Drag-racing Dentist Gives Scholarship

Grace Merritt

3 min read

When she was in high school, Carolina Giraldo ’95 DMD would drag race boys in her lime-green VW Rabbit after school at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Conn.

“I was a sight to see. You barely could see my head. But I would win. That is the car that inspired me, if you could believe it. I knew if I could win in that thing, I had some kind of talent.”

Dr. Giraldo, who is all of 4-foot-10, is all about perseverance. Born in Bogota, Colombia and raised in Bridgeport, she put herself through college and UConn School of Dentistry.

She opened her own dental practice 21 years ago and now wants to help other students like her. So she recently started a scholarship with an initial gift of $10,000 to the UConn dental school for students from underrepresented groups.

“I want the minority population to grow in the field,” she said. “I want a bigger presence of women, of minorities, to get into the field and make a difference.”

Dr. Giraldo wants to give back to help make the path easier than hers was. She and her older sister, Diana, had to grow up quickly. While their parents each worked three jobs, the sisters practically ran the home front and raised their youngest brother, Randy. Dr. Giraldo remembers cooking dinner for the first time when she was only seven.

“We cooked, we ironed, we cleaned. We pretty much raised ourselves,” she said.

She always knew that if she wanted to have an education past high school, she’d have to do it on her own. So she juggled work and books and put herself through college—then dental school.

Scholarships like the one Dr. Giraldo is giving really make a difference in the lives of dental students, said Sarita Arteaga ’99 DMD, MA, MAGD, the school’s associate dean.

“It’s not just help with tuition,” she said. “I get comments back that it also helps them with the little things so they don’t have to take out another loan. It also helps them to know that someone is investing in them. They say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe somebody was in this position and not only wants to give back to the school, but wants to do the same thing for me’.”

Dr. Giraldo’s dental practice, All Smiles, in Norwalk, is like her, vibrant and welcoming. She designed the industrial-chic medical suite herself and decorated it with original artwork.

She remembers first becoming interested in dentistry as a child when she would watch customers visiting her father’s deli in Yonkers, N.Y.

“I would always look at people’s teeth. I don’t know why,” she said. “Whenever they spoke, I would see how their teeth met and I would try to figure it out—this tooth doesn’t belong there, I’d move it over this way. It was really like art mixed with medicine, so it was perfect. I love the art aspect of it. I still get to move teeth and design a smile just like I did behind the counter.”

These days, she lives in Redding, Conn., with her children, Enzo, 17, and Savannah, 16, her fiancé, Hernan, and his son, Alejandro, 18.

And she still likes driving fast. She even tried her hand at hand at Indy-style racing at the Mario Andretti Racing School in Las Vegas, Nev. recently. Her short stature made it challenging and a bit painful.

“I couldn’t reach the pedal. It was pitiful. They put seven cushions around me,” she said, chuckling.

The g-forces slammed her head up against the side of the car and made it difficult to move. Even so, she pushed through and made it up to 149 miles per hour.

Dr. Giraldo’s scholarship supports the UConn Foundation’s ongoing Transform Lives initiative to raise $150 million for student scholarships. You can support future dentists with a gift to the UConn School of Dentistry or contribute directly to Dr. Giraldo’s scholarship for underserved dental students.

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Time, Talent, and Treasure

Tiffany Ventura Thiele

3 min read

The three-tiered generosity of Trustee and alum Rick Carbray

Rick Carbray ’75 (PHARM) sums up his University experience simply: It’s as if he never left. Shortly after graduation, Carbray became a member of the former UConn Alumni Association, serving as its president from 2004 to 2006, and is now in his second four-year term as a Board of Trustees member.

“I’ve always been involved with volunteering,” he said. “There are a lot of ways you can give back to the University, and certainly giving of one’s time and talent are important. But in light of what’s happening overall with state institutions seeing decreases in operating budgets, which we as Trustees see every year, more has to be made up through philanthropy.”

It’s this perspective that guides his generosity.

“I’ve been an athletics donor for years, so it was a tug of war with me: Should I give to athletics in scholarship, or should I give to pharmacy?” Carbray explained. “But I realized that my first priority should be establishing a pharmacy scholarship. That’s my profession and how somebody helped me get started.”

How Do You Pharm?
The job outlook for pharmacists is expected to grow 3 percent through 2024. And at UConn, future pharmacists have many degree options within the School of Pharmacy:Pharm.D: Over six years, students are prepped to sit for the licensure exam and become practicing pharmacists.

Pharm.D./MBA Dual Degree: Students combine pharmacy education with business managerial knowledge and skills.

Pharm.D./MPH Dual Degree: Students learn special skills in public health as it relates to disease prevention and medication safety.

Pharm.D./Ph.D. program: Targeted for a small number of students who combine their professional licensure with advanced research-based training in the pharmaceutical sciences.

That somebody was Curtis Gladding, whose named scholarship covered one-third of Carbray’s educational costs during his five years at UConn. Carbray was never able to thank his donor—Gladding, who had served as the president of the State Pharmacists Association in 1896, passed away many years before Carbray arrived at UConn. Carbray is hoping to have a connection with pharmacy students who will benefit from his $150,000 gift to create the Richard T. Carbray Jr. Pharmacy Scholarship.

