Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you! Please send any news items and story ideas to neag-communications@uconn.edu.
In addition to the Dean’s Office accolades, explore this edition’s list of achievements for the following: the Department of Curriculum and Instruction; the Department of Educational Leadership; the Department of Educational Psychology; Faculty/Staff; Students; and Alumni, as well as In Memoriam.
Dean’s Office and Departments
Dean Gladis Kersaint visited Washington, D.C., as part of the annual Day on the Hill with school of education deans from the American Association of University Professors and other flagship universities.
Dean Gladis Kersaint also recently traveled to the U.K. to visit Neag School IB/M students in history and math education participating with Neag School’s study abroad program in Nottingham, England, as well as IB/M students in London. Fifth-year IB/M students are participating in a semester-long program that offers them the opportunity to teach, research, and study abroad. She visited students at the schools where they intern and joined them to explore museums and historic sites. See more photos from the visit.
The Neag School co-hosted the first “Science Salon Junior” in the Next Generation Connecticut Hall as part of UConn’s Family Weekend in October. The traditional UConn Science Salon program was modified to create a kid-friendly experience.
Young aspiring scientists were invited to join UConn faculty and students for an afternoon of STEM fun in October, during which they participated in science experiments that included changing the color of a penny, building a roller coaster, and making ice cream. Primary partners in the event included UConn’s Neag School of Education; College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and the UConn Foundation. See photos from the event.
The Neag School of Education was a co-sponsor for “Beyond Monolingualism: A Conference for Educators and Parent Leaders” presented by the CT Mirror in October at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn. The Neag School’s Elizabeth Howard was a featured speaker.
The Dean’s Office welcomed George Michna as the Neag School’s director of assessment, accreditation, and accountability in September. Read the full announcement.
Department of Curriculum and Instruction (EDCI) and Teacher Education
The Neag School, in conjunction with the Teacher Education program, hosted the “Strong Beginnings Workshop” at Goodwin Elementary in August in Storrs, Conn. During this half-day program, attendees had a chance to work with experienced teachers and administrators to help them navigate life as a new teacher. View photos from the event.
The Teacher Education program hosted its annual Celebration of Diversity in Education Dinner in September at the UConn Student Union. The event featured remarks by Dean Gladis Kersaint; Neag School alumnus Orlando Valentin ’15 (ED), ’16 MA; and Ryan Parker, an educator from Manchester, Conn. The event brings together students of color and encourages them to consider a career in education. Check out photos from the event.
Mark Kohan hosted “Rethinking Columbus: A Case for Indigenous People’s Day” in October, during which students, faculty, and staff from across campus gathered for an address by keynote speaker and Native American author Ernie Lapointe. The event — focused on addressing the legacy of settler colonialism — was made possible in part by funding from the UConn Humanities Institute’s Initiative on Campus Dialogue and was co-sponsored by the Dodd Center and Neag School. Check out photos from the event.
A class of third-grade students, led by Neag School alumna Julie Barbash ’15 (ED), ’16 MA from Martin Elementary School in Manchester, Conn., visited the Neag School in October as part of a field trip to UConn organized by Doug Kaufman, Mia Hines, and Dominique Battle-Lawson.
Department of Educational Leadership (EDLR)
The Department of Educational Leadership hosted its third annual Educational Leadership Alumni Forum in October. Alumni Miguel Cardona ’00 MA, ’04 6th Year, ’11 Ed.D., ’12 ELP and Bridget Heston Carnemolla ’13 Ed.D., ’14 ELP served as keynote speakers. Read the wrap-up story or look through the event photo album.
Jennie McGarry and Laura Burton served as mentors for an emerging leader in sport, Agnes Baluka Masajja of Uganda. Baluka Masajja, a sports scientist and sports tutor at Busitema University, is one of 17 individuals tapped by the Global Sports Mentoring Program (GSMP)’s Empower Women, an international initiative co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and espnW. Check out photos from Baluka Masajja’s visit to UConn, read more about the Neag School’s role in the initiative, and watch a video featuring Baluka Masajja.
The sport management program, in conjunction with Neag School Dean’s Office, hosted its annual Career Night in Sport on the Storrs campus in October. The annual tradition brought together experienced alumni professionals and current students for an evening of conversation, connections, and opportunities. View photos from the event.
The Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA) hosted the first two installments of its 2017-18 Speaker Series in September and October. The first, themed “The Many Faces of Teacher Policy,” featured Ethan Hutt of the University of Maryland; Michael A. Gottfried of the University of California — Santa Barbara; Brooks Bowden of North Carolina State University; and Shaun M. Dougherty. The second event, co-sponsored by UConn’s Department of Economics, featured University of Virginia’s Sarah Turner, who presented “Measuring Opportunity in U.S. Higher Education.” Check out photos from each event.
