The Neag School’s Class of 2017 graduates and their guests joined faculty, staff, and administrators this past weekend in celebration of Commencement Weekend, held on the UConn Storrs campus.

Cold-weather baseball teams aren’t supposed to have the kind of success Jim F. Penders ’94 (CLAS), ’98 MA has had in his 15 seasons as head coach of the Huskies. It’s in his DNA, other coaches insist – and they may be right.

“We need students to read across multiple sources and compare, not just find one source and go with it,” says Ian O’Byrne of University of Connecticut’s New Literacies Research Lab in an EdTech article.

Jonathan the 14th, UConn’s fearless mascot, was sent on an extra special mission Monday. He helped two alums get engaged!

The Windsor Board of Education has selected Virginia Hoerle to be the new Principal for Oliver Ellsworth School. Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Craig Cooke recommended Hoerle’s appointment to the Board at a special meeting that was held on April 4, 2017.

Faculty in the Neag School teacher education program this March brought together more than 70 people — from current students and alumni to local educators and school administrators — for an interactive discussion focused on the theme of “Teaching in Turbulent Times.” Prompted by ongoing discussion in recent months among faculty and educators about political divides surfacing in today’s classrooms, the event — led by Dorothea Anagnostopoulos, executive director of teacher education at the Neag School — was intended to serve as an opportunity for a diverse range of people in the education field to network and speak openly, offering suggestions and concerns.

The city’s school district has hired a longtime educator with expertise in dual-language immersion and bilingualism to lead its newest magnet school. Jose A. Ortiz recently was named the principal at C.B. Jennings Dual Language and International Elementary Magnet School.

The Neag School of Education has long dedicated itself to providing aspiring educators with in-depth, firsthand experience in the classroom as part of its rigorous teacher education program. Its partners include numerous schools across the state of Connecticut at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

For the past 10 years, E.B. Kennelly, a public neighborhood elementary school in Hartford, Conn., has been one of those school partners — and an exemplary one at that, having been recognized this past year with the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER) Richard W. Clark Exemplary Partner School Award for 2016. The award recognizes a partner school collaboration that is advancing the complex work of developing, sustaining, and renewing partner schools.

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.

The RHAM Board of Education announced the appointment of Patricia Law to succeed Superintendent Robert Siminski, who is retiring.