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.
Faculty
Exploring Conservation and Sustainability with Preschoolers
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.
Keith Bellizzi, HDFS Faculty Spotlight, May 2023
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.
Laura Mauldin talks about Long Covid in The Atlantic article
Associate Professor Laura Mauldin was quoted in an article in The Atlantic titled, “Long Covid is Being Erased—Again”. Read the article here.
Vida Samuel selected to the 2023 cohort at TCS at Yale
Vida Samuel was selected to the 2023 cohort at The Campaign School at Yale (https://www.tcsyale.org/) this summer. The Campaign School is a bipartisan, weeklong boot camp for women wishing to run for public office or others who want to manage women’s campaigns. CT’s Lt. Governor Bysiewicz and Johanna Hayes and Gabby Giffords are alumni of the program. The cohort will include 80 national and international participants – primarily women and four men who run women’s campaigns. Vida is also a recipient of one of Fairfield County’s Community Fund inaugural scholarships.
Caitlin Lombardi and Rachel Tambling receive promotions


Congratulations to Rachel Tambling who will be officially be promoted to Professor, and Caitlin Lombardi who will officially be promoted to Associate Professor with tenure as of August 31st!
Keith Bellizzi featured in UConn today, discusses patient portals
Professor Keith Bellizzi was featured in UConn Today discussing the problems with replacing human interactions with patient portals in health care settings. Read the article here.
Rebecca Puhl interveiwed by The Associated Press, and Fortune
Professor Rebecca Puhl was recently interviewed by The Associated Press about potential effects of new anti-obesity medications on societal weight stigma. Read the AP article here.
Rebecca was also interviewed by Fortune about new legislation proposed in NYC to ban weight discrimination. Read the article here.
Local high school students tour HDFS Child Development Labs
The Child Development Laboratories recently hosted Berlin High School and Torrington High School students for tours of the facility. The high school students observed the infant, toddler and preschool classrooms and learned about the Early Childhood Specializations HDFS program at UConn.
Rebecca Puhl speaks with Washington Post and National Geographic
The Washington Post recently interviewed Professor Rebecca Puhl about legislation to address weight discrimination. Read the Washington Post article here. Rebecca was also recently interviewed by National Geographic about weight stigma in family and healthcare settings. Read the National Geographic article here.