A Welcome Note from Cynthia Brockett

My name is Cynthia Brockett and I am the new Administrative Assistant for Dean Michelle Brown at the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences. I have worked for the State of Connecticut for nineteen years and for fifteen of those years I worked at Southern Connecticut State University at the School of Arts and Sciences Dean Office. I left SCSU in 2018 to move to Helena, Montana to try a different lifestyle.

Montana was beautiful, it made me a different person and taught me many lessons. Unfortunately, I missed my family terribly and I had to return to Connecticut. I was very excited when I received the job posting for the Administrative Assistant position at Western and I applied immediately. I have always enjoyed higher education and helping the students to succeed. I truly believe that every one of us make a difference in a student’s life and I have always loved providing guidance and direction.

I am very excited about my new position and about working with the great team at Western Connecticut State University. Once campus re-opens please stop by and say hello. I look forward to working with you all.

My best,
Cynthia Brockett, Administrative Assistant

A Letter from the Editor:

Dear Macricostas Faculty, Staff, and Donors,

I just wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for creating such a supportive environment. As some of you know, I am graduating this semester and will be moving on to study Public Health at University of Massachusetts.

It has truly been a pleasure getting to know you on a different level and admire your accomplishments. My two years in the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office has truly been an amazing learning experience of which has given me the opportunity to grow on a personal and professional level.

Enjoy a well deserved and restful summer!

My best,
Ruth Quattro, Editor & Publisher

Student News

Biology:

• Jasmin Grey will be graduating this May with a BA in Biology and has accepted an offer from John Hopkins University to study Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology in their PhD program. Congratulations Jasmin!
• The Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences has awarded two Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) to pursue research with biology faculty.The recipients of the SURF fellowships are undergraduates Emily Hoegler and James Hannon. Emily plans to work with Dr. Cordeira to investigate how the neurotransmitter dopamine is involved in exercise and food intake in mice which has important implications for human health and disease. James will be working with Dr. Monette to examine the impacts of multiple environmental stressors such as temperature and salinity on gene expression in the gills of Atlantic killifish, which has important implications for the impacts of climate change on the distribution and abundance of estuarine fishes. Congratulations Emily and James!
• Danielle Weiss, Emma Baxley, and Daniela Romero will be working as summer tick lab interns.

Chemistry:

• Steven Hong will be graduating this May with a BS in Chemistry and has accepted an offer from University of Maryland to study Biochemistry in their PhD program. Congratulations Steven!
• Brody Lennon will be participating in the Nuclear and Radiochemistry Summer School program in San Jose, California. This is an intensive six-week program for undergraduate students funded by the US Department of Energy and the summer schools are adminis-tered through the Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology (NUCL) of the American Chemical Society. This fellowship includes a stipend, all tuition and fees, transportation, housing, books, and laboratory supplies as well as transferable college credits. Congratulations Brody!

Communication:

• Ruth Quattro will be graduating this May with a BA in Communication Studies and a minor in Community Health and has accepted an offer from the University of Massachu-setts to study Public Health, specifically focusing on Community Education and Environ-mental Health. During her time at WCSU, she has participate in Rotaract, managed the Social Media pages for the Western Adventure Club, and has worked in the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office. Congratulations Ruth!

Psychology:

• Mikhaela McFarlin will be graduating this May from Western Connecticut State University (one full year in advance) with a BA in Psychology and minor in Humanistic Studies. During her three years spent at Westconn, she has been an Honors student involved in the Kathwari Honors program, a member of the PsychAlliance club, and has served as the WCSU Psi Chi chapter President (The honor’s society in Psychology). As an undergraduate student, Mikhaela has gained extensive research experience working closely with Dr. Stephanie Kuhn, Dr. Bernard Gee and Dr. Maya Aloni. She has also proudly worked as a peer mentor through the Western Connections program, and has had the opportunity to serve her community by baking and delivering casseroles to the Dorothy Day Hospitality House in Danbury, CT. While at Westconn, she achieved the Dean’s List for each semester of schooling, was awarded the Foresters Competitive Scholarship for Academic Excellence, and recently received the 2020 Willerman Memorial Award from the Psychology Department for her academic excellence. Mikhaela has accepted an offer to enter the University at Albany’s (SUNY) Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program as a first-year doctoral student beginning fall 2020. Congratula-tions Mikhaela!
• Sanya Kayfus, a Psychology major, was accepted into the University of Bridgeport’s Intern Program for a Master’s of Science in Elementary Education for Fall 2020. This is an accelerated 10-month program where she will be placed in a public-school system for the academic year, and will be taking classes at night and on the weekends. Sanya’s tuition will be paid in full by the school system that she is placed in. She is only responsible for paying for books and any other extra expenses. The program will essentially prepare her to pass the Praxis II for elementary teachers and the CT Reading Assessment exam to become an educator. Congratulations Sanya!
• Bill Silvia will graduate this May from Western Connecticut State University with a BA in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Studies (concentrations in Gender Studies and Multi-Cultural Studies) and minor in Creative Writing. In five years at Westconn, he has participated in the Kathwari Honors Program and Sigma Xi research honor society and held leadership positions in the Echo campus newsletter, the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Western Beyond Borders, and the Psychology Student Association and Psi Chi psychology honor society. He also works as a peer tutor in the campus writing center and a mentor in the Western Connections program and works to strengthen WCSU’s connection with the US-El Salvador solidarity network. Bill’s research experience working with Dr. Patricia O’Neill, Dr. Maya Aloni, Dr. Carina Bandhauer, and Dr. Kelli Custer has resulted in several conference presentations. Bill was awarded the 2018 Daniel de Rosa Memorial Award for service to the Psychology Department, was recently inducted into Iota Iota Iota women and gender studies honor society, and received the 2020 Louise Kolb Award for Outstanding Tutoring Service to the Writing Center. Bill has accepted an offer to enter Ohio University’s Experimental Psychology Ph.D. program as a first-year doctoral student beginning fall 2020. Congratulations Bill!

