04.30.08
The Hartford Courant
Lobo To Speak At UConn
STORRS —- Rebecca Lobo, who played on the University of Connecticut's national champion women's basketball team in 1995 and currently works as an ESPN basketball analyst, will be the keynote speaker May 11 at one of 14 separate graduation ceremonies UConn will hold over the next two weekends.
Lobo, a gold medalist in the 1996 Olympics and a current UConn trustee, will speak at the 4 p.m. ceremony in Gampel Pavilion for more than 2,400 students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the largest of the university's schools and colleges.
This is the first year the university has held separate ceremonies for each of its schools. Read more...
04.30.08
New Haven Register
Science teachers will be recognized
The Connecticut Science Teachers Association in cooperation with the Connecticut Science Supervisors Association will hold its annual awards banquet Wednesday at the New Haven Lawn Club.
The dinner will be preceded by a reception and a guided tour of Yale University’s Peabody Museum. During the evening, the outstanding science educators will be honored. Kenneth Russel Roy, a Glastonbury teacher, be inducted as an Educator Fellow, the highest and most prestigious award given by the association. Ralph Lewis, retired Connecticut state geologist and faculty member of the University of Connecticut Marine Sciences Department will receive the Dr. Sigmund Abeles Science Advocate Award. Read more...
04.30.08
The Hartford Courant
Under Our Skin Examines Lyme Disease Rift
Lyme disease was identified and named in Lyme, Conn., in 1975 and has been the focus of political and scientific wrangling, here and nationwide, for years.
A movie that had its premiere during the weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival is sure to reinvigorate the scuffle between the mainstream medical community, which cites the lack of conclusive scientific proof of chronic Lyme disease, and the dissenters, who insist chronic infection exists and treat it with a long-term program of antibiotics. ... In the film, the mainstream view is represented by, among others, Dr. Eugene Shapiro, a Yale pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, and Dr. Lawrence Zemel, chief of rheumatology at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford and professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Read more...
04.30.08
The Day
UConn Pair Signs With NFL Teams
Two former UConn football players and team captains, defensive tackle Dan Davis and linebacker Danny Lansanah, have agreed to terms on rookie free agent contracts with NFL teams.
The deals will become official when the two players report to their respective rookie mini-camps.
Davis intends to sign with the Indianapolis Colts and Lansanah with the Green Bay Packers. They will be joined in upcoming NFL camps by ex-teammates Tyvon Branch and Donald Thomas. Read more...
04.29.08
MedicineNet.com
Cola May Be Bad to the Bones
While enjoying a cola or two every day might seem harmless enough, recent research suggests that those tasty drinks could be compromising your bone health.
"There is enough evidence that high consumption of soda and carbonated beverages is associated with somewhat lower bone mass in children, and that's a real concern and people should be aware of it," said Dr. Lawrence Raisz, director of the University of Connecticut Center for Osteoporosis. Read more...
04.29.08
WNPR (Where We Live) 
Election Official Addresses "Dead Voter" Controversy
A recent article in the Hartford Courant researched by University of Connecticut journalism students found more than 300 state residents who appeared to have voted after they died. It has prompted action by the Secretary of the State's office. Interviewed for the program were Marcel Dufresne, associate professor of journalism, and Greg Bordonaro, a UConn journalism student. Hear more...
04.29.08
The Chronicle of Higher Education
UConn Students Ghostbust Dead Voters
Dead voters haunt election politics, and Marcel Dufresne wanted to get to the bottom of their eerie existence. So the associate professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut enlisted a dozen students in a comprehensive analysis of voting and death records in the state.
At a time when debates over voter-identification laws and ballot-box fraud enliven an already zesty election season, the UConn team found more than 8,500 late residents still on the voting rolls, according to an article published last week in The Hartford Courant. Read more...
04.29.08
The Day
Lead In Dental Work Prompts Fears About Chinese-Made Crowns, Bridges
Not many people think about what goes into their mouth when a dentist starts working to repair their smile.
But more and more patients have started asking about their crowns and bridges - the metal-and-ceramic inserts that are formed to replace missing or cracked teeth - ever since a February report in Ohio that found some dental work made in China contained high lead levels. ... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement, however, that it didn't believe the crowns pose a significant public health risk. Dr. Robert Kelly, a professor at the University of Connecticut dental school in Farmington, said federal agencies and patients who have had crowns placed in their mouths shouldn't worry. Read more...
04.28.08
The Hartford Courant
EDITORIAL: The Dead Vote
A group of University of Connecticut journalism students may have overstated the problem a bit, but they deserve credit nonetheless for a recent class project that underscored the need to update voter registration records.
... Fears that the integrity of the election process had been compromised were unfounded. Errors that did occur, however, could have been prevented if town clerks and registrars simply did their job and kept the voter rolls up to date.
