By Cheryl Cranick, Honors Program

Amy Nocton, B.A. ’92 (CLAS-Honors), M.A. ’93 (CLAS) became a teacher by chance. Once in the classroom, her love for the Spanish language inspired her students to love it as well. A small group of those students even followed her footsteps, becoming UConn Honors Scholars and educators, too.

Amy began taking languages classes in high school. Her father initially pushed her to Latin, but her teacher frightened her, she said. Amy wanted to study French, but her father convinced her to study Spanish, with the promise of a trip to Spain after two years. Amy’s competitive nature accepted the challenge, and at age 17 she went to Valencia for five weeks. Amy was completely immersed in the language there, and when she returned to the U.S., her skills had advanced one year’s worth of high school curriculum, said Nocton.

Spanish became her pursuit at UConn, woven in between history and literature courses in Latin American Studies. “Everything clicked,” she said. “It’s awesome when that happens.” She completed an Honors degree in Latin American Studies-Spanish, and also began taking coursework for her master’s degree in International Studies. At graduation she earned the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award for the Humanities and distinction as a University Scholar.

After college, Amy was awarded a Fulbright and went to Chile to prepare. However, shortly she learned the funding was pulled due to the economy, and she found herself without a job or any clear direction in life. She returned to the U.S. and applied for a childcare position she found in her local paper. The family initially intended to hire Amy as a home helper, but Amy’s Spanish skills filled a different need. The family’s father worked at the private Westminster School in Simsbury, Conn., and the school was looking for a new Spanish teacher. “I interviewed and was hired that day,” said Nocton. “I had never wanted to teach, but I ended up loving it.”

Amy spent three years in private school before transitioning to public school, and for the past 16 years she has taught at RHAM High School. Nearly a decade of her time there overlapped with her husband, Jason Courtmanche, B.A. ’91 (CLAS-Honors), Ph.D. ’06 (CLAS), who taught high school English. Their years at RHAM introduced the couple to many students, but some have specifically stayed with them: Hannah Mondrach, B.A.’12 (CLAS-Honors), B.A.’13 (CLAS-Honors), M.A.’14 (EDUC); Dana Lovallo, B.A./M.A. ’13 (EDUC-Honors); and Seana Marceau ’11 (CLAS).

Hannah graduated from RHAM in 2008 after having had both Amy and Jason as teachers. She credits the couple for her decision to choose the UConn Honors Program. “When I think of Amy and Jason and their approach to teaching and life, I think of grace and grit,” said Mondrach. “They put all they have into everything they do, but make it look so effortless.”

Dana was also encouraged by Amy and Jason to attend UConn Honors, and she felt prepared for the experience. “Amy’s Spanish ECE class gave me a huge glimpse of what a college-level course would be,” said Lovallo. “She challenged us to read literature that I actually encountered again at UConn,” she said. Lovallo was a 2008 graduate of RHAM and former student of both Amy and Jason as well.

Amy taught Hannah and Dana in their Early College Experience (ECE) Spanish courses, which are high school classes designed to introduce students to the rigor of college. “The high school students are truly getting a sense of what college-level classes are expecting,” said Nocton. ECE classes are different from the more well-known Advanced Placement (AP) courses high school students can also take for college credit. However, Amy noted that ECE credits are becoming more accepted by universities than AP credits. “AP is a snapshot,” said Nocton, “it’s just one day, it’s a test. [ECE] are courses that are credited, they are vetted by university personnel,” she said.

Hannah believes teachers such as Amy and Jason have unique abilities in the classroom. “They make you feel like, at the end of it, you did all of that hard work yourself, even though in the background they were working harder than anyone to help you succeed,” she said.

Becoming teachers

In many ways, the young women were becoming teachers through their close association with Amy and Jason. “My friends would joke that I was going to become ‘the next Señora Nocton,’” said Mondrach. Amy is inclined to agree. “Hannah is an extraordinarily talented linguist” said Nocton. “She studied Italian with me as well. She has a little box for Spanish and a little box for Italian, and never shall they meet.” Hannah studied Spanish and Italian literature as a UConn Honors student, but stayed an additional year to major in geosciences as well. Hannah is finishing up her education master’s degree this year at UConn with the intention of teaching STEM.

