UNotes

The Princeton Review has included the Barney School of Business in its 2021 listing of Best Business Schools. In April, Stephen M. Mulready M’77 (right) was named Barney School dean, becoming the first alumnus to hold the position.

The University of Hartford will launch a new undergraduate program in aerospace engineering this fall to meet the demand for professionals in this growing sector. This will be the only program of its kind in Connecticut, which is known as the “Aerospace Alley’’ as both a pioneer and a global leader in aerospace and defense. Additionally, Connecticut’s aerospace and defense worker productivity is ranked third in the country. This offers students a unique advantage to explore a career path within the same state they are studying in, making it highly likely that they will take advantage of various internship and job opportunities near campus.

The new program aligns with the mission of the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA) to prepare students for the jobs of the future. As the field of engineering evolves year after year, the types of jobs students need to be prepared for will also evolve. To stay ahead of this curve, CETA continues to offer adaptive coursework, the most upto-date technology and software for hands-on learning, and new partnerships with local industry to help students build rewarding connections with professionals.

The new program is launching at a time when the field of aerospace engineering is growing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects this industry to see 3 percent job growth nationally and 7.3 percent job growth locally in Connecticut over a 10-year period ending in 2029. Students will be able to explore rewarding careers as practicing engineers in a wide range of aerospace engineering fields. Professionals in this field earn an average median salary of $116,500. Graduates of this program will learn about different types of aerospace products, including commercial and military airplanes and helicopters; remotely piloted aircraft and rotorcraft; spacecraft, including launch vehicles and satellites; and military missiles and rockets. “Our students could not be at more of an advantage than to be studying aerospace engineering in Connecticut because we are surrounded by major companies and partners leading the industry,” says Professor of Mechanical Engineering Cy Yavuzturk, program director. “Our students and faculty will get to collaborate with professionals from these organizations to solve problems, suggest new solutions, and provide fresh perspectives.”

The transition into creating a new program dedicated to aerospace engineering was seamless for CETA and UHart, as students in related majors have completed research associated with aerospace. In 2019, CETA developed an impactful scholarship program with Pratt & Whitney to foster diversity and inclusion in the field of engineering. As part of the program, recipients have the opportunity to network with Pratt & Whitney executives and potential hiring managers, and are encouraged to apply for internships and full-time employment opportunities with the company.

As a perfect example of the type of projects students can become involved in, a 2017 team of University of Hartford and University of Bridgeport students released an eight-foot tall, helium-filled weather balloon as a practice run for a later launch, enabling millions of people to see a once-in-a lifetime solar eclipse across the United States. Two UHart students and three professors were part of the team that worked with the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium.

The College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions (ENHP) will begin offering a combined five-year bachelor’s— master’s degree occupational therapy program this fall. A post-baccalaureate master’s degree in occupational therapy (MSOT) is planned to begin in summer 2022.

The addition of occupational therapy is part of an expansion in ENHP to prepare health professionals for in-demand careers. Jobs for occupational therapists are expected to grow 24 percent during the 10-year period ending in 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Occupational therapy is a natural complement to our established programs in physical therapy, prosthetics/orthotics, and related health professions, and will allow us to grow our enrollment while meeting the need for more therapists,” ENHP Dean Cesarina Thompson says.

In addition to occupational therapy, the College of ENHP has launched new programs in exercise science and a pre-licensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing in recent years. All of these growing programs will be housed in the new state-of-the-art Hursey Center (see page 23).

Occupational therapists (OTs) work with people of all ages, helping them overcome health challenges to live active, independent

lives. They may assist young children who have physical or mental disabilities, individuals who have sustained a brain injury, or older adults recovering from a stroke. OTs work in a variety of settings including schools, homes, outpatient clinics, mental health facilities, and hospitals.

Students in the combined program will earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree in only five years, helping them start their careers sooner. In the undergraduate phase, students earn a bachelor’s degree in health sciences and begin the professional OT program in the fourth year.

“Occupational therapy is a very rewarding career with strong demand and high salaries,” says Sarah Psillas, assistant professor and director of the occupational therapy program. “Getting to see your patients make progress and celebrate their victories is extremely gratifying.”

