Laura Donorfio, Katherine Garcia (undergraduate student), and Joanna Szeto (UConn Alum) organized UConn Waterbury’s 3rd Annual Pride Party (4/1/25). This year’s theme was “Trans Rights are Human Rights” (National Trans Day of Visibility occurs on 5/31) and featured 2 UConn alum and 1 undergraduate student as keynote speakers: Matt Blinstrubas, Executive Director, from Equality CT (2009); Alderman Bilal Tajildeen, 5th District of Waterbury (UConn ‘12), and Tyler Rivera, Waterbury undergraduate student, sharing his life and trans experience. Over 17 community organizations and businesses from across Connecticut participated, sharing LGBTQIA+ resources and opportunities, including the health department with free STI testing. Also, UConn Waterbury’s Career Center, Library, and Student Health and Wellness (SHaW) shared essential LGBTQIA+ resources. Over 100+ students and faculty attended. The goal of the Pride Party is to be educational and to create a campus environment where all identities and all colors feel respected and welcomed.
The UConn Waterbury early childhood program was featured in UConn Today! Learn more about Cora D’Alessandro’s role bringing the program to Waterbury, and one of the first students there, Alee Ennis ’25 (HDFS): 
Graduate student Michelle Miller recently received El Instituto’s 2024-2025 Predoctoral Fellowship from the University of Connecticut’s Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean and Latin American Studies to support her dissertation titled: “A Mixed Methods Investigation of Acculturative Stress, Cultural Values and Well-being among Latine University Students”.
Graduate student Rui Wu received the 2025 Arnold and Sandra Dashefsky Student Award for Excellence. This award is given to a student who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement in one of the following topics: American Jewry, prejudice discrimination, racism, or anti-semitism. Congratulations Rui!
Congratulations to *Nate Stekler, newly elected Students and New Professionals Representative of the NCFR Research and Theory Section.
Cali Salafia is a Ph.D. candidate in HDFS who plans to defend her dissertation and graduate in Spring 2025. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in philosophy from the University at Albany (SUNY) in 2017 and obtained a master’s degree in health psychology from Central Connecticut State University in 2020.