University of Saint Joseph

Dylan Levesque '26, a Biology and Chemistry double major, was a recipient of the 2024 American Chemical Society Connecticut Valley Section (ACS CVS) SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) award. Dylan was selected for this award because he demonstrated academic excellence in chemistry classes and the laboratory. Such distinctions and accomplishments were recognized by the ACS CVS organization.

USJ's Morgan DiNunzio '27 was one of the winners of the 2024 Casualty Actuarial Society (CSA) Student Central Summer Program Case Competition.

The USJ men's tennis team had four student-athletes recognized by the International Tennis Association (ITA), as the quartet was named Division III Men's ITA Scholar-Athletes for the 2023-24 academic year, it was announced by the organization on Wednesday, July 24.

Paltauf received College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors, placing them on the organizations NCAA Division III All-District Team and was selected to advance to the national ballot for Academic All-America honorees.

University of Saint Joseph (USJ) has announced the undergraduate students who earned their way to the Dean's List for the spring 2024 semester. Students were awarded this academic achievement for having earned a GPA of 3.50 or higher for the semester, with no grade lower than a "B." Students on the Spring 2024 USJ Dean's List are:

University of Saint Joseph (USJ) undergraduate students have announced the students who earned their way to the Dean's List for the fall 2023 semester. Students were awarded this academic achievement for having earned a GPA of 3.50 or higher for the semester, with no grade lower than a "B." Students on the Fall 2023 USJ Dean's List are:

University of Saint Joseph (USJ) undergraduate students earned their way to the Dean's List for the spring 2023 semester. Students were awarded this academic achievement for having earned a GPA of 3.50 or higher for the semester, with no grade lower than a "B." "Students on the Dean's List exemplify academic excellence and their ability to achieve their goals. We are very proud of these students who join the network of accomplished USJ scholars competitively pursuing a range of studies from health sciences to criminal justice," said Provost Michelle Kalis, Ph.D.

University of Saint Joseph junior Jordan Ouellette (Bristol, Conn.) of the USJ women's basketball team have been selected to participate in the upcoming 2023 Career in Sports Forum, which is set to be put on by the NCAA and its leadership development office June 1-4 in Indianapolis, Ind.

On November 15, 2022, the National Association of Social Workers Connecticut Chapter named University of Saint Joseph (USJ) MSW student and Meriden, Conn. native Tawana Preston Student of the Year. She joined USJ Professor of Social Work and Equitable Community Practice Robert Madden, LCSW, J.D. in being honored by NASW; he was honored with a lifetime achievement award. The awards were presented in person by USJ Interim Dean School of Interdisciplinary Health and Science Madeline Perez De Jesus on campus as the program was virtual this year. Preston spoke about the honor she received this way: "Coming to USJ has changed my life! I decided I wanted to change my career. I returned to school in 2020 and have not looked back. My professors have challenged me to believe in myself and strive for greatness. Being selected to be the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Student of the Year is proof of what happened when I took their advice."

Senior Jared Simmons (Newington, Conn.) of the USJ men's basketball team has been selected to participate in the upcoming 2023 Career in Sports Forum, which is set to be put on by the NCAA and its leadership development office June 1-4 in Indianapolis, Ind.

USJ Sophomore Emily Seeds has been named a recipient of a 2023 scholarship from the New England Spring & Metalstamping Association (NESMA) in conjunction with the Main Street Community Foundation.

This month, University of Saint Joseph (USJ) School of Pharmacy and PA Studies student, and Manchester, CT resident Angel-Rose Weber received the John A. Gans Scholarship from the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation. While at USJ, Weber worked with non-profit organizations like the Connecticut Harm Reduction Alliance (CTHRA) and Wolcott Citizens Against Substance Abuse (CASA) Coalition to create drug-free events, Narcan kits, safe sex kits, fentanyl test kits, and safe smoking kits for different high-risk communities in Connecticut. The yearly $1,000 scholarship honors John A. Gans, the former Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA).

