Throughout the academic year, the Neag School is proud to share the latest achievements of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

Explore their most recent promotions, awards, retirements, publications, and more:

• Dean’s Office
• Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Office of Teacher Education
• Department of Educational Leadership
• Department of Educational Psychology
• Faculty/Staff
• Students
• Alumni
• In Memoriam

Dean’s Office

The Neag School of Education and its Alumni Board are delighted to announce the 2025 Neag School Alumni Awards honorees:

• Outstanding School Educator – Tracey-Ann Lafayette ’15 (CLAS), ’15 (ED), ’16 MA, ’22 6th Year
• Outstanding Professional – Alicia Bowman ’01 (ED), ’02 MA, ’08 6th Year
• Outstanding Early Career Professional – Paul Singleton II ’17 MA, ’24 Ph.D.
• Outstanding School Administrator – Lori Leibowitz ’19 Cert.
• Outstanding School Superintendent – Howard Thiery III ’91 MS, ’07 ELP
• Outstanding Higher Education Professional – Daniel Burkey ’23 MA
• Outstanding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Professional – Fany DeJesús Hannon ’08 MA
• Distinguished Alumnus – Mark Daigneault ’07 (ED)

All awardees will be formally recognized at the Neag School’s 27th Annual Alumni Awards Celebration in March. Read more about the honorees on UConn Today.

UConn’s College of Engineering is offering a new Ph.D. program in engineering education. The interdisciplinary program, which is co-sponsored by the Neag School’s Departments of Educational Psychology and Curriculum and Instruction, explores connections between engineering and the social sciences and helps students think expansively about learning to inform their work as scholars and teachers.

Researchers with the Neag School’s Center for Education Policy Analysis, Research, and Evaluation (CEPARE) prepared a research brief regarding Connecticut public school staffing trends. Read the executive summary.

Department of Curriculum and Instruction (EDCI) and Office of Teacher Education

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction has welcomed Austina Lee, who joined the Neag School in January as an assistant clinical professor supporting the Teacher Education programs. Lee, who has been an adjunct faculty at the Neag School this past year, most recently served as the director of choirs for Air Academy High School in Air Force Academy, Colorado.

Music Education students were featured on MusicFirst – Profiles in Teaching with Technology.

Department of Educational Leadership (EDLR)

Casey Cobb and Erin Murray will facilitate leader preparation programs at rural New York higher education institutions as part of an initiative to support the Quality Measures self-study process for continuous improvement.

The Executive Leadership Program hosted an alumni gathering at Kinsmen Brewing in Milldale, Connecticut, in December. The evening was an opportunity for alumni from recent cohorts to connect and continue learning together

Robert Villanova has been invited back to serve as an alumni advisor for the Executive Leadership Program. He will support ELP graduates in the job search process and connect alumni to search firms and district HR personnel. This is a service that Villanova performed throughout his tenure at UConn and one that can now be offered with more focus.

Department of Educational Psychology (EPSY)

UConn is one of six universities leading a new program funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs to develop a cohort of leaders in secondary transitions for students with disabilities. The grant, led by Neag School faculty members Joseph Madaus and Tracy Sinclair, will support a five-year program to recruit and train students to become leaders in the field of secondary transitions for students with disabilities. Read more on UConn Today.

Carla (Salomonsen) Klein ’72 (ED) helped fund a new Neag School program that brings more licensed counselors into Connecticut schools. The new Licensed Professional Counselor program is an online graduate certificate program that gives counselors more training and the opportunity to advance in their careers. Read more about Klein’s generous support and the program on UConn Today.

According to Psychology in the Schools, Neag School faculty members Sandra Chafouleas and Melissa Bray are two of the top 50 academic scholars in the field. Read the full study at: “Scholarly Productivity of School Psychology Faculty 2010-2020.”

Morgaen Donaldson and Kathleen Lynch were recently both published in Educational Researcher’s December 2024 issue.

