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…)
By Cheryl Cranick, Honors Program
In 2006, Caitlin Donohue ’08 visited UConn’s Study Abroad fair on campus. It was there that she learned about the UConn Honors Congressional Internship Program in Washington, D.C. The partnership between the Honors Program and the Department of Political Science annually recruits six or seven students from across the university to compete for full-time intern posts with members of Congress from Connecticut. (more…)
By Cheryl Cranick, Honors Program
It’s fall right now in Korea; “crisp and cool at night, while still pleasantly warm during the day,” said Emily Szkudlarek ’12. The CLAS Honors psychology graduate arrived in the country during the humid season in August this year and recuperated from the 15-hour flight during a weeklong orientation. Then she began her role as a guest English teacher in the city of Gyeongju. (more…)
By Cheryl Cranick, Honors Program
Day one at Buckley Hall is when Ajay Madkekar ’06 and Diana Flynn ’06 met as friends. But it wasn’t until senior year, just a few weeks before graduation, that they became a couple. “I like to say we met the first day and starting dating the last,” said Flynn. To be specific, it was spring break in March when Ajay and Diana shared a cruise with eight UConn classmates, many of them from Honors. “The last night on the cruise, I remember playing blackjack with the guys while Diana watched us slowly hand our money to Carnival Cruise Lines,” quipped Madkekar. “Something about losing money and not having a care in the world must have sparked Diana’s interest.” This July they plan to marry. (more…)
Cecelia Bucki ’73 was recently appointed editor for the journal “Connecticut History.” She is Professor of History at Fairfield University where she recently ended her three-year term as department chairperson. She earned her Ph.D. in history from the University of Pittsburgh in 1991 and is the author of “Bridgeport’s Socialist New Deal, 1915-1936” (University of Illinois Press, 2001). Ruth Welti ’76 was recently honored with the title of University Distinguished Professor of Biology at Kansas State University. She is an enthusiastic student of the chemistry and biochemistry of lipids. Bruce Barth ’78 was recently named chair of the Tax-Exempt Organizations and Benefits Group at his firm, listed in The Best Lawyers in America® as Hartford Lawyer of the Year in the area of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law for 2013 (Copyright 2012 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC), and listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Employee Benefits Law since 1995. (more…)
November 9, 2012
Each year, the University of Connecticut is permitted to nominate up to four outstanding undergraduates who are headed for research careers in science, math, or engineering to compete for the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. The faculty nominating committee read and considered a record number of outstanding submissions this year and just announced the 2013 Goldwater nominees. This year, they are all Honors students. The 2013 UConn Goldwater nominees are: (more…)
November 5, 2012
By Olivia Balsinger
Students looking for an organization that can assist the worldwide community through action with other peers have a new club tailored for them: “UConn Empower,” a new club for students.
As stated on their website, UConn Empower’s mission is a student group with the mission to “help to bring about long-term change by empowering the underprivileged through education and health care.” (more…)
October 11, 2012
By Mirofora Paridis ’13 (CLAS)
This summer, six Honors freshmen pursued their passion through individualized, self-designed research projects with funding from the Holster Scholars First Year Program.
The Holster Scholars First Year Program, funded by an endowment established by Robert ’68 and Carlotta ’68 Holster, provides Honors freshmen with the opportunity to pursue independent and individualized learning experiences. Prospective scholars must complete a highly selective application process in the fall of their freshman year, submitting an innovative and thorough project proposal. Holster Scholars are eligible for up to $4,000 in funding, and spend the spring semester fine-tuning their project plans. They carry out their research in the summer. (more…)
September 28, 2012
Come hear a lecture by UConn alumnus and award-winning multimedia journalist, John Yearwood entitled, “Dispatches From a World in Need of Healing,” on Friday, October 12, at 3:00 p.m. in Konover Auditorium. Mr. Yearwood will discuss his personal journey through some of the past and present major conflicts that have occurred around the world, and his meetings with leaders who offer insight into their behavior, such as President Assad of Syria. He will also discuss other people with whom he’s met—Nelson Mandela in South Africa and Haitian dancer Jeanguy Saintus—who, in their own way, are working to heal the world.
Mr. Yearwood is World Editor of The Miami Herald and host of World Desk with John Yearwood, which focuses on global issues and newsmakers. His department has won numerous awards under his leadership, including two McClatchy Company President’s Awards, an Arthur Ross Award, and recognition as Pulitzer Prize finalist. Yearwood has served on the executive boards of Unity Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists. He also was named one of the 40 most influential African-Americans under 40 in South Florida and one of the 100 most accomplished Caribbean Americans in South Florida.