenneth Best Photo By Peter Morenus

SUMMER 2017 39 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 head coach, Penders will have been part bats, balls, and gloves around the Penders ence, he returned to Washington, D.C., to Baseball is in the of UConn baseball for 25 of the past 27 house, the coach living there never put work as a political fundraiser for U.S. Sen. years — as a student-athlete, assistant pressure on his boys to play the sport. Tom Harkin of Iowa. During that time he “Jim has blood of UConn Huskies coach, or head coach. He is a four-time Penders doesn’t remember his father met President Clinton. However, he soon baseball coach Jim F. conference Coach of the Year who has led giving him any instruction in the game found himself thinking about baseball. the Huskies to 30 or more wins in 11 of of baseball until he was his player as a “I was feeling a pull to do what my dad Penders ’94 (CLAS), 13 seasons, while developing 39 players freshman in high school. did,” says Penders. “I always use the line coaching either drafted or signed by professional “He made his sons seekers by not from ‘Godfather III’: ‘Just when I thought ’98 MA — not just baseball teams — including nine who shoving it down our throats. We always I was out, they pull me back in.’” have won All-America honors. emulated him, wanted to please him, He called his former coach, Baylock, figuratively but also, In 2016, the Huskies won their first but it was never that push. He told us to asking whether he could be a graduate in his American Athletic Conference title and study and do well in the classroom. That’s assistant coach. Baylock knew the family one may argue, literally. made their fourth NCAA Tournament ap- where he pushed us, but never in athlet- coaching history, had coached Penders’ His father, Jim E. ’66 (ED), a four- pearance in the last seven seasons despite ics,” says Penders. father and uncle, and recognized DNA” time championship high school baseball being a cold-weather team competing He says he couldn’t help but want Penders’ commitment to academics. coach and national coach of the year against conference opponents based to pursue the game, because his dad’s “On my teams, if you made dean’s list, you at East Catholic High School in Man- in primarily warm-weather locations. former players would show up at their got a steak dinner at my house,” Baylock Nancy Stevens, chester, Connecticut, and his uncle, Penders’ record of 479-338-4 (at press house. “I think that drew me eventually says. “He was always at the dinner table.” Tom ’67 (BUS), who would coach four time) is second only to that of his mentor, into coaching.” The timing turned out to be right, as Hall of Fame field different Division I teams to the NCAA Andy Baylock (556-492-8), who coached A greater baseball influence on the part-time UConn assistant coach Marek Basketball Tournament, played togeth- all of the Penders men during his long 8-year-old Jim would be his grandfather, Drabinski ’90 (BUS), ’94 MA, who played hockey coach er on the Huskies’ 1965 College World career as Huskies head coach. Sal Cholko, whose photo — in a catch- two years in the Atlanta Braves organi- Series team. His paternal grandfather, er’s crouch holding up a glove — sits on zation, had just been hired as head coach Jim W., was the longtime championship Penders’ desk alongside images of the at Brown. Penders returned to Storrs as a baseball coach, with four state titles, at Drawn into coaching elder Penders men during their playing graduate assistant coach while pursuing Huskies baseball player Delroy Parkinson Stratford (Connecticut) High School, Penders’ earliest memory is, naturally, days, surrounded by baseball memorabil- a master’s degree in education. Two years ’87 (BUS), ’93 MBA, who lives in the area, where the playing field at Longbrook one of baseball. He was 3 years old, and ia on the walls and shelves in his office. later, he became the Huskies’ first full- stopped by for a short chat, just before Park now bears his name. In the 1930s, his father’s East Catholic team had just During summers when the Penders boys time assistant baseball coach. Penders learned that the Huskies would Coach Penders’ maternal grandfather, won its first state championship at Yale visited their grandparents in Stratford, For the next seven years, Penders face a right-hander. Penders gave a lineup Sal Cholko, was a catcher for the state’s Field in New Haven. Someone boosted there would be a game of catch in the recruited