Department of Educational Psychology (EPSY)
Led by educational psychology professors Catherine Little and E. Jean Gubbins, two research projects have recently been awarded a total of nearly $5 million in federal funding through the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act. Read the full announcement.
The Department of Educational Psychology welcomed Stephen Slota as an assistant professor-in-residence of educational technology. Read the announcement, and check out the Neag School’s recent Q&A with Slota and Michael Young on gaming, education, and more.
The Northeast Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (NEPBIS) Network hosted a summit and celebration for endorsed trainers in October on the Storrs campus. To become endorsed, each trainer completed and met competencies of the rigorous Northeast PBIS Training of Trainers (NEPBIS TOT). As part of this work, each trainer demonstrated the ability to train and support schools effectively in implementing PBIS with fidelity. The seven trainers include Christine Cappabianca, Tracey Lamothe, Eben McKnight, Christine Peck, Amanda Pickett, Missy Wrigley, and Cynthia Zingler.
The UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health (CSCH) recognized the top semi-finalists for its seed grant competition; winners will be announced in November. Neag School semi-finalists included Rebecca Campbell’s co-presented project “Migrant Advocates Broker Healthcare Access: Breastfeeding and Domestic Violence Implications?”; Jaci VanHeest’s co-presented project “Gearing up! Using Exergaming to Impact Health in Overweight Children”; and Lisa Sanetti’s project “Piloting the Healthy Workplace Participatory Program to Address Educator Stress.” This past week, the Collaboratory featured these four faculty researchers during a live presentation event held in partnership with the Public House Learning Community at the Student Union Theatre. Read more about the live event. Next month, UConn’s Science Salon will also feature Chafouleas, along with CSCH Steering Committee member Lindsay DiStefano, as panelists.
Faculty/Staff
Ronald Beghetto penned a piece titled “Inviting Uncertainty into the Classroom” in the October issue of Educational Leadership, the flagship publication for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Earlier this month, he also served on a panel for the 50th anniversary conference of the Creativity Expert Exchange.
Patricia Bellamy has been awarded a 2017 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Public Engagement, which honors faculty, staff, students, alumni, and programs that engage the public to address critical societal issues. Nominations are solicited from the University community and evaluated by a selection committee of faculty and staff members of the Public Engagement Forum.
Reginald A. Blockett published “’I think it’s Very Much Placed on Us’: Black Queer Men Laboring to Forge Community at a Predominantly White and (Hetero)cisnormative Research Institution” for the September issue of International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. He also presented “Schooling Chiron: Intersectionality, Racialized Homophobia, and Black Queer Worldmaking Across Educational Contexts” at the National Symposium on LGBTQ Research in Higher Education at Northern Illinois University in October.
Melissa Bray co-published “Exploring Public Self-Consciousness as an Unconsidered Behavioral Change Pathway to Video Self-Modeling: Implications for School Practice” in the summer issue of School Psychology Forum and, earlier this year, “Mindfulness for Individuals With Asthma and Anxiety: Promising Results From a Multiple Baseline Design Study” with doctoral student Marisa Del Campo and several other colleagues in Journal of Yoga and Physical Therapy. In addition, Bray, along with doctoral student Maria Avitia, Professor James Kaufman, and another colleague, co-published “Relationship Between Reading and Long-Term Storage and Retrieval (Glr) in College Students” in Applied Neuropsychology.
Earlier this year, Laura Burton co-published “The Role of Servant Leadership in Developing an Ethical Climate in Sport Organizations” in Journal of Sport Management and “Gender Role Expectations and the Prevalence of Women as Assistant Coaches” in Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education. She also co-presented “Comparing Servant and Transformational Leadership and Their Relationship to Organizational Effectiveness in the Sport for Development and Peace Context” and “The Paradoxical Decline of Women in Coaching” in June at the 2017 North American Society for Sport Management Conference.
Todd Campbell is co-author of a new book, titled Building the Science Department: Stories of Success, (National Science Teachers Association, 2017). He also has been named to the new editorial team for the Association for Science Teacher Education’s Journal of Science of Teacher Education. Read more.
Tutita Casa, along with doctoral student and Neag alumna, Madelynn Williams Colonnese ’07 (ED), ’09 MA and another colleague, co-published an article titled “Write On” in the October issue of Teaching Children Mathematics.
