W E S T E R N C O N N E C T I C U T S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
VOL. 10, NO. 1
S E P T. / O C T. 2 0 0 7
WestConn, City of Danbury
form Charles Ives Authority
for the Performing Arts
naming sponsor is “huge for the
authority.”
Last spring, Danbury Mayor
“With Union Savings Bank
Mark Boughton announced the
joining WestConn and the City
formation of a new performing
of Danbury, we now have the
arts authority approved by the
leading financial institution
Common Council. A joint
joining our other leaders,”
endeavor between the city and
Greenberg said. “All these
Western Connecticut State
community leaders lend such
University, the Charles Ives
value to our community and our
Authority for the Performing Arts way of life. It’s impressive the
was created to direct operations way they stepped up to the
at the Ives Concert Park on the
plate. Ives Concert Park is really
university’s Westside campus.
great for this city. Our goal is to
The authority is overseen by make it into a junior
a board comprised of nine
Tanglewood — a destination for
members: six appointed by the
the arts. With support from our
city and three appointed by
partners, we hope to be able to
WestConn President James W.
do just that.”
Schmotter. The university’s
While many think of the
appointees are Vice President for concert park as the place to go
Institutional Advancement Dr. G. for summer rock and pop
Koryoe Anim-Wright, Professor
concerts, the venue was founded
of Music Dr. Fernando Jimenez
in the 1970s with the intent that
and Professor of Theatre Arts
it would provide an outdoor
Frank Herbert. Anim-Wright will venue for the fine arts. Under
serve as the board’s vice
the new authority, steps are
chairperson.
under way to realign Ives
Among the first
Concert Park’s offerings with the
accomplishments of the new
original mission.
authority was the cultivation of a
The 2007 Summer Music
partnership with Union Savings
Series lineup included popular
Bank, which will serve as a
acts such as Earth, Wind & Fire;
naming sponsor for Ives Concert KC & The Sunshine Band;
Park events for the next four
Foreigner; Chris Isaak; Kenny
years.
Loggins; and The Black Crowes.
Ives Authority Chairman
But other events that took place
Steven Greenberg said the
at the venue this summer were
addition of the bank as the first
decidedly more family-oriented.
WCSU Photos/Peggy Stewart
by Sherri Hill
They included a performance by
the Manhattan String Quartet,
the interactive puppet show
“Puppetpalooza,” and
“Shalamazoo,” a musical-theatre
event based on the children’s
book by the same name written
by WestConn alumnus Joe
Shaboo. These events were
made possible through the
cooperation of WestConn’s
School of Visual and Performing
Arts, the Danbury Cultural
Commission and the Ives
Concert Park Authority.
A late September event,
billed as the Ives Concert Park
Family Fair, showcased for the
community the breadth of
offerings that might be available
at the site in the future. A
daylong open house featuring a
multitude of multicultural and
children’s entertainers
culminated with a performance
Among this summer’s varied offerings at Ives
Concert Park were: (top) The Manhattan String
Quartet, (left) “Shalamazoo” and (above right)
classic rockers Foreigner.
Media
Mentions
Below is a sampling of mentions about
WestConn that appeared recently in the
local media. Unless otherwise noted,
the articles appeared in The NewsTimes:
Spring and Summer 2007
cont’d. on page 2
Community colleges, WCSU
simplify admissions
Levinson, NVCC President
Richard L. Sanders and
WestConn, Naugatuck Valley WestConn President James W.
Community College (NVCC) and Schmotter.
Schmotter praised the
Norwalk Community College
agreement for the support it will
(NCC) signed an agreement in
allow the institutions to give
June that will allow students at
students.
both colleges to transfer easily
“This will be more efficient,
to the university to work toward
more effective,” Schmotter said.
a bachelor’s degree.
“Students will waste less time
The agreement will allow
because they will have access to
transferring students to
both institutions at the same
concentrate more on their
time. It just makes so much
education and less on the
mechanics of the move between sense.”
Sanders said students
institutions. Often, transferring
students lose credits because the entering his college will find a
school they are moving to does streamlined admissions system.
“This joint
not accept every class from the
admissions/transfer compact is
previous school. That costs the
like having the applicant receive
students time and money.
two acceptance letters, one from
The agreement was signed
by NCC President David L.
cont’d. on page 2
A WestConn student observes some Spanish antiquities during one of the museum tours
included in the Summer Study in Madrid program.
Students reap benefits of global expansion
anthropology and coordinator
of WestConn’s International
In the last few years, more Student Exchange Program.
WestConn students have been “Also, students use travel to
packing their bags to travel the become better acquainted with
globe. Some are earning
their own heritage.”
credits in the process, but
Elaine Nadel ’07 did just
more often, students are using that. Of Spanish descent, she
travel to add another
participated last summer in
dimension to their university
WestConn’s Global Academy in
experience.
Puerto Rico.
“These days, students are
“I will never forget my trip
going abroad so their lives can to Puerto Rico,” Nadal said. “It
be informed by another
was my first time there and I
culture,” said Dr. Rob
fell in love with my roots.”
Whittemore, professor of
cont’d. on page 4
by Irene Sherlock
WCSU Photo/Contributed
WCSU Photo/Contributed
by Paul Steinmetz
Pacete wins
Provost’s Prize
for turtle-nesting
research
See story on page 4.
‘LEAVING FOR THE REAL
WORLD’: WESTCONN
GRADUATES 850 STUDENTS
The stands were packed with people.
Blue and white balloons, the color of the
WestConn Colonials, flew overhead, and
music from the school’s marching band
blared from the loudspeakers. … “You’re
leaving for the real world,” Professor
Harold Schramm told graduates and wellwishers who attended the school’s 119th
annual commencement ceremony. “None
of you would have made it without the
support of family and friends.”
MUSIC VENUE REVIVED:
WESTCONN TO DIRECT
OUTDOOR CONCERTS
It’s a done deal. The Charles Ives Authority
for the Performing Arts, created last month
by the city and WestConn, will now direct
Danbury’s open-air music center, which
has operated for 33 years.
CHARTING AMERICA’S
COASTLINES: SMITHSONIAN
EXHIBIT ON THE COASTAL
SURVEY IS NOW AT
WESTCONN
(NEW FAIRFIELD CITIZEN
NEWS, HARTFORD COURANT,
WATERBURY REPUBLICANAMERICAN, VOICES)
Every day millions of tons of cargo arrive
in American ports, and millions of tons of
cargo leave. … Nobody thinks twice about
this. That’s because the Coast of Geodetic
Survey’s charts are so good that ships
come and go without ever scraping their
hulls. … To bring the Survey’s
accomplishments to light, the Smithsonian
Institution created a traveling exhibit,
“From Sea to Shining Sea: 200 Years of
Charting America’s Coasts.” The exhibit
will be at WestConn’s Truman Warner Hall
from Monday through July 8.
cont’d. on page 4
A R O U N D
Communique
Communiqué is published bimonthly
(September - December & February May) by the Office of University
Relations at Western Connecticut State
University.
C A M P U S
Kukk makes long journey
from WestConn to homeland
Sherri Hill
Editors
Paul Steinmetz
Robert Taylor
Photography
Peggy Stewart
Layout & Design
Ellen Myhill
Send comments/suggestions to:
pr@wcsu.edu
Western Connecticut
State University
181 White Street
Danbury, CT 06810
(203) 837-9000
or toll free in CT 1-877-837-WCSU
www.wcsu.edu
Dr. James W. Schmotter
President
Dr. Linda Rinker
Provost
Maribeth Amyot
Vice President for Finance and Administration
Dr. Koryoe Anim-Wright
Vice President for Institutional Advancement
Dr. Walter Bernstein
Vice President for Student Affairs
Lorraine Capobianco
Chief Information Officer
William Hawkins
Enrollment Management Officer
Charles Spiridon
Dean of Human Resources
Dr. Lynne Clark
Dean, School of Professional Studies
Dr. Walter Cramer
Dean, Student Affairs
Dr. Ellen Durnin
Dean, Graduate Studies and External Programs
Dr. Carol Hawkes
Dean, School of Visual and Performing Arts
Dr. Allen Morton
Dean, Ancell School of Business
Dr. Linda Vaden-Goad
Dean, School of Arts and Sciences
Western Connecticut State University is an
affirmative action/equal opportunity educator
and employer, fully committed to the goal of
providing equal opportunity and full
participation in its educational programs,
activities and employment without
discrimination.