Congratulations to the UConn students. Read more...
04.28.08
Danbury News-Times
Yearning to breathe free
... About 100 people came to the Danbury Library Saturday, where the Connecticut chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association sponsored "Citizenship Day."
The event started about 10 a.m. in a conference room in the library, where a line quickly formed stretching down a hall.
Immigration attorneys Michael Boyle and Isabelle Barreira -- who helped the residents for free -- then split the crowd in half, using another conference room at the Women's Center on West Street. ...
DiBuono had all the same rights as a U.S. citizen -- except the right to vote.
After reading about "Citizenship Day" in The News-Times, DiBuono and her sister, Mary Light of Brookfield, spent more than an hour filling out a citizenship application with Boyle and first-year law students from the University of Connecticut. Read more...
04.28.08
The Hartford Courant
OPED: Care Can Be Best At Home
... Currently, only one-third of Connecticut's $2.3 billion Medicaid expenditures are spent on providing home- and community-based care. The vast majority of funds support institutional care, such as nursing facilities. Our system is out of balance.
A Long-Term Care Needs Assessment was conducted in 2007 by researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Center's Center on Aging and presented to the legislature in January.
The groundbreaking study — the first in 20 years — reveals that the overwhelming majority of respondents, nearly 80 percent, express a strong desire to remain in their homes, with home care services and supports as needed. Yet recent trends show this is not the direction we are taking. Read more...
04.28.08
The Hartford Courant
Parcels Near UConn Purchased
STORRS — - A student housing acquisition and development company has purchased three prime parcels of land, including two parking lots, along the edge of the University of Connecticut with an eye toward developing them into a residential-retail complex.
Corridor Ventures of Avon, which operates in seven university markets nationally, bought the 27 acres along North Eagleville and Hunting Lodge roads for $5.5 million in February. Read more...
04.25.08
The Hartford Courant
EDITORIAL: A Story For The Ages
As officials for Connecticut Yankee consider proposals for selling the company's 500-acre Haddam Neck property, they ought to give extra weight to a proposal by state officials for memorializing the life of Venture Smith, a former slave turned free man and successful businessman.
Mr. Smith's personal story of perseverance and triumph in the 18th century is one for the ages. Whatever remains of his Haddam Neck homestead deserves protection.State officials are proposing an archaeological preserve for Mr. Smith's former homestead. Nicholas Bellantoni, the state's archaeologist, says getting the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places could bring some added punch for protecting and preserving the site as an educational resource. Read more...
04.28.08
The Hartford Courant
A Collector Of Arcane Canes
If Peter Robinson someday requires the assistance of a walking cane, he'll be the most fashionable guy in town with a limp. Dean emeritus and professor of periodontology at the University of Connecticut, Robinson collects unique and valuable walking sticks. He has about 200 of them proudly and tastefully displayed in his West Simsbury home.
It all started when Robinson and his wife, Tish, avid travelers, purchased a Chinese porcelain umbrella holder during a trip to San Francisco 20 years ago. Read more...
04.25.08
The Norwich Bulletin
EDITORIAL: Deceased voters on state rolls a disturbing find
The integrity of our election process should be — must be — without question. The recent report that voting lists across the state include more than 8,000 deceased individuals is disturbing. Although there is no evidence of voter fraud associated with these findings, the fact that there is such a serious breakdown in preserving the integrity of the process should be a concern. Marcel Dufresne, an associate professor at the University of Connecticut who oversaw the UConn survey that uncovered these flaws, attributed the problem to an “inaccurate system” of maintaining proper voting lists. His analysis may be correct about the system, but the problem lies with those responsible for maintaining it and ensuring its accuracy. Read more...
04.25.08
The Hartford Courant
EDITORIAL: Party Central No More?
... Since 2004, when the revelry was at its all-time worst and rioting took place, the university and the town have labored to come up with the right preventive formula. Instead of canceling Spring Weekend, they have tried to make it safer without spoiling the fun.
Many alcohol-free events are planned. Mansfield, generously, will open its community center to nondrinkers. There will be the usual ooze-ball mud volleyball tournament and a concert with hip-hop headliners.
In addition, UConn officials have wisely enlisted the help of other colleges and the local high school to keep outsiders, traditionally the majority of troublemakers, away this year. Read more...
04.25.08
The Seattle Times
"Fathers and Sons" brings Michael Bradford full circle
It all started for Michael Bradford one night in the late 1980s.
A member of the U.S. Navy stationed in Bremerton at the time, Bradford was out on a date with "a young lady from Bellevue."
