An introduction to popular music and diversity in America: jazz, blues, Top-40 pop, rock, hip-hop and other genres. Musicians and their music studied in the context of twentieth-century and contemporary American society, emphasizing issues of race, gender, class, and resistance. No prior musical training or knowledge required.
In the honors section students will have the opportunity to lead a discussion of one of the reading assignments from the primary-source materials text. Honors students will also have an enhanced writing assignment on a topic of their choosing.
to introduce students to some of the great thinkers and great issues of western philosophy.
to train students in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and clear, persuasive speaking and writing.
to promote reason and civil discourse in debates with others.
The course emphasizes that the sort of discussion taught in philosophy classes is an essential way of inquiring into matters of value, and so is important for coming to wise decisions on the personal, political, moral, religious, social, etc. issues faced by everyone in their lives. Topics include God and Religion, Mind, Self, Freedom, Morality, and Ethical Problems. The textbook will be John Cottingham, ed. Western Philosophy: An Anthology, 2nd Edition. Students are strongly encouraged to participate in class discussion, which will takes issues beyond the elementary exposition of non-honors sections.
This course provides an overview of the policy-making process in American government and the key areas of policy such as economic, environmental, social and foreign policy. In this honors section, students will select a policy of particular interest to them and conduct research on how that policy came to be and the impact it has had on American life.
World Regional Geography concerns a variety of global geographical patterns: environmental, cultural, economic, and others, that are related to the way the world works. This course provides a brief survey of the patterns in general and then takes up selected continental-scale regions in turn for more specific investigation. World Regional Geography meets both the multicultural diversity (international perspective) and social science requirements of general education at UConn. In meeting both it emphasizes the interaction between diverse groups of people both across and within many regions of the world. The course has weekly writing assignments and three tests.
The political science department invites Honors students to consider taking one of the following graduate seminars. With your advisor’s approval, graduate courses may be included in your Honors Final Plan of Study for graduation. They also count toward your Honors participation requirements.
POLS/HRTS 5115: Theories of Human Rights
Zehra Arat
Description: It is often argued that since the Second World War we have been living in the “age of human rights.” Universal human rights have been articulated in and protected by proliferating international treaties, various demands for peace, justice and equality started to be framed as human rights issues, and the advocacy of human rights became a “full-time” job at bourgeoning institutions and organizations. The study of human rights has not only permeated many fields, it has become an interdisciplinary field of study. But, what are human rights? Where do they come from? Who has them? Who can enjoy them? Are there duties? What comes first, rights or duties? Who are the duty bearers? The course examines a range of answers presented since the ancient times and offers a survey of some major classical and contemporary theoretical debates. It also links theoretical arguments to certain articulations of rights and responsibilities in international law or policy proposals.
Readings and requirements: The reading assignments will include a number of books and articles that should be read prior to the class session. As a graduate seminar, the course relies on students’ participation and engagement in class discussions, and the quality and quantity of class participation will constitute at least 25 % of the final grade. Two or three members of the class will serve as discussion leaders for each session. The writing assignments will entail reflection essays and research papers of various lengths.
POLS 5235: Comparative Democratization
Oksan Bayulgen
This seminar is designed to provide students with an overview of the expansive literature on democratization. We will examine the literature on democratization to discern the major approaches, themes, debates surrounding regime change away from authoritarianism. We will focus on transitions to democratic rule in countries that have recently been ruled by authoritarian regimes, rather than the problems of insufficient democratic practices in advanced democracies. The seminar will be organized thematically rather than regionally with empirical cases drawn primarily from Latin America, Southern Europe, and post-communist states of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (my area of interest). We will investigate the meaning of democracy; the risks of reversion to authoritarianism; the factors that facilitate or impede democratic transition; the roles and strategies of elites and civil society organizations; problems with religion and interethnic conflicts in transitions; the role of institutions; the relationship between democratization and economic transformation; the effects of globalization on democratization etc. This is a survey course with the aim of helping the students identify the kinds of questions they may want to pursue in greater detail in the future.
POLS 5240: Research Seminar – Social Movements in an Age of Globalization
C. E. Zirakzadeh
Scope: This research seminar has three goals: (1) to introduce graduate students to various theories about social-movement politics, (2) to give students a chance to hone their research skills in a supportive environment, (3) to give students who specialize in different subfields of political science opportunities to exchange knowledge and ideas (this is not intended to be a “comparative politics” course, a “political theory” course, or even a “political science” course in the narrow sense of the term – graduate students in all subfields and all departments are welcomed!).