CORRECTIONS &
CLARIFICATIONS
This section is reserved for
correcting errors or clarifying
statements appearing in the
Communiqué. Please report factual
errors or items needing
clarification by calling (203) 8378486 or sending an e-mail to
pr@wcsu.edu.
COMMUNIQUE STAFF
Paul Steinmetz
Director, University Relations
(203) 837-8771
steinmetzp@wcsu.edu
Sherri Hill
Assistant Director, University Relations
(203) 837-8774
hills@wcsu.edu
Dr. Christopher Kukk is
returning home this fall to his
family’s native land — 63 years
after his father and grandparents
fled the Soviet-occupied Baltic
state of Estonia to begin a
remarkable voyage to freedom
in America.
Kukk’s selection as a
Fulbright Scholar teaching in
Estonia during the 2007-08
academic year will afford the
WestConn associate professor of
political science a rare
opportunity to learn first-hand
about his cultural roots in a
nation that emerged from the
shadow of Soviet rule to regain
its independence in 1991. His
Fulbright assignment at the
University of Tartu, one of the
Baltic region’s elite academic
institutions, will enable him to
offer four courses and numerous
guest lectures on subjects
ranging from globalization and
environmental policy to
democratic institutions and
economic reform. He will advise
his Estonian hosts on plans to
build a new curriculum in
political economy at the
university, which boasts a
venerable academic legacy
dating back to its founding by
King Gustavus Adolphus of
Sweden in 1632.
As Kukk prepared for the
journey to Tartu in September
with his wife Elly and three
young sons — 3-year-old Cade,
1-year-old Quinn and newborn
Cole — his recollections took
him back to faded photographs
of the family’s farm near the
(right): Chris Kukk on campus.
“My dad and my
grandparents escaped because
their freedoms were being taken
away,” he observed. “Now I am
taking my kids back to a place
where anyone can invest and
own property, where everyone
has the right to vote — the first
country in the world where
people can even vote on their
cell phones.” In 2006, he noted,
the State of World Liberty Index
— a composite of four
international surveys evaluating
political and economic rights
worldwide — ranked Estonia
first among 159 nations in
the community college and
one from the university, in the
same envelope, on the same
day,” Sanders said. “What a
great idea!”
Levinson said
Connecticut’s changing
economy will require
institutions of higher education
to evolve, too.
“The promotion of this
kind of ease of transfer is
important for all of us,”
Levinson said. “Higher
education, and the production
of knowledge workers, is the
backbone of the economy.
This agreement will spur more
and more collaboration and
we will eventually become a
seamless entity of higher
education for students.”
Under the terms of the
“transfer compact,” students
will be able to enroll in one of
the community colleges and at
the same time earn conditional
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Sheryl Reynolds
Secretary, University Relations
(203) 837-8486
reynoldss@wcsu.edu
To request additional copies, please call
Sheryl at (203) 837-8486.
(l-r): WestConn President James W.
Schmotter and NVCC President Richard L.
Sanders sign the transfer agreement.
acceptance to WestConn.
Academic advisers at the
community colleges and the
university will work with such
students to ensure maximum
transfer of credit to satisfy
bachelor’s degree requirements.
Students would enter
WestConn with an associate
degree from the community
college and a minimum of 60
credits transferable to the
university.
Over the past five years,
WestConn has enrolled an
average of 144 students a year
from NVCC and 50 from NCC.
The agreement could increase
those numbers.
In March 2007, presidents of
the 12 institutions of the
Connecticut Community College
System and the four universities
of the Connecticut State
University System (CSUS), along
with the chancellors of the two
systems, signed a Memorandum
of Understanding designed to
streamline the transfer process
for students. The agreements
among WestConn, NCC and
NVCC are the first to follow
through on that commitment.
State Rep. Robert Godfrey,
D-Danbury, attended the signing
ceremony in Warner Hall on
WestConn’s Midtown campus.
“This is the culmination of
ideas that have been kicking
around for the better part of a
safeguarding individual
freedoms, comparing favorably
with the No. 8 ranking for the
United States.
As a specialist in U.S.
government, international
relations and comparative
politics, Kukk expects to find a
ready audience among Estonian
students for his classes on such
themes as diplomacy and
intelligence, U.S. foreign policy,
and international politics of the
global environment. He noted
his interdisciplinary approach to
cont’d. on page 7
Ives Authority (cont’d.)
Admissions simplified (cont’d.)
Robert Taylor
University Assistant, University Relations
(203) 837-8826
taylorr@wcsu.edu
Vol. 10, No. 1
Sept./Oct. 2007
(above): This black-and-white photo
shows members of the Kukk family
seated aboard “The Prolific” along with
companions among the 69 refugees who
made the three-month voyage in 1948
from Sweden to North Carolina. The
seated man wearing a captain’s hat at
the front right is Chris Kukk’s grandfather,
Verner Kukk. The baby girl perched on
the shoulders of a seated man with a
seaman’s hat is Chris’ aunt, Maimo Kukk;
immediately to the right are his
grandmother, Fronelly Kukk, and his
father, Harald Kukk.
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Estonian city of Parnu.
“On so many different
levels — my dad’s and my
grandparents’ level, my own
and my children’s — this
experience leaves me filled with
wonder,” he said. “I will go to
Estonia with this sense of
responsibility to a land that I’ve
never seen, but I know is within
me.”
The odyssey for Kukk’s
grandparents Verner and
Fronelly Kukk and his father
Harald Kukk began in 1944 as
the Soviet Red Army regained
control of Estonia in the closing
months of World War II. “My
father, grandfather and
grandmother literally had to
leave in the middle of the night
to escape from the Communists,”
he said.
Crossing the Baltic Sea in a
stolen Soviet vessel, the Kukks
took refuge for four years in
Sweden as they joined fellow
emigres from Estonia to begin
work on a self-made boat
designed for a bold transAtlantic crossing to the United
States. In 1948, the Kukks and
16 other families boarded the
boat — christened “The Prolific”
— and set off on the daunting
voyage to America. They
reached land in North Carolina
and, after three anxious months
at Ellis Island, Kukk’s father and
grandparents were granted entry
into the United States.
The stark contrast between
that flight from Soviet-ruled
Estonia and his own return to an
independent and democratic
Estonia today is especially
moving to Kukk.
by Robert Taylor
Associate Editor
WCSU Photo/Contributed by the Kukk family
Managing Editor
Paul Steinmetz
decade,” Godfrey said. “To
have the benefit of curriculum
and geography, and to have
the best of both is a
wonderful thing for
Connecticut.”
Lawrence D. McHugh,
chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the CSUS, said the
agreement will make life
easier for students.
“I applaud the efforts of
President Schmotter and his
colleagues at the community
colleges, taking this important
step forward,” McHugh said.
CSUS Chancellor Dr.
David G. Carter agreed.
“These efforts are driven
by a desire to enhance
educational opportunities for
students throughout
Connecticut, and ease their
transition at every step along
the education continuum,”
Carter said. “This is an
approach that makes sense
and will help students, which
is our top priority.”
NVCC in Waterbury offers
more than 100 associate
degrees and certificates to
students living in 35
communities across western
Connecticut.
NCC serves about 5,000
students in 11 academic
departments at its campus in
Norwalk.
by the Ives Festival Orchestra,
under the direction of WestConn
Professor of Music Dr. Fernando
Jimenez.
“The orchestra itself is made
up of first-rate musicians from
Fairfield County and New York
City,” Jimenez said. “All the
orchestral players on WestConn’s
music faculty participated in the
ensemble, as well as several
advanced students.”
