Kay Camerato holds both a BA in HDFS and an MA in Higher Education and Student Affairs from UConn. As a Connecticut native and first-generation college student, Kay deeply values the experiences and learning opportunities she gained during her time at UConn.

To support herself financially while developing transferable skills, Kay actively engaged in a variety of student roles, including serving as a resident assistant and student tour guide, creating a programmatic internship within the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center, and serving as Co-Program Director for Cross Cultural Connections. Through these experiences, Kay developed a strong interest in the field of Higher Education and Student Affairs. During her graduate studies, Kay co-published What does “high-impact” mean in extracurricular experiences? (Camerato et al., 2019). While publishing was not initially a professional goal, she pursued the opportunity with confidence, drawing on the academic foundation she established as an HDFS student—particularly in HDFS 2004W: Research Methods in Human Development and Family Studies.

Throughout her career, Kay has held leadership roles across multiple functional areas, including Residential Life, Women’s Center work, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Her professional experiences span a range of institutional types, including Research 1 universities, public flagship institutions, private liberal arts colleges, two-year colleges, and women’s institutions.

Kay currently serves as the Associate Director of the Office of Student Care and Concern (OSCC) at UConn. She describes this role as the culmination of her professional experiences, as it allows her to work directly with students to provide individualized support, lead educational and training initiatives, conduct assessment, and improve systems and processes. OSCC oversees the Student Care Team, UConn’s Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) team, serving students across the UConn system, including regional campuses, non-degree students, and most graduate and doctoral programs.

Since its founding in 2019 with two full-time staff members, OSCC has expanded to include five full-time staff at Storrs and six case managers across regional campuses. One component of Kay’s role is leading community education initiatives. Over the past academic year, the OSCC team has engaged in more than 4,500 individual touchpoints with students, faculty, staff, and administrators through educational programming.

Kay is certified in the National Threat Evaluation and Reporting (NTER) Program’s Threat Evaluation and Reporting Course, which focuses on BTAM best practices to help prevent targeted violence. She is currently pursuing the NTER Master Trainer certification, which will enable her to deliver certification courses and expand access to critical training across the UConn community and beyond. She is committed to continuing to grow OSCC’s impact and advancing a culture of care across the university.

Kay values the power of mentorship, both as a mentee and mentor. She maintains strong mentoring relationships and welcomes opportunities to support others seeking guidance. She is particularly passionate about connecting with women and fostering meaningful dialogue in both formal and informal settings. She regularly presents at UConn conferences, including the Women’s Advance Conference and the Annual Conference on First-Year Student Success, to give back to her community.

Outside of her professional work, Kay enjoys traveling with her fiancée, spending time with her cats, Roux and Barry, and exploring new recipes. She is passionate about practicing realistic and sustainable self-care, regularly engaging in yoga and Pilates. She also enjoys creative expression through art and has recently focused on designing and creating embroidery projects.

Heather Price has always known she wanted to help others and create meaningful change. As a student at UConn Waterbury, she initially thought the only way to achieve this goal was through direct service as a social worker. During her time in the Human Development and Family Studies program, however, she discovered how comprehensive the field truly is and how policies, programs, and community partnerships are just as vital as direct service in supporting individuals and families across the lifespan. Her service-learning, internships, and on-campus employment helped her explore career paths, gain professional experience, and build confidence for life after graduation.

After earning her degree, Heather served as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Portland, Oregon, where she served as Volunteer and Development Coordinator. She continued her career at KairosPDX, a public charter school and nonprofit, advancing from Administrative Assistant to Operations Coordinator. In 2019, Heather returned to UConn Waterbury, where she has held multiple roles. She last served as Director of Community Innovation, leading campus-wide public engagement, managing partnerships with nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies, and developing service-learning and internship opportunities for students. While working full-time, Heather also earned her Master’s of Public Administration at UConn, expanding her ability to design and lead impactful, student-centered initiatives.

Heather now serves as Program Administrator for Public Awareness at Eversource. She collaborates with internal departments, develops communications and programming, and conducts outreach across Connecticut and Massachusetts. She works closely with internal teams and engages residents, as well as public and emergency officials, to promote natural gas safety.

Outside of work, Heather enjoys road trips, exploring new cities, hiking, and practicing yoga. She loves returning to Oregon to visit friends and the coast and appreciates being back in New England, close to family and able to enjoy all four seasons.

