Spectrum’s Candlelight Vigil Featured on Fox CT, Alumni Achievements in Hartford Courant and Hartford Magazine, and More

The University’s Spectrum organization held a Candlelight Vigil on Wednesday, Oct. 20, to raise awareness of the issue of anti-gay bullying and to honor the memories of some of the victims of such bullying. University student Alison Ciulla, a member of the Spectrum executive board, was a guest on the Fox CT morning news show on Oct. 20 to promote the vigil and spread the message that “Bullying is out there and it needs to stop.” She added that the vigil is also to let anyone affected know that “No one is alone in facing this.” To view the segment on which Ciulla appeared, go here. In addition, the vigil was covered by NBC Connecticut and on Fox CT.

Hartford Art School alum Maria Kogan (’98), a founding member of the gender-bending performance troupe “All the Kings Men,” was featured in am Oct. 22 story in the Hartford Courant that ran on the front page of the Living” section. Kogan is on campus this weekend for an Oct. 22 screening of the documentary film Play in the Gray and an Oct. 23 performance by the troupe, both at the University of Hartford. “I wasn’t aware of myself in high school,” Kogan told the Courant, referring to both her sexuality and her desire to be a performer. “It wasn’t like I was struggling with being queer. I was kind of a late bloomer,” she said, noting that at age 18, she came out. “I flew out, really. The doors were off the hinges,” she said. “It was a huge awakening for me.” To read the full article, click here.

An upcoming exhibition of some of the works by noted illustrator the late Arthur Szyk of Connecticut, titled “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Swords,” being presented by the University’s Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies to mark its 25th anniversary, was previewed in the Oct. 20 issue of the New Britain Herald, and highlighted in the “ArtWeek” column in the Hartford Courant’s Oct. 21 issue of “Cal.” In the New Britain Herald article, it was noted that “From political cartoons to illuminations of various documents, Arthur Szyk, used art as a weapon to galvanize support for social and political issues in which he believed. Eleanor Roosevelt described him as a ‘one-man army.’” To see the Hartford Courant mention, click here.

Hartford Magazine’s October issue profiled some of “Hartford County’s Young Achievers,” which included a University of Hartford student and a University alumna. Aaron Sarwar, 23, who is pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering on a part-time basis at the University, is general manager of his family’s business (the Shish Kebab House of Afghanistan and oversaw its move from Hartford to West Hartford Center. Sarwar, who is also president of the West Hartford Center Business Association, is getting ready to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the opening of Shish Lounge, an upscale destination for dancing, drinks, and late-night dining on Farmington Ave. Samantha Forbes, 37, a 1995 graduate of the University’s College of Arts and Sciences, works as a regional network manager at ValueOptions, the nation’s largest behavioral health care company. Forbes also is a mentor to a 14-year-old young woman and does fundraising for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Connecticut Community for Addiction, Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters and other organizations.

Real Art Ways, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary, was the creation of four artists from the University of Hartford's Hartford Art School — Ruth Cutler, Dan Talley, Al Baccili and Stan Sharchal — at a time when a lot of alternative organizations were forming, noted the Hartford Courant in the cover story of its “Cal” section on Oct. 21. To read the article, click here.

As part of the celebration of Real Art Ways’ anniversary, an accompanying article in the Hartford Courant noted that dancers from The Hartt School will be performing as part of the art installation, “Mgbidi,” a 46-foot-long, three-foot-high, three-foot-wide wall of New England fieldstone, by Olu Oguibe, a Nigerian-born artist and professor at the University of Connecticut. The dancers will portray the “Empathics” at certain times, such as the Saturday, Oct. 23, opening. To read more, click here

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