KVIA-TV published a story entitled “Breaking down racial disparities in diabetes prevalence” cited two studies by Professor Rebecca Puhl. Read the story here.
Also, the Society for Human Resource Management published a story entitled “Laws, Policies Can Counter Weight Discrimination at Work” quoting Rebecca. Read the story here.
Graduate student Kaleigh Ligus featured as one of the UConn students graduating this Spring. Read the article in UConn Today.
Professor Marlene Schwartz was recognized as the 2023 Michael & Susan Dell Center Lectureship in Child Health Award Recipient on Thursday. Her keynote presentation in Houston was titled “The Past, Present, and Future of School Nutrition”.
Congratulations to Professor Kim Gans, winner of the Center for Career Development, Career Everywhere Award, as the Colleague-Nominated Faculty Career Advocate of the Year.
Experiential Learning: Anne Bladen is teaching HDFS 2142E: Exploring Conservation and Sustainability with Preschoolers for the first time this semester in Storrs. The class focuses on developing an ecological identity and how to engage young children in conservation and sustainability projects. Among other assignments, students complete 6 “Nature Immersions,” visit Mirror Lake to discuss Ecological Kinship and explore hands-on activities with different natural materials such as sunflowers, milkweed and pumpkins. 20 students, from a variety of departments and majors, spend 3 hours each week in the preschool classrooms at the Child Labs where they discover that it’s never too early to develop a relationship with nature.
Gary graduated from UConn in 1988 with a masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and a bachelors from the School of Family Studies in 1986. He was introduced to HDFS, then called HDFR, at the Waterbury campus before switching his major while attending at Storrs. As an undergraduate he was permitted to take several graduate classes which piqued his interest in becoming a therapist. He was a research and graduate assistant and fondly remembers his days in his office near the Child Labs.
Gary’s career interest has been working in non-profit, urban settings with underserved populations. He attributes much of his success to the training and mentoring he received at UConn. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Wellmore Behavioral Health, a Waterbury-based provider of child, adolescent and adult mental health and substance abuse recovery and support services operating ten sites throughout western Connecticut. Wellmore is the Mobile Crisis Intervention for western Connecticut. He was among the early responders to the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and helped develop the recovery plan. He is active with charitable, educational and professional organizations in Connecticut, serving on the Board of Directors of several local non-profit organizations as well as having chaired the Board of the Connecticut Community Provider Association (now known as the CT Nonprofit Alliance). He has also served on dozens of local and statewide committees and taskforces regarding early childhood education, mental health, addiction, child abuse and public health policy. He is frequently invited to testify or speak on issues related to child abuse, serving people with disabilities, as well as substance use disorders and mental illness. Gary is grateful for the lifelong personal support he’s received from UConn staff and for the service of dozens of alumni who have joined him at Wellmore.
Jessie joined the UConn HDFS masters program in Fall 2022. She previously earned her bachelor’s in HDFS from UConn in May 2022.
As an undergraduate student, Jessie declared her major after taking HDFS 1060 with Dr. Kari Adamsons, who later connected her to her current advisor. Jessie began working with Dr. Rebecca Puhl on her undergraduate honors thesis after expressing an interest in weight stigma and body image. Her thesis used novel quantitative research assessing self-reported retrospective recall of body image, social media usage, exercise behaviors, and eating behaviors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper is currently under review for publication. This research experience, partnered with Jessie’s love for UConn’s HDFS program, inspired Jessie to pursue her masters in HDFS. Jessie is currently working on her master’s thesis project with Dr. Puhl to examine how being in a romantic partnership is related to weight bias internalization among individuals of higher weight currently engaged in weight loss efforts.
In Jessie’s spare time, she loves to read mystery and fiction books, alpine ski, and run with her roommate. She is also employed with UC Cafes and can usually be found at Crossroads or Bookworms in between classes.
Dr. Keith Bellizzi is trained in gerontology, behavioral medicine, and public health. He has spent the last two decades studying resilience, cancer survivorship, healthy aging, and behavioral change. Prior to joining UConn in 2008, he was a Program Officer and Health Scientist in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and graduate of the preeminent Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at the NCI.
Motivated by his own personal experience with cancer, Dr. Bellizzi has dedicated his life to improving the lives of individuals with cancer and their families. His current research focuses on 1) mechanisms and outcomes of resilience trajectories in adults with cancer, 2) using electronic health record and patient portal data to create frailty risk profiles to help clinicians make informed treatment decisions for older patients, and 3) examining social determinants of accelerated aging in a diverse population of older adults with cancer. Dr. Bellizzi is Editor of the Cancer and Aging Handbook and Senior Associate Editor of Translational Behavioral Medicine. His research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and non-profit organizations and has been featured in U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Australian Financial Review, Psychology Today, and many other media outlets.
Outside of work, Keith spends his time with his three girls, remodeling projects in his house, writing and blogging, mentoring, traveling and making memories with friends, and exploring many of the epic mountain bike trail systems in the U.S and Canada.
Child Labs preschool teachers Debbie Muro and Sara Pickowicz and Student Teacher, HDFS undergrad (23) Julianna Kingsbury, along with their preschool friends, volunteered as a drop off location for the UConn Pack Leaders book drive. They painted collection boxes, advertised to families and collected books which the Pack Leaders will distribute to those who might not have access to books this summer. After collecting, the books were delivered to the Dean of Students office via a wagon pulled by the proud 3 and 4 year olds. The Child Labs children and teachers are connecting and collaborating with other organizations within the UConn community to help make a difference because they know even the smallest among us can impact others in a positive way.
Associate Professor Laura Mauldin was quoted in an article in The Atlantic titled, “Long Covid is Being Erased—Again”. Read the article here.