student-athletes, served as card to the umpire, and the game started. American Legion Baseball championship young Jim over the fence so that he could backyard; Cholko would turn young Jim’s hitting coach, and worked with catchers The Huskies scored on a two-run team and later played in the Bridgeport run to hug his father, but by the time he hat around, as a catcher would do in order and outfielders. When Baylock decided to double in the first inning when the Ohio Industrial League. And his brother, Rob, was over the fence, the team had hoisted to put on a mask. Later, when the young step down as head coach in 2003, Penders State coach walked out to home plate and serves as the baseball coach at Division II the elder Penders up in celebration and Penders tried out for an instructional moved to the next seat over on the dugout began talking with the umpire. Penders St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas. was carrying him away. “I was crying my league team, one of the coaches asked bench. had handed the umpire the batting order This impressive lineage makes Jim F. eyes out, wondering where they were tak- who wanted to be a catcher. “No hands “Like they say, moving over 12 inches for the left-handed pitcher, sending up Penders a lifer, a characterization consid- ing my daddy,” he says. “It was traumatic, went up,” Penders recalls. “I figured I’d on the bench is a giant leap — realizing batters in the incorrect order according ered high tribute in a sport that began in and I remember it clearly.” get to play if I raised my hand. I liked you don’t know everything that the to the official lineup card. The runs would its modern form in the mid-19th century Better memories began to take shape getting dressed in the gear.” head coach does until you had to do it,” not count, and the inning was over. The and was described by the poet Walt Whit- as Penders started to play the game An all-state catcher at East Catholic, Penders says. “That first year, in Decem- Huskies quickly took the field so that man as “our game – the American game.” himself. He and his younger brothers, where he also served as senior class ber, I’m thinking, what am I supposed Ohio State could bat. Now in his 14th season as the Huskies’ Mike and Rob, organized neighborhood president, Penders went on to become a to be doing today? It was trial and error, “I learned in that instance: You have Wiffle ball games in the backyard of their four-year letter winner for the Huskies having to have my antenna up on every- to be accountable,” Penders says. “I felt home in Vernon. They made a field by and a co-captain for the squad that won thing, realizing the buck stops with you.” as alone as I’ve ever been in the dugout putting up fences, foul lines, and a score- the Big East Conference tournament. He while our players ran out on the field. I board, even improvising a public address played in the NCAA championships his gathered the team as quickly as possible, From top, photos Penders keeps system to announce the game using junior and senior years and earned First A winning philosophy looked them all in the eye, and said, ‘I on his desk: Dad Jim E. ‘66 (ED) walkie-talkies. After East Catholic games, Team All-Northeast, All-New England, He knew there would be mistakes to really screwed up. It’s all my fault. It will where they served as batboys, the and All-Big East honors during his senior learn from, none more memorable than never, ever happen again.’ They said, and Uncle Tom ‘67 (BUS) on the Penders boys would quickly move onto season, when he hit .354 with seven home in Jacksonville, Florida, during one of his ‘We got your back, Coach.’ We lost in the Huskies’ 1965 College World Series Eagle Field and run around the base runs and 46 runs batted in. first road trips as head coach. Preparing 10th inning, but after that, we won eight team; Grandfather Jim coaching path while their father took down the Between his junior and senior years, to play against Ohio State, a Top 25 team straight, and it finished a great trip. To American flag before speaking with news Penders served as an intern for U.S. Rep. this day, I’ll go over the lineup line by line Stratford High; maternal Grandfather that year, Penders set his two lineup reporters. Sam Gejdenson of Connecticut and, after cards — one for a right-handed pitcher, in the dugout.” Sal Cholko. And though there were always used graduating with a degree in political sci- one for a left-handed pitcher. Former Penders has turned such hard-won les-

