BA ’10 HDFS and Political Science

Luke T. Russell attended UConn from 2006-2010. He entered the University initially as a political science major, with an interest in international relationships and the process of brokering peace between nations. On the advice of a friend, he took a course during his sophomore year on family dynamics taught by then department head Dr. Ron Sabatelli. Fascinated by the theoretical insights of family systems theory and the practical bend of Human Development and Family Studies, Luke added HDFS as a second major, and subsequently completed an honors thesis in HDFS. As an honors student, Luke took a graduate seminar on Divorce, Remarriage, and Stepfamilies taught by Dr. Shannon Weaver, which drew him into the study of brokering peace within divorced and separated households. Under the mentorship of Dr. Weaver, he received research support from the Summer Undergraduate Research Fund Gary Karp Award to complete a grounded theory study with emerging adult stepchildren about how they built, formed, and experienced meaningful relationships with their stepparents. Largely because of this experience, he went on to complete both an MS and PhD in Human Development and Family Science at the University of Missouri.

Since 2018, Luke has been an assistant professor of Human Development and Family Science at Illinois State University, where he has received both a University Teaching Initiative Award and University Research Initiative Award for his accomplishments in the classroom and broader publication record as a pre-tenure faculty member. In his research he continues to investigate how individuals living in diverse family structures (e.g., post-divorce families, remarried/stepfamilies, cohabiting families, single-parent families, etc.) organize their relationships, engage in strategies that promote resilience, and maintain family-members’ health and well-being. He also studies how broader social institutions (e.g., health care systems, schools, and government agencies) can function as supportive resources for individuals living in structurally diverse families. He currently serves on five editorial boards: Journal of Family Theory & Review, Journal of Family Nursing, Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Science, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and Personal Relationships; is a founding member of the Divorce Education Assessment Collaborative based out of Kansas State University, and in 2021 gained full certification as a Certified Family Life Educator. At Illinois State University he teaches courses in communication and helping skills, family policy, families in later life, and enduring issues for couples and families. His work both in the classroom and outside of it has been (and continues to be) greatly shaped by his experiences as an undergraduate at the University of Connecticut.

Kristina Sluzewski-Soderholm graduated from UConn in 2013 with a double major in Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) and Psychology. After graduation, Kristina completed her M.Ed in Family and Consumer Sciences Education at North Dakota State University and soon after began her professional career as a high school teacher and preschool program director. In 2015, Kristina began a position at Wilton High School to run their Child and Lifespan Development program, where she oversees their collaborative high school-preschool program.

Over the past seven years, Kristina has taken her passions for early childhood development and secondary education to create an environment for her high school students where they can build connections and gain hands-on experience working with preschool aged children. Her preschool program, Helping Hands Preschool, is located inside the high school building and allows her students to work daily with the preschool class. Her main goal as an educator is to inspire her students and create a safe space for them to explore, learn, and grow without judgement.

Kristina’s passion for child development has led her to run several groups at her school, aiming to show her students the importance of volunteer work and giving back to the community. Some of the groups’ accomplishments include running a supply drive for requested items in the foster care system, raising awareness within the community of childhood cancers, and collecting funds to send children with serious illnesses to summer camp free of charge. Within the past seven years, she and her Wilton students have raised thousands of dollars to donate to childhood causes in their community.

Kristina has remained closely connected to UConn since graduating. In 2019, she was recognized at the 2018-2019 UConn ECE Professional Development Awards as the Rookie of the Year for Excellence in First-Year Course Instruction for successfully introducing the UConn Individual and Family Development course into the Wilton High School curriculum. To continue to connect her high school students to the university, Kristina often takes her high school students on field trips to the Storrs campus to show them all the opportunities that the HDFS department has to offer for students interested in the field. Kristina credits the UConn HDFS department for opening her eyes up to a career path that makes her excited to come to work every day.

The Greater Hartford Association of REALTORS (GHAR) has named Cheryl Hilton (BA 1991) of eXp Realty LLC, a veteran in the real estate industry for 15 years, as its 2021 Realtor of the year. Learn More Here.

Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez earned her first degree from UConn, a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Relations, in 1997. Three years later, she also received her Master of Social Work degree from UConn. While attending UConn, she gained a knowledge of human development, how people grow and develop, and the interdependencies of different systems, including families, schools, and communities.

During her time as a student, Torres-Rodriguez held various leadership roles at San Juan Tutoring Program, Inc., a non-profit community-based agency that provided academic and enrichment services to Hartford students, as well as parenting skills training and support to families. In 2000, after earning her MSW, she served students and families at Goodwin Technical High School as a School Social Worker. During that time, she earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Central Connecticut State University while teaching Social and Behavioral Sciences at Capital Community College.

An education leader in the Greater Hartford area for more than two decades, Dr. Torres-Rodriguez has held various school leadership positions, including Assistant Principal and Principal. She also designed and facilitated professional learning for the LEAD CT Turnaround Principal Program, a collaboration among Connecticut and national organizations committed to helping school and district leaders reach new levels of success improving student learning.