Amy inspired Dana as well, not just in her career, but also in her Honors thesis. Dana, who was hired in 2013 as an E.O. Smith High School Spanish teacher, completed a two-pronged Honors thesis project. She encouraged immersion programs for current college students by developing a marketing booklet for the Office of Study Abroad to promote the program she pursued: UConn in Granada. Dana also wrote a paper in Spanish that examined her survey research about the importance of immersion experiences for Spanish teachers, noting how Amy’s many overseas excursions enhanced her ability to teach, she said.

Hannah and Dana knew early on that education was their future, but another one of Amy and Jason’s students did not. Seana had Amy for ECE Spanish at RHAM, but she never formally took a class with Jason. He met her while on sabbatical to write his dissertation, when Seana began assisting the family after school as a mother’s helper. Once Jason returned to RHAM, “Seana had a habit of crashing my classes anytime she had a free period, and she became more like a co-teacher,” said Courtmanche.

Seana’s presence in his classroom was specifically important during his lower-level courses, classes where students were less interested in literature. “Seana would come in, and when we read…she’d take a part, I’d take a part, the students would take a part, and she and I would put effort into acting out the scenes, which provided a good example and motivation for the other students,” said Courtmanche.

Despite her obvious skill in the classroom, “[Seana] used to swear up and down she was not going to go into education,” said Courtmanche. “But she hung out with Amy and me—and all our friends are teachers… It got into her skin somehow, whether she wanted it to or not.”

At the start of her senior year at UConn, Seana was still adamant she was not going to teach, though she was majoring in Spanish and English. It was a year that almost didn’t happen. Personal issues nearly forced Seana to leave school, so Amy and Jason persuaded her to move in with them, and she would help around the house with chores and child care. But soon after she moved in to help take care of the family, Seana was struck head-on by a drunk driver. She was taken by LifeStar and survived, though she required a new kind of support from Amy and Jason, who assumed the caregiver role for her. “She didn’t even take an incomplete though,” said Courtmanche. “She finished the semester, made the dean’s list, and then in the spring semester finished up her senior year with me driving her around,” he said.

After graduating from UConn, Seana accepted a teaching job in southern Spain. She floated between various classrooms during her time there, teaching subjects as the need arose, such as physics and chemistry. “She was self-teaching herself to be able to teach the kids,” said Nocton. “Whatever they needed her to do.” Seana’s principal nominated her for a teaching award, which she won. The award led to a fellowship at Columbia’s Teachers College. Jason remembers Seana saying: “You always said I’d be good at teaching; you said the kids would love me, but you never said how much I would love them.”

These teachers’ lives, a generation apart, are linked by even the small details. In 2011, Amy—the woman who never intended to become a teacher—won the Teacher of the Year award from the ECE program. That was the same year Seana won the Spanish Distinguished Scholar Award from UConn. Dana received the same award the following year. Hannah graduated from UConn not just an Honors Scholar but also a University Scholar, as Amy did. And all four women found their love for teaching in a Spanish classroom.

Return to the Spring 2014 issue of the Honors Alumni eNewsletter

1960s

Bill DeWalt ’69 stepped down as Founding President and Director of the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Ariz., in May. During his six years there, he presided over every aspect of building the $250 million museum. He has returned to Pittsburgh, Pa., to head the local office of the Arts Consulting Group where he serves as a senior consultant.

1970s

Anne Levy Paluck ’73 is the personal librarian to the first cohort of students in the new Honors Program at Middlesex Community College in Middletown, Conn. Barbara Hastings ’75 is Director of Development at Fraser Woods Montessori School in Newtown, Conn. Jim Oleksiw ’75 was elected to the UConn Alumni Association National Board of Directors in June. He is currently serving on The UConn Club Board of Directors and past president of The UConn Club. Mark Romanoff, M.D. ’79, ’83 was named a finalist for 2013 Physician of the Year by the Charlotte Business Journal. Cited for work in preventing misuse of prescription medications. He is a founding member of the Advisory Board for the North Carolina Prescription Medication Database and a core faculty member for Project Lazarus (grant-based state-wide program teaching primary-care physicians the rational use of narcotics).

1980s

Vibha Miller ’83 earned her M.B.A. at NYU Stern after UConn. She and her husband Gregory (UConn Ph.D. 1987) have pursued non-profit careers in our nation’s capitol. Vibha is a board member of the Potomac Conservancy, a Girl Scout troop leader, and active in the McLean community. WETA is D.C.’s public television and classical music station, where Vibha leads Human Resources. Glenn Sarno ’89 was appointed to serve a three-year term as the Chair of the Committee on Private Funds of the New York City Bar Association. The committee, comprised of leading practitioners, addresses legal and regulatory issues affecting private equity funds, hedge funds, and other facets of the alternative asset industry. Glenn is a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Charles Wynn ’89 received an R&D100 award on Nov. 8. These awards are given by R&D Magazine to the top 100 technology products of the year. This award is for an invention using photo-acoustic technology to detect explosives. Dr. Dan Zelazny ’89 was recently named head team physician for Marist College athletics.