Readings: We will read eleven books – some quite old, some hot off the presses – that offer different theories about the origins, the nature, and the consequences of social-movement politics.
Format: At our weekly seminars, I will lecture occasionally. But, we will mainly discuss the meaning and significance of the assigned readings. At the end of the term, every student will have an opportunity deliver a 15-20 minute presentation at the sixth biannual UConn Graduate Student Social-Movement Research Conference (Yippee!). In addition, to receive credit each student must submit a 20-30 page research paper that will be due during finals week.
Grading Formula: 65% of each student’s grade will be based on the final research paper; 20% on the conference presentation (including pre-presentation drafts); and 15% on contributions to seminar discussions. Students can boost their conference-presentation and seminar-contribution grades by serving as a discussant at our end-of-the-term conference.
Undergraduate Enrollees: There will be space reserved for a maximum of three senior undergraduates. Such students must either be in the Honors Program or have previously taken a course with Dr. Zirakzadeh. Dr. Zirakzadeh will give permission numbers to the three students who are accepted into the class.
POLS 5408: An Introduction to American Public Opinion and Political Behavior
Shayla Nunnally
This course is an advanced undergraduate and graduate seminar serving as an introduction to American public opinion and political behavior. We will read, discuss, critique, and expand past and current research on American public opinion and political behavior through the lenses and experiences of multiple social groups in American politics. As such, special attention will be paid to debates about theories and methods implemented to study, explain, and document American political behavior. Major topical themes will include the study of cognition, affect, and psychological processing in identity, group attachments, opinion formation, ideologies, and political participation, along with mass public opinion (and opinion change, over time) about political actors, political institutions, and public policies in American politics. Additional emphasis will be paid to the creativity and development of innovative public opinion/political behavior studies.
POLS 5610: Research Design in Political Science Michael Morrell
This course provides an initial overview of the variety of approaches used to structure research in political science. It will expose students to both qualitative and quantitative methods, including Interpretivism, Feminism, Intersectionality, Case Studies, Comparative Approaches, Textual Analysis, Historical Approaches, Field Research, Ethnography, Participant Observation, Surveys, Elite Interviewing, Focus Groups, and Experiments. We will also discuss Causation and Explanation, Concepts and Measurement, Multi-method Research, and Research Ethics. I hope that students walk away from the course with:
an appreciation for the wide variety of research design options that are available;
a respect for, and an open-mindedness to, a variety of approaches;
a willingness to judge the application of different approaches based on the quality of the work;
an understanding that no single approach is superior to any other approach simply because of the nature of that approach; and
an understanding that all approaches have strengths and weaknesses, and involve tradeoffs and choices.
Honors Enrollment: I will reserve space for up to three honors undergraduates to enroll in the course. This course is especially appropriate for junior honors students who will be completing a thesis next year that utilizes empirical research methods. You should contact me if you are interested in taking the course and include a brief explanation of the research project that will guide your senior honors thesis. I will give permission numbers to those students for whom the course is most appropriate.
Instructors: Kate McGovern and Peter McGovern, UConn Law School
The instructors for this new class will be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students.
An essential course for all students interested in careers in the arts (including creative writing!), law, library science, journalism, or non-profit cultural institutions. This course introduces students to the Law involved in creative practice. Topics addressed include national and international copyright law, trademarks, licensing, contract negotiations, and more. No background necessary.
Professor Asencio invites Honors students to enroll in her new graduate course. With your Honors advisor’s approval, graduate courses may be included in your Honors Final Plan of Study for graduation. They also count toward your Honors participation requirements.
Description: This interdisciplinary social science course centers on the racial framing of the Latina/o population in the United States in terms of reproduction and immigration. This course utilizes an intersectional lens to explore the connections of race, gender, class, national origin, religion, and sexuality within structures of power, nation-building, citizenship, and the attending social and health inequities. The course begins with the development of the concept of race and racial concerns and policies targeting reproduction and immigration across key periods in U.S. history. Thus, providing a background to current debates/concerns, policies, and the material conditions of Latina/os and other minority populations in terms of reproduction and immigration. The course will cover structural racism and privilege, racial-ethnic identification, citizenship, documented and undocumented immigration, fertility, families, motherhood, children, reproductive health access and care as well as the structural continuation of social and health inequities within the United States. The course will also address the connections of race, reproduction and immigration in the United States with the global south.
