This past summer, the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) formally recognized Neag School Professor Jennifer McGarryas the 2019 recipient of its most prestigious honor: the Earle F. Zeigler Lecture Award. The Zeigler Award, the highest distinction one can earn in the academic field of sport management, acknowledges significant contributions to the field in terms of scholarship, research, leadership, and peer recognition.

Jaci L. VanHeest, an associate professor in the Neag School of Education, has been named UConn’s new Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR). The NCAA requires member institutions to have a FAR to serve as a liaison between the institution and its athletic department.

This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to travel abroad to Costa Rica, where I spent six weeks living with a host family and volunteering at a local PreK-12dual immersionschool, La Paz Community School.

After almost four decades of dedicated service, Brown retired Aug. 31, with a ground-breaking career and legacy that will continue to influence the University for years to come. Neag School and University faculty, past colleagues, current and former students, friends, and Brown’s family members came together earlier this month to celebrate him and his career.

This past academic year, UConn’s Neag School of Education, along with UndocuScholars at the University of California Los Angeles and the Association for the Study of Higher Education(ASHE) Presidential Commission on Undocumented Immigrants, co-sponsored a research brief dissemination serieshighlighting issues related to the undocu/DACAmented community.

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. 

As the number of Holocaust survivors worldwide continues to dwindle each year, the question of how to preserve the stories of survivors as a means of remembrance and education becomes ever more relevant. Alan Marcus, associate professor in curriculum and instruction, is working to answer that question through research on three-dimensional, interactive technology.

Professor Preston Green IIIwas formally appointed the John and Maria Neag Professor of Urban Education on Aug. 14. A renowned expert in education law who joined the Neag School’s Department of Educational Leadership in 2013, Green also holdsa joint appointment in UConn’s School of Law.

UConn has received a $2.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation to expand and study a new public engagement program that combines teaching, service learning, and Extension outreach.