"She wanted to go to the theater and said there's a play by this guy named August Wilson," says Bradford. "I told her I had no interest in that. I just wanted to go to a little jazz club or something." ... The experience was such an eye-opener, in fact, that Bradford followed his own muse to become a playwright and a current teacher of drama at University of Connecticut.
And he's tickled that his new family drama, "Fathers and Sons," will have its world premiere at ACT Theatre — blocks from the site where he first became stagestruck. Read more...
04.24.08
The Connecticut Post
Food shortage fears reach U.S.
Food limits, rationing and poor people starving in the street, those are things that happen in other countries, not America, right?
Well, at least for now, most experts say, despite a tremor of doubt and fear that briefly swept through the nation after two major bulk retailers placed limits on sales of rice this week. ... That this is happening shouldn't be a surprise.
"We live in an interdependent economy," said Rigoberto Lopez, interim director of the University of Connecticut's Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics. Read more...
04.24.08
The Hartford Courant
'Puppets Through the Lens' At UConn
"Puppets Through the Lens," the University of Connecticut Puppet Museum's new exhibit of famous puppets from film and television, opens Sunday at 2 p.m. and runs through Nov. 30 at the Ballard Museum in Storrs.
The exhibit includes Howdy Doody, Shari Lewis' Lamb Chop and Charlie Horse, Jim Henson's Scooter, Davey and Goliath, the Jukebox Band from "Shining Time Station" and the gopher from "Caddyshack."
Each display includes the puppet itself, information on the context of the puppet's filming, and footage of the final product. Read more...
04.24.08
The Hartford Courant
OPED: Death For Rape: Relic From 200 Years Ago
By Irene Quenzler Brown, associate professor emerita of human development and family studies
& Richard D. Brown, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History and Director of the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute
The U.S. Supreme Court considered arguments Wednesday [April 16] by Louisiana officials about whether execution is a constitutional punishment for raping a child.
As Nina Totenberg reported on NPR, Justice Stephen Breyer opined that "if we open the door to the death penalty for non-homicide crimes, states will start allowing it for all kinds of crimes."
His colleague Antonin Scalia interjected, "Just the way it used to be!"
Breyer rejoined: "Perhaps 200 years ago, that was true." Their brief exchange encapsulated a real debate that divided the people of the United States just over 200 years ago, when state after state reassessed the legitimacy of capital punishment for non-homicide crimes.
As historians of a unique child rape case in 1805, we found the colloquy between Justices Breyer and Scalia haunting. Read more...
04.23.08
The Hartford Courant
Bite Of Passage
Aesthetically pleasing and functional, the creations of Gary Lavigne may be the ultimate in wearable art.
Not only are they intended to inspire confidence, they can summon the courage to ask for a second helping at dinner.
"I think of every denture I make as a little sculpture," said Lavigne, the owner of Precision Dental Laboratory in Hartford. ... Fewer people wear removable dentures. Dentists and patients are increasingly opting for fixed bridges and crowns, Lavigne said.
With an emphasis on preventive dentistry and better overall oral health, more people are keeping their teeth, said Dr. Thomas Taylor, head of the Department of Reconstructive Sciences at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine in Farmington. Read more...
04.23.08
CBS News
Why Clinton Won Pennsylvania
By Monika L. McDermott, assistant professor of political science at the University of Connecticut,
Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania Democratic primary by hanging tough with her base supporters in a state in which they are plentiful, even managing to beat back strong Obama support from a sizable block of newly registered Democrats.
The biggest story of the evening, however, may be the polarized electorate that turned out to vote. Pennsylvania's Democratic primary results, while smaller than the lead Sen. Hillary Clinton once had over Sen. Barack Obama in the state, show an electorate consistently divided on factors like education, race and income and also newly divided along religious lines. Read more...
04.23.08
The Hartford Courant
PHOTO: Contemplating The Earth This Day
Caption: Students from the UConn's Avery Point campus in Groton peer down from a huge rock at the Earth Day celebrations below them Monday on the school's lawn. Read more...
04.22.08
The Hartford Courant
State Officials Asked To Probe Flaws In Voter Lists
Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz asked state election officials Monday to investigate the failure of local officials to purge the names of long-dead residents from voter rolls.
Bysiewicz was responding to an investigation by University of Connecticut journalism students, who found the names of 8,500 dead still listed as registered voters, including a Hamden woman who died in 1979.
Three hundred dead voters were recorded as casting votes in elections since 1994, but the UConn study published Sunday by The Courant found no evidence of fraud. Read more...
04.22.08
Waterbury Republican-American
Beetles to help eradicate purple loosestrife
TORRINGTON — Late this month, thousands of beetles will hatch in a swampy area of Burrville, along Winsted Road, and they'll be hungry.
That's just what Donna Ellis wanted.
