Meet the Honors Initiative for Prospective Students (HIPS) Group

March 6, 2013

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.

Universitas 21 Social Entrepreneur Corps in Guatemala Study Abroad Program

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.

New Full Scholarships for Exceptional State Students

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…)

Scholarships Help Pat and Norman Bender Say Thanks to School of Nursing

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…)

UConn Student Wins Prestigious Marshall Scholarship

November 20, 2012

Ethan Butler
Ethan Butler ’12 (ENG) (Photo: Derek Dudek/UConn)

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…)

Honors Program Alumni eNewsletter (Fall 2012)

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…)

D.C. internship program teaches politics, life

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…)

English language program inspires a year in Korea

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…)

Meeting their match in Honors

By Cheryl Cranick, Honors Program

Madkekar and Flynn
Ajay Madkekar ’06 and Diana Flynn ’06

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…)