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UConn kicks off school year with celebration
Posted on 08/20/2008
By A.J. O'CONNELL aoconnell@thestamfordtimes.com STAMFORD -- Stamford's University of Connecticut (UConn) campus kicked off its 10th school year on its downtown campus with words of praise for its faculty and staff, news of changes on campuses and the promise of a covered walkway which will make students safe from any debris they might fall from the Trump Parc construction project. This is one of our crowning achievements," said Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele Wednesday of the school's decade in the downtown region. He and other state leaders and local leaders were on hand at the school's annual town hall meeting for staff and faculty. Stamford UConn opened the school year, as always, by recognizing outstanding staff, faculty and community members. History professor Joel Blatt, Ph.D, who has taught at UConn Stamford for 31 years received the faculty recognition award this year. "Joel has distinguished himself in so many ways," said UConn Stamford vice provost Michael Ego of the professor, who is returning to the downtown campus after a year at UConn Storrs humanities center. Academic advisor Anisha Chanana is receiving the staff recognition award this year. Chanana advises hundreds of students a year and administers the Links program, which is intended to get struggling students off academic probation. But for Chanana, 28, the recognition is bittersweet. After five years as an academic advisor at UConn Stamford, and after being nominated every year for the University of Connecticut's advisor of the year award, Chanana is leaving UConn next Friday to get married and move to Canada. A native of Stamford who graduated from UConn Storrs in 2001, Chanana was motivated to go into higher education by her own college advisor after she found herself in need of academic help. "I was actually on probation and did the same program I'm coordinating now, just an earlier version," she said. The staff and faculty awards are determined by a peer review committee who accepted nominations by faculty and staff members on campus and made a final decision. Ego, however, selects the recipient of the Town and Gown award. "I select the recipient, based upon my observations and experiences in working with the local community and identifying a person who has been an active community/corporate partner," he said. This year's Town and Gown recipient is Diana Lenkowsky, vice president of Purdue Pharma, which has been a supporter of many of the campus's activities. "They were a good company in Norwalk, they are a great company in Stamford," joked Mayor Dannel Malloy, who also at the gathering. Veronica Makowsky, UConn's undergraduate education and regional campus administration, was also present with a delegation of 20 regional and central college administrators. "Good things are happening here," she said. "Four years ago, when I was here, we did not have such a long list of visitors from Storrs and the regional campuses." Makowsky also promised that although the university is done with repairs to the school's often-under-construction Washington Boulevard parking garage, UConn is moving forward with a feasibility study as to how to better utilize the land. "That is highly valuable real estate and it is something we can do so much more with," she said. Two years ago Ego, had considered building a dormitory there. Although the issue of on-campus housing did not arise at Wednesday's meeting, Ego announced the opening of an office which will place students in off-campus housing. That office is opening this semester. Ego also updated the group on Trump-Parc-related campus safety. "So that (students) are not hit by any falling debris from our neighbor across the street, hopefully by the end of the week we will begin to build a covered walkway," he said. Classes will begin on Aug. 27.
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