{"id":137322,"date":"2018-05-02T15:43:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T19:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=137322"},"modified":"2018-05-02T15:47:45","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T19:47:45","slug":"uconn-celebrates-former-board-chairman-larry-mchugh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/05\/uconn-celebrates-former-board-chairman-larry-mchugh\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Celebrates Former Board Chairman Larry McHugh, Building Named in His Honor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Larry<\/a>
Larry McHugh, chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the event held on the Student Union Mall to celebrate the naming of the former Laurel Hall in his honor on May 2. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
McHugh180502a034<\/div>
Larry McHugh, chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the event held on the Student Union Mall to celebrate the naming of the former Laurel Hall in his honor on May 2. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"President<\/a>
President Susan Herbst speaks at the ceremony celebrating the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
McHugh180502a006<\/div>
President Susan Herbst speaks at the ceremony celebrating the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Thomas<\/a>
Thomas Kruger, current chairman of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the event celebrating the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
McHugh180502a013<\/div>
Thomas Kruger, current chairman of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the event celebrating the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Thomas<\/a>
Thomas Kruger, current chairman of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the event celebrating the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
McHugh180502a016<\/div>
Thomas Kruger, current chairman of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the event celebrating the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Thomas<\/a>
Thomas Ritter '77 JD, a member of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the event celebrating the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
McHugh180502a021<\/div>
Thomas Ritter '77 JD, a member of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the event celebrating the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Larry<\/a>
Larry McHugh, chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the ceremony held on the Student Union Mall to name the former Laurel Hall in his honor. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
McHugh180502a029<\/div>
Larry McHugh, chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the ceremony held on the Student Union Mall to name the former Laurel Hall in his honor. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Larry<\/a>
Larry McHugh, chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the ceremony held on the Student Union Mall to name the former Laurel Hall in his honor. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
McHugh180502a032<\/div>
Larry McHugh, chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees, speaks at the ceremony held on the Student Union Mall to name the former Laurel Hall in his honor. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"From<\/a>
From left, Thomas Ritter '77 JD, Thomas Kruger, President Susan Herbst, Patricia McHugh, and Larry McHugh at the ceremony held to celebrate the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall on May 2. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
McHugh180502a045<\/div>
From left, Thomas Ritter '77 JD, Thomas Kruger, President Susan Herbst, Patricia McHugh, and Larry McHugh at the ceremony held to celebrate the naming of Lawrence D. McHugh Hall on May 2. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

University officials held an outdoor event on Wednesday to celebrate former chairman of the Board of Trustees Larry McHugh and the recent renaming of the academic building now known as Lawrence D. McHugh Hall in recognition of his contributions to UConn over the years.<\/p>\n

The new name for the former Laurel Hall was approved by a vote of the Board of Trustees in December, and the building sign on Fairfield Way has already been updated.<\/p>\n

\n

I love that thousands of UConn students will say \u2018meet you at McHugh at 11 o\u2019clock.\u2019 — President Herbst<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Speaking during the ceremony, President Susan Herbst said, \u201cLarry is the model of a public servant with the traits of determination, service, and courage. I have the upmost respect for him as a person and as a board chairman. He always wanted what was best and right for UConn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t think of a better building on our campus to name in his honor,” she added. “I love that thousands of UConn students will say \u2018meet you at McHugh at 11 o\u2019clock.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

McHugh presided over the board from 2009 to 2017. His tenure spanned the appointment of Herbst in 2010, as the first female president in University history, and the passage historic investments by the state in BioScience Connecticut in 2011 and Next Generation Connecticut in 2013. Also while he was chairman, UConn Health established a partnership with the Jackson Laboratory and the University’s Hartford campus relocated to downtown Hartford.<\/p>\n

A former high school teacher and football coach, McHugh has been president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce since 1983.<\/p>\n

The current chairman of the board, Thomas Kruger, paid tribute to his predecessor. “Working alongside Larry for these years, I realized he was the gold standard,” he said. “The right of every trustee to speak was respected under Larry. UConn had eight good years under Larry \u2013<\/strong> there were challenges, but they were rewarding years.”<\/p>\n

Kruger noted that McHugh had an impact in many spheres: athletics, business, and civic affairs. “I don\u2019t think there are many people in our state that have a high school athletic field and a university classroom building named after them,” he said, “but both are very well deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trustee Thomas Ritter commented, “I have never met a finer human being than Larry. Great leadership starts with a moral compass. You then have to understand who you are working with, and how to get to the desired goal. He is such a treasure.”<\/p>\n

\n

The state of Connecticut can\u2019t exist without an outstanding University of Connecticut. — Larry McHugh<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Taking the podium, McHugh thanked Herbst and the board for the building naming. \u201cToday will always have a special place in my heart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking of his time as chairman of the board he said, \u201cThe members of the Board of Trustees were more than just that to me. They were my friends. They are loyal, dedicated, honest, and upfront. The most important thing to them was that our UConn students get a fair shake.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever forget how important higher education is for the state of Connecticut,\u201d he continued. \u201cDon\u2019t be bashful in telling people that. The state of Connecticut can\u2019t exist without an outstanding University of Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love that thousands of UConn students will say \u2018meet you at McHugh at 11 o\u2019clock,\u2019 said President Herbst at an event to celebrate the naming of McHugh Hall in honor of the former board chairman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":137325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2225,2234,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2113,1931],"class_list":["post-137322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","category-university-news","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 02:26:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137322"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137342,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137322\/revisions\/137342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/137325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137322"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=137322"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=137322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}