Pharmacy-Business collaboration to aid federal drug research
M.B.A program celebrates 50 years
Then & Now: 85 years of innovative radio at WHUS
Nichols earns national teaching award
Sailing their way to knowledge
Social Work students share perspectives on travel study to Puerto Rico
State matches private funds for alternative energy initiative
UConn by the numbers
A brisk morning walk above the clouds
Dodd Prize honors two world organizations
Green Prep meets workforce need
Law clinic addresses needs of information economy
Standing tall for education and a healthy life
New Ph.D. focuses on occupational and environmental health sciences
Lights, camera, action!
Addressing mental health issues in the Latino community
Student takes top prize from Roosevelt Institution
Eighth graders experience college life

ING names UConn as priority for recruitment
A tale of giving books
Austin legacy honored
Calhoun challenges riders to fight cancer

Aiming high to score low in golf
Pan American Huskies
Taurasi's triple
Football gains national ranking
Zak Penwell

Faculty and students in the School of Pharmacy may help determine which treatments your doctor recommends and which prescription drugs your health plan covers with the establishment of the federally funded Evidence-Based Practice Center (EBC) at UConn.

The center is one of 14 nationwide that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has charged with conducting comprehensive, systematic reviews of research on health topics of vital importance to the U.S. health care system.

EBC also will advise federal and state policymakers, professional organizations and insurance companies on the highest quality and most cost-effective health care treatments and delivery options.

Many of the topics the new UConn center will review include common medications, exorbitant treatments and those particularly significant for Medicare and Medicaid populations.

UConn’s EBC is the first to be led by pharmacists, says C. Michael White, associate professor of pharmacy practice, who serves as director of the center that forges the first partnership between the School of Pharmacy and School of Business. It also expands the University’s research collaboration with Hartford Hospital.

Craig Coleman, assistant professor of pharmacy practice, will be the center’s project manager and John Vernon, assistant finance professor in the School of Business, will be the new center’s health policy chief.

Vernon recently completed an appointment as senior economic policy advisor at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Physician Jeffrey Kluger of Hartford Hospital will be the center’s associate director.

White, Kluger and Coleman have been collaborating for almost a decade resulting in close to 200 peer-reviewed publications including lead articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet.

“Pharmacists are health care’s medication experts and, as such, the profession possesses unique insights into patient care that often are underrepresented among leaders formulating the nation’s health care policies,” White says.

“Having pharmacists, physicians and health care policy experts all working together will benefit everyone.”

Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Tufts University-New England Medical Center are among the other institutions that operate Evidence-Based Practice Centers.

The center also will draw on the strengths of other UConn faculty members. White says graduate students, undergraduate honors students and research fellows will have the opportunity to participate in EBC projects.

William S. Simon ’81 (CLAS), ’88 M.B.A., chief operating officer for Wal-Mart Stores U.S., delivered the keynote address during the M.B.A. 50th anniversary celebration at the School of Business, which took place during Homecoming weekend. Simon’s remarks were part of the Theodore R. Rosenberg ’55 (BUS) and Mary F. McVay Business Leadership Series.

Around UConn Menu

WHUS was one of the first radio stations to begin broadcasting in Connecticut when it went on the air in 1922 as WABL.

In 1925, the station became WCAC, using the initials of the Connecticut Agricultural College, before adopting “The Husky Network” as its name in the 1940s and becoming WHUS in 1947.

After being relocated to the Rosebrooks Barn complex during renovations to the Student Union, WHUS returned to the “U” last August to a 21st century digital studio.

Top photo : Spinning vinyl records in 1952. Bottom photo: Ben Shaiken ’10 (CLAS), the station’s fund-raising director, on the air during his weekly rhythm and blues program.

Photo by Peter Morenus

Frank Nichols, professor of periodontology, received the Kaiser Permanente Excellence in Teaching Award for the second consecutive year from students at the School of Dental Medicine. The award recognizes commitment to teaching through either effectiveness in various teaching settings or leadership in development of innovative teaching programs. Nichols has been a member of the UConn faculty since 1985.

Helen Rozwadowski, associate professor of history and coordinator of maritime studies at the campus at Avery Point, climbs the rigging of the whaleship Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport.

