Author: Shawn Kornegay


Increasing Female Representation in School Leadership

March 3, 2023

In March 2022, coinciding with Sheryl Sandberg’s announcement she was leaving as Facebook’s COO, The New York Times did a retrospective of the legacy of her book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. While acknowledging that the book provided inspiration to many, it also highlighted the more problematic part of the book’s message—that, in the end, the only real thing holding women back is themselves.



UConn Professor Receives $10M Federal Grant to Create Early Childhood Intervention Center

February 22, 2023

A University of Connecticut professor has received a $10 million federal grant to improve the equity of programs administered to children with disabilities and their families through the school’s new Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Development Equity Center. Mary Beth Bruder, a professor at the UConn School of Medicine and the UConn Neag School of Education, will establish the center, which will work to create more equity in early childhood intervention access, especially those who have traditionally been underserved.


Connecticut’s Funding What Works In Education Recovery. They Can Prove It

February 17, 2023

Morgaen Donaldson, associate dean for research at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education, says CCERC “is a shining example of how research can make a positive difference. Bringing together researchers from across Connecticut’s higher education institutions, CCERC breaks down barriers to produce research that addresses pressing issues in the state’s schools.


The Power of Puppets: New Toolkit Helps Kids Process ‘Heavy Feelings’

February 16, 2023

Emily Wicks with UConn’s Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry noticed the pandemic-era disruptions to kids’ social-emotional learning and development, and reached out to Sandy Chafouleas at the university’s Neag School of Education. Together they developed Feel Your Best Self, a puppet-centered program aimed at helping “strengthen the emotional well-being of elementary-aged children.”


‘We Have a National Crisis’: How Michigan State Responded to a Mass Shooting

February 15, 2023

Alyssa Hadley Dunn is director of teacher education and an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education, but just a month ago she was teaching at Michigan State. Her research has focused on how inequity and trauma can affect learning, and she wrote a book, Teaching on Days After, designed for educators grappling with how to deal with tragedies or upsetting world events.



As More Weapons are Brought to Schools, Parents and Administrators Seek a Safe Path Forward

February 13, 2023

Sandra Chafouleas, a professor at the UConn Neag School of Education, said she believed the increase in weapons was a signal that students’ “needs aren’t being met” — and specifically the need for connection.

“Belonging, social connection, feeling [a] sense of mastery … kids bring weapons to school because they’re not feeling those things or because they’ve learned it or modeled it as acceptable behavior in other spaces,” she said.


From Math Instructor to Administrator, Neag School Alumna Named National Principal of the Year

February 10, 2023

Current principal at Haddam-Killingworth High School in Haddam, Connecticut, Donna Hayward, was named the 2023 National Principle of the Year by the Association of Secondary Principles in November, according to UConn Today. “I can’t remember the last 20 years a Connecticut principal won a national award,” Jeffery Wihbey, Superintendent of Regional School District 17 of Connecticut, said. Wihbey said there have been a lot of positive things revolving around her due to her accomplishment and mentioned that there was a lot of positivity surrounding the event as well.


UConn Neag Program Makes Changes to Improve CT’s Teacher Shortage

February 10, 2023

The UConn Neag School of Education has expanded their enrollment and program outreach in an effort to minimize the teacher shortage in Connecticut.

Neag provides accepted undergraduate students with a 5-year plan to earn their master’s degree and a teaching license in the state of Connecticut post-graduation, Neag School of Education Dean Jason Irizarry said. Students apply to the Integrated Bachelor and Master’s program in their sophomore year at UConn. Starting in their junior year, students are placed in a different district each semester where they student teach, sixth semester special education major Hannah Gariepy said.