UNotes

Nancy Pantirer ’77 donated one of her large-scale paintings, Radioactive, for display in the Francis X. and Nancy Hursey Center for Advanced Engineering and Health Professions. She spent an afternoon on campus last fall to oversee the installation and meet the 2021–22 recipient of the Nancy Bergman Pantirer ’77 and Vivian Bergman Scholarship, Hartford Art School painting major Mya Conception ’22.

Community Conversations

UHART HOSTS TIMELY DISCUSSIONS ABOUT RACE AND PLACE

Tom Condon (left) and Jason Rojas during the final session of The Two Connecticuts series.

With America writing the next chapter in its struggle with racism and racial justice, the University of Hartford’s Presidents’ College and the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement have collaborated with Leadership Greater Hartford (LGH) and the Connecticut Mirror to examine where color lines continue to segregate Connecticut.

In a series of four sessions held last fall and available online, The Two Connecticuts: Conversations About Race and Place explores, through 16 informed experts, how segregation in housing, education, and regionalism is depriving people of color of personal dignity, economic opportunity, and access to health care and safety while putting the state of Connecticut at a disadvantage.

Michele Troy, director of the Presidents’ College, UHart’s lifelong learning program, said the series, offered in person and online, was born of a desire in the community for a discussion about social change.

“David Barrett, who was head of [Hartford’s] West End Civic Association for many years, was part of a team at the Third Age Initiative at Leadership Greater Hartford that wanted to do something on the Two Connecticuts,” Troy says. “They had their theme, but they didn’t have a home for it. He asked if the Presidents’ College would be willing to do a course." When Troy agreed, the nine-member LGH team—David Barrett, Holly DeYoung, Harriet Winograd, Diana Evans, Ann Brandwein, Christie Davis, Robert Fishman, Greg DeFrancesco, and Tom Condon—worked with LGH’s Doe Hentschel, setting their sights high to curate the panels.

Troy immediately knew that she wanted to work with UHart’s Office of Diversity and Community Engagement on the project. “I’m so grateful because it turned out to be much bigger than we thought,” she notes, with 1,400 individuals registering for the series. Christine Grant, executive director of diversity and community engagement, says, “What was really timely about the conversations was COVID, which has, as we all know, elevated and highlighted inequities related to people of color, Black people, Latinx groups. The timeliness was important. It was another way we could, as an institution, say, ‘We’re relevant. We recognize what’s going on in our external world.’ … This was also an awesome opportunity to reconnect with the community.”

The first session, “A House Divided,” set the stage for the enlightening series with panelists Dana Peterson, executive vice president and chief economist with the Conference Board; Connecticut Attorney General William Tong; and Jay Williams, president of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, sharing personal stories about their encounters with racism. Lucy Nalpathanchil, executive producer and host of WNPR’s morning talk show Where We Live, moderated the discussion that defined racism and examined how it alienates, isolates, and otherwise keeps people of color from reaching their potential. The panel also took a close look at how racism negatively affects the United States economy.

The second session, “Housing,” featured panelists Sara Bronin, founder and lead organizer of Desegregate Connecticut; Karen DuBois-Walton, president of Elm City Communities/ Housing Authority of the City of New Haven; and Jim Perras, CEO of Connecticut’s Home Builders and Remodelers Association. Moderator Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, an investigative reporter with Connecticut Public’s Accountability Project, led the panelists and audience in a discussion of Connecticut’s exclusionary zoning as a significant element of systemic racism.

The third session, “Education,” examined efforts to improve educational equity, teaching, parental involvement, and other challenges with panelists Jack Dougherty, professor of educational studies at Trinity College; Claudia Tenaglia, social studies teacher at Dwight Bellizzi Dual Language Academy; and Ruth-Terry Walden, literature teacher at Westhill High School. Bilal Sekou, associate professor of political science at UHart’s Hillyer College, moderated the session.

Regionalism was the topic of the final session, which included panelists the Rev. Trevor Beauford, senior pastor at Union Baptist Church in Hartford; Tom Condon, urban and regional issues reporter at the Connecticut Mirror; and Jason Rojas, majority leader in the State House of Representatives. John Dankosky, director of events at the Connecticut Mirror, moderated the session, which discussed city and town boundaries drawn hundreds of years ago that confer extraordinary privilege on the state’s more affluent residents.

