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.

Paula Milone-Nuzzo, professor and dean of the College of Nursing, has been named the new president of the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Milone-Nuzzo will end her tenure at Penn State in August and a national search for her replacement will begin immediately.

Shamim S. Patwa has been named the 2017 Outstanding School Educator Award recipient by the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education Alumni Board. Patwa was recognized on March 18 at the Neag School’s 19th Annual Awards Celebration in Storrs, Conn.

Dyllis Schlosser Braithwaite is the opposite of what people envision when they think of a fashion trendsetter. She’s 89 years old, 5-foot-3, a size 12 to 14 and a suburban shopkeeper.