“I thought this was a great way to make the commitment to a couple of students every year, and then I can watch them progress through their professional career, see them every year, and hopefully mentor them along the way,” he said.

UConn’s School of Pharmacy, considered one of the top choices for pharmacy education in the U.S., is a six-year program and costs can add up. In fact, tuition can double for students to offset additional costs associated with laboratory and rotation experiences in their final two years. This makes Carbray’s gift even more significant.

“Rick has been the most enthusiastic, energetic, and loyal supporter of the School of Pharmacy that a dean could possibly hope for,” said Dean James Halpert, Ph.D., UConn School of Pharmacy. “As a newcomer to Connecticut, I especially appreciated how Rick welcomed me and introduced me to other alumni and friends of the school. His advice on so many occasions has been invaluable. His and [his wife] Pat’s generous and recent gift will make a tremendous impact on pharmacy students today and in the future.”

Carbray hopes others will follow his lead.

“If you’ve been fortunate enough to come to UConn’s School of Pharmacy and have had a successful career, what better time than now to have another pharmacy student share that experience,” he said.

Carbray has fond memories of his UConn days, so it’s been exciting for him to witness the progression and growth of the University.

“When I come back, especially now, I’m so impressed by the campus itself,” he said. “I remember going to school here and the pharmacy building was older with less modernization. Today, you see this beautiful $85 million Pharmacy School and how it just transforms this University. This instills a lot of the pride in the fact that UConn is moving forward and that the state has been supportive of its flagship University.”

The former owner of Apex Pharmacy and Home Care Center in Hamden, Conn., Carbray credits his UConn education for his successful 40-year career. But he adds that he couldn’t have done it without his family’s support.

“I really have to thank my family—my wife Pat and my three children, Matthew, Amy, and Brendan—for all the time I was not around those evenings when I was out volunteering or spending time in my profession,” Carbray said. “Without their support, I wouldn’t be here today.”

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Law School Foundation Makes Strategic Move to Join UConn Foundation

Jennifer Doak-Mathewson

3 min read

Q. What has been decided regarding the UConn Law School Foundation?
A. Following more than a year of careful deliberation and analysis, the UConn Law School Foundation Board of Trustees made the strategic decision to transfer assets and operations to the UConn Foundation. The UConn Foundation’s Board of Directors approved this transfer, which is expected to be effective as of June 30, 2017.

Q. Why was this decision made?
A. This decision was not made lightly. Since 1974, the UConn Law School Foundation has been grateful for the long tradition of strong support and commitment from its alumni and benefactors. However, new operational and compliance obligations have significantly increased the burden on the Law School Foundation’s current Trustees, volunteers, and staff. Meeting these obligations not only would have distracted Trustees from their primary mission to help grow the law school endowment, but would also have necessitated increasing staff to a level that would consume an unreasonable portion of funds. The Law School Foundation determined that maintaining a separate existence was neither cost-effective nor in the best interest of growing its endowment and enhancing its relationship with alumni and donors.

Q. I’ve made gifts to the Law School Foundation. How does this change impact me?
A. Nothing will change for UConn School of Law donors. These administrative and operational changes will have no effect whatsoever on the dedication of funds to the School of Law. All transferred funds will continue to be controlled per donor intent and designation.

Q. How does this change benefit me as a donor?
A. With enhanced administrative oversight provided by the UConn Foundation, donors will now receive more robust reporting of investment returns and a better illustration of the beneficial impact of distributions; reporting that the Law School Foundation was historically unable to provide for donors.

Q. How does this change impact me as an alumnus/alumna?
A. Individual contact with alumni will continue as it has for the last 25 years. It’s important to recognize the positive track record already in place with the UConn Foundation. All of the Law School Foundation’s development efforts have been carried out by UConn Foundation employees, and the staff knows from this experience that those employees have always served the School of Law’s interests in their communication with law alumni. In fact, with a deeper alumni engagement staff, alumni will benefit from enhanced communications. Additionally, the UConn Foundation will hire, at its expense, a Director of Alumni Relations whose office will be at the School of Law and will work directly with the Dean and staff on alumni matters.

Q. How does this change benefit the School of Law?
A. There are several measurable benefits to this decision. First, the School of Law will be able to make better use of the tremendous volunteer support of its alumni and Board of Trustees. Frequently, those volunteers have had to focus on governance functions of the Law School Foundation rather than fundraising.

Second, with the Law School Foundation’s assets now part of the UConn Foundation’s larger, sound endowment investment strategy, the potential to grow the School of Law endowment is greater than could previously be achieved given the scale of those assets in isolation. As the School of Law looks ahead to its centennial in 2021, this is an important opportunity to bring the school’s endowment up to the level of its peers.

Last, the School of Law team will be able to draw upon the staff and support of the larger alumni relations, development, and communications teams at the UConn Foundation.

