March 12, 2013
By Lauren Lalancette
A number of Division III schools vied for Middletown’s Mercy High School athlete of the year to enroll, but Mallory Perry ’14 (NUR) chose UConn because her future career was her top priority.
“It was all about the academics when I chose UConn,” Perry says. “There were so many different schools I could’ve gone to, but I knew I wouldn’t get into the WNBA.” (more…)
March 6, 2013
Perhaps something you may not know is that Honors students at the University of Connecticut are among the most supportive fans of UConn Basketball on campus. We truly embrace Huskymania. You will often see Honors students in the front row at both men’s and women’s games, leading cheers, singing the fight song, shouting, and jumping up and down to the point of exhaustion. Honors students at UConn take pride in every aspect of our university, and athletics are no exception.
So let me describe to you my typical experience at a UConn basketball game on campus at Gampel Pavilion. I start by getting in line a few hours early in order to make sure I’ll be able to get my usual front row seat. If I have a class during this time, someone will switch off with me so that we can keep our spots. I’m speaking, of course, of taking my place in line, not class. It’s never a good idea to switch off classes with friends, no matter how excited you are about the game! Depending on my mood, I will spend my time in line doing anything from listening to my iPod to studying for a midterm. Eventually, I’ll perk up from whatever I’m doing to boo the opposing team as it walks off the bus into Gampel. (As I said, Huskymania is a powerful force.) The doors open an hour and a half before game time. I rush down to the front row to grab my seat along with my friends.
Then comes the most important part of preparation for the game–break out the face paint. I paint half of my face blue and the other half white, adding a U and a C as a finishing touch. A blue and white wig adds to the ensemble. Finally, I don my Jonathan the Husky cape and head back down to the front row to watch our players warm up. I’m ready.
Game time. All of the students and fans start the game by clapping until UConn scores its first basket. The student section stands during the entire game, jumping and shouting when our team is on defense and yelling a cycle of cheers (U-C-O-N-N, U-C Let’s Go!, and Let’s Go Huskies!) when it’s on offense. TV cameras turn to the front row to get our excited reaction after a thunderous dunk, huge blocked shot, or swished 3-pointer. By the end of the game, I have sore calves and a hoarse voice, but it’s worth it every time.
All UConn students, including Honors students, show incredible pride, spirit, and enthusiasm for this university because we are:
Students Today. Huskies Forever.
John Dearborn ’13 (Political Science)
HIPS Coordinator
The Honors Initiative for Prospective Students (HIPS) was originated by a group of students based on their interest in assisting with the recruitment of prospective Honors students. This student-run initiative introduces prospective students to the unique opportunities available in the UConn Honors Program. HIPS-sponsored events include the “Meet & Greet,” which introduces high school seniors admitted to Honors to the Program’s staff, students, and faculty. These spring semester programs offer prospective students a first-hand account of life in Honors. In addition, HIPS assists with Honors information sessions at the Fall Open House and the Spring Open House for admitted students.
To showcase the diverse and exciting Honors student experience at the University of Connecticut, the HIPS blog will cover topics, such as Honors courses, freshmen seminar classes, internship opportunities, Honors housing, research opportunities, the Honors thesis, student organizations, and attending UConn sporting events, just to name a few. Stay tuned to stay informed!
Student coordinators (and their office hours):
John Dearborn, Senior, Political Science major (Wednesdays, 12:30-1:30 p.m.)
Laura Santry, Junior, Spanish and Physiology and Neurobiology double major (Mondays, 12-2 p.m.)
Suzanne Xie, Senior, Mathematics/Actuarial Science major (Tuesdays, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.)
Program Advisor:
Rebecca Gates (Rebecca.Gates@uconn.edu)
Questions? Email uconnhips@gmail.com or call (860) 486-1177 during a coordinator’s office hours.
February 27, 2013
Luke LaRosa, from Montpelier, Vt., is an urban and community studies major and a member of the Special Program in Law. He is particularly interested in environmental law, public policy, and transportation geography (having ridden the school bus two hours each day throughout most of his pre-collegiate education).
Project: “School Busing in Rural Communities”
Faculty Mentor: Carol Atkinson-Polombo (Department of Geography)
Peer Mentor: Kaila Manca
Brendan Smalec, from Cheshire, Conn., is a double major in molecular and cell biology and art history who aspires to be a physician scientist and advance cancer research. He is also an avid swimmer, having been awarded the CT Swimming Three-Year Scholar Athlete Award in 2012.
Project: “Reactivating Hypermethyated Oncogenes through the Use of DNA Methyltransferase Inhibitors”
Faculty Mentor: Rachel O’Neill (Department of Molecular & Cell Biology)
Peer Mentor: Kevin Zheng
Jonathan Schmieding, from Granby, Mass., is a music major and composer. He plays the clarinet for the Marching Band and the Symphonic Band and is the recipient of a Music Department Scholarship. Having grown up to soundtracks by John Williams and Howard Shore, he aspires to be a professional composer.
Project: “Musical Composition: Developing Artistic Expression through the Synthesis of Romanticism & Atonality”
Faculty Mentors: Kenneth Fuchs and Robert Miller (Department of Music)
Peer Mentor: Kaitrin Acuna
Kayvon Ghoreshi, from Manchester, Conn., is a pre-med molecular & cell biology major. He is using his Holster experience, however, to delve into biomedical engineering. Born with a severe nut allergy, Kayvon is frustrated with the design of the ubiquitous “Epipen,” and is determined to change it for the better with a new streamlined, user-friendly design.
