Jane Nguyen, second from left, is one of the 2018 Global Sports Mentoring Program Emerging Leaders. She is being hosted at the Neag School this month by mentors Laura Burton, Jennifer McGarry, and Danielle DeRosa. (Photo credit: U.S. Dept. of State in cooperation with University of Tennessee Center for Sport, Peace, & Society. Photographer: Jaron Johns)

Neag School Faculty, Staff Mentor Emerging Leader in Sport

October 17, 2018

Each year, the U.S. Department of State, the Center for Sport, Peace & Society at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and espnW co-sponsor the Global Sports Mentoring Program’s (GSMP) Empower Women Through Sports Initiative.

The Neag School Department of Educational Leadership’s Laura Burton, Danielle DeRosa, and Jennifer McGarry were selected to serve as mentors to an emerging leader from Vietnam, Tra Giang “Jane” Nguyen.


Students entering the Front Street entrance of Uconn Hartford on Sept. 26, 2018. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

Where Are They Now? Catching Up With HESA Alum Meghan Hanrahan ’04 MA

October 2, 2018

Two years into her position as director of UConn’s master of science in business analytics and project management (MSBAPM) program, HESA alumna Meghan Hanrahan ’04 MA is thriving. She loves her work, the MSBAPM program’s enrollment is on the rise, and Hanrahan herself was recently featured in Hartford Business Journal’s 2018 “40 Under 40” issue. “I feel like I’m exactly where I should be,” she says. So how, exactly, did she get here?


Jesús Cortés-Sanchez conducts at William Hall High School (Credit: Joe Columbatto)

Aspiring Music Ed Teacher Finds Crucial Support in Longtime Donor

September 25, 2018

Like most kids heading into seventh grade, Jesús Cortés-Sanchez was not yet thinking ahead to a future career. What mattered most then was enjoying time with his friends. Even into his high school years, the idea of going to college was not on his mind. An undocumented student ineligible to apply for federal student aid, he viewed college as an unrealistic, financially impossible feat.

All of that would start to change when a recent Yale School of Music graduate named John Miller began recruiting students to a new band program he had established at Cortés-Sanchez’s middle school in New Haven, Conn.



Child in hospital (Thinkstock image)

Ensuring School-Age Patients Receive an Education: Meet Natalie Curran

September 18, 2018

Editor’s Note: This month, Teach.com — an educational web resource for information on becoming a teacher — features Neag School alumna Natalie Curran ’11 (ED), ’12 MA 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.


James Kaufman

Q&A With James Kaufman: Do Meaningful Work

September 14, 2018

Professor James Kaufman, the author/editor of more than 35 books, is interviewed in this piece focused on books and reading, which originally appeared on The Readings Lists blog. 



Jason Courtmanche from the UConn Dept. of English and the Connecticut Writing Project, recognizes one of the student honorees. In the background is Doug Kaufman, from the Neag School, who served as another faculty advisor.

10 Questions With the Director of the Connecticut Writing Project

August 28, 2018

Jason Courtmanche ’91 (CLAS), Ph.D. ’06 has been serving in a variety of capacities at the University of Connecticut for 23 years. A lecturer in the University’s English department, an assistant coordinator of the Early College Experience English program, and affiliate faculty in the Neag School’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, he primarily serves as director of the Connecticut Writing Project (CWP), which immerses Connecticut teachers in an intensive writing program where they grow as writers, learn about teaching writing, and have the opportunity to become published in one of CWP’s literary magazines.