A proud graduate of Hartford Public schools, Dr. Torres-Rodriguez returned home to the district to serve and lead it, first as Assistant Superintendent and Acting Superintendent before she was appointed Superintendent in 2017. She strongly believes that schools exist within, and at times are a reflection of, their communities. Her learnings at UConn SSW, rooted in social justice, serve as a foundation as she continues to apply an equity lens to all aspects of her leadership journey. That manifests in the district’s approach to seek stakeholder voice to inform decisions; to use data to target resources equitably by student need and school need; and to co-design and deploy strategies that deliberately target disrupting historical patterns of inequity.

Her ongoing relationship with UConn extends to partnerships between Hartford Public Schools and the University. For example, an initiative called HPS Heals brought UConn School of Social Work students into Hartford Public Schools to help respond to the trauma experienced by students and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She is a proud resident of Hartford, where she lives with her husband and two sons.

Meital Sandbank graduated with honors from The University of Connecticut in 2014. She majored in Human Development and Family Studies with a concentration in Early Childhood Development and Education. During her time at UConn, Meital worked at the Child Development Labs and was involved in Best Buddies Club and Human Development and Family Studies Club. She also participated in research investigating early signs of autism in infants. During her summers, Meital volunteered at Boston Children’s Hospital, working with Child Life Specialists. She also volunteered at Horizons for Homeless Children, helping organize playrooms in shelters for children experiencing homelessness.

Shortly after graduating UConn, Meital joined the team at Horizons for Homeless Children, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of young children in Massachusetts by providing high-quality early education, opportunities for play, and comprehensive family services.

Meital started her work at Horizons as an Early Education Teacher working with infants and toddlers. During her time there, she has advanced into her current position where she runs Horizons’ Infant Program. As part of this position, she oversees three classrooms with children ages two to fifteen months and supervises six teachers. Meital practices trauma-informed care as she works with children and families who are experiencing homelessness in Boston. She regularly uses her Spanish fluency to help improve communication with parents and children. She has given workshops to educators, started a music program for children, and is working to deepen Horizons’ work by creating a social/emotional evaluation scale for infants in partnership with Harvard University. Meital has presented at fundraising events and was awarded Horizons for Homeless Children’s Sue Heilman Award for Excellence.

Meital is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston University, hoping to continue working with children who have experienced trauma in a clinical, one-on-one setting.

Congratulations to Alumna Hyanghee Lee (PhD, ’18) who recently started a position as postdoctoral scholar at the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center at Penn State University.

Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez (’97 HDFS, ’00 MSW) will be featured in a ThisIsAmerica webinar hosted by Neag and UConn Alumni, on the topic of Critical Race Theory in Schools. She is a superintendent in the Hartford Public Schools. Learn more:

• • https://www.events.foundation.uconn.edu/website/16374/
  • https://www.facebook.com/events/587378256005519
  • https://www.linkedin.com/posts/uconnalumni_thisisamerica-critical-race-theory-in-schools-activity-6841834574343888896-MQDM

 

Samantha graduated from UConn in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS). As an undergraduate student she had two very formative experiences that started her on a path toward becoming a healthcare researcher. One was working as a research assistant with Dr. Keith Bellizzi, primarily focused on a study of breast cancer and quality of life. The second was working with Husky Sport, a community-campus partnership between the NEAG School of Education’s Sport Management program and nonprofits in Hartford’s North End, aimed at supporting youth development through sport and relationship building. After much reflection on these experiences, as well as guidance from two very influential mentors in her life, Dr. Bellizzi and Dr. Steven Wisensale, Samantha decided to pursue a Master’s of Public Health (MPH) degree.

Samantha attended the University of Maryland’s (UMD) School of Public Health to concentrate on health policy and be in close proximity to Washington, DC to work on Capitol Hill. As she began her health policy program, she quickly realized she was much more interested in studying the impact of health policy on individuals and the healthcare system than she was in actually drafting legislation. Samantha applied to an internship at Berkeley Research Group (BRG) in the Healthcare Transactions and Strategy practice, where she later took a full-time position following her graduation from UMD in May 2020.

Samantha and her team at BRG work to inform both investors and providers on how commercial payer dynamics, federal policy, and state policy impact healthcare businesses and the broader healthcare system. Since beginning work at BRG, Samantha has worked on over two dozen healthcare related mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across various healthcare sectors. She has also participated in multiple strategy projects with healthcare companies, including an eating disorder provider looking to expand their current business to address access to care issues and a non-profit healthcare data company looking to improve their business to help solve important life science and health policy questions. Samantha is very early on in her career as a healthcare researcher but is incredibly excited to see where it takes her

Alum Rona Karasik (MA, 1989) was recently named editor-in-chief of the journal Gerontology and Geriatrics Education. Learn more about Rona, a Professor and Program Director of Gerontology at St. Cloud State University, here.

Alum Jennifer Cecarelli (’91) was recently featured in an article about her business, Peace, Love, Books! mobile bookstore, often seen in Hamden CT.  Jennifer is also an elementary school teacher in Middletown, CT, and serves on the school board in North Haven.