While I'm new to the Department of Public Safety, I have been affiliated with the University for over 15 years.  I started as an undergrad in 1987, enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in History concentrating on Technology and its effect on European reorganizations in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.  I also was close to having minors in Sociology and Film which at the time was part of the English department. In 1993 I finished the History Degree core, but not the requirements for A & S. I finally finished my requirements in 2005.  I attended the May 2006 graduation ceremony.

While working on my Undergrad degree I was the first Box Office Manager for the University of Hartford Box Office, which had been created in 1987 and was responsible for ticketing all University Events including outside promoters and Sporting events such as wrestling and boxing, at the nine major venues here at the Hartford campus.  At the time the Box Office was under the wing of the Lincoln Theatre which was at that time part of the Hartford Art School, and the outer lobby was a gallery space showing University produced Art, as well as national tours.  Lincoln was a "Bus and Truck" facility booking Broadway and dance events, as well as rock, jazz and blues concerts, 99 cent movies with beer served, and tons of comedians.  Lincoln also had four subscription based packages for the Lincoln Theatre Presents series of Broadway shows, and a Dance series featuring national and international dance troops with hundreds of subscribers.

Lincoln was a happening place with several events each week attracting on and off campus patrons. We made a lot of money for the Art School, and presented a positive image of the Universities commitment to the Arts and the community. We also booked major concerts at the sports center such as Phish and Television productions such as Nick's Double Dare, and MTV's Remote Control.

1993 with the theatre coming under the control of the Hartt School of Music and no longer operating as a real theatre, but as a classroom for Hartt, I left the University in both academic and employment terms to work full time at ArtSoft which was the software program both Lincoln and the Sports center used to sell tickets.  The Hawks Box Office still is on ArtSoft v5.   ArtSoft purchased a web domain and an 800 phone number from a ticket scalping agency in the Los Angeles area called Tickets.com and 1.800.TICKETS.  Then ArtSoft purchased 9 of its strongest competitors and unified under the Tickets.com brand name, in order to take on the monster of ticketing, TicketMaster. 

At Tickets.com I had many hats including:

While working my full time job at Tickets.com I continued to work part time for the Sports Center as Sunday first shift Building Supervisor.

Before my University days I was 12inch and Singles buyer for Cambridge One-Stop Inc. which was owned by Morris Levy, who was a legend in the record industry and the Godfather of all things shifty. Morris owned several record labels, clubs and several record chains, such as Strawberries Record and Tapes, Cathy's, and Peaches records.  I also was a top rated Billboard reporter for the Hot 100, Dance, and Urban charts.  Morris was prosecuted on federal racketeering charges in 1986 and was sentenced to ten years in jail, Levy died of cancer while awaiting appeal.  Junior Soprano and Hesh Rabkin from the HBO hit mob drama series The Sopranos are based on real life gangster Mo Levy.

I started my career in the record biz at Pickwick International, which owned Musicland, Discount Records, and Sam Goody's retail chains as well as being the national distributor for Arista Records as well as running "leased departments" for other big discount stores. I started out in the Musicland chains number one volume store at WestFarms Mall in 1980 after graduating Conard High School in West Hartford. I then moved to Boston and worked for Discounts Records store in Harvard Square. This is where Strawberries manager Pat Daily started a dialog with me to come on board at Strawberries, which took a few years for me to make the change. Pat would visit me at least once a month, and when Strawberries opened stores in the Hartford Market, I went on board as a store manager, then zone manager then assistant buyer, then buyer and AAA level Billboard Magazine reporter which gave me power and clout in the business.

Also in the mix that is me, I was an actor, and voice artist, going by the stage name of Terence Hartford. Not that you have ever seen, nor heard the majority of my work as an actor / voice artist. My biggest break was in 1983 when I, after winning the MTV Haunted House Party contest, began a short stint working in the studio. If you see the Party Christmas Video starring the original 5 VJ's, crew and executives along with Joe King Carosco & the Crowns whose pop / reggae one hit wonder "Party Weekend" was rewritten as the annual MTV staff video x-mas card, you will see me next to Nina Blackwood and Martha Quinn.  I auditioned to become the 6th original VJ, but timing is everything in showbiz, and it was not my time.

I am also a natural (drug free) bodybuilder and I enjoy most cardio activities. As you can see I'm a man of many talents a true "Jack of all trades"

In my limited spare time I enjoy the off the beaten path sports such as bike racing, bodybuilding and luge, and enjoying working on home projects, and late 60's early 70's Muscle Cars.

After a year in uniform out in the field I left the department to join the Connecticut State Police in the 117th academy class, in January of 2006. I had a few health issues that I had not taken care of before I entered the academy and got squashed by them. I returned to the University Department wiser and stronger but sad that my dream at least for now had not worked out.

Having made the final cut in one of the most selective, and the oldest State force in the nation had its benefits and upon my return to the University two events happened that only conferred that I was meant to be a police officer. The first was two days after returning, and still "smarting" from my State experience at boot camp, I was on relief dispatch duty the morning of the Park River Apartments fire. That single event proved that the State was right I had the right stuff after all and under pressure I did perform well. I dispatched the entire fire event, remained calm and conducted as much routine business as I could. The second event was being offered the brand new department position of Administrative Assistant / Paymaster / Quartermaster which I took and have been working as since July 1 2006.

While I love the new responsibilities, and the steady schedule of Monday through Friday is easy to get into I truly miss being out in the field seeing all of you on a regular basis. This hardly scratches the surface of who I am but it should help you to understand there is more to me than just being a Friendly Public Safety Quartermaster.