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Dale A. Merrill is currently the Dean of The Hartt School and the Hartford Art School. He is also a member of the HCD dance faculty at University of Hartford. Prior to joining Hartt, he was the dean of the College of the Arts at Cal State Fullerton.
Prior to joining CSUF, Merrill created a highly competitive dance department and was instrumental in the formation of the College of Performing Arts at Chapman University, where he served as both associate dean and dean. His former Chapman students include So You Think You Can Dance contestants Katee Shean, Ade Obayomi and Stephen Boss, aka “Twitch”. Other former students are now performing with the National Touring Company of Wicked and the modern dance companies Momix, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Batsheva and Damagedance. He was one of the founding members and artistic director of Spectrum Dance Theater, a professional dance company and community arts organization in Seattle. Dean Merrill directed and re-staged works by noted choreographers such as Ann Reinking, Margo Sappington, Dwight Rhoden, Lar Lubovitch, Daniel Ezralow, and Lynne Taylor-Corbett.
Dean Merrill has over 25 years of choreographic and teaching credits, including numerous original works, musical theater productions, and a public television special. He has been a guest teacher for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Backhausdance, Anaheim Ballet, Cornish College of the Arts, University of Washington, University of California, Irvine, University of Montana, Saint Joseph Ballet, Washington Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Bellevue, Montana Dance Arts Association, Black Hills Dance Association, and The American College Dance Festival. Dean Merrill currently serves as a site-evaluator for accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Dance and serves as a member of the Visual and Performing Arts Standards Advisory Committee for the California State Board of Education.
Recognized for his community leadership, Merrill received a 2001 Rudy, a national award presented by Safeco Insurance Company for community leadership and advocacy. The following year, he was honored with the prestigious Corporate Council for the Arts’ Unsung Hero Award.
Merrill earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ballet from the University of Utah and a Master of Fine Arts in dance from the University of Washington.
Mike Magee MD is the author of CODE BLUE: Inside the Medical-Industrial
Complex which received a Kirkus Star review. He is a medical historian and journalist at
the President’s College at the University of Hartford. He has held similar roles in a range
of academic institutions. He was a Honorary Master Scholar at NYU School of Medicine,
and a Distinquished Alumnus award recipient from the University of North Carolina.
Beginning as a country doctor in western New England, he rose to the highest levels of
his profession holding senior executive positions at Pennsylvania Hospital in
Philadelphia, and as head of global medical affairs for Pfizer. He is editor of the blog
HealthCommentary.org.
Megan Clark Torrey is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the World Affairs Council of CT. Megan became the Executive Director in March 2014, after having served as Program Director since 2003. She oversees the development and delivery of world class programming that educates the community on global affairs.
Recently, Megan implemented a nation-wide World Affairs Council series focused on global women’s health, helped pilot a leadership mission to Brazil and produced a mini-documentary on Henry Kissinger that featured several former Secretaries of State. Megan has facilitated the visits of several world leaders to the Council in Hartford. During her time at CTWAC, the Council has expanded the scope and reach of its programming by implementing new technology and communications initiatives.
Ms. Torrey has two degrees in international relations and diplomacy. Her research interests include inclusive security and the role of women in post-conflict situations and citizen participation in foreign policy. Before joining the World Affairs Council in 2003, she worked with UNESCO’s International Year for the Culture of Peace at the headquarters in Paris and at the United Nations International Training Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. A member of several professional organizations, Megan has traveled extensively all over the world.
WALTER HARRISON is president emeritus of the University of Hartford, where he led the University from 1998 until his retirement in 2017. His academic interest is in baseball and its place in American culture. Recognized as a baseball historian, he focuses on aspects of baseball that reflect on American values and concerns. From 2002-2012 he was a member of NCAA governance, chairing the executive committee (now called the board of governors), the committee on academic performance (now called the committee on academics), and President’s Council. In 2014 he received the NCAA President’s Gerald R. Ford Award, the NCAA’s highest honor, for his lifetime involvement in intercollegiate athletics and specifically for his leadership of the academic reform movement. From 2014-2022 he served on the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, the foremost watchdog organization in college sports.
Jim Bergenn handles complex criminal and civil litigation, white collar crime and government investigations, personal injury and wrongful death cases, and other trials with meaningful consequences. Tapping into over 40 years’ experience as a trial attorney and trial skills instructor, lawyers and the media call on Jim for his insight with respect to investigations, experts and high-profile trials.
Jim’s wide range of criminal cases include representing targets of investigations, criminal defendants, grand jury and other witnesses, and victims of crime. He works on matters prosecuted by the whole gamut of federal, state and local authorities: US Attorney’s Office; Chief State’s Attorney’s Office; state and federal Grand Juries, FBI; state and local police; SEC; DEA; ATF; DOD; IRS; FDA; FTC; Offices of Inspector General for Federal Agencies; and state regulators, including Attorneys General, DEP, DPH, DMR, DCF, and the Office of Consumer Protection.
As an experienced catastrophic injury lawyer, Jim handles matters on behalf of victims of car, truck and bicycling accidents, defective products and premises, construction accidents, drownings, boating accidents, environmental hazards, medical malpractice and sexual assaults. Injuries include death, traumatic brain injuries, burns, paralysis, blindness and Legionnaire’s disease, among others. He adeptly uses technology to help jurors understand complex matters in simple terms (video reconstruction, videotaped depositions, clear illustrations, charts, maps and highlighted documents). Jim leverages his large network of contacts to his clients’ advantage, often employing video, expert witnesses, accident reconstruction experts and economic and medical experts to make his clients’ cases persuasive.
Sean Scanlon began his term as Connecticut’s 67th State Comptroller in 2023.
The son of a police officer and small business owner, Sean attended Guilford public schools and worked his way through high school and Boston College.
From 2015 to 2023, Sean served as the State Representative for the 98th District in the Connecticut General Assembly. As chairman of the legislature’s Insurance Committee, Sean wrote and passed legislation protecting people with pre-existing conditions from insurance discrimination, established the lowest monthly co-pay cap for insulin in the nation at $25, prevented insurance companies from covering mental health differently than physical health, required health insurance plans to cover ten “Essential Health Benefits,” and created Connecticut’s first prescription drug price transparency law. During his fourth and final term, Sean served as Chair of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding committee where he led the fight to create tax relief for working families and worked with Governor Lamont to pass the largest tax cut in state history.
During his first term as Comptroller, Sean successfully reformed Connecticut’s municipal and disability pension systems, strengthened the benefits of first responders, created the state’s first prescription drug discount card, dramatically expanded enrollment Connecticut’s small business retirement plan MyCTSavings and championed efforts to make health care more accessible and affordable.
Sean lives in Guilford with his wife Meghan, who is the President & CEO of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and their two sons.