Winter 2021
See 1950–60s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020, Weddings and Engagements, Babies, or Seen on Social
Love is in the air at U❤️ with so many great #WhoDoUHart stories! Follow us on Facebook to see these Hart-warming stories or visit the #WhoDoUHart21 page.
Do you have news to share?
Maybe you recently got married or had a baby, celebrated a promotion or professional milestone, or had a gathering with some UHart friends. Whatever your news may be, share your UHart pride with your fellow alumni by submitting a class note, tagging us on social media, or using the hashtag #UHartAlumni. Select news and posts may be published in a future issue of H magazine.
1967 | Paul Cheng Jr.
Paul Cheng Jr. was recently featured on NY1.com—as a sophomore at UHart, he was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War where he served as an Army sergeant and medic. Cheng was awarded a Purple Heart, an honor shared by his father and both of his grandfathers who received Purple Hearts for their service in World War II. He is proud to come from an Asian-American family that has served in the U.S. military.
Image from NY1.com
1973 | Terrance Salman
Terrance Salman (M Barney) was appointed to the Order of Canada—one of Canada’s highest civilian honors. Salman was selected as a member for his contributions to mining exploration, and for his generous philanthropy and community activism.
Image from The Governor General of Canada
1976 | Leib Lurie
The nonprofit Kids Read Now launched its Click! CaptionsON initiative, which aims to have the caption function turned on for kids on their TVs, phones, and tablets. Leib Lurie (Barney, M '81 Barney) is the co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit and its new initiative. Lurie plans to build the program in Ohio and then go national.
1977 | Francis X. Hursey
The new academic building will be named the Francis X. and Nancy Hursey Center for Advanced Engineering and Health Professions, honoring Frank Hursey (A’73 CETA, CETA) and his wife, Nancy. On track to open fall 2021, the new academic building will house new, specialized, and technology-rich facilities for growing programs in CETA and ENHP.
1977 | Frances Barken.
Frances Barken (A’76 Hillyer, ENHP, M’17 ENHP) is currently a head teacher for upper school English at Quad Prep School in New York City, N.Y.—a school for twice exceptional children.
1983 | Denise Poole
Denise (Paquette) Poole (Barney) was recently promoted to manager, capital planning and rates, at The Connecticut Water Company (CWC). She recently celebrated her 30th year in the water utility industry and finds great satisfaction in a career with a company that safeguards public health and is a good steward of the environment. Poole also serves as chair of CWC's Charitable Giving program, and enjoys making a difference in the communities that the utility serves.
1985 | Anthony Susi
Anthony Susi (Hartt) announced three new instrumental publications. Missing You, an original composition for string orchestra, will be released by Grand Mesa Music and his Flex/Adaptable Concert Band arrangement of Russian Sailors Dance by C-Alan Publications in 2021. Another of his flex style arrangements designed to meet the needs of limited band classes due to the pandemic is The Messenger March that was released by Barnhouse Publications this past fall.
1987 | Nancy Doherty
Nancy Doherty (HAS) participated in this year’s virtual OpenStudioHartford, an annual show and sale of works by local artists. Doherty, who also teaches at Wadsworth Atheneum and Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, uses mixed media to create her abstract works. “Memory, travel, and lost loved ones are important themes that are intertwined among these abstracted shapes. I try to capture that hidden place between life and whatever’s after.”
Image from Hartford Courant
1987 | Louis Rosen
Louis Rosen (CETA) was named president of Gates Corporation, North America. Rosen joined Gates in 2016 as a senior vice president of North American aftermarket business and brings over 25 years of experience to this position.
1987 | Marcia Gross
Marcia Gross (ENHP) has been appointed president of Sheldon Gross Realty in West Orange, N.J. Gross joined the company in 1988, and most recently headed the company's property management operations. Gross is active in her local business community—she is a member of the Executive Association of New Jersey and the West Orange Chamber of Commerce.
1987 | Scott Jellison
Scott Jellison (CETA) was elected by the Operation Fuel's Board of Directors to serve on the energy assistance organization's board. Jellison is the chief executive officer of the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC). He has been in this position since 2015 and before that served as the chief operating officer at MDC for nine years.
Image from Hartford Courant
1993 | Peter Boyer
Peter Boyer (M Hartt, D'95 Hartt) was commissioned by the United States Marine Band to compose a special fanfare to be performed at the Inauguration of President Joe Biden. Boyer's new work, Fanfare for Tomorrow, was performed as part of the one-hour Prelude music of the Inauguration.
