{"id":226082,"date":"2025-02-27T07:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T12:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=226082"},"modified":"2025-03-20T11:49:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T15:49:18","slug":"uconn-business-students-help-landmark-harriet-beecher-stowe-center-to-expand-its-audience-thrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/02\/uconn-business-students-help-landmark-harriet-beecher-stowe-center-to-expand-its-audience-thrive\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Business Students Help Landmark Harriet Beecher Stowe Center to Expand Its Audience, Thrive"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of first graders from the Annie Fisher Magnet School in Hartford sat cross-legged on the floor at The Stowe Center for Literary Activism<\/a> in Hartford on a recent Friday morning, eager to explain what the word \u201cfreedom\u2019\u2019 means to them.<\/p>\n

The Stowe Center is the final home of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the acclaimed author of the anti-slavery novel \u201cUncle Tom\u2019s Cabin,\u2019\u2019 published in 1852, which helped change Americans\u2019 attitudes toward abolitionism.<\/p>\n

The Stowe Center\u2019s mission is to encourage social justice and literacy activism by exploring Harriet\u2019s legacy and the ideas of others who advocate for hope and freedom. They seek a world in which engagement leads to empathy, empowerment, and change for good.<\/p>\n

\"Karen
Karen Fisk, executive director of the Stowe Center for Literary Activism in Hartford, says she is grateful for the data analytics insight she received from a team of five UConn business undergraduate students. (Nathan Oldham \/ UConn School of Business photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne could definitely argue that that perspective is needed now more than ever,\u2019\u2019 says Executive Director Karen Fisk, who, with her team, welcome some 5,000 visitors to the Center every year.<\/p>\n

UConn Business Students Analyze, Organize Center\u2019s Data<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Stowe Center, located on Forest Street and adjacent to the Mark Twain House, is one of the prized gems of Hartford, and has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities as critical to American history and culture.<\/p>\n

Although the leadership at the Stowe Center had reams of data about its visitors, it wasn\u2019t in a format that could easily be organized, analyzed, and presented. They wanted to track where their visitors were coming from, what drew them to the Center, and the dates and times when visitation peaked. That information could guide strategy, staffing, and future growth.<\/p>\n

Fisk reached out to the School of Business for help and was connected to staff at the Digital Frontiers Initiative (DFI), which sources, vets, and assigns STEM-based projects to students. Five undergraduate students took on the Stowe Center task as part of their senior Analytics and Information Management (AIM) Capstone Project last semester.<\/p>\n

Aditya Mamidi \u201925 (BUS) says he enjoyed the challenge and responsibility that he and his team experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing I enjoyed was the creative freedom we had, without the strict guidelines you have with a traditional college project,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cWe put our heads together to come up with something that we hope The Stowe Center can use for a long time.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

In addition to Mamidi, the project team included, from the School of Business: Gregory Bliss \u201825, Liam Wagner \u201825, Alexander Brynczka \u201924 and Daniel Rodriguez \u201924. Mamidi, Bliss, and Wagner are seniors, and Brynczka and Rodriguez graduated in December.<\/p>\n

\u2018It Demonstrates What I Can Do and What I\u2019ve Learned\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

One thing that was important was presenting the data, which spanned from 2017 to today, in a way that was easy to understand for those without an analytics background.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took the time to create in-depth training videos so anyone watching would understand with no trouble,\u2019\u2019 says Mamidi, who plans to intern at Deloitte in Hartford after graduation and is considering an advanced degree in business analytics. \u201cThis is definitely going on my LinkedIn, and my resume, because it demonstrates what I can do and what I\u2019ve learned.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Bliss also described the Capstone project as a great experience and says it prepared him for his career, particularly having to pivot in designing a project.<\/p>\n

\"UConn
From left: UConn School of Business students Liam Wagner, Daniel Rodriguez, Alexander Brynczka and Aditya Mamidi (contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The team originally recommended a program that was too expensive for the Stowe Center, and they realized they needed a more affordable plan. They were able to find a substitute plan that worked very well and cost just a fraction of the original price. It is a strategy Bliss knows he will use in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf one idea doesn\u2019t work out you need to have a backup plan,\u2019\u2019 Bliss says. \u201cIt\u2019s important to be prepared and willing to make adjustments when needed. I enjoyed working with \u2018real\u2019 data and knowing that it can benefit the Stowe Center.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Bliss says through this project, as well as his work at National Life Group, he\u2019s confirmed how much he enjoys data project work and has a clearer idea of his immediate career path.<\/p>\n

\u2018I Can\u2019t Say Enough\u2026About these Young People\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fisk says the students exceeded her expectations with their abilities, professionalism, and project management.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they did was so thorough. They were patient, explained everything well, and were extremely professional. They were quite impressive,\u2019\u2019 she says. \u201cI felt so well taken care of through the whole project.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

If it weren\u2019t for the students\u2019 pro-bono work, Fisk says she would have had to start a fundraising initiative to pay to hire a data expert, and that would have greatly extended the project.<\/p>\n

For OPIM professor Jon Moore, who oversaw the project alongside OPIM professor Stephen Fitzgerald, the Capstone project was a valuable experience not only for the students, but also for the Stowe Center and the broader community.<\/p>\n

\"UConn
UConn School of Business student Gregory Bliss (contributed photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe Stowe Center for Literacy Activism project was an amazing experience for the students, as they got to dive into the Center’s data to create dashboards, insights, and predictive models around attendance and engagement,\u2019\u2019 says Moore, who is also the executive director of DFI. \u201cTheir work helped the Stowe Center better understand trends and connect with visitors in smarter, more impactful ways.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe OPIM department and the School of Business recognize the immense value of collaborating with local organizations like the Stowe Center, giving students the chance to tackle real-world challenges while making a meaningful difference in the community,\u2019\u2019 Moore says. \u201cBy leveraging Digital Frontiers as a bridge between academia and industry, the project exemplifies how UConn students gain hands-on experience while delivering meaningful solutions to real-world challenges.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Their work helped the Stowe Center better understand trends and connect with visitors in smarter, more impactful ways’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":226101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1715,2471,2193,2649,2650,2624,1862,99,2235,2227,2458],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2105],"class_list":["post-226082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-impact","category-economic-development","category-hartford-county","category-blue-pride","category-blue-impact","category-blue","category-busn","category-student-life","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-undergraduates"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 15:55:41","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\/226082","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\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226082"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226090,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226082\/revisions\/226090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/226101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226082"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=226082"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=226082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}