BURLINGTON — Memorial services have been set for a University of Vermont professor who died earlier this month while conducting research in France.
The tribute to Declan Connolly, who died Feb. 4, will be held Feb. 29 in Ira Allen Chapel on the UVM campus. It will begin at 1 p.m., Dean Scott Thomas of the College of Education and Social Services said Thursday
Connolly, 55, taught physical education and exercise science and coached the men’s rugby team. He was the father of five and married to Shannon Burke, who played basketball for UVM from 1994 to 1998.
In a Feb. 5 email to the university community, Thomas said Connolly’s death “appears to have resulted from natural causes.”
Connolly, who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, began working at UVM in 1996. He conducted research on exercise, conditioning, fitness, injury recovery, muscle function and heart rate. His research had implications for many people including professional and college athletes, veterans and the general public, Thomas said.
“Declan was a consummate entrepreneurial creative professor,” the dean said in an interview. “He left a giant impact in terms of his scholarship and the research that he did in his laboratory.”
Among his contributions to his field, Connolly proposed that sports drinks be differentiated based on whether they were being consumed before, during or after competition, and suggested that chocolate milk would make a good sports drink option.
Michael Giangreco, a friend of Connolly’s and a fellow professor in the College of Education, said Connolly left an impression on campus both in his interactions with individual students and in his effort to help develop the coaching minor and the sports leadership program.
“He always had a mind for thinking about what’s next,” Giangreco said. “He was never really satisfied with, ‘I’m doing this and I’ll just keep doing this forever.’ That was not Declan. He was always in motion.”
Athletic Director Jeff Schulman said Connolly had the unique ability to bridge athletics and academics, especially since his office and his laboratory were located in Patrick Gymnasium.
“Many of our coaches and student athletes would seek him out to brainstorm different ideas and get his perspective on training and training student athletes,” Schulman said in an interview. “He was always incredibly generous with his time and didn’t necessarily push himself on anybody, but was always available to coaches and student athletes and our athletic performance staff.”
Giangreco said one of Connolly’s strengths was his ability to make his work accessible to people outside the realm of academia.
“He made it a point to translate the scientific technical information into information that the general public could use,” Giangreco said. “He was writing for health and cycling and rowing magazines. He was doing online postings and videos. He got to hundreds of thousands of more people with his research and the research of others because of his dedication to making sure he had more outlets.”
Giangreco added, “I think he was a great example of a publicly engaged 21st century scholar. … I think that made him really valuable and unique in our college and as a faculty member. He’s going to be really missed.”
Connolly was teaching three classes this semester, and Thomas said different professors have stepped in to take over his courses and work with his students.