They included: Eric Lewis,
Judith Smith, Kerry Walker, Mark
Snyder, Gina Cuffari, Marjorie
Callaghan, Andrew Rogers,
David Smith, Patrick Smith, Dan
Goble and Javier Oviedo; and
students Megan Burke, Hafez
Taghavi, Seth Uricheck, Eric
Glaviano, Ashley Williams, Laura
Telman and Chase Bronstein.
The Family Fair event was
sponsored by the Ives Authority,
under the auspices of the City of
Danbury and in partnership with
WestConn. Sponsors included
Union Savings Bank, Savings
Bank of Danbury, Ellen and W.
Jason Hancock, the Danbury
Cultural Commission and the
WCSU Foundation Inc.
Numerous local businesses and
restaurants contributed to the
event, demonstrating the
community-wide support to
keep Ives Concert Park — and
Charles Edward Ives’ memory —
alive.
For more information, call the Office of
University Relations at (203) 837-8486.
R E C A P
3
WCSU Photos/Peggy Stewart
C O M M E N C E M E N T
Graduate Commencement Ceremony
The first separate Graduate Commencement
Ceremony was held in Ives Concert Hall on
Friday, May 18. Clockwise, from left: the dais
party included Provost Dr. Linda Rinker,
President James W. Schmotter and CSU
Chancellor Dr. David Carter; Dr. Schmotter
congratulates a graduate; the student a
cappella group performs; proud graduates
pose for photos.
WCSU Photo/Ellen Myhill
Supervisory management graduates put lessons into practice
by Robert Taylor
Carlos Pacheco didn’t have
to wait to graduate from
WestConn’s supervisory
management program before
putting his classroom lessons
into practice at his workplace.
Pacheco, a Waterbury
resident who works full time as
an operations manager at Ward
Leonard Electric Co. in
Thomaston, said he has applied
what he has learned in courses
such as Supply Chain
Management, Total Quality
Management and Managing
People to advance his career —
and help his employer.
“All of these courses helped
me to take my job with my
present employer to a different
level,” he observed. “And some
of the things I’ve learned here
have saved my company money.
I’ve already set up a couple of
programs at work that have
made our supply chain
management more efficient.”
Pacheco received
recognition for his
accomplishments in the
classroom and the workplace as
the recipient of the 2007
WestConn at Waterbury
Management Scholarship,
awarded annually to a student
pursuing a Bachelor of Business
Administration (B.B.A) in
Management degree with the
supervisory management option.
Dean of the Division of
Graduate Studies and External
Programs Dr. Ellen Durnin noted
the supervisory management
program, offered since 2000 by
WestConn at Waterbury on the
Naugatuck Valley Community
College campus, was founded
with students like Pacheco in
mind.
“Carlos exemplifies what we
do in this program,” Durnin said
during graduation ceremonies
for 17 WestConn supervisory
management students receiving
their B.B.A. degrees last spring.
“He has a full-time job, he is
working to support his family,
he has pursued his education,
and he has moved ahead in his
job and been promoted to a
fast-track management program.
“The majority of these
students are working while they
study,” she observed. “This is just
as we envisioned it, providing a
practical educational alternative
to supply needed skills for the
workplace and for professional
advancement.”
Dr. Ming Ling Chuang,
assistant professor of
management and coordinator of
the WestConn at Waterbury
supervisory management
curriculum, said the May 10
ceremony to honor graduates —
the first ever to be held on the
NVCC campus — marked
another milestone in the
growing popularity of the B.B.A.
program in Waterbury. She cited
the students for their high
academic standards, and their
strong sense of commitment and
self-motivation to balance their
studies with their daily jobs.
“When students come to the
Waterbury program, they usually
know what they want in their
jobs and their professional
careers,” Chuang noted. “They
really want to learn and they ask
practical questions like, ‘How
can I use this at my company
and in my position?’ They are
more mature, and they know
exactly what they want.”
Pacheco, who must
complete two more courses to
meet his B.B.A. requirements,
said he has enjoyed the close
interaction and lively exchange
of ideas with his professors and
fellow students in small classes
with enrollments averaging 15 or
fewer at Waterbury. “What I have
learned here is that you can
never stop learning,” he said.
“Even if you are able to take
only one class each semester, it
is going to build your
professional skills and make you
a better person.”
Pacheco has taken special
pride in sharing his
achievements as a firstgeneration college student with
his wife Silvia and their three
children, who joined him at the
Ancell School of Business
honors convocation held on
WestConn’s Westside campus in
Danbury in early May.
“My whole family has been
very supportive,” he said. “I’ll be
the first one in my family to get
a college degree — it’s a big
accomplishment!”
WestConn recognized 17 students in the
WestConn at Waterbury supervisory
management program who fulfilled
requirements to receive Bachelor’s of Business
Administration degrees. Graduates who
attended the May 10 event at Founder’s Hall on
the Naugatuck Valley Community College
campus are, left to right: Deon Stewart, David
Kiley, Christine Rathkopf, Concetta Iovieno,
Elizabeth Sanger, Andrew Kaplan, Wayne Terrell,
Natasha Bell, Dritan Ajro, Cara Spragg, Hanna
Xhema, Ryan Geise, Justin Duda and Kirsten
Tracey. Graduates not pictured are Olubusayo
Ola, Shannon Underhill and Matthew Weaving.
WestConn’s first ceremony held in the
Westside Athletic Complex came off without
a hitch. Clockwise from left: Faculty and
graduates fill the field; Dr. Harold Schramm
displays the Presidential Medal he received
as commencement speaker; a view from the
stands; happy graduates; Danbury Mayor
Mark Boughton and State Sen. David
Cappiello enjoy the ceremony.
WCSU Photos/Peggy Stewart
Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony
A R O U N D
4
C A M P U S
Students reap benefits (cont’d.)
For the second year in a
row, Dr. Stacey Alba Skar, chair
of the world languages and
literature department, hosted
WestConn’s Global Academy in
Puerto Rico, a two-week
immersion in the Spanish
language, which allowed
students to experience Puerto
Rican culture and society, and
deepen understanding among
current and future teachers at
the elementary, middle and
secondary school levels.
“Students toured museums,
attended lectures and shadowed
teachers in a classroom setting.
They also participated in a
community service project with
the University of Puerto Rico –
Mayagüez’s Community Institute.
It was a great experience for
everyone,” Skar said.
This and other projects have
been made possible through the
President’s Initiatives Fund,
unveiled last year. Theatre arts
students have traveled to
Guayaquil, Ecuador, where they
performed an adaptation of
“Twelfth Night.” Students from
five academic disciplines have
trekked northern Vietnam ––
some doing anthropological field
study in the highland regions
and others conducting archival
research at Hanoi libraries on
the history and development of
the Red River region.
As coordinators of the Red
River Project, Assistant Professor
of History and Non-Western
Cultures Dr. Wynn Wilcox and
Associate Professor of Political
Science Dr. Christopher Kukk
prepared students for the trip
through an introductory course
in Vietnamese language and an
interdisciplinary research
seminar, Globalization in
Northern Vietnam. The seminar
explored development, water
resource and globalization issues
in Vietnam’s Red River basin,
stretching from the nation’s
agrarian heartland upriver to the
heavily populated and
industrialized delta region
centered around Hanoi.
“International travel is a
time-tested educational practice
that literally goes back
centuries,” said President James
W. Schmotter. “There are few
more emphatic (or more
effective) learning experiences
than those gained by
confronting cultural and national
differences in a foreign setting.
I’m delighted we are providing
more of these for WestConn
students today.”
WestConn is one of 11
universities across the country
chosen to participate in a pilot
project resulting from a
partnership between the
American Association of State
Colleges and Universities and
the U.S. Department of State.
The Global Access Project aims
to increase American students’
Media Mentions (cont’d.)
understanding of international
affairs while promoting
awareness about careers in
international relations.
