The Neag School of Education and its Alumni Board are delighted to announce the 2021 Neag School Alumni Awards honorees. Six outstanding graduates will be formally recognized at the School’s 23rd annual Alumni Awards Celebration on Saturday, March 13, 2021.

Having always practiced what he preached as a professor, advisor, and coach, William “Bill” Servedio is someone who walks the walk. Perhaps more accurately, the Neag School Professor Emeritus runs the run; he appears to have spent most every day of his 78 years moving at full tilt. And in recently establishing a scholarship fund for Neag School sport management students in addition to taking part in virtual discussions with alumni from the program, he clearly has no intention of slowing down.                                                                            

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Strategy Playbook for Educational Leaders: Principles and Processes (Routledge, 2021), a new book co-authored by Neag School Associate Professor Jennie Weiner and her colleague Isobel Stevenson, director at the Connecticut Center for School Change.

The volume is a how-to resource designed for superintendents, central office staff, principals, and teacher leaders that looks to “provide leaders with a concrete framework for a strategic improvement pan, helping educators link the ‘principles’ to ‘processes’ of planning.”

Through a collaboration with Lehigh University, Neag School of Education associate professor Jennifer Freeman will develop an intervention to improve college and career readiness for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. This $500,000 grant is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Freeman is a Co-PI with Lee Kern and Chris Liang at Lehigh University.

Each year, the Neag School co-sponsors a reading and writing contest known as Letters About Literature for Connecticut students in Grades 4-12. Students are asked to read a book, poem, or speech and write a letter to that author (living or dead) about how the text affected them personally. Prizes are awarded for top submissions.

When 2020 began, we had no clue as to the changes coming to our children’s education. Looking to the new year, the only thing that seems certain is that uncertainty in school opportunity, format, and structure will continue as the conditions around us adjust. School will carry on as unpredictable and unprecedented.

Miguel Cardona ’01 MA, ’04 6th Year, ’11 Ed.D., ’12 ELP is President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to be the country’s top education official. If confirmed by the Senate, this would mark the first time a University of Connecticut alum has held a Cabinet-level position in the White House.

Preschool can help ensure that children reach their fullest potential. Research suggests that preschool has a strong, positive impact on children’s brain development, relationships, and knowledge acquisition, as well as a broader return on investment for society. This brief summarizes this research and investigates preschool access in Connecticut.

We call them our colleagues, our peers, our mentors, or our coworkers – they are the people in our professional lives that also share in the details of our personal lives, who we associate with voluntarily, and who we trust with our thoughts, our experiences, and our fears.

Outside of work, we might call these relationships “friendships,” but it’s rarer to hear that particular f-word at the office – and the reason has to do with more than just semantics.

The University of Connecticut has been awarded a $179,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education for a new research project centered on reimagining dual language education. The project’s purpose is to improve the ability of dual language programs to promote the equitable bilingualism and biliteracy development of all students through a greater focus on sociocultural competence.