For Rachael Manzer, a doctoral candidate in the Neag School of Education, life-transformative education takes many forms. Manzer is a five-year volunteer of the UConn 4-H Program, a leader with the Granby 4-H Club, a member of the NASA Network of Astronaut Teachers (NEAT), and a candidate for commercial space flight through Teachers in Space, Inc. In 2019, Manzer received the UConn College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) 4-H Leadership Award, and was recently selected as the 2021 Northeast 4-H Volunteer of the Year Award.

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.

Isabella “Bella” Gradante ’20 (ED), ’21 MA says she always knew she would pursue a career in education, having been raised by a family of educators and around schools her whole life. It wasn’t until she entered her master’s year in the Neag School’s Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s (IB/M) program that she found what truly called her to the field: the practice of culturally relevant and sustaining teaching.

Kiana Foster-Mauro’s mother, grandmother and great-grandmother watched with the 22-year-old elementary education major as she became the first in her family to graduate college. Nadeige Bailey, another first-generation graduate, said she cried on her couch last May as she watched her name flash across her computer screen “for like two seconds.” That was the culmination of her two-year, sports management graduate program.

At Connecticut’s State Education Resource Center (SERC) Dismantling Systemic Racism conference, West Hartford Public Schools Director of Equity Advancement Roszena Haskins was honored with the 2021 George Coleman Excellence in Equity award for her successful and ongoing district-wide work.

.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona praised new University of Connecticut graduates for their work in helping to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and urged them to use their uniqueness as their “superpower” to accomplish their career and life goals, in a recorded speech played Saturday at a virtual 2021 commencement. Cardona, Connecticut’s former education commissioner who earned graduate degrees at UConn, taped the speech Friday at UConn’s football stadium in East Hartford, the site of Saturday’s ceremony. The school awarded nearly 8,200 degrees.

Watch the virtual 2021 UConn Commencement ceremony, featuring remarks from four-time Neag School alumnus and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

From college football to the NFL to principal to superintendent of schools, Uyi Osunde has had quite the journey.

Ball State University has hired Neag School alumna Erin Mason in the newly-created position of university registrar. She most recently served as associate registrar at the University of Connecticut.

Thanks to 889 individuals, the Neag School of Education garnered more than $50,000 in contributions during this spring’s annual Giving Day at UConn.