This summer, two members
of WestConn’s Roots & Shoots
(R&S) University Program were
among five college students
selected to participate in an
exchange between the Jane
Goodall Institutes in the United
States and in China. The group,
led by R&S College and Youth
Leadership Initiatives Manager
Grace Felton and Professor of
Biological and Environmental
Sciences Dr. Howard Russock,
traveled to Shanghai and Beijing
for 10 days of cultural sharing
and outreach.
Dr. Dan Goble, Dr. Kevin
Jay Isaacs, Dr. Margaret Astrup
and Dr. Russell Hirshfield, along
with seven students from
WestConn’s music department,
also were in China this summer
for a cultural and educational
exchange with SIAS International
University. They presented three
performances in 10 days,
including a faculty/student recital
to an audience of more than
1,000, and a performance of
“Pirates of Penzance” before
2,000 appreciative music lovers.
The music department later
joined Ancell School of Business
faculty on a six-day tour of
China, including stops in
Shanghai, Beijing and Haining.
In a different part of the
WESTCONN SUMMER LITERARY
FESTIVAL
(VOICES, HARTFORD COURANT,
EL CANILLITA)
WestConn in Danbury will present its third
summer literary festival next Sunday through
Aug. 3 in conjunction with its master of fine
arts program in professional writing. …
Norman Pearlstine, author of the new book
“Off the Record: The Press, the Government,
and the War over Anonymous Sources” will
discuss his high-profile role in that
controversy next Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
$1M GRANT INTENDED TO AID
HISTORY
Danbury’s public school district earned its
second $1 million federal grant to improve
the teaching of American history in three
years. ... This Danbury grant will pay for up
to 24 history teachers from the three districts
to earn a master’s degree in American history
from WestConn.
WestConn will become a movie set this week
as scenes for “The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants 2” are filmed on campus. Actress Alexis
Bledel, 25, who plays Lena, will be on
campus and is expected to be joined by
WestConn art students, who will be extras.
EXTREME DREAM
(CONNECTICUT POST, WTNHNEWS CHANNEL 8, TRIBUNA, EL
CANILLITA, )
On a sweltering day Thursday, Gloria Brown
received some cool news. Brown, whose
fire-ravaged home was rebuilt for the ABC
series, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, “
was told Thursday that not only would her
three children receive full, four-year
scholarships at WestConn in Danbury, but
also that her mortgage on her razed Hollister
Avenue home would be paid off as well.
WestConn biology major Joy
Pacete never imagined she was
ready to pursue a major
scientific research project until
her faculty adviser invited her to
rise to the challenge.
“At first, I wanted to start
out as a lab assistant,” recalled
Pacete, a Danbury resident who
just entered her senior year.
“But Dr. (Theodora) Pinou
approached me with a job as a
research assistant for the
summer of 2006 and, thankfully,
she has been there for me to
make this happen.”
READERS SPELLBOUND BY
FINAL BOOK: FANS DISCUSS
THE END OF POPULAR SERIES
AT HARRY POTTER FEST
(NEW FAIRFIELD CITIZEN
NEWS, REGISTER CITIZEN,
VOICES, HARTFORD COURANT)
Opinions on the last Harry Potter book were
flying faster than broomsticks at a Quidditch
match Saturday at WestConn. A “Harry Potter
Fest” at the university brought out 30
devotees of the seven-book series to discuss
“Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows” by
author J.K. Rowling. “I can’t imagine that we
won’t see more from her,” said Professor
Judy Sullivan. “Even if she goes in a totally
new direction, it will be totally spellbinding,
I’m sure.”
“I still remember the first
questions I asked her,” said
Pinou, assistant professor of
biological and environmental
sciences. “‘Are you organized?
Do you work hard? Can you fall
in love with this?’ She seemed
scared of my questions at the
time, but now I think she
believes me. Joy is definitely a
hard worker.”
Pacete’s hard work paid off
with her selection to receive
WestConn’s first-ever Provost’s
Grand Prize, created by Provost
and Vice President for Academic
Affairs Dr. Linda Rinker to
provide the opportunity for a
continuing student to present
research findings at
a professional
meeting. She was
one of 12 students
who received
awards at the third
annual WestConn
Research Day
(WRD) in May. The
event featured 70
poster and oral
presentations by 90
undergraduate and
graduate students
who profiled their
research projects in
12 academic
disciplines ranging
from management
and nursing to the
humanities and
natural sciences.
WestConn
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
“The word ‘nuoc’ in Vietnamese means
water,” said Christopher Kukk, an associate
professor of political science at WestConn.
“It’s also the word for Vietnam. The heart
and soul of Vietnam is water.” … Kukk is an
expert in the international politics and
economics of water. His WestConn
colleague, Wynn Wilcox, an assistant
professor of history and non-Western culture,
is a Vietnam expert. Together, they’ll lead an
ambitious research project in Vietnam this
summer. Along with nine undergraduate
students, they’ll go to Vietnam to study the
economic, environmental, and social
consequences of the privatization of the Red
River water system.
WESTCONN GOING
HOLLYWOOD TODAY: SCENES
FROM ‘THE SISTERHOOD OF
THE TRAVELING PANTS 2’ TO BE
FILMED THROUGH FRIDAY
(WTNH-NEWS CHANNEL 8 , EL
CANILLITA)
trip to Bangladesh, volunteers
examined cross-cultural
differences in health care. And
during a trip to Cambodia,
students volunteered at a day
care center where they helped
create a curriculum.
While some students travel
to other countries to do good,
others simply make the journey
to do what they are good at.
For more than 10 years,
students in WestConn’s theatre
arts department have performed
in the biennial production staged
at the renowned Fringe Festival
in Edinburgh, Scotland. Professor
of Theatre Arts Sal Trapani
blogged about the festival.
“This is why people come
to Edinburgh,” Trapani wrote. “If
you are adventurous and search
things out, Edinburgh will renew
your faith in the theatre as an art
form that can touch your soul.”
(Top left to right): Students study
globalization’s effects on waterways in
Vietnam (photo: Sarah Douglas);
anthropology students observe a medical
team at a hospital in Bangladesh (photo:
Katrina Kruzykowski); students
participate in the Hearts and Hands for
Cambodia program (photo: Ariel Jaquez);
theatre arts students perform at the
Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland
(photo: Liz Popiel); Global Academy
students encourage academic
achievement at an elementary school in
Puerto Rico (photo: Javier Campos).
Pacete wins Provost’s Prize for research
by Robert Taylor
STIRRING THE WATERS OF
VIETNAM: MULTINATIONAL
COMPANIES ARE LOOKING TO
PROFIT OFF THE NATION’S
HEART AND SOUL — BUT AT
WHAT COST?
world, WestConn’s European
Institute for the Study of Arts,
Humanities and Politics was in
session at the College for
International Studies in Madrid,
Spain. Led by Assistant Professor
of World Languages and
Literature Dr. Galina Bakhtiarova
and Assistant Professor of
History Dr. Michael Nolan, this
language immersion program
explored Spanish history,
culture, literature, language and
arts. Attendees resided with host
families, attended classes, visited
museums, and attended concert
and theater performances. The
institute culminated in a four-day
trip to Andalusia, with visits to
Granada, Seville, Cordoba and a
flamenco show in the caves of
Sacromonte.
While travel affords an
introduction to another culture,
some excursions originate with
the intent of improving the
material, social and spiritual
welfare of those in need.
WestConn’s Alternative
Winter and Spring Break trips
have always focused on
humanitarian efforts around the
globe. During last year’s break,
students accompanied by
Adjunct Professor of
Anthropology Jeannie
Hatcherson and Professor of
Education Dr. Darla Shaw
traveled to Brazil where they
contributed to a land
preservation project. On another
Joy Pacete stands in front of the display for her
award-winning project.
alumni judges selected 11
student participants to receive
WRD 2007 Awards for
Excellence in Research. The
award-winning studies covered
diverse subjects such as metal
contamination levels in imported
green tea, bacterial communities
in Connecticut forests and
gardens, and the use of bar
coding in implementing more
efficient administration of
medications.
