February 8, 2021 | Staff Reports

UConn Hartford Names Director of Academic Affairs

Linda Citlali Halgunseth has been named Director of Academic Affairs at UConn Hartford.

Linda Halgunseth teaches at UConn Waterbury prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; she was recently named Director of Academic Affairs for UConn Hartford.

Linda Halgunseth teaches at UConn Waterbury prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; she was recently named Director of Academic Affairs for UConn Hartford. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

Associate Professor, Linda Citlali Halgunseth, has been named Director of Academic Affairs for UConn Hartford. Since 2012 she has been teaching in the Human Development and Family Sciences department at UConn Waterbury.

Campus Director Mark Overmyer-Velázquez, in announcing the appointee for the new position said, “I am excited to work with Dr. Halgunseth, as she supports the advancement of teaching and research on campus with a focus on integrating Hartford-based classroom and scholarly opportunities. In addition to her years of experience working at a regional university campus, Dr. Halgunseth’s research and teaching expertise will further UConn Hartford’s mission to engage in experiential learning opportunities and solution oriented services in the state capital that change communities for the better.”

In this new campus role, Dr. Halgunseth will work with faculty and serve as the primary faculty partner in the Campus Director’s Office to provide support and guidance related to academic matters. She has transitioned from her post at UConn Waterbury to Hartford on January 29, 2021. She will continue teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in HDFS.

Halgunseth’s scholarship focuses on how cultural values influence parenting, parent-child relationships, and child development. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence, and is Past Chair of the SRCD Latinx Caucus.  Halgunseth has been honored and recognized with the 2017 AAUP Early Career Teaching Award and 2017 SRCD Latinx Early Career Research Award.  She holds a BA in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin and a MS and Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Sciences from the University of Missouri. She is excited to bring her experience to this new role and to work with the faculty and administration in Hartford.

“I am looking forward to working with faculty to provide the best educational experience for students at UConn Hartford,” Halgunseth said. “I look forward to supporting and enhancing faculty goals of growing research excellence, as well as building a supportive, diverse, and antiracist community on campus.”