Photo by Nathan Adams

Faculty at UConn’s Avery Point campus have developed a multidisciplinary class that gives students a hands-on experience with maritime studies, including sailing a ship.

Exploring the Blue was designed by Helen Rozwadowski, associate professor of history and coordinator of maritime studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, associate professor of English, one of the country’s foremost Herman Melville scholars.

    Twenty-three students spent time last spring on a two-masted sailing vessel as part of the three-week, four-credit intersession course focusing on maritime history, literature and policy.

The experiential aspects of the course complemented the academic component, giving students a comprehensive look at the oceans’ influence on people and human history.

    “You don’t take this course for a ride; you’re part of the crew as well as a student,” says Michael Bokoff ’10 (BUS), recalling storm-tossed days and nights in rough North Atlantic weather. “The course really challenged me to do new things.”

    The course had two parts. The first week was spent on land participating in museum-based exercises and hands-on learning, such as climbing rigging and reading maritime charts, as well as attending lectures on maritime topics.

For the remaining two weeks, the class sailed from Baltimore to Nantucket on a 125-foot staysail schooner. After the voyage, there were several writing and research assignments.

    “Historians rarely study the ocean; they treat it as a place separate from people,” says Rozwadowski.

“We treat the ocean not as a surface but as a multi-dimensional place with political, economic, and environmental aspects and also cultural and psychological dimensions — those qualities of ocean literature or the history of the sea that are absolutely critical for understanding the ocean as part of our world.”

Seven students, three alumni and two faculty members from the Puerto Rican/Latino Studies Program in the School of Social Work traveled to Puerto Rico for a 12-day exchange program with the University of Puerto Rico last summer.  The group focused on social work practice in Puerto Rico and the health disparities and human rights violations in Vieques caused by the 60 years of U.S. Navy bombing on the island. Students presented their study findings in the fall during a poster session at the school. In Puerto Rico, from left: Myrna Pagan, member of Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques; Keilah Jacques ’07 M.S.W.; Catherine Medina, assistant professor of Puerto Rican/Latino Studies Project; Andrea Joseph, UConn graduate student; State Rep. Hermina M. Morita, chair of the Energy & Environmental Protection Committee of the Hawaii House of Representatives; Antonia Cordero, associate professor of social work and chair of the Puerto Rican/Latino Studies Project; and Nilda Medina Diaz, member of the committee for the rescue and development of Vieques.

Around UConn Menu

The University has raised more than $2 million in funding from three leading state energy companies for a new alternative energy research initiative to be based at UConn.

This private funding will trigger the release of an additional $2 million pledged by the state for UConn’s Eminent Faculty program, a public-private partnership backed by the Connecticut legislature. The donating companies are FuelCell Energy of Danbury, the Northeast Utilities Foundation and UTC Power of South Windsor.

The combined state funding and industry match will allow the School of Engineering to recruit world-class researchers and additional faculty members who have expertise in the area of fuel cells and other forms of sustainable energy.

UConn’s School of Engineering has a number of energy-focused units under its wing, including the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center and the Biofuels Consortium, whose scope of research and development activities will complement the broader mission of sustainable energy initiative. Both entities work closely with Connecticut’s energy industry.

The School of Engineering will use the funding not only to pioneer new energy technologies but also to create a training ground for the energy workforce and entrepreneurs of the 21st century, fostering innovative spin-off opportunities.

 Late last year, the General Assembly established a permanent line item of $2 million annually to support the initiative at UConn, contingent upon securing a match from industry.

The initiative is expected to help Connecticut meet Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s goal to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 20 percent and replace it with clean or renewable energy sources by 2020.

Justin Carreno ’00 (CLAS) walks 20,320 feet above sea level along the summit of Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska, the highest point in North America, last May. Carreno, who majored in geography at UConn, is currently on assignment in the Persian Gulf as an oceanographer for the U.S. Department of Defense, Naval Oceanographic Office. He previously has climbed mountains in Mexico, Japan and around the United States.

Photo by Peter Morenus

The 2007 Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights was presented to two worldwide organizations during ceremonies in October. Pamela Merchant, director of the Center for Justice and Accountability, an international human rights organization dedicated to ending torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world, and Eric Rosenthal, executive director of Mental Disability Rights International, the world’s leading international human rights group dedicated to the protection of people with mental disabilities, both addressed the audience after receiving the awards from U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.
Photos by Peter Morenus

Around UConn Menu  

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is working with Connecticut’s plant and flower industry to provide education and training programs for entry-level workers in the field.