Leslie is Professor Emerita of Public Health (Health Policy and Management) at the Yale School of Public Health. She also has a secondary position as Professor of Management at the Yale School of Management, a courtesy position as Professor in the Jackson School of Global Affairs, and serves as Core Faculty at the Yale Global Health Leadership Initiative and Lecturer at Yale College. She is especially interested in the scale up of innovative, evidence-based practices, programs, and policies to address health inequities and bring 30 years of expertise in implementation science and mixed methods to these questions. Together with colleagues Bradley and Krumholz, she developed a ‘positive deviance’ approach to study hospital care (which has been highly influential in academic journals) and has also applied this method in studies on medical and social care integration. She also co-led the development of a novel model of scale up of innovations commissioned by the Gates Foundation, the AIDED Model of Diffusion. Her work has been published in some of the most prestigious academic journals and featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR and ABC News. She has been engaged in teaching and mentoring physicians at the pre-medical undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels since 1993 and is passionate about supporting the next generation of scholars and teachers. She is grateful to her own mentors from UConn, Steven Wisensale and Thomas Blank.

Leslie’s current primary research portfolio includes projects addressing structural racism and drive measurable reductions in inequities in sepsis outcomes, preparing ICU leadership in Australia and New Zealand to drive transformation in clinical performance and collaborations to increase diversity in the biomedical workforce.

Leslie lives in Killingworth, CT with a menagerie of animals, courtesy of her very persuasive daughters, now 23 and 25 and living elsewhere, while she continues to muck the stalls!

I graduated from UConn in 1976. I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development and Family Relations (now HDFS), with a minor in Sociology. Going to UConn in the mid-1970s was a time of great social change as well as the opportunity to experiment with new ways of pursuing knowledge. I entered college as a dietetics major at San Diego State University, and then my family moved to Guilford, Connecticut, and I applied to UConn. Ever since I was young, I have always been invested in social justice, women’s issues, and the underbelly of family life. To please my parents, I switched majors to accounting, but never quite felt that my ambition to excel was in sync with my passion for learning about issues that truly mattered to me. I am grateful that I eventually found my way to HDFS, where I have pursued my career as a family scholar and activist. These past 50 years have flown by, and I can still vividly conjure what happened to me when I decided to major in CDFR (HDFS).

In the second semester of my junior year (which was my first year in Storrs because I had attended a regional campus during my sophomore year), I enrolled in a large class called Parenthood. As soon as the first lecture began, I felt a light bulb turn on in my brain. I also took classes on Family Relationships and Advanced Child Development in which I felt like I had come home intellectually. I don’t think I ever missed a class. At UConn, I was exposed to theorists and researchers who profoundly shaped my thinking and research trajectory. I also took several influential courses in Sociology, including one of the first Women’s Studies courses offered nationally, Sociological Perspectives on Women, as well as a course about racial and ethnic groups, entitled Intergroup Relations. I was very active in the Women’s Center and joined a Consciousness Raising (CR) Group of women students, faculty, spouses, and community members. That CR group was life changing and first introduced me to a concept I have honed throughout my career: the personal is political (to which I now add the word, professional). My senior year was exceptionally exciting and truly prepared me for graduate school. I was encouraged by several professors to begin my methodological training by conducting a year-long project I called, “Feminism and Intimacy” in which I interviewed 10 feminist couples about their marital dynamics and division of labor. At the time, qualitative research methods courses in HDFS did not exist, but my trusted professors encouraged me to pursue my desire to figure out how to do an in-depth interview study. In addition, I completed an independent study with several professors and graduate students on the topic of “Middle-aged and Older Women”, thus beginning my lifelong investment in family gerontology. I credit my experience at UConn for starting me on my journey as a critical intersectional reflexive feminist family scholar.

After UConn, I served for a year as the coordinator of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) in the northeastern part of Connecticut. Then I went to Syracuse University and earned my PhD in 1984, in Child and Family Studies, with a Certificate in Gerontology. My first academic job was at Texas Woman’s University, and then I came to Virginia Tech in 1989, where I was a professor until I retired in 2020. I have published more than 200 scholarly articles and book chapters and written or edited 10 books. Recent books include Family Theories Today: A Critical Intersectional Approach (2023; 2^nd ed.) and LGBTQ-Parent Families (2020, 2^nd ed.). My long-time collaborator, Dr. Abbie Goldberg and I are publishing a book this year which elevates the reflexive component of scholarship, entitled, Opening Family Secrets: Stigma, Shame, Stress, and Strength. In this edited volume, through personal and professional narratives, we unveil the complexity of living through some of the most challenging yet invisible aspects of family life.

