In the fall 2015 semester, University of Hartford President Walter Harrison, announced that he will be retiring at the end of the 2016–17 school year once his contract ends.

Harrison is not only the president of the University of Hartford, but also stands on multiple boards.

The process of finding a new president has already started; right now the board that will help in the hiring of a new president is looking for different opinions on what will make a good candidate for a new president.

When asked on what he believed would be important characteristics for a University of Hartford President, Harrison said, “I think it’s very important for the next person to have a good sense of community. This is a very small campus so it is important to have good strong relationships with everyone campus. Also, I think whoever succeeds me should be different, change is good.”

Harrison also mentioned how difficult it will be to step back from his role at the University of Hartford.

Harrison mentioned, “For the last almost 20 years, I’ve dedicated everything I’ve had to the University, so it’s a bit difficult to step back. For the first time in my life I’m going to have to figure out what to do with my free time. I’ve always been so concerned with helping others that I’ll need to find something to take up my time.”

University of Hartford President Walter Harrison to retire https://t.co/dF6lzzGR2r pic.twitter.com/rIULv8qwe8

— Hartford Courant (@hartfordcourant) November 20, 2015

There is a long process that had already been started and will continue until next spring. Some of the steps that are being taken to ensure that the University finds a great match are by surveying students, faculty and staff. The survey questions will be very general and will ask about general characteristics they would like to see in the new president.

Harrison is very confident that the University will find a replacement that will only help the University keep on growing. Harrison is not allowed to put any input in who the next president will be, but looks forward to passing all the knowledge he can once someone is selected. There will be a shadowing period for the new president to learn the ropes from Harrison during the spring 2017 semester.

Although Harrison is sad to walk away from the University, he finds solace in knowing that he will be able to focus on different hobbies that he hasn’t been able to give much attention to in many years.

Harrison has a background in English from Trinity College and the University of Michigan, and would like to dedicate time to his passion for writing; more specifically writing about baseball. Harrison also plans to visit Cape Cod, Massachusetts more frequently now with his wife in their vacation home.

When asked what would be the first thing he will do when he is officially retired, Harrison replied, “My wife and I will have to pack up the large presidential house and try to downsize. That’s going to be the first thing and possibly the hardest. Many things have accumulated over the years.”

During the process the board will be looking to the younger crowd at the University of Hartford.

The freshmen and sophomores today will play as a major key into selecting a new president since they will be seniors and juniors during the first official year with a new president.

There have been many changes to the University of Hartford campus since the start of the fall 2015 semester regarding how to keep students safer on campus. Recently, the University of Hartford campus released an e-mail to all students regarding the Missing Person Policy.

This policy is to ensure that students who have gone missing get the absolute full attention of people on campus and help them make sure they are safe and that they return home safely.

This policy has been pushed due to the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) that was enacted in 2008, which the Hartford community takes very seriously. All students have the ability and right to identify when a student has gone missing.

There are many ways to help this policy work to the best of its ability and number one way students could help would be to always keep their contact information updated.

To update your contact information sign on to the self service center and edit your student information.

The HEOA wants to stress each student’s rights and one of the most important ones is that everyone should have a confidential contact information card. This is the person that will be called to find out about your whereabouts. This person could be the same person as your emergency contact or someone different.

To fill out a confidential missing person contact information card contact the University of Hartford’s Residential Life.

To report a missing person call the Public Safety Dispatch at 860-768-7985 this line is available and can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Public Safety would like to stress that students do not have to wait 24 hours to call for someone to be considered missing.

If they feel that it is an urgent matter call right away. For more information on the Missing Person Policy please call Public Safety or Residential Life.

Women are all guilty of it and we will continue to be guilty of it until one day there is a movement where women don’t rely on the man to always make the first move.

This is the age where women are looked at as strong people and we have just as much respect as men now more than ever, so why would flirting be any different?

We ask for higher pay in jobs, higher positions, better treatment in social settings, etc. but we also, on the other hand, demand chivalry and old-fashioned dating.

Ladies, you cannot have your cake and eat it too because then we are putting the men in a position we were in many years ago.

I like to call this position the “always losing place;” no matter where you are in a situation or a conversation, you always end up wrong.

The idea of feminism doesn’t allow a person to pick and choose when they want to defend femininity, it’s either a person is all-in or all-out.

When it comes to dating in today’s society, there is no black or white answer anymore. Everything is on a grey scale.

I’ve seen it many times where a woman feels insulted because the man she likes doesn’t ask her out, but when he does, many women also feel offended saying if they wanted them to ask, they would make it known.