40 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 41 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 39 “I think Jim might be the best coach working at UConn” Geno Auriemma, Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach

sons into a coaching philosophy his stu- win and to give everything you had,” says dent-athletes know as ACE — Attention, Matt Barnes ’11 (CLAS), now a pitcher ‘A Real History’ Concentration, and Effort — that has for the Boston Red Sox. Barnes is one of Huskies field hockey coach Nancy resulted in five former Huskies currently several former Huskies who returned to Stevens and women’s basketball coach on the rosters of Major League Baseball Connecticut for the annual preseason Geno Auriemma, both Hall of Famers in teams and five in the minor leagues. baseball dinner in January to talk with their respective sports, have observed “When Jim talks to a player, it’s not current members of the team about Penders as he has taken the baseball just to make him feel good today. If he their shared experience under Penders. program toward higher levels of success thinks the player is slighting himself, he “We adopted the philosophy of paying and national recognition. lets them know,” says Josh MacDonald attention to the little things; that’s what “Jim has coaching in his DNA,” says ’06 (CLAS), Huskies pitching coach and separated us from a lot of people. It Stevens. “His coaching staff and players recruiting coordinator since 2012. “We wasn’t just on the baseball field. It was in always represent the university in the don’t have palm trees up here, and we the weight room, running, making sure best manner possible and continue to play in one of the toughest conferences in you had everybody’s back. Doing things bring pride and honor to the Department the country. I think that’s why you see our the right way and working hard. Those of Athletics. Jim does a terrific job of guys doing really well.” were the ingrained philosophies.” honoring his former coach and mentor, Slade Stephen “Jim is a program builder. He wants the Adds Willy Yahn ’18 (CLAS), third Andy Baylock, through competing for student-athletes to understand that the baseman and a co-captain for this year’s conference championships and post- Penders led the Huskies to their first-ever American Athletic Conference crown last season, finishing 38–25 en route program is bigger than them,” adds Justin squad: “You know they appreciate what season success. He is a valued colleague to their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last seven seasons. Four Huskies were drafted to MLB teams in Blood, who spent six years as the Huskies Coach Penders and the program did for and friend.” 2016, including All-American Anthony Kay, who went 31st overall to the New York Mets. All told, Penders has had 39 pitching coach under Penders before them, not just as baseball players but as Says Auriemma, “I think Jim might be moving on to become head coach at the men. He always talks about how you can’t the best coach working at UConn over players drafted or signed by professional baseball clubs. University of Hartford. “The kids hear fool the man in the mirror. You’ve got to the past 15 years when you consider the the same message from him over and over be doing the right thing at all times.” resources he has and the challenges that again. They respect it and live by it.” The bond shared among current and inherently exist in this part of the world. The motivational speeches Penders former Huskies is strengthened on yet To be able to consistently, year after year school that would evolve into the Univer- No. 16, to coach his team. Most college yourself so seriously; you’re not that im- delivers also can result in some mem- another level — that is, practicing at J.O. after year, put together a great baseball sity of Connecticut. athletes choose a uniform number worn portant. The program, the university, are orable events, such as the one several Christian Field in Connecticut’s frigid program and to produce the number of “We’re just trying to outwork the by a parent or older sibling, a favorite a hell of a lot more important than you’ll former Husky players recall taking place weather in preseason when it is possi- major leaguers they have, that’s the kind opposition,” Penders had said. “We have professional athlete in the sport, or the ever be. My father playing here, my uncle in Florida during the Big East Conference ble, and moving indoors when there is of stuff that’s done in warm-weather won more games [48] than any other number they wore in high school. As a playing here, there’s a real history that’s tournament after Penders was named snow on the ground, doesn’t slow them states where they play year-round.” team that has worn the uniform since UConn freshman, Penders asked to wear important to me, and I try not to screw Coach of the Year. As the team bus was down. In recent years, during extended Penders embraces the responsibility of 1896. Nobody can take that away. I talked No. 15, the number worn by New York it up. I wear it as a constant reminder of heading back to the hotel, the head coach travel for the American Athletic Confer- being part of the legacy of both Connecti- to the guys about Charles and Augustus Yankees catcher Thurman Munson, his that. No matter how many games we win, told the driver to stop on the small bridge ence, UConn vies with competitors who cut’s baseball history as well as the state’s Storrs. They just wanted to be better favorite player growing up. Learning it you’re still wearing 16, and you’re still they were crossing. He stood in the front primarily practice in warm-weather cli- flagship university. That was evident in farmers. That’s where it started. That’s belonged to another Husky player, he that clueless freshman.” of the bus, holding up the trophy he had mates. “We can hang with all these other 2010 following a loss to the University what it’s got to be about. We’ve got to asked the veteran equipment manager Turn to page 50 for information about just received, and said, “I don’t give a teams and beat them while they’re down of Oregon in the first round of the NCAA outwork everybody.” for any odd number — but nothing with the new baseball facility planned for [expletive!] about this award! I want south working out all the time,” says baseball tournament, which included Penders’ insistence on hard work and the No. 6, a number he disliked. The next these Huskies. the trophy that says we won the tourna- senior co-captain and second baseman the Huskies’ first NCAA post-season win accountability is not just for his players; day, he found a uniform hanging in his ment!” He then got off the bus and threw Aaron Hill ’17 (CLAS). “Coach Penders since 1979. He began his press confer- it also is for his coaching staff and, most locker with No. “16” on it. And go to s.uconn.edu/penders for ence talking about the history of baseball the trophy into the water, filling the bus tells us there are no excuses. Having to important, himself. He says there is a “The next year, you get to change an annotated, narrated tour of the with laughter. deal with all those different elements, I in Storrs and the brothers who donated reminder of that expectation each day the number,” Penders says. “I’ve kept it myriad paraphernalia in Jim Penders’ “There was always an expectation to take pride in that.” their farmland to begin the agricultural when he puts on his baseball uniform, because it’s a daily reminder: Don’t take Gampel Pavilion office.

42 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 43 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 UCONN NATION | ALUMNI

