The Siberian Husky that serves as the mascot for the University of Connecticut is taking on another role: assistant ring bearer for two university alumni.

The new assistant superintendent of elementary schools in East Hartford is Elsie Torres, a teacher and administrator from Meriden, school officials announced Thursday. Torres, who starts her new job on Aug. 15, most recently worked as supervisor of bilingual education and English-as-a-second-language programs for Meriden public schools.

The interim administrator who helped to launch the Windrose Program is leaving the Greenwich Public Schools after accepting a position as Pequot housemaster at Fairfield Warde High School. Brian T. Keating was named the interim program administrator after participating in the Alternative High School Design Team during the 2016-17 school year to develop the Windrose Program. He joined Greenwich High School in 2001 as an English teacher with the GHS Community Learning Program and served as Clark House assistant dean.

When we honored Jessica Raugitinane in 2012, she said it was her dream to teach abroad. After two years of teaching in Washington, D.C., she realized her dream. During the 2016-2017 school year, she taught English as a second language in Quito, Ecuador, through a volunteer program called WorldTeach.

Undocumented children and families face unique challenges that can affect their schooling experience and require the attention and care of educators. Chelsea Connery ’13 (ED), ’14 MA, a former public school teacher and now a Neag School doctoral student in the Learning, Leadership, and Education Policy program, prepared the following issue brief — in affiliation with the Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA) — about the impact of undocumented status on children’s learning. 

Jamelle Elliott has been named associate athletic director for the National “C” Club and will lead the new enterprise. Elliott served as the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Cincinnati from 2009-18 after working on Geno Auriemma’s coaching staff from 1997-2009.

Dr. Yvonne Condell, who taught biology at M State, Fergus Falls, in the early 1960s, was honored June 23 with a humanitarian and philanthropic award from MSUM, where she was a long-time faculty member after leaving Fergus Falls.

Greenwich Public Schools’ (GPS) world languages program coordinator Viviana Conner has accepted a position with the Hartford Public Schools as the executive director for elementary and middle school grades, effective July 13.

Eastern Middle School (EMS) Principal Ralph F. Mayo was unanimously named Interim Superintendent of Schools, effective July 28, the Greenwich Board of Education announced. Mayo was selected during a special meeting of the board and will replace exiting Superintendent Dr. Jill Gildea.

When Amanda Powell was in eighth grade in Bridgeport her yearbook picture had a space marked “future plans.” Powell’s said “teacher” and that’s just what she became. Now Powell, who started her teaching career at Bloomfield High School seven years ago, can add “teacher of the year.”