Award recipients included:
Valerica Albu, of Bethel; Mariah
Bednar, of Woodbury; Annika
Castaneda, of Wilton; John
Curran, of Carmel, N.Y.; Mimi
Davis, of Brookfield; Sylvester
Foote, of Norwalk; David Gera,
of New Fairfield; Christine Lener,
of Danbury; David Melillo, of
New Milford; Forest Robertson,
of Newtown; and Laura Telman,
of Litchfield.
As a member of the student
team assisting Pinou in her
research activities, Pacete
discovered her passion in a
project that sought to determine
whether there is a significant
correlation between the nesting
patterns of a sea turtle
population at Teopa Beach on
Mexico’s Pacific coast and the
phases of the lunar cycle. Armed
with nesting data for the Olive
Ridley turtle species spanning a
period from 1983 to 2003, she
set to work plotting nesting
patterns against levels of lunar
cont’d. on page 7
A L U M N I
&
D E V E L O P M E N T
5
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
(l-r): NVCC President Richard L. Sanders, Lisa
Cantoni and WestConn President James W.
Schmotter
Dr. Eric Roman
WestConn remembers Eric Roman
determination to succeed. Her
academic work and personal
accomplishments attest to her
diligence and growth as an
individual.”
While Cantoni
emphasized she can offer no
simple prescription to students
who must overcome their
own personal crises, she
added, “I believe it is very
important to talk to someone
you can trust because you
need to acknowledge that
something isn’t right, and that
you want to help yourself. It
is so easy today to lose
balance and let stress
overwhelm you.
“You have to take care of
yourself before you can be
devoted to something else,”
she affirmed. “I got back on
track and was able to return
to school only after I realized
that I couldn’t do it all on my
own, and that I did need
help. It all comes down to,
‘Know thyself.’ I really think
that this is a key to personal
happiness.”
by Robert Taylor
Dr. Eric Roman quietly
passed the torch of his
passionate love of teaching to
a new generation of students
when the longtime professor
of history died in California at
the age of 85 on May 9.
Faculty and administration
colleagues, former students
and friends in the Greater
Danbury community
celebrated his life at a
memorial service on the
university’s Westside campus
on July 1.
“We will long remember
Eric’s service here,” President
James W. Schmotter observed
as he recalled Roman’s tenure
on the university’s history
faculty from 1965 until his
retirement last May. “I believe
the students he taught, many of
whom became teachers
themselves, will spread his
knowledge and love of learning
to succeeding generations.
Eric’s legacy will inspire
students through the ages.”
Memorial donations may be made to the
WCSU Foundation (Attn: Dr. Koryoe AnimWright), 181 White St., Danbury CT 06810.
Guests at the annual wine-tasting event compare notes about their favorite vintage.
Wine-tasting tradition continues
with ninth annual event
by Sherri Hill
Mark your calendars now
for WestConn’s Ninth Annual
Holiday Wine Tasting, which
will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on
Sunday, Nov. 4, in the Grand
Ballroom of the Westside
Campus Center on the
university’s Westside campus.
The $50 admission will
provide access to one of the
most popular fall events as
friends, alumni and supporters
come together to enjoy good
food and fine wine while
supporting the Caraluzzi
Endowed Scholarship Fund.
More than a dozen wine
distributors will be joined by
Nutmeg Discount Liquors,
Caraluzzi Markets, Mr. Sushi,
La Zingara restaurant in Bethel
and Sodexho to provide a feast
for the palate and the senses.
The ever-popular silent
auction and brown bag raffle
also will offer the opportunity
to support student
scholarships.
WCSU Photos/Peggy Stewart
Lisa Cantoni has not taken
the typical or easy road to begin
studies this fall for a bachelor’s
degree in English at WestConn
— but the lessons she has
learned along the way have only
strengthened her will to succeed
in her career and her life.
The New Britain resident’s
remarkable road back from
depression and an obsessivecompulsive disorder that
interrupted her high school
education five years ago
received recognition with her
recent selection as the 2007
recipient of the President-toPresident Scholarship awarded
jointly by WestConn and
Naugatuck Valley Community
College (NVCC) in Waterbury.
The annual grant pays full
tuition costs for an exemplary
NVCC associate’s degree
graduate to complete the final
two years of studies to earn a
bachelor’s degree at WestConn.
“Ms. Cantoni’s academic
record and personal
characteristics are indeed
impressive, and we are pleased
to accept her for this award,”
WestConn President James W.
Schmotter wrote to NVCC
President Richard Sanders. “The
academic performance of former
President-to-President award
winners has been outstanding,
and I have little doubt that Ms.
Cantoni will continue this
record of accomplishment.”
Cantoni finished her
associate’s degree studies with a
near-perfect grade point average
of 3.98, and received the NVCC
2007 Anna-Margaret Fabisiak
Distinguished Student Award
recognizing outstanding
academic and extracurricular
achievements. A member of the
Phi Theta Kappa honor society,
she was a member of the NVCC
Human Services Club and served
as president of the Ambassador
Club, an organization that
promotes the community college
to students in the greater
Waterbury area.
She has balanced her
studies with a part-time job as
a hotel guest service
representative and active
participation in a wide range of
community service activities. She
has volunteered as a tutor and
group study leader for middle
and high school students, a
coaching assistant for a Prospect
youth softball team, and a peer
counselor and instructor in
critical-thinking skills at
correctional facilities in western
Connecticut.
Cantoni’s accomplishments
are all the more impressive in
view of her difficult but
ultimately successful struggle to
cope with trichotillomania,
a disorder marked by the
compulsive desire to pull out
one’s hair. Cantoni withdrew
from Holy Cross High School in
Waterbury just two months
before her scheduled graduation
in 2002. She recalled how her
family and friends helped her to
acknowledge her condition and
accept professional counseling
to learn how to cope with it,
enabling her to earn her high
school diploma in 2003 and
enroll in fall 2004 at NVCC.
“I would not change the
things I went through; the
memories I have of my
challenges and difficulties have
given me strength and courage
to fight back, do my best, and
be happy doing it,” Cantoni
said. “I want to work hard in
school and do well. I think the
drive to want to be there is truly
essential. The same applies to
deciding a future career — a
person will work harder and be
happier if she is in a career that
she is building toward.”
Cantoni’s love of books and
the literary creative process has
inspired her goal to become an
editor at a publishing house,
with a particular interest in
children’s literature. She plans
to major in English with a
concentration in literature, and
is considering a second
concentration in writing to
deepen her understanding and
appreciation for creation of
original literary works.
NVCC Assistant Professor of
Communication Lisa Kaufman,
Cantoni’s faculty adviser, noted
in her recommendation letter
for the award that her former
student displayed an uncommon
passion for reading and writing
and talent for self-expression in
her compositions.
“I would consider her truly
gifted in her writing and
speaking abilities,” Kaufman
said.
NVCC Associate Professor
of English Dr. Patricia Pallis
expressed admiration for
Cantoni’s academic record and
volunteer service as she has
learned to cope with adversity.
“I know she has come a
distance to get where she is,”
Pallis wrote. “These personal
struggles help to define who she
is, and certainly are part of her
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
by Robert Taylor
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Cantoni receives Presidents’ scholarship
(clockwise, from top):
(l-r): Constantine “Deno” Macricostas and his wife Marie, seen here with Dr. Daphne Jameson
and President James W. Schmotter, were the honorees at the 21st University Ball.
WCSU Foundation Board Member Bernard Reidy and his wife Nancy kick up their heels.
Alumnus Neil Wagner (center) celebrates his birthday as WCSU Foundation Board Member
Tom Crucitti applauds.
Old and new friends alike enjoy the evening’s festivities.
For more information, call the Office
of Institutional Advancement at
(203) 837-8279.
Always a popular part of the ball, the Silent Auction featured a variety of gift baskets, sports
memorabilia, trips and more.
