Student News

2013 Distinguished Alumni Award: Chad A. Landmon

Chad Landmon is Co-Chair of Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP’s Intellectual Property Practice and Chair of the FDA Practice Group. He is recognized as a leading advocate for pharmaceutical companies before FDA and premier patent litigator and counselor on issues involving the development and marketing of generic drugs and human tissue. He has a rare knowledge of intricate FDA processes and litigating complex patent cases involving drug products throughout the country. Continue reading

2013 Distinguished Alumni Award: Anthony E. Chiodo

Dr. Anthony “Tony” Chiodo is currently a professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers. There, he directs the multidisciplinary Spine Program for the management of patients with conditions and pain of the spine. He is also medical director and co-principal investigator of the Spinal Cord Injury Model System at the University of Michigan, one of fourteen such centers funded by the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research. He directs and started the Adult Spasticity Clinic and was a founder of the Adult Assisted Ventilation Clinic. His current research interests include pain after spinal cord injury, sleep disordered breathing after spinal cord injury, and interventional management of painful spine conditions. Continue reading

2012-13 Faculty Member of the Year Award: Patricia J. Neafsey

Professor Neafsey emigrated from Granby, Quebec before high school. She considered a major in computer science at Cornell, but decided computers needed to be more “usable” for her poor punch card typing skills. She joined the honors program in nutrition at Cornell and received her B.S. and M.S. in nutritional biochemistry. Following research stints at Penn and Yale, she obtained a teaching position at Albertus Magnus College and provided nutrition counseling services at two primary care practices in New Haven. Her interest in drug-nutrient interactions led her to pursue a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology at UConn followed by post-doctoral work at Tufts University. She was at Tufts when the UConn School of Nursing contacted her to help them develop a graduate pharmacotherapy course and an undergraduate curriculum that integrates pathophysiology, pharmacology, and nutrition over a series of courses. After one semester of teaching UConn nursing students, she was hooked! Continue reading

Pre-med Student Exploring Range of Opportunities at UConn

Pre-med student Shervin Etemad ’14 (CLAS) was inspired by UConn’s Leadership Legacy Experience. (Max Sinton ’15 (CANR)/UConn Photo)

By Lauren Lalancette

Shervin Etemad ’14 (CLAS) entered UConn with a declared major and has never wavered – but as graduation approaches, he’s becoming increasingly open-minded about his career path.

A molecular and cell biology major from the beginning, Etemad wasn’t among the one-third of freshmen who enter UConn without having chosen a major. A Trumbull native, he graduated in the top 4 percent of his high school class, and accepted UConn’s Academic Excellence merit scholarship along with an invitation to join the Honors Program. Continue reading

Real World Preparation Characterizes Student Nurse’s Education

Profile photo of Mallory Perry, 2014 school of nursing student.
Mallory Perry ’14 (NUR) is interested in pediatric intensive care. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

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.” Continue reading

Universitas 21 Social Entrepreneur Corps in Guatemala Study Abroad Program

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

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. Continue reading

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

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. Continue reading

UConn Student Wins Prestigious Marshall Scholarship

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. Continue reading