Featured Partners
Now in its 10th year, The Hartt School/Hartford Stage Partnership in Training offers a unique alliance of an undergraduate acting conservatory program and a respected professional theatre — one of only two such collaborations in the country. This partnership helps ensure that acting students at The Hartt School receive rigorous training and bring their skills, imaginations, and intellect to the demands of a professional theatre setting. Hartford Stage staff and guest artists guide workshops, and faculty and students appear in Hartford Stage productions. Hartt students have been seen in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “A Christmas Carol,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Noises Off!,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Snow Falling on Cedars,” “The Crucible,” and many other shows. Over the years, Hartford Stage has hired a number of Hartt students.
One of twenty nationally recognized Centers of Excellence, Hartford Hospital’s Center for Education, Simulation and Innovation (CESI) is a training destination where healthcare professionals can sharpen their skills and practice a variety of realistic simulated medical scenarios using robotic surgical equipment, such as the da Vinci® Surgical System and Sim mannequins. CESI’s Program Director and University alumnus Steve Donahue says CESI is, “part of a legacy when it comes to patient safety. It is dynamic and ever-changing and is a source of great pride to health care providers.”
CESI has afforded University of Hartford students opportunities to observe and explore sophisticated and cutting-edge healthcare technologies and solutions. As CESI volunteers and interns, University students have helped to create simulators, used 3D printers, worked with tissue models, and observed clinicians in training. Recently, School of Communication students enrolled in a new class titled “Video Production for Clients” are earning credit for producing a CESI training video that will be used for CESI’s future training purposes. Donahue and his CESI colleagues help students “gain a fresh perspective and develop new and innovative ways to solve problems.” In return, University of Hartford students have enhanced CESI’s workforce while contributing their time, skills, and talents.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC) is a nonprofit health services company whose mission is to improve the quality and value of health care for the people and communities it serves. Since arriving in Connecticut in 2014, HPHC has built a comprehensive network of the state’s top doctors and hospitals, cultivated a rapidly growing membership of Connecticut employers, and developed relationships with businesses and the community at large, including the University of Hartford.
HPHC Vice President, Jason Madrak, has guest lectured for MBA students on healthcare issues, hosted undergraduate students during the Barney School of Business’s Mock Interview Week, and participated in campus panels and roundtables on the importance of establishing and tending strategic partnerships. University of Hartford students have interned at HPHC, and HPHC team members have volunteered with students and staff to prepare and serve lunches at a local soup kitchen.
University senior Chris Daley says his HPHC internship paved the way for future success. “It taught me the basics of the health insurance industry, as well as the fundamentals of a business environment — how to dress, write a memo, professionalism, using excel and different databases, and figuring out innovative and of out-of-the-box ways to complete a task.”
University Community Service Director Matt Blocker-Glynn says that HPHC’s great culture promotes community service. “HPHC has been a tremendous University partner, helping to purchase food for our soup kitchen lunches and working with us to help prepare and serve lunches to Hartford residents.”
Since 2011, Hartford Public Schools (HPS) and the University’s College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions (ENHP) have had a formal partnership to grow educational and research opportunities that benefit HPS students, Hartford communities, and our University students and faculty.
One of the primary goals of this partnership is to encourage research that informs education reform in Hartford, the region, and beyond. ENHP’S Institute for Translational Research is the key unit that facilitates collaborative research relevant to residents of Greater Hartford.
HPS students and faculty benefit from enrollment in University courses while University education students are afforded priority placement in Hartford schools for internships and teaching positions, clinical placements, and other training opportunities.