Don Steigman’s Time at the University of Connecticut
by Don Steigman
Before I attended graduate school at The George Washington University, I earned a Bachelor of Science at the University of Connecticut (UConn), a place where I was afforded the chance to spend time in a beautiful institution with a history dating back to 1881.
UConn’s main campus is in Storrs. The university was originally called the Storrs Agricultural School, and UConn went through many names until its current one, which was adopted in 1939.
The school continued to grow through the decades, and in 1995 the Connecticut General Assembly passed into law a state-funded program called UCONN 2000, which set aside a billion dollars for campus upgrades to facilities, additions to faculty, and other improvements. In 2002 the State of Connecticut gave the University an additional 1.3 billion for another plan called 21st Century UConn.
Known for its programs in law, health care administration, dentistry, gifted and talented education, and family studies, UConn offers 105 majors that include undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs. The School of Law and the School of Business rank as two of the best public graduate schools in the country.
UConn’s School of Fine Arts’ puppetry program has gained national acclaim. Started in 1964 by Professor Frank W. Ballard, the program prepares students to perform in and design for theatres around the world. Program graduates have worked on sets for TV shows, written books, run museums, and taught children the art of puppetry.
by Don Steigman
A trauma hospital is distinct from a typical hospital as it is uniquely equipped with emergency medical services to treat patients suffering from traumatic injuries. The existence of such care centers arose from the realization that trauma produces a disease process requiring specialized equipment and the services of rigorously trained experts working in a multi-disciplinary way to create proper treatment plans. A trauma hospital often must cover a large geographical region, and usually includes a landing pad for the helicopter transport of patients. Most people do not know that trauma is the leading cause of death for children and adults up to age 44. Trauma includes not only the obvious injuries related to events such as violent attacks, vehicular accidents, and falls, but also brain injuries resulting from serious strokes, ruptured aneurisms, and so on. Much like a gunshot wound to the head, a brain injury caused by a serious internal brain incident, requires immediate attention from rigorously trained medical professionals. Extraordinary measures must be performed by trauma neurosurgeons, neurologists, acute care nurses, and other related specialists working with sophisticated diagnostic tools. Saving the life of a human being and minimizing damage to his or her brain literally depends on the skills and resources of these heroic medical professionals, as well as limiting the time lapsing between injury and initial treatment. In the Unites States, a hospital must meet certain very specific standards to be designated a trauma center. There are four distinct levels of trauma center types, with Level I being equipped to handle the most severe injuries. Such a center provides the highest level of general surgeons, neurosurgeons, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, anesthesiologists, and others, and it must make these services available to patients 24 hours a day. In addition, a Level I trauma hospital usually also serves as a center of research, and a community resource for injury education and prevention. Operating a trauma hospital requires a great deal of financial resources and must be managed by a well-coordinated administrative team as well. Many areas are underserved by trauma centers. For instance, Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, is the only trauma center to operate throughout all of Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.
Broward County belongs to the three-county area that makes up the location that we think of as the South Florida metropolitan area, situated in the southeastern part of the state. South Florida enjoys an extreme diversity in population, with most of the residents coming from Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean, and Europe. Of course, the area remains the winter home residence of many well-known snow-birds, those temporary inhabitants who come from the Northeastern or Midwestern part of the country to escape icy cold winters, many of them deciding to stay permanently after retiring from employment. The population of the counties occupies a strip of land between the Everglades and the Atlantic Ocean, and the area contains the noteworthy tourist spots of Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and West Palm Beach. Broward County contains many noteworthy attractions including the Museum of Discovery and Science, Butterfly World, and the Festival Flea Market Hall, the largest indoor flea market in the country. The African-American Research Library and Cultural Center contains more than 75,000 books and provides a wonderful resource for research into the lives and experiences of those who arrived here from Africa, the Caribbean, as well as Central and Latin America. However, the most important and spectacular places of interest here are natural ones as the county has many entrances to the Everglades as well as access to the gorgeous beaches and waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Parkland, a town in Broward County, is considered the best-educated city in Florida, with over half the adults possessing degrees of B.A. or higher.