Peterson, co-author of a 2020 Citibank study, “Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps: The Economic Cost of Black Inequality in the U.S.”, said in the opening session that being an economist on a diversity committee born in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death led her to remove emotions from the disparities equation and explore the gap between the races from an economic perspective.

“We looked at the hard data to come up with an estimate of how much money is being tossed away because we as a society are allowing gaps to persist,” Peterson explains. “We came up with a wild and incredible number. That was $16 trillion— the U.S. economy in any one year is close to $20 trillion—so that’s a lot of money that’s being left on the table because people are not aware of or not willing to do anything about the racial economic gaps. And this was just looking at gaps for the Black person. I imagine the amount would be even greater if we added on gaps for women and other ethnic groups.”

Troy and Grant say that they hope the conversations continue with a broader audience. Because all four sessions are available and worthy of binge-watching online, they believe that many more people could benefit from listening to individual panels and discussing them in a group setting. "Churches could show a recording on a Friday evening to bring it out into the local community,” Troy suggests, brainstorming with Grant. “We were thinking of schools initially, but there are several different ways to bring that out. And we think it would be important to do so."

Collaboration, Troy and Grant agree, is what made the Two Connecticuts series possible; collaboration is also exactly the force for good that they want to cultivate to keep these important conversations about race and place happening on our campus and in our communities alike.

Partnering with an Engineering Leader

A first-of-its-kind program within the University’s College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA) is providing life-changing opportunities for aspiring engineers while fostering diversity and inclusion in the field.

The Pratt & Whitney Scholars Program, established in 2019 with a $100,000 gift from the aircraft engine manufacturer, is a collaborative effort between the engineering giant and the University, designed to develop a talent pipeline for underrepresented students in engineering. Each scholar is awarded $10,000 in aid, as well as valuable opportunities for professional development and career advising. This year, the inclusion of a mentor program will continue to bridge the gap between the classroom and industry, pairing each cohort—comprising sophomore, junior, and senior mechanical engineering majors—with a Pratt & Whitney mentor, all of whom are UHart alumni themselves.

“To have a practicing engineer take the time to meet with students and talk about the vision, the technology, and the opportunities at a company like Pratt & Whitney—that’s very unique,” says CETA Dean Hisham Alnajjar.

The program builds on a long-standing partnership between the University and Pratt & Whitney, which includes student and faculty research conducted for the company at CETA’s Engineering Applications Center. Despite the growing number of UHart graduates who pursue careers close to home at Pratt & Whitney, it’s not just students who reap the benefits of a program like this, says Todd Schutte, program champion and chief engineer at Pratt & Whitney.

“These students have a unique blend of disciplines, ones that enable them to think more broadly when they come to us,” he says. “It’s a rare opportunity to be able to guide the next generation as they explore what it means to be an engineer, and this partnership allows us to do that.”

BRIEFS

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has recognized UHart Computer Science Professor Ingrid Russell as a Distinguished Member for her Outstanding Educational Contributions to Computing. ACM is the world’s largest computing society and is the premier global scientific and educational organization dedicated to advancing computing. A member of ACM for more than 20 years, Russell was acknowledged for her outstanding and innovative contributions to computer science education research and her expertise in developing curricular models for artificial intelligence and computer science education, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of these models. Russell joined UHart in 1985 and teaches a variety of courses in computer science that span first-year to senior-level courses, including upper-level courses in artificial intelligence, programming languages, and software engineering. She says UHart’s small class sizes allow for a variety of teaching strategies to meet the students’ learning needs and enable her to develop relationships with students. “Students come to UHart with mixed levels of ability and varying learning styles,” she says. “Helping these students move forward and seeing them succeed is both a challenge and a reward.”

Karla Loya, assistant professor of educational leadership in the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions, was featured on The Academic Minute on National Public Radio on Jan. 18. In her segment titled “Pandemic Teaching and Learning Should Be Inclusive and Supportive,” Loya discussed how to make sure no one gets left behind in the classroom. “My research highlights the importance of fostering inclusive college classrooms to ensure that all students are participants in the shared teaching and learning, in any modality,” she explained, and then talked about her work in more detail. The Academic Minute is broadcast on NPR stations around the country and can also be streamed online. The two-and-a-half-minute daily module features researchers from colleges and universities around the world discussing groundbreaking research and how it helps us better understand the world around us.

