Donn Weinholtz Earns Award for Service to the University of Hartford at Commencement Ceremony

Donn Weinholtz of Windsor, professor of educational leadership in the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Hartford, was presented with the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Award for Sustained Service to the University at the University’s Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18. Since 1991, Weinholtz—as dean of the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions and professor of educational leadership—has provided impressive service to his department, his college, the University, and the surrounding community. A former chair of the Faculty Senate, he currently serves on the Senate (third term), the Graduate Council, the Regent's Advancement Committee, and the Athletics Council. Previously, he co-chaired the committee that established the University of Hartford Magnet School and he helped create the Hartford Urban Education Network and the Connecticut Alliance of Concerned Educators. Humphrey Tonkin, professor of humanities and former University of Hartford president, says: "Donn did these things out of far more than a sense of duty or professional responsibility, but out of a strong. … conviction that universities are not institutions apart" and that they "should be involved with the communities around them, for the benefit of all." As dean, Weinholtz helped grow ENHP's enrollment from 660 to 1,560 students. He also assumed responsibility for the Educational Main Street program, doubling its size. As department chair, he oversaw the evolution of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership from a K–to–12 program to a higher–education program, while increasing enrollment to ensure financial stability. Weinholtz currently teaches graduate research methods and ethics courses and supervises doctoral dissertations. He also teaches in the All-University Curriculum and previously received the Donald W. Davis All-University Curriculum Award. For seven years, he and several colleagues have maintained a weekly, on-campus peace vigil. He is active in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), serving in key roles for Hartford Friends Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and Friends Association for Higher Education, for which he founded the online publication, Quaker Higher Education. "Donn regularly seeks to build connections between the University and the community organizations he leads, drawing the University into new and important values-based work," says Lynn Pasquerella, former University of Hartford provost and current president of Mount Holyoke College. Weinholtz received a BA from Dickinson College (1971), a MEd from Shippensburg State College (1973), and a PhD from the University of North Carolina (1981). He is married to Diane Thistle Weinholtz, the head of Watkinson Middle School. Their three children—David, Philip, and Jennifer—are graduates of the University of Harford. Chartered in 1957 with the mission to be a “private university with a public purpose,” the University of Hartford offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in the arts, humanities, business, engineering and technology, education, and the health professions. The University’s student body of more than 7,000 represents 45 states and nearly 60 countries. For more information, visit www.hartford.edu.