Eastern Connecticut State University

Nine Eastern students recently completed a new summer program designed to foster civic leadership skills. Spearheaded by the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) through a $20,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut, the inaugural Summer Civic Leadership Program combined academic coursework with community action.

More than 800 Eastern Connecticut State University students received undergraduate and graduate degrees in the 2025-26 academic year, culminating this past May in two commencement ceremonies at the conclusion of the spring 2026 semester.

The Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminology, and Social Work at Eastern Connecticut State University inducted 11 students into the Alpha Phi Sigma Honor Society for Criminology on April 22. The induction ceremony, held in the J. Eugene Smith Library's Johnson Room, recognized the students' academic excellence in their studies of criminal justice.

Eastern Connecticut State University inducted 20 students into Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society for education, on Nov. 14, 2025. In order for an applicant to be considered, they must have higher than a 3.0 GPA and have completed a total of six hours of education courses.

Eastern's Department of English recognized 28 students at its English Night awards ceremony on April 30. The event, held in the Student Center's Betty Tipton Room, announced six departmental awardees and hosted 24 capstone poster presentations.

University Honors Program at Eastern recognized 22 graduating seniors on May 5 during its annual Honors Program Senior Reception. Held at the J. Eugene Smith Library, the event celebrated students who successfully met the rigors of the University Honors Program, including completing a capstone research project. Students were also awarded certificates and honor cords to commemorate their accomplishment.

Ten students from various fields of study at Eastern Connecticut State University have studied abroad during the spring 2026 semester. Destinations ranged from the Scottish moors to the coasts of New Zealand.

Eleven seniors at Eastern Connecticut State University presented their research to undergraduate scholars from across the country at the annual National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Richmond, VA, from April 13-15.

Eastern Connecticut State University recently released its Dean's List for the spring 2026 semester, in which 1,216 students were recognized for maintaining high GPAs.

Four undergraduate business information systems (BIS) students outperformed acclaimed business schools at a business analytics case competition on April 3 at Travelers in Hartford. The team earned first place, facing fierce competition from five teams from four other institutions: UConn, Quinnipiac University, the University of Hartford, and Central Connecticut State University. The competition is a part of Travelers' Business Intelligence & Analytics Leadership Development Program, titled the "2026 Travelers BI&A LDP Case Competition." The competition tasked teams with providing in-depth, data-driven, proactive business solutions using real-life, anonymized datasets from Travelers.

Prior to this year, Eastern computer science Professor and Department Chair Garrett Dancik had never traveled with more than two students to the Annual Meeting of the Consortium for Computing in Colleges Northeast Region (CCSCNE). This year's group tripled that record, as Dancik brought six students to the conference at Smith College in Northampton, MA, on April 10.

Ten business information systems (BIS) students outshined regional competition at the ITSA Midwest Collegiate Computing Conference (MWC3) in Grand Rapids, MI, this past March. Competing against larger universities with nationally recognized BIS programs, seven out of the ten Eastern students brought home two first-place titles, one second-place title, and one third-place title, along with two honorable mentions in competitions throughout the three-day conference.

Eastern Connecticut State University's annual Equity and Social Justice Awards recognized three student activists for their commitment to civil rights and advocacy for marginalized groups. The ceremony took place on Feb. 20 in the Fine Arts Instructional Center's Susan Sukman McCray Foyer.

14 students from various academic departments at Eastern Connecticut State University presented their research at the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, better known as COPLAC, from Oct 17-18. The conference was hosted by Keene State College in Keene, NH and welcomed students from several different institutions in the northeastern United States.

This summer, dozens of students from the Business Division at Eastern Connecticut State University sharpened their corporate expertise through a myriad of internships. Each student exercised various professional skills they learned at Eastern and applied them on-site.

The Office of Housing and Residential Life at Eastern hosted its annual resident assistant (RA) training workshop for 72 current campus RAs from Aug. 11 to 22. The training helped RAs cultivate key skills and concepts they need to be successful on the job and support on-campus student residents.

Now going strong for four decades, Eastern Connecticut State University hosted 44 hopeful first-year students during its annual Summer Transition at Eastern Program/Contract Admissions Program (STEP/CAP). Coordinated by Christina Irizarry and Kolin Ebron of the Office of Opportunity Programs, STEP/CAP is designed to provide a smooth transition into higher education for select incoming students over the course of six weeks with the help of student community leaders.

Members of Eastern Connecticut State University's incoming Class of 2029 caught their first glimpse of college life across six different sessions of SOAR, an immersive two-day orientation experience facilitated by student orientation counselors, known as SOCs.

Eastern's Office of Opportunity Programs hosted the Dream Awards, where students were recognized for their achievements and TheDream.US class of 2025 received stoles to showcase at graduation. Taking place on March 28 in the library's Paul E. Johnson, Sr. Community Conference Room, the event served as a night of celebration and inspiration for TheDream.US scholars at Eastern.

Ian Valeta, a senior computer science major at Eastern Connecticut State University, has become involved on campus in a variety of ways. Most recently, he was accepted into Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE), the international honor society for the computing and information disciplines. This involvement has paid off: in December 2024, Valeta was one of only 34 recipients nationwide to receive a $1,000 UPE scholarship.

Nine students at Eastern Connecticut State University participated in biology Professor Barbara Murdoch's summer research institute titled "Hands-on Undergraduate Research with Cutting-Edge Sequencing Technology: Transforming Abstract Concepts into Tangible Discoveries." According to her, the project brought together students from a variety of scientific disciplines to experiment with powerful research technology that's not typically available to undergraduates. "The participants included biology, psychology, and health sciences majors, none of whom had prior experience with molecular biology or DNA sequencing," said Murdoch. "The participants are to be commended for their phenomenal results from DNA sequencing, interpretation of their data, and for their poster presentations."

Eastern Connecticut State University's Campus Activity Board (CAB) again earned various accolades at this year's National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Providence Conference. The meeting took place Oct. 24-26 at the Rhode Island Convention Center.

Eastern Connecticut State University will be featured on Amazon Prime's "The College Tour" next spring as one of the show's season 13 episodes. Filming took place on Eastern's campus Oct. 7-11, showcasing a diverse group of 10 students and alumni who represent life at Connecticut's only public liberal arts university.

Eastern Connecticut State University welcomed its newest Warriors to campus this June during the annual Student Orientation Advising and Registration (SOAR) program. Through the guidance of student orientation counselors (SOCs), hundreds of incoming students from the Class of 2028 acquainted themselves with Eastern's campus and pondered their collegiate aspirations during four separate two-day orientation sessions.

With the Class of 2024 recently graduated, many of Eastern's newest alumni are beginning their careers while others are choosing to continue their studies. Here are a few of the graduates pursuing advanced degree programs.

English majors were honored at the close of the fall 2023 semester during English Night, an annual celebration in which awards and presentations were given and students were inducted into the Sigma Tau Delta honor society.

Eastern Connecticut State University's men's and women's track and field teams recently began their winter 2023-24 seasons. The men's roster consists of 37 student-athletes, while the women's roster consists of 25 student-athletes.