Dr. Alan Addley is in his eleventh year as the Superintendent of Granby Public Schools in Granby, Connecticut. A native of Northern Ireland, Alan started his career as a professional soccer player and mathematics teacher. Alan has thirty-four years of administrative and teaching experience in private and public schools in the United States and Ireland. Addley received his Ed.D. from UConn’s Neag School of Education in 2014. Prior to this, Addley earned his Connecticut Intermediate Administrator Certification in 1997 and a Connecticut Superintendent Certificate from the Executive Leadership Program in 2007, both from the Neag School.

The Connecticut Association of Latinos in Higher Education presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Cromwell resident Walter Diaz, vice president for student affairs at Eastern Connecticut State University.

Seventy years ago this week, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris. “All anniversaries provide a moment to reflect and take stock,” says Glenn Mitoma, an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in the Neag School. “The UDHR was written in the aftermath of World War II, a catastrophic moment in history that has important lessons for us today. We can use this anniversary as an opportunity to reflect on and rededicate ourselves to the goal of a more just, equitable, and inclusive world.”

“It’s a great honor and privilege to be named the next head coach of the Oregon lacrosse program,” said Gamble. “I am incredibly humbled and would like to thank Rob Mullens, Lisa Peterson and all of the wonderful people at the University of Oregon for this opportunity. Growing the game of lacrosse, especially on the West Coast, is something I am extremely passionate about. There is no better conference to compete in and grow this amazing game than the Pac-12.”

“It was very soon after I started, but it was really exciting,” Roth-Saks says. “I had such a wonderful and warm welcoming from our community and our volunteers and the board. It was so terrific to be able to start this leadership position with that type of excitement and energy.”

“Although I retired in 2014 as a teacher and coach in Connecticut public schools, I continued to work pretty much full time until 2016, but in those two years I reflected often on where I’d retire and what that retirement would look like,” says Peter Leeds.

Engagement is the bedrock of all meaningful connection. It is the foundation of how you build a relationship, (i.e., think about when you get “engaged” to the person you want to commit the rest of your life to), and yet we don’t have a common definition that guides us regarding what engagement actually means.

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

Carl Johnson, an assistant principal at Plainville High School since July 2016, is now principal of the town’s sole high school.

This week, we’re taking the show on the road, taping in front of a Homecoming Weekend crowd estimated to be the largest ever assembled to listen to an episode of this podcast. Prof. Margaret Rubega (@ProfRubega) talks about what it’s like to be the official state bird expert, Baseball Coach Jim Penders recalls the time he threw an award into the sea, and we look back on homecomings past, complete with smocks.