Monthly Newsletter-September | College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources

Dear Colleagues,

The new academic year is officially underway, and it brings with it renewed energy and purpose. With the largest incoming class in UConn’s history now on our campuses, the sense of momentum and vibrancy is unmistakable.

At CAHNR, we’re excited to welcome several new faculty who bring fresh ideas, expertise, and enthusiasm to our community. We’re also pleased to introduce two new leaders stepping into interim roles: Dr. Ock Chun as Interim Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education, and Dr. Julia Kuzovkina as Interim Department Head of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture. Their deep institutional knowledge and strong track records of leadership will serve us well during this transitional period.

While we continue to navigate financial uncertainty across the university, your commitment to our land-grant mission remains clear and inspiring. The work you do in classrooms, labs, communities, and across the state is the foundation on which CAHNR moves forward.

Thank you for all that you contribute to making this college a vibrant and resilient place to learn, discover, and enact meaningful change.

Warm regards,

Kumar Venkitanarayanan
Interim Dean and Director

September's Awardee

Chanté King - Department of Natural Resources and the Environment

Chanté King has been awarded this month's Hallmark Husky for her innovative development of departmental vehicle training materials. Chanté created a customized online training module and attestation system tailored to NRE's needs. She enhanced the generic DAS module with department-specific content for destinations such as forests, lakes, and wetlands, and built a record keeping system to track completion. Her creativity and technical expertise transformed a compliance requirement into a practical, user-friendly resource. Thank you, Chanté, for your leadership and dedication to advancing safety and excellence in NRE and CAHNR.

Guillermo Risatti, a distinguished faculty member at CAHNR, was inducted as a National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow. He joins 170 inventors nationwide to receive this honor and becomes the twelfth UConn inventor to join this selective organization.

Risatti is a professor in the department of pathobiology and veterinary science, in addition to directing the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (CVMDL), one of the most active service centers at UConn Storrs. The CVMDL helps support human and animal health throughout New England by testing for veterinary diseases like Lyme, rabies, and avian influenza.

Risatti was nominated to the NAI in recognition of his pioneering work in veterinary vaccine research. Most recently, he was a lead inventor on a new vaccine for African Swine Fever, which was licensed by Zoetis, the animal medicine offshoot of Pfizer.