Photo by Dario Acosta
1995 | Maurice Lough
Maurice Lough (M Barney) was featured in an article by the Daily News-Record. Lough was a part of the U.S. Olympic team in 1968 that placed fourth in Mexico City in the modern pentathlon. Along with being an Olympic athlete, Lough served in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Photo: The Daily News-Record
1990 | Lauren Bernofsky
Lauren Bernofsky’s (Hartt) composition Passacaglia was performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in December. Bernofsky’s music has been performed throughout the United States as well as internationally—including in major venues like Carnegie Hall in New York City and Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.
Image from LaurenBernofsky.com
1991 | Alexander Jones
Col. Alexander Jones (Barney) was appointed the new police chief of Arlington, Tex. Jones is a 25-year veteran of the Baltimore County Police Department, most recently serving as the Police Department’s Community Relations Bureau chief for Baltimore County—an area that has been long recognized for its progressive developments in community-based policing.
Image from FortWorthBusiness.com
1991 | Sandra Smith Crisafulli
Sandra Smith Crisafulli (A&S) was named Caryl Communications' new chief operating officer. Previously as an account manager, she represented commercial real estate clients for Caryl Communications. In her new role, Crisafulli will oversee the firm's day-to-day operations, client strategy, and team development, while continuing her role as a senior account manager.
Image from Caryl Communications
1994 | Jay Sheldon
Jay Sheldon (A&S) has been appointed general manager at the Equinox Golf Resort and Spa in Manchester, Vt. Sheldon brings over 25 years of luxury brand experience to this new position. He has previously held positions as a general manager of the Omni Richmond Hotel in Richmond, VA; hotel manager for the Omni Fort Worth Hotel; and various roles for Ritz-Carlton resorts.
Image from HospitalityNet
1995 | Neil Tardella
Neil Tardella (A&S) wrote an article featured in The Robot Report titled "Telerobotics offer automation at arm's length for healthcare, manufacturing, and more." Tardella is the chief executive officer of Energrid Technologies Corp., which provides motion control for industrial, medical, commercial, collaborative, and consumer robotic systems.
Image from The Robot Report
1998 | Filiz Yavuz Diren
Filiz Yavuz Diren (M Barney) was named as one of Turkey's 50 Powerful Women CEOs by the Ekonomist business magazine. Her career spans over 20 years with Philip Morris/Sabanci, where she currently serves as their general manager. She is one of Philip Morris International’s (PMI) top women executives worldwide, seen as an impassioned leader, serving in various areas including strategic planning, corporate affairs, and finance.
Image from Philip Morris International
2004 | Bokani Mtengi
Bokani Mtengi (CETA) was recently interviewed for a spotlight article for Recirculate about her experiences as a woman working in research in Africa. Mtengi is a lecturer in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Telecommunications Engineering at Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST).
Image from Recirculate
2005 | Brian Eck
Brian Eck (Barney) was featured in a Total Food Service article that highlighted the success his company, JMC Food Equipment, experienced during 2020. Eck’s leadership and adaptability has allowed the company to become a leader in the PPE food-service industry.
2009 | Rachel Schein
Rachel Schein (M A&S, D’13 A&S) was recently appointed to the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology’s Acute, Intensive, and Residential Service (AIRS) executive board. Schein is the coordinator of diagnostic services and clinical training at Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
2000 | Marie Benedetto
Marie Benedetto (M Barney) was elected president of the Connecticut Society of CPAs for the 2020–21 activity year. Benedetto has previously served as treasurer, a Board of Directors member at large, an advisory council member at large, golf tournament committee co-chair, and as an educational trust fund review task force member. Benedetto is the owner of Innovative Business Solutions in Middlefield, a business advisory practice serving privately held companies.
2000 | Valerie Shapiro
Valerie Shapiro (M Barney) was appointed as senior managing director for Ankura, a global business advisory and expert services company. Shapiro brings more than 20 years of restructuring, corporate finance, and accounting experience to the Turnaround and Restructuring group that she will be managing.
2002 | Valerie Sanfilippo
Valerie Sanfilippo (ENHP) published her first book, My 50 State Quest. The book features 52 chapters detailing what she saw, did, and ate as she visited each state. Along with written text, Sanfilippo included scrapbook pages of photos highlighting her adventures and a directory of more than 500 attractions of places she visited.
2005 | Dezron Douglas
2006 | Brandee Younger
Brandee Younger (Hartt) and Dezron Douglas '05 released their album, Force Majeure, which features 11 pieces that were self-recorded from their living room with a single microphone. The album was born from weekly live stream performances the duo started at the beginning of the pandemic to create a sense of community during a dark time.
