BRIEFS
March 7, 1997

Attorney General's office gets new lawyer
The Office of Attorney General at UConn has a new staff member, assistant attorney general Stephen N. Ment. He replaces Jane Scarpellino, who left the University in July to become director of graduate and international programs at Northwestern University's School of Law in Chicago.

Ment is a 1992 UConn graduate. He earned his degree at the Albany School of Law at Union University. Since 1995, he has been assigned to the state's Child Protection Division as an assistant attorney general, representing the Department of Children and Families. Ment began his new job February 18.

Ment's father, Aaron Ment, Connecticut's chief court administrator, graduated from UConn in 1958.

Minority students make gain in state Minority students made up 16.2 percent of enrollments at Connecticut colleges and universities in 1996, up 0.4 percentage points compared with the previous year. It's the 13th consecutive year minorities have enlarged their enrollment share, the Board of Governors for Higher Education said.

At UConn, minorities make up 15 percent of the undergraduate population and 12 percent of graduate students. Of those, 7.3 percent are African-American, 5 percent Hispanic, 3.6 percent Asian-American and 0.3 percent Native American.

Check out financial planning links on the Web
Want to find out more about financial planning? Links to both Aetna and TIAA-CREF can be reached through the Department of Personnel's home page (http://www.hr.uconn.edu/). Choose Financial Planning Links.

The Aetna page takes you to a page that's specific for UConn employees. It offers the capability to do fund transactions on line. The TIAA-CREF link takes you to the organization's home page. By entering Inter/Act, you can view personal account information and view the latest newsletter.

Wolters, Sales are finalists for award
Kara Wolters and Nykesha Sales are among the 12 women named finalists for the 1997-98 Boost-Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award. Wolters leads the No. 1-ranked Huskies in scoring and rebounding, while Sales is second in scoring and first in steals. The winner of the award will be announced at 1:30 p.m. March 23 on CBS.

Program introduces girls to science
More than 200 eighth-grade girls will gain more exposure to science, engineering and math at the University on March 14. The girls will participate in a program called "Multiplying Your Options," which brings female professionals from science, engineering and mathematics together with middle-school girls.

The conference is designed to make young women aware of the many career opportunities available to them while providing female role models and mentors who are successful in these professions. Along with being able to meet and talk with experts, the girls will participate in a variety of interactive workshops and presentations.

Participating middle schools are: Parish Hill School in Chaplin; Captain Nathan Hale School in Coventry; Ellington Middle School; John F. Kennedy Middle School in Enfield; Adams Middle School in Guilford; Lewis Fox Elementary School in Hartford; Bennet and Illing middle schools in Manchester; Plainfield Central School; Putnam Middle School; Avery Middle School in Somers; Mansfield Middle School; Tolland Middle School; Hall Memorial School in Willington; and Windham Middle School.

Sheff to speak at Cooperative Extension conference
Elizabeth Horton Sheff, the mother of the lead plaintiff in the landmark Sheff v. O'Neill desegregation case, will give the keynote address at the New England Cooperative Extension System Consortium Conference March 12.

The conference, "Making Links: Connecticut Communities," will be held from 9 a.m.-8:30 p.m. March 12 and from 8:30 a.m.-noon March 13 at the Hastings Hotel and Conference Center in Hartford. Sheff will deliver her speech, "A Brand New Outfit," at 10:15 a.m. March 12.