A Gift in Action: First Reed Fellow Arrives at UConn Waterbury

Last fall, David and Joan Reed created the David and Joan Reed Faculty Fellowship to bring UConn’s best faculty to teach at the Waterbury campus.

This spring, they were able to see their gift in action as the first Reed fellow arrived at UConn Waterbury.

UConn Professor Mitchell Green will teach an introductory course in philosophy to students in both Waterbury and Storrs. “Teaching undergraduates offers the exciting challenge of getting students excited about philosophy—to light a fire under them,” Green told the Waterbury Republican-American.

Green met the Reeds and administrators of the Waterbury campus at a luncheon on Monday.

“I’m very happy for him to be the first fellow,” said Joan Reed of Green. “It’s finally coming together. We’ve been thinking about it for a long time.”

Both David and Joan Reed, who live in Middlebury, were born in Naugatuck and graduated from Naugatuck High School. David attended the UConn Waterbury campus for two years before transferring to Storrs, where he graduated in 1955. After he retired, David began teaching classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UConn Waterbury.

Their gift establishing the fellowship was the largest ever received by UConn Waterbury.