Past Faculty/Administrator Mentors | Leadership Legacy Experience

Legacy’s Faculty/Administrator Mentors represent a rich cross-section of the University from virtually every school and college on campus to a host of offices and programs. Our Faculty/Administrator Mentors support student success and leadership in the classroom, the lab, and throughout their involvement on campus. Legacy Mentors actively attend and participate in many Legacy events throughout the year and help students reflect on their experiences as they prepare for a life of leadership beyond UConn. Legacy is proud to partner with such a diverse group of accomplished and committed professionals from across campus.

JC Beall

Department: Department of Philosophy
Education: Ph.D., 1998 Philosophy, UMass, Amherst; M.A., 1996 Philosophy, UMass, Amherst; B.A. 1989, Philosophy Grove City College
Mentee: David Steuber (Legacy ’07)
Why did you become involved in the Legacy Program? ‘Great people have greatness in them, but it needs to be brought out. The Legacy mentor program seemed to me to be one way of extracting greatness from promising students who have shown glimmers of greatness already.’
Favorite Part about being a Legacy Mentor: ‘Getting to know a wider array of students who will very soon, and very certainly, be running the world.’

Mun Choi*

Department: Provost, School of Engineering
Education: B.S. in Engineering from University of Illinois, 1987; M.A. in Engineering from Princeton University, 1989; Ph.D. in Engineering from Princeton University, 1992.
Mentee: Ethan Butler (Legacy ’11)
Why did you become involved in the Legacy Program?: ‘To specifically support the development of future leaders and to broadly contribute to the education and training of students.’
Favorite part about being a Legacy Mentor?: ‘Interacting with students who have a passion for making effective changes through dialogue, engagement and innovation.’

Cristina Conte*

Department: Academic Center for Exploratory Students
Education: B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies, University of CT, 2005; M.S. in College Student Personnel Administration, Canisius College, 2007.
Mentee: Nasreen Mustafa (Legacy ’11)
Why did you become involved in the Legacy Program?: ‘I am extremely honored to be part of this process. It is with hopes that I continue to inspire students to pursue their passion, understand their strengths and see me as an important contact in their lives. This opportunity has been nothing but enriching for me, just as much as it is for the Legacy students.’
Favorite part about being a Legacy Mentor?: ‘My favorite part of being a Legacy Mentor is having an even closer eye on the personal growth that Nasreen, my Legacy student is experiencing throughout her undergraduate years at UConn.’

Tom Deans

Department: Department of English and Writing Center
Education: B.A. and M.A., Georgetown University; Ph.D., University of Massachusetts
Mentee: Yoo Mi Thompson (Legacy ‘09), Odia Kane (Legacy ’17)
Why did you become involved in the Legacy Program? ‘I had heard promising things about the program and I already nominated a few of my students.’
Favorite Part about being a Legacy Mentor? ‘Seeing how people weather the white water rafting. True character comes out when soaked to the bone and approaching rapids.’

Jim Hill

Department: Academic Center for Exploratory Students
Education: B.A., Biology, Hartwick College; M.S., Botany, University of New Hampshire: Ph.D., Ecology, University of Connecticut
Mentee: Valen Diaz (Legacy ‘09)
Favorite Part about being a Legacy Mentor? ‘I have worked in an academic setting for 20 plus years, and it has always been about the same thing – STUDENTS. Students continue to inspire, challenge and intrigue me…Valen is the primary reason. She is a tremendous person, and a natural born leader. I felt I could learn as much from her as she might from me.’

Rachel Larson*

Department: Career Services
Education: B.J. in Advertising from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, M.A. in Educational Administration from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006; Ph.D. Candidate in Adult Learning from University of Connecticut (in progress).
Mentee: Sarah DeAngelo (Legacy ’10)
Why did you become involved in the Legacy Program?: ‘I love working with students and helping them to reach their leadership potential. As a mentor for Leadership Legacy, I get to do that and have an engaging professional and personal relationship with my mentee in a different capacity than I normal would with students. I think I learned just as much, if not more, from her than she did from me.’
Favorite part about being a Legacy Mentor?: ‘I enjoyed watching my mentee and her cohort grow in their confidence as leaders and recognize that one individual can make a difference in the lives of others. It is easy for students to the program to be intimidated by the caliber of student leader selected for Leadership Legacy, but I believe each student learns at the end of the program that they are an excellent leader in their own right that can have an impact on people and issues on a local, national, and global level.’

