PresRelease

We’ll be welcoming the Mountaineer marching band to Rentschler tomorrow for the big West Virginia vs. UConn football game. At halftime, the UConn Pride of Connecticut Marching Band and the WVU Pride of West Virginia Marching Band will join forces on the field at Rentschler for a spectacular joint performance. There will be over 700 student-musicians on the field! Then after the game there will be a Battle of the Bands, to settle any ‘scores’ that still need to be settled.

    vs  

I’ll see you at the Rent! Go Huskies!

 My staff and I will be trick-or-treating outside Gulley Hall on the busway from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm this Friday.  Passers-by and bussers-by are welcome to stop for Halloween treats and a chance to catch sight of the Gulley-Hall Ghost.  I’ve been known to board the UConn busses as they go by with my basket of treats.  Kevin Fahey promises good weather and I invite everyone to come by for a little Halloween fun.
The Gulley-Hall Ghost is a UConn tradition.  If you don’t know about it, I’ll paste in this article from The Journal of Paranormal Activity:
The Ghost of Gulley Hall
One of the more interesting things about central administration at UConn is that a ghost inhabits Gulley Hall.  Several members of the President’s staff are convinced that the ghost lives in the basement, where students practiced with the fruit-spraying equipment when Gulley Hall was Horticultural Hall. 

  Professor Sprayer

Some have actually heard the ghost.  She has never harmed anyone, although she moves freely through the building – especially after hours – opening and closing doors, and moving furniture with sometimes sudden, loud and inexplicable sounds.
The ghost’s name is Samantha.  She died in 1782 of a fever.  She haunts Gulley Hall because the building was constructed on top of her long-forgotten grave, in 1905.  Her bones were disturbed during construction and now she is doomed to roam the halls and stairways of Gulley, searching for a resting place.  This summer’s roof work didn’t improve Samantha’s circumstances.  She’s known to be cranky.

 

UConn’s American Chemical Society Student Affiliates Chapter has just been selected to receive an Honorable Mention Award for its activities during the 2007-2008 academic year. The UConn Chemistry Club is flourishing with the guidance of Professors Mark Peczuh and Tyson Miller. Their mentorship is a significant commitment of time and energy to enriching the academic experience of our undergraduate Chemistry students. Congratulations!

Assoc Prof Mark Peczuh

Assoc Prof Tyson Miller

I had a boyhood interest in Chemistry, sparked by a birthday present of a Chemistry Set:

Unfortunately, my experiment sparked an emergency in the family basement, and there was no Chemistry Club to come to my rescue.  Hence, History.

 

 

I just learned that Professors Harry Frank, Hedley Freake, Donna Korbel, Andrew Moiseff, and Katharina von Hammerstein were ‘Wymanized’ by the University Senate. I was alarmed, having visions of these Senators being sprayed with some preservative chemicals or undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Then I learned that Wymanization is a long-standing Senate procedure, dating back to 1967:

On February 13, 1967 the University Senate approved a motion that was originally presented by Senator Thomas Wyman on January 16, 1967. The motion was drafted in an effort to encourage new participation within the University Senate. Previous to the Wyman motion, the by-laws of the University stated “Elected members shall serve for a term of three years and are eligible for re-election.” The Wyman motion changed the by-laws so that after a Senator serves two consecutive three-year terms, they must rotate off the Senate for at least one year before becoming eligible to serve again. The Senate passed this motion and playfully determined that any Senator who has to rotate off at the end of their term will be referred to as “Wymanized” in honor of the gentleman who proposed the idea in the first place.

(Source: UConn Senate webpage.)
Congratulations to our newly-elected representatives, Wymanized and Unwymanized alike:

The University Senate is pleased to announce the following individuals have been elected to three-year terms in the recently completed Faculty At-Large and Professional At-Large elections.  Their terms on the University Senate will begin July 1, 2009 and end June 30, 2012.

·         Norma Bouchard, Modern & Classical Languages

·         Marie Cantino, Physiology & Neurobiology

·         Clare Eby, English

·         *Harry Frank, Chemistry

·         *Hedley Freake, Nutritional Sciences

·         Jane Goldman, Human Development & Family Studies

·         *Donna Korbel, Center for Students with Disabilities

·        *Andrew Moiseff, Physiology & Neurobiology

·         Thomas Recchio, English

·         Eric Schultz, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

·         William Stwalley, Physics

·         *Katharina von Hammerstein, Modern & Classical Languages

*Wymanized at end of term

 

 

 

I hope you can join me, Alumni Association President John Driscoll, and USG President Ryan McHardy at 4:00 this afternoon at the Rock for its formal rededication.  There will be paint and brushes on hand for anyone who wants to paint the Rock – although John, Ryan, and I have first dibs.  After the ceremony, there will be cider and cookies in the Alumni Center.  Check out the Alumni Association’s Rock Page and especially The Rock Watcher’s Blog.  Who is this Rock Watcher, anyway?

And if you are one of three people on campus who don’t know where The Rock is, it’s right across from the North Parking Garage, next to Lot 9, and across the street from the Alumni Center and the UConn Foundation.

Here’s to a fantastic Homecoming Weekend!  Welcome back, Alumni!