The CT Green Prep program began earlier this year with a collaboration among the UConn Home and Garden Education Center, the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association and the Connecticut Greenhouse Growers Association.

“In our most recent economic impact study, we asked companies how many job openings they had,” says Robert Heffernan, executive director of the Connecticut Green Industries Council, a coalition of the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association, Connecticut Greenhouse Growers Association, and Connecticut Florists Association.

“They responded with a stunning number — another 7,600 persons were needed to work in Connecticut’s green industry.”

Dawn Pettinelli, UConn extension educator, coordinated development of the new program, which includes a varied curriculum on plant propagation, watering, fertilizing and plant media, insects, plant taxonomy and landscaping, among other topics.

The course consists of lectures by UConn instructors and Green Industry Council members held at UConn’s West Hartford campus and hands-on sessions at three industry locations in Cheshire and Manchester.

“The Green Prep concept is designed to reach out to entry-level people and interest them in a career working with plants and flowers,” says Heffernan.

“With the hands-on portion of the course, the students see an array of potential job sites. This may help them to decide in which spectrum of our industry they would be interested in pursuing,” says Teri Smith of Smith Acres.

“This is a great example of how the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is fulfilling the provost’s academic plan component of workforce development,” says Mary Musgrave, professor and head of the department of plant sciences.

The new Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Law Clinic at the School of Law is becoming an important resource for the region’s growing information-based economy.

“Existing businesses increasingly view their intellectual property as a critical source of competitive advantage,” says Hillary Greene, director of the clinic and associate professor of law.

“This is especially true for new entrepreneurs for whom patents, for example, may facilitate investments by venture capitalists.”

The East Hartford-based clinic, one of five specialty legal clinics supported by UConn, was established by the Connecticut legislature as part of the University’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

It provides students, guided by faculty and staff, with the opportunity to counsel innovators on a range of intellectual property issues, including patent, trademark, copyright and trade secrets.

The skills taught at the clinic range from the pragmatic, such as conducting trademark searches and drafting engagement letters, to the less tangible, such as developing confidence and learning to counsel clients who might not be able to fully articulate what legal assistance they are seeking.

“It’s crucial to law schools everywhere to communicate to many constituencies that lawyers are key players in growing the economic pie, not simply those who fight over who gets what,” says Jeremy Paul, dean of the School of Law. “The clients our clinic will serve are those who will help create the Connecticut jobs of tomorrow.”

Amy Kokoski, a part-time law student who recently started a job at the firm of McCarter and English, said her experience at the clinic provided a depth of understanding of intellectual property law as well as its practical application.

“It afforded me an opportunity to gain experience working with attorneys and clients that I may not have otherwise had as a part-time law student,” she says. “I feel much more comfortable going into a full-time legal job having had the chance to develop confidence by sitting and working with clients.”

Photo by Peter Morenus

Emeka Okafor ’04 (BUS), two-time Academic All-American and National Player of the Year for the 2004 NCAA men’s basketball championship team, is surrounded by students at the Clark Elementary School in Hartford, Conn., after announcing his $250,000 gift to the Husky Sport program in Hartford.

The program, which was developed by Jennifer Bruening, assistant professor of kinesiology in the Neag School of Education, uses UConn students as mentors in nutrition and life skills and encourages children to take part in sports and physical activities.

Okafor is in his fourth year as a center-forward for the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association and serves as spokesperson for the One Million African Lives initiative.

A specialty in occupational and environmental health sciences is the newest area of focus in the doctoral program in public health at the UConn Health Center.

This is the second specialty in the program, joining social and behavioral health sciences, which began earlier this year.

This interdisciplinary, cross-campus doctoral program is designed to train future public health leaders to enhance general health.

UConn has research programs in occupational and environmental health sciences and internationally recognized faculty in a variety of related disciplines to support the new focus of study.

“This new concentration within the Center for Public Health and Health Policy represents an important and exciting step forward in public health training,” says Nicholas Warren, an associate professor and co-creator of UConn’s Ergonomic Technology Center.

