Category: News Featured




Mike Forsyth, alum of the Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates.

10 Questions With Michael Forsyth, Navy Veteran Turned Math Teacher

September 5, 2019

Michael Forsyth ’15 (CLAS), ’16 MA had already served in the U.S. Navy aboard two submarines and started a family when he decided in his late 20s to work toward a college degree. After completing his undergraduate degree in mathematics at UConn in 2015, Forsyth went on to earn his master’s degree in curriculum and instruction through the 11-month Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates at the Neag School of Education. He has since been finding creative ways to teach math to students at Connecticut River Academy in East Hartford, Conn. 





Young students working with computer coding materials.

Local Educator Brings Robotics Into Math Classrooms With Help of Donor

July 30, 2019

Dwight Sharpe, after receiving the 2018 Rogers Educational Innovation Fund, a $5,000 award that supports innovative projects carried out by Connecticut teachers at the elementary or middle-school level, has begun implementing his vision. Sharpe’s project, entitled “Accessing and Engaging in Mathematics Through Robotics and Computer Programming,” seeks “to explore and determine how robotics and computer programming can be embedded into middle school instruction to improve student engagement and achievement.” It was selected from among more than 40 submissions.


National Education Policy Center (NEPC) logo

From Black Armbands to Instagram: Tinker + 50

July 30, 2019

2019 marks the 50th anniversary of that landmark case, Tinker v. Des Moines School District, where Tinker and the other plaintiffs prevailed.

In the Q&A below, National Education Policy Center Fellow and University of Connecticut professor Preston Green III explains the significance of the case, tracing its implications to modern-day student speech issues (like those related to social media) that the 1965 Court could not have foreseen.



Jamelle Elliott

UConn’s Jamelle Elliott: Where She is Now

July 1, 2019

There are times, says Jamelle Elliott ’96 (BUS), ’97 MA, when she sticks her head in to watch the UConn basketball players practice for a few minutes, because she misses the sweet echo of a bouncing basketball.

Elliott spent four years on the women’s team, and during her junior year, the undefeated women Huskies won the 1995 NCAA National Championship over the Tennessee Lady Vols, sparking a 10-year rivalry. Elliott was just the second player to record more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her 135-game career as a Husky. What’s more, the alumna of the School of Business and Neag School never missed a game, or a practice, in four years.