The undergraduate, pre-professional phase of the program will begin this fall. The professional program was recently reviewed for candidacy status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education with a decision expected in August.

The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color and racial disparities in health care were at the center of a wide-ranging discussion on Feb. 11 as part of the Rogow Distinguished Visiting Lecture Series.

“The number one determining factor of life expectancy is something as simple as five digits: your ZIP code,” said Dr. Reginald Eadie, president and CEO of Trinity Health Of New England. He and his fellow panelists discussed the impact of historic practices such as redlining on the health of communities of color.

The panelists also discussed the need to dispel myths about the COVID-19 vaccine. “We need many more truth-tellers out there to gain the trust in the community that we need in order to be successful fighting this virus,” said Tekisha Everette, executive director of Health Equity Solutions.

Karen V. Duhamel, assistant professor of nursing, received the Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing last September from Hartford HealthCare at Home. The Nightingale Award celebrates and elevates the nursing profession and recognizes nurses who have made a significant impact on patient care and the profession. The award is named for Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Duhamel has served on the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions faculty since 2011 and was named program director of the Master of Science in Nursing program last year. She has extensive experience in behavioral health nursing, case management, and project management. Duhamel is a committed lifelong learner and is passionate about teaching and advancing nursing as a noble profession.

Amy Weiss joined the UHart community in January as director of the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies. She previously directed the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education at Saint Elizabeth University in Morristown, New Jersey. Weiss, who will also serve as assistant professor of Judaic studies and history, and director of the Museum of Jewish Civilization, has also taught Judaic studies and American history at Rutgers University and The City College of New York. “We are very much looking forward to the next era of the Greenberg Center under Amy’s leadership,” says College of Arts and Sciences Dean Katherine Black. “She brings a wealth of administrative experience, scholarship, and teaching to the Greenberg Center.”

With the COVID crisis highlighting health disparities in the region, UHart is working with several local health partners to increase vaccination rates. Since the beginning of the year, UHart’s Department of Nursing has worked with the West Hartford-Bloomfield Public Health District at weekly vaccine clinics. Students and faculty in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program have volunteered at more than 35 clinics to date, helping to vaccinate thousands of residents of the two towns. In April, student volunteers in UHart’s EMS program, along with Public Safety staff, volunteered at Hartford HealthCare’s vaccination clinic at Hartford’s North United Methodist Church.

Mark Boxer ’83 was named executive vice president and chief operating officer at the University of Hartford last summer following his retirement from Cigna, where he served as global chief information officer for nine years. He was responsible for driving Cigna’s worldwide technology strategy and overseeing the health company’s technology operations, digital capabilities, analytics, and ventures. Prior to joining Cigna, Boxer held leadership roles with the Xerox Corporation, Anthem, and Hewlett Packard. A champion for advancing the employment of people with different abilities, he is a recipient of the American Association of People with Disabilities “Justice for All” Award. “To have someone of the caliber and experience of Mark Boxer join our leadership team at this moment in time is truly a gift,” says UHart President Gregory Woodward. “He loves his undergraduate alma mater and will play a significant role in how we successfully and strategically respond to the unprecedented challenges higher education is facing.”

The University of Hartford and Five Points Center for the Visual Arts (FPCVA) are partnering on a new initiative to assist FPCVA in its opening of a world-class art center in Torrington, Connecticut. While the well-known gallery will remain downtown, the new FPCVA site, located on what was formerly the University of Connecticut’s Torrington regional campus, will include a 30,000-square-foot classroom building and 90 bucolic acres that will be transformed into a dynamic facility for cutting-edge exploration and community-driven activity.

The Art Center is planned as a state-of-the-art cross disciplinary facility complete with an Art Park focused on the ecology and planet sustainability. The Center, when fully operational, will offer artists and community members access to workspaces equipped for printmaking, alternative photograph processing, ceramics, digital art, sculpture, painting, drawing, and 3D fabrication. The 245-seat auditorium will offer artist talks and documentaries. Visitors will be able to enroll in workshops, drop their kids off at the Children’s Lab, enjoy a snack from the café, explore the library with more than 1,000 publications, browse the gift shop, meditate in the Courtyard Sensory Garden, walk the Art Park’s paths and trails (with four-legged friends), create, explore, relax, and learn.