6
C A M P U S
B R I E F S
DHS students race the solar-powered cars
they built this summer at WestConn.
assistant director of WestConn’s
ConnCAP/Upward Bound
Danbury High School (DHS) program, puts it simply: With
senior Akayla Boyd is collegecommitment and hard work,
bound next fall — and the pride every high school student can
was evident in her smile as the
achieve a college education.
last image of her slide show
“The first goal of our
flashed on the Warner Hall
program is to make sure that all
screen during concluding student our students get into college,
presentations in July at
and that they make the
WestConn’s ConnCAP/Upward
commitment to finish college,”
Bound summer camp.
Pote said. “Our goal is also to
Overlaying a view of the
alleviate any stress that students
Virginia college where she plans may feel during their years in
to pursue studies in psychology, high school, so that they can
the title read: “Hampton College: focus on their academics.”
The Perfect Place for Akayla
The program currently
Boyd!”
enrolls about 100 DHS students,
Boyd’s description of her
recruited from households with
quest for college admission,
low income levels and without
buoyed by a solid record of
the experience of a college
academic achievement at DHS,
education in previous
provided a fitting exclamation
generations. Students accepted
point to the core message of the after interviews with Pote and
state-funded Connecticut
ConnCAP/Upward Bound Site
Collegiate Awareness and
Supervisor Amanda Castro must
Preparation Program (ConnCAP) demonstrate a commitment to
and federally funded Upward
seek a college degree.
Bound initiatives at WestConn
They participate in a sixand DHS. Rob Pote, who has
week summer camp at WCSU
served for the past four years
each year, designed to provide
individual and group studies on
a designated research theme
and practical training to
strengthen their skills in the
college admissions process.
During the school year, the
students meet for discussions,
tour college campuses, attend
college fairs, and participate in
cultural and service activities as
part of the program’s continuing
support for college preparation.
Pote noted that a primary
purpose of the program is to
make the college admissions
process less intimidating for
students and their families by
providing assistance and
counseling in coping with the
mechanics of the process, from
filing financial aid forms to
writing an effective application
essay.
A steady rise in the number
of DHS students participating in
ConnCAP/Upward Bound is just
one sign of its success.
“The students we are getting
now are more motivated,” Pote
said. “They have direction, they
are picking up knowledge about
the application process, and they
know how to attain their goals.
In the past four years, we have
had a 100 percent acceptance
rate for our students in college
and university admissions.”
WestConn has ranked
consistently among the most
popular college choices of the
program’s participants, enrolling
five to six students from each
graduating class.
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
WestConn, Danbury High work to keep students ‘Upward Bound’
Alexandra Chakar
Centennial Baby enters kindergarten
Our “Centennial Baby”
Alexandra Chakar has turned
5, and she took her first step
toward a WestConn degree
when she arrived on Aug. 31
for the first day of kindergarten
classes at Stadley Rough
Elementary School in Danbury.
Alexandra — who was
selected to receive a four-year
scholarship to WestConn
thanks to her timely arrival as
the first baby born at Danbury
Hospital on the university’s
centennial anniversary date of
Sept. 14, 2002 — quickly
adjusted to her new school
and “she’s really gotten into
the swing of it,” reported her
mother Mirta.
Mirta and her husband
Charles, a 1994 WestConn
alumnus, are looking forward
to watching Alexandra’s future
progress. “She’s on her way,”
her mother said, “and
hopefully it will take her
straight to college!”
here was to straighten out their
confusion about our country.”
The students had an intense
workload with daily assignments
involving lecture topics ranging
from first impressions of America
to immigration, the United
Nations, global warming and
American jazz.
Jeanne Lakatos, an adjunct
professor of English and an
English professor in the
program, said, “The students
had a cultural interchange of
ideas. They wanted to be
immersed in the English
language and American culture
— and they were.”
The students also enjoyed
cultural tours and were brought
to some of the largest tourist
attractions in the country, such
as the Statue of Liberty and the
United Nations Building in New
York. But it was in Danbury that
the students fully realized they
were in the United States.
“Walking down Main Street,
it hit them — they were in
America,” Lakatos said. “They
said Danbury reminded them of
the American towns they see in
movies.”
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
In June, a group of German
high school students undertook
American studies at WestConn,
thanks in part to Dr. Renate
Ludanyi, professor of world
languages and literature and
director of the German Studies
Center, who helped coordinate
“The International Experience —
A Key to the World.”
“I believe it is important to
experience other countries,
people of other countries, and
learn about them to get rid of
prejudices,” Ludanyi said of the
12-day program, which enabled
high school students from
Germany to immerse themselves
in and learn about our culture.
“America plays a big part in
the world,” Ludanyi said. “The
reason the students were brought
German high school students learned about
America this summer at WestConn.
NEASC Accreditation
Dr. Ellen Durnin, dean of
Graduate and External Programs,
Dr. Carol Hawkes, dean of the
School of Visual and Performing
Arts, and Provost Dr. Linda
Rinker are leading a project to
submit a five-year interim report
to the New England Association
of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)
as part of a continuing process of
accreditation.
The report will include
assessment of the university in 11
areas deemed by NEASC as
important to continuing the
university’s position as a strong
institution capable of producing
accomplished graduates.
A WCSU Web site will be
created for progress reports,
dates of forums at which faculty,
staff and students will be able to
comment, and more information
gathered during the committee’s
work.
NEASC, founded in 1885,
claims to be the nation’s oldest
regional accrediting association,
serving more than 2,000 public
and independent schools,
colleges and universities in
Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island and Vermont, and
American/international schools
in more than 70 nations.
Durnin said the five-year
interim report will not require
the same comprehensive and indepth approach as did the
original report submitted in
2003.
“It’s not going to be as
difficult, but many people across
the university will be involved,”
Durnin said. “We’re starting on it
now so we can proceed in a
calm and thorough manner and
get the project done before the
deadline.”
NEASC accreditation
involves a peer review process,
with thousands of educators
engaged in assessing universities
each year. An institutional selfstudy precedes the review, with
specific scrutiny of school
effectiveness, improvement and
public assurance.
As the NEASC Web site
states, “Unlike popular
magazines, this does not involve
ranking institutions, but rather,
establishes a level of acceptable
quality for all accredited
institutions.”
Rinker said, “The fifth-year
report provides us with the
opportunity to reflect upon
progress made since the last
comprehensive written report
and to identify areas of focus for
the next five years leading up to
the next review.”
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
German students experience America at WestConn
Students from Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk, whose teacher is enrolled in
WestConn’s WISTR program, donned waders at the Westside Nature Preserve.
WestConn Institute for Science Teacher
Research brings learning outdoors
Students in teacher
Kristina Bjelko’s class at Brien
McMahon High School in
Norwalk spent some time at
the Westside Nature Preserve
(WNP) as part of a WestConn
Institute for Science Teacher
Research (WISTR) program.
Wearing waders, the students
ventured into the vernal pool
at the WNP.
Assistant Professor of
Biological and Environmental
Sciences Dr. Dora Pinou, who
runs the WISTR program, said
the purpose of the exercise
was “to try to identify living
organisms based on what they
had seen in class using
preserved specimens. For
some students, it was their first
time visiting a vernal pool.”
Congratulations!
Clements recognized for journal, poetry
Master of Fine Arts in
Professional Writing
Coordinator Dr. Brian Clements
has been recognized for his
prose poetry journal,
“Sentence.” In addition to
glowing reviews of the
publication, four poems
featured in “Sentence” have
been selected for inclusion in
“The Best American Poetry
2007” edition.
“Four poems from one
journal in any given year is
rare, especially for a journal as
new as ‘Sentence,’ and
especially since the anthology
contains 75 poems out of the
tens of thousands published
over the previous year,”
Clements said.
A poetry manuscript he’s
written, “Disappointed Psalms,”
also was awarded the
Colombian Poetry Prize and
will be published in 2008.
If you have an announcement about a recent
appointment to a board, award or other
professional accomplishment you’d like to
share, please e-mail pr@wcsu.edu.
A R O U N D
C A M P U S
7
WestConn serves as backdrop for film, benefactor for reality TV show
Fred, 16; Jana’e, 14; and Bobbi,
17.
Vice President for
Institutional Advancement Dr. G.