If you read your last Honors Alumni newsletter, you should be able to answer the following question: What do Jeopardy!, the Ford Mustang, Lucky Charms cereal, the plasma TV, and the UConn Honors Program have in common? If you answered, “They are all turning 50 this year,” you are correct! Although, it might be more appropriate to say, “What is they are all turning 50, Alex!” We have so much to be proud of at the UConn Honors Program, and we will be spending the 2014 – 2015 academic year celebrating our program, our alumni, our faculty and staff members who are the heart and soul of Honors, and our current students who remind us each day why we do the work we.
Here are some of our plans for our Golden Anniversary: (more…)
Robert T. Egan ’74 was appointed chairman of the commercial litigation department of Archer & Greiner, P.C., a regional law firm of over 175 attorneys headquartered in Haddonfield, New Jersey, and among the five largest law firms in New Jersey. James Tierney ’78 moved into show business after leaving Microsoft. He has been director and manager of the Renton Civic Theatre for eight years. He also co-owns and manages The Farm at Cedar Springs, a retreat center and wedding location, which recently saw the addition of five miles of hiking trails, shared with an elk herd. (Roosevelt elk grow up to 1600 pounds.) His youngest daughter is attending grad school in Connecticut, which he considers a nice excuse to visit the state.
1980s
Steven Smith ’81 currently works as a medical science liaison interfacing between his biotechnology company and cancer researchers. He collaborates with some of the country’s best cancer doctors in the South to provide access to innovative cancer drugs for patients with hematologic malignancies. Steven has recently completed his recertification as a board certified oncology pharmacist from the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties. He lives with his wife and two children in Gainesville, Fla. Mike Towle ’84 is the General Partner of Fort Hill Partners LLP, a boutique accounting firm specializing in finance and accounting infrastructure and litigation consulting (forensic accounting). Patricia (Sivo) Cole ’85 currently has a private practice at the Rainbow Center for Children and Families in Old Wethersfield, Conn. She also consults to Andover Elementary School as well as other school systems providing evaluations and assistance in program planning. She is married with two daughters, the eldest of whom just completed her first year at UConn in the Honors Program. Elliot Cazes ’86 practices gynecology in Tampa, Fla. He speaks nationally about hereditary cancer risk assessment, breast cancer risk protocols and prevention, in-office toxicology screening, carrier screening genetics, ovarian cancer prevention, and menopause. He also consults for six national biotech/pharmaceutical companies. He lives in Tampa, Fla., with his wife, Pam ’87, and children Matt (22), Monica (20), Brett (18), and Evan (16). Charles Wynn ’89 received an R&D 100 award in 2013. These awards are given annually by R&D Magazine, recognizing the 100 most technologically significant innovations during the year. The award was received for development of the PHASE sensor, which senses trace levels of explosives using an ultraviolet laser and photoacoustic detector. The ability to detect trace explosives from significant standoff distances could significantly impact our ability to detect and defeat deadly threats in a variety of scenarios.
1990s
Jason Courtmanche ’91 and his wife, Amy Nocton ’92, bought a new home in Storrs. Jason also became the President of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society on June 15. He was the commencement speaker at Tolland High School on June 20. He also just received two grants from the National Writing Project, from a larger grant awarded by the U.S. Dept of Education, to promote Teacher Leadership and for Work in a High Need School. He will be teaching a new First Year Honors course at UConn in the fall, “Why Read?” Melanie Hancock ’93 was elected Shareholder by the Tampa Bay law firm Hill Ward Henderson. Ms. Hancock practices in the firm’s Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits Group. Chad Landmon ’96, Chair of Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP’s Intellectual Property and FDA practice groups, has been named a 2014 Law360 “Rising Star” in the life sciences area. The national award recognizes top legal talent under the age of 40 in certain practice areas. Stephen Pavlopoulos ’96 started at Vevo in September and has been producing and writing original music video programming. Jaren (Madden) Herron ’97 and Mark Herron ’98 happily welcomed Alison Rayna Herron to the world on February 5, 2014, 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and 20 inches long. Karen Dahl ’99 has been working on her own as a consultant for a few years, primarily focused on helping nonprofits and service and education-focused organizations with communications and operational needs. She recently took on a new client, Cities of Service, and led the launch of a new website. She lives in New York with her husband and two young children.
