Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • August 21, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS CONTINUING AND GRADUATE EDUCATION FOR PROFESSIONALS AND EXECUTIVES DOWNTOWN ATTRACTION Grad school programs increasingly call Hartford home By Patricia Daddona pdaddona@HartfordBusiness.com W hen classes begin in late August, hun- dreds of UConn graduate students in social work, public policy and educa- tion will be coming to downtown Hartford. They will join nearly 1,400 graduate students at UConn's center-city business school along with the 250 or so grad students enrolled in the University of St. Joseph's School of Pharmacy, located in the XL Center. While much of the fanfare has been focused on the influx of undergraduate pupils Hartford is about to experience with the opening of UCo- nn's new downtown campus, more than 2,000 graduate students will also be based in the cen- ter city, a number that is expected to grow in the years ahead, officials said. Whether it's an opportunity to study and/ or work at the city's hospitals and other health- care companies, or get an internship or simply network with business, nonprofit and govern- ment leaders and recruiters, schools say hav- ing a downtown presence, particularly for graduate students currently working or look- ing for a job, is becoming more attractive. The added allure is joining a central busi- ness district community that is slowly becom- ing a more vibrant "college town," officials said. Kent Holsinger, dean of UConn's gradu- ate school, says social work and public policy graduate students either through internships or regular classwork will find being near state agencies and nonprofits advantageous. "Simply by relocating into downtown Hartford, they may be able to work with different agencies than they have in the past because they'll be close to everybody," said Holsinger. As these benefits evolve, the University of St. Joseph (USJ) is planning to add a master's degree in pharmacy — in addition to its cur- rent doctorate degree offering — in Jan. 2019, according to President Rhona Free. And Trin- ity College plans to offer graduate studies and certificate programs in its One Constitution Plaza space starting in late 2018, about a year after the site opens this December, said Trin- ity spokeswoman Kathy Andrews. Positive reactions UConn grad student Cassandra Mar- rero, 24, who is from Hartford originally and speaks Spanish as well as English, is pursuing her master's degree in social work. With one internship under her belt in Hartford's public schools last year, this fall she will be counsel- ing students in social skills at InterCommunity, a community nonprofit in East Hartford. Being based downtown is an advantage, she said, particularly as she networks while look- ing for a job in Hartford after she graduates. "There are a lot of agencies and new pro- grams that people aren't aware of," she said. Holsinger and Andrews said the ground- work also is being laid for possible future collaboration among students studying to be pharmacists, doctors, social workers, and the like — since they now have the opportunity to study and even work close to one another. An urban population with more acute health- care and mental health needs, for instance, combined with students developing profes- sional expertise in these areas, could provide more opportunities for training, Holsinger said. The urban environment is one Marrero is accustomed to, but she hopes her peers are also receptive to it. "There's a stigma toward not wanting to come to Hartford, but having grad students here makes people see the good things in Hartford," she said. "Things are changing slowly, and by bringing grad students in, it gives new life to Hartford." Free said she agrees. "For a long time Hartford [was] viewed as UConn's 2017 Graduate Student Presence in Downtown Hartford Major/Concentration Students Enrolled Business 1,392 Social Work 379 Education Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction 34 Public Policy 175 Total 1,980 S O U R C E : U C O N N P H O T O | S T E V E L A S C H E V E R Second-year grad student Olivia Cormier, who is studying social work, will be among the graduate students relocating to UConn's downtown Hartford campus this fall. She said the new campus is more active and convenient.

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