Writing:

• Please join us in congratulating Audrey Redpath, who won a National Student Production Award today for her excellent piece "Online Radicalism" that was broadcast as part of WestConn's stellar news programming, Election Connection. Audrey won the NSPA Boston/New England award in the Serious News category, recognizing her work in reporting, writing, creating and anchoring the news package. The piece is part of Audrey's ongoing reporting, research and writing about the online radicalization of mostly young white males in our country. In addition to Audrey winning the top award, WestConn's Rachel Peet and Sydni Frisch were awarded Honorable Mentions. Check out Audrey’s piece by clicking on this link. Congratulations Audrey, Rachel, and Sydni!
• Rachel Peet is a graduating senior with a Contract Major in Photojournalism, who has taken virtually all of Professor Roche’s Journalism classes, excelled in each, and is a member of our Honors Program. Congratulations Rachel!

 

Award Recipients:

Distinguished Alumni Award: Erik Ofgang

 

Biology & Environmental Sciences:

Kangungo Award: Jasmine Grey

Most Promising Biology Major Award: Jacob Bethin

Outstanding Graduating Senior Biology Major Award: Jonah Whiteside & Christopher Marji

 

Chemistry & Biochemistry:

American Chemical Society Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award: John Carroll

American Chemical Society Division of Physical Chemistry Undergraduate Award: Jordan Polvere

American Chemical Society Organic Chemistry Award: Hannah Sexton

American Chemical Society Outstanding Graduating Senior: Katherine Fossum & Hannah Sexton

American Institute of Chemists Award: Timothy Meksvanh & Steven Hong

Carl and Ruth Dension Outstanding Senior Award: Michael Kelly

EAS Analytical Chemistry Award: Brielle Skrutskie

General Chemistry Achievement Award: Anna Brown

Massy Radjabzadeh Award in Analytical Chemistry: Henry Valle-Ayala

 

Communication and Media Arts:

Adam Aitcheson Award: Aliyah Walker

Khalda Logan Media Award: Peyton Chaplick

WXCI Award: Marcelo Araujo

 

Computer Science:

Computer Science Faculty Award: Eliot Griffin

Wohlever Award in Computer Science: Malik Roc & Mark Masone

 

English:

John Eichrodt Prize: John Riley

John Tufts Prize: Allison Montague & Jeffrey Grasso

Most Promising Undergraduate Scholar: Jeffrey Grasso

Outstanding English Education Student: Arianna Stravato

Outstanding Student Service Award: Sophia Caselnova

 

History and Non-Western Cultures:

Eric Roman Graduate Student Award in History: Vincent Pisano

History Honor Society Award: Lauren Kerton

The Herbert Janik Award for Best Essay or Article in History: Lauren Kerton

The John Leopold Award For Service in History: Marina Coddaire

 

Mathematics:

Gloria Brunell Award in Mathematics: Shelby Simpson & Alexander Isaacson

Grandahl Award: Bailey McCollum

 

Philosophy and Humanistic Studies:

Outstanding Interdisciplinary Studies Major: William Silvia

Outstanding Philosophy Minor Award: Brandon McCauley

 

Physics, Astronomy, and Meteorology:

Earth and Planetary Sciences Award: Joseph Burzdak

 

Psychology:

Dan Derosa Memorial Award: Christopher Gordon

Outstanding Junior in Psychology Award: Gina Scandurra & Ashley Green

Outstanding New Student in Psychology Award: Hannah Kenny

Willerman Memorial Award: Mikhaela Mcfarlin

 

Social Sciences:

Department Award in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences: Ciara Carruthers

Howard G. Post Sociology Recognition Award: Lauren Conrad

Leonard A. Dente Economics Recognition Award: Lukasz Zbroszczyk

Rosa Parks Award for Global Citizenship: Bakhtawar Izzat

Russell Fryer Political Science Recognition Award: Kimberly Wroblewski

Truman Warner Anthropology Award: Chaeli Allen

The WCSU-AAUP Steven Ward Community Service Award: William Silvia, Jr.

 

World Languages and Cultures:

Academic Distinction in Spanish Award: Mayra Montalvan & Daniela Pontaza-Santander

 

Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Process:

Arnold C. Brackman Journalism Award: Leslie Pizzagalli

AWP Intro Awards: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction: Briana McGuckin (fiction), Lisa Peterson (nonfiction), Murdina Wright (poetry)

Barbara Winder Award in Creative Writing: Vincenzo Anastasia & Susan Patnaik

Distinction in Writing for Senior Portfolio: Markus Elken, Krysta Scriven, & Jacob Solomon (Spring 2019); Anthony Tucciarone (Fall 2020)

Distinguished Thesis Recognition for Excellent MFA Thesis Projects: Gina Atanasoff, Suzanne Blair & Catherine D’Andrea (Spring 2019); Mattea Heller & Lisa Peterson (Fall 2020)

Elizabeth Roche Award for Excellence by an Emerging Writer: Mathew Schumer

Excellence in Creative Nonfiction Award: Amanda Benjamin

Excellence in Writing for Stage, Screen, and Multimedia Award: Morgan Cairns

Jim Scrimgeour Award for Excellence in Poetry: Destiny Barnum

John Briggs Award for Editorial Excellence: Audrey Redpath

Louise Kolb Award for Outstanding Service to the Writing Center: William Silvia

Patrick Ryan Award for Literary Citizenship: Mikayla Silkman

The Ronald K. Goodridge Award for Outstanding Historically Based and Researched Essay or Short Story: Brianna Bencosme

 

Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award:

Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award: Ruth Quattro

 

Congratulations to all of the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences Award Recipients. Your hard work and dedication has truly paid off. Continue to do great things with your education!

Faculty News:

Congratulations to Dr. Wong who has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Praxair/Linde company to investigate toxic cyanobacteria in Connecticut water-ways! Dr. Wong will be recruiting student workers this summer and possibly fall to assist with field sampling, nutrient testing, and DNA analysis.

Dr. Joshua Rosenthal’s book “Salt and the Colombian State” has been translated and published in Colombia by the press of the Javeriana University. Congratulations Dr. Rosenthal!

As part of Dr. Jacqueline Guzda’s COM 246 Intermediate Video class, she acted as a partner host for the online program, PitchCT. This program brought together aspiring content created to learn about “The Art of the Pitch”, featured a panel discussion on diversity in media and a live pitch session with critiques from industry representatives.

Alumni News:

WCSU Biology congratulates Brittany Schappach (BA Biology ’18) on her recent acceptance into the National Science Foundation One Health and the Environment Research Traineeship at the University of Maine. When Brittany came to WCSU as a transfer student during her sophomore year, she majored in biology because she wanted to pursue a career that would improve human health. During her junior year, Brittany joined Dr. Neeta Connally's tick lab research team, where she developed an interest in working on tick vector ecology studies. It was during this time that she realized that medical entomology was a field that could allow her to merge her interests in tick vectors and human health. Brittany is credited with detecting the first invasive Asian longhorned tick in the state of Connecticut, is a co-author on several WCSU tick lab manuscripts, and is the creator of the WCSU Tick Lab ‘s monthly “Prevention Hot Tip” infographics (available at www.wcsuticklab.com/prevention). The NSF traineeship will give Brittany the opportunity to begin her MS in entomology this fall at UMaine, focusing upon the socio-ecology of ticks and climate change under the direction of Dr. Allison Gardner. Congratulations, Brittany!

WCSU MFA graduate, Mark E. Fitch, pens “Boy in the Box” novel! The novel, which tells the story of three friends who must return to the scene of a hunting accident that claimed the life of a young boy, was praised as a “harrowing and intense psychological horror novel” by Booklist. Make sure to check out Fitch’s new novel available in hard cover, paperback and eBook on all major online platforms. Congratulations Mark E. Fitch!