Ellis, who is the extension educator for the University of Connecticut's Department of Plant Science, offered her help when planners for the Sue Grossman Still River Greenway in that swampy area worried about an invasion of purple loosestrife that had overwhelmed the river's native vegetation. Read more...
04.22.08
South FloridaSun-Sentinel
Passover: A time for keeping faith in the family
... Faith, family, heritage — all converge in Passover. It is more than a retelling of an epic story more than three millennia ago. It's also a time to share food and reunite generations. ... Various studies from 1997 to 2004 have found that 70 percent to 80 percent of South Florida Jews said they always or usually attended a Passover Seder — even more than Jews nationally (67 percent).
... Other studies have found "remarkable consistency" in attending Seder across several age brackets, from 35 to 64, said Arnold Dashefsky, director of the North American Jewish Data Bank.
"There's something of a compulsion to hold onto certain holidays," added Dashefsky, who teaches at the University of Connecticut. Read more...
04.21.08
The Hartford Courant
Dead Voters? Probe Finds Errors In Records
Jane M. Drury, homemaker, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, spent most of her life in Staten Island, N.Y, but moved to Stonington in 1992 to live with her daughter. That October, she registered to vote there.
State records show Drury never actually voted in Stonington before her death in 2000 in a Groton nursing home at age 97. But the same records say she did vote in Stonington once since then — in a 2007 budget referendum.
That recorded vote, seven years after her death, puts Drury on a list of more than 300 people across Connecticut who appear to have voted from the grave in elections dating to 1994, a two-month investigation of voting records by journalism students at the University of Connecticut has found. Read more...
04.21.08
Times-Picayune
Federal charter proposal weighed
In dealing with all the insurance problems that arose with Hurricane Katrina, would it have made a difference for Louisiana homeowners if a federal insurance regulator in Washington was calling the shots rather than a state insurance commissioner in Louisiana?
Consumer advocates, homeowners insurance agents and state insurance commissioners say that it would have made the situation worse to have had someone in charge who was unfamiliar with local conditions, and likened it to problems with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. ... But others believe that federal regulation might have made a difference. ... "The idea that you're not left out in the cold with state regulation is demonstrably untrue," said Tom Baker, director of the Insurance Law Center at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Read more...
04.21.08
Meriden Record-Journal
How to spend that 'stimulus' check?
... Congress passed the $168 billion emergency stimulus package in early February. The bill grants the rebates and also cuts taxes for businesses that invest in new plants and equipment, but many economists doubt it will accomplish its stated goal.
The government wants people to go shopping with the money, but even if all the rebates were spent, it wouldn't be enough to turn the economic tide, said Fred Carstensen, an economics professor at the University of Connecticut and director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis. Read more...
04.21.08
Danbury News-Times
Lawyers back citizenship effort
More than a dozen lawyers and almost as many law students will offer free help Saturday to immigrants who are lawful permanent residents of the United States and want to become citizens. ... The 11 law students taking part in Citizenship Day 2008 are from the University of Connecticut Law School. Read more...
04.18.08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A dark horse and a favorite bid for Beijing
A pair of the area's top endurance athletes will compete in the Olympic Trials this weekend with expectations at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Sarah Haskins 27, enters the triathlon trials in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as one of the favorites for the two remaining spots on the team. Colleen Casey, 34, is a long shot in the marathon trials in Boston.
Each, however, is a newbie at this level. ... Casey qualified in 2:46:23 in the St. George (Utah) Marathon in October, the same day as the infamous Chicago Marathon that was cut short because of excessive heat and humidity. "I had to choose, and the weather is more predictable in St. George. But I was thinking about avoiding rain and cold, not heat," said Casey, a visiting professor in public policy at the University of Connecticut. Read more...
04.18.08
The Hartford Courant
Huskies Take Blue-White Game Seriously
STORRS — - The trash talking was already firing up at the Shenkman Center Thursday.
Five weeks of spring football practice culminates in Saturday's Blue-White scrimmage for UConn at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, and the battle lines have been drawn.
The Blue team, made up of the first team offense and second team defense, matches up against the first team defense and second team offense. Read more...
04.17.08
Newsweek
Does Echinacea Prevent Colds?
Maybe. Every couple of years, it seems, there's a new study of whether purple coneflower, or echinacea, prevents the common cold. The most recent assessment, reported in the British journal Lancet in July, concluded that one of America's favorite herbal remedies both prevents and shortens colds. When scientists at the University of Connecticut combined the results of 14 previous studies, (all clinical trials with human beings) they found that taking echinacea reduces the chances of getting a cold by 31 percent. And if you've already come down with one, the herb will make you feel better a day and a half earlier, they said. Read more...
04.17.08
The Hartford Advocate
Filling the Pipeline
Some officials are concerned that Connecticut can't compete with other states when it comes to training workers and luring companies here. And that training gap affects the state's fiscal forecast.
