“Although I retired in 2014 as a teacher and coach in Connecticut public schools, I continued to work pretty much full time until 2016, but in those two years I reflected often on where I’d retire and what that retirement would look like,” says Peter Leeds.

Engagement is the bedrock of all meaningful connection. It is the foundation of how you build a relationship, (i.e., think about when you get “engaged” to the person you want to commit the rest of your life to), and yet we don’t have a common definition that guides us regarding what engagement actually means.

The two researchers will be studying the experience of African-American male students in the context of three different types of institutions: Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black university; University of Connecticut, which is a primarily White institution and UH, which is a Hispanic-serving institution.

In 2016, the Wallace Foundation announced a four-year initiative to overhaul the way university preparation programs trained principals to meet school districts’ needs and reflect what research says is needed for effective school leadership.

Carl Johnson, an assistant principal at Plainville High School since July 2016, is now principal of the town’s sole high school.

“I was actually nervous before my first practice,” Pieper says. “I was scared. You know, the girls had high expectations, and they were all looking at me, when I was touching the ball, and I was like, ‘You know, I’m also just a hockey player just like you are. I’m not going to do anything different from you.’ I don’t know if that’s how it was, but that’s how it felt for me coming here. Once I started playing, I was just excited to see how the games were going to be.”

The University of Connecticut is serving as one of the lead institutions on a $32.6 million U.S. Department of Education grant supporting schools and districts throughout the nation to implement empirically based practices to increase student success.

This major federal investment represents five additional years of funding for the National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which just celebrated its 20th year.

“In our view as researchers who focus on the intersection of race and college sports, none of these events will rid big-time college sports of its deepest problems,” says Joseph Cooper. “Those problems include the placing of winning games and generating revenue ahead of the best interests of the student-athletes.”

This week, we’re taking the show on the road, taping in front of a Homecoming Weekend crowd estimated to be the largest ever assembled to listen to an episode of this podcast. Prof. Margaret Rubega (@ProfRubega) talks about what it’s like to be the official state bird expert, Baseball Coach Jim Penders recalls the time he threw an award into the sea, and we look back on homecomings past, complete with smocks.

On the surface, this student is picture-perfect: Straight A’s, president of a club, athlete, 100 volunteer hours, works three jobs and fundraiser for numerous causes.

This was me.