Students of color in UConn’s Neag School of Education are fortunate that their predecessors established an organization called Leadership in Diversity.

Almost five years ago, students formed the group to build a support system for future teachers of color at the university. It’s a mentoring program intended to give students the tools and networks that will enable them to succeed in their careers as educators.

The players, the years and the victories have rolled by, and on Tuesday the present-day Huskies presented Jim Penders with his 500th as UConn’s coach, a 4-0 victory at Boston College behind the pitching of Jeff Kersten.

This past Saint Patrick’s Day, members of the Neag School of Education Alumni Board; Neag School faculty, staff, and administrators; friends of the University; and families gathered around tables draped in purple in the Rome Ballroom of the University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus to celebrate the achievements of seven Neag School alumni during the 20th annual Neag School of Education Alumni Awards Celebration. 

A former UConn student-athlete, Clewiston Challenger ’03 (CLAS), ’08 MA now serves as assistant professor of counseling in the Neag School. This latest installment of “10 Questions” connects with Challenger on his experiences as a UConn undergrad, his current research, and his aspirations for the students he now teaches in the counseling program.

The Neag School of Education, the UConn Department of English, and the Connecticut Writing Project (CWP) at UConn are proud to announce Connecticut’s winners of the 25th annual Letters About Literature competition, a nationwide contest sponsored by the Library of Congress for students in grades 4 through 12.

“My name is Lara Hawley and I am currently serving as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in South Africa for nine months,” says Lara Hawley. “I arrived in January and will be here until October. This first month in South Africa has been a whirlwind, but I have loved every single second of it!”

Global Ed Leadership (Neag School alumna Kelly Lyman guest writes about her experiences with a UConn leadership partnership program in Jordan)

Now an educator for more than 20 years, Roszena Haskins ’17 Ed.D. was not like her colleagues, who were inspired to become educators at an early age. It was not until her undergraduate college years at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she was studying radio, television, and film, along with English, that she thought about teaching.

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.