Media Watch (June 27–July 5, 2005)

"Media Watch" is a round-up 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.

Owen Canfield’s column in the Hartford Courant’s Sunday “Sports” section highlighted the progress being made in the university’s Home Field Advantage campaign. “At the University of Hartford, the administration is serious about its $10 million Home Field Advantage project. Construction is well under way on the first of four, count ‘em four, fields for soccer/lacrosse, baseball, softball and a utility field which will serve many purposes, including intramural activities,” wrote Canfield. In addition, the “Buzz” section of Hartford magazine featured a write-up and artist’s rendering of the Home Field Advantage project, along with quotes from University Director of Athletics Pat Meiser-McKnett. A photograph from the Home Field Advantage groundbreaking ceremony was published in Business Times. (Hartford Courant, July 3; Hartford magazine, June ’05 issue; Business Times, June ’05 issue)

Hartford Courant columnist Stan Simpson wrote about the acquisition of a street sweeper, nicknamed “Mac the Vac,” for the Albany Avenue neighborhood through the efforts of Upper Albany Main Street, Inc. The column also included a mention of the university’s proposed Performing Arts Center as part of the efforts to improve the neighborhood. (Hartford Courant, June 29)

A report on the ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Entrepreneurial Centerwas the lead item in the “Education Briefs” column in the Hartford Courant. The article listed the most recent group of area residents to complete the center’s comprehensive 16-week training program, and highlighted some of the new businesses that have been started by program completers. (Hartford Courant, July 5)

President Walter Harrison was named honorary chairman of the “2005 One Book for Greater Hartford” city-wide book discussion program by Hartford Chief Librarian Louise Blalock at a community event on July 2 .This year’s book is the best-seller, Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi. Nafisi and her female students clandestinely met to read Western literature—a practice forbidden by religious fundamentalists in Iran—and her book is part memoir and part literary criticism. (Hartford Courant, June 30)

The appointment of James Fairfield-Sonn as permanent dean of the university’s Barney School of Business was mentioned in the “Gazette” section in the Chronicle of Higher Education. There was also an article about his appointment in the Business Times. (Chronicle of Higher Education, June 23; Business Times, June ’05 issue)

Amber Monahan, a junior elementary education major at the University of Hartford, was one of two area students named to receive the first annual Lou Irvin Education Scholarship from the Greater New England Alliance of Black School Educators, according to an item in the Hartford Courant’s “Education Briefs.” The late Lou Irvin was a Manchester educator who founded and served as the first president of the New England affiliate of the National Alliance of Black School Educators. (Hartford Courant, June 28)

Matt Silver, visiting professor at the university, was one of the people asked by the Connecticut Jewish Ledger for a list of books they will be reading this summer. Silver said he’s currently reading The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips and next on his list are Kenneth Pollack’s The Persian Puzzle—The Conflict between Iran and America, Anne Norton’s Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire, and Saul Bellow’s The Dean’s December. (Connecticut Jewish Ledger, June 24)

Bryan Gabiga of Lisbon, Conn., who holds both a bachelor’s and a master of fine arts degree from the Hartford Art School, was one of the Connecticut artists whose work will be on display in July at the Regional Invitational Exhibition at the Slater Memorial Museum. Donald F. Eccleston of Uncasville, who received a bachelor’s degree in art education at the university, also had his work selected for the exhibition. (Norwich Bulletin, July 4)

Krista Wing, who graduated in 1996 from the Hartford Art School with a bachelor of fine arts in ceramics, was profiled in the “Shop Talk” section of Maine Today.com. Wing, who was declared legally blind about 10 years ago, recently opened her own massage therapy business in Yarmouth, Maine. (Maine Today.com, June 30)

Scott Roy, former standout pitcher for the Hartford Hawks baseball team who was recently promoted by the Toronto Blue Jays to its Class A team in Lansing, was profiled by the Journal Inquirer. “The ultimate goal for everyone is to be in the major leagues. But how many people get the opportunity that I have right now? It’s a dream more than anything. I know it’s a business, but I'm playing a kids’ game. I’ll work hard and see where it takes me,” he said. (Journal Inquirer, Manchester, June 30)

University alum Patrick Sheehan has been invited to play in the CVS Charity Classic golf tournament in his native Rhode Island. Sheehan earned a spot in the 20-man field with two-and-one-half solid seasons on the PGA Tour, said event organizers. (Hartford Courant, June 28)

University of Maine athletic director Patrick Nero has been named commissioner of the America East Conference. University of Hartford President Walter Harrison chaired the search committee. (Associated Press, June 27)

Other News

Lee Burdette Williams, director of Watauga College, a small residential college within Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., who believes universities should be more like communities where students feel connected, has been selected to become the new dean of students at the University of Connecticut. She will begin her new job on Aug.1. (Hartford Courant, June 30)

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has opened an investigation into the UConn 2000 building program after receiving an anonymous complaint. Sources said that an anonymous letter was received in March and outlined safety issues at student housing complexes and the university’s handling of the $1 billion in state funding to upgrade the infrastructure at both the main campus and satellite campuses. (Hartford Courant, June 30)

Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) honored John W. Miller, its 12th president, with a reception in Alumni Hall. He has been at CCSU since June 15, and succeeds Robert Aebersold, who was named interim president after Richard Judd retired last June. (The Herald, New Britain, June 29)

Thomas Enright, 51, a field scientist with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) who was found dead on the top level of the Western Connecticut State University parking garage, died of a heart attack, medical officials said. He was checking a DEP-owned weather station on the top level of the White Street garage. (News-Times, Danbury, July 5)

Scientific research is still largely the domain of graduate programs, but a growing number of colleges have begun opening their science labs to undergraduates. Trinity College runs a 10-week research program in fields such as chemistry, biology, physics and engineering; UConn runs a summer research program for undergraduates: Yale University has engaged undergraduates in research for decades; and Connecticut College runs summer research programs for undergraduates in both the sciences and humanities. (Hartford Courant, July 5)

University of Connecticut students have been campaigning for weeks to save the Heart House, a cottage that has housed the school’s drug and alcohol abuse program. After collecting more than 6,600 signatures and intensely lobbying to meet with administrators, the students now say the Heart House will stay put. (Hartford Courant, July 1)

The quest to turn the dormant Hastings Hotel in Hartford into the new home of the Connecticut Culinary Institute got a boost with a pledge from the state legislature for $3.5 million in bond funding. The plan is to begin construction in the fall and be training students in the renovated facility by early 2006. (Hartford Courant, July 1)

University of Connecticut fire officials isolated a chemistry lab in Storrs on June 30 after an employee in the lab accidentally broke a bottle of hydrochloric acid, a corrosive and potentially deadly chemical. There were no injuries. (Hartford Courant, July 1)

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that John Carlson, a Yale University professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, was one of the recipients of an $8.5 million grant for research to help identify the odor cues that dictate the behavior of mosquitoes that transmit malaria. (Hartford Courant, July 2)

Drew Hyland, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College, has been selected to offer a course on Plato at the 30th Collegium Phenomenologicum in Citta di Castello in Italy in July. The gathering is a forum of philosophers from around the world at which participants give courses and lectures. (Hartford Courant, June 28)

The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education has unveiled a detailed plan aimed at boosting the state’s colleges’ six-year graduation rate from 46 percent to better than 50 percent within six years, with an ambitious blend of strategies including more intensive outreach to freshmen, more teaching by full-time professors, and more communication with parents. (Boston Globe, June 26)