Media Watch (Feb. 11–18, 2008)

"Media Watch" is a roundup of recent stories in the media about the University of Hartford, as well as significant stories about other local and peer institutions and news about trends and issues in higher education.

Timothy Chambers, an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Philosophy, A&S, reflected on love potions in an op-ed piece celebrating Valentine’s Day. Read Chambers’ column in the Courant . (Hartford Courant, Feb. 14; San Jose Mercury News, Feb. 14)

Woody Doane, professor of sociology and chair of the department in Hillyer College, and University student Kristen Green were guests on “Front and Center with Ray Hardman,” which airs on both Connecticut Public Radio and Connecticut Public Television. Doane and Green took part in a panel discussion on race relations on college campuses in Connecticut and across the country. The show continues to be rebroadcast on both outlets. (WNPR-FM, Feb. 15; CPTV, Feb. 15)

Warren Goldstein, professor of history and chair of the department in the College of Arts and Sciences, was a guest on WDRC Radio’s “The Dan Lovallo Show” on Feb. 12. He talked about the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln as part of a Lincoln’s Birthday discussion on the show. (WDRC-AM, Feb. 12)

The University of Hartford’s Museum of American Political Life collection has been called one of the finest collections of American political memorabilia in the country, but its roughly 75,000 items are currently secured in an environmentally controlled storage facility in Bloomfield, noted Randi Ashton-Pritting, director of University Libraries, in an interview with the Hartford Courant. The museum closed in 2004 to free up space to expand the University’s architecture program and because the museum was attracting very few visitors. (Hartford Courant, Feb. 15)

Michael Crosbie, chair of the Department of Architecture in the University’s College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA), was highlighted for a talk he is scheduled to give at the College of the Holy Cross about making churches more energy efficient. Crosbie is editor-in-chief of Faith and Forum magazine.
(Worcester Telegram, Feb. 16)

The “Jazz Riffs” column in the Hartford Courant’s “Cal” section devoted most of an entire page to the Hartt Student Council’s and the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz’s event on Monday to honor legendary jazz trombonist Curtis Fuller. Fuller was the only soloing trombonist to have recorded individually with John Coltrane, Jimmy Smith, and Bud Powell. Fuller, an NEA Jazz Master, led a sextet featuring trumpeter Eddie Henderson, saxophonist/flutist Rene McLean, pianist Alan Palmer, bassist Nat Reeves and drummer Joe Farnsworth. (Hartford Courant, Feb. 14)

Greek News, a weekly newspaper for the Greek-American community, noted that Demetrios Giannaros, a professor of economics in the Barney School of Business and a Democratic state representative from Farmington, has been named the new deputy speaker for the Connecticut House of Representatives by House Speaker James Amann. Giannaros had previously served as deputy majority leader since 2005. (Greek News, Feb. 18)

Sharon Shepela, a professor of psychology in Hillyer College, will take part in a panel discussion on “Peace-Building,” as part of Elms College’s year-long Social Justice and the Liberal Arts series. (Springfield Republican, Feb. 13)

This year is the 10th anniversary of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls by raising funds and awareness through benefit productions of playwright Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” The University of Hartford presented one of the many performances throughout Connecticut in honor of V-Day. The proceeds from the performance went to V-Day and Interval House, a shelter for victims of domestic abuse. (Hartford Courant, Feb. 14)

Bill Soloman, a doctoral candidate at the Hartt School, will join cellist Katie Kennedy as part of the Uncanny Valley, a new cello-percussion duo, in a performance at the University of Maine at Farmington. Soloman has performed Bang on Can Marathon, Quixotic Performance Fusion, and Sequenza21 and has received many awards, including second prize at the National MTNA competition. (Sun Journal, Feb. 13)

Alumna and Hartford Art School trustee Nancy Stula ’83, ’85, has been named interim director of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London. She replaces Ronald Crusan, who led the Lyman Allyn Art Museum through major reorganization during his nearly four year tenure. (The Day, Feb. 12)

WTIC Radio sports commentator Scott Gray offered praise for Coach Dan Leibovitz and the Hartford Hawks men’s basketball team’s late season winning streak. Gray also pointed to the team’s regular-season home finale as a battle for first place in the America East, and he said the Hawks are a team worth paying attention to. (WTIC-AM, Feb. 15)