Sandra Chafouleas was a panelist, along with representatives from Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) and Clifford Beers Clinic, for a screening of “Resilience,” a documentary on the long-term impact of adverse childhood experience. The screening took place at CAS in October in Cheshire, Conn.
Casey Cobb was a keynote panelist at the Northeastern Educational Research Association’s Annual Conference in Trumbull, Conn., in October. He will also be recognized with the University Council for Education Administration (UCEA)’s 2017 Hanne Mawhinney Distinguished Service Award for his service as editor of Educational Administration Quarterly, which will be presented at the UCEA Annual Convention in Denver in November.
Joseph Cooper, in conjunction with the African American Professionals Association and Collective Uplift, held a student-athlete panel titled “Sport Politics” in October at the Storrs campus. Cooper moderated a second panel, also with student-athletes, titled “Race, Sport, and Activism” later that month. The latter included panelists Deshon Foxx and Tyrae Sims, current sport management graduate students, as well as several other current UConn students and alumni. Check out a video from the second panel and read more in this story. Cooper also recently wrote an opinion piece on the #TakeAKnee protests.
Michael Coyne presented at the Dyslexia Foundation’s Dyslexia and Literacy: Differences Within Differences Conference in October at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. He also presented in October at the Connecticut Council for Educational Reform’s Leading for Literacy in Rocky Hill, Conn.
Morgaen Donaldson and Jennie Weiner co-published “The Science of Improvement: Responding to Internal and External Challenges in a Complex School Environment” in the July issue of Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership.
Hannah Dostal hosted “Supporting the Language and Literacy Learning of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students,” featuring Neag School alumna Susan Easterbrooks ’72 (ED) from the Center on Literacy and Deafness at Georgia State University. The event, held in October on the Storrs campus, also included faculty members visiting from the Jamaican Association for the Deaf. See photos from the event. In addition, Dostal co-published an article titled “Doing Mathematics With Purpose: Mathematical Text Types” in the September issues of The Clearing House.
Shaun M. Dougherty presented at the Centre for Vocational Education Research’s Conference in September in London. He also presented at the University College Dublin in Ireland as part of an economics seminar in September. He also was recently featured in a Q&A written by student Meghan Farrell.
Justin Evanovich presented “Husky Sport’s Campus-Community Partnership: Interactive Sharing and Examination of Best-Practices Around Community Engagement and University Student Development” at Campus Compact for Southern New England & Quinnipiac University in October.
Erica Fernández, Kimberly LeChasseur, and Morgaen Donaldson co-wrote “Reponses to Including Parents in Teacher Evaluation Policy: A Critical Policy Analysis” for the September issue of Journal of Education Policy.
Rachael Gabriel presented a session on literacy instruction at a virtual education conference held by the Educator Collaborative in September.
Preston Green was a keynote panelist at the Northeastern Educational Research Association’s Annual Conference in Trumbull, Conn. in October. Green also was honored in October at the “100 Men of Color Black-Tie Gala & Awards” event at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford, Conn., which is hosted by the Eleven28 Entertainment Group in recognition of the contributions of men of color in such areas as business, education, entrepreneurship, entertainment, and public service. Check out the event’s photo gallery.
Erik Hines took part in a panel discussion about education abroad at The Ohio State University this month. In addition, he was featured in the Fall 2017 edition of UConn Magazine in a Q&A about his work to help black male students succeed at UConn.
Josh Hyman presented his co-authored research paper “School Finance Reforms, Teachers’ Unions, and the Allocation of School Resources” at Teachers College, Columbia University (N.Y.) in September.
James Kaufman and graduate student Sarah Luria, along with another colleague, co-wrote “Enhancing Equity in the Classroom by Teaching for Mathematical Creativity” for the September issue of the ZDM: International Journal on Mathematics Education.
Devin Kearns co-led a session at the 2017 Council for Learning Disabilities Annual Conference in Baltimore in October.
Allison Lombardi, Jennifer Freeman, and Graham Rifenbark, a CBER research scientist and graduate student, co-published “Modeling College and Career Readiness for Adolescents With and Without Disabilities: A Bifactor Approach” in the October issue of Exceptional Children.
Alan Marcus presented “Teaching With Film and Media Literacy” as part of the UConn Communication Department’s Speaker Series on the Storrs campus in October.
Jennifer McGarry co-presented “Faculty Entrepreneurship and Sport Management” and “Charting the Course: Enhancing Qualitative Research With Life Maps” in June at the 2017 North American Society for Sport Management Conference.
Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead and Aarti Bellara, along with doctoral student Anthony Gambino, co-published “Communicating About Evaluation: A Conceptual Model and Case Example” in the September issue of Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation.
Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead co-presented a webinar for the EvalPartners in September. She also will be presenting a workshop this December in Mexico on international evaluation models.
Rachelle Pérusse wrote a piece for caregivers and their aspiring postsecondary students titled “10 Tips on Preparing for Your Child’s College Search.”
Lisa Rasicot was recognized this fall for 20 years of service to the Neag School’s teacher education program. She is now serving as a program assistant for the Department of Educational Psychology.
Professor Emeritus Vincent Rogers has announced a planned bequest to the Neag School, designating a legacy gift of $125,000 to expand the Rogers Educational Innovation Fund in support of innovative projects carried out by teachers in Connecticut. Read more.
Lisa Sanetti co-wrote, with Neag School alumna Kathleen M. Williamson ’13 MA, ’17 6th Year, Ph.D. and other authors, “Increasing In-Service Teacher Implementation of Classroom Management Practices Through Consultation, Implementation Planning, and Participant Modeling,” published in the September issue of Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions.
Del Siegle, Hariharan “Swami” Swaminathan, and H. Jane Rogers, along with Neag School alumnus Gilbert Andrada ’12 Ph.D., were co-presenters at the Performance Matters Forum, presented by the Connecticut State Department of Education Performance Office in conjunction with the Neag School. The forum was held in Cromwell, Conn., in September.
Stephen Slota joined the Neag School last month as an assistant professor-in-residence of educational technology with a joint appointment in the School of Fine Arts Department of Digital Media and Design. This month, he gave a talk at the Rochester Institute of Technology on the learning science principles behind game-based learning and what makes compelling educational games. He and Michael Young were also featured in the most recent installment of “10 Questions.”
George Sugai, Jennifer Freeman, Brandi Simonsen, Tamika La Salle, and another colleague co-published “National Climate Change: Doubling Down on Our Precision and Emphasis on Prevention and Behavioral Sciences” in the summer issue of Emotional & Behavioral Disorders in Youth. Sugai also recently co-wrote an opinion piece in The Register-Guard on teaching civility and inclusiveness.
Kari B. Taylor co-authored “Examining Developmental Readiness in an International Service-Learning Context” in the July issue of Journal of College Student Development.
Sarah Woulfin presented in October at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Education’s Principal Leadership Institute in Berkeley, Calif., on instructional leadership, professional learning systems, and coaching.
Students
Doctoral student Chelsea Connery ’13 (ED), ’14 MA has co-authored a chapter in the newly published Teaching Intercultural Competence Across the Age Range: From Theory to Practice (Multilingual Matters, 2017).
Robert Cotto, a current doctoral student, has been featured in two stories in recent weeks, including an interview with WNPR regarding the CCJEF v. Rell court case, and an interview with The American Prospect on desegregated schools in Hartford, Conn.
Sydney Gibbs and Bridget Murphy, sport management students on the UConn rowing team, finished 10th in their four-person boat at the annual Head of the Charles Regatta this month, earning a weekend-best in the Women’s Club Fours and securing a guaranteed spot in that race again next year.
Doctoral student Stacy Hayden has received a 2017 Regional Teacher of the Year award from the Virginia Association for the Gifted, based on her past work in gifted education prior to arriving at the Neag School this fall.
Doctoral student Shannon Holder was named a graduate student representative for the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) for 2017-19.
Kelsey Iwanicki ’17 (CLAS), ’18 MA and her mother, Kathy, who has been teaching for 29 years, co-author a blog, Iwanicki Mom & Daughter Advertures in Teaching.
Charles Macaulay and Sofia Read, graduate students in the sport management program, organized and hosted the “Beyond the Field” Lecture Series, with a featured speaker from Soccer Without Borders in October on the Storrs campus.
Jessica Monahan, Keith McLaren, and Emily Tarconish, doctoral students in the special education program, presented at the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Career Development and Transition national conference in Milwaukee, Minn., in October.
Jenna Stone ’18 (ED), ’19 MA has been awarded a 2017 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Public Engagement, which honors faculty, staff, students, alumni, and programs that engage the public to address critical societal issues. Nominations are solicited from the University community and evaluated by a selection committee of faculty and staff members of the Public Engagement Forum.
Sarah Wilkinson, a doctoral student in the Neag School’s special education program, was featured in a recent newsletter issued by the National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention (NCLII), regarding her collaboration with a professor at Southern Methodist University.
Alumni
Emily Armstrong ’16 (ED), ’17 MA, a former UConn women’s soccer goalkeeper and current professional soccer player with the Medkila IL club in Norway, recently Skyped into the fifth-grade classroom of fellow Neag School alumna Symone James ’16 (ED), ’17 MA. Read more on Armstrong’s blog.