Q. Who do I contact with any additional questions?
A. You may contact Ron Fleury, Senior Director of Development, at (860) 570-5270.

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UConn Health

From Forest Labs to Rare Diseases

Grace Merritt

5 min read

Philanthropic Grants Boost UConn’s Research Partnerships with Industries

By Grace Merritt and Jessica McBride

Deep in the woods behind Horsebarn Hill, UConn has its own forest lab.

There, you’ll see sensors on trees of different species shifting and swaying under ice, snow, wind and torrential rain. It’s all about the biomechanics in a carefully cultivated forest to glean state-of-the-art data on how trees sway and bend with the wind and develop wind-firmness.

Across campus, expert scientists and engineers combine laser technology images from planes to create 3-D computer models of a neighborhood’s trees and phone, cable and power lines. The outcome – a real-life snapshot of tree growth rates that can impact utilities.

A dedicated UConn and Eversource Energy Center team works daily with these and other state-of-the-art tools to improve electric reliability, enhance emergency preparedness during storms, and reduce and shorten outages during storms. Leveraging the expertise of UConn’s faculty, post-doctoral and graduate researchers, and industry partners, the Center is building the electric grid of the future, today, together with federal and state agencies.

Partnering with Leading Businesses

This academia-utility partnership represents an expanding direction for UConn. Industry partnerships like these fund researchers and teach graduate students research skills while leveraging the research capabilities of the state’s flagship public university. Together, they support economic growth in Connecticut and lead to innovative discoveries.

“With our partnership with UConn, our vision for the Eversource Energy Center as a scientific, research, and operational hub is a reality,” said Ken Bowes, Eversource Energy Vice President – Transmission Performance. “The grid of the future will be unlike anything we’ve encountered, with smart homes, smart cities, and an intelligent, interactive, automated grid. Our Center is ready to lead these important conversations, driving the innovations and advances that will create the grid of the future.”

Another sponsored research collaboration focuses on the targeted cellular repair platform work of Catherine Wu, PhD, and George Wu, MD, PhD, Director, Hepatology Section, Division of Gastroenterology-Hepatology at UConn Health have been pioneers in the field of targeted restoration of damaged cells. The husband-and-wife team’s innovative technology is being used in collaborative research to determine if normal cell function can be restored in defective cells that cause rare diseases.

A record-breaking year for philanthropic grants

The $9 million grant from Eversource contributed to a record year in fiscal 2016 for the UConn Foundation’s philanthropic gifts and grants for research, more than doubling its prior record year. The Eversource grant, along with a $5.7 million award from the John Templeton Foundation to study how to balance humility and conviction in public life, and other gifts, funneled $25.3 million from the UConn Foundation into research.

The Foundation’s fundraising through philanthropic gifts and grants have grown dramatically from $7.1 million in 2014 and $9.6 million in 2015, to $25.3 million in 2016.

These philanthropic gifts and grants are just a fraction of UConn’s nearly $250 million annual research enterprise, which includes federal grants. But in an era when state and federal research funds are shrinking, these industry partnerships pay for research and much more.

“The partnerships provide valuable research for companies, as well as scholarships and fellowships for the students and faculty doing the research,” said Joshua Newton, president and CEO of the UConn Foundation. “They are helping to build the next generation workforce by training researchers and scientists and often hiring them.”

UConn’s Research & Innovation Pipeline

UConn is committed to supporting existing industries and growing new entrepreneurial ventures. To help foster these partnerships, UConn has hired an executive director of venture development, has launched early-stage funding programs to advance promising technologies, and has taken other steps to help bring UConn’s research and innovation to the community.

The University uses its in-house expertise to transform UConn discoveries into products and services that benefit society. A team of technology commercialization experts in the Office of the Vice President for Research helps faculty and students with patent protection, licensing, business mentorship, startup formation, and connections with industry partners.

The goal of this support is to move life-saving technologies from the lab to the marketplace. One such technology in development is a new drug to treat and cure patients with advanced heart failure. Dr. Bruce Liang, Dean of the School of Medicine and a clinical cardiologist, is developing a treatment that can help patients with advanced heart failure.

“Due to advanced age or coexisting conditions, we can’t try to help these patients with a cardiac transplant or ventricular-assist device,” said Dr. Liang. “I formed Cornovus Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2011 with UConn’s support to pursue a treatment for this critical unmet need and to give these patients a chance to survive and thrive.”

Cornovus has already secured funding from the SMARTT (Science Moving towards Research Translation and Therapy) program from the National Institutes of Health and has raised an additional $3.5 million for preclinical testing to gain FDA approval for an investigational new drug (IND). At that point, Cornovus would be in a position to carry out first-in-human testing and will need to raise another $20 million to conduct advanced human clinical trials.

“A critical part of UConn’s research mission is to support the development of innovative technologies coming out of University labs that could benefit Connecticut’s citizens and grow the state’s economy,” said UConn Vice President for Research, Jeff Seemann, PhD. “We’ve seen very positive growth in the area of technology commercialization over the last several years, and we’re confident the trend will continue as UConn supports University startups and fosters new and existing relationships with our industry partners,” he said.