2000s
Dr. Lauren Aleksunes ’00 was recently promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure at Rutgers University in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. She was also selected to receive the Board of Trustees Research Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence and the Presidential Fellowship for Teaching Excellence at Rutgers University in 2014. Christina Needham ’00 began her new job as Head Field Hockey Coach at Connecticut College on June 15. She is very excited to be back in Connecticut after seven years away. Dennis Lawson ’01 received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts as the 2014 Emerging Artist in Fiction. Also, his short story “Fair Warning” appeared in the anthology Rehoboth Beach Reads: The Beach House, published by Cat & Mouse Press. This story was recently turned into a noir radio drama by Delmarva Public Radio. Erin S. Pirro ’01, Vice President and Farm Business Consultant at Farm Credit East, ACA, was selected as a member of the Hartford Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2014. The class will be judged on their ability to leverage the power of social media and drive traffic to the website, so help Erin show the Husky pride by visiting her biography page on the HBJ’s site. Here’s an easy-to-use link. Karalyn Jacobs ’02 completed a Master of Science degree in May 2014 with emphasis on Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Ind. Lindsay Bolt ’04 was promoted this past year to her current position as a clinical nurse educator with the UCSF Medical Center Institute for Nursing Excellence. Sam (Shiv) Sharma ’04 participated in and completed the course “Think Tank on Global Education” at Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University in May 2014. Carla (Hill) Galfano ’05 was married on February 24, 2012, to Giovanni Galfano in Erice, Sicily, Italy. They welcomed their son, Julian Federico, on April 29, 2013. She was recently given the permanent position of Art Museum Registrar and Assistant Curator at the William Benton Museum of Art at UConn after three years as interim registrar. Alex M. Dressler ’06, M.D. graduated from New York Medical College on May 22, 2014. Dr. Dressler will be completing his intern year in internal medicine at Greenwich Hospital, part of the Yale New Haven Health System before beginning his anesthesiology residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) as part of the class of 2018. Vanessa Kafka ’06 and her husband, Doug, were married in September 2013 in New Hampshire and just recently went on their honeymoon. They traveled to Singapore and Bali and Lombok (two islands in Indonesia) and loved it! She joined Wayfair in February as Senior Marketing Manager for Lifestyle Brands, DwellStudio and Birch Lane, the latter of which she helped launch at the end of March. Ray Lorenzoni ’07 is excited to have just started his pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in New York City. The training will last for three years. He attended the UConn School of Medicine and UConn undergraduate Honors Program, which both contributed greately to this recent accomplishment. Paul Millerd ’07 joined Boston Consulting Group in January 2014 as a knowledge expert in their Knowledge Organization. He is working to help build their global Transformation practice and support client teams on long term change projects. Jason Bomberger ’08 was recently promoted to manager in the New York Financial Services Risk Assurance Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. In this role, Jason currently serves large fnancial services clients and leads cross-disciplinary teams to re-engineer and optimize significant business processes and related controls. Additionally, Jason is currently pursuing his certification for corporate coaching at the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPec). Rebecca (Stetz) Cangiano ’08 just celebrated her second wedding anniversary with Michael Cangiano ’08. They met in Honors housing and started dating their senior year at UConn. They married June 2, 2012, in Dedham, Mass. She also just completed her doctorate of physical therapy from the University of St. Augustine in St. Augustine, Fla. Jacob Martin ’08 successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation titled “Multivalent bioconjugates for the inhibition of anthrax toxin, influenza virus, and HIV,” in spring 2014. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is currently working as a postdoc in the same lab, with Professor Ravi Kane, to wrap up a couple of research projects as he pursues new postdoc positions at schools other than RPI. David Miller ’08 graduated in May with an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has since moved to New York City where he is working as an associate at Loeb Partners, a merchant banking firm and family office. Go Huskies! Kathryn Grive ’09 received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award this year from the National Institutes of Health. Megan Wolf ’09 graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in May 2014, and has returned to Connecticut for residency in orthopedic surgery at UConn Health in Farmington, Conn.
