The Neag School recently announced new appointments for two of its faculty members, Del Siegle and Scott Brown, and welcomes a new director of assessment.

Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Scott Brown has been named head of the Department of Educational Psychology (EPSY) at the Neag School.

A 2013 Pew report found that 62 percent of people in the U.S. now get their information from social media, and 47 percent of Facebook users go there for news. Today, every person is both a reporter and a consumer of online information. As a result, each of us is potentially the problem — as well as the solution — to the altered landscape of fake news and false information in an online world.

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

Ask any group of high school teachers, and they will report that the most frequently asked question in their classrooms is, “When are we ever gonna use this?” In a traditional college prep program, the honest answer is usually, “Maybe when you get to the university.” But in the real world? Depending on the class, students may not find their learning as useful.

The following PBIS Practitioners Guide — titled National Climate Change: 5 Ways Schools Can Positively and Proactively Support All Students — originally appeared on the OSEP Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports website and is authored by Neag School faculty Brandi Simonsen, George Sugai, Jennifer Freeman, and Tamika La Salle.

Professor emerita Alexinia Young Baldwin ’71 Ph.D. of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, died on Jan. 21, 2017. She was 91.

A new, interactive exhibit focused on implicit bias has arrived at the UConn Storrs campus. Created by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the exhibit will be hosted at the Homer Babbidge Library through Feb. 28.

As members of the Equity and Social Justice Task Force, we believe that the new social and political context created by the presidential election requires not only that we reiterate these commitments, but also that we, the Equity and Social Justice Task Force, acknowledge and empathize with the many individuals and groups in our community who are experiencing a considerable amount of pain, fear, and concern for their safety.

Brittany (Perotti) Agne ’09 (CLAS), ’11 MA, a former Husky Sport volunteer who earned a master’s degree with a concentration in sport management at the Neag School, today serves as director of children’s education programs at New York Cares, a New York City-based nonprofit focused on volunteer management whose staff plans 1,600 volunteer-led projects every month.