New UConn startups and external technology ventures can find the physical space and the business support they need in UConn’s Technology Incubation Program (TIP). Industry leaders can collaborate with faculty through corporate-sponsored research agreements. This has led to innovations in several fields, including: precision medicine, sustainable technology, diagnostics, advanced materials and additive manufacturing, software, polymers and composites, bioinformatics, drug development and delivery, biomedical devices, nanotechnology, and cybersecurity.

Emerging immunotherapy company CaroGen Corp. is located at TIP in Farmington and is currently collaborating with UConn Health researchers to develop a vaccine to treat patients with colon cancer.

CaroGen’s proprietary technology platform is being applied to several diseases, including a specific target studied by UConn Health researchers Kepeng Wang, assistant professor of immunology, and Anthony T. Vella, professor and Boehringer Ingelheim Chair in Immunology.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work so closely with UConn’s internationally-recognized faculty,” said CaroGen CEO Bijan Almassian. “Working with UConn lets us aggressively pursue our vaccine technology for several devastating diseases, like colon cancer, so that we can more quickly reach the market and provide a solution for patients.”

The UConn Technology Incubation Program has already generated:

239 ongoing research projects with promise for future innovation
129 technologies available for license
35 startup companies in the UConn Technology Incubation Program
About 60 new inventions annually
About $1 million annually in licensing revenue
More than 500 U.S. patents based on UConn technologies

To help support these ventures and established industry leaders, the University is building the Innovation Partnership Building at the UConn Tech Park in Storrs, which will provide physical space and state-of-the-art equipment to encourage collaboration between the University and industry. At the same time, UConn is constructing a five-story engineering and science building in Storrs that will house labs for its growing research programs in genomics, biomedical, chemical engineering, and cyber systems.

These innovations also extend to UConn Health in Farmington, Conn. Five years after state lawmakers made a massive investment to grow bioscience sectors in Connecticut, the UConn Health campus has become a thriving hub for bioscience R&D activities. The Bioscience CT initiative has included major renovations to research and hospital facilities and the relocation of The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine to the UConn Health campus.

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Kavli Foundation Increases Investment to CICATS

Tiffany Ventura Thiele

3 min read

Funds to be used for UConn Collaborative Research Groups

In Farmington, the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science at UConn (CICATS) works to promote education, collaboration, and convergence research across the campus and in the community. They’ve found great success by bringing together UConn faculty, clinicians, and researchers for in-depth conversations on current scientific topics.

These informal gatherings began with an initial grant from The Kavli Foundation under their “Kavli BRAIN Coffee Hour” program. CICATS calls them Science Cafés, in honor of a national grassroots movement to foster scientific discovery and discussion. These groups cover topics that are based on CICATS’ Core Interest Groups, which range from obesity, to health disparities, to cancer control and prevention.

What is Translational Science?A highly interdisciplinary field, the goal of translational science is to combine disciplines, resources, expertise, and techniques to promote enhancements in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of clinical problems within the global healthcare system. The term “translational” simply refers to the movement of scientific findings to helping people through developing potential treatments for disease.

“We see a big need in bringing faculty, scientists, and clinicians together across the region and across the University,” said Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of CICATS. “In terms of collaboration, one of the major ways we do that is with the creation and support of CICATS Core Interest Groups throughout the University. The cafés are an important part of that because they’re a convenient meeting place for discussions to happen.”

Now, in recognition of CICATS’ initial success, The Kavli Foundation has renewed and increased their initial investment, ensuring that the cafés will continue and expand in the pursuit of advanced scientific knowledge and research.

“The Kavli Foundation seeks to catalyze cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration through the Kavli Coffee Hours program,” said Miyoung Chun, Executive Vice President of Science Programs at The Kavli Foundation. “We are delighted to support the CICATS Kavli Coffee Hours to promote interaction between investigators from different disciplines.”

“The Kavli Foundation has found the value that CICATS is bringing in terms of convergence, which is the coming together of different disciplines to create new ways of thinking and new science,” said Dr. Laurencin. “Their continued support with this new funding shows that we are on track with what we’re doing, in terms of being able to encourage and develop research opportunities here at the University.”

One of the biggest success stories comes from the Personalized Immunotherapy Core Interest Group, led by Pramod Srivastava, Ph.D., M.D., Director of the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Center for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Infectious Diseases. The support and funding through CICATS helped Dr. Srivastava advance his groundbreaking vaccine to treat ovarian cancer.

“We’ve done a lot of high-profile activities over the past several years that have translated into a return on investment that goes beyond dollars and cents,” said Dr. Linda K. Barry, M.D., FACS, Assistant Director and Chief Operating Officer, CICATS. “We’ve invested in our faculty and facilitated new partnerships that have translated into increased publications and increased grants. The support we’ve received from The Kavli Foundation will allow us to continue these efforts – a win-win for UConn and the communities we serve.”