2010s
Shan Parikh ’10 completing a master’s degree in physiology and neurobiology, in Dr. LoTurco’s laboratory (a fantastic place to get your Honors thesis and graduate mentorship), and then began an M.D./Ph.D. program at Temple Medical School. Upon completing two years of the program, his PI left to go to Nashville, Tenn., and Shan asked to transfer with him. Shan just relocated to Nashville and began his graduate studies at the Vandy MSTP, studying cardiovascular disease. He would like to thank Dr. LoTurco for his continued mentoring and career guidance. Matthew Begue ’11 advanced this year to candidacy in the Ph.D. program of the mathematics department at the University of Maryland, College Park. He was also promoted to Associate Director of the Norbert Wiener Center for Harmonic Analysis and Application. As Associate Director, he organized and ran February Fourier Talks 2014, a national conference held every year at UMD. He is a summer intern this year at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C., working with the Remote Explosives Detection team. Kelly O’Donnell ’11 received a J.D. in May 2014 from University of Michigan Law School (cum laude). Olivia Bogucki ’12 will be attending the University of Maine to pursue her Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Dayton Horvath ’12 earned first prize in the 2014 Tech Push and Grand Prize at UCSB’s New Venture Competition. Amy McDavitt ’12 graduated from Lesley University (Cambridge, Mass.) in May, with a Master in Education degree. She then received her Massachusetts teaching license in elementary education. Aaron Nelson ’12 graduated from the Air Force Institute of Technology in March of 2014 with a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics. He was named a Distinguished Graduate (top 10 percent of his graduating class) and received the Dean’s Award for best thesis in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics (Title: “About Phase: Synthetic Aperture Radar and the Phase Retrieval Problem”) He is currently stationed at Edwards AFB, CA with the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation, Detachment 1. Emily Szkudlarek ’12 begins a Ph.D. program in cognition and cognitive neuroscience at Duke University’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience in Fall 2014. 2LT Nicholas Hurley ’13 graduated April 1st from the U.S. Army’s Field Artillery Basic Officer Leader’s Course with the designation of Distinguished Honor Graduate. He was ranked first in a class of 122 Army and Marine officers attending the five-month course at FT Sill, Okla. He will now be attending UConn Graduate School for a Master in History beginning this fall (expected graduation May 2016). Sam Tracy ’13 started a new job with 4Front Advisors, an Arizona-based medical marijuana consulting company, and will be helping open their new Boston office. He will be working with dispensaries in Massachusetts, Nevada, Illinois, and Arizona to ensure each state’s programs are operated in strict compliance with state laws and with great care for their patients and communities.
Return to the Summer 2014 issue of the Honors Alumni eNewsletter
On Saturday, May 3, 2014, the Honors Program recognized a new graduating class of Honors Scholars at the annual Medals Ceremony.
Honors Scholars depart Jorgensen after the Medals Ceremony
This year marked the largest class in the history of Honors, with 342 students officially completing the rigorous requirements of the program, including the Honors thesis/project. Family, peers, administrators, faculty, staff, and friends of the University witnessed the awarding of medals and gifts to Honors Scholars and University Scholars.
Graduating senior Melanie Castellanos ’14 (Honors-CLAS) delivered the student address, sharing the challenges and victories she experienced as an Honors student. Coming to UConn from Texas, Castellanos admitted to being “indebted to my peers and this program,” and told her story of facing dismissal from Honors after her first semester. She spoke of feeling out of place in those first few months, neglecting her studies, and ending the term with a lackluster grade point average. It was a faculty member who told her a 2.8 GPA would affect her academic career—in addition to risking her future in Honors. That professor would eventually become her research advisor and mentor.
Dr. John Salamone, Melanie Castellanos ’14, and Dr. James Chrobak
This wake-up call reset Castellanos’s path. Melanie realized that if she came back and continued to make the choices she made first-year, “I would not be in Honors, and I would lose so many opportunities.” Starting fresh her sophomore year, she became proactive and started retaking classes. She opened herself up to support from others, sought out extracurricular roles and research placements, and most importantly—in her mind—she relied heavily on the Honors community to serve as her role model. At the ceremony, Castellanos announced her GPA had since risen to 3.7, and expressed her intention of pursing a Ph.D. in her field of psychology. She also hopes to become a professor someday, and follow in the footsteps of her two closest mentors at UConn, Dr. James Chrobak and Dr. John Salamone, both behavioral neuroscience faculty members in UConn’s Department of Psychology. She closed her speech with a universal note of gratitude: “I’m sure I speak for my fellow graduates when I say that we are all here because people believed in us. They knew we Huskies could do great things, not just as undergraduates, but also when we are unleashed on this world a week from today.”