Koryoe Anim-Wright made the
presentations to the Browns
outside their new home in early
August. The four family
members reacted with stunned
surprise as the magnitude of the
gift sank in.
“I want to thank God for …
Western Connecticut State
University,” said Gloria Brown,
the family matriarch. “Hooray!
Hooray for everybody!”
Anim-Wright said the
children’s tuition and fees,
should they attend WestConn,
would be paid through a
combination of grants, need-
Schmotter said he agreed
quickly to help the children
because the university, as a state
institution, should serve students
who might not be able to get a
college education elsewhere.
“These three students,
through no fault of their own,
found themselves in a difficult
situation,” Schmotter said. “I felt
it was appropriate for WestConn
to provide them some help to
get back on their feet. I look
forward to seeing them on
campus.”
… a campus that will
probably already look familiar
by the time they get here, since
they can see it in the summer
2008 release, “The Sisterhood of
the Traveling Pants 2.”
(clockwise, left to right):
WCSU student Emily Fromm on
the set in a White Hall art studio.
(l-r): Danbury Mayor Mark
Boughton and WestConn
President James W. Schmotter
had cameos in the film.
As sound and lighting technicians
stand by, Alexis Bledel and
Michael Rady act out a scene
from ‘The Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants 2.’
Provost’s Prize (cont’d.)
Kukk (cont’d.)
teaching is well suited to the
academic philosophy at the
University of Tartu, and his
expertise in non-Western and
developing nations in Africa,
Asia, the Middle East and Latin
America will offer fresh insights
on political and economic
development.
Kukk plans to shape his
curriculum offerings to the
interests and experiences of his
students at Tartu, recognizing
the relevance of Estonia’s postSoviet democratic and economic
reforms to the broader theme of
political economy. He noted that
Estonia’s successful reforms and
regional leadership in efforts to
clean up the Baltic Sea will offer
useful points of reference for
classroom discussions.
“I plan to use Estonia as a
model to grab the students’
attention and remind them that
success can be found right here,
in their own country,” he said.
“Once they learn about what
happens in other parts of the
world such as Africa and
Southeast Asia, they will
recognize how fortunate their
based scholarships and revenue
generated from unrestricted
sources of funding.
“The provision of the tuition
and fees assistance provided us
with a way to participate in a
broad-based community-wide
initiative to support the Brown
family in a manner that is
consistent with our mission of
providing access to higher
education to the citizens of
Connecticut,” Anim-Wright said.
“Additionally, an education is
one of the key factors to
improving one’s quality of life
and in that spirit, it was
important for WCSU to
participate in an opportunity
that would further enrich the
lives of the Brown children.”
WCSU Photos/Peggy Stewart
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
in exterior shots. He also
needed an art studio that looked
like it could be at RISD.
The photographs were
uploaded to a production Web
site from the film’s location
office in Stamford so the
director, location manager, set
designer and others on the West
Fred, Gloria, Jana’e and Bobbi Brown react to
Coast could take a look.
Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dr.
Interested in what they saw,
G. Koryoe Anim-Wright’s announcement that
they traveled to Connecticut.
the children will receive tuition and fees
packages to attend WestConn.
After a few hours of pacing the
Quad and venturing into the
third floor art studios in White
by Sherri Hill and Paul Steinmetz
Hall, it appeared that most of
Opportunity came knocking the crew liked WestConn for the
at WestConn twice this summer
shoot. But they left without
when the university was
giving any indication if they’d be
contacted by representatives
back.
from both a major motion film
Two months went by and
studio and a much-loved
scouts for other films came and
television show that airs on
went, but on July 12, the
ABC. In the first instance, it was location manager for “The
the Midtown campus grounds
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
that made us look good; in the
2” called and said they wanted
second, it was genuine, kindto begin filming at WestConn on
hearted compassion.
July 18. With the cooperation of
The first call from a film
many departments and offices,
location scout came into
scenes involving actress Alexis
WestConn’s Office of University
Bledell were shot for several
Relations in late April, and it
days on the Midtown campus
seemed like an interesting,
Quadrangle and the third floor
isolated event. But as the days
art studios in White Hall.
and weeks passed in early May,
WestConn student Emily
more and more calls came in
Fromm was cast in the film.
from scouts representing major
“Being an extra in a sequel
motion picture studios and starto a movie that I thoroughly
studded productions. The
enjoy was definitely a dream
reason: recent legislation signed come true,” Fromm said. “It was
by Gov. M. Jodi Rell making it
almost unreal to see them
financially advantageous for
changing WestConn’s campus
studios to film in Connecticut.
into RISD.”
One of the early campus
Not long after the
visitors was a Warner Brothers
excitement of having a movie
scout, looking for a college
filmed on campus died down, a
setting to film scenes for “The
call came in to President James
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants W. Schmotter’s office from a
2.” He spent two days here in
building contractor in New
the pouring spring rain, taking
Canaan that was participating in
thousands of photographs of
a build for “Extreme Makeover:
classrooms in every academic
Home Edition.” Schmotter didn’t
building — as well as dorm
hesitate when he was asked to
rooms, our athletic facilities and help the Bridgeport family who
even shots of the landscaping on were to receive a new house on
both campuses. He needed to
the show. He committed to
find a location that could
providing a tuition and fees
reasonably pass for the Rhode
assistance package for the
Island School of Design (RISD)
Brown family’s three teenagers,
experience has been in Estonia.”
At the same time,
knowledge of the history and
structure of the American
political system will give his
Estonian students a deeper
understanding of the lessons of
that experience for their nation’s
young democracy, Kukk noted.
“Understanding the effects of
federalism in the United States,
for instance, can provide
constructive as well as
cautionary recommendations for
sharing power in a country such
as Estonia, where tensions with
ethnic Russians have been a
focus of political debate,” he
said.
Kukk expects to play the
role of student as well as teacher
during his Fulbright
appointment, as he studies
Estonia’s post-Soviet experience
for lessons in “how a country
develops a successful political
economy during the era of
globalization,” he said. “Estonia
is in the midst of completing the
transition from an oppressed
Baltic state to becoming the
Silicon Valley of the European
Union.”
Nor will Kukk be surprised
if some of the most important
lessons he learns during his
yearlong stay will come from
the students themselves.
“It will challenge me in a
professional way, because I
expect to get questions I’ve
never had before,” he observed.
“Teaching for me is a ‘Huck
Finn’ experience where your
intellectual raft is sometimes
overturned by unexpected
questions, and you don’t know
for a few minutes which side
is up.”
Kukk’s personal voyage
of rediscovery of his Estonian
roots will provide a fitting
epilogue to the extraordinary
story that his father and
grandparents began with their
exodus from Parnu more than
six decades ago.
“For me, the juxtaposition
of my father’s escape and my
family’s return is profound,” he
said. “I am so looking forward
to seeing the farm where my
grandparents and father lived.”
illumination at time points over
the same period. While the raw
data initially revealed no
apparent correlation, a much
different picture emerged when
she ran a more sophisticated
analysis using Spearman’s rank
correlation coefficient at the
suggestion of Pinou’s colleague
Dr. Lawrence Gall at YalePeabody Museum of Natural
History.
“Sure enough, we found
what we were looking for!” she
said. “Not only did sea turtle
nesting patterns relate to the
different phases of the moon,
but it showed a negative
correlation. This means that as
the moon’s illumination grows
brighter, sea turtle nesting
frequency drops.”
Pinou observed this finding
proved the opposite of what
many turtle conservationists had
assumed, evidenced by the fact
that “moon parties” at nesting
beaches are commonly held at
the full-moon phase of the lunar
cycle. With the Teopa Beach
study in hand, Pacete this
summer visited the Mote Marine
Laboratory to examine nesting
patterns for species in the
Florida Gulf region. Researchers
in Greece, India and the
Cameroons also have signaled
their willingness to share their
long-term nesting data with
Pinou’s team.