Fostering collaborative research is just one aspect of CICATS’s mission. CICATS also works alongside community partners to address health disparities and mentors established, emerging, and future scientists from underrepresented groups.

“We strongly believe in mentoring – and in developing future mentors as well,” said Dr. Laurencin. “We have the M1 Mentoring Program, which specifically trains and develops individuals to work as mentors for minority individuals across the institution. We’ve also focused on workforce development with our Young Innovative Investigator Program, which develops the next generation of clinical scientists.”

CICATS is seeing significant momentum with their work. They’ve graduated the first class of Young Innovative Investigators and are expecting the new incoming class shortly. CICATS is a recipient of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) BUILD Award aimed at developing a national pipeline of underrepresented scientists. More recently, the organization’s 2nd Annual National Health Disparities Elimination Summit was highly successful, as nearly 300 people came together from across the region and the country to discuss health topics affecting communities nationwide including asthma, environmental justice, and gun violence in urban communities. CICATS remains focused on improving community health and developing the scientists and researchers of tomorrow.

“I think we’ve had great results with our work,” said Dr. Laurencin. “We’re delighted with where we are as an organization and where we’re going moving forward.”

Learn more about CICATS programs, research resources, and services at cicats.uconn.edu.

The Kavli Foundation is an organization dedicated to the goals of advancing science for the benefit of humanity and promoting increased public understanding and support for scientists and their work. To learn more, visit kavlifoundation.org.

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Going Well Beyond the Classroom with the Parents Fund

UConn Foundation

< 1 min read

With donations from parents and families like yours, UConn was able to give students a wide range of experiences from nature retreats to club fairs, to special guest speakers this fall who provided leadership development and gave them an opportunity to reflect as they experience the challenges of college life.

Thanks to the Parents Fund, UConn brought special guests to campus to share their transformative stories. Students got to hear from journalist Noor Tagouri, author David Brooks, Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Richard A. Robinson, Sandy Hook survivor and author Kaitlin Roig-Debellis, and former WNBA player and Olympian Chamique Holdsclaw, who spoke during Suicide Prevention Week.

They also got a chance to connect with nature through an outdoor adventure challenge during the first-ever health-and-wellness retreat this fall. Fifteen students got a chance to experience joy and mindfulness, and test their skills during the retreat held jointly by UConn Recreation and Counseling and Mental Health Services.

In addition, thousands of students came to check out more than 600 clubs and student organizations during the Involvement Fair.

The generosity of parents and families makes all this possible. Thank you to everyone who has donated and to those who will in the future. You are going above and beyond to invest in your student’s experience.

For more information on the Parents Fund and the Parents Fund Council, please visit www.foundation.uconn.edu/parents or email [email protected].

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UConn Foundation Receives $40,000 Grant from Newman’s Own Foundation

Tiffany Ventura Thiele

2 min read

The UConn Foundation has been awarded a $40,000 grant from Newman’s Own Foundation, the independent foundation created by the late actor and philanthropist, Paul Newman.

The funds will support the UConn School of Business’ Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, a program offering cutting-edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management for post-9/11 veterans with disabilities resulting from their service to the country.

“This grant is an incredible help for our program,” said Lt. Col. Michael Zacchea (USMC retired), director, Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). “It’s about 11 percent of our annual budget. In real terms, it covers the cost of having the veterans here for the 10-day boot camp.”

UConn’s School of Business is one of 10 business schools and universities nationwide that offer the EBV program. Since 2010, UConn’s program has helped many veteran graduates launch their own businesses and attain economic self-sufficiency.

“We are now in our seventh class,” said Zacchea. “We’ve graduated 157 veterans, who have started 107 for-profit businesses and 11 non-profits, which have produced more than $35 million in gross revenues and employ more than 300 people. We’ve also helped 13 veterans get into a career-track higher education, and another 24 find career-track employment.”

“We are proud to fund the team at UConn’s EBV program as they work to make a difference for the men and women who have served,” said Bob Forrester, president and CEO, Newman’s Own Foundation. “It is one of the many organizations empowering veterans to learn and to build successful careers.”

Newman’s Own Foundation has been supporting military nonprofit organizations for more than 20 years, with a total of $13.5 million donated since 2010. The Foundation continues Paul Newman’s commitment to give all profits and royalties from the sale of Newman’s Own food and beverage products to charity. Since 1982, more than $475 million has been donated to thousands of charities around the world.

For more information about UConn’s EBV program, and to see a video about how veterans transform from “warriors to entrepreneurs,” visit http://ebv.business.uconn.edu.

Join the Newman’s Own Foundation in supporting the EBV program

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Transformed Lives: Scholarship Students Say Thank You to Donors

Tiffany Ventura Thiele

2 min read

How many ways can you say “thank you?” That was the job of approximately 30 scholarship students during the Transform Lives Scholarship Dinner on Thursday, October 7.

Throughout the evening, students had the opportunity to meet personally with scholarship donors, sharing their stories and progress so far at UConn. During the speaking portion of the evening, each student also shared what the gift of a scholarship meant to them and their families. With emotion and detail, many described how their scholarships eased stress and anxiety in the face of family illness, financial difficulties, and other hardships.

