New MHA Grads Celebrate Induction into Upsilon Phi Delta National Honor Society for Healthcare Administration

This spring, the Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) Program hosted a special event: the 9th Annual Induction Ceremony for the University's chapter of Upsilon Phi Delta (UPD), a National Honor Society for Healthcare Administration.

This annual event is dedicated to recognizing top MHA students for their academic excellence and commitment to leadership and service in the field. This year, 13 MHA students had the honor of being inducted into the UPD Honor Society.

The evening began with remarks from Dr. Betsy Francis Connolly, dean of the University's School of Health Sciences. This was followed by the highlight of the evening, a thoughtful and inspiring keynote speech by our guest of honor and honorary UPD inductee: Mr. Michael Novak, president of the Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE).

In his speech, Mr. Novak stressed the importance of accepting the potential for failure, learning from past mistakes, and embracing a servant-leadership attitude. He also encouraged students to be like the "ion engine," which can deliver about ten times as much thrust per kilogram of propellant used, making them very 'fuel-efficient.' In other words, "less is more," since ion engines can do a lot more with a lot less!

Following Mr. Novak's speech and the induction ceremony, the evening concluded with dinner and a presentation by MHA Director, Dr. Pavani Rangachari of MHA program highlights over the past year. The presentation highlighted three areas of progress in the MHA program in 2022-2023: 1) Creation of new governance structures for continuous improvement of the MHA program; 2) Efforts to increase experiential learning opportunities for students; and 3) Efforts to increase student engagement and promote student success.

The event was well attended by various program stakeholders, including the chair of our MHA Advisory Board, Mr. Lewis Goodrum, FACHE; Member of MHA Advisory Board, Mr. Brian Carr; and MHA faculty members Dr. Reena Kelly, Ph.D., MHA, Prof. David O. Lane, and Prof. Brigid Carney, MBA, PMP, LSSMBB, CIT. We thank them for their attendance and support of the student inductees!

We are immensely grateful to Brittany Lenig, Beth Oleschuk, and Heather Ennis from the School of Health Sciences for their incredible support with the arrangements and for making the lovely event possible for our MHA program.

Congratulations again to all our MHA student inductees:

1. Lais Aguilar
2. Gabriel Barsotti
3. Lauryn Bradley
4. Alicia Conrad
5. Garcia Curtis
6. Prateek Mansingh
7. Sylvester Ofori-Amanfo
8. Chaveneese Riley
9. Luana Sardinha
10. Rema Anastasia Seeram
11. Anshul S. Shah
12. Quyen Tran
13. Kylee Violette

"May your collective light shine for all to see and may you always be known for your good works!" said Dr. Rangachari.

As UPD inductees, these MHA students were eligible to wear the honor cord and pin at Commencement signifying their achievement. The colors are crimson and blue.

The UPD is a national honor society dedicated to recognizing academic and professional excellence among healthcare management undergraduate and graduate students throughout the United States. As a certified member of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA), the University of New Haven's MHA program, has been granted the privilege of establishing the UNewHaven Chapter of the UPD honor society.

The AUPHA certification acknowledges the MHA program's excellence, which, in turn, has been made possible through the vision of the faculty, the motivation of the students, and the support of our alumni and advisory board.

"Here's wishing our 13 inductees continued success in all their future endeavors," said Dr. Rangachari.