“The joint focus on occupational and environmental exposures, their health effects and their control recognizes that health hazards do not start or stop at the factory or office door.

Rather, public health research and policy must address the additive and interactive effects of exposures from multiple sources.”

“We are excited about bringing together the diverse talents of faculty at both the Farmington and Storrs campuses to help address the public health needs of the state and beyond,” says Lawrence Silbart, professor and head of the department of allied health sciences in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“Not only will the new program provide excellent educational and research opportunities for our students, it undoubtedly will spawn new research initiatives aimed at identifying and solving a variety of occupational and environmental health issues.”

A videographer films the UConn Marching Band for a scene in a new nationally televised public service announcement. Last year UConn held its first-ever video competition for students, who submitted ideas highlighting the University’s varied academic, cultural and recreational activities. Prize winners in the competition had the opportunity to work with video professionals who created the commercial based on the students' ideas. The final story line combined concepts submitted by Benjamin Gruenbaum ’08 (CLAS), the first-place winner, and Brian Skelcher ’07 (CLAS), the second-place winner.

Photo by Peter Morenus

Students and faculty in the School of Nursing are working with mental health agencies to set up a network of community-based providers and citizens in Willimantic, Conn., to examine mental health issues for Latinos, who comprise nearly a third of the local population.

Working with an $83,000 planning grant from the Federal Office of Rural Health, Deborah Shelton, associate dean for nursing research and a psychiatric nurse, is expanding outreach programs for underserved Latino health needs and providing a training ground for UConn students.

The grant is part of a larger project started three years ago by Shelton to determine how the School could further partner with the Willimantic community. Initial research indicates that a top priority is adding bilingual and culturally skilled health and mental health professionals.

The project, Compañeros Por Salud: Partners in Health, has spawned a variety of collaborations among UConn nursing, social work, pharmacy and medical students, who have participated in student-run health clinics at a local soup kitchen and at local farms that employ migrant workers.

During this past spring semester, about 200 nursing students were placed in the community to offer health education and screenings.

Michael Patota, division director of clinical services for United Services, says the mental health problems Latinos face are not very different from those of other ethnic groups. There are differences, however, in the way Latinos deal with such problems

.“There’s a reluctance to seek out mental health treatment,” Patota says.

“We’re frequently one of the last places they will come, after turning to a relative, friend or minister for advice.”

Patota speaks of a constant struggle to find staff who not only can speak the language, but also have an understanding of the culture and traditions.

Puerto Ricans and Mexicans are the predominant Latino groups in Willimantic; other residents come from Central America, the Caribbean and the Dominican Republic. Patota hopes these UConn interns will choose careers serving this community.

Samantha Sherwood, a junior majoring in human development and family studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, won first prize from the Roosevelt Institution for a public policy proposal on expanding the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA).

Sherwood’s proposal, developed jointly with a student from Union College who had a similar presentation, was published in the journal 25 Ideas, a special series of new policy ideas distributed to more than 2,000 members of Congress and local government officials by the Roosevelt Institution, which is described as “The Nation’s First Student Think Tank.”

The FMLA proposal was presented at the America’s Social Contract conference at Yale University earlier this year, sponsored in part by the Roosevelt Institution.

Family leave policy involves time taken off by employees to take care of foster or adoption issues, a new child, a sick child, a spouse or an elderly parent.

Sherwood’s proposal would expand the FMLA by lowering the minimum required size of an eligible business and adding two weeks to a man’s eligible time off. To finance the plan, Sherwood suggested that a federal payroll tax be implemented.

Sherwood became interested in family leave while taking a course on public policy and the family with UConn professor of human development and family studies Steve Wisensale, who assisted her in developing the proposal.

Sherwood took the top prize over 11 other students from universities that included Yale, Brown, Columbia, Princeton, and Dartmouth in the competition.

From left, Kumari Willoughby, Christina Sanon and Aaron Young work on a project in the biology lab.

Photo by Lauren Dechant

More than 100 eighth-grade students from Stamford experienced college life during a four-week program at UConn’s Stamford campus this past July.

The University Pals (UPals) program initiative provides first-generation, college-bound students an introduction to the significance of pursuing higher education.

Although other institutions have given middle and high school students opportunities to attend college classes in various forms, UPals has a number of components that go beyond the traditional approaches, says Michael Ego, associate vice provost for the Stamford campus, who developed the program.