“This scholarship has really helped ease my financial burdens, but also has allowed me to worry less about finance and to get involved with clubs on campus,” said Jennifer Skoog, a sophomore from Monroe majoring in chemical engineering. “I’m really grateful for that, so thank you.”

Approximately 100 people were in attendance, including UConn Foundation Board members, many of whom are also scholarship donors; UConn President Susan Herbst; Provost Mun Choi; and Wayne Locust, vice president for Enrollment Planning and Management. Locust said it was important that the investment in student support continue.

“The investment is a true partnership that draws from family resources, University funds, and contributions from private donors and friends of the University,” he said. “We are very grateful for this important partnership and the fact that many students are able to benefit from the generosity and support provided by our donors and University friends.”

This gratitude was expressed by all students.

“The scholarship has really changed my life in unimaginable ways and has allowed me to focus on my academics and career,” said Riyad Twal, a senior from Stamford majoring in accounting. “Thank you so much.”

Some spoke to the importance of giving back to UConn in the future.

“The scholarship has been so meaningful to me and my family,” said Sarah Schatz, a freshman from Columbia majoring in accounting. “It really shows to me and all the other scholarship recipients how hard work really does pay off. Thank you all for investing in my future and all of our futures, and I can’t wait to pay it forward.”

UConn Foundation Board Chair Dan Toscano thanked the donors for their support and commitment to the students.

“For the donors, and people who have been able to help, thank you doesn’t do justice for how we feel about what you do,” he said. “But it’s not just about your financial resources, it is the connection you have with the students, [and] it is your willingness to be here with your time and advice and ability to help in other ways. Thank you for that.”

Since launching the $150 million Transform Lives Scholarship initiative 18 months ago, the UConn Foundation has raised $54.5 million for student support – one-third of the way to goal.

“To continue the greatness of this University, we need our partnership to continue to be strong,” said Locust. “I have every confidence that UConn will remain in its rightful place among the national leading institutions in the country.

“Are we transforming lives? Indeed we are.”

Join Wayne Locust and transform a life today
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Tiffany Ventura Thiele

3 min read

UConn Waterbury students will have the opportunity to study Greek tragedies – and popular superhero movies – thanks to the David and Joan Reed Faculty Fellowship established by donors David ’55 and Joan Reed.

Roger Travis, associate professor of classics in the Department of Literatures, Cultures & Languages and last year’s winner of the University’s Teaching Innovation Award, will be the second Reed fellow to teach in Waterbury. During a luncheon on May 20, he had the opportunity to meet with the Reeds and Waterbury campus administrators to discuss his classical mythology course, which will be offered in spring 2017.

“The course that I’m going to be teaching in Waterbury is one that I’m very proud of, and one that I think not only teaches students about a key area of the humanities and Western cultural heritage, but also provides a life lesson in how to approach and analyze their experiences with the kinds of stories that we find are so important today,” said Travis.

“Movies like Star Wars and Captain America: Civil War are very important to the way that we think about our culture,” added Travis. “This is a course not only in analyzing Greek tragedy and Homer’s Odyssey, but also in analyzing superhero and science fiction movies as a way of approaching how we’re going to live our lives as citizens of the 21st century.”

The fellowship will also give Travis the opportunity to update video lectures for the course and make all of the texts open source materials for students so that students won’t have to pay high prices for textbooks.

“Traveling to Waterbury means that I can create some unique opportunities for students to do what no students have gotten to do in this course before,” said Travis. “I’ll be designing a special activity for my face-to-face sessions with the Waterbury students, drawing on my research interests in game-based learning. The students will play in teams to portray characters in a story that takes them to ancient Greece, the fantasy of the world of the classical myths and a different version of their own world. Their task in each role-play session will be to display their skill in analyzing classical mythology in its various contexts.”

David and Joan Reed created the fellowship in 2014 to enable outstanding faculty from Storrs to be able to teach in Waterbury and interact both with students as well as with other faculty. David Reed attended UConn Waterbury for two years before transferring to Storrs.

“I attended the Waterbury branch first, so I have an interest in what’s going on there,” said David Reed, who graduated in 1955 from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Then you add to this the fact that it’s not only about the University, but it’s also about the city of Waterbury. These were the important factors [in creating the fellowship].”

Over the past five years, UConn Waterbury’s enrollment has remained steady at approximately 900 – 1,000 students, according to William Pizzuto, Director of UConn Waterbury. Additionally, the campus continues to grow. Through a partnership with the city and the Waterbury Development Corp., the St. Patrick’s Hall building on East Main Street (known as the Rectory Building) was renovated to include six classrooms, meeting spaces and a large assembly hall. UConn is renting the building from the city and courses are already scheduled for the new classrooms. The city of Waterbury is also considering creating housing downtown with UConn students in mind.

“That would be helpful because you’ll have the students staying down [in Waterbury] at night,” said Joan Reed. “I think that would be a good thing for the city.”