Leadership Greater Hartford recognized the Entrepreneurial Center and Women’s Business Center of the University of Hartford with its 2021 Polaris Award. The award comes following the decision last summer to institute a series of discussions on efforts to promote racial justice and apply new perspectives to the path to business ownership for women of color. The conversation series meets on a quarterly basis to consistently shine a light on efforts to create more opportunities for women-owned businesses. The Center focuses on serving women, minority-owned businesses, and other underserved constituents, specializing in turning ideas into viable businesses and break-even companies into sustainable, profitable, and scalable enterprises.

Student in Podcasting Studio

As podcasting continues to grow in popularity, UHart students and faculty can now learn how to create a podcast by training in the School of Communication’s new studio. Featuring the latest technology, UHart’s podcasting studio includes new microphones, computers, audio recording and chroma key software, video cameras, stage lighting, soundproofing, and a stand-alone audio booth for recording singers or voice-over artists. Communication courses that meet in the studio include Introduction to Radio and Audio, Sports Broadcasting, and Sports Journalism, all taught by Applied Associate Professor Abe Hefter. Dawn Ennis, who has overseen the production of hundreds of podcasts for Vox Media, is managing the studio. She is training students not only on how to use the equipment, but how to create and tell compelling stories that capture a listener’s imagination. “More and more, traditional podcasts are giving way to providing a video version on YouTube and other platforms,” Ennis says. “For the most part, however, podcasting remains an audio experience.”

Honoring the World’s Most Intriguing Artists

Works by John Jude Palencar and Floyd Cooper were on display at the Joseloff Gallery this past winter.

Since its establishment as an endowment in 1988, the Georgette and Richard Koopman Distinguished Chair for the Visual Arts has honored some of the world’s most intriguing contemporary artists, has brought many of them into the University community as resident artists and teachers, and has featured their work on campus.

Although several new methods of visual expression are now regularly part of the art world—digital production most prominent among them—this year’s endowment focuses on one genre that has been around for hundreds of years and is not likely to disappear anytime soon: book illustration.

The two artists recognized by the 2021–22 endowment are book illustrators John Jude Palencar and the late Floyd Cooper.

Palencar began showing his art while still an art student at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio. An author and publisher named Byron Preiss saw some of his work displayed in New York City and contacted Palencar to ask him if he’d like to illustrate a book. It was a book of poetry published in 1982 called The Secret, which featured a dozen Preiss poems and a dozen Palencar paintings. In tandem, the poems and illustrations guided readers to hidden treasures across North America, making it one of the most unique book projects of the time.

Since then, Palencar’s illustrations have adorned hundreds of book covers, for almost all the major American publishers, and also around the world. He has won many awards for painting and illustration, has taught at several art schools, and has been an honored guest speaker at many venues that hold exhibitions of his work.

Floyd Cooper had been scheduled to be a Koopman visiting artist prior to his untimely passing in the summer of 2021. With the blessing of his widow, Velma, a memorial exhibition in his honor was endorsed.

Cooper’s book illustrations hold a distinctive and very special place in American publishing. Most of his work—more than a hundred books—chronicles African American history and heritage, including true stories that have been conspicuously absent from the nation’s classrooms.

In fact, the Tulsa, Oklahoma, native illustrated 2021’s Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, which details the story of the destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood in 1921. It posthumously earned Cooper the prestigious Caldecott Award, given annually by the Association for Library Services to Children to artists who distinguish themselves with picture books for youngsters. (The prize is named after Randolph Caldecott, a prominent 19th-century English illustrator.)

Another story Cooper illustrated concerns a youngster in 1955 Alabama trying to grasp the significance of a Black woman’s refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in which he was riding.

Thanks to the Georgette and Richard Koopman Distinguished Chair for the Visual Arts, works by John Jude Palencar and Floyd Cooper were on display at the Joseloff Gallery on the University of Hartford campus during February and March.

Mission Fulfilled

Center for Social Research to strengthen communities and people’s lives

Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Social Research Wesley Younts reviews data with criminal justice students.

The University of Hartford’s Center for Social Research is the recipient of a large contract, over five years, as part of the Connecticut Children’s North Hartford Ascend Pipeline (NHAP) project. Connecticut Children’s received the $30 million project grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods Program, and an additional $36 million in matching funds from state and community partners.

