Professor Hedley Freake will deliver the Commencement address to the CAHNR Class of 2020 on May 9.
After more than three decades as a faculty member in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Hedley Freake plans to retire. He’s not sure what his next chapter will bring. “I’m not looking to fill my time immediately,” he says. “The most important thing is to allow myself some time and see what materializes.”
Freake joined the College in the spring of 1988 after completing a fellowship in molecular endocrinology at the University of Minnesota Department of Medicine.
“When I came here as the first molecular nutritionist, I had never heard of the University of Connecticut, and I never imagined I would still be here thirty-two years later. There is something very special about this institution, in the community of people and the ways in which someone can come in and build a career and have the luxury of many different opportunities and possibilities.”
Freake’s research focused initially on thyroid hormone regulation of metabolism and the way thyroid hormone regulates fat synthesis in various tissues. He then moved to studying the mineral zinc and its effect on thyroid hormone action.
“Zinc is quite a remarkable mineral in that it is used by literally thousands of proteins inside the cells of our bodies to stabilize these proteins and allow them to function properly,” he says.
His team studied the effects of restricting zinc in cells and the consequences for thyroid hormone function. They used a chelator to reduce zinc availability within both normal and cancer cells, to better understand the differences in cancerous cell growth mechanisms. This type of basic metabolic research is designed to aid future clinical studies of disease progression.
Freake’s teaching methods have always been student focused. He taught the FYE (First Year Experience) class for entering nutrition majors. “We don’t have a residential learning community in nutrition,” he says. “But we do bring the incoming students together as a group to help them succeed as they move through the major.”
In the 90s, Freake was instrumental in reviewing nutritional sciences graduate programs and promoting integration of nutritional sciences across different fields, as well as supporting graduate students as they made the transition from undergraduate to graduate student.
“Being an undergraduate can often be restricted to accumulating information, whereas being a graduate student is about research and creating knowledge,” he says. “We must make sure entering graduate students have the skills they need to succeed in graduate school and let them know they are not in this as individuals but are part of a cohort of students that are coming through together, able to support one another.”
In 2002, Freake was fortunate to be able to participate in a USDA leadership training program that included a residential workshop and campus internship. For the internship, Freake worked with former Associate Dean for Academic Programs Suman Singha and former Vice-Provost Ron Taylor. For Taylor, Freake chaired a committee to develop best practices for University mentoring.
He collaborated with Singha to improve CAHNR’s relationship with local community colleges, including Quinebaug Valley, Manchester and Three Rivers, working together with the communication college administration to improve student access to UConn. In 2005, they were awarded a five-year, $2 million grant from the National Science Foundationto develop STRONG-CT, a program aimed at improving entry, retention and success for minority and other students underrepresented in the life sciences, both at UConn and the community colleges. Students were able to begin their studies at UConn as part of the program or join the program as a community college student, complete an associate’s degree, then transfer to UConn.
STRONG-CT supported some 200 students in both CAHNR and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ biological sciences programs, helping them achieve bachelor’s degrees and developing lasting networks with area community colleges.
“Before that program, we did not have guaranteed admission from the community colleges within CAHNR,” Freake explains. “When we became involved, we were able to extend the program to the College and the program still exists today. We were really trying to support minority and low-income students, and we learned how important it is to build relationships with community colleges in order to do so.”
In 2016, with the support of a USDA NIFA grant, Freake created Bridging the Gap, a ten-week residential summer program designed to provide laboratory or community-based research experience to community college students entering UConn or underrepresented UConn students in their first two years in the nutritional sciences program. “We wanted to give community college students a taste of UConn before they landed here,” Freake explains.
During the early 2000s, Freake became involved in the University Senate as the CAHNR representative for the oversight committee reviewing University general education requirements. He eventually signed on for a three-year position as committee chair.
“It was an interesting thing to do because it took me to the heart of undergraduate education, building relationships with people throughout the University,” he says. “There are a lot of wonderful people involved in those roles and I had the opportunity to work with them and learn from them, as well as develop approaches to student support across the institution.”
He was elected several times to serve on the University Senate, and then to the senate executive committee. “The senate executive committee is really at the heart of shared governance of the University,” he continues. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to contribute and influence the way the University moves forward.”
To that end, Freake was instrumental in the development of a metanoia event on the environment. “The climate crisis is the issue of our time that requires all of our efforts to solve,” he says.
One of the key pieces of this environmental focus was the introduction of an environmental literacy general education requirement for all students. “Working with the senate means I’ve had the opportunity to see some changes and improvements within the University. There’s a lot of satisfaction to be gained from that.”
Freake was appointed a Fulbright Scholar in 2009 at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he helped to develop general education programs for Hong Kong universities.
“It was a truly wonderful experience working with five other Fulbright Scholars, helping Hong Kong universities think about the needs of their students moving forward and developing innovative new programming on a national level. I became an external advisor and was able to return to Hong Kong for several years to monitor progress with these changes.”
He is emphatic about the significance of a well-rounded college education. He says, “I’ve spent more than fifteen years looking at general education and what it means to be a well-educated graduate. We know that ten years out, many students change their careers. The key to a university education is developing intellectual skills, ways of approaching the world and learning how to work with other people. Many of our graduates will be doing jobs not yet invented. We have a responsibility to make sure our students are well prepared for whatever may come in the future.”
The work he did with the general education oversight committee broadened his interest in the entire UConn community and inspired him to take on other roles. He served three years as faculty director of Global House, a living learning community started by Associate Professor Morty Ortega in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment.
“I’m originally from England, and it gives me a certain perspective about the need for students in the United States to increase their understanding of the world. The best way to do that is to travel and experience other cultures up close.”
As Global House director, Freake worked with a faculty group interested in increasing global initiatives at UConn. His connections as a Fulbright Scholar led to a study abroad trip to China.
“When students go into the work force, they will be interacting on a broader scale and need to be able to integrate with people from all over the world,” he says. “Students must develop the skills necessary to value other perspectives and cultures. Our country is becoming more diverse, and to be successful one has to be able to integrate with people from all over the world.”