Along with the Honors Scholars, awards were presented to two past graduates of the program and two current Honors faculty members. The 2014 Honors Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are both graduates of UConn Honors as well as graduates of UConn professional schools. Howard M. Sandler, M.D., M.S. ’78 (Honors-CLAS) ’85 (Medicine) ’91 (CLAS) earned his undergraduate Honors degree in physics in 1978 and his medical degree from UConn’s School of Medicine in 1985. He also received a master’s degree in physics in 1991. Upon completing his medical education at the University of Connecticut, Sandler honed his training at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Conn., as well as the University of Pennsylvania, where he began to specialize in Radiation Oncology. He spent a large portion of his career at the University of Michigan Medical School, in the department of Radiation Oncology, eventually earning the title Newman Family Professor of Radiation Oncology. In 2008, Sandler accepted the role of Chairman for the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Samuel Oschin Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he remains today. Sandler is an active researcher and writer, with more than 230 peer-reviewed articles. He is also the recipient of numerous grants that help support his research of prostate and other genitourinary tumors, and technology treatment methods, including radiation therapy.
Dr. Howard M. Sandler ’78 ’85 ’91 and Dr. Jennifer Lease Butts
Honored with Dr. Sandler was Brian Preleski ’87 (Honors-CLAS) ’91 (Law), a 1987 Honors Scholar who then completed his law degree at UConn’s School of Law in 1991. Preleski earned entry into the Connecticut Bar Association that same year, and began his legal career in the private sector, at a large firm in Hartford. However, this son of a former Connecticut police officer soon switched to the other side of the courtroom, and in 1993 began his initial appointment as Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney in Bristol, Conn. In 1998, he transferred to New Britain, Conn., and in 2011, he was appointed State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of New Britain. The position includes supervision of prosecutors’ offices and courts in his district. During the course of his career, Preleski successfully prosecuted the state’s first cold case homicide and a Constitutional challenge to Connecticut’s sobriety checkpoints, among various other important cases. He was also selected by his peers to serve as the National District Attorneys Association’s official observer to the 2013 war crimes trial of Abd al Rahim al Nashiri in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Preleski, too, is well published in his field, and also teaches a graduate seminar course at the University of St. Joseph.
Brian Preleski ’87 ’91 and Dr. Jennifer Lease Butts
Annually, the recipients of the Honors Distinguished Alumni Award share dinner and speak to an audience of Honors students, faculty, and staff, on the Friday prior to the Medals Ceremony. Sandler’s overarching message encouraged students to be open to opportunities that might cross their paths, remarking that life is a series of fortunate accidents. He illustrated this specifically with a story, where he once offered a colleague a ride, which ultimately led to an important step in his career. Preleski spoke in detail about comparisons of his legal career, having moved from private law to public service. He remarked how having worked on both sides—defense attorney and prosecutor—enlightened his overall understanding and practice of law. Both Sandler and Preleski then joined the Honors Scholars on stage the next day during the Medals Ceremony to received Honors medals, which marked their accomplishments as former scholars and also experienced professionals in their fields.
Additionally, the 2014 ceremony honored two Faculty Member of the Year Award recipients. Nominees for this award are faculty or staff members at the University of Connecticut who are recognized for their contributions to the education of Honors students. Recipient Dr. Patrick Dragon, Assistant Professor in Residence, teaches in UConn’s Department of Mathematics. He encourages an informal environment in his classroom as he instructs on topics such as calculus and topology. However, his relaxed style does not negate his expertise or seriousness about his subject matter. Dragon holds undergraduate degrees in physics, mathematics, and astronomy, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California-Davis. In his graduate program, Dragon focused not just on math but also pedagogy and methods of teaching mathematics. He is known for his energy and enthusiasm for his subject, and also his ability to challenge his students. On a course evaluation, a former student wrote: “… If you’re looking for an interesting class, take Pat Dragon. If you’re looking for an easy class, get over yourself and take Pat Dragon anyway.”
Dr. Annamaria Csizmadia, Associate Dean Dipak K. Dey (CLAS), and Dr. Patrick Dragon
Also recognized at the Saturday ceremony was faculty member Dr. Annamaria Csizmadia, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, who teaches predominately at UConn’s Stamford campus. Csizmadia grew up in Hungary, where she began her early education studying languages, specifically Russian, German, English, and Latin. Eager for new experiences, Csizmadia used her language proficiency to study in Germany, earning an undergraduate degree equivalent in English and German language and literature, before moving to the U.S. to complete a master’s degree in German literature at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. It was at Missouri that she realized the evolution of her interests, and turned her focus to social sciences and human development. She earned her Ph.D. there, focusing specifically on Black American youth, immigrant families, and multiracial children. She joined UConn’s faculty in 2008, and has since mentored and advised numerous undergraduate students through research, courses, and Honors thesis/projects.
