Seven Alumni Receive 2024 Anchor Awards

"As a woman, we had to perform better, jump through more hoops to be just as good as the guys in the room," she said. "But I wasn't going to become someone who just kind of fit in and was quiet. I had a personality."

Leahy, a Barney School of Business alumna, went on to a more than 30-year accounting career. She accepted UHart's highest alumni honor, the Distinguished Alum award, at the 2024 Anchor Awards. Given at the start of Hawktober Weekend, the Anchor Awards recognize alumni who have achieved the highest levels of professional and community accomplishments.

Another of the honorees, Carol A. Coppa '81, started her career at Eversource-or, as it was known then, Northeast Utilities-at a time when there were fewer pathways for women in STEM fields such as engineering. Accepting the award for Outstanding Alum: Impact on the University of Hartford, Coppa said, "I knew as soon as I started work that [a University of Hartford education] was my ticket. That was going to be my way." Coppa was a founding member of the Society of Women Engineers at UHart.

In all, seven alumni received Anchor Awards this year. Antonio Javier Soler '86, the chief commercial officer at Monster Beverage, and Jon-Paul Venoit '96, the president and chief operating officer of Masonicare, took home awards for Outstanding Alum: Exceptional Professional Success. "The only way to earn people's trust is to be authentic, to be yourself," Soler said. "No matter what stage you're in, in your career or in life, your constant willingness to teach and to be taught and to learn is what keeps you young and relevant."

Ronald F. Barisano '74 and Billie C. Scruse '92 were honored in the category of Outstanding Alum: Impact on Social Responsibility and Civic Engagement, awarded to alumni whose professional success is rooted in bettering their communities. Scruse said, "Receiving my Master of Public Administration from UHart allowed me to become more disciplined, knowledgeable, and strategic about the importance of public service work."

A posthumous honor was also given to Tiana Notice '07, who earned her bachelor's degree from the College of Arts and Sciences and was one semester away from graduating with a master's degree when she became a fatal victim of domestic violence in 2009. Her parents, Alvin Notice and Kathy Lewis, accepted the award on her behalf. "I was given the privilege to raise such a wonderful young lady," said Lewis, "and impart her joy, her personality, her love."

The Tiana Angelique Notice Foundation was founded by her father to fight violence against women, strengthen law enforcement protections for endangered women in high-risk domestic violence cases, and to honor Tiana's name.