As director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Fred Carstensen is worried about the state’s economic future in general, and what he considers to be a "very weak" system of community colleges in particular. Read more...
04.17.08
Farfield Citizen-News
19th-Century Grave is Disturbed
Melanie Marks, resident genealogist and cemetery restorer, has discovered a possible crime with the help of her 93-year-old friend Winnie Steckles Kent of Easton.
The Wakeman Cemetery, 100 feet south of Hemlock Road, has been vandalized, the grave of Epaphras Wakeman having been dug up and left open.
After discovering the desecration about three weeks ago on a visit to the cemetery with Kent, Marks contacted State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni at the University of Connecticut. On Monday, Bellantoni checked out the family plot and determined that it was most likely disturbed about one year ago. Read more... |
04.17.08
The Hartford Courant
Earth Day Celebrations Range Beyond The Day
On Tuesday, we are encouraged to eschew our SUVs and engage in energy efficiency to observe Earth Day. Here are some family-friendly, environment-themed events before and on the 22nd. All events are free unless otherwise noted. The University of Connecticut Co-op will hold a Sustainable Living Book Fair and Conference Sunday through Tuesday. Read more...
04.17.08
AllAfrica.com
Liberia: Four Tipped for UL Presidency
Four persons are said to be earmarked to steer the affairs of the University of Liberia following the appointment of UL President Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
The NEWS has learnt that one of the four prominent names that have surfaced for the UL Presidency is Dr. Emmet Dennis who currently serves as a member of the UL Board.
Dennis received his Bachelor's degree from Cuttington University and holds a Master's from Indiana University, USA, in Invertebrate Zoology and a Doctorate in Parasitology from the University of Connecticut. Read more...
04.16.08
The Hartford Courant
Academic Plan For UConn Presented To Trustees
STORRS — A comprehensive new academic plan that charts UConn's future would capitalize on the university's strengths in environmental research, education, health care and human behavior and would foster state and private partnerships to develop products and businesses.
The underlying goal is to push UConn into the ranks of the Top 20 public universities in the nation, lifting it from its current spot at 24 on U.S. News & World Report's 2008 list.
"Ultimately, the purpose of this plan is to set a trajectory for us to reach that goal," UConn Provost Peter Nicholls said Tuesday as he presented the plan at a meeting of the UConn board of trustees. Read more...
04.16.08
The Hartford Courant
Dental Needs Unmet
At least 1 million Connecticut residents, and possibly as many as 1.5 million — more than one-third of the state — lack dental insurance, according to the state dental association, and a new state medical plan for the uninsured, which includes tens of thousands of children, will not help.
... When it comes to a choice between dental care and keeping the lights on or putting food on the table, advocates say, dental care is usually the first to go. ... the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington offers a first-come, first-served emergency dental clinic for people with state insurance or no insurance Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Read more...
04.15.08
The Day
EDITORIAL: Moving UConn Forward
Soon after arriving in September as the University of Connecticut's 14th president, Michael J. Hogan set as a goal making UConn a top-20 public university. At his formal inaugural on Sunday, President Hogan provided the road map on how to get there.
The inaugural speech made clear there will be no complacency in his administration, no resting on past laurels. President Hogan wants to push his university forward, and he is not afraid to shake things up to get there.
He challenged the faculty to stop thinking “too much in terms of my research, my teaching and my service.” A top-flight university in the 21st century must think in terms of cooperative research, teaching and service that cut across disciplines and departments, he said. Read more...
04.15.08
The Hartford Courant
New UConn President Welcomed At Founders Gala
More than 200 gathered Saturday night at the Marriott Hartford Downtown for the University of Connecticut's Founders Society Dinner and Inauguration Gala for Michael Hogan, the 14th president of the University of Connecticut. "It's an unusual and a wonderful opportunity to connect all of the university's major donors with the inauguration of a new president," said John K. Martin, president of the University of Connecticut Foundation. "It's just a terrific way to do things." Read more...
04.15.08
New Haven Register
Common bacteria may aggravate MS
Otherwise harmless bacteria that live in almost all humans can aggravate multiple sclerosis, a disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks its own host, University of Connecticut Health Center scientists have found.
While results are preliminary and far more research must be done, the findings suggest that someday autoimmune diseases — MS, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and others — might be treatable by altering the bacterial balance in the mouth, intestines, or vaginal tract. Robert B. Clark, associate professor of immunology at UConn and one of his graduate students, William Housely, presented their findings at a meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in San Diego. Read more...