Former University of Hartford basketball star Vin Baker is having his Old Saybrook restaurant foreclosed on by TD Banknorth. The bank holds a nearly $1 million mortgage on Vinnie’s Saybrook Fish House and claims the owner has defaulted on it. Officials say the restaurant has been closed for weeks. (Boston Herald, Feb. 14)

Other News

A gunman, later identified as Stephen P. Kazmierczak, stormed into an oceanography class on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., on the afternoon of Feb. 14 and opened fire with a shotgun and four handguns. Kazmierczak, a former NIU graduate student, killed five students, wounded 15 others, and then took his own life. Police have not uncovered a motive for the shooting, although they did say that Kazmierczak had stopped taking his medications and was acting erratically. (Chicago Tribune, Feb. 15)

More than a week has passed since the Feb. 5 storm system ripped through the mid-South, leaving a deadly trail of destruction across five states, including Tennessee, where Union University, a Baptist-based liberal arts school, took a direct hit from an EF-4 tornado with winds topping 200 m.p.h. Of the university’s 3,200 students, 1,200 were on campus when the tornado struck — 13 students were trapped and 51 were injured, but there were no fatalities. Forty percent of the dorms were destroyed and 32 of the 33 buildings dotting the 290-acre campus sustained an estimated $47 million in damage. (Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 14)


Strange as it might seem, especially to those who remember the Black Power movement of the 1960s and black studies programs popping up on college campuses in the 1970s, none of Connecticut’s public universities offers a major in African American studies. But the University of Connecticut hopes to change that by offering its first African American Studies major this fall. Combining the talents of 10 professors already at the university, UConn plans to offer an interdisciplinary program that explores key aspects of the history and culture of African Americans.
(Hartford Courant, Feb. 17)

Forty-two years after it opened as a small secretarial school, Briarwood College is up for sale. The private college’s three co-owners are looking for a buyer to continue its recent expansion, and they don’t expect a sale will significantly change Briarwood’s operations, according to Lynn Brooks, president and chief executive officer of the school. Briarwood serves about 650 students on its roughly 40-acre campus. It offers 25 associate degree programs and 10 certificate programs, and several years ago it secured state approval to grant four-year degrees. Briarwood's bachelor degree programs in criminal justice and funeral service management have become among its most popular offerings since then, and the college is looking at adding programs in the future, Brooks said.
(Hartford Courant, Feb. 16)

Retiring baby boomers and a limited supply of qualified job candidates are making it difficult for manufacturers to meet business demands, a reality that is not lost on local community colleges and vocational schools. To meet manufacturing demands, Connecticut is increasing the number and quality of vocational courses. This fall, in collaboration with Bristol Tech, Tunxis Community College plans to launch Machine Tools Fundamentals, a 72-hour noncredit course designed to prepare high school graduates for entry-level machine operator positions available in surrounding communities.
(Hartford Courant, Feb. 18)

The original GI Bill provided full tuition, housing, and living costs for some 8 million veterans; for many, it was the engine of opportunity in the postwar years. But, in the mid 1980s, the program was scaled back to a peacetime program that pays a flat sum. Today the most a veteran can receive is approximately $9,600 a year for four years--no matter what college costs. Now, five years into the Iraq conflict, a movement is gathering steam in Washington to boost the payout of the GI Bill, to provide a true war-time benefit for war- time service. But the effort has run headlong into another reality of an unpopular war: the struggle to sustain an all-volunteer force. The Pentagon and White House have so far resisted a new GI Bill out of fear that too many will use it — choosing to shed the uniform in favor of school and civilian life.
(Boston Globe, Feb. 13)

Student-teacher romances still flower on college campuses, but fear of sexual harassment suits are forcing administrators to refine their policies. A string of student-teacher affairs have led to legal action at the University of California, William & Mary in Virginia and Ohio Wesleyan University. “The student-teacher relationship is inherently an uneven one and fraught with peril,” Boston education lawyer Paul Lannon told ABC News. “But they don’t always go awry and get lawyers involved,” he said. “A lot pass under the radar and work out well.”
(ABC News, Feb. 14)