This leaves women in an undateable state because sending mixed signals never helped anyone in any century.

There used to be a set of unspoken rules on how dating works and now it’s been thrown away and used as the “call for the weak girls.”

I can’t count how many times women have called other women weak for wanting a man to sweep her off her feet.

I am neither for nor against how men speak to women or how women speak to men to get their attention in an intimate way.

I want to raise the question, “Is feminism taking away from our chances of love?”

For some women, yes, and for other women, not so much, but it’s to say it has impacted dating over recent years.

If you’re in a relationship, step back and look at it from a different point of view. What kind of girlfriend are you?

Ask yourself serious questions like, “Am I too dependent on him?” More importantly, answer them honestly to yourself too.

If you’re single, take a step in and see what the men are going through and try to make some kind of balance work.

Balance is the key to everything and to make feminism and love work, there needs to be a lot of taking and giving.

It’s been brought to my attention and I have also seen it multiple times that students have been way to busy complaining rather than seeing the bright side to every situation.

It is too early in the semester to be self-loathing and pin pointing all the bad and not giving any recognition to the good.

It’s the second week of school and from what I can tell it has been rough for many of the students. For the first time in the last four years that I have been here, I’ve seen students handing in assignments on syllabus week or the week after.

In prior years, many of the professors eased into the workload, which has students worried for what the rest of the semester will look like.

This is no reason to be complaining since we all knew coming into college it was never going to be easy.

Instead of thinking, “Wow, this teacher sucks because she is piling on work and it’s only the second week of school.”

Think of it in a positive way such as, “Wow, this teacher is giving so much work, but maybe it will prepare us for later tasks at the end of the semester.”

Brining in a fresh point of view to the table will help you keep on your assignments more because you know your doing it for a reason and the reason will be rewarding in the end.

Being on optimist should not just apply to those who are in school; it’s important to be optimist through out every day activities.

People forget that everyday is an opportunity to get out into the world and see things in a different point of view.

Don’t look at something unfamiliar and just ignore it, take it and roll with it and try your best to see why such a thing would be so important.

Something that might help some pessimists is to think that just because it “isn’t working” for you or because “it’s not important to you” doesn’t mean that it isn’t important to someone else.

Everyone sees things in a different light and sometimes you have to step out of your own spotlight to appreciate the ray of natural sunlight.

There is always something good in everything you do, it’s your job to find how it relates to you and make the best out of every situation.

Complaining about something will only keep you farther away from your goals and will make you look like a downer in front of people.

Most people do not want to surround themselves with downers. Step outside of your box and take every act as it is and see the beauty or the reason in it.

You’ll find yourself enjoying life much more than you were before.

After two long years of being the editor-in-chief for The Informer, the new editors caught up with the busy life of a graduate to get the inside scoop of what alumni life is really like.

Ben Cohn recently graduated from the University of Hartford this past May and moved back to the motherland, New Jersey.

Cohn just secured a position at a public relations firm in the very sought after New York City.

This new position gives Cohn many new responsibilities, some that he wasn’t used to doing at The Informer.

Some of his new responsibilities include writing press releases, media alerts and op-ed pieces on behalf of clients that Cohn works for.

Just got offered a job in the city!

— Ben Cohn (@BDC93) July 14, 2015

Cohn stressed that working for Informer has not only opened doors for him in his life but also has given him so much experience in the work field.

By writing weekly op-eds for The Informer, it’s made his transition into the professional work field much smoother.

By working at The Informer, Cohn also expressed how much he learned by working with so many people.

For many reasons, this experience is highly appealing to those hiring younger recently graduated students.

When asked what Cohn’s favorite op-ed piece he recently wrote was, he explained that he had written an article that talks about Social Security and how in the year 2033, the money that goes into it through taxes from paychecks won’t be able to be returned.

The article focused on the struggle of American taxes and whether or not Social Security will help us in the future, or if that money is just getting thrown away.

Some of Cohn’s articles have even been featured in the Daily News, New York Times and even the New York Post.

But, not everything has been easy for Cohn, before being accepted to this position he struggled waiting for a job opportunity.

Cohn stated, “After I graduate, I applied to every company possible in the public relations and advertising field in the tri-state area so there was never a specific company that I was targeting. After a stressful month of interviews, I finally got a job offer and I accepted it right away.”

Many students struggle with finding a position after college, but Cohn’s approach of waiting and being hopeful helped him find a job that suited him best.

The Informer staff would like to congratulate Ben Cohn on his huge success.

