Bill, the restaurant owner, remembers watching basketball games in the Field House during Dom Perno’s tenure as coach. Dianne, the attorney, remembers the support from her professors who steered her toward a law degree. Dorene, the physician, remembers covering world-famous performers at the Jorgensen during her time as an editor for the Daily Campus. All of them remember their father’s encouragement and support of education and their family’s love of UConn athletics, which has made them closer through the years.
The eight siblings of the O’Hara family remember a lot about their combined time at UConn, stretching from the Class of 1979 to 1994. Now, they have teamed together to remember the University itself, in the form of a new endowed scholarship fund in memory of their late father. The William P. O’Hara Endowed Scholarship Fund supports accomplished full-time students in the Honors Program who demonstrate an interest in music.
“Our father would have really liked this,” says William O’Hara ’85, the owner of an English tavern in Southington. “He thought a lot of the school. He always believed that one day, UConn would be recognized as a great university. It’s become such a fantastic school today.”
In their majors and career paths, the O’Hara family, from Cheshire, represents nearly the entire range of schools and colleges at the University. From banking to medicine, software development to business, drama to sports management, each of their careers has led to success, something they credit to their UConn education.
“All of us had great experiences at UConn,” says Dianne (O’Hara) Umberger ’80 of Virginia, now a partner at Ernst & Young. “My instructors in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and in the Honors Program treated me with respect, gave me direction and were always willing to help.”
While their father didn’t attend UConn himself, he was a lifelong proponent of education, recalls Umberger. She says he encouraged his children to study hard, and felt that UConn, particularly with its Honors Program, offered a tremendous value for the price, not an insignificant fact while supporting six daughters and two sons through college.
“He learned a lot about the Honors Program before we came to UConn, and he always was looking for ways to supplement our education to make it better,” says Umberger, one of four honors students in the family. “His feeling was that we’d get an Ivy League education for the price of a state university.”
Dorene O’Hara, M.D, M.S.E. ’79, the oldest of the eight siblings, was a University Scholar at UConn and went on to graduate from Harvard Medical School. She traces the inspiration for the family’s scholarship back to a comment made to her upon admission by Professor Emeritus John Tanaka of the Honors Program.
“He said, ‘We want you to become an interesting person’,” she recalls. “To me, that’s what UConn is all about. With our scholarship, we want to find and support a student who loves the arts and who can utilize their education to do something interesting. UConn just provides you with so many opportunities to do so many things. I had a blast there.”
To directly support the William P. O'Hara Endowed Scholarship Fund with a gift, please contact Becky McEnery, director of development for the Honors program, at 860.486.6851.
