Come share your morning with some of Connecticut’s brightest rising stars! February 14th’s Rising Star Breakfast (7:30-9am at The Bushnell) will feature Walt Harrison, President, University of Hartford Pat Meiser, Director of Athletics, University of Hartford; Amy Huchthausen, Commissioner, America East Conference; and Cindy Brunsun, ESPN Anchor, Sports Center. We’ve got 10 tickets to give away! Leave a comment on this blog post by noon by February 9th for a chance to attend free of charge! (Winners will be notified via email by the 10th, preference will be given to those who have not won a RSB ticket in the last 6 months)
Walter Harrison was appointed the University of Hartford’s fifth president in 1998. A native of Pittsburgh, he graduated from Trinity College in Hartford in 1968, and then earned his master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1969. He then spent three years serving as captain in the United States Air Force, after which Harrison earned a doctorate from the University of California. For his doctoral dissertation he wrote “Out of Play: Baseball Fiction from Pulp to Art”, one of the earliest scholarly treatments of baseball and its place in American life.
Pat Meiser, in her 16th year at the University of Hartford, serves as the director of athletics and special assistant to the president. One of only 22 women director of athletics among the 329 institutions competing at the Division I level, Meiser has 37 years of experience in athletics administration. In May of 1999, she was named one of the nation's top 50 women's sports executives by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal, and in June of 2006 she was named the Northeast Region I-AAA GeneralSports TURF Systems Athletics Director of the Year.
Former America East Assistant Commissioner Amy Huchthausen, who had worked at four Division I conferences and spent five years at the NCAA, was named Commissioner of the America East Conference in December, 2011. Huchthausen is only the fourth commissioner in America East history the first woman to lead the league.
Cindy Brunson joined ESPN as an ESPNEWS anchor in September 1999. Since 2008 Brunson has served as the
SportsCenter anchor for the weekend morning edition. In addition, Brunson serves as studio host during the network's women's college basketball and WNBA regular-season coverage. Brunson also provides Major League Baseball news updates during ESPN’s daily programming.