On Thursday, December 15, 2022, the University of Saint Joseph's department of Nursing held their Graduate Nursing Awards, Hooding and Pinning Ceremony. This ceremony honored the graduates of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner master's degree and certificate programs, and the Family Nurse Practitioner master's degree program. USJ's Provost, Dr. Michelle Kalis, said, "The USJ Nursing faculty are incredibly proud of this group of nurses who completed their graduate degrees and are poised to contribute to the health care needs of the state of Connecticut at an advanced level, especially at this time of high demand for advanced practice nurses, both Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners." The ceremony included the tradition and meaning of the pin, as well as the tradition and meaning of the academic hood. Along with conferring degrees and hooding each graduate, students were honored with a series of graduate nursing awards. Learn more about USJ's Graduate Nursing programs.

On Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, the University of Saint Joseph's department of Nursing held their Graduate Nursing Awards, Hooding and Pinning Ceremony. This ceremony honored the graduates of the Doctor of Nursing Practice, Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner master's degree and certificate programs, and the Family Nurse Practitioner master's degree program. USJ's Provost, Dr. Michelle Kalis, said, "The USJ nursing faculty are incredibly proud of this group of nurses who persevered to complete their graduate degrees during the pandemic and are poised to contribute to the health care needs of the state of Connecticut at an advanced level." The ceremony included the tradition and meaning of the pin, as well as the tradition and meaning of the academic hood. Along with conferring degrees and hooding each graduate, students were honored with a series of graduate nursing awards. Learn more about USJ's Graduate Nursing programs.

On Saturday, November 12, University of Saint Joseph student Crista Fiala of Middletown presented research as part of the CTW (Conn College, Trinity, and Wesleyan) Coalition's 2022 Conference, held at Wesleyan University. The symposium, funded in part by a grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation, highlighted selected students presenting their research or creative work in the arts and humanities. Fiala's presentation "Hartford's Generators and Regenerators of the Cowboy Poet" was part of a panel entitled "New Approaches to Early American Literature and Culture." Fiala is an Honors student at USJ triple majoring (Spanish, English and History). The idea for her topic originated in a Hartford Literature course she took with USJ Assistant Professor of English Joshua Anderson, Ph.D., who is one of her faculty mentors. Readings in that course included the work of Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the contemporary poet/novelist Ocean Vuong, and gave Fiala the idea to study the use of language infused with violent images in a new way. "Our language is a language infused with a language of violence," reflected Fiala, a Middletown resident and a junior at USJ. When asked more specifically about her research for "Hartford's Generators and Re-Generators of the Cowboy Poet" Fiala explained, "If we were to identify the most renowned Hartford writer - one whose stories span both eastern and western settings - most would likely name Mark Twain. As many of Twain's novels such as Life on the Mississippi and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are situated in the West, he appears as the most conceivable rhizomatic connection between Hartford's literature and the Western genre." Fiala went on to say, "Beyond Twain, however, the Yankee arms maker Samuel Colt and the poet Ocean Vuong are equally storytellers who shape the mythos of the West as Cowboy Poets." Fiala asserts that Samuel Colt "invents the iconic revolver just as much as the revolver invents him," and that beyond the lifetimes of both Colt and Twain, "Vuong today re-generates the Cowboy poet while challenging the masculinity and violence associated with the cowboy image." In evaluating how these Hartford literary figures both generate and re-generate the image of the Cowboy Poet, Fiala challenges where the "Western" takes place as well as who tells these stories that shape Western, national, and transnational mythos. "Crista Fiala's stunning research project recognizes Hartford, Connecticut, as a "weird" western city through the vexed legacies of Samuel Colt and the Colt revolver, which made Hartford the manufacturing hub of the American West," Assistant Professor Anderson said. "Rather than reading the revolver and its violent histories as a string of discrete, isolated incidents, Crista's research finds clear and convincing connections between the Colt revolver and the Colt factory in the works of Lydia Howard Huntley Sigourney, Mark Twain, and the recipient of a 2019 MacArthur genius grant, Ocean Vuong. Put simply, Crista's work is a shining example of how humanities research challenges the way we read and interpret our own histories." USJ Assistant Professor of Spanish Rachel Payne, another of Fiala's faculty mentors, said "Crista's depth of intellectual curiosity coupled with her unparalleled work ethic make her the kind of student that every educator dreams of having at least once in their career. Crista has an innate and complex understanding of the interconnected nature of things." That understanding and innate curiosity about the interconnected nature of things is leading Fiala to further study as she contemplates graduate school and expanded study of language including translation and the questions of how a translated work may sustain new meaning or may lose meaning through the act of translation.