“This is not strictly an academic format,” Ego says.

“It is a blend of college courses, co-curricular activities, and the kids, getting a chance to visit and interact with local community and business leaders directly related to possible career paths.”

 Perhaps the most important part of the UPals experience is the required participation by each student’s parents, who attend a one-day orientation before classes begin.

Because the parents did not attend college themselves, these sessions provide them with information about how to prepare their children for high school and college.

The students’ day runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The students go through a simulated daily routine of going to college, which includes attending classes in the morning, having lunch with classmates, being part of study groups, going to the library and participating in  other scheduled activities.

Courses are taught by UConn faculty and also by community members. Current UConn students act as mentors and group leaders for the middle-schoolers.

Each Friday afternoon, the program takes the middle-schoolers to visit a range of businesses in the community such as Stamford Hospital, the Stamford Advocate, the Marriott Courtyard hotel, Purdue Pharma and the City of Stamford.

The program has been met with enthusiastic support from the Stamford community. It is funded primarily through corporate and foundation grants, with in-kind resources from the UConn Stamford campus.

Around UConn Menu  

Left: John K. Martin, UConn Foundation president; Robert Crispin ’75 M.B.A., CEO of ING Investment Management; Kathleen Murphy ’87 J.D., CEO of ING U.S. Wealth Management; Provost Peter Nicholls; V. Kumar, ING Chair in Financial Services and executive director of the ING Center for Financial Services; and Mohamed Hussein, interim dean of the School of Business.

Photo by Peter Morenus

ING has named UConn to be an official priority-recruitment university as part of its global effort to partner with higher education institutions around the world. The new partnership, the first of its kind in ING’s Americas region, will include the creation of a variety of enhancement activities and programs such as internships, mentorships, research projects and lecture opportunities to benefit UConn students and faculty as well as ING employees.

 “The aim of ING’s university recruitment approach is to attract talented, diverse and smart future leaders by partnering with selected universities in a focused manner,” says Kathleen Murphy ’87 J.D., CEO of ING U.S. Wealth Management.

“The University of Connecticut embodies the characteristics we’re looking for in a leading school: a high-quality institution, a global perspective and educational programs that fit well with the needs of a world-class financial institution.”

This newest commitment to the University strengthens a relationship between ING and the UConn School of Business that includes the ING Center for Financial Services and the ING Chair in Financial Services.

The ING Center specializes in research and development of real-world solutions to marketing challenges, such as identifying profitable customers and optimizing customer acquisition and retention. Corporate clients have included IBM, Bristol-Meyers and L.L. Bean.

“This effort builds on an already strong partnership between ING and UConn,” says Robert Crispin ’75 M.B.A., chairman and CEO of ING Investment Management Americas.

“This effort is mutually beneficial. ING gains by focusing our efforts to recruit talented future leaders, and UConn students get access to enhanced learning opportunities and an edge at becoming part of a global business leader.”

“Expanding UConn’s relationship with ING ties in strategically with the University’s academic plan, which prioritizes globalization, curricular diversity and workforce development.

The opportunities for experiential learning and mentorship will have tremendous benefit for students,” says Peter Nicholls, UConn provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

ING’s recruitment efforts will target a variety of disciplines, primarily business, investments, accounting and actuarial science.

ING is developing programs that will support workforce development in these fields, including internships, scholarships and networking events.

ING is continuing its support of UConn with a gift of $450,000 over three years. Initially, ING’s gift will support strategic initiatives at the School of Business, focusing on career services, financial aid and the ING Center for Financial Services.

“ING’s latest commitment will help us enhance the breadth and depth of experiential learning opportunities available to UConn business students,”  says Mohamed Hussein, interim dean of the UConn School of Business.

“These multidimensional learning experiences are critical in preparing students for today’s dynamic workforce and allow students to pursue cutting-edge research in the field of financial services — an industry that is vital to the state of Connecticut.”

Around UConn Menu

A tale of giving books

Richard Schimmelpfeng, the former head of special collections at the Homer Babbidge Library, has donated more than 350 volumes of Aesop’s Fables from his personal collection to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. It is his second significant gift, following his donation of more than 400 volumes on calligraphy and writing. He also volunteers 16 hours per week to catalog rare and special materials, a task he began in 1992 when he retired after 27 years as a member of the library staff.

