With 80 students currently majoring in the University’s human rights undergraduate program and another 40 to 50 enrolled as human rights minors, UConn stands out as one of just a handful of universities in the nation offering a degree program in the field of human rights.

But educating students in human rights issues need not be exclusive to college campuses, as Glenn Mitoma, assistant professor of human rights and curriculum and instruction, can attest.

As you watch this year’s summer Olympics, pay attention to the athletes from smaller countries. There’s a good reason why some countries manage to produce elite athletes consistently, even though they’re drawing from populations much smaller than those of China, Brazil, or the U.S. They cultivate them differently.

Neag School alum Amanda Slavin ’08 (ED), ’09 MA has taken the skills she learned in the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s program and is now applying them in a career in marketing as CEO and founder of Las Vegas-based startup Catalyst Creativ. This month, Teach.com — an educational web resource for information on becoming a great teacher in any state across the country — features Slavin in its “8 Questions” series, which showcases teachers who have transitioned their classroom skills into new and exciting careers in, and beyond, the field of education.

This fall, the Neag School is joined by the second cohort of Dean’s Doctoral Scholars. The Dean’s Doctoral Scholars Program at UConn’s Neag School of Education provides full tuition for four years plus a stipend to promising Ph.D. candidates.

In this piece written for Players’ Tribune, former UConn football star Casey Cochran ’15 (CLAS) — currently a graduate student in the Neag School’s sport management master’s degree program — shares, in his own words, the story of enduring his 13th concussion, an injury that ultimately prompted him to end his ambition of playing professional football. Today, Cochran is working to advocate for greater awareness about head trauma and concussions in sports.

With awards ranging from the Alma Exley Scholarship to the state Minority Teacher Incentive Grant, Orlando Valentin completed the Neag School’s teacher preparation program this spring. The first in his immediate family to have earned a university degree, his goal is to land his first job — ideally, as a teacher in his hometown of Meriden. But don’t let Valentin’s plans to return home to teach fool you. During his time in the Neag School, he has sought out firsthand experience in school districts across Connecticut — as well as in classrooms abroad.

Over the course of his time as dean — 14 years in total between 1997 and 2016 — Richard L. Schwab ’79 MA, ’81 Ph.D. has overseen a veritable transformation of the Neag School of Education. A community he affectionately refers to as his “second family,” the Neag School is one that Schwab, who stepped down as dean this past month to return to the faculty, has continually shaped for the better with every passing year.

Connecticut is facing a steady decline in its school-age population, with the decline largest among high school students. The shrinking pool of high school students is expected to affect Connecticut school districts in many ways, from planning for school buildings, to class size, and even decisions about where students will attend school. Shaun Dougherty, assistant professor of education policy and leadership at the Neag School of Education, and an affiliated faculty member in UConn’s Department of Public Policy, recently discussed the potential impact. This story — written by David Bauman — originally appeared on UConn Today, the University of Connecticut’s news website.

A pilot reading initiative led by two UConn professors is showing dramatic results four years after its implementation, much to the delight of lawmakers and advocates who have struggled for years to close Connecticut’s significant reading achievement gap.

For the second year running, the Neag School will be welcoming a selection of promising new doctoral candidates to campus this fall, each of whom will arrive knowing they be provided with four years of fully funded support through the prestigious Dean’s Doctoral Scholar program.