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

Neag School students completing the UConn Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) this spring presented their change projects — the program’s signature capstone assignment, in which students identify a need or opportunity for school improvement and work toward positive change — during the 2nd Annual Change Project Day.

The Neag School of Education is proud to announce that a Connecticut student, Aleema Kelly from CREC Montessori Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., is the national winner of the Library of Congress’ “Letters About Literature” contest for Level I, grades 4-6. The Neag School was the 2016 Connecticut sponsor for the Letters About Literature (LAL) writing contest for students in grades 4-12.

With awards ranging from the Alma Exley Scholarship to the state Minority Teacher Incentive Grant, Orlando Valentin completed the Neag School’s teacher preparation program this spring. The first in his immediate family to have earned a university degree, his goal is to land his first job — ideally, as a teacher in his hometown of Meriden. But don’t let Valentin’s plans to return home to teach fool you. During his time in the Neag School, he has sought out firsthand experience in school districts across Connecticut — as well as in classrooms abroad.

UConn’s Neag School of Education has been awarded a $20,700, four-month planning grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to support a collaborative, research-based process to augment their UConn Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) for aspiring school principals and intermediated managers.

Over the course of his time as dean — 14 years in total between 1997 and 2016 — Richard L. Schwab ’79 MA, ’81 Ph.D. has overseen a veritable transformation of the Neag School of Education. A community he affectionately refers to as his “second family,” the Neag School is one that Schwab, who stepped down as dean this past month to return to the faculty, has continually shaped for the better with every passing year.

The Neag School’s Class of 2016 graduates and their guests joined faculty, staff, and administrators earlier this month in celebration of Commencement Weekend, held on the UConn Storrs campus.

Assistant professor Milagros Castillo-Montoya will serve as interim director of the Neag School’s Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) program for one year, the Department of Educational Leadership announced earlier this month.

Connecticut is facing a steady decline in its school-age population, with the decline largest among high school students. The shrinking pool of high school students is expected to affect Connecticut school districts in many ways, from planning for school buildings, to class size, and even decisions about where students will attend school. Shaun Dougherty, assistant professor of education policy and leadership at the Neag School of Education, and an affiliated faculty member in UConn’s Department of Public Policy, recently discussed the potential impact. This story — written by David Bauman — originally appeared on UConn Today, the University of Connecticut’s news website.

Our alumni, faculty, and students reflect on their experience in the Neag School in this special video segment. Video produced by Charter & Oak Media Collective.