Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you! Please send any news items and story ideas to neag-communications@uconn.edu.

My name is Alexandra Mililli, and I am a wealth manager with the Fiorentino Group at UBS Financial Services, Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut. I earned my teaching certificate at UConn in the Neag School of Education. I went for my undergrad and master’s at UConn and then received an MBA at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.

The Neag School of Education at UConn announces the recipients of the Neag School of Education Alumni Board Scholarship as Elena Sada, a first-year doctoral student studying bilingual and multicultural education in the Neag School, and Denée Jackson, a master’s student in the Neag School of Education’s Higher Education and Student Affairs program.

This April in New York City, the American Educational Research Association (AERA)’s Annual Meeting will feature the work of more than 60 faculty researchers, graduate students, and alumni from UConn’s Neag School of Education. An audience of 15,000 scholars, policy experts, practitioners, and AERA members will convene April 13 to 17 for a program that will include upwards of 2,500 sessions focused on the theme of “The Dreams, Possibilities, and Necessity of Public Education.”

This past month, human rights education groups submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council a joint stakeholder report — based on research done through the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and the Neag School of Education — in anticipation of the U.S. mid-term review process for the Universal Periodic Review. Glenn Mitoma was among the researchers who prepared the report.

Neag School alumna Dr. Laurie Henry has been appointed the next dean of Salisbury University’s Seidel School of Education.

UConn’s baseball coach, Jim Penders, is the prime example of a coach who is very high on player development and the numbers don’t lie. Under his belt are numerous appearances in the NCAA tournament including a Super Regional appearance in 2011, three conference titles and a total of 43 players either drafted or signed by professional baseball clubs.

Kimberly Lawless, associate dean for research in the College of Education, believes that science literacy is a tool, and like any tool, be it a hammer, screwdriver or wrench, you need to learn what it is, what it does and when to use it.

Jeffrey Villar is leaving his post as executive director of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform to take a new position with the Southbridge, Mass., school district.

David Erwin, who recently retired from Berlin Public Schools after spending eight years at its full-time superintendent, was appointed to the part-time post as superintendent of Sprague Public Schools.