A UConn Alum in the U.S. Senate, Via Pennsylvania

John Fetterman earned a University of Connecticut M.B.A. in 1993.  Years later, after serving as Mayor of a small town in his native Pennsylvania, and then as Lieutenant Governor of that state, he ran a high profile race for the U.S. Senate in 2022, defeating Republican candidate and television personality Mehmet Oz.

His arrival in the Senate was but a slice of a tumultuous year, characterized by mental health struggle with depression that earned attention not only in Pennsylvania but in the national media.  After some time away from the Senate he returned earlier this year, and his challenges – and how he has navigated them to date – continue to be a topic of interest and come concern among constituents and others beyond the Keystone State.

This week Senator Fetterman, 53, is the subject of an extensive cover story in TIME magazine which referenced his UConn connection, including a photo of Fetterman, circa the 1990’s, wearing a shirt emblazed with UCONN across the chest. (It is a photo that Fetterman’s Twitter feed had included on Oct. 31 last year, just days ahead of the election.)

The article noted that “he got an M.B.A. at the University of Connecticut, planning to follow his Republican father into the family business.  But when Fetterman was 24, his best friend died in a car accident, prompting a round of soul-searching.  He signed up for AmeriCorps, which sent him to work with low-income kids in Pittsburgh.  After earning a degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School, he returned to western Pennsylvania to run a G.E.D. program in Braddock, a majority Black former steel town.”

He later ran for mayor, won a Democratic primary by a single vote, and was re-elected three times.  He ran and lost a bid for U.S. Senate in 2016, then won a primary for Lieutenant Governor, and next ran and won the U.S. Senate race last year. 

In the months before and after Election Day, he suffered a life-threatening stroke, a debilitating aftermath, and a severe depression that led to hospitalization and treatment for what TIME describes as a “mental health ordeal” that he says he is lucky to have survived this year.

His very public and extensive treatment - including ongoing assistance with auditory processing issues that remain from his stroke - continues to earn attention, and, as TIME outlines, considerable support from constituents and mental health advocates, as his recovery continues. 

“Fetterman’s openness about his struggles has the ability to help countless others,” TIME notes in its cover story, with the many aspects of his past – including UConn – experiences to draw on going forward.