Category: Alumni


Read stories about Neag School of Education alumni.

MLK Mural Unveiled Outside Mansfield Community Center

November 29, 2021

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.


A Higher Purpose

November 21, 2021

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.”



Book cover Follow Me to Distance Learning

Alumna Publishes Children’s Book on Socio-Emotional Learning

November 16, 2021

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.”



Women sitting at coffee shop discussing a book.

Using Book Clubs as a Professional Learning Tool

November 12, 2021

In a newly published journal article, Neag School Professor and adult learning expert Robin Grenier examines, with colleagues including Neag School alumna Kristi Kaeppel ’20 Ph.D., the use of book clubs and literature as a tool for enhancing the professional learning of employees across various organizations — from the military to nonprofits to health care. Voluntary, fiction-based book clubs, the researchers say, offer employees a nonformal setting for learning while critically raising consciousness within an organization.




Black sneakers surround word cloud about stopping racism.

#ThisIsAmerica Panel Features Critical Race Theory Discussion

October 28, 2021

This past month, UConn alumni, staff, and students gathered virtually for the #ThisIsAmerica: Critical Race Theory in Schools panel. #ThisIsAmerica, organized by the UConn Foundation with co-sponsors from across the University, is a series that brings together the UConn community to discuss and unpack systematic racism, social justice, and human rights issues. In addition, it spotlights the individuals, organizations, and movements fighting for justice and equity, and against oppression and white supremacy.


With Outcry Over Critical Race Theory, We Hear From CT Educators, Students

October 20, 2021

With a General Election just around the corner, the so-called “sleepy” town of Guilford has made national headlines, gripped by a polarizing debate over what’s being taught in schools. Guilford High School English Chair George Cooksey and Superintendent Paul Freeman explain that while critical race theory is not itself taught in the K-12 environment in Guilford, “dimension” and diversity of source material is still a priority. Plus, a new Black and Latino Studies elective is rolling out in Connecticut high schools next fall, following the first mandate of its kind in the country. A Windsor High School teacher and student who are piloting the course weigh in.