How do we connect with one another?

Connections and Disconnections

In a moment increasingly defined by proliferating connections to technology and a growing sense of disconnection from one another, we know that the humanities provides invaluable insights into how we relate to each other, we relate to one another, how we create community, and how to find and follow meaning in the lives we lead.

A birdseye view of a lecture hall filled with students.An empty lecture hallA close up photograph of two people holding wood keychains that say "Pick Up the Thread."students, faculty, and staff gathered in Wilbur Cross North Reading Room.

UConn Story Slam

March 27, 2025, 3:30pm
Ballard Museum Black Box Theatre

Six students will perform their personal stories in an intimate show reflecting on issues of social isolation and connection.

Stories stick with us. They connect us to each other. In a world where we are more disconnected from each other than ever, stories can be healing. They help us see new perspectives and share ideas, building identity and community.

From finding connection in the boxing ring to understanding identity through language, six students will share their unique perspectives on what it means to find connection. UCHI Student Ambassadors will work with Story Slam coaches Jon Adler and Gillian Epstein to craft their stories into a performance, culminating in the UConn Story Slam where they will tell their stories in front of a live audience.

UCHI Student Ambassadors

DAVID CABECEIRAS

Hannah Dang headshot

HANNAH DANG

Pronouns: she/her
Major: English
Hannah is a Vietnamese American writer and student at the University of Connecticut (UConn) majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing and writing and composition studies. Poet at heart, Hannah’s enamor for all things writing has blossomed ever since she was a kid, and now, she is studying to pursue her dream of a career in publishing and releasing books of her own one day. Academic endeavors and career prospects aside, Hannah is a mentor at UConn’s Asian/Asian American Mentoring Program, an undergraduate tutor at UConn's Writing Center, a member of UConn's Long River Review, and frequents general body meetings held by UConn's Vietnamese Student Association. Since she was a first-year student, she has also worked as a blog moderator for the Disability & Access Collective Blog. If she is not burying her nose in a novel, Hannah loves to binge anime and manga, consume healthy doses of rock and heavy metal music, and snuggle with her pet bunnies.

AISHA HASHIMI

Natasha Khetan headshot.NATASHA KHETAN

Pronouns: she/her
Major: Allied Health Sciences and Disability Studies (Individualized Major)
Natasha is an undergraduate student at the University of Connecticut pursuing a dual degree: a B.S. in Allied Health Sciences and a B.A. in Disability Studies, the latter being an individualized major. She is passionate about pursuing a career in medicine, inspired by her personal experiences as a patient with a chronic health condition and reaffirmed through various clinical experiences. Natasha is actively involved on campus as a peer leader for the Public Health Learning Community, a Student Program Director for Community Outreach Alternative Breaks, a student worker on the Center for Students with Disabilities Tech Team, and a student researcher in the Feng Lab. Through her education and future career, Natasha aspires to help create a more inclusive and equitable healthcare system where every individual receives the respect, care, and support they deserve. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, playing her flute, and she’s a huge MMA fan!

MARTINE AUGUST REMI

MYLES TATE-ALSGAARD

Story Slam Coaches

Jon Adler headshotJONATHAN M. ADLER

A Professor of Psychology, Jonathan’s work as a scholar, artist, and practitioner focuses on the relationship between narrative identity development and psychological well-being.

Gillian Epstein headshotGILLIAN EPSTEIN

Dr. Epstein’s work focuses on empowering others to examin, craft, and communicate compelling stories about who they are and what they care about.

Events

UCHI hosts events across campus and with community partners addressing loneliness, connection, and disconnection at UConn and beyond.

2024–25 Events

Pick Up the Thread: A Post-Election Connection

In collaboration with the Well-Being Collective, UCHI hosted “Pick Up the Thread,” creating an inclusive space where students, faculty, and staff came together for collective art-making and meaningful dialogue the day after Election Day. Through shared creative activities and facilitated conversations, participants explored ways to create and maintain community in politically charged times.
November 6, 2024, 11:00am, Dove Tower

Connections/Disconnections: A Conversation on the Loneliness Epidemic

In partnership with the nonprofit, The CT Collaborative to End Loneliness, (founded by two UConn alumni), UCHI hosted an event for students, faculty, and staff to learn about the vital health impacts of social isolation on our mental and physical well-being.

Dozens of students, faculty and staff gathered to listen to a panel of UConn panelists that included UConn professors, alumni and current students who shared their lived experiences with loneliness. The second half of the conversation was moderated by Catherine Shen, host of CT Public Radio's Where We Live.
October 1, 2024, 3:30pm, Wilbur Cross North Reading Room

Moving Ahead

UCHI will be drawing on the insights of the humanities to bring people together around art, storytelling and scholarship to better understand what we find meaningful, and how we might forge community around shared appreciation for that meaning. From ecological scholarship in a greenhouse, to classical literature found in videogames, UCHI seeks to meet students and faculty where they are in order to build shared investments in what we care about.