UConn President Susan Herbst and her husband Douglas Hughes are making a personal investment in UConn, one student at a time. They established the Susan Herbst and Douglas Hughes Family Scholarship in the Humanities last year with a pledge of $100,000.

On Monday, Oct. 22, Herbst and Hughes offered congratulations to freshman English major Alan Polozov, the first recipient of their scholarship.

Polozov, from Greenwich, spoke about his dream of being a writer and the value of having a scholarship. “It’s a real honor to receive this,” he said. “I believe people who are willing to help a student pursue an education are truly generous and kind-hearted.”

The scholarship is designed to support a first-year student studying the humanities in UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who demonstrates both academic achievement and financial need.

“The humanities inspire us and help us figure out what truly matters,” Herbst said when establishing the scholarship. She has made expansion of private fundraising to support student scholarship, faculty research, and building projects one of her major priorities as president.