Students throughout UHart’s schools and colleges will have a unique opportunity to collaborate with FPCVA while contributing to different aspects of this initiative based on their programs and talents. Various projects were incorporated into the curriculum during the spring semester, and other students are working on projects through internships at FPCVA. This new initiative will offer significant value to the new Center while creating real-life, hands-on student learning opportunities.

JUDITH MCELHONE ’88, M’94, FIVE POINTS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Students in the Barney School of Business; the School of Communication in the College of Arts and Sciences; the Hartford Art School; and the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture will contribute various projects, including:

• Developing a marketing plan based on competitive analysis and target market analysis

• Assisting with marketing and public relations, including creative projects such as producing invitations and brochures

• Contributing to the physical plant through projects including a print shop, HVAC analysis, and developing a Courtyard Sensory Garden

“All of us at the University of Hartford are delighted and look forward to continuing this partnership with FPCVA,” says UHart Senior Director for Strategic and

Corporate Engagement Lynn Baronas. “Our ongoing partnership is important in so many respects—our students will learn and grow through work on crossdisciplinary project teams, and will contribute to the launch of what promises to be a significant cultural destination in Connecticut’s Northwest Hills.”

This opportunity stems from a nearly five-year partnership between UHart and FPCVA. Five Points Executive Director Judith McElhone ’88, M’94, who earned her BFA and MFA from the Hartford Art School, holds a passion for education and community outreach, serving as a trailblazer for the next generation of artists.

What makes this initiative so unique, McElhone explains, is how students from different majors across campus have the chance to work together. “What’s amazing to me about this new partnership is that the University is so forward thinking in that it is giving its students real-life experience in their classes. The best part is that the work is not being done in separate silos, but rather, students from different areas are working together and bringing their work into the community.”

McElhone also praises the faculty and staff at the University of Hartford who are involved in this initiative, describing them as some of the most committed and compassionate professionals she has ever met. “This partnership truly benefits many individuals,” she says, including UHart students and local artists—and will continue to do so once the Center officially opens. “The fact that I can be part of this is exciting.”

This issue, we introduce you to two Hillyer College courses, both having to improvise due to pandemic restrictions.

In Assistant Professor of Music Ju-Yong Ha’s Global Pop Music course, students study pop music from around the world to learn about different cultures. As part of the curriculum, Ha usually invites performers to campus to share their music and culture with students. “Last spring, I had scheduled a performance with musicians from Korea, but had to cancel it due to the pandemic,” he says.

Last semester, Ha did not have to look very far to find live musicians. He invited Hillyer College Office Coordinator Sandra Roach and her bandmate, Donald Thompson, to share the music of the Caribbean with the class. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Roach says her husband taught her how to play the steel drums 18 years ago. They later formed a band, De 4 Ahwee & Co., and now perform different genres of music such as calypso, reggae, gospel, R&B, and more in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.

“I explained the different types of steel drums and the difference between the two steel drums we played in the class,” says Roach. She says they played a song that the students knew, so they could listen and enjoy the sounds of the Caribbean. “I was very impressed to find that the students were interested in the steel drums and learning about the history.”

A composer and ethnomusicologist, Ha’s course also covers the music of South America, India, Korea and K-pop, Japan, China, and Indonesia, before moving on to the Middle East, Afro-pop, and Europeanpop. “This type of course works well for our undergraduate students by giving them a broad picture and understanding of the function of pop music,” he says.

Professor of English Michele Troy has been integrating art into her writing courses for several years. It began when she realized that students engaged much more with their writing if they created artwork to go along with it. “They have to be clear about their literary idea if they know they are going to translate it into visual form,” she says.

Troy begins her composition course with a unit that invites students to create both verbal and visual selfportraits. They begin with a reading, chapter three of Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit: “The Golden Rule of Habit Change: Why Transformation Occurs,” which prompts discussion about what strengths students bring to college, and what habits they might want to change to become the selves they envision. With this thinking behind them, they write a This I Believe essay, based on a National Public Radio program, which Troy frames as a verbal self-portrait: a personal story that explains how they came to this belief and why it matters to them.

