Tanika Simpson ’19 Ph.D., has returned to her undergraduate alma mater, Fairfield University, as an assistant professor of social work.

Amy Wiltsie graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in HDFR (Human Development and Family Relations) from UConn in 1998. She then worked as a case manager at Kennedy Center Services, a rehabilitation program for disabled adults. After one year, she felt she had learned what she could in that organization and was ready for something new. Amy began her twenty-year career with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) in 1999, as a Social Worker. At DCF, Amy served as a treatment worker, where she worked with families who were at great risk of losing their children due to neglectful situations. Most families had a high level of need, and required support and resources for stability and successful parenting. In 2001, Amy moved on to the Permanency Services unit where she was assigned cases of families entering the Termination of Parental Rights process. This process begins after a family has worked unsuccessfully toward reunification for a period of 12-18 months. Amy spent time searching for and making matches for pre-adoptive placement, facilitating the transition, testifying in court on the efforts the state had made to reunify and support the best interests of the child, and then ultimately applying for adoption finalization in the Probate Court. In 2005, Amy realized a shortage that existed in Connecticut of viable homes and families willing to adopt, and applied for a position in the Foster Care and Adoption Services Unit (FASU). In FASU, Amy began attending public events to highlight DCF’s need, holding informative open houses for families seeking more information, and inviting these families in for formal screening, training, and licensing. Amy loved working for DCF, especially for the children and families she served throughout her career and always desired to continue her education. Never knowing which field to select as her role had navigated from social worker to recruiter and trainer, she struggled with graduate school program selection.

In 2012 Amy’s family was affected by the Sandy Hook tragedy. Their world stopped, like so many others’, and everything began to come into question. From their loss on 12/14/12, Amy’s family developed a nonprofit organization in memory of Vicki Soto, her husband’s cousin and a first-grade teacher killed in Sandy Hook. The Vicki Soto Memorial Fund needed fundraising, board development and legal guidance, and Amy began doing some groundwork research. During her search, she found a Non-Profit Management Program through Post University’s Masters of Human Services degree program. This Master’s Program ultimately led her to a new career, one she had not predicted. Amy began working for the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA as their Annual Campaign Director in 2018. As the Director of a national and international organization, Amy continues to serve youth, families, and communities. In her new role, she solicits support, creates relationships, and raises funds for the Annual Campaign which provides scholarship for those who may need it. These scholarships afford the opportunity of housing for the homeless, preschool, before school, afterschool, swim lessons and summer camp experiences to children whose families cannot afford these programs. These programs help children to be happy, healthy, strong and confident. She views these scholarships as “changing someone’s life trajectory,” a parallel to the lives she worked hard for during her twenty-year DCF tenure. According to Amy: “this was the marriage of my two worlds. The members of our community whom the Annual Campaign benefits are some of the same that I served at DCF; my work continues.”

Amy, her husband Jim, and their three children Ryann (17), Raegan (12) and Jack (10) call Stratford, CT home. In November of 2019, Amy was elected to the Stratford Board of Education, continuing her commitment to best positive outcomes for all of Connecticut’s children.

Congratulations to alum Kevin Hynes, PhD 2019, who was elected secretary/treasurer of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) Family Therapy Section.

Allyson Zoppa, a 2008 and 2012 UConn graduate, is in her 11^th season as assistant coach of the University of Connecticut rowing program in 2018-2019.  A native of East Hartford, CT, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies with minors in English and Psychology and her master’s degree in Sport Management.

Read the complete write-up on the UConn Women’s Rowing website.

Alumna Jill (Leider) Berquist, BA 1984 (HDFR), worked for over ten years as a recruiting director with Accenture. Subsequently, Jill founded Berquist Coaching Services, LLC in 1997.  For 21 years she has served clients nationally, working with executive leaders and their teams to uncover and leverage their unique brilliance to bring about meaningful and sustainable results, and inspire their people to do the same.

Shana Rackmill, BA 2004, served as both the HDFS Undergraduate Committee president and treasurer while an undergraduate at UConn.  She received an MSW from Boston University in 2006, and has worked as a Clinical Director for the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Children and Families group homes in the Boston area.  Shana currently works as a school social worker in the Boston area.

Constanza Cabello, BA 2008, received her masters from CCSU and an EdD from Northeastern.  After prior positions at University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Bryant University, and Stonehill College, she will soon begin a position as Framingham State University’s first ever vice president for diversity, inclusion, and community engagement. Learn more about her here.

HDFS alumni Colleen Vesely (MA) and Mariana Guzzardo (PhD) recently published an NCFR Policy Brief on immigrant families and policy implications for their wellbeing.

2018 PhD graduate, Jia Li Liu, currently a postdoctoral scholar at University of Maryland, College Park, was a 2019 Recipients of the SRCD Small Grants Program for Early Career Scholars for her project: Ethnic Racial Socialization Among Low SES and Middle SES Chinese American Families

Christine Thiele Hoeffner, B.A. ’73, recently published a book, Finding Wisdom in the Jungle.  The book explores legal rights granted at age 18 that may create challenges for teens as well as their parents, that are often not taught by schools or parents.  The book intertwines a fictional adventure with factual information designed to inform, educate, and entertain.