Our Neag School Class of 2020 will be remembered as one of UConn’s most resilient graduating classes ever.

Former UConn women’s basketball player and recreational therapy graduate Bert Wachtelhausen ’81 (ED) has shaped a thriving career combining skills she honed as a Division I athlete with her longtime interests in physical health and helping others. Climbing the corporate health insurance ladder in what for many years remained a male-dominated industry, Wachtelhausen has long since shattered the glass ceiling to excel as a senior executive who now serves as president of startup WellSpark Health.

Alumna Jessica Stargardter ’16 (ED), ’17 MA, a gifted and talented educator for Norwalk (Conn.) Public Schools, shares four tips for educators to serve gifted learners through remote instruction.

“Schools everywhere have closed their doors, and many gifted students find themselves without rigorous work and the camaraderie of their peers,” says Jessica Stargardter, a gifted and talented teacher at Norwalk (Conn.) Public Schools. “It is up to us to continue to nurture the development of our brightest young minds with learning opportunities, and it is time to collaborate, especially given our social distance.”

“These books are going directly home to kids,” said East Hartford Superintendent Nate Quesnel. “The thought process is that we’re trying to really push literacy and to help families to provide opportunities for rich text opportunities in their home.”

The Neag School of Education, UConn’s Department of English, and the Connecticut Writing Project (CWP) at UConn are proud to announce Connecticut’s winners of the 26th annual Letters About Literature competition, a nationwide contest sponsored by the Library of Congress for students in grades 4 through 12.

For the last 34 seasons, Chris Dailey has worked closely with Geno Auriemma to build UConn women’s basketball into the dynasty it is today. Together, they’ve won over 1,000 games, 51 conference championships, and 11 national titles. But Dailey does have one trophy that Auriemma can’t claim: a 1982 AIAW championship with the Rutgers Lady Knights. The AIAW was the predecessor to the NCAA for women’s sports and that year was the first time the NCAA sponsored a women’s basketball championship. So it was the last year of the AIAW Tournament.

Kelly Villar, 43, a mom of six who teaches second grade at Southeast Elementary School in Mansfield, was selected last June as the Iditarod’s designated “teacher on the trail,” a year-round role created in 2000 to extract educational opportunities from the fabled, 1,000-mile sled dog race. She recently served as the race’s “teacher on the trail.”

“Jordan is a great addition to our defensive staff as our linebacker coach,” said Head Coach Greg Gattuso. “Jordan worked with us two years ago and did an outstanding job for our staff, which made this an easy choice for our defensive coaches and myself.”

“I coached rowing at UConn and got my master’s in sport management,” says Strodel. “That allowed me to dabble in coaching. From there, I did go into the real world.”