In the past, Troy completed this unit by taking students to the New Britain Museum of Art, where the self-portraits hanging in the galleries inspired them to paint their own self-portraits. Yet because the pandemic made a museum trip impossible last semester, Troy found a different solution for engaging her students. Armed with hand sanitizer, art supplies, and composition notebooks, Troy had the 18 students, all wearing face masks, spread out along a long, empty hallway in Hillyer Hall.

Troy says it was fascinating to occupy the hallway in this way. She discovered it was important for the students to share the same space and be seen, especially since they cannot fully see one another with everyone wearing masks. “They became animated and shared their good and bad habits,” she says. “Then when I let them loose on the art supplies, it became very quiet. The process helped them think about how they would approach writing about what they believe in, who they are, and what is going to help them become the self they want to become.”

Congratulations to LEAD student Jada Hill ’23 for publishing her poetry book, Flower Guarding … “By publishing this poetry book, I feel that I’m beginning my journey in helping others.” #uhart4life

It is groundhog day! Do you think Howie will see his shadow? Will winter persist or is spring coming?

#groundhogday #shadow #howiethehawk

The National Society of Black Engineers wants to see 10,000 Black engineers graduate by 2025. #UHart’s student chapter is doing its part to reach that goal by supporting its members to excel academically and positively impact the community.

#blackhistorymonth2021

What started as a final project for one of their courses turned into a first-place winning idea during the Barney School of Business Pitch Competition last fall.

Five mechanical engineering seniors in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA) designed an innovative ventilation system, transforming how individuals experience indoor dining during COVID-19. Jack Breton ’21, Jenny Parsons ’21, Drew Farkas ’21, Ian Walls ’21, and Dylan McAllister ’21 were students in the fall 2020 Thermal and Mechanical System Design course taught by Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Kamau Wright.

Wright was inspired to incorporate design challenges related to his research interests in thermo-fluids analysis and engineering into his coursework. “I have emphasized using localized heating, cooling, and flow systems in common areas that people are interested in safely operating,” he says. “A tangible example is, going out to dinner with someone who is not in your household. Or inviting extended family over for dinner. Eating occurs without masks. How can we make these types of interactions safer?”

The goal of the final project was for students to develop a novel design and solution with the goal of helping people to safely minimize social distance in various environments where SARS-CoV-2 is present and there is a risk of human-to-human transmission of COVID-19. The students worked together to use thermo-fluid analysis, supporting engineering concepts, research, and a spirit of innovation to bring their projects to life.

The students’ winning project was a ventilated table enclosure for restaurants to help isolate tables in an indoor dining environment. The goals of this project were to help control the spread of COVID-19 in indoor dining spaces by increasing airflow at each table and removing particles generated while talking or eating. The “dirty” air from each table is then filtered before being released outside the restaurant. As a business model, the students suggested how they could design, optimize, install, and lease out these systems to restaurants during the pandemic so restaurants could remain open and ensure that they continue to make a profit while offering a safe dining experience.

It was Breton who discovered an Instagram post about the competition, which was open to all majors. He thought the team’s idea for the project was extremely relevant to the current times and was developed enough to be able to give a one-minute elevator pitch about it. “Aside from having an interest in technical engineering, I truly enjoy communicating ideas, public speaking, and developing my business skills, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use those skills,” he says. “I am even more appreciative that the Barney School of Business allowed students from all majors to participate in the event, because it shows how true collaboration can happen at UHart.”

As aspiring engineers, this added experience further helped the students understand the connection between business and engineering. Parsons mentioned, even as someone pursuing mechanical engineering, she hopes to explore a role in management later in her career. “I believe it is very important to understand the role of business when pitching projects and ideas because you could have the best idea in the world, but if you do not know how to present it, no one will be interested,” she says.

Breton has a long-term goal of owning his own company one day, “so learning as many business and communication skills as possible will surely help in the long run.” McAllister adds that in many companies, engineers end up working with other individuals who manage business and marketing aspects of the company. “This experience will give young engineers a competitive edge, and even an easier acclimation process, into major companies that have a large staff.”