As UConn’s director of the H. Fred Simons African American Cultural Center (AACC) and affiliate faculty with the Africana Studies Institute, Willena Kimpson Price ’90 Ph.D. has been instrumental in supporting UConn African American students’ higher education experiences for the past three decades. Price has steered the AACC to be recognized campus-wide and throughout the United States as a university center that promotes an understanding and appreciation of the culture, history, and traditions of people of African descent.
Connecticut Education Association President Kate Dias ’97 MS, 6th Year is focusing her attention on the educational workforce, and hopes the session will yield approvals of public acts addressing educators, namely better working conditions and recruitment and retention of teachers.
The group started reaching out to legislators weeks before the session, Dias says, offering itself as a resource for questions or topic temperature checks in advance of any bill packages that may come out over the next few weeks.
This week, we welcome Fany Hannon, Neag School alumna a director of the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center, which is celebrating its golden anniversary this year. Fany talks about how the Center emerged from the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, what it’s been like trying to keep a student-oriented organization running during a global pandemic, and why so many generations of Latinx Huskies consider PRLACC a home away from home.
“Somehow, during that relatively short period of time, in early Covid, he put Connecticut on the map — and before you know it, he’s a potential candidate for secretary of education,” said Robert Villanova, an education professor at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. “His aspirations are nothing but pure. I would guess that during his time as commissioner, becoming secretary of education was his last thought.”
The expansion of a program to allow urban students in Danbury and Norwalk to attend suburban schools in Fairfield County has met a variety of challenges as the wealthier surrounding towns debate whether to enroll the students. In 2021, the state legislature set aside $1.175 million over two years to expand Open Choice – a program that currently serves children in Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford – to include Danbury and Norwalk.
When Linda Pescatello began her career as an exercise science researcher, the field was a marginal part of the medical sciences. Over the course of her decades-long commitment to continual learning and research, Pescatello’s work has risen to prominence, making her an internationally recognized expert in exercise prescription and post-exercise hypotension.
When Linda Pescatello began her career as an exercise science researcher, the field was a marginal part of the medical sciences. Over the course of her decades-long commitment to continual learning and research, Pescatello’s work has risen to prominence, making her an internationally recognized expert in exercise prescription and post-exercise hypotension.
Congratulations to the recipients of the Neag School of Education Alumni Board Scholarship for 2022: Sandeep Dutta, a doctoral student in learning, leadership, and education policy (LLEP) with a concentration in sports management; Yasmin Elgoharry, a doctoral student in LLEP with a concentration in higher education racial justice and decolonization; and Joselyn Perez, a doctoral student studying research methods, measurement, and evaluation. The Alumni Board Scholarship provides a $1,000 award annually to students enrolled in a Neag School master’s, doctorate, or sixth-year program who have proven academic excellence or demonstrated financial need.
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. In addition to the Dean’s Office and Department achievements, explore this edition’s Accolades from the following: Faculty/Staff; Alumni; Students; as well as In Memoriam.
The Neag School of Education and its Alumni Board are delighted to announce the 2022 Neag School Alumni Awards honorees. Eight outstanding graduates will be formally recognized at the School’s 24th annual Alumni Awards Celebration on Saturday, March 12, 2022.