While going into my senior year at the University of Hartford, I find myself trying to give those younger than me advice about how to live life.

I’ve seen great years at college and I’ve also seen some pretty lousy ones as well.

The one line I always find myself saying out loud is: “I wish I would have stayed on track like I was on the start of the semester.”

There is nothing worse than starting the semester on top and finishing on the bottom.

When you start to feel yourself getting lazy and a paper where you should have gotten an ‘A’ came back as a ‘C,’ then it’s time to reevaluate where your semester is headed.

There are some easy ways to insure that each semester you gave your absolute best.

The No. 1 rule is don’t ruin your routine midway through the semester.

If you are the type of person who needs to lay everything out for the week, then don’t stop doing it until finals week.

If you are more of a messy person, but know how to keep your life in order, just keep doing it.

Changing halfway through the semester will only confuse your brain on the responsibilities you have ahead.

If you’ve already been at the University of Hartford, then hopefully you know what works best for you to keep everything intact for the semester.

If you’re an incoming freshman, this will be the make-it or break-it of insuring you have a successful year.

Jump into your routine even during syllabus week. Wasting time is very visible and teachers can see it and I can promise your grades will show it.

Don’t be worried if the first attempt of making a plan doesn’t work.

It takes time to figure out what works best for an individual, but don’t give up.

I’ve seen it happen to my peers and even myself. Giving up in the semester is so common and so much easier than you would think.

The worst part is that slacking in and out class effects your other classes, it’s the worst case of a domino effect.

Even if it is the easiest class, don’t think you can just skip assignments, treat it as if it’s your hardest class and give it all you’ve got.

The final piece of advice that I’ve got for you is to have fun while you are on top of your studies. It’s very easy to give up when you haven’t had any time for yourself.

Give yourself time to goof around and get away from responsibilities, make time for yourself when making your schedule.

It’ll make everything easier and take the pressure off of your exams and paper and maybe help motivate you a little more.

My mom tells me it’s important to “work hard and play hard.” I thought it was weird coming from my mom’s mouth, but as I got older it’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received.

Balance is everything in college, and don’t be afraid to search for what works best for you. Good luck in the up and coming year everyone.

As the year is coming to a close there has been exciting news surfacing about the upgrades that will be done to the Starbucks located in the Main Campus Library.

The renovations will take place this summer and will extend until it comes times for students to start moving back on to campus.

The Starbucks that has been operating on campus serves more as an express Starbucks, which means that it doesn’t serve all that a normal Starbucks does if a person where to go off campus. The new renovations will bring a fully working Starbucks to campus.

This will include all of the pastries and all of the different coffee mixes a person can find off campus.

Students will have the opportunity to even have a chance of finding more careers on campus with the renovation.

Adding a larger Starbucks takes more people to help run so there will be more job opportunities. The future of the Starbucks will be located in the same area as it now but will extend from the wall closest to the door to the main computer area.

Sketches have been released of what the area is intended to look like and the over all feel is rustic and contemporary, as you would see in other Starbucks.

For those who are interesting in looking at the future of the Main Library on campus there is a poster board showing different angles of what the renovations will look like when completed.

By completing a new full functioning Starbucks it will bring in much more money to the business ,which is needed to make this whole opperation work. Since it will have a full functionin kitchen it will require much more money to go into the project.

For this project to be successful there would have be almost double of the traffic than what is seen now.

That shouldn’t be an issue if the cafe in the end has more food and drink options for students to choose from.

Whenever my friends would tell me to slow down on the coffee and that I shouldn’t be having so much caffeine, I always thought they were just being annoying and that my body wasn’t that dependent on the stuff. Recently after almost 15 years of drinking coffee I’ve tried to cut back and have been experiencing some of the worst migraines my body has ever had to go through.

Since I was a little girl my mom would put drops of coffee in my bottle and fill the rest up with milk.

That’s a very common thing to do in Spanish cultures but as I grew older the drops became more and more and I’m at the point now of having between four and five cups a day.

It’s even gotten to the point where I don’t need it to just try and stay awake, I need to function.

Some of my friends drink a cup of coffee at the end of the end to allow themselves to pull all-nighters for school work and they will literary be bouncing off of the walls for many hours at a time.

If I were to have a cup of coffee at night I would probably fall asleep before I even finished the cup because it relaxes me so much.

I worry that I won’t ever kick this habit, what will happen when I am forty?

Will I be drinking eight cups of coffee a day? It’s crazy to think but it could be very true.

I worry that my body will forever crave this bitter flavor and I have the feeling of being someone or some things prisoner.

