Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom.

Led by Erik Hines, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, students and faculty advisors from University of Connecticut’s ScHOLA2RS House traveled to the Bahia region of Brazil this spring to learn about the low access rate to higher education among Afro-Brazilian adolescents. Hines is the faculty advisor for the ScHOLA2RS House Learning Community.

A new collaboration between UConn and the University of Pavia in Italy will serve to foster not only opportunities for student exchanges among those from each university pursuing studies in the disciplines of gifted education, creativity, and talent development, but also shared research efforts in these areas.

Since 2015, Monique Duzant-Hastings has been working with students in grades 5 through 8 who have social, emotional, and behavioral needs. Thanks to the Neag School’s new partnership with her employer, the LEARN Regional Educational Service Center, she has now found a way to advance her career by pursuing certification as a K-12 special education teacher — at no cost to her. The new partnership offers LEARN personnel like Duzant-Hastings — a busy mother of three — the opportunity to apply for admission to the Neag School’s Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG) in special education at UConn’s Avery Point campus.

Approximately 100 school, mental health, and community leaders from across the state gathered at the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs on Wednesday, May 24, to discuss childhood trauma and the impact it can have on a child’s education, as well as possible strategies for responding to children who have experienced trauma or have behavioral health issues.

Kristi Kappael, now a doctoral student in the Neag School’s Learning, Leadership, and Educational Policy program with a concentration in adult learning, shares the story of her journey — from high school dropout to aspiring educator.

Stemming from the Thomas J. Dodd Center’s human rights education initiative, a new partnership was established between University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education, the Upstander Project, and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum. The partnership is called the Upstander Academy, which formally came together last year as a way to practice outreach and human rights education with the community.

Four-time Neag School alumnus Miguel A. Cardona ’01 MA, ’04 6th Year, ’11 Ed.D., ’12 ELP is the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning at Meriden Public Schools in Meriden, Conn. Here, he takes part in the Neag School’s “10 Questions” series.

In the wake of this past fall’s landmark Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding v. Rell court ruling, UConn’s Neag School of Education brought together individuals from across the state of Connecticut for a daylong summit dedicated to exploring special education issues.