UConn Office of Outreach & Engagement

03/20/2026

Join us for a webinar featuring Professor Cristina Colon-Semenza. Professor Colon-Semenza is an emerging leader whose work blends research, education, and community engagement to improve the lives of people living with Parkinson’s disease.
Recognizing that exercise can dramatically slow disease progression but is often inaccessible,
Professor Colón-Semenza created the UConn Parkinson’s disease exercise class, a weekly, community-based program that supports long-term physical activity and social connection. What began as a small initiative has grown into a thriving community impacting nearly 100 individuals with Parkinson’s disease and their care partners, with 100% of participants reporting improved physical activity, health, and social connection.
Her program also provides powerful experiential learning for UConn students, training future clinicians through hands-on engagement with people living with Parkinson’s disease. These community partnerships have directly inspired impactful research, including studies showing a 42% increase in high-intensity physical activity through peer support.
https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/webappng/sites/uconn-cmr/meeting/register/0ec51368ca1045b9a7206270949001ed?ticket=4832534b00000008b5cea83f364879ed02020bc4e1cc51b2970761468500c74bc604a9e0b9b25d12×tamp=1774019501143&RGID=r3b9fd3c614ac6e4c040996ffd05400d7&isAutoPopRegisterForm=false

03/09/2026

Join us for a special webinar on March 12 at noon featuring the Native American and Indigenous Studies faculty team—Sandy Grande, Kat Milligan-McClellan, Nate Acebo, Chris Newell, Hana Maruyama, April Anson, Josh Mayer, Bruno Seraphin, and Kali Simmons—leaders of UConn’s transformative Tribal Education Initiative (TEI).

Born from student advocacy and grounded in partnership with Connecticut’s Tribal Nations, the TEI reimagines the relationship between a land-grant university and Indigenous communities. Through institutional change, community collaboration, and innovative programming, the NAIS faculty have built a sustainable framework for reciprocal engagement, Indigenous leadership, and educational justice.
https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/weblink/register/r89a03afb3dfc97f8d6104b28a9926f53

03/04/2026

01/13/2026

There is still time to honor individuals and partners whose collaborative work exemplifies the University of Connecticut's mission as a public institution-advancing knowledge, strengthening communities, and addressing critical societal challenges through reciprocal, impactful engagement.

Please submit your nominations by January 30, 2026, using this form. uconn.kualibuild.com/app/68bf2eb507672d027ff92f60/run

01/13/2026

Happening today! Learn more & register: https://buff.ly/3xogpBg

08/26/2025

How Extreme Heat Affects the Body
The New Yorker Radio Hour

The Korey Stringer Institute, at the University of Connecticut, is named after an N.F.L. player who died of exertional heatstroke. The lab’s main research subjects have been athletes, members of the military, and laborers. But, with the extreme heat wrought by climate change, even mild exertion will put more and more of us in harm’s way; in many parts of the United States, a combined heat wave and power outage could cause staggering fatalities. Dhruv Khullar, a New Yorker contributor, practicing physician, and professor of health policy, visited the Stringer Institute to undergo a heat test—walking uphill, for ninety minutes, in a hundred-and-four-degree heat—to better understand what’s happening. “I just feel extremely puffy everywhere,” Khullar sighed. “You’d have to cut my finger off just to get my wedding ring off.” By the end of the test, he spoke of experiencing cramps, dizziness, and a headache. Khullar discussed the dangers of heatstroke with Douglas Casa, the lab’s head, who nearly died of the condition as a young athlete. “Climate change has taken this into the everyday world for the everyday American citizen. You don’t have to be a laborer working for twelve hours; you don’t have to be a soldier in training,” Casa tells him. “This is making it affect so many people, even just during daily living.” Although the treatment for heat-related illness is straightforward, Casa says that implementation of simple preventive measures remains challenging—and that there is much we need to do to better prepare for the global rise in temperatures. This segment originally aired on August 25, 2023.
Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Podcast Episode · The New Yorker Radio Hour · 08/26/2025 · 17m

05/21/2025

UConn Joins Age-Friendly University Global Network

The organization is reimagining higher education’s role in an aging society

04/22/2025

Please join us in supporting UConn Outreach and Engagement. You’ve got until 7 pm on 4/22/25!

Join me and make a gift to UConn Gives 2025!

01/24/2025

The deadline for the Provost’s Awards for Community-Engaged Scholarship is January 31st.
Nominate students, faculty, staff, and community partners who do impactful work through community engagement. More details in here: https://outreach.engagement.uconn.edu/awards/

12/18/2024