I’m also really worried for my brother, he’s turning fifteen this year and he already have two cups of coffee a day and the caffeine does not affect him either. I’m worried he will one day start to feel sick if he doesn’t have his dose of the day.

I thought it was always a tragic thing when someone was addicted to cigarettes or to alcohol or even hard drugs, I’ve learned that this addiction is very sad in itself.

I don’t think I will ever be able to remove coffee out of my system but I hope to soon cut down more and more until it’s at a reasonable level.

I can’t even imagine the amount of money I will save if I choose to cut down.

(From left to right) CIO George Brophy with Kent McCray, coworker Sebby Sorrentino, Susan McCray and coworker Dan McNamara in 2005. Courtesy of Unotes

George Brophy, who is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the University of Hartford, has announced he will be retiring at the end of December 2013.

Brophy first took this position, which used to be titled Director of Information Technoloy Services, in 2000.

Before coming to the University of Hartford Brophy worked in a ITS department at a banking industry.

Coming into Hartford, it didn’t take long before he became promoted as the CIO because he showed impressive skills to think strategically in many different levels, especially intuitionally.

Not only is he a very skillful man, he also is very interactive with students, giving them guidance and help when needed.

Not only has Brophy worked as the CIO, he also dedicated time to work with the University’s Situation Management Team were he demonstrated a great deal of leadership to all those he worked with.

To continue with his busy yet fulfilling schedule George went the extra mile to work hard and achieve a doctorate degree here at the University.

Brophy was on the ITS Management Team during many milestones for the University. One of them was meeting Kent McCray, producer of “Bonanza” and “Little House on the Prairie” when he donated $100,000 to the television studio in the Harry Jack Gray Center.

Over the years Brophy has been a leading figure in managing the        adminstration and academic computing systems, including the University’s email, phone and registration systems.

Taking over George Brophy’s position will be Richard LaFlamme. He will take over Brophy’s duties as Interim CIO on Dec. 1, 2013 until a permanent replacement for the position is found.

LaFlamme began working at the University of Hartford back in 1983 and has been working as a programmer and analysis, but has held various types of positions with in the ITS department.

The ITS Management Team consists of Dave Kelley, Director of ITS and Network Services; Sebby Sorrentino, Director of Academic and Media Technology; and Betsey Kern, Assistant Director of ITS Administrative Systems.

Dave deManby, Evelyne Haldimann, Allan Geetler and Minhly Nguyen are also on the ITS Management Team.

Together the team will work through the transition. Losing such a dedicated, talented, hard-working employee will be hard for the entire University.

Brophy will continue to work on a part-time basis with Vice President for Finance and Administration Arosha Jayawickrema as Special Assistant and Project Manager. Brophy will continue to support major University technology and operational projects in order to make the transition run as smoothly as possible.

Jayawickrema expressed his appreciation for Brophy’s hard work over the years. He said he enjoyed working with him and regrets seeing Brophy retire.

But, along with the rest of the UHa community, he wishes Brophy the best of luck in all his future endeavors.

At 7 a.m. on Nov. 12, 2013, the University of Hartford Men’s Basketball Team’s game against NCAA Florida Gulf Coast University will be nationally televised.

Every year ESPN throws a Tip-Off Marathon in which they televise college basketball games all over the country to celebrate the start of the college basketball season.

This is the first time the University of Hartford has been given the honor to take part in the marathon.

Anyone can watch the game on ESPN2 on Tuesday on their personal televisions, but the game will be aired at the University Commons for anyone who wants to come and cheer on their fellow Hawks.

The University has decided to open up Commons to students, faculty, staff and the general public for a grand viewing of the game.

Students can use a meal swipe to enjoy a hearty breakfast. The cost for faculty and staff is $5, and the general public will be charged $6.99.

During the event prizes will be given out to those who display the best Hawk Spirit. Prizes will include a Microsoft Surface RT.

The Hartford Men’s Basketball Team will start their season playing a very high profile team that surprised the NCAA when they took them by storm and placed in the Sweet Sixteen.

After playing against Florida Gulf Coast University, the Hawks will take on National Championship title-holder Louisville on Tuesday, Nov. 19  in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Tournament.

Between the two events, the Hawks will host their season opener against Farleigh Dickinson University on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Chase Family Arena here on campus.

The UHa community is eager for the 2013-14 basketball season to commence.

To be invited to participate in ESPN’s Tip-Off Marathon is a celebratory achievement not only for the Men’s basketball team, but for the University in as a whole.