The Middlesex United Way is pleased to present the Community Service Award to Patricia Charles. This honors volunteer service to the agency, considering length and continuity of service. It is the highest and most prestigious honor for a United Way volunteer.

Neag School alumnus Jamahl Hines, who has been an assistant principal at Conard High School for nearly a decade, has been named 2022 Assistant Principal of the Year, the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) announced Tuesday.

The year 2021 featured many newsworthy events that kept Inside Higher Ed’s reporters busy. As the year comes to a close, we want to thank you for sticking with us for the news, regardless of how weighty the topics were. The five most read stories were: 5. Biden’s Choice for Education Secretary: Miguel Cardona, education commissioner in Connecticut, is a strong defender of public schools.

Friday was International Human Rights Day and the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education and Dodd Human Rights Impact Program both recognized the occasion. The virtual event Friday was highlighted by the appearance of U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Car-dona, who provided opening remarks. The roundtable featured former U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, Conard High School teacher Abigail Esposito, UConn graduate student Tyler Gleen and Capitol Region Education Council Civic Leadership High School student Zoe Maldonado.

The University of Connecticut is bringing in a national name with state ties Friday as part of a virtual forum supporting civics and human rights education in public schools. The program is highlighted by an afternoon roundtable talk on the role of civics and human rights education, with opening remarks by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. Friday’s event will feature the engagement arm of UConn’s Human Rights Institute, Dodd Human Rights Impact and the Neag School of Education. This event will be in recognition of International Human Rights Day.

Playing basketball changed Batouly Camara’s life forever when she was a child. That’s why Batouly founded W.A.K.E. (@w_a_k_e__), which stands for Women and Kids Empowerment, an organization that hosts basketball camps in New York City and Guinea, and whose goal is to empower girls and introduce them to new opportunities.

The city of Mansfield held a ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 13, to unveil the new MLK mural in front of the community center. The unveiling was accompanied by a host of other festivities, including music by Joaquan Kinsey from UConn’s Voices of Freedom Gospel Choir and UConn’s Jazz Quartet. About 130 people attended according to Margaret Chatey, who is the Mansfield communications specialist and runs the Town of Mansfield Facebook page. She also said that there were multiple speakers including the master of ceremonies professor Glenn Mitoma, Mayor Toni Moran, Matt Conway, Mural Artist Emida Roller, professor Carlita Cotton and superintendent Kelly Lyman.

Initially going the coaching route, Chloe Pavlech was a graduate assistant at UConn under legendary coach Geno Auriemma, earning her master’s in sport management in 2018. She started with the Huskies in August 2016, eight months after playing against them in the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden. “I’ll never forget my first day there, I sat down for breakfast check, and Kia Nurse walks in and says, ‘What are you doing here?”’ Pavlech said. “She was so confused, and I was kind of taken aback, too. I felt like a traitor.”

As UConn’s assistant vice president for student affairs and executive director of student activities, Joseph P. Briody ’86 (BUS), ’95 MA, ’96 Ph.D. is a Husky through and through.

Agnieszka Petlik ‘16 6th Year, a kindergarten teacher in Simsbury, Connecticut, and graduate of the Neag School’s UConn Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP), knows this transition all too well. “When COVID hit, I had to make some choices because my parents live downstairs, and they’re [immuno] compromised,” says Petlik. “I was very nervous, just like the rest of the world, as to what is going on and what we are going to do.”