Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom.

We are proud to present the Neag School’s 2021 Alumni Award honorees, each of whom has exhibited excellence across the field of education. It is our privilege to celebrate all that they have accomplished through their careers and their service to the community.

From a young age, Madison Corlett ’16 (ED), ’17 MA, was excited about helping others, raising money through lemonade stands and other fundraisers, then donating the money to local causes.

A program specialist for University Events and Conference Services at the University of Connecticut, alumna Anne Hill ’90 (CLAS), ’92 MA, has been planning events across campus for nearly 24 years. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last spring, Hill and her team had to uproot the strategies they had been using to design in-person events and pivot to online platforms.

The Senate on Monday easily confirmed Miguel A. Cardona, a career educator who rose through Connecticut’s education system to become a leader in the effort to reopen pandemic-shuttered schools, as the next education secretary.

His nomination was approved in a vote of 64 to 33.

The Senate confirmed Miguel Cardona to serve as education secretary Monday, vaulting the little-known Connecticut educator into the center of the national debate over how to reopen schools for face-to-face classes.

Education secretaries may not run schools directly, but they can set a tone. Those who know the Biden administration’s pick for education chief, Miguel Cardona, expect his signature spirit of inclusivity to be a unifying force.

President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Education, Neag School alumnus and Connecticut’s Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona ’01 MA, ’04 6th Year, ’11 Ed.D., ’12 ELP, was officially confirmed on March 1, 2021, by the U.S. Senate. He is the first UConn graduate in history to hold a Cabinet-level position in the White House.

Gov. Ned Lamont in July tapped Kelli-Marie Vallieres to lead a new state office dubbed the Connecticut Workforce Unit. Under Vallieres — formerly CEO of Sound Manufacturing and Monster Power Equipment in Old Saybrook — the group collaborates with the Department of Economic and Community Development and Department of Labor to advise the governor and other state officials on workforce strategies and initiatives.

The Neag School of Education, UConn’s Department of English, and the Connecticut Writing Project (CWP), co-sponsors of the 28th annual Letters About Literature contest, are proud to announce Connecticut’s winners for the 2020-21 academic year.