A key component of a rewarding retirement is to have something meaningful to retire to, which I found through continued research and writing. In 2023, I became Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Family Theory & Review (JFTR), which is one of the three journals of the National Council on Family Relations. I am excited to report that JFTR is now ranked #2 out of 66 journals in Family Studies, with an impact factor of 4.5 in the year 2024 (Journal Citation Report). I love editing JFTR because it provides me with the opportunity to cultivate the very best work among interdisciplinary family scholars as well as to mentor junior scholars and students in crafting knowledge that will have an impact in their own lives and in the field. Many of our authors, reviewers, and editorial board members are UConn affiliated.

Now I live in the Appalachian Mountains and still pursue many of the same passions that peppered my day as an undergraduate student at UConn 50 years ago. I still feel the intellectual excitement of the classroom, the charisma of my teachers and their wonderful encouragement to try out the new and the impossible. My experience at UConn provided me with both a training ground and a safety net that has launched an exciting and productive career that even in retirement is still flourishing. Theirs is the model I followed with the thousands of students I have taught over the decades, and it continues to guide my practice today.

Dr. Shelby Borowski graduated from UConn in 2014 with a double major in HDFS and Psychology. During her undergraduate studies, an HDFS Research Methods course first sparked her interest in research, leading her to seek out additional research opportunities in the department. She participated in research examining the quality of life among cancer survivors and completed an undergraduate research thesis in the HDFS honors program. She then continued her education at Virginia Tech, completing her MS in HDFS in 2016 and earning both her MPH in Health Education and PhD in HDFS in 2019. During her graduate studies, her research focused on quantitative methods and understanding how stressors impact health outcomes across different populations. She also gained hands-on experience in program evaluation through her work at the Virginia Tech Center for Public Health Practice and Research, collaborating with community partners across southwest Virginia to assess and improve public health programs. After graduate school, she built on this foundation in stress, health, and quantitative research by joining the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder at VA Boston Healthcare System as a data analyst and research associate. There, she led quantitative analyses and contributed to federally funded projects aimed at enhancing veteran mental health, well-being, and suicide prevention during the military-to-civilian transition, an often challenging period as veterans separate from military service and return to civilian life.

Currently, Shelby is a research scientist at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Health Care Policy. She has continued her research focusing on mental health and suicide prevention during the military-to-civilian transition. She also collaborates on projects evaluating interventions among active-duty military personnel. These projects use predictive analytics to identify those at greatest risk for suicide-related behaviors and evaluate targeted interventions to support service members during especially vulnerable periods of their service. In the future, she hopes to continue collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to further build and refine predictive risk identification tools and to evaluate practical, real-world suicide prevention strategies within military and VA settings. Her goal is to ensure that research findings translate into meaningful improvements in mental health care and suicide prevention efforts.

Outside of work, Shelby enjoys spending time with loved ones and her dog, reading, and being active. She also loves to travel and explore new places abroad.

Liane Lussier Smith, MSW, LCSW earned her Bachelor of Science in HDFS from UConn with a focus in Counseling and Services in 2002. Taking advantage of multiple internships and the variety of courses within the HDFS program set the stage for learning about new career opportunities. After obtaining her undergraduate degree, Liane worked in early childhood education and special education while working toward a master’s in social work. Liane graduated from UConn School of Social Work in 2007 and was hired as a psychiatric social worker for a child and adolescent outpatient clinic, providing individual and family therapy and reviving the clinic’s outpatient group therapy program. Subsequently, Liane acquired her LCSW and took on leadership roles in supervising and overseeing the group therapy and trauma services programs. During this time, Liane also began hosting social work interns from multiple universities as a practicum instructor – an activity she continued in future positions with other agencies.

Liane has over 15 years of experience working with children, youth, and families in a variety of settings, including clinical, school-based services, community programs, and Youth Service Bureaus. In addition to working in clinical services, Liane had the privilege of running a Teen Center, where she implemented various after school and summer programs aimed at helping young people learn about community service opportunities, prosocial development, and reducing at risk behaviors. She also ran groups at the center and local schools and became involved in other community initiatives through youth outreach efforts, including community gardens, Senior Center programs, the SW Food Alliance, and the local Hunger Action Team. Liane also worked for a second Youth Service Bureau, where she worked with students in an alternative high school program and joined the Juvenile Review Board, providing intake assessments and short-term treatment as part of the community-based diversion program. For the past ten years, Liane has also been an adjunct instructor for the UConn School of Social Work, teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses. Throughout her career, Liane has held multiple roles focused on supporting individuals’ mental health, wellness, varying abilities and disabilities, promoting social justice, and utilizing a trauma-informed, strengths-based approach.

