Jeanine Armstrong Gouin ’87 (ENG), an alumna who has demonstrated her dedication to furthering the mission of Connecticut’s flagship university for many years, was recently elected to the Board of Trustees.
Gouin, of Cheshire, Connecticut, is one of two alumni trustees on the 21-member board, each serving a four-year term representing UConn alumni in university discussions and decisions. Elected by alumni, she will begin her term next month at the Trustees’ meeting on Sept. 27.
“I feel deeply and passionately about giving back to the institution that not only provided me with an exceptional education, but also gave me the foundation and confidence to step out into the world and succeed,” said Gouin, whose field is civil engineering. “My education at UConn led to a career that has afforded me challenges and opportunities I never could have imagined. Serving on the Board of Trustees is a privilege and an honor.”
Since graduating from UConn, Gouin has maintained professional, philanthropic, and personal involvement with the University.
One of the ways she has been able to apply her education and experience toward the future growth and success of UConn involved the University’s water supply.
Gouin is managing director and vice president of Milone & MacBroom Inc., one of the largest consulting firms in the northeast that provides civil engineering, planning, landscape architecture, and land survey services. Her firm assisted UConn throughout the process of developing a water supply interconnection that will serve the University’s drinking water needs for many decades, enabling the planned growth associated with NextGen Connecticut.
Additionally, after hiring UConn graduates to the employee-owned company for many years, in 2011 Milone & MacBroom Inc. sponsored an endowed scholarship with the School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
“UConn has become a mainstay for our Connecticut-based firm,” said Gouin. “Its graduates demonstrate strong technical foundations and a practical understanding that allows them to assimilate quickly and advance in short order.”
Barely a decade after she graduated from UConn herself, Gouin became a member of the advisory board for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, assisting with professional accreditation, curriculum review, and capstone design reviews. It’s a role she still continues after 22 years.
In 2014, she was inducted into the UConn Academy of Distinguished Engineers, an award that honors “exceptional engineering alumni whose careers are characterized by their sustained and exemplary contributions to the engineering profession through research, practice, education, policy, or service.”
Gouin recently added one more connection to UConn – that of alumni parent. Her son graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.
“UConn is a place where extended families are formed,” Gouin said. “It’s a place where professors care; where they know their students by name; where they help those who are struggling, inspire students to work hard and stay determined, push and challenge students to grow and stretch, and celebrate successes.”
As a member of the Board of Trustees, Gouin will serve the University as a whole. The responsibilities include electing the president, adopting an annual financial plan of operation, enhancing student life, and establishing degrees.