1990s

Jason Courtmanche ’91 was awarded a Teaching Scholar award by the Institute for Teaching and Learning last spring, and was elected President of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society, effective June of 2014. Shawn Fisher, B.A. ’91, M.A. ’93, has been active in the process of helping physicians and hospitals make the transition from a “fee-for-service” to a “fee-for-value” environment, focusing on helping improve quality of care, reducing costs, and improving the care experience. “It’s amazing to be on the proverbial front-lines of healthcare reform. We’re really making a difference.” Seth Jaffe ’91 was recently named the Acting General Counsel for the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. The U.S. Office of Government Ethics is responsible for setting a uniform ethics policy as well as interpreting ethics laws and regulations for the executive branch of the federal government. Seth graduated cum laude from Duke University School of Law in 1998. Carmela Townsend ’91 received her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree on September 6, 2013, from the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Dr. Townsend’s capstone project, “Describing the Transition to Practice Experience of the Clinical Leadership Collaborative for Diversity in Nursing Baccalaureate Graduates,” was successfully presented to her faculty, colleagues, and friends. She looks forward to preparing a manuscript for publication. Ken Whittemore ’91 attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine and graduated with an M.D. with distinction in research followed by a surgical internship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, then a residency in the Harvard Combined Otolaryngolgy Program, then a year pediatric otolaryngolgy fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. He practiced for four years in Rochester, N.Y., and now practices at Boston Children’s Hospital where has been since. He was promoted to an assistant professor this year. His current research involves hearing loss in children and has numerous publication including articles, book chapters, and national meeting presentations. Morgan Hills ’92 is currently the Director of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine at the UConn Health Center. He has been with the Health Center since 2010. Chad Landmon ’96 was re-elected to his third term on the Board of Selectmen in the Town of Southbury on November 5, 2013. After the new Board is sworn in, he will be the longest-serving Selectman on the Board. Michael Bodakowski ’99 accepted a position in August with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) as Program Officer for South Asia, managing a program portfolio covering Nepal and Sri Lanka. In his new role, Michael oversees electoral technical assistance programs and voter education campaigns with the Government of Nepal, and a civil society participatory governance project in Sri Lanka. Matt Rogalski ’99 has joined Obstetrics-Gynecology and Infertility Group, PC in New Haven, Conn. He will also be teaching medical students and OB-GYN residents at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is accepting new patients and thrilled to be back in Connecticut to help improve women’s health where he grew up.

2000s

Vicki Welch ’00 is working on her second book. Dr. Karen Hook, B.S. ’01, M.D. ’05, was chosen by the UCHC medical and dental students to receive the Charles N. Loeser Award. The award is given to one faculty member in recognition of teaching excellence. Dr. Hook is the most junior faculty member in the school’s history to receive this prestigious award. Michael Vuolo ’03, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Purdue University, was the recipient of the 2013 Junior Scholar Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco. He is currently the principal investigator on a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Sam (Shiv) Sharma ’04 founded “The Northwood Program” this year, an Experiential/Service Learning travel program for high school students and adults in which they travel and explore India and perform community service. The program has partnered with the White House by becoming an Officially Certified Organization to deliver the PVSA (Presidential Volunteer Service Award). Website: www.thenorthwoodprogram.com. David R. Agrawal ’05 and Olga Malkova were married on June 30, 2013, in Norwich, Conn. Jessica O’Connell ’05 passed the Virginia Bar Examination and will be sworn in at the Virginia Supreme Court on December 4, 2013. Carleton Coffrin ’06 received a Ph.D. in computer science from Brown University in 2012. Completing one year early from his Ph.D. made up for taking one extra year in undergrad at UConn.  Carleton is currently living in Melbourne, Australia, and working as a full-time research scientists at an outstanding national laboratory for computer science called NICTA. Sarah Domoff ’06 received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Bowling Green State University in August 2013. She is currently a post-doctoral clinical psychology fellow at the University Center for the Child and the Family at the University of Michigan. Vanessa Kafka ’06 married Doug Hills at Flag Hill Winery in Lee, N.H., on Sept. 27. She and her husband live in Boston. Gregory Bombard ’07 is an associate in the consumer/class action litigation department of Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP in Boston. Dan Rousseau ’08 recently won his first Emmy for “Outstanding Lighting Direction and Scenic Design” for NBC news: Decision 2012 Election Night from Democracy Plaza. Eric Roy ’10 and Laura DeMaio ’09 were married on June 22 at the beach in Westbrook, Conn.