Shanelle Haughton, a Hartford native, first-generation Jamaican American and 2016 alumna of the University of Saint Joseph, is one of three recipients of a prestigious fellowship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) new Jose E. Serrano Educational Partnership Program with Minority-Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) Graduate Fellowship Program. This fellowship is designed to serve as a future workforce pipeline to NOAA for qualified students. Fellows receive an award package that includes funding for tuition, professional development, travel, and housing.

In this season of summer sports and cheering crowds, undergraduates in USJ's Sport Management and Promotion program are turning their passion for sports into careers in the field. They join a growing movement; the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has said that sports occupations are projected to rise 22% in the next ten years, whereas total employment projected growth rate is 7.7% for that time. Samantha Pena '22 is one of those students, interning with the Norwich Sea Unicorns as part of her requirement for the B.S. in Sports Management and Promotion. "There is nothing better than working at something I enjoy. It is tiring, but fun," Pena said. She is gaining experience at the Norwich Sea Unicorns with ticket office operations, marketing and promotions, merchandise, field maintenance, and more. Despite long hours, she has been gaining plenty of relevant work experience, thanks to USJ connections. From 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pena works at Rockledge Golf Course in West Hartford, taking care of landscaping, raking bunkers, and getting it ready for golfers; then she is off to the Academy of Aerospace and Engineering in Windsor (a CREC school) to coach the middle school softball team. It was in a class taught by Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Director of the Sport Management and Promotion Program Janet Howes, Ph.D., that Pena learned of the coaching opportunity. Howes brought in CREC Athletic Director Jonathan Winer as a guest speaker and Winer shared that he needed coaches. But USJ's resources and support didn't end there. Strength and Conditioning Coach, Michael Jones, mentioned to Pena the internship with the Sea Unicorns and helped her get the interview, while Valerie Wilson, Assistant Director of USJ's Career Development Center, gave Pena a list of summer jobs that included the Rockledge Golf Course. Pena gets credit for securing each opportunity. The B.S. in Sport Management and Promotion is an appealing major at USJ. The comprehensive curriculum covers sport events, marketing management, sports ethics and more. But the heart of the major comes from the two required internships. Through internships such as Pena's, students learn how to succeed in the global sports industry. Professor Howes has worked to set up some pretty interesting opportunities for students, including an opportunity for USJ students to participate in the Super Bowl. Kevin Bilbraut '22, among the first USJ graduates with his B.S. in Sport Management and Promotion, interned with and now has a job with the Hartford Yard Goats as Sponsorship Senior Associate. He was one of those students who had enviable internship experiences working the Super Bowl, and March Madness at the XL Center. For students already committed to completing another major, who want to add a sports specialization to that major, USJ's program also offers a Sport Management Undergraduate Certificate. While students fulfill the B.S. major requirements over a four-year period, the certificate may be earned in two years. Growing up, Pena said she was never sure what she wanted to be. "Being from NY, from the inner city, I had to leave home to find out what I wanted to do." As a first-generation college student, she attended a community college for two years and while there, searched for a sports management program. She chose USJ, a decision that is paying off. Learn more about USJ's Sport Management and Promotion program here.

The USJ Chapter of Gamma Sigma Epsilon, the national Chemistry Honor Society, held an induction ceremony this week for three students on campus on May 4, 2022, and recognized the achievement of its five graduating seniors. Gamma Sigma Epsilon is an honor society in the field of Chemistry. New members were inducted by Jerry Darling, USJ Professor of Physics and Chemistry. Darling had this to say about the event, "Our Tau Epsilon chapter of the Gamma Sigma Epsilon Chemistry Honor Society inducted three new members this week. These students have distinguished themselves by their outstanding academic achievement in chemistry. Membership in Gamma Sigma Epsilon is among the highest academic honors to be achieved in chemistry by undergraduate students." Learn more about USJ's academic honor societies, including Gamma Sigma Epsilon, here.