Top Simsbury Official Achieves New Academic Milestone

SIMSBURY, CT — Simsbury's top elected official will likely tell you one is never done learning and, this week, she showed just why.

That's because Simsbury First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis, after years serving Simsbury and after three decades working in corporate information technology, walked down the aisle this week and earned another college degree.

Mackstutis has been on the board of selectmen since 2019 and has been first selectman since 2021.

On Monday, however, she accomplished a major professional and educational milestone at the University of Connecticut School of Public Policy, earning a master's degree in public administration.

That educational culmination occurred at the school's commencement on Monday at the Infinity Music Hall in Hartford.

The new academic diploma will be well-used as the Democrat leads the town's top elected body.

For Mackstutis, Monday was about achievement and UConn, even, tabbed her to be one of two student speakers at the commencement ceremony, with Connecticut Attorney General William Tong the main speaker.

The Bloomfield native moved to Simsbury in the 1980s, where she raised her son and daughter (now grown) with her husband.

A graduate of the University of Hartford, Mackstutis spent three decades working at area insurance companies in informatoin technology.

Now retired, she has earned a degree in something completely different from her old career, but very much relevant in her current one.

Simsbury Town Manager Marc Nelson even paid tribute to the first selectman by giving her a shout-out in his regular manager's report to the board of selectmen.

As for what she plans to use her degree for, Mackstutis said it was to better serve her constituents.

"I hope it helps me better understand how our local governments work and the importance that good policy decisions do to serve the public," she told Patch.

Mackstutis said she was in the Fellows program, which is geared toward older students and professionals.

It required her to spend her Saturdays in class at the UConn-Hartford campus, she said.

She noted that being first selectman in Simsbury, which has a town manager form of government, made the journey to her degree less daunting than, say, a full-time first selectman.

"As a ‘part-time’ elected official, it was probably harder for my peers in class who have full-time jobs," she said. "What was hard was that the free time I would have from town work was all consumed by school projects. I can now have some free time back."

Plus, her recently completed journey through academia allowed her to achieve another longtime goal.

A die-hard UConn Husky fan, Mackstutis said she always wanted to earn a degree from the state's flagship university, and she said she's now "proud to be a Husky."

From Oct. 10, 2023: 'Patch Candidate Profile: Wendy Mackstutis, Simsbury First Selectman'