2010s

Dipayan Ghosh ’10 recently defended his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University. He was funded by the Department of Defense and Qualcomm during the course of his Ph.D. work. Michelle Farber, CNM ARNP, ’11 recently completed her Master of Science in Nursing at Seattle University, specializing in nurse-midwifery. Kelly Smith ’11 is expecting her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in May 2014. She is currently participating in the UConn Law D.C. Program, working for the DOJ:Criminal Division: Organized Crime and Gang Section, and following graduation, Kelly has been selected as a clerk for the Connecticut Appellate Court for the 2014-2015 term. Evan Byron ’12 recently started a job at Norwalk High School in Norwalk, Conn., as a science teacher. He is a Honors CLAS (B.S. in MCB) and NEAG (M.A. in Education) graduate. Connor Bergen ’13 is working as a seventh grade ancient history teacher in Greenville, Miss., as a corps member in Teach For America. Allison Fitch ’13 was recently engaged to Ryan Molony ’11. Deanne Wallace ’13 now attends UConn Graduate School for a Master in German Studies, expected graduation May 2015.

Return to the Spring 2014 issue of the Honors Alumni eNewsletter

Director’s Message

I’ve been thinking about numbers a lot lately. I’ve always liked numbers. I like the order and structure they bring to our lives. My childhood was filled with music, which has a well-documented relationship to math and numbers. I also have fond memories of family road trips that always included a lively round of “fun with fractions,” led by my dad.  It is beyond safe to say that I am genetically predisposed in my gravitation toward numbers. In my role as the Honors Program Director, numbers are now important to me for many reasons, not the least of which is that they provide my staff members in Honors and me with data.

Here are a few interesting numbers that I want to share with you:

• 300 – For the past two years, we have had approximately 300 students graduate each year as Honors Scholars, roughly double the figure from 2004. It looks like 2014 could be a banner year for Honors Scholar graduates, too.

• 453 – We welcomed a record-breaking 453 first-year students to the Honors Program this year. The Honors First-Year Community in Buckley Hall is bursting at the seams, so much so that we will be expanding to part of Shippee Hall next year. Our Honors Programming and Events staff members that work in Buckley are excited to have even more first-year students near them in the fall.
• 1414 – That’s the average SAT score (math and verbal) of our first-year class in Honors. This number is a true testament to the wonderful students that are coming to UConn Honors. Though this is only one indicator of excellence, I am encouraged by the fact that this number continues to be robust even as we cultivate and grow the number of students entering Honors each year.
• 330,000 – This number really needs a dollar sign in front of it, but that would interfere with the format of my list! $330,000 is the approximate figure we provided to undergraduate students last year in support of their research and creative scholarship, with nearly 34% of the $236,000 SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fund) funding supplied by alumni like you who gave to Honors and UConn. We are the envy of our peer institutions due to this level of student support, and it would not be possible without the generous giving of our alumni.
• 50 – I’ve saved the best for last. The 2014 – 2015 academic year marks the 50^th anniversary of the Honors Program at UConn. For our golden anniversary, we’re busy planning and working on a set of programs and events that we hope will bring you back to campus so that you may reconnect with UConn and Honors. Be on the lookout – we’ll be sending more information your way soon. For now, keep this number in mind.

We’ve come a long way in 50 years, and we are looking forward to celebrating our accomplishments and yours in the coming year. Here’s one last number, just in case you need it: 860-486-4223. If you have ideas, news, questions, or data of your own that you’d like to share, we’ll be at the other end of that number.  We’re always happy to hear from you!

Best Regards,
Jennifer Lease Butts, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice Provost, Enrichment Programs and Director, Honors Program

What’s New

Nursing alumna epitomizes work-life balance
Jane (Presnick) Lyon ’78 (NURS-Honors) has ties to UConn that run deep. Read more.

Honors Scholar adds an Emmy to his resume
“When I first started working in lighting, I always had my sights set on winning a Tony Award on Broadway,” said Dan Rousseau ’08 (FNAR-Honors). Read more.