Faculty/Staff

Laura Burton co-authored “Impact of Institutional Isomorphism on Gender Diversity on the Boards of Sport Organizations in Japan” for the October issue of the Journal of Global Sport Management.

Jacqueline Caemmerer and Audrey Scudder, an educational psychology doctoral student, co-authored with other colleagues “Beyond Individual Tests: Youth’s Cognitive Abilities, Basic Reading, and Writing” for the November issue of the Journal of Intelligence.

Todd Campbell and Yue Bai, a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction, along with other colleagues, co-authored “The Iterative Design of a Model-Based Inquiry Unit Planning Tool for Preservice Science Teachers” for the January issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education.

Sandra Chafouleas, co-director of UConn’s Collaboratory on School and Child Health (CSCH), and Kate Williamson, assistant research professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, highlighted their work at the UConn Moving Beyond conference in December at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut. Chafouleas and Emily Wicks, co-founders of Feel Your Best Self (FYBS), presented their insights on the award-winning toolkit that teaches emotion-coping strategies to a group of school counselors at UConn’s School Counselor Day in December at UConn Storrs.

Chen Chen co-organized the keynote panel at the 2024 North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS), “Can There be Sport at a Time of Genocide? Solidarity, Community, and Palestinian Liberation,” in Chicago in November. Chen was also recognized as a NASSS Research Fellow at the organization’s 2024 conference.

Zachary Collier has been honored by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education as a 2025 Emerging Scholar.

Susannah Everett received the “David T. Ouimettte Oustanding Mentor Award” from UConn Connects during their Kick Off Reception this month. UConn Connects is the largest and longest running mentoring progam on campus.

Alexandra Freidus published “False Starts: The Segregated Lives of Preschoolers” for the October issue of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity.

Preston Green was recognized by the American Enterprise Institute as a top education scholar (No. 156) for his contribution to public discussions of education. Read more in Education Week. Green also co-authored “All Aboard!: Making Charter School Boards All-Purpose State Actors Under the Supreme Court’s Amtrak Case” for the December issue of Drake Law Review.

Li He, the Neag School’s financial analyst, recently passed the Certified Research Administrator (CRA) exam, administered by the Research Administrators Certification Council. The designation of CRA demonstrates that she has met the required qualifications and mastered a broad body of knowledge in research administration, including project development and administration; legal requirements and sponsor interface; financial management; and general management.

Risa Isard was featured in Tucker Center Talks podcast on “Amplifying Marginalized Voices Through Data-Driven Research.

James Kaufman was interviewed for the podcast Night Science, “James Kaufman and the Art of Creativity Maintenance,” and was profiled for an article, “Understanding Our Babies’ Developing Creativity,” for Family Times. Kaufman also co-published “Past Glories Feel Good But Creative Minorities Push Us Forward” for the January issue of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and “Creativity Predicts Standardized Educational Outcomes Beyond GPA and Personality” for the December issue of Thinking Skills and Creativity.

Kathleen Lynch co-authored “Sociodemographic Differences in Kindergarten Children’s Summer Enrichment: Trends Over Time Using National Data” for the October issue of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

Del Siegle published “Using AI Prompt Engineering to Improve Gifted Students’ Questioning” for the December issue of Gifted Child Today.

Saran Stewart and Frank Tuitt, along with educational leadership doctoral students Kelly Schlabach and Omar Romandia, co-authored “Old Tactics in New Robes:  Plantation Politics and the Continued Pervasiveness of Anti-Blackness in Higher Education” in the January issue of Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Stewart also co-authored “Comparative Reflections of Post-Colonial Jamaica: Counternarratives of Three Jamaican Women Academics at Home and Abroad” for the October issue of Critical Questions in Education.

Jennie Weiner was elected to the Executive Committee of the University Council of Education Administration (UCEA) for a three-year term. Weiner and Taylor Strickland presented their paper “A Review of the Research on Women in K12 Leadership: A Look Back and Path Forward” at the UCEA conference in Los Angeles. Weiner and Elizabeth Zagata also presented their paper “Women Leaders in Special Education: How Feminization Shapes Their Experiences and Opportunities in Their Role” at the same conference.

