Kathy Gavin, a retired researcher in the Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, still contributes her time and energy to the Neag School of Education.
“I’ve always loved seeing my students solve a problem. That ‘a-ha!’ moment is such a wonderful triumph for them and for me, too,” said Dr. M. Katherine Gavin, who dedicated her career to teaching and researching mathematics.
“To have students tell me that they were afraid to take my course, but fell in love with mathematics in the end, was wonderful, especially when those students will be future teachers who will influence their own students’ attitudes toward mathematics,” added Gavin, who in 2013 retired from UConn’s Neag School of Education. There, she served as an associate professor in residence in mathematics and math specialist at the Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development.
Gavin said she was inspired to enter education by her high school math teachers. Later, at UConn, she turned her determination to “ignite a love of mathematics” into two nationally renowned projects—Project M3: Mentoring Mathematical Minds and Project M2: Mentoring Young Mathematicians.
Serving as the projects’ principal investigator and project director, she led a team of mathematics education experts from throughout the U.S. to develop new mathematics materials focused on advanced thinking skills and student-centered learning for talented math students in grades K-5, especially those from low-income and minority backgrounds.
Today, the educational materials produced from the projects are widely used in all 50 states and internationally, with Gavin and her team receiving the National Association for Gifted Children’s Distinguished Curriculum Award for nine consecutive years.
“Kathy has distinguished herself by compiling a remarkable record of both scholarly publications and national and international presentations,” said former Neag colleague Joseph S. Renzulli, director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. “Kathy’s work has both the scholarly respect and the practical applications for influencing real and lasting changes, and in this regard her contributions are recognized as the ‘gold standard’ in mathematics education.”
A Neag alumna with a Ph.D. in educational psychology focused on gifted and talented education, Gavin has been actively involved in philanthropic support for the Neag School since her retirement.
“It is a wonderful and exciting time for the school as we try to expand our programs and research agendas in a wide variety of field,” Gavin said. “The Neag School is fully dedicated and engaged in helping students learn, and in making our students the best teachers they could possibly be. I’m glad to contribute to the effort in extending our research into all areas of the state and becoming even better.”
Besides providing philanthropic support, Gavin has been collaborating with current faculty in continued research on mathematics education for gifted and talented students. Her paper “Examining the Effects of Gifted Programming in Mathematics and Reading Using the ECLS-K,” co-written with Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment associate professor Betsy McCoach and former UConn doctoral student Jill Adelson, won the 2013 Gifted Child Quarterly Research Paper of the Year. Adelson is now an assistant professor at the University of Louisville.
Continuing to work with colleagues on Project M3 and Project M2, Gavin recently published “Nurturing Young Student Mathematicians” with Neag School Assistant Professor Tutita M. Casa. The paper outlines the philosophy, literature and best practices in the fields of gifted and mathematics education. She and her team are also creating and field testing three new mathematics education units.
“In order to thrive in our increasingly technological and global society, we need to develop creative leaders who are able to grapple with complex problems and figure out innovative ways to solve them,” Gavin said. “We need to continue to recognize and develop mathematical talent, as well as to challenge and engage students in every mathematics class, as they will be the future innovators and problem solvers of the world.”
Gavin continues to teach at UConn’s Confratute – Summer Institute for Enrichment Teaching and Learning, as well as provides professional development for teachers in districts around the country. She believes that raising both the expectations and capabilities of teachers will “have a more lasting effect on students for years to come.” A member of the state Department of Education Committee charged with helping develop standards for early childhood math education, Gavin is the author of Identifying and Nurturing Math Talent (The Practical Strategies Series in Gifted Education) and co-author of the middle school textbook series Math Innovations. She is the recipient of the Neag School of Education’s 2012 Distinguished Researcher Award. When not working, Gavin enjoys spending time with family and friends, especially her four grandchildren.
“Being able to work with teachers and help them see that young students can do so much more in mathematics meant a great deal to me. I’m glad to hear from so many teachers that they will never go back to their old way of teaching.” Gavin said.
To learn more about Gavin and her work, visit this video.
James Kaufman, professor of educational psychology and an internationally recognized expert on creativity. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)
Creative people don’t just become best-selling novelists, Tony Award-winning composers, or world-renowned painters. Some become inspiring leaders, innovative entrepreneurs, and students’ favorite teachers.
Neag professor of educational psychology Dr. James C. Kaufman is an internationally recognized expert on how each individual’s creativity can be tapped in a multitude of settings. One of his primary focuses is on breaking down the preconception that creativity belongs only in the arts.
“Creative people tend to be happier, funnier, sexier, and more successful, and use their creativity to cope with stress and even heal themselves after a trauma,” says Kaufman, who last fall left California State University to join the Neag School of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology as part of UConn’s faculty hiring initiative.
Prior to his move to Storrs, Kaufman spent 11 years at California State’s San Bernardino campus, serving as founding director of its Learning Research Institute, and earning tenure within the Department of Psychology. He is a well known and much sought-after expert in all areas of creativity, including its assessment, fairness, and link to mental health.
Despite his ties to California, Kaufman says the opportunity to work with fellow creativity scholars and Neag professors Jonathan Plucker in the Department of Educational Leadership and Ronald Beghetto in Educational Psychology was too good to miss. Already co-collaborators on several books, journal articles, and other projects, the “three amigos,” as Kaufman describes them, had often imagined what they might accomplish if they were ever on the same campus.
“There is no real ego when the three of us work together,” Kaufman says.
Creativity across disciplines
One of the first areas they plan to look at is how creativity as a field can reach across disciplines with the goal of shared knowledge.
“Scholars tend to work in silos. In psychology, education, business, neuroscience, humanities, computer science – all of us speak our own jargon, and publish in our own journals, but too often we don’t know how to speak to each other,” says Kaufman, outgoing president of the American Psychological Association’s Division 10, which is devoted to creativity and art. “Part of our research will focus on creating a framework – to develop a domain and culture – that allows