Connecticut Children’s will work with the Center for Social Research, the City of Hartford, and more than 20 other partners to implement the NHAP, a cradle-to-career effort to ensure children living in the North Hartford Promise Zone—the Clay Arsenal, Northeast, and Upper Albany neighborhoods—have the supports they need to reach their full potential. This includes coordinating and integrating existing support services (e.g., state programs, nonprofits), local schools, and the community to build the NHAP and facilitate families’ access to a continuum of “prenatal-tocareer” services.

The Center for Social Research (CSR), located within UHart’s Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, will lead the evaluation of the NHAP project in collaboration with DataHaven and the Hartford Data Collaborative. A unique, primary goal of the Center’s work will be to ensure community ownership of the resulting data and data collection processes.

“The NHAP project is the ultimate realization of the Center’s mission—to strengthen communities through research in collaboration with those communities and the many organizations and individuals who work so hard on their behalf,” says Wes Younts, associate professor and director of the Center for Social Research. “Not only will this project support residents of some of the most marginalized and economically devastated communities in our region, but it will provide new opportunities for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students at the University to engage in meaningful, transformative research that has a direct impact on people’s lives.”

Under the leadership of Principal Investigator Younts and Lead Evaluator and Research Analyst Marcia Hughes, the Center will design and oversee the project’s research and data collection efforts. The Center’s work will include:

• Mapping the network of service providers, community-based organizations, and other assets in the Promise Zone neighborhoods, including their interconnections, overlap, and gaps in serving families; and assessing the success of the NHAP initiative in developing a comprehensive, integrated, prenatal-to-career pipeline

• Collecting data to track service utilization of children and families and linking this to child- and family-level outcomes (e.g., academic performance, protective factors such as social support and family resilience) that have longterm effects on how well children do through adulthood; conducting focus groups with families and agencies; and surveying service providers, community-based organizations, and other key stakeholders to assess community well-being

• Conducting data analysis to provide near-time access to evidence guiding systematic program improvement, testing innovations in program/service implementation, and outcome evaluations of the pipeline

• Providing training and technical support to service providers and community-based organizations included in the pipeline for ensuring data quality, facilitating the dissemination of results to the community, and ensuring responsiveness to community identified needs and assets

To ensure accountability, local stakeholders will be included in the planning and implementation of the evaluation and dissemination of results to the broader community. In addition, two full-time community data coordinators will be recruited directly from the Promise Zone neighborhoods, trained and employed by CSR during the five-year award period, and then transitioned to employment with the Hartford Data Collaborative.

Campus Dining Services Implements Environmentally Friendly Initiatives

UHart Dining Services is hard at work decreasing the environmental impact of its operations and processes across campus. Working closely with its larger Aramark family, Dining Services is developing and implementing sustainable solutions using an environmental sustainability platform known as Green Thread.

Many years ago, campus was introduced to tray-less dining and recycling programs as well as energy mitigation. Then, in 2018, Aramark launched a sustainability plan that directly connects to its mission (named Be Well. Do Well.). The plan is focused on four priorities: source responsibly, operate efficiently, minimize food waste, and reduce packaging. This commitment only drove further change.

In 2019, Dining Services partnered with the Student Government Association and Blue Earth Composting. What started small with only back-of-house food waste has now grown to all food waste and most paper products. Last year, the UHart community composted a total of 29,400 pounds of waste, mitigating CO2 emissions equivalent to 16.4 thousand pounds of carbon dioxide, 840 gallons of gasoline burned, and 908 thousand smartphones charged. In total, more than 97,700 pounds of waste have been composted since the start of the program.

Dining Services has also partnered with Filta Fry in filtering all the fry oil used on campus. Filta uses proprietary filtering technology to extend the life of fry oil, in turn creating less food waste. To date this semester, the campus community has saved more than 3,400 pounds of fry oil and recycled 3,050 pounds to be used as alternative fuels.

According to Michael Pieksza, Aramark district manager, the sustainability work extends to what students, faculty, and staff are being served.

“We strive to purchase products from small-scale community-based producers that are independently or cooperatively owned enterprises,” Pieksza explains. For example, “through a partnership with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, we ensure that our seafood is sourced sustainably from New England waters, that marine ecosystems are protected, and that local maritime labor is respected.”

The campus dining team is not resting on the current successes and has many goals to achieve moving forward, including a reduction of food waste and loss by 50 percent across all campus operations by 2030.

“As we continue to evaluate our program for constant process improvements, we are looking at expanding the use of smart indoor farming (Farmshelf), artificial intelligence recycling (Oscar), and electric-operated vehicles in our campus fleet, just to name a few,” Pieksza says.