Students

Jillian Ives, a doctoral student in educational psychology, presented “When STEM Teaching and Learning is Led by Care” at the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network Annual Conference in Chicago in November.

Emily Lisy, a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction, co-authored with Todd Campbell, “Developing, Implementing, and Refining Approaches for Teaching Science for Social Justice: The Collaborative Work of a Secondary Science Department as Part of Their Professional Learning” for the November issue of Journal of Science Teacher Education.

Carter Newman, a master’s student in educational psychology, was recognized as a 2025 Alma Exley Scholar. This scholarship is awarded to current students of color in a teacher-preparation program in Connecticut. Read more in UConn Today.

Amanda Sutter, a doctoral student in educational psychology, is a junior editor for New Directions for Evaluation.

Alumni

Kaitlyn Anderson ’09 (CLAS), ’09 (ED), ’10 MA and Danielle DeRosa, along with another colleague, presented virtually “A Faculty Fellow Summer Institute: Integrating NACE Career Competencies into Curriculum” in November for the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Symposium on Career Competencies.

Claudia Bachmann-Bouchard ’19 MA was selected from a nationwide pool to attend the 2024 On the Farm STEM Experience in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier this year. The event, sponsored by the American Farm Bureau Foundation, provides an all-expenses-paid professional development and immersive learning program for science educators.

Four sport management alumnae, Xaimara Coss ’04 (ED), ’16 MS; Gabriella Mendonca ’23 (ED); Taylor Kielpinski-Rogers ’12 (ED); and Alexis Bazydola ’19 (ED), were featured in UConn Today about their careers in professional sport leagues.

Christine Carver ’91 (ED), ’97 MA, ’09 Ed.D., superintendent of Bethel Public Schools, was recognized by the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents as the state’s 2025 Superintendent of the Year. Read more in UConn Today.

Kiana Foster-Mauro ’20 (ED), ’21 MA, Connecticut’s 2024 Teacher of the Year and a fourth-grade teacher at Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School in New London, Connecticut, has been named to the International Literacy Association’s (ILA) 2025 30 Under 30 list. Read more about the award.

Fany DeJesús Hannon ’08 MA, UConn’s dean of students, was interviewed by UConn Today about her role on campus and Honduran heritage.

Laura Rodriguez ’17 Ph.D. co-authored with Todd Campbell and other colleagues “Family & Community Environmental Action Project Daily Do” for the November issue of National Science Teaching Association (NETA).

Dianisi Torres ’17 MA, an educational program assistant, leads the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and SNAP-Ed initiatives in Windham, Connecticut, and was featured in UConn Today.

Cathryn Tuttle ’20 (CLAS), ’21 (ED), ’22 MA, a teacher for East Hartford High School, was recognized with a Knowles Teacher Initiative 2024 Teaching Fellowship. The fellowship is a five-year program aimed at helping early career teachers develop the skills and resources they need to stay in the classroom. Read more about the recognition.

In Memoriam
William J. Bazyk ’73
Linda A. Bircher ’65
Katherine K. Brophy ’87
Wendell H. Coogan ‘71
Jason Courtmanche ’91 ’06
Robert J. Creighton ’63
Pamela D. Cronin ’77
Robert D. Cronin ’01
Daniel A. Cinotti ’62
Mara G. Dumond ’08
Morris A. Fishbone ’61
Warren J. Hughes Jr. ’54
John E. Killiany Sr. ’57
Edward J. Lussen ’55
Frederick J. Mascola ’68
Robert J. “Bob” Meagher Sr. ’80
Jerome F. Melvin ’64
Francis D. Robinson ’58
Morris Sarna (donor)
Edward R. Sipay ’61
Leonard J. Tyl ’66
Andrew J. Vrtiak ’61
Carol A. Whitney ’75

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 email neag-communications@uconn.edu with any news items.