Language leads Honors Scholars to teach
Amy Nocton, B.A. ’92 (CLAS-Honors), M.A. ’93 (CLAS) became a teacher by chance. Once in the classroom, her love for the Spanish language inspired her students to love it as well. Read more.

Class Notes
Check out what your former classmates are doing in the Spring 2014 Class Notes!

In Other News

Groomed to Guide World Diplomacy
Undergraduate Student Attends Fulbright Summer Institute
Recent Graduate to Present Senior Design Project to NASA Engineers
Youth Civic Engagement and Model United Nations
Student Interns Learn from Alumni Mentors

Interested in Giving?

If you would like information about giving opportunities to the Honors Program, please contact Katrice Sponzo (UConn Foundation, Leadership Giving) at (860) 486-1565 or ksponzo@foundation.uconn.edu.

Return to Honors Alumni

By Cheryl Cranick, Honors Program

(The first two alumni interviews reflect excerpts from the presentations given by the 2013 Distinguished Honors Alumni Award recipients the evening before the 2013 Medals Ceremony, to Honors students and University staff.)

When he came to UConn, Dr. Anthony Chiodo, B.A. ’80 (CLAS-Honors), M.D. ’84 (MEDICINE), was not sure how he would get where he was going, but he knew he wanted to do something great. And with the support of the Honors Program he found his path in life; one that led him across the country and back as he developed into an international expert and educator in the fields of pain medicine and spinal cord injury. Continue reading →

By Cheryl Cranick, Honors Program

Sarah Stockmann, B.A. ’10 (EDUC-Honors), M.Ed. ’11 (EDUC) came to UConn for the reputation of Neag’s Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Teacher Education Program. And though she intends to eventually teach in an urban Connecticut school system, she chose first to begin her journey a little farther from home, in a small Nicaraguan community, as the town’s first environmental education Peace Corps volunteer.

This Guilford native Honors Scholar is not new to travel, service, or even the Peace Corps. In the spring semester of 2008, she traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, with the Honors study abroad program, where she interned with a non-profit school. She has also been to Oaxaca, Mexico, several times with Simply Smiles, an organization dedicated to helping underprivileged children. “I have worked building houses for families living in the city garbage dump and done food distributions in a remote jungle village,” said Stockmann.

Her interest in the Peace Corps began during her Reading and Writing Methods class, when Neag professor Dr. Don Leu described his own service experience, she said. She sought him out after class for additional details, and soon after, decided to apply to the Peace Corps as well. The process took roughly a year, involving paperwork, health exams, a background check, and an interview in New York City. But finally, the day before her graduation in May 2011, she received her official assignment, said Stockmann. She was headed to Honduras.

The Republic of Honduras, a separate nation bordering its fellow Central American country of Nicaragua, was actually Stockmann’s first placement. “I completed three months of training and three months of work in my site before the Peace Corps decided that the country was too unsafe to allow volunteers to stay. So in January 2012, they pulled all 150 volunteers out of the country,” she said.

Stockmann spent the next few months substitute teaching and working at a summer camp in Connecticut before receiving her new assignment: La Concordia, in the Jinotega department of Nicaragua. The typical eleven weeks of training provided by the Peace Corps were modified slightly for Stockmann since she had already received much of the instruction in Honduras. Furthermore, having reached an advanced level of language, Stockmann instead “worked with other advanced-level trainees on projects in our community and did a lot of teaching in the school in order to practice for what I’d be doing once I got to my site,” she said.

She also received environmental education training, which is the main focus of her assignment. “I had a choice between environmental education and teaching English. Most of the TEFL programs involve working with high schools, and because I am an elementary education major, I chose to work in a project that works with younger students,” she said.

‘Very qualified’

The small Nicaraguan community where Sarah Stockmann ’10 serves in the Peace Corps.

Once in La Concordia, Stockmann assimilated to her classrooms. “My project is to co-plan and co-teach with local teachers,” she said. “That way they learn new methods and can keep using them once my two years of service end.”

Her students are spread across two schools of varying size. A larger one follows a traditional grade breakdown similar to the States, while the other combines years (second, fifth, and sixth) into one classroom. Elementary education covers all subjects, but Stockmann’s focus is science. She also teaches OTV (technical and vocational orientation), “which includes gardens, compost, [and] tree nurseries,” she said. “We start out in the classroom and then work outside. Agriculture is a major industry in Nicaragua, that’s why gardening is a prominent part of the curriculum.” When the students study outside, it is often in the early morning or late afternoon because of the heat.