Photo by John Sponauer

Around UConn Menu

Austin legacy honored

Philip E. Austin’s legacy of leading the University of Connecticut through its greatest period of transformation will live on through the establishment of a $1.5-million faculty chair in his honor.

The Philip E. Austin Endowed Chair will fund a highly visible faculty position and is supported by some of the University’s most prominent donors and leaders, who each have worked closely with Austin during his tenure as UConn president.

“Part of Phil’s legacy is, obviously, the physical transformation of UConn with the dramatic assistance of the state,” says John W. Rowe, chairman of the board of trustees and an incorporating donor of the Austin chair. “But beyond the bricks and mortar, he has led the University to a much greater level of academic strength and enhanced pride. You simply can’t put a price tag on that. This institution today is a reflection of his vision and determination.”

Ray Neag ’56 (BUS) says Austin’s personal style of leadership has made a difference in attracting increasing private support to UConn.

“It’s not often you can find a person with as many qualifications as he had as a leader and a smart businessman, as well as someone who was adept at meeting the challenges that we faced,” Neag says. “Most of all, his personality allowed him to relate to students and recognize all sides of the issues at hand. He’s moved us to a first-class position across the country.”

The Austin Chair will offer an opportunity to recruit a nationally recognized scholar and highlight the role of private giving in recruitment and retention of preeminent faculty.

“We’re at a crossroads today where we can grow the University even more, and we need private support to do that,” says Denis McCarthy ’64 (BUS), ’65 M.A., who served as chairman of the board at the UConn Foundation during much of Austin’s tenure.

Around UConn Menu

Calhoun challenges riders to fight cancer

Photo by Stephen Slade

Hall of Fame men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun addresses more than 300 bicyclists in Simsbury, Conn., before the inaugural Big Y Jim Calhoun Cancer Challenge Ride last June.

Riders pedaled 10, 25 or 50 miles to earn pledges of support and raised more than $150,000 for The Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the UConn Health Center and for Coaches vs. Cancer, a program of the American Cancer Society.

Around UConn Menu

Aiming high to score low in golf

Pezzino helps golfers improve their game

Head golf coach Dave Pezzino talks with L. J. Tosches '09 (CLAS) about his golf swing during a practice session on the driving range.

Photo by Stephen Slade

While he was in college, Dave Pezzino thought he might become a golf professional. Or maybe he would enter the world of business.

But as a collegiate golfer at St. Thomas University in Miami, Fla., he became a student head coach under the guidance of a faculty advisor during his senior year; upon graduation, he was asked to stay on as coach. He then led his team to consecutive NAIA National Championship appearances, won the Florida Sun Conference title, had six players earn all-conference honors and was named 1998 Coach of the Year in the conference.

“My heart is in teaching, coaching and being able to work with young people,” says Pezzino, who was named coach of the UConn men’s golf team after the retirement of Ron Dubois earlier this year. “You have to coach each student-athlete differently. That’s where my job comes in, knowing what my players want and what makes them successful.”

Pezzino brings to UConn more than decade of coaching and teaching experience with some of the top instructors in golf. In addition to coaching at St. Thomas, he served seven years as head women’s golf coach at Florida International University and last year as an assistant men’s coach at the University of Illinois. While at FIU, he also worked at the Jim McLean Golf School at Doral Golf Resort, considered one of the premier golf teaching facilities in the world.

“I like to consider myself a person who puts a good culture and environment together for the guys to score. It’s not my way, it’s their way,” Pezzino says. “Working with Jim McLean I learned that there is no one way to swing a golf club. Ultimately the question is: where is the golf ball going? ”

Since arriving in Storrs, Pezzino has worked closely with the golf team during its fall season, even as he organizes an early start to the spring season and plans to strengthen the golf program.

“Every college player can bomb it, but if you can chip and putt, you’ll be a great college player,” he says. “I’m teaching them to be shot makers. If you can score well on par 5s, throw a bunch of eraser scores—meaning 2s, 3s and 4s—then you can be extremely competitive. I think that’s where our team is going to get better.”

In addition to improving players’ skills, Pezzino is working with UConn’s strength and conditioning staff to assess his team’s “golf fitness” by using standards of the Titleist Performance Institute, an array of physical testing used by the world’s top golfers.

