“The process of being creative does a whole bunch of really good things for us,” physically and mentally, said James C. Kaufman, professor of educational psychology at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Kaufman, who has written extensively about creativity, said there are many reasons why a stimulating hobby can help us. The first is pretty simple: It’s fun.

On Oct. 7, the University of Connecticut’s Women and Philanthropy Network hosted an event centered around the conversations of six panelists and how their different groups and backgrounds affect them in their areas of expertise. The discussion was moderated by Manisha Sinha, the Draper Chair in American history at UConn, and included panelists Socheth McCutcheon (UConn Law ‘06), Meghana Shah (UConn Law ‘04), Chauntay Mickens (UConn CLAS ‘10), Amy Lin-Meyerson (UConn Law ‘94) and Luz Burgos-Lopez (Neag School of Education).

The panel discussion will center on S. 4360: Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act. Introduced by Senator Murphy, S. 4360 is a bill to reduce police presence and increase resources for counseling in schools, with aims “to divert Federal funding away from supporting the presence of police in schools and toward evidence-based and trauma informed services that address the needs of marginalized students and improve academic outcomes” in order to “create safe and inclusive schools for all students.

In-person, hybrid, remote, and/or homeschool – the options for K- through-12 schooling during the pandemic are complicated, each with their own pros and cons. UConn Today asked psychologist Sandra Chafouleas, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and Neag Endowed Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and co-director of the UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health, about the importance of social and emotional health for children and their caregivers, particularly this year.

Kathleen Lynch, a professor at UConn’d Nead School of Education, noted that research on the summer slide — and how it affects different groups of students — remains mixed. “I do think some caution is warranted in making projections about COVID learning losses extrapolating from summer learning loss studies,” she said.

Sandra Chafouleas, a Board of Trustees Professor in UConn’s Neag School of Education, said she has seen more openings than ever before for school nurse and psychologist positions. Districts have become more focused on supporting students’ physical and mental health, she said.

“News headlines seem to suggest consensus about how bad the debate was, some deeming it the worst in presidential history and an embarrassment to society,” says Sandra Chafouleas, a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor in the Neag School of Education. “The theme of many stories covering the event can be summed up in a single word: dysfunction. Dysfunctional debates are characterized by not listening, jumping in and cutting others off, grandstanding, boasting, using sarcastic or biting tones, and not acknowledging others.”

Judy Rondeau, Rachael Trowbridge, and Genevieve Rondeau are participating in a Conservation Training Partnership (CTP) program, a part of UConn’s Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) that pairs high school students with an adult conservation volunteer. NRCA teams work on projects across the state to educate and raise awareness in conservation and environmental concerns. The program includes service learning, so communities and students all benefit from the projects.

“At a crucial time in our history in which talented women continue to struggle with decisions about how to lead and how to blend family well-being with work responsibilities, it is critical for universities to provide training and opportunities for leadership development for intelligent young women to explore their choices and pursue their dreams,” says Sally Reis, who is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology and leader of the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network.

What counts as “good”? This question gets at the heart of engaging in productive conversations as we describe effective literacy instruction. We explore that inquiry in this episode with Rachael Gabriel and Sarah Woulfin, authors of Making Teacher Evaluation Work: A Guide for Literacy Teachers and Leaders (Heinemann, 2017).