The Provost’s Grand Prize
will enable Pacete to present her
research at an international sea
turtle conference this fall in Baja,
Calif., and preparations are
being made to submit her study
for publication in a major
scientific journal. She admitted
that research demands long
hours and often tedious labor,
but offers the reward of
providing solid foundations as
she explores future graduate
school and career opportunities.
“When you’re working
toward answering something,”
Pacete said, “you get to the
point of challenging yourself
and pushing your limits. In the
long run, we still have more
work to do, and this is just the
starting point.”
W H AT ’ S
O N ?
w w w. w c s u . e d u / ne w se v e n t s
Oct.1-7
Homecoming
Nov. 1-3 & 8-10
2007
Western Connecticut
State University
Monday, Oct. 1
• Danbury Heritage Heroes Program. 7 p.m., Student Center Theater, Midtown campus.
Free and open to the public. Appropriate for children.
Tuesday, Oct. 2
Alumni Association Golf Tournament. 10 a.m. shotgun start, Richter Park, 100 Aunt Hack
Rd., Danbury. $700/foursome or $175/person. Reception immediately following tournament at
Café on the Green. Open to the public. To register, call (203) 837-8290.
• WCSU Field Hockey vs. Framingham State. 6 p.m., Westside Athletic Complex, Westside
campus. Free and open to the public.
• President’s Welcome and Roundtable Discussion: Freedom of Expression. 7 p.m.,
First floor, Warner Hall, Midtown campus. Free and open to alumni, students, faculty and staff.
•
Wednesday, Oct. 3
• Reflections: WestConn Then and Now. 5:30 p.m., First floor, Warner Hall, Midtown
campus. Free and open to alumni, students, faculty and staff.
• Alumni-Student Mentoring Reception. 5:30 p.m., Westside Campus Center Grand
Ballroom, Westside campus. Free and open to alumni, students, faculty and staff.
• WCSU Women’s Soccer vs. Westfield State. 7 p.m., Westside Athletic Complex,
Westside campus. Free and open to the public.
Thursday, Oct. 4
• Ancell School of Business (ASB) Distinguished Alumni Dinner. 5:30 p.m., Westside
Classroom Building, Room 218, Westside campus. Cost. Open to the public. RSVP to (203) 8379600.
• Faculty vs. Student Basketball Game. 7 p.m., Bill Williams Gymnasium, Berkshire Hall,
Midtown campus. Free and open to the public.
• Steven Neuwirth Lecture Series. 7:30 p.m., Science Building, Room 125, Midtown
campus. Free and open to the public. RSVP to (203) 837-9400.
• Coffeehouse. 8 p.m., Alumni Hall, Midtown campus. Free and open to alumni, students,
faculty and staff.
The WestConn theatre arts
department will present the Anton
Chekhov play about an aristocratic
family facing the end of a way of
life. Performances will be at 8
p.m.* Berkshire Theatre, Midtown
campus. Cost. wcsu.edu/tickets.
(*Opening night performance at
7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. matinee on
Saturday, Nov. 3.)
Oct. 26
oktoberfest
WestConn will host its annual Oktoberfest
Jazz concert at 8 p.m. in Ives Concert
Hall in White Hall on the university's
Midtown campus. Concertgoers are
invited to attend in Halloween costumes.
The event will be free and open to
the public; donations to the music
department will be accepted. Call
(203) 837-8350 for more information.
Nov. 4
Friday, Oct. 5
Hall of Fame Dinner. 5:30 p.m., Westside Campus Center Grand Ballroom, Westside
campus. $50/person. Open to the public. RSVP to (203) 837-8290.
• Oktoberfest. 6 p.m., Quadrangle, Midtown campus. Free and open to alumni, students,
parents, faculty and staff. Food and beverages provided.
• WCSU Ice Hockey vs. UConn. 7 p.m., Danbury Ice Arena, 1 Independence Way, Danbury,
Conn. Cost. Open to the public.
• Mentalist Banachek. 8 p.m., Ives Concert Hall, White Hall, Midtown campus. Free and open
to alumni, students, parents, faculty and staff.
•
Saturday, Oct. 6
Athletic Hall of Fame. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., O’Neill Center, Westside campus. Free and open to
the public.
• Alumni and Friends Circle Rededication. 9:30 a.m., Alumni & Friends Circle (brick circle
outside of Old Main), Midtown campus. Free and open to alumni, students, parents, faculty and
staff.
• Alumni Breakfast. 10 a.m., Westside Campus Center Grand Ballroom, Westside campus.
$5/person; children under 2 eat free. Open to alumni, students, parents, faculty and staff.
• Homecoming Tailgate Party. 10 a.m., O’Neill Center Parking Lot, Westside campus. Open
to alumni, students, parents, faculty and staff. Must be 21 years or older.
• Homecoming Football Game: Colonials vs. William Paterson. Noon, Westside Athletic
Complex, Westside campus. $6/general admission; $4/55 and older and children under 12.
Open to the public.
• Alumni Hospitality Tent. (Across from Westside Athletic Complex.) 2 p.m., Westside
campus. $5/person. Open to alumni, students, parents, faculty and staff. Must be 21 years or
older. Featuring the band Future Tense.
• Alumni Business Showcase. (Next to Alumni Hospitality Tent.) Come meet alumni
business owners. 2 p.m., Westside campus. Free and open to alumni, students, parents, faculty
and staff.
• Street Fair. 2 p.m., Westside campus. Food, beverages. Free and open to alumni, students,
parents, faculty and staff.
• Tour of the Westside Nature Preserve. 3 p.m., Westside campus. Free and open to the
public.
• Alumni Ice Hockey Game. 5 p.m., Danbury Ice Arena, 1 Independence Way, Danbury. Cost.
Open to the public.
• WCSU Field Hockey vs. UMass Dartmouth. 6 p.m., Westside Athletic Complex, Westside
campus. Free and open to the public.
• Class Reunion Gala. 6 p.m. Westside Campus Center Grand Ballroom, Westside campus.
Invitation only. $65/person. RSVP to (203) 837-8290.
•
Sunday, Oct. 7
• WCSU Women’s Soccer vs. Plymouth State. Noon, Westside Athletic Complex, Westside
campus. Free and open to the public.
For more information, call (203) 837-8290 or visit www.wcsu.edu/homecoming.
President’s Initiatives Fund:
‘Learning Opportunities that
Differences Create’
OPENHOUSE
O’Neill Center, Westside campus
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
All faculty are encouraged to attend!
A series of lunchtime panel discussions throughout the
academic year will emphasize the theme of the next President’s
Initiatives Fund: “Learning Opportunities that Differences Create.”
The first panel will feature members of the Social Sciences
faculty: Dr. Damela Isik, an expert on Islam in the Middle East; Dr.
Rock Brynner, who spent much of his youth in travels outside the
United States; and Dr. Steven Ward, a scholar in social and cultural
theory. Dr. Robert Whittemore will moderate.
Together, they will convey observations of the United States
from a variety of perspectives.
The panel will convene at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 31 in
Alumni Hall. Lunch will be provided to all who attend.
The lecture series is an outgrowth of the university’s strategic
plan, which strives to promote and take advantage of WCSU’s
location in a cosmopolitan region, along with the educational
benefits of relationships between the institution, its scholars and
others.
The series will include panels on globalization, in November;
freedom of speech and the press, in February; the art of expression,
in March; and the war in Iraq, in April.
Check the university calendar at www.wcsu.edu for exact dates and locations for this series
and all campus events. Or, call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Holiday Wine Tasting
Sunday, Nov. 4
Westside Campus Center
Proceeds to benefit the Caraluzzi Scholarship Fund
Raffles - Prizes - Great Food - Good Times
Last spring, Danbury Mayor Mark
a new performing arts authority
approved by the Common Council. A
joint endeavor between the city and
WestConn, the Charles Ives Authority
for the Performing Arts was created to
direct operations at the Ives Concert
Park on the university’s Westside
campus.
Nov. 4
Ninth Annual Western Connecticut State University
Inside this issue:
Boughton announced the formation of
Oct. 31
Office of University Relations
181 White Street
Danbury, CT 06810
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