04.14.08
The Hartford Courant
UConn Inaugurates President Michael Hogan
STORRS - The University of Connecticut's presidential inauguration was a study in contrasts Sunday, from the president's 20-minute speech charting the university's future as an interdisciplinary research institution to the exuberant marching band sprinting up the aisles blasting the UConn Husky fight song. President Michael J. Hogan had wanted to bring a festive atmosphere to the usually somber ceremony. So speeches were followed by performances by a lively gospel choir and jazz band, and the procession of dignitaries outside afterward was led by the marching band and a giant husky dog balloon like those in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Read more...
04.14.08
The Hartford Courant
Renters Want To Be Buyers
Here's the situation: You're renting, but ready to buy a house. Single-family home and condo prices are dropping, and they are projected to slip further. Historically speaking, interest rates are fairly low, but some forecasters predict they could rise if inflation takes hold.
Should you wait? Should you buy? ... Most analysts predict that home prices in Connecticut will drop further. Home prices in the state were inflated and are now correcting, said Fred Carstensen, professor of economics at the University of Connecticut.
In Hartford County, single-family home prices declined about 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007 and condo prices slipped 1.4 percent, said Professor John Clapp of UConn's Center for Real Estate and Urban Economic Studies. Rental rates are fairly stagnant, he said. Read more...
04.14.08
The Hartford Courant
EbLens' Sales Volume Grows With Urban Strategy
... Thought that EbLens had all but disappeared?
In one respect, is has. The retailer founded in the 1940s in New Britain as a clothier for the workingman and its later role as a mainstream retailer offering clothing and footwear for the entire family are long removed from the vision of its founders, Ebner Glooskin and Leonard Seaman, the duo who combined their names to create EbLens.
But reinvention has been key to the company's long-term success. ... Susan Spiggle, head of the marketing department at the University of Connecticut School of Business, said it's not easy for local retailers to compete with national clothing chains, which design, manufacture and sell their own clothing labels. Read more...
04.14.08
The Patriot Ledger
Scituate lobsterman hopes for industry’s resurgence
... [In 1999], lobstermen off the New York and Connecticut coast began pulling up traps full of dead lobsters. Many blamed pesticides used against the mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus. The lobster industry there nearly collapsed after cities and towns began floating solid cakes of the chemical methoprene in storm drains to kill mosquitoes.
While pesticide use was strongly suspected in the huge lobster kill, no definitive conclusions were reached.
A major study done by the University of Connecticut, concluded in 2004 that pesticides may have played a role, but that other stressful environmental conditions and disease were at fault. Read more...
04.11.08
The Hartford Courant
UConn's New President To Be Inaugurated Sunday
STORRS — When Michael Hogan was brainstorming for music for his inauguration as the University of Connecticut's new president this Sunday, he wanted to make sure the ceremony wasn't too stodgy.
So he suggested a popular 1970s hit with its "Jeremiah-was-a-bullfrog" opening for the processional music.
"I like that 'Joy To The World' aspect of it," he said.
That idea was quickly nixed. So were others his staff suggested, such as the theme to "Rocky" and the soundtrack for "Superman." They knew they wanted something upbeat, but with the right amount of pomp and tradition. They finally settled for the more dignified "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland. Read more...
04.11.08
The Hartford Courant
Prison Saved Him; Now He Fights To Save His Son
... [B]ehind bars in New Hampshire and Connecticut, [Michael] Guglielmo turned his pugnacious spirit toward the law, successfully pursuing litigation against brutal guards and poor prison conditions. He made business cards that promised "I'll fight for your rights," and cultivated the media. ... Now, after five years of freedom, Guglielmo is a family man and a "guerrilla marketer," say staff with the American Red Cross, which allows him to piggyback his drives on its blood drives. On Tuesday, his crew signed up their 13,000th donor, the campus newspaper reporter covering the drive at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Read more...
04.10.08
Gillette News-Record
Coal mine clinic will target 5,200
A trio of coal companies planning a health clinic for more than 5,200 employees, dependents and retirees recently bought a building for an undisclosed sum on Medical Arts Court. ... The companies are in the process of ironing out all the details of recruiting and training staff. Peter Hotz, executive vice president for CHD Meridian, said the clinic plans to “recruit as locally as possible,” with the aim of recruiting permanent staff. ... "It makes very good business sense,"said Jeffrey Kramer, director of the University of Connecticut Center for Healthcare and Insurance Studies. "It's not prohibitively expensive, and the companies can take care of injuries right away and reduce employee absenteeism." Read more...
04.10.08
The Day
Auriemma named Naismith Coach of the Year
Atlanta - University of Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma was named the Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on Wednesday.
Auriemma edged out LSU's Van Chancellor, Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer and Tennessee's Pat Summitt.
Auriemma overcame season-ending injuries to starters Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas to lead the Huskies (36-2) to their first Final Four appearance since 2004.
UConn won a second straight regular-season Big East championship and also won the Big East tournament. Read more...
