Kate Fukawa-Connelly grew up in Chicago (go Cubs!), moved to California for college, and has slowly made her way north and east until she landed at UNH. She liked college so much that she has never left; after completing a Bachelor's degree in Biology (with a minor in Comparative Literature), she went to graduate school in College Student Personnel (the study of colleges and students). She has been working at different colleges in residence life and advising positions since before many of today's students were even in grade school!

At CFAR, Kate has the great privilege of guiding the Rising Scholars, a talented community of students who are breaking new ground as the first in their families to go to college and/or are coming to UNH with high financial need. She works with Rising Scholars individually and as a group to help them adjust successfully to the college environment, and to make the most of their time here at UNH both academically and in their personal development.

When Kate isn't hanging out at CFAR, you can often find her spending time with her dogs (a Border Collie and a Dalmatian-cross) and husband (who teaches in the Math department), or knitting (she makes her own yarn), or matching wits with an opponent over a Scrabble board (she is a nationally ranked Scrabble expert, and the highest rated woman in New Hampshire). She also spends a fair amount of time at coffee shops and ethnic restaurants, and in front of the tv, watching guilty pleasure reality programming.



Background: University of California-Davis B.A. Biology with a minor in Comparative Literature;
M.S. in College Student Personnel from Miami of Ohio. After completing graduate school, Kate worked among the cornfields as a Residence Life Coordinator/Academic Advisor/Director of GLBT Student Center at Grinnell College in Iowa. She enjoyed life in the Washington, DC area as a Undergraduate Life Sciences Advisor/Health Professions Advisor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and most recently became a Red Sox fan while working as Assistant Dean of Health Professions Advising at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.