Jennifer Lease Butts

Department: Honors and Undergraduate Research
Education: B.A.,History, University of Arkansas; M.Ed., Higher Education, University of Arkansas; Ph.D.,Counseling and Human Development and Student Affairs Administration, University of Georgia
Mentees: Samantha Sherwood (Legacy ’07), Linda Drozdowicz (Legacy ‘08), Sarah Harris (Legacy ’10), Kaitlin Heenehan (Legacy ’10), Sarah Luft (Legacy ’15), Elizabeth Charash (Legacy ’17)
Favorite Part about being a Legacy Mentor? ‘The best part is getting to connect with the two wonderful women that have been by mentees. I’m so proud of all that they have accomplished already, and it’s been great to have the opportunity to continue to work with them over their college careers. I’ve also really enjoyed meeting the other Legacy students. It’s always inspiring to hear about their lives and their ideas, and then to be able to watch those ideas come to fruition. They all make UConn better because of the time they invest in campus leadership.’

Adrienne Macki Braconi*

Department: Dramatic Arts
Education: Ph.D. in Drama from Tufts, 2008; M.A. in Theatre Education from Emerson College; B.A. in Theatre from Middlebury College, 1994.
Mentee: Elysse Yulo (Legacy ’11)
Why did you become involved in the Legacy Program?: ‘I nominated one of my outstanding students and was happy to see her accomplishments recognized outside of our department.’
Favorite part about being a Legacy Mentor?: ‘Seeing my student come into her own is one of the most fulfilling moments as an advisor and mentor.’

Marie McCain*

Department: Institute for Student Success
Education: B.A., American Studies, Wesleyan University; M.Ed., Counseling and Consulting Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Mentee: Camille Patterson (Legacy ‘08)
Why did you become involved in the Legacy Program? ‘A counselee requested that I participate in the Leadership Legacy Program as her mentor.’
Favorite Part about being a Legacy Mentor: ‘My favorite part of the experience is observing the ways in which my mentee developed skills and gained confidence as a result of her LL involvement.’

Sally Neal*

Department: CLAS Academic Services Center. Transfer Advisor and Orientation Coordinator
Mentee: Garrett Cottrell (Legacy ’09), Allison Lemkin (Legacy ‘07)
Education: BA, Psychology (1996), Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota. MA; Higher Ed.(2001), Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut.; PhD, Adult Learning (2009) Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut
Favorite part about being a Legacy mentor: My favorite part about being a Leadership Legacy Mentor is being able to work with dedicated students who are not only academically successful, but who also display genuine support for their colleagues. Today’s Legacy experience is contributing to how these students will think about, view, and carry out their work as future leaders. It’s a privilege to see my Mentees enthusiastically approach each new event as an opportunity to learn.

Thomas Abbott

Lynn Allchin*

Dorothea Anagnostopoulos

Marysol Asencio

Elizabeth Athens

William Bailey

Regina Barreca

Edith Barrett

Ashis Basu

Oksan Bayulgen

JC Beall

Robert Birge

Thomas Blum

Diane Bordeleau

Mark Boyer

Alaina Brenick

Scott Brown

Rhonda Brownbill

Dan Burkey

Jennifer Cheng

Mun Choi*

Chelsea Cichocki

Kathleen Cienkowski

Dwight Codr

Rebecca Colby

Cristina Conte*

Doug Cooper

Joseph Cooper*

Joseph Crivello

Michael Darre

Ken Dautrich

Jill Deans

Tom Deans

Alexis Dudden

Rebecca Eckert

Julie Elkins*

John Enderle*

Matt Farley*

Cameron Faustman

Leigh Fine

Paul Gaines*

Anita Garey*

Anne Gebelein

Krystyna Gielo-Perczak

David Goldhamer

Elsie Gonzalez*

Kristen Govoni

Lewis Gordon

Larry Gramling

Robin Hands

Fany Hannon

Betty Hanson

Kaitlin Heenehan

Becca Herman*

Shareen Hertel

Virginia Hettinger

Micah Heumann

Jim Hill

Erik Hines*

Jessamy Hoffmann

Kathleen Holgerson

Jonathan Hufstader*

Solomiya Ivakhiv

Steven Jarvi*

Patricia Jepson

Alex Katz

Kazem Kazerounian

Debra Kendall

Anne Kim

Heejoo Kim

Sarah Knutie

Donna Korbel

Jeffrey Kramer

Leo Lachut

Jeffrey Ladewig

Richard Langlois

Rachel Larson*

Jennifer Lease Butts

Baikun Li

Michael Lynes