04.10.08
Health Scout
Potential Drug Treatment for Alcoholism
A drug currently approved to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia may play a role in the treatment of alcoholism. ... Findings show that aripiprazole made the drinkers sleepier and they experienced less pleasure from alcohol than they might have without it, says Henry Kranzler, a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Read more...
04.10.08
The Advocate
People's is not alone in banking staff cutbacks
It may be too soon to tell whether the cost-cutting and layoffs at Bridgeport-based People's United Bank are indicative of larger financial problems in commercial banking, or if they are just an example of a growing company looking to become leaner, industry observers said yesterday. ... Having outside investors looking over their shoulders "necessitated some adjustments" for People's, said Walter Dolde, a finance professor at the University of Connecticut Stamford campus. Read more...
04.09.08
The Hartford Courant
UConn Names New Liberal Arts And Sciences Dean
STORRS - A mathematician and university administrator in Chicago will become the new dean of the University of Connecticut's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UConn officials announced today. Jeremy Teitelbaum, a senior liberal arts and sciences administrator at the University of Illinois at Chicago will take over as dean of UConn's largest school this summer, replacing Ross D. MacKinnon, who will retire after 12 years at the helm. Read more...
04.09.08
The Boston Globe
Exploring the edge of region
"New England Survey": The title could be a rejected Yankee Magazine headline (too flat, too traditional). The organizing principle seems a bit fusty, too: a selection of landscapes from one photographer each for all six New England states. But the exhibition, which runs at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University through May 11, reminds us that what matters with photographs isn't words or concepts. It's the images themselves. ... Paul Taylor works near his home on New Hampshire's Ashuelot River. He and Janet L. Pritchard, who teaches at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, employ technical means to give a sense of temporal dislocation. Read more...
04.08.08
The Hartford Courant
Home Sales Prices Decline In State
Connecticut's declining housing market showed no signs of improvement in February, with the median sales price of single-family homes dropping by $15,000 compared to a year ago — the third month in a row that prices have fallen. ... Local observers of the real estate market said that it will probably get worse before it gets better.
"I think it's really going to be a slow market for housing in Connecticut. This is not the kind of thing that is going to turn on a dime and start to improve," said Steven P. Lanza, executive editor of The Connecticut Economy, the University of Connecticut's economic publication. Read more...
04.08.08
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
OP-ED: Among the indefatigable of New Orleans
Tom Waseleski took his college-age son for another sort of spring break: rebuilding houses in New Orleans. They saw the stark reality of the disaster story that won't go away -- and witnessed the resilience of human spirit. ... "Our final day was spent at the home of Carolyn Parker, with an interior that had been recently gutted and an exterior that had been freshly painted. With students from the University of Connecticut, we spackled and sanded drywall in two of the rooms.
The UConn students were a class act." Read more...
04.08.08
The Hartford Courant
Renovated Hartford Pub Awaits New Tenant
... When Joe Black's Restaurant and Pub closed March 29, the owners left behind an 18,000-square-foot space into which they had poured $4.1 million to transform a bank building from the 1890s into an Irish pub and banquet hall. ... Much of the interior is distinctive to the image Joe Black's was trying to convey, and enough changes need to be made so diners aren't reminded of Joe Black's when they walk in the door, said Kevin McEvoy, a professor of marketing at the University of Connecticut in Stamford who spent 25 years in the restaurant industry. Read more...
04.07.08
The Ottawa Citizen
Hands-off deals with foreign firms out of reach of U.S. law
KBR and its foreign subcontractors work within grey areas of U.S. law that make it difficult to prosecute human trafficking violations, says an expert on extraterritorial jurisdiction.
"There are pockets of accountability, but we don't have a fully functioning accountability system," explains Laura Dickinson, a law professor at the University of Connecticut and former senior policy adviser to the U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour. Read more...
04.07.08
The Hartford Courant
New Settlement In Hartford's Sheff Desegregation Lawsuit
Nearly two decades after the Sheff v. O'Neill lawsuit was filed, the parties in Hartford's longstanding school desegregation case have reached a tentative settlement that seeks to reshape how the state addresses persistent racial isolation in Hartford schools.
... Martha Stone, executive director for the Center for Children's Advocacy at the University of Connecticut School of Law and one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, said having a comprehensive plan and many of the specific steps outlined in the settlement would advance a case that began in 1989. Read more...
04.07.08
The New York Times
Herbert Alexander, 80, Scholar of Money in Politics, Is Dead
Herbert E. Alexander, a political scientist whose early and lonely pursuit of often closeted information on campaign finances and discerning analyses illuminated the interplay of money and power in elections, died on April 3 in Rockville, Md. He was 80. ... Herbert Ephraim Alexander was born in Waterbury, Conn., on Dec. 21, 1927. He graduated from the University of North Carolina with a major in political science and earned a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut. He earned a doctorate from Yale in 1958. Read more...
