Category: Community Engagement


Read stories related to faculty, students, and alumni involved in public engagement initiatives.

Educators Embrace a New Acronym as a Way to Address Behavior in School

June 21, 2018

In a nutshell, PBIS is an approach to addressing student behavior, a sort of scaffolding upon which teachers and administrators build practices to prevent problems and provide the right help for kids who need it. “We focus on the social and emotional success of kids but we do it in the context of academic success,” George Sugai told a packed auditorium at Southwest High School earlier this week.


UConn to Train Teachers to Offer Mandarin

June 8, 2018

The University of Connecticut will start offering what is believed to be the only full teacher preparation program in Mandarin Chinese in January. Already with what officials say is a robust World Language program, UConn would include Mandarin to a program that already turns out teachers of French, Spanish, German, Italian and Latin.


Sugai Joins Federal Commission on School Safety Field Visit

May 31, 2018

This morning, Neag School Professor George Sugai, an expert in positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), was invited to speak about PBIS and improving school climate with representatives from the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Commission on School Safety, who made a field visit to an elementary school in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County to learn more about the impact of implementing PBIS practices. 



Are We Investing in Our Teachers?

May 4, 2018

West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona. Across the country, teachers have been striking for better wages. This hour, we talk about the challenges facing public school teachers nationwide and here in Connecticut. Have we invested enough in the professionals who educate the next generation? Neag School’s Richard Schwab was a panelist.



Alma Exley Scholars Share Experience at UConn

March 30, 2018

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.


Seven Neag School Alumni Award Recipients for 2018

Neag School Honors Seven Outstanding Alumni at Annual Celebration

March 27, 2018

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. 



More Evidence That Poverty Obscures Schools’ Recognition of Giftedness

March 22, 2018

The underrepresentation of high-poverty and minority populations in gifted programs has troubled education analysts and reformers for decades. One finding in this winter’s Fordham report on gifted programming gaps was that although high-poverty schools are as likely as low-poverty schools to have gifted programs, students there are less than half as likely to participate in them. This is complemented by a recent University of Connecticut finding that school poverty has a negative relationship with the percentage of students identified as gifted.