Project: “Re-designing the Epipen”
Faculty Mentor: Donald Peterson (Biomedical Engineering Program)
Peer Mentor: Lior Trestman
D. Christina Macklem, from Tolland, Conn., is a biological sciences major interested in studying climate change adaptation. She has an affinity for frogs specifically, and amphibians in general, having witnessed an off-season baby sea turtle launch in Costa Rica during a school trip.
Project: “Effect of Temperature Variation to Wood Frog Tadpoles”
Faculty Mentor: Tracy Rittenhouse (Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology)
Peer Mentor: Kaila Manca
Asahi Hoque, from Cheshire, Conn., is a pre-med biological sciences major who has spent time working for Distressed Children & Infants International, a nonprofit that serves poor communities in Bangladesh, her family’s country of origin. There she also interned with an ophthalmologist, performed routine eye screenings, learned about cataracts, and a host of preventable diseases affecting the community, which led to her Holster project.
Project: “A Look into the Issues Surrounding Proper Maternal Care in Bangladesh”
Faculty Mentor: Manisha Desai (Department of Sociology)
Peer Mentor: Julianne Norton
February 25, 2013
Universitas 21 is the leading global network of research-intensive universities and UConn is a proud member. The U21 Social Entrepreneur Corps in Guatemala program builds on our U21 institutions’ expertise in social entrepreneurship, online and blended learning, international collaboration and service learning, as well as on our common commitment to global citizenship.
Social entrepreneurship as a topic and Guatemala as a location are already part of individual U21 members’ study abroad program offerings. The U21 Social Entrepreneur Corps program is a tailored approach to study abroad that combines global collaboration, new technologies, and impact-oriented learning activities.
Social entrepreneurship is an approach that the Social Entrepreneur Corps successfully utilizes in Latin America. For the proposed U21 program, students interested in international development will work directly with Social Entrepreneur Corps field professionals and social entrepreneurs in Guatemala to help establish new and grow existing micro-consignment supported businesses.
The benefits include exposure to economic theories of social entrepreneurship and active engagement with case study analyses, Spanish language, and Guatemalan, including Mayan, culture. The students will experience living with the local families and working intensively with community service organizations and local social entrepreneurs. Our students will make a tangible difference in people’s lives, while also acquiring the knowledge, skills, and habits necessary to become socially aware, active global citizens. The program is designed as a short-term summer (June/July) opportunity for U21 students. U21 students are encouraged, but not required to take this program for academic credit. This program aims to complement the already existing U21 Summer School and Global Issues Program.
***Note: The U21 SEC is not to be confused with the Social Entrepreneurship in Guatemala 8-week program.You can find out more about the 8-week program and apply for it through the Office of Global Affairs.
February 11, 2013
By: Kristina Goodnough, UConn Foundation
Under a multi-year agreement, up to five new full scholarships will be available annually to exceptional state students at the University of Connecticut through a gift from the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation.
The gift will allow UConn to provide full support, including tuition, room and board, fees, and books to the students who will be guaranteed admission to UConn’s highly selective Honors Program. An additional benefit of the new scholarships is financial support for enrichment activities that can include international travel and study, outdoor leadership programs, or research or non-profit internships. (more…)
December 11, 2012
By PRNewswire
The Food and Drug Law Institute will honor four outstanding food and drug law professionals with its annual Distinguished Service and Leadership Award: Minnie Baylor-Henry, Alan Bennett, Thomas O. Henteleff and John M. Taylor III. (more…)
November 30, 2012
By Kristina Goodnough, UConn Foundation
Norman BenderPat and Norman Bender got so much satisfaction from the first scholarship fund they established at UConn, they decided to set up a second one.
Both scholarships support students in the School of Nursing from which Pat graduated in 1969.
The first was established in 2004 in honor of Pat’s father, Robert A. Matheson, a 1941 graduate of UConn. “My father was extremely supportive of higher education and devoted to UConn his entire life,” says Pat. They established the scholarship shortly before Matheson died. “We were able to alert friends and family members that they could make donations to his scholarship fund in his memory. It was comforting for them and for us,” says Pat. (more…)
November 20, 2012
By Colin Poitras
For the second time in four years, a University of Connecticut student has won a prestigious Marshall Scholarship.
Ethan Butler, a 2012 chemical engineering graduate and past president of the UConn chapter of Engineers Without Borders, will spend the next two years in the United Kingdom pursuing his graduate studies at one, and possibly two, of Britain’s finest academic and research institutions. (more…)
November 14, 2012
To our Honors alumni,
For more than nine years, I have had the pleasure of working at the University of Connecticut. Most of this time was spent as an Associate Director in the Honors Program and Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research. Most recently, I served as a faculty member in the Neag School of Education. This past August, I began a new position as the Assistant Vice Provost for Enrichment Programs and Director of the Honors Program at the University of Connecticut. For many of you, this serves as a formal introduction. For others, it is an opportunity to reconnect. I am truly excited to write to you today and share news about UConn’s Honors Program, our students, and our alumni. (more…)