Liane’s experience as a practicum instructor and adjunct instructor led her to join the Practicum Education Department at UConn School of Social Work full time, first as a Placement Coordinator and now as Director. She leads a team committed to supporting students’ practicum experiences as the signature pedagogy of social work education and works closely with faculty and agency partners in Connecticut and beyond. Liane has a passion for working with students and is grateful for the opportunity to both witness and support their journey in becoming future social work practitioners. Liane is also grateful for the mentors who helped her get to where she is today and, most importantly, for the social worker mentor who saw things in her she could not see and gave her a nudge into higher education. While continuing to reach new professional goals and pursuing the commitment to life-long learning as a social worker, Liane is proud to be a part of the UConn community that helped shape her professional career and will strive to empower students to see their own strengths and find their true calling.

Congratulations to McKenna Cheverier (HDFS BA ’24), who recently started a position as recreation supervisor in the Department of Leisure, Family, and Recreation for the Town of Manchester, CT!

Annika Anderson, MPH, earned her B.S. in HDFS in 2020 and her Master of Public Health from UConn in 2022. With aspirations in healthcare, Annika appreciated learning about the socioecological model of health in HDFS, which recognizes that 90% of child health outcomes are influenced by a complex interplay of social and structural drivers.

As an undergraduate, Annika interned with the International Rescue Committee and supported Ahlan Simsim (“Welcome Sesame” in Arabic)—the largest early childhood development initiative in humanitarian response, funded by LEGO and the MacArthur Foundation. The program’s innovative combination of direct services and culturally relevant media sparked her interest in teaching children and youth about health and wellness through media. During her graduate studies, Annika proudly authored the PBS KIDS Health & Wellness Learning Framework, which guides producers in creating educational shows, games, podcasts, and other forms of media reaching children ages 2–8 across the United States.

Since completing graduate school Annika has built a career at Connecticut Children’s as an Innovation Specialist in the Office for Community Child Health. She supports Childhood Prosperity Lab, a social innovation incubator and accelerator helping children and families thrive where they live, learn, work, play, and pray. Her work includes facilitating Mastermind sessions for changemakers; training providers on the Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework through North Hartford Ascend; co-designing youth- and community-driven initiatives using Human-Centered Design; and co-leading Learning Communities in partnership with the Help Me Grow National Center. Annika’s favorite part of her role is engaging with youth and families.

Annika hopes to pursue a Ph.D. and return to UConn’s HDFS program as a professor, inspiring the next generation of Huskies; she is particularly interested in the program’s new Human Development, Digital Media, and Technology course! Annika credits the HDFS program, especially the Early Childhood Specialization pathway, with profoundly shaping her personal and professional growth. Outside of work, Annika enjoys spending time with loved ones, creating art, reading Breathe magazine, and traveling—her favorite destination to date is Tokyo, Japan.

Dr. Starlin Astacio earned his B.S. in HDFS from UConn in 2016. Since then, Starlin has built a career rooted in healing, advocacy, and education. He subsequently earned an M.S. in Couple and Family Therapy from Central Connecticut State University in 2019 and a Ph.D. in Couple and Family Therapy from Antioch University in 2023. For over a decade, he has worked as a bilingual relational psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and DEI leader, centering his clinical, supervisory, and research expertise around LGBTQ+ communities. During his time at Hartford Healthcare, he co-founded and co-chaired the DEI Council and executive committees at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, and in 2021, he was honored with the AAMFT Diversity Scholarship for Emerging Leaders for his ongoing work in health equity and inclusion.

Today, he maintains a private practice in Connecticut and New York that is inclusive, innovative, and grounded in the healing power of Self-Leadership. He focuses his clinical work on addressing the disparities faced by minoritized populations, using culturally responsive and trauma-informed modalities like Internal Family Systems (IFS). He also serves as associate faculty at Antioch University New England, where he teaches foundational courses and supervises master’s students in the Couple and Family Therapy program. In addition, he teaches in the Sexuality Education Program at the University of Guelph in Canada, educating health professionals on inclusive sex education practices. He also remains connected to UConn, where he has taught courses in the Human Development and Family Sciences department—an experience that continues to hold deep meaning for him. Looking ahead, his long-term goal is to build an institute that offers clinical services to clients, practicum and supervision opportunities for students, and ongoing training and workshops for psychotherapists to expand their scope of practice.

Outside of work, he finds joy in visiting family in the Caribbean, spending time with his loved ones, and supporting community initiatives that empower underserved populations. He believes in maintaining wellness from the inside out—integrating mental and physical self-care into his daily life has been transformational. He is deeply grateful to UConn HDFS for laying the foundation of his professional journey and for continuing to be a meaningful part of his path.