Image from Deneka Peniston
2006 | Daniel Pereira
Daniel Pereira (M Hartt) released a double CD, 90 Scriabin Complete Piano Preludes, with Odradek Records which is available both in physical and digital formats. Pereira is a professor of piano at the Consercatorio Professional Teresa Berganza in Madrid and have participated in piano festivals and master classes around the world.
Image from Daniel-pereira.com
2008 | Ryan Speedo Green
Ryan Speedo Green (Hartt) played the part of Jake in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Porgy and Bess which recently received three Grammy Award nominations. The production was nominated for Best Opera Recording, Best Engineered Album, and Producer of the Year. In 2018, Green was honored by the University of Hartford with an Anchor Award.
2019 | Alicia Bachtel
Alicia Bachtel M’19 (A&S) has been awarded the James E. and Jill S. Anderson Veteran Student Scholarship at the University of Wyoming. Bachtel is enrolled in the University’s doctoral program in clinical psychology and is helping expand research on the military and the mental health of its members.
Image from University of Wyoming
2011 | Bryan Lovett
Bryan Lovett (Hartt) was announced as KCAW-FM’s new operations director, where he will be in charge of coordinating programming and operations; KCAW is a non-commercial, community radio station in Southeast Alaska. In high school, Lovett did his senior project at KCAW and served as a DJ for a variety of shows on the station. At UHart, he was a reggae DJ on WSAM Alternative Radio.
Image from KCAW-FM
In Memoriam: 2012 | Dan Arsenault
Dan Arsenault (A&S) tragically passed away on Dec. 24, 2020. Dan was highly accomplished and engaged as a UHart student in both his academics and as a student leader on campus. His passion for the community continued into his professional career, in positions with the Connecticut State Government and with the Connecticut Department of Housing. He served on several boards including as governance committee chair for the University's Alumni Board of Directors, the Rell Center for Public Service, and Hands on Hartford. See more in his obituary.
2013 | Thomas White
Thomas White (A&S) has joined Laddey Clark & Ryan as a litigation associate, providing support to the personal injury, commercial, employment, and workers’ compensation litigation practice groups. Prior to this position, White served as a judicial law clerk in the Superior Court of New Jersey.
2014 | Jianpeng Feng
Congratulations to Jianpeng Feng (M Hartt) who played on the album Soft Power which was recently nominated for a Grammy Award. Feng is also a current Doctor of Musical Arts student and a Hartt School Community Division faculty member.
2017 | Seth Johnson
Seth Johnson (M HAS) was featured in Lenscratch Fine Art Photography Daily for his series Keep Those Bad Guys Out. His work “considers the humor and sadness” of life, illustrated in black and whites along with witty captions. "My dry sense of humor is pretty well established amongst my close friends and this was a rare occasion where I could fully embrace it.”
2017 | Karishma Pinto
Karishma Pinto (A&S, M'18 A&S) was recently promoted to marketing and communications coordinator and race equity lead at Leadership Greater Hartford (LGH). As the race equity lead, Pinto will oversee LGH’s execution of recommendations set forth by the Race Equity Advisory Council (REAC). Pinto is active in the Hartford community—she volunteers for Read to a Child and the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, and is a member of UHart’s Alumni of Color Task Force.
Image from LGH
2019 | Daniel Clarke
Daniel Clarke (M Barney) was recently named director of marketing for the Engine Repair Division for Permatex. Clarke has worked at Permatex since 2015, holding positions as senior product manager and most recently, director of traditional sales. In this new position, Clarke will be responsible for driving the development and execution of all marketing activities for the engine repair business.
2019 | Tiffany Coolidge
Tiffany Coolidge (M Hartt) had a recital in November at the Mead Witter School of Music, where she is a second-year doctoral candidate for a doctorate in musical arts, bassoon. Coolidge has performed in various orchestras in New England including the Vermont Symphony, the Bangor Symphony, Symphony NH, and the Orchestra of Indian Hill.
Image from Mead Witter School of Music
2020 | Hope Utterbeck
Hope Utterbeck (M Barney) joined Liberty Bank of Middletown, Conn., as the executive vice president and chief information officer. Utterbeck is a highly regarded information technology leader—having held key leadership positions at Webster Bank and General Electric.
Photo: The Middletown Press
Allison Litera ’12 (HAS) wedded Nicholas Billeter in a small ceremony on Friday, October 30, 2020, at Hazardville United Methodist Church in Enfield, Conn. Allison is a digital content analyst at UMass Medical School-Baystate in Springfield, Mass., and Nicholas is a staff accountant at Cerrone, Graham, and Shepherd in Worcester, Mass. The two originally met as children and were reintroduced as adults in 2013.
Image from Aleksandr Verbetsky Photography