With degrees in elementary education and curriculum and instruction, a concentration in science, and a minor in human rights, Stockmann has been pleasantly surprised to see her influence in the Nicaraguan classrooms has been positively received by her fellow teachers. “I thought that it would take a long time to build what Nicaraguans call ‘confianza’ or trust with the people that I work with. They have been really welcoming and have actually taken some of my advice and methods that I use while I teach, and started using them in their other classes while I’m not there.”

Stockmann—who integrated her interest in human rights into her Honors thesis by surveying teachers about their knowledge of human rights education and how the subject is taught in classrooms—feels her UConn training is to thank for the respect she has earned in her new community. “My education in Neag has most definitely made me a better volunteer here in Nicaragua,” she said. “I feel very qualified to be working where I am, as I have received more formal training in education than most of the teachers that I work with.”

Nicaragua, “nicknamed ‘the land of lakes and volcanoes,’” is still recovering from war and revolution only a few decades ago. Though Stockmann noted the most obvious signs of war that linger are “mostly in the stories. The war is recent, so people will often mention what life was like during that time,” she said. But unlike Honduras, Stockmann remarked the region is “very safe.”

“My site is small, built on a hill, and centered around the big, white Catholic church and park, which has swings, slides, and a paved basketball/soccer court with bleachers,” she said. “The roads are paved with cobblestones, and the town is about five blocks by five blocks… The houses are mostly made of bricks or cement, and are one-story and small. There are usually dogs in the streets, but all are owned by families, not a lot of strays. People ride through on horses and there are a lot of motorcycles, very few cars.  It gets hot during the day (90s), but cools down at night (60s). The rainy season’s about to start, and during the rainy season, it mostly rains in the evenings.”

Peace Corps volunteers must live with a host family, but Stockmann enjoys the luxury of “a small government-built house that is next to my host family’s house. The house has a cement floor and walls, a metal door, and bars on the windows. It’s small, but it’s fine for me,” she said. “We have electricity and (most of the time) running water.” Her host family has another luxury: wireless Internet.

While the food tends to be lacking in variety, it is hearty and homemade. The French press she packed from home, which she had been missing in Honduras, has turned out to be unnecessary in a country whose leading export is coffee. Being the only “gringa,” slang for a white female, has its drawbacks: “Everyone knows where I am and what I’m doing all the time. I have to be careful to not give anyone any reasons to gossip about me,” she said. But it also means “everyone knows me and watches out for me.”

And though she misses her family, friends, “and little things like bagels, wine, and lounging on a couch,” said Stockmann, she would recommend the Peace Corps to anyone. “They say that the Peace Corps is ‘the toughest job you’ll ever love.’ Every day your limits are tested and you are forced to grow. It is an experience unlike anything else.”

To follow Sarah’s Peace Corps experience, check out her blog!

Return to the Summer 2013 issue of the Honors Alumni eNewsletter

1960s

William Brustein ’69 (CLAS) was awarded the 2013 Charles Klasek Award for long-term and outstanding service to the field of International Education Administration by the Association of International Education Administrators at the Association’s 2013 annual conference. Continue reading →

Director’s Message

Summer is upon us—the days are longer and our busy campus is quieter. I’m often asked if we get the summer off, and the truth is that our “summer” is quite short. We move almost immediately from the joy of the Honors Medals Ceremony and Commencement to the nervous excitement of first-year student orientation. When orientation ends in July, we scatter for a little rest and relaxation before diving head-first into annual reports and planning. This leads us squarely to August, which is consumed by preparing for the first-year students’ arrival at the end of the month. But in truth, I wouldn’t have summer any other way. I’m always a little restless without students, and there is something fitting about spending our time between semesters saying good-bye to students we are now so proud to call Honors alumni and welcoming the Class of 2017 to our Honors Family. Continue reading →

The Young Honors Alumni Fund, which began in 2011, was sparked by the positive experiences of three Honors alumni: Nate Eaton ’05 (CLAS, BUSN), Ajay Madkekar ’06 (BUSN), and Chintan Bhatt ’07 (ENGR). These three friends and classmates established the fund by making the initial gifts and have since worked to help engage other young Honors alumni to give back as well. The fund is specifically geared toward helping support Honors student organizations such as the Honors Council and Leadership in Action (formerly the Global Leadership Commission), which the three men were members or leaders of, during their undergraduate careers in the UConn Honors Program. Continue reading →