12 Students from Four CSCU Universities Receive Henry Barnard Awards

Twelve outstanding students from the four Connecticut State Universities were honored by the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) Foundation with the prestigious Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award. See their stories here.

The 12 students — from Central, Eastern, Southern and Western Connecticut State universities — were honored for academic excellence and community service at the 28th annual Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Awards banquet on April 4, 2017, at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville. The event’s keynote speaker was Kathryn Luria, Senior Vice President, Community Affairs and Director of Philanthropy at Webster Bank in Waterbury.

 “We are so immensely proud of these 12 students — and all of our students,” said Mark Ojakian, President of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities. “These students demonstrate quite clearly that our universities are doing an outstanding job of educating and preparing the leaders and workers of tomorrow.  Their success is our success.”

Richard Balducci, a member of the Board of Regents for Higher Education and CSCU Foundation board, said these 12 students were “representative of the extremely hard-working students who attend our four universities. Their commitment to academics, to community service and to their own future career goals is to be commended.”

The 2017 Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award winners are:

Central Connecticut State University

Wyatt Bosworth, New Britain, Political Science major, Economics minor, 3.90 GPA

Nicole Dean, Almont, Mich.; Biology major, and Chemistry and American Sign Language minor, 4.0 GPA

Jonathan Fisch, West Hartford, Accounting major, 4.0 GPA

Emily Gregonis, New Britain; Nursing, Psychology, Spanish major, 3.89 GPA

Eastern Connecticut State University

Kevin Connolly, Enfield, Biology major and Spanish minor, 3.88 GPA

Elizabeth Del Buono, Southington, Biology major, 3.85 GPA

Southern Connecticut State University

Brandon Brush, Southingon, Communications major, Theatre minor, 3.93 GPA

Nicholas Charnysh, Plantsville;  Recreation, Tourism & Sport Management major, 3.80 GPA

Sadia Younas, Meriden, Chemistry major, 3.91 GPA

Adam Zhitomi, Shelton, Communication Disorders major, Psychology minor, 3.71 GPA

Western Connecticut State University

Evelin Garcia, Danbury, Biology and Community Health Studies major, 3.94 GPA

Madiha Khan, Danbury, Chemistry major, 3.95 GPA

To be considered for a Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award, a student must have at least a 3.75 GPA, a record of significant community service, and be nominated by their respective universities and presidents. The CSUS Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports education and research within the four state universities.

The award is named for Henry Barnard, Connecticut’s first superintendent of schools and principal of what later became Central Connecticut State University. Barnard was also the first U.S. Commissioner of Education.