Ridgefield Professor Honored By State Board of Regents

Ridgefield CT

05 May, 2022

4:59 PM

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RIDGEFIELD, CT — Neeta Connally, a professor of biology at Western Connecticut State University and resident of Ridgefield, was unanimously appointed a Connecticut State University Professor by the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities' Board of Regents for "reaching extraordinary levels of achievement in research, teaching and service." The designation is the highest rank that the Board of Regents can bestow on a professor. A medical entomologist, Connally began teaching in WCSU's Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences graduate and undergraduate programs in 2011, and also oversees the Tickborne Disease Prevention Laboratory (Tick Lab) at the university. Connally is a nationally recognized expert in blacklegged tick ecology and backyard prevention of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. She has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications focused upon Lyme disease risk and prevention measures for the growing public health threat posed by human-biting ticks in the northeastern United States. Since joining the WCSU faculty, Connally has received the CT Campus Compact Community Engaged Scholar Award, has won the CSCU Board of Regents Faculty Research Award twice, and has provided summer research opportunities for nearly 40 undergraduate students. "I believe that the most successful professors recognize that each aspect of their work is inextricably connected to the next, and that nurturing and cultivating those connections is a critical component of being a successful and well-rounded scholar and educator," Connally said Connally holds a B.S. in animal biology from Louisiana Tech, a M.S.P.H. in Parasitology from Tulane University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island. Prior to joining WCSU, she was an associate research scientist at the Connecticut Emerging Infections Program at the Yale School of Public Health, where she oversaw epidemiologic studies pertaining to Lyme disease risk and the prevention of tickborne diseases in the northeastern United States.