UHart Commencement Made For Memorable Mothers Day

Courtesy of University of Hartford

WEST HARTFORD/HARTFORD, CT — The XL Center in Hartford was decked out in red Sunday, with approximately 1,200 University of Hartford graduates receiving their degrees.

The educational milestones were celebrated during two separate commencement ceremonies on Mothers Day, making for a memorable day for grads of UHart, which is located in West Hartford, Hartford and Bloomfield.

The day began with the graduate degree ceremony, where students and guests heard from Greg Barats, chief executive officer and president of HSB Group, parent company of Hartford Steam Boiler.

In the afternoon, undergraduate students and their friends and family were addressed by alumna Nicole Hughey, senior vice president and head of diversity, equity and inclusion at SiriusXM.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also offered words of support and congratulations to the undergraduates.

Hughey reminded members of the Class of 2023 they must align with their own hopes and desires, instead of someone else’s.

“Your journey will be uniquely yours and destiny will bring you things you could not have imagined for yourself," said Hughey, who earned her master’s degree from UHart’s Barney School of Business in 1999.

"Make sure to pack your mindset, several options of accountability, a healthy dose of investment, over pack execution, and leave room for transparency."

Barats assured graduates that changing careers multiple times — like he did — is not a negative.

"Your past experiences are not lost time," he said. "All experiences are additive. They help you
to develop an awareness of who you are, build your confidence, and help you find your North
Star."

In honor of his outstanding corporate and community leadership, Barats was awarded an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degree.

Frank Hursey, whose revolutionary discovery of the blood-clotting properties of a crushed rock called zeolite transformed trauma medicine, also received an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degree.

The class is also made up of nearly 250 grads who are first-generation students as the first in their families to graduate from college.

For the full UHart commencement report, click on this link.