As for the challenge of coaching a warm weather sport in New England, Pezzino is quick with his response.

“I won’t settle for that as a recruiting disadvantage,” he says, leaning forward.  “We have a first-class athletic department and an amazing academic and athletic experience here. We’re going to play a strong schedule, and I’m going to recruit as hard as I can to bring in the best student-athletes I can.”

Around UConn Menu

Pan American Huskies

Four Husky student-athletes competed in the 15th Pan American Games held in July, which took place in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. From left: Soccer defender Brittany Taylor ’09 (CLAS) won a silver medal as part of the Under 20 U.S. Women’s National Team; freestyle swimmer Jonathan Wong ’10 (CLAS) represented Jamaica; forward Charde Houston ’10 (CLAS) and guard Mel Thomas ’08 (BUS) helped to win the first gold medal in 20 years for Team USA in women’s basketball.

Photo by Peter Morenus

Around UConn Menu

Taurasi's triple

AP Photo/Jerry Mendosa

Diana Taurasi ’05 (CLAS) of the Phoenix Mercury drives past Swin Cash ’02 (CLAS) of the Detroit Shock during the 2007 WNBA Finals. In leading Phoenix to the WNBA Championship, Taurasi joins Cash and Sue Bird ’02 (CLAS) as the third member of UConn’s 2002 NCAA Champions to win a NCAA championship, an Olympic gold medal and a WNBA title. Kara Wolters ’97 (CLAS) was the first Husky to reach such elite status.

Around UConn Menu

Football gains national ranking

Photo by Stephen Slade

Ranked No. 13 in the Bowl Championship Series Standings, No. 16 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll in early November, the UConn football team became the second-fastest team on record to earn a national ranking.

Since joining the then-Division I-A (now Football Bowl Subdivision) in 2002, UConn needed five years and 10 weeks to crack the AP Poll. Only Marshall, which joined I-A in 1997, has done it faster.

This season marks the third time in the past five years that the Huskies have been bowl eligible. Tailback Andre Dixon ’09 (CLAS), above, is one of UConn’s leading players.

Around UConn Menu

Zak Penwell

Zak Penwell ’08 (ED) is a 27-year-old exercise science major who served more than six years in the U.S. Air Force in Kuwait, Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq. The son of missionaries living in the Philippines, he is married and the father of two young children. He was a walk-on defensive tackle for the Huskies football team who was awarded a scholarship earlier this year by head coach Randy Edsall. 

How has being in the military made you different in pursing your studies and focusing your life?
It’s taught me about handling different kinds of adversity. I’ve fallen on my face several times. I’ve learned from that. Now when I face an obstacle, I face it a bit differently.

Military terminology often is used in talking about football. Having been in real military situations does that make sense?
I think most of the time football can be a metaphor for war. There are lessons to be learned, and if you can use that to get the point across, then it can be taken at face value.

Your teammates have a lot of respect for you because of your background. What have you learned from them?
A lot of times I take things too seriously. It’s a lot of fun being in the locker room with these guys. You see that they can be serious, but they know how to go out and have fun. I definitely try and take that away from them. And they can dance better than I can.

What was the hardest part about coming back to play after so long?
Getting my head kicked in every day at the beginning. When I first got here I was being thrown around all over the place. Now I’m more competitive.

Can you translate yet what you’re learning in the classroom to what you’re doing as an athlete?
I’m not writing my own workouts because we have amazing strength coaches — Gerry Martin and Drew Wilson. But I can work on my own pre- and post-workout nutrition. A lot of it is getting ideas, building what I believe works so that someday I know what I want to do with it.

How do you balance your obligations to the team and in the classroom with your family responsibilities?
All three are great choices I enjoy. It makes for a time crunch, but we set one day a week for family, our day off on Monday. There are a lot of late nights with the books, too.

What are your long-term goals after you earn your degree?
I want to get my master’s in kinesiology. Hopefully I’ll be able to put myself in a position to get internships and job experience, possibly with the U.S. Olympic Committee Training Center next summer or working in the international arena. My wife is a midwife by trade. We hope to go overseas to a developing nation to set up a health clinic and to support that center through my work as a strength coach.

Around UConn Menu