Currently residing in Middlebury, David and Joan Reed were born in Naugatuck and graduated from Naugatuck High School. Their gift was the largest ever received by UConn Waterbury.

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High-Tech Mannequins Prompt Gift to Nursing Sim Lab

Grace Merritt

3 min read

When Bertie Chuong ’82 MS, RN first visited the new simulation lab in the UConn School of Nursing, she was excited to discover a healthcare setting with realistic high-tech mannequins. With help from Simulation Lab technicians, the mannequins can breathe, move, and even say “ouch” when poked with an IV.

These life-like patients can be programmed to simulate a real nursing scenario. The technician can program the mannequin to tell the nursing student that they are not feeling well, then suddenly have the mannequin’s heart start to race and blood pressure drop.

“This is great because you can have the nursing student think critically and then react,” Chuong said. This type of training is critical to developing assessment skills and building confidence as a novice nurse, she said. In today’s practice settings, students need to have this simulation experience before starting in the workplace, so that they can be more comfortable with their basic skills.

Chuong was so impressed with the simulation lab’s mannequins and other forward-looking features that she recently decided to endow a fund to support it. The funds are earmarked specifically for the simulation lab and may be used, for example, to buy new equipment for it or hire personnel to work in the lab.

“I’m doing this to help maintain UConn’s state-of-the art nursing program, to continue what has been a stellar program,” Chuong said. “I think it’s just so important to continue to support the school that you graduated from.”

Chuong has built a successful career as a nurse manager, nurse director and educator at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where she has worked ever since earning her masters at UConn. She initially managed a staff of 75 in the medical intensive care unit. More recently she shared governance of the entire nursing staff as the resource and education coordinator.

Her gift, the Bertie Chuong Endowed Fund for Nursing, will help the school to continue to provide cutting-edge training in the simulation lab, said Regina Cusson, dean of the School of Nursing.

“Bertie’s generous support is forward-thinking,” Cusson said. “It will help us provide the latest and best training to future generations of nursing students.”

In addition to the simulation lab, the Nursing School’s new wing also features classrooms, exam rooms where students can practice on each other and real patients, and simulated hospital rooms outfitted with IV poles, hospital beds, and other equipment.

“It’s just such a great learning environment,” Chuong said.

She has fond memories of her days in UConn’s graduate nursing program.

“My time at UConn was wonderful because we had great instructors and really enthusiastic students,” she said. “I made some extremely good friends at the time. I met faculty who I continue to be friendly with and have been wonderful mentors throughout the years. The faculty was right there on the cutting edge of what was going on in nursing.”

Chuong grew up in Rye, N.Y and graduated from Cornell University, where she originally planned to major in British history. Realizing that it might be difficult to find a job, her parents urged her to switch to a more practical major, so she ventured into nursing.

As an active alum, she regularly comes to campus to attend Nursing School events and cheer on the women’s basketball team. She and her husband, Jackie, a gastroenterologist, live in Guilford with their black lab, Emma.

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UConn Donor Makes His Mark on UConn’s New Basketball Practice Facility

Grace Merritt

3 min read

Ted Lunney and family — UConn alum Ted Lunney with his wife, Melissa, and two daughters, Alexa and Taylor.

Ted Lunney ’92, a loyal alum and Husky basketball fan, will be one of the first donors to have a locker named after him in UConn’s new Werth Family UConn Basketball Champion Center.

Lunney says he wanted to contribute because of the strong connection he feels toward UConn, where he majored in business and formed lifelong friendships.

“This is a chance to give back to a place that had a big impact on me personally and professionally. Hopefully, this will have a positive impact on the university,” Lunney said. “I have incredibly fond memories of UConn. It’s been a great experience.”

The new 78,000-square-foot basketball practice facility features common areas for strength training, academic support, and sports medicine as well as separate practice gyms, locker rooms, coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, and video analysis theaters. Fundraising is ongoing for the $40 million facility, the first and only building on campus funded completely by philanthropy.

“Seeing major supporters like Dan Toscano ’87 and Mark Shenkman ’65 give both their time and money over the years planted the seeds for me to make my own donation. Hopefully it will have a meaningful impact,” Lunney said. “The perfect opportunity presented itself in the locker naming at the Werth Family Champion’s Center.”

Lunney’s donation will assist UConn Athletics’ Drive to 5K initiative to raise funds for scholarships, facility expenses, and other related costs to support UConn’s 24 teams. To date, nearly 4,000 donors have contributed to support our 700 student-athletes and help keep UConn’s teams nationally competitive. UConn is competing with universities such as Kansas, which has 6,050 athletic donors, Maryland, which has 6,500, and Rutgers, which boasts 7,460.

Lunney was raised in Meriden. His parents divorced early and he was raised by his father, Bob, an elementary school teacher in North Haven. After graduating from Maloney High School, Lunney headed to UConn. A lot has changed on campus since then. He remembers watching the basketball team play in the old fieldhouse and the Hilltop residence halls had just opened and were considered the “cream of the crop” in dorm living. UConn’s transformation through the UConn 2000 construction program was just starting then.

