$1.5 Million Gift to Expand UConn Health ER, Upgrade Law School Technology Announced

STORRS, CT — A $1.5 million gift from Cheryl A. Chase ’78 JD, Stuart Bear, and their children, Dara Chase Dyer ’10 JD and Landon Chase will support emergency care at UConn Health in Farmington and classroom technology at the UConn School of Law.

In recognition of the commitment, UConn Health will create the Chase-Bear-Dyer Advanced Triage Unit, and the UConn School of Law will name a classroom the Chase-Bear-Dyer Family Classroom. According to the announcement, the gift is intended to improve patient care capacity at the Farmington campus and provide lasting support for law school learning spaces.

At UConn Health, the family’s gift has enabled the emergency department to expand by adding seven new specialized evaluation bays. The announcement says the bays are designed for “vertical” patients, defined there as people who can be safely evaluated in chairs or recliners. The added space is meant to address growing demand for emergency services and increase surge capacity at the hospital.

The announcement ties the emergency department project directly to patient flow and the ability to evaluate more people during busy periods. It states that the new bays will support emergency care operations at the Farmington campus as demand continues to grow.

The gift will also establish a School of Law endowment to provide stable funding for technology infrastructure. According to the announcement, that funding will be permanent and will support classrooms, practice courtrooms, the library, and other campus spaces.

The law school portion of the gift is also expected to support artificial intelligence software and resources to hire instructors for technology and AI-related courses. The announcement says the endowment is intended to better equip learning spaces for School of Law students while helping maintain updated technology across the campus.

The named classroom and advanced triage unit reflect how the gift will be recognized at both institutions. The announcement does not provide a timeline for the completion of the emergency department expansion or for the installation of technology upgrades at the law school, but it says the family’s commitment will support both efforts.

The gift links two different needs at UConn: emergency care capacity for patients in Farmington and technology resources for future lawyers in Hartford. Based on the announcement, the funding is designed to strengthen both immediate service delivery and long-term academic infrastructure.