04.03.08
The Stamford Times
UConn Stamford celebrates 10 years of downtown life
STAMFORD — It's been a decade since the local branch of the University of Connecticut moved from its original campus on Scofieldtown Road to its current location in the downtown area.
Since the university moved to the old Bloomingdale's building on Broad Street, the downtown has changed considerably. Donald Trump is building Trump Parc across the street, Target looms over the campus, and the current associate vice provost of the campus, Michael Ego, is hoping to partner with private developers who might be willing to offer his students housing. Read more...
04.03.08
Waterbury Republican-American
State losing business at record pace
Businesses in Connecticut closed at a record pace during the first quarter of 2008, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Secretary of the State's office.
The reaction of leading economists across the state to the news Wednesday was mixed. ... "The sharp drop in business starts, and the accompanying rise in business stops, is further evidence that the recession storm clouds gathering on the nation's economic horizon stretch across Connecticut too," said Steven P. Lanza, executive editor of The Connecticut Economy Quarterly, a publication of the University of Connecticut's Center for Economic Analysis. Read more...
04.03.08
The Hartford Courant
A Big Circus Party At The Big Top
It was a circus out there on Market Street Tuesday as twin parties marked the opening of Cirque du Soleil's circus extravaganza "Kooza." ... The show itself also offered the chance for some to follow those subliminal dreams about joining the circus. University of Connecticut President Michael Hogan found himself center stage at one point as the unsuspecting victim of performer Michael Halvarson's character "The Pickpocket." Read more...
04.02.08
ABC - Good Morning America
More Students With Asperger Syndrome Going to College
... A decade ago the idea of Asperger's students — who have a mild and high functioning form of autism that is characterized by social isolation — working their way through a four-year college may have seemed impossible. ... But today, with early diagnosis and therapy, an influx of students across the autistic spectrum are heading off to college and the schools are trying quickly to adapt. ... Some schools, like the University of Connecticut, don't have an autism-specific program, but rather, they assist the students through their disabilities office.
There, pupils like Josh Pinnolis can work with counselors like Christine Morello. Morello has aided Pinnolis since he arrived at the college four years ago. Read more...
04.02.08
The Hartford Courant
State Stem Cell Grants Awarded
The Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee doled out almost $10 million in state grants to Connecticut scientists Tuesday, including one that has the potential to take some of the controversy out of stem cell research.
That grant went to a group of University of Connecticut scientists who formed a rare collaboration between researchers at the main campus in Storrs and the Health Center in Farmington.
Led by Theodore Rasmussen of the Center for Regenerative Biology at UConn, the group plans to coax human skin cells into embryonic cells through a process called nuclear reprogramming. Read more...
04.02.08
The Advocate
UConn to help students find housing options
STAMFORD - The University of Connecticut campus in downtown Stamford hopes to offer next year's freshman class something unexpected at a commuter college - a place to live.
The school has no plans to build dormitories, but it is launching a Web site that will link students and faculty with off-campus housing. Read more...
04.02.08
Waterbury Republican-American
Economic woes could put college students in a bind
The shaky economy already has shown itself in the real estate market and at the gas pump. Now there are concerns it could affect an already cash-strapped group, college students and their families. ... Panic is unnecessary, though, lenders and educators say. Rather, students and parents are urged to plan early and carefully, and coordinate with their colleges' financial aid offices. "Because money is tighter, it may be more challenging to qualify for the private loans that last year they qualified for," said M. Dolan Evanovich, vice provost of enrollment management for the University of Connecticut. Read more...
04.01.08
The Day
UConn Grad School Of Education Ranked 21st By U.S. News
U.S. News and World Report has ranked University of Connecticut's Neag School of Education as the 21st best graduate school of education in the country.
A UConn press release notes that four of Neag's core programs, which were individually assessed, are in the country's top 20: elementary education, at 13th, secondary education, at 17th, curriculum and instruction, at 19th and special education, at 20th.
Neag's ranking has improved since 2003, when it ranked 50th. The school was 31st in the rankings last year. Read more...
04.01.08
Asbury Park Press
College life challenge for the autistic
...[U]niversities across Michigan and the country are reaching out to students with autism and related disorders as their numbers grow rapidly — thanks to early treatment of the disorders in children.
...
Students with Asperger's syndrome are some of the highest functioning among those with autism, many with above-average intelligence, "all the way to brilliant," says Jane Thierfeld Brown, director of student services at the University of Connecticut's law school. She is one of the authors of "Students with Asperger's Syndrome in Higher Education." Read more...
UConn In the News links from the previous month |