His fondest memories are of the great friendships he formed at UConn, particularly during his junior year on his floor in Hale Hall. He remembers the day it all started when three guys down the hall were trying to watch a game on an old TV with a rabbit-ear antenna in their room. They were frustrated because they couldn’t get any reception.

They walked by Lunney’s room and noticed that he was watching the same game. They asked if he minded if they watched it with him.

“I had cable TV,” Lunney said. “That was a big deal then.”

After that, every day he came home from class he’d find them in his room watching cable.

They became and have remained good friends over the years. All three were in his wedding party and they still get together, though not as often.

“What I remember most about UConn is the great relationships we created, the lifelong relationships you establish going through university together,” he said.

Lunney married his high school sweetheart, Melissa, and they live in Westport with their two daughters, Alexa, 11, and Taylor, 8, whom he calls his “mini Huskies.” Lunney has worked on Wall Street for the past 23 years. He currently runs the high yield trading desk for the Bank of Montreal, BMO Capital Markets, in New York.

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Air Force Vet Gives Back and Stays Connected

Grace Merritt

3 min read

Major General Joseph S. Ward Jr.’s license plate says “UCONN 99,” a nod to one of UConn’s basketball championships.

His basement “man cave” is papered with UConn posters and other Husky memorabilia.

And he visits the Storrs campus at least once a year. He says there is no other place in the world that gives him a deeper sense of belonging and inner peace.

Ward (CLAS) ’83 has got to be one of UConn’s biggest fans. But even this was not quite enough for him—not enough to express his gratitude to the place he says prepared him well to begin his career as a military officer. So he has decided to give a scholarship every year to a cadet enrolled in UConn’s Air Force ROTC program where he got his start 32 years ago.

“It’s an opportunity for me to give back more than anything else,” he said. “It also serves as a catalyst to maintain my connectivity with the cadet corps and my alma mater. It’s a wonderful feeling being able to help others, especially those who want to serve our great nation,” he said.

Ward’s donation is part of the UConn Foundation’s Transform Lives initiative to raise $150 million for scholarships and fellowships. He is among the 494 new donors who gave toward scholarships in the past fiscal year. Ward says he hopes fellow Air Force ROTC graduates will donate as well to this wonderful cause.

“It is fantastic to see one of our Air Force ROTC distinguished graduates setting the example and giving back to the program to help the next generation of Air Force leaders,” said Kristopher E. Perry, director of UConn’s Office of Veterans Affairs and Military Programs.

Ward’s first scholarship went to Basant Kandel ’16, a promising young cadet majoring in physics who was selected as the Cadet Corps Commander for his senior year. Kandel said he is honored and privileged to have received a scholarship from a Major General whom he regards as a mentor.

“It is something that motivates me to improve myself every day,” Kandel said. “It drives me to go the extra mile, hoping one day I can be like the man who found me worthy of the scholarship.”

UConn’s Army and Air Force ROTC units have been on campus for more than 60 years. They have produced hundreds of commissioned officers who have served both in the active duty military and the Connecticut National Guard. Currently the Air Force ROTC program has about 50 cadets, Perry said.

Ward, who is originally from Groton, first came to UConn in the late 70s after he got a cold call from a UConn ROTC recruiter.

“He said ‘I see you are a mathematics major and you are doing fairly well. The Air Force is actively looking for individuals who have a background in mathematics,’ ” Ward said.

Ward wasn’t sure he wanted to join ROTC, but agreed to try it on a provisional basis. He went to basic training that summer.

“I just fell in love with putting on the uniform, the marching, the shooting. We did some flying. I enjoyed the camaraderie with my fellow cadets. It was a great fit for me right off the bat,” he said.

The ROTC program in those days was based in an airplane hangar near Jorgensen auditorium where the UConn Foundation sits today.

“It looked like a giant Quonset hut. It had a concrete pad and it was a great place to practice marching,” he said. “Classes took place there too; we learned about military history.”

He majored in economics, joined the Zeta Psi fraternity, and became lifelong buddies with several cadets in his class.

After graduating, Ward was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. His first assignment was to serve as a budget analyst at the Air Force’s Electronic Systems Division at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts. He rose through ranks during the next 31 years to become a top-level military financial manager at the Pentagon. He retired as a two-star general in May from his job as deputy director of the Army Air Force Exchange Service headquartered in Dallas.

Life in the military wasn’t always easy, particularly for his two sons as the family moved 15 times over the last 30 years. Luckily, his wife, Jennifer, grew up in a military family so she knew what to expect, he said. They now live in Haymarket, Va., in the suburban Washington, DC area, where they intend to stay.

Though he retired from the Air Force, Ward is not ready to stop working. He recently started a new career as a senior managing consultant with IBM assigned to the federal sector. His job is to help implement organizational effectiveness and change management practices.

As he moves forward, Ward is committed to preserving his legacy through his scholarship, hoping to have positive impact on others.

The Transform Lives scholarship initiative has raised $16.3 million for scholarships and fellowships in the 2015 fiscal year alone, bringing the total to $38.1 million so far.

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