Alan B. Bookman ’81 Ph.D. has been awarded a new three-year contract as superintendent of Glastonbury (Conn.) Public Schools.
Anna (Karmazinas) Capobianco ’06 (ED), ’07 MA was named the 2017-18 Milken Education Award winner for the state of Connecticut. An English teacher at Hall High School in West Hartford, Conn., Capobianco this month received a $25,000 prize and the award, which recognizes early- to mid-career educators for what they have achieved and for the promise of what they will accomplish. Capobianco is the only Milken Educator Award winner from Connecticut this year. Read more about the surprise announcement.
Michael T. Conner ’14 ELP has been hired as the superintendent of schools for Middletown (Conn.) Public Schools. Conner has extensive administrative and classroom experience in Connecticut schools, including most recently as chief academic officer of Norwalk Public Schools since 2015.
Abigail Flesch Connors ’83 MA published Exploring the Science of Sound: 100 Musical Activities for Young Children (Gryphon House, 2017), a resource for activities that engage science, technology, engineering, arts, and math through the science of sound.
Mary Conway ’95 6th Year, ’05 Ph.D. was appointed interim superintendent for Colchester (Conn.) Public Schools. Conway, who has almost 30 years of experience in education, served as the superintendent of Plainfield Public Schools from 2000 to 2010 before being hired as the superintendent of Vernon Public Schools. She also is an instructor at UConn.
Rachel Hill ’17 (ED) has joined the Australian Perth Glory Football Club’s Westfield W-League squad for the 2017-18 season.
Wally Lamb ’72 (CLAS), ’77 MA, best-selling author, announced that his 1998 novel I Know This Much Is True will be turned into an HBO miniseries starring Mark Ruffalo.
Lisa Hunter ’16 6th Year has been hired as principal for Hazardville Memorial School in Enfield, Conn. Hunter served as the Pre-K STEAM Academy Coordinator during the 2016-17 school year. She has been an educator for more than 15 years, serving in Ellington, Somers, and Enfield as a primary teacher.
Brian Keating ’93 (CLAS), ’94 MA was appointed interim Windrose program administrator for Greenwich (Conn.) Public Schools. Keating is currently Greenwich High School’s (GHS) Clark House assistant dean and English teacher. An educator for 23 years, he has been with GHS since 2001 and was a member of the Greenwich Alternative High School design team for the 2016-17 school year.
Justis Lopez ’14 (ED), ’15 MA was recognized in October at the One Hundred Men of Color Awards Gala, an event honoring 100 men from the Greater Hartford area who have become postive role models and displayed long-term commitment to the betterment of their community. Lopez, most recently a social studies teacher for the Manchester (Conn.) Public Schools, is working as a social studies teacher at a small community school in the South Bronx, NY. He was featured last year in the Neag School’s “Why I Teach” video series.
Killian Matsunami ’16 MA is an athletic operations assistant with the Omaha Mavericks. Prior to that, she was an operations intern at UConn Athletics.
Steven R. Rioux ’14 ELP began his role as superintendent of schools for Killingly, Conn., on July 1.
Braulio Santigo ’90 6th Year was appointed the adult and continuing education coordinator for Greenwich (Conn.) Public Schools. Santiago has more than 40 years of education and administration experience at the primary and secondary levels.
Tiffany Smith ’08 (ED), ’09 MA, ’17 6th Year is an education consultant at EASTCONN. She most recently served as an English teacher at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, Conn.
Jocelyn Tamborello-Noble ’03 (ED), ’04 MA, 6th Year ’09 has co-authored a chapter in the newly published Teaching Intercultural Competence Across the Age Range: From Theory to Practice (Multilingual Matters, 2017).
Corey J. Thomas ’17 (CAHNR), ’18 MA has been named director of Wakeman Town Farm in Westport, Conn. Most recently, he was the education director at Massaro Community Farm in Woodbridge, Conn.
In Memoriam
Bruce C. Barton ’72
Mollie Bornstein ’71
Rae Linda Brown ’76
Alfred J. Cross ’62
Robert G. Desnoyers ’67
Barbara D. Downie ’53
Norman A. Enhorning ’58
Calvin D. Fish ’60
Rebecca J. Janenda ’64
Howard W. Lamphere ’52
Phyllis L. Lathrop ’59
Jack McGarvey ’70
Cindy S. Pentsak ’73
James J. Rehelser, Sr. ’64
Joanne Roberge (staff)
Muriel L. Scott ’60
Elizabeth C. Shibles ’75
John P. Walsh ’62
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