CLASS NOTES (CLAS), ’76 MA published UConn with a bachelor of a new book, Maximizing 1970s music, becomes the sixth Your ROPI—Return on Your president of the liberal People Investment. It focuses arts school, which houses 1950s on how to attract and retain The Hartt School of music. the “best people” by creating ➼ Getulio P. Carvalho ’71 Woodward, a composer, the “best job” in the “best MA, ’76 Ph.D, a member of musician, scholar, and organization,” says Strom, the board of directors for the athlete, has been president ➼ Everett Hyland ’52 who has more than 30 years Government Accountability of Carthage College in (CAHNR), a Stamford, of experience in management Project (GAP), has funded Kenosha, Wis., since 2012 Conn., native and survivor of training, coaching, and the Carvalho Fellowship and was formerly dean Pearl Harbor, reports that he consulting. He was sports for International Research, of the school of music at is living in Honolulu, Hawaii. editor and editor-in-chief which will be awarded Ithaca College. He grew up At age 93, he is still an active of the Connecticut Daily each summer. The GAP in West Hartford, Conn., volunteer at the Memorial. Campus when he was an is a nongovernmental and attended Hall High He has fond memories of his undergraduate. organization and law firm School. ➼ Paul Agrimis four years in Storrs, where ➼ John Harrington ’66 in Washington, D.C., that ’79 (ENG), of Portland, he attended the School (CLAS) published a novel works to protect and defend Ore., recently received the of Agriculture and was a in 2016 with Archway Books, whistleblowers in the U.S. and Distinguished Practitioner member of Kappa Sigma The Year of the Lieutenant. around the world. The 2016 award from the Oregon fraternity. He wrote it in the mid-’70s, fellow is Keith Henderson, Chapter of the American ➼ Norman Freyer ’58 then rewrote it in recent who teaches law at American Society of Landscape (CAHNR) was recently years. He tells us it is the University and specializes Architects. ➼ Clifford awarded a lifetime story of United States Air in whistleblower-protection A. Lange ’79 (CLAS) membership in the Citrus Force personnel serving in legislation. ➼ Ann I. Weber was recently promoted to Watercolor Society. He is a Thailand during the time of ’74 (CLAS), ’85 JD, of executive vice president-chief past president of the society the Vietnam War. Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, financial officer and chief and the only lifetime member. ➼ Robert Nicoletti ’67 was recently selected to the actuary of Boston Mutual He is also a member of the MA, ’68 Sixth Year reports 2016 Massachusetts Super Life Insurance Co. in Canton, Nature Coast Painters art that his book Parenthood : Lawyers List in the field of Mass. Lange and his wife, critique group and The Art A Life Sentence? A Journey elder law. Weber, who lives in Cindy Lange ’87 (CLAS), Center of Citrus County, and from Womb to Tomb has Granville, Mass., concentrates moved to Mattapoisett, Mass., is an associate member of the been released by Outskirts her practice in the areas in 2016 now that their three Florida Watercolor Society. Press. Nicoletti is a retired of estate planning, estate daughters have “grown up His work can be seen on school superintendent and is administration, probate, and left the nest.” In 2016, his website, norman-freyer currently on the faculty in the and elder law. ➼ Arthur Lange completed 120.7 .artistwebsites.com Graduate School of Education Horwitz ’76 (CLAS) miles in a three-day footrace at Quinnipiac University. was elected in February as called “Across the Years” in ➼ Carol Milardo Floriani board chair of Detroit Public Glendale, Ariz. In 2015, he ’68 (NUR) reports that completed 61.1 miles in a 1960s Television, the 10th largest she is currently “retired” in PBS affiliate. He recently 24-hour footrace called “24 Easley, S.C., but continues concluded a four-year term Hours Around the Lake” in to work as a hospice nurse, as commissioner and chair Wakefield, Mass. ➼ Theodore Pisk ’65 visiting patients in their of the nonpartisan Michigan (CLAS) and his father, homes. Her previous careers Civil Rights Commission, Courtesy of UConn Cares of UConn Courtesy Stan Pisk, were inducted were in nursing education which in 2016 received into the Connecticut section and management of hospices more than 2,000 claims 1980s UConn Nation Gives Back of the Professional Golfers’ and home health agencies of housing, employment, Association of America’s Hall in California. “I am ever For information about and public accommodation of Fame in November during grateful for Dean Widmer ➼ Chris Gedney ’81 alumni happenings in your The first UConn Cares event kicked off this April, with alums volunteering across America. The discrimination and a ceremony at Foxwoods and Jo Henderson for my (ED) was hired by Arizona neck of the woods, visit program exceeded all expectations, says Jodi Kaplan, senior director of Alumni Relations. With 22 completed an extensive Resort Casino. Stan Pisk, great UConn education!” investigation into alleged State University (ASU) after uconnalumni.com/events. events nationwide, more alums in L.A., San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, Tampa, Hartford, and many a WWII vet who fought in she says. ➼ Arno Zimmer civil rights violations receiving her Ph.D. in social other locations volunteered at food banks, animal shelters, soup kitchens, and coastal and park the Normandy invasion ’68 (CLAS), of Bridgeport, centered on the Flint water work from the University of cleanups to name a few. The purpose of UConn Cares, says Kaplan, is for alumni to join together and Battle of the Bulge, was Conn., has released Return to crisis. He is president of Utah in May 2017. Gedney to volunteer for causes that are meaningful and beneficial to their own communities. awarded posthumously. Both Parlor City, the sequel to his Renaissance Media. His wife, was the first UConn women's —EMMA CASAGRANDE ’18 (CLAS) Pisks worked for many years first 1950s mystery novel, The Gina Wesler Horwitz ’78 basketball scholarship as golf professionals at the Parlor City Boys. The novel (CLAS), is a senior major athlete and retired from Clockwise from top left: In Philly, alums spent a day working on a small urban farm with A.W. Stanley Municipal Golf follows a master con artist on gift officer for Wayne State the Air Force with the Urbanstead, an organization that uses urban farming to empower Philadelphia’s vulnerable youth; Course in New Britain. Ted the run who can’t resist the University in Detroit. rank of lieutenant colonel. Pisk, who majored in political in Boynton Beach, Florida, alums sorted goods for Feeding South Florida, which gives food to local opportunity to return to the ➼ Gregory S. Woodward Her dissertation, the first science and minored in scene of his earlier crimes. randomized controlled trial soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters, and day cares; in Chicago, alums put their creativ- ’77 (SFA) has been named economics at UConn, did not Zimmer also has written the new president of the of a military sexual assault ity to use making cat wands and dog tug toys for the Anti-Cruelty Society; and San Francisco alums play on the University’s golf three children’s books and a University of Hartford in intervention, revealed major volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in the Park Beautification project. team because he was already business textbook. Connecticut effective July 1. shortfalls and significant a professional golfer by then. Woodward, who graduated areas for improvement. She ➼ John Strom ’65 magna cum laude from presented her findings to

44 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAMAGAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 45 UCONN NATION | ALUMNI

performed March 13, 2017 ➼ Maura A. Power ’94 for The Connecticut Law in Hartford as an associate who is currently working at Carnegie Hall as part of (CAHNR), a PE teacher Tribune’s “New Leaders in the attorney. She was admitted on his doctorate in physics the National Youth Concert. and running coach at Law Class of 2016.” A panel to the Connecticut Bar at the University of California ➼ Dr. John Thomas Trinity Catholic Academy in of judges chose him based on Association in November Riverside, was selected as Marcoux ’89 (CAHNR) Southbridge, Mass., ran her his efforts and achievements after earning her law degree an inaugural recipient of of Sudbury, Mass., a foot and first marathon, in Clonakilty, in development of the law, and a master’s in public the UC-National Lab ankle surgeon practicing Ireland, in December. She advocacy and community health degree from UConn In-Residence Graduate as program director for says it took her six hours contributions, service to in May. ➼ Bayla Ostrach Fellowship. He’ll conduct podiatric medicine and and was hard mentally in the bar, and peer and public ’14 Ph.D., published a book, research and get training surgery residency at St. the middle of the trek, from recognition. Health Policy in a Time of at the Los Alamos National Elizabeth’s Medical Center miles 13 to 18. Her trip Crisis: Abortion, Austerity, Laboratory in a project in Brighton, Mass., received was sponsored by Vibram, and Access, in January 2017. titled “Strongly Coupled the 2017 American College an Italian company that ➼ Shane Kelly ’14 (ENG), Atomtronics.” 20 of Foot and Ankle Surgeons’ produces rubber outsoles 10s Distinguished Service Award, for footwear, and Team Hoyt one of the college's highest Running Chairs, which makes BY THE NUMBERS honors. He was presented running chairs for people ➼ Barbara Jean Beck with the award at the ACFAS with disabilities. ➼ Jennifer Beeching ’10 Ph.D. reports Annual Scientific Conference Monahan ’95 MBA that she published a book, UConn Foundation thanks you for your in Las Vegas in February 2017. recently released her first Hopes and Expectations: The generosity in 2016. book, This Trip Will Change Origins of the Black Middle Your Life: A Shaman's Story Class in Hartford, through KUDOS of Spirit Evolution, which was SUNY Press in January 2017. selected as a finalist in the She earned her first degree A total of donors 90s Former women’s basketball star and current ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo ’95 (CLAS) talks with 19 2016 USA Best Book Awards in journalism in 1950 at the 24,701 in the Spiritual-Inspirational University of Missouri and ESPN’s Jay Bilas about being named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The first gave in 2016 UConn player to win the honor, she joins UConn coaches Geno Auriemma and Jim Calhoun. Lobo ➼ Don Langer ’90 category. ➼ Cheryl returned to academia later $78.3M helped bring UConn its first national championship during the undefeated 1994-95 season. (BUS), the CEO for (Dyson) Stephenson in life, earning a master’s the UnitedHealthcare ’99 (CAHNR) was recently in American studies at Community Plan of Texas, promoted to controller of Trinity College in 1996 and has been elected to the board MetroHartford Alliance. a doctorate in history at the several members of Congress innovative ideas, hard work, at the University of Guam of directors of Special University of Connecticut $ and is currently developing and commitment by Boston in Mangilao. She also gave Olympics Texas. ➼ Erin in 2010. ➼ Ron Ciak ’11 Program Support curriculum for a military city employees. Her team a master class for flute Sherman Pezqueda (CLAS, ENG) married social work concentration was selected for the role students. Her nationally ’91 (CLAS), 6th Year 2000s Collyn Seeger ’08 55 at ASU. ➼ LeeAnn they played in launching the syndicated radio program, recently received her (CLAS), ’09 MS on Oct. (Landrigan) Coleman Authority's new web-based “Sunday Baroque,” is UConn Administrator 16, 2016, in Groton, Conn., new endowed ’83 (BUS), controller of Property Management broadcast via KPRG, the Preparation Program ➼ Danielle (Beil) at the Branford House on $ funds created the Boston Redevelopment Solution to proactively local public radio station diploma from UConn. ➼ Nartowicz ’03 (BUS) the grounds of UConn Scholarships Authority, was promoted manage its commercial real in Guam. ➼ Leslie Imse Kathleen (Szewczyk) recently was promoted Avery Point. ➼ Jordan and Fellowships in 2016 to deputy director estate portfolio. ’87 MA, chair of the music Kenney ’93 (ED) received to Group Vice President Bennett ’11 (CLAS) of financial services. She ➼ Eric T. Johnson ’84 department for Farmington the 2016 Pennsylvania of Financial Planning at recently took a job as senior Research Support was honored by Boston (CLAS), of Pomfret Center, public schools, was presented State Association of Macy’s. She has been with public relations manager Mayor Marty Walsh as an Conn., recently published the Departmental Arts Health Physical Education the company for more than at The Berman Group, a $ % Innovation Excellence Award a book, From Park Ranger Program Excellence Award Recreation and Dance 10 years. ➼ Rebecca J. marketing, public relations, increase winner, which recognizes to Conservation Police by the Connecticut Arts Professional Honor Award. Pirozzolo-Mellowes and event-planning firm in Faculty Support Officer, which chronicles Administrators Association. ➼ Jessica McCauley ’97 ’04 JD has been elected to New York City. Prior to that, his career in conservation “My education at the (BUS), of Monroe, Conn., the partnership at Foley & he was a member of Hillary SHARE YOUR law enforcement. ➼ Susan University of Connecticut was recently named a Lardner’s Milwaukee office. Clinton's 2016 presidential NEWS WITH Brillhart ’84 (NUR), of has served me well in the field partner in the accounting ➼ Jill (Curtis) Heslin ’04 campaign’s rapid response $ UCONN NATION! Hoboken, N.J., a pediatric of music, and I am a proud firm of Beers, Hamerman, (CLAS) and Kevin Heslin communications team and Your classmates want to nurse practitioner for 30 Husky!” she said. ➼ Heather Cohen & Burger. McCauley ’05 (CLAS) welcomed their previously was associate Capital know about the milestones years, was recently honored Sherman Somers ’88 joined the firm in 2006 and first son, Brian Curtis Heslin, director of communications Improvement

in your life. Send news about for her commitment as a (CLAS) was elected to the specializes in providing in October 2016. They were for Washington, D.C., Mayor Projects $9.6M $25.4M weddings, births, new jobs, volunteer for neglected Connecticut State Senate in accounting and auditing married in 2009. ➼ Muriel Bowser. ➼ Brian Kelcie 2015 2016 new publications, and and abused children in November 2016. ➼ Sharon services to a variety of E. Tims ’05 (BUS), ’08 Reid ’13 (CLAS), ’16 JD, more to: the Hudson County court Buchta Rizzo ’88 (SFA) organizations including not- JD, an attorney at Halloran ’16 MPH has joined the ➼ alumni-news@ system. She was given New is a professional cellist and for-profits, manufacturing & Sage LLP, was selected law offices of John Q. Gale Source: The UConn Foundation/www.foundation.uconn.edu uconnalumni.com Jersey Monthly magazine’s music educator in Big Bear companies, and employee Seeds of Hope Award for or via snail mail to Lake, Calif. She is responsible benefit plans. Outside of Alumni News & Notes her commitment as one of for the first strings program work, she serves as treasurer the state’s most dedicated in the community and and board member of the UConn Foundation IN MEMORIAM 2384 Alumni Drive volunteers. ➼ Flutist founder of MountainTop Monroe Travel Basketball Unit 3053 Suzanne Bona ’85 (SFA) Strings of California, a youth League and is a member of Storrs, CT 06269 was the featured guest orchestra and camerata the finance and investment Please visit s.uconn.edu/june17obits to find obituaries for alumni and faculty. And please share news of alumni deaths and obituaries with Submissions may be edited for performer in a chamber that plays throughout committees of the Kennedy UConn Magazine by sending an email to [email protected] or writing to Alumni News & Notes, UConn Foundation, 2384 clarity or length. music concert Oct. 15, 2016, the region. The camerata Center. Alumni Drive Unit 3053, Storrs, CT 06269.

46 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 47 UCONN NATION | ALUMNI

Alum James Gagliardi is a supervisory horticulturalist at the Smithsonian Gardens in Washington, D.C. ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT GREEN THUMB, BLEEDS BLUE James Gagliardi ’05 (CAHNR) has an American History Museum is a Victory “the first true ‘exhibit’ within the Smith- encyclopedic mind for all things ecologi- Garden,” named for the gardens planted sonian Gardens.” Inside you’ll learn, for cal, a fact quickly apparent on a tour of his by millions during the world wars to ease instance, that some bumblebees buzz at gardens — which happen also to be every constraints on the public food supply. the piano equivalent of a middle C note, U.S. citizen’s gardens. Gagliardi is a super- Gagliardi entered UConn as an unde- hummingbirds consume up to 12,000 visory horticulturalist at the Smithsonian clared major but had always enjoyed calories per day, and there are four times Gardens in Washington, D.C. gardening, selling cut flowers out of his as many species of beetles as animals with As we saunter along the grounds of the 1780s colonial home in Berlin, Conn. He backbones. Gagliardi notes one downside Mary Livingston Ripley Garden, I request joined and eventually became president of of appealing to the Snapchat generation: a fun fact. He glances at the plant directly the Horticulture Club and ran its annual “We used to put 200 words on a panel. to our right and says, “This species was on-campus horticulture show. A junior Now we’re down to 50 or so.” discovered in Georgia in the 1780s by the year internship at Polly Hill Arboretum Next on Gagliardi’s to-do list is an “evo- Bartrams. They brought the seeds to Phil- on Martha’s Vineyard solidified his deci- lution garden,” with plants dating back to adelphia and named the tree after their sion to enter public horticulture for its the dinosaur eras, including ginkgos, bald good friend Benjamin Franklin.” Pointing combined focus on education, sustain- cypress trees, and various ferns. to a label reading simply Franklinia alata- ability, and creating respites for people. “Thirty million people come through maha, he adds, “They were never found in He graduated with a major in horticulture our gardens each year, and UConn has the wild again.” and minors in business administration had an influence on all these landscapes,” Gagliardi has helped select, plan, and and landscape design. he says, and he’s not exaggerating. maintain the natural variety around some Afterward, Gagliardi received his Horticulture professor Mark Brand bred of the world’s most visited museums, master’s in public horticulture at the and patented a switchgrass called ruby tying each garden to the accompanying University of Delaware. He joined the ribbons, which begins with blue-green foliage but turns red weeks earlier than museum’s theme. “Outside the Sackler Smithsonian in 2011. Gagliardi, weeding below right, notes that with no visiting hours, guards, or gates, the gardens are the only Smithsonian properties open Gallery are Asian plants, going back Last summer he transformed the similar switchgrasses. Gagliardi planted it 24/7/365. “Instead of approaching a sterile government building, you get something both aesthetically beautiful and educational,” he to a Ming Dynasty aesthetic,” he says. popular butterfly garden to a broader between the Natural History and Ameri- says. Center left he and staff of Smithsonian Gardens and the National Museum of Natural History discuss an upcoming exhibit in the “Outside the African Art Museum is more “pollinator garden.” Filled with placards can History museums — right in the heart Pollinator Garden on Biocubes—the life in a cubic foot of soil or water over one day. Top is the Smithsonian Castle and below left, the of an Alhambra aesthetic. Outside the about the 230 plants within, he calls it of our capital. —JESSE RIFKIN ’14 (CLAS) Castle seen from the Moon Gate Garden, inspired by the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, next to the Sackler Museum housing Asian art. All photos courtesy of Smithsonian Gardens courtesy All photos 48 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 49 UCONN NATION | ALUMNI

ONE YEAR OUT

Khadijah-Hajdu takes a break at Dog Lane Cafe in Storrs Center in between working the campus job fair for her new employer and attending a graduate class in electrical engineering.

how different it is,” says Khadijah-Hajdu, who is from South Windsor, Connecticut. After graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, she spent her first year out in the “real world” working for Applied Physical Sciences Corporation (APS), even though working wasn’t originally part of her post-grad plan. Khadijah-Hajdu says she had planned to focus solely on pursuing a master’s degree, but when she received the job offer from APS, it was too good to pass up. And the best part? Her employer is paying for her to pursue her master’s in electrical engineering at UConn. Khadijah-Hajdu says she owes at lot of her ease in finding a job to UConn’s research opportunities. She worked with her professors on research projects and participated in a senior design project where her group created a product that measured the strength of a military dog’s bite. “It helped a lot,” she says. “That was what attracted [my employers] to me. They were like, ‘You’re doing a lot of research as an undergraduate. We think you’d be good here.’” Zacchea (left) with Abdel-ridha Gibrael (in beret) at Kirkush; Adjusting to work life wasn’t entirely easy for Khadijah- Gibrael secretly fed information to Zacchea about the Iraqi offi- Hajdu. On top of adapting to 40-hour weeks, she was thrown cers. Right: Soldiers from Fifth Battalion are packed into a Marine into an in-progress project without a clue about what was Corps amphibious assault vehicle minutes before the breach of

expected of her. “Sometimes they’d be like, ‘Oh you need to of Michael Zacchea courtesy Photos Fallujah in November 2004. make sure the compass works.’ And I think, ‘Okay, what is the compass? Where is the compass? What do I need to make sure ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT works about it?’” she explains. “I talked to a couple of people and Ryan Glista Ryan they told me, ‘You have to get used to that. That’s how it is here.’” MICHAEL ZACCHEA WAS THE FIRST U.S. MILITARY ADVISER TO THE IRAQI JACQUELYN KHADIJAH-HAJDU Now she says she is much more confident in her abilities to take ARMY AFTER THE FALL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN initiative in a project. Almost a year after graduating, Jacquelyn Khadijah-Hajdu ’16 Looking back, Khadijah-Hajdu says she probably put more In the wake of the overthrow friendship with Iraqis, the ready to battle the insurgents. crazy situation. I’m not aware (ENG) found herself in Storrs for the annual spring semester pressure on herself than her employers put on her. “You wonder of Saddam Hussein, Michael importance of investing the “Our military unit included of any other advisory mission Career Fair — except this time she was collecting resumés rather if you are meeting the expectations people had when they hired Zacchea ’12 MBA, director time to develop an under- Zoroastrians that the Iraqis where they took warring than handing hers out. you, catching on fast enough, et cetera,” she says. “But there is a of the School of Business’ standing and appreciation called ‘fire worshippers’; factions and tried to make a She says she felt an unfamiliar sense of disconnect from the period of training and catch-up time, and even though I’ve been Entrepreneurship Bootcamp of another culture — and an Yazidis, whom the Iraqis cohesive army out of them.” students approaching her table, despite having walked in their working for about a year, I still have some catching up to do.” for Veterans with Disabilities assassination plot meant to referred to as ‘devil wor- Zacchea says his time there shoes less than a year ago. “It’s hard to use words to describe —EMMA CASAGRANDE ’18 (CLAS) (EBV), eagerly accepted his kill him. shippers’; and various other taught him many lessons, assignment to build, train, “The thing that saved me ethnic and religious groups, chief among them the impor- and lead an Iraqi army. was the trusting relationship many of whom had a long- tance of “political vigilance.” In his just-released book, I had developed with the standing hatred toward each He recounts how the Iraqis’ CALLING UCONN NATION The Ragged Edge, Zacchea Iraqis. They watched out other,” says Zacchea. first election in January 2005 talks about the staggering for me; they protected me. On top of that, he says, saw an estimated 70 percent IF WE BUILD IT . . . hardships and unique chal- Absent that, I think it would Iraqi soldiers were free to turnout. lenges he faced and details have been a very different resign whenever they wished. “I think about that versus UConn Athletics wants all student- the insurgent movement that outcome,” says Zacchea. “We never knew how many how only one-third of Ameri- athletes to have world-class facilities. ultimately gave rise to ISIS. He describes his mission in military personnel we’d have cans are willing to vote. They Fields of dreams in the planning for The recipient of two Iraq as like “trying to build an on any given day.” say things like, ‘Oh, I didn’t go baseball and softball would have Bronze Stars, the Purple airplane in mid-flight.” Sup- The Iraq War was incredi- because it was raining.’ three-sided stadiums with restrooms Heart, and Iraq’s Order of plies were scarce or non-exis- bly complex because of brutal “Americans don’t risk their and concessions, lighted artificial-turf the Lion of Babylon, Zacchea tent, from food to functioning combat, says Zacchea, but lives to vote. We often take competition fields, locker rooms, dug- describes not just the physical toilets to beds, boots, radios, also the challenges of lan- that privilege for granted. outs, batting tunnels, home and visitor and tactical challenges the and vehicles. And beyond guage, religion, propaganda, People need to be politically bullpens, and press boxes. U.S. faced but also the physi- those basics were the obvious and culture. involved.” —CLAIRE HALL cal and psychological toll war cultural and religious divides “Some of these people in For a peek at these and other athletic takes on a military leader. that challenged the develop- the Iraqi army had fought facilities in the works, and to contribute For more on Zacchea, his to making them happen, go to s.uconn. And he shares the powerful ment of a cohesive, respect- against U.S. forces — or program, and the EBV, go edu/facilities. saga of personal bonds of able, accomplished battalion against each other. It was a to s.uconn.edu/zacchea. Peter Morenus Peter

50 UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 51 UCONN NATION | ALUMNI Melissa Rawlins / ESPN Images Rawlins Melissa

JOB ENVY

For most citizens, political debates are all about assessing the candidates. But not if you’re Molly Qerim ’06 (CLAS). “I pay a lot of attention to the moderators,” she told UConn Magazine while sitting outside a TV studio at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn. “I want to see how they craft their questions, how they follow up.” Qerim’s a moderator of a different sort as the host of “First Take,” ESPN’s fiery sports debate show starring the emphatic duo of Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman (on the set with Qerim above). “They definitely have strong opinions,” says Qerim, “and it can be challenging to keep the conversation moving along, especially when the guys are having a heated debate. You don’t want to move on, but we have to. There are other topics we need to get to.” When Qerim landed in Bristol in July 2015, it represented a full-circle return to ESPN, where she had started as an intern a decade earlier while a communications student at UConn; she then had worked in the company’s digital media and on the TV side before moving on. Now she’s back, and her dream job of hosting “First Take” doesn’t even feel like a job. “You’re talking about things you’d be talking about anyway in your free time,” she said. “We’re all big sports fans.” Qerim grew up in Cheshire, Conn., in a family of Husky fans. Her father and an older sister went to UConn as undergraduates, and her mother earned her master’s degree here. The family has had season tickets to men’s and women’s basketball since even before Gam- pel Pavilion opened in 1990. “I’ve been going to games my whole life,” she says. “I was the little girl with Husky tattoos on my chubby cheeks.” —JEFF WAGENHEIM

For more of our interview with Qerim, go to s.uconn.edu/qerim.

5248UCONN MAGAZINE | MAGAZINE.UCONN.EDU SUMMER 2017 Nonprofit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Hartford, CT 34 NORTH EAGLEVILLE ROAD Permit No. 4759 STORRS, CT 06269-3144

CHALLENGE YOURSELF TO TOM'S TRIVIA!

Go to s.uconn.edu/june17trivia to see if you know as much as King of UConn 1. In May 1970, hundreds of students Trivia and University Deputy Spokesperson Tom Breen ’00 (CLAS). occupied the ROTC hangar on cam- pus and staged a “paint-in” because TOM'S they wanted the building converted to what? TRIVIA A: A center for peace studies B: A day care facility C: A student recreation center D: Communal housing for male and female students

The UConn men’s basketball team 2. made its first NCAA tournament appearance on March 20, 1951, in a game that had so many UConn students in attendance a special train from Willimantic to New York was chartered. Who defeated the Huskies on that occasion? A: St. John’s B: Georgetown C: Boston College D: Syracuse

The Josephine Dolan Collection 3. at the School of Nursing includes everything from period medical uniforms to a 500-pound iron lung. Who was Josephine Dolan? A: UConn’s first dean of nursing B: An alumna of the nursing school C: The first nursing instructor at UConn D: A Connecticut nurse who traveled the world collecting medical artifacts 4. B etween the end of World War II and the mid-1950s, an area on the north side of campus became known as “Oil Can Alley.” What was this area used for? A: The university motor pool B: Experiments by the School of Engineering C: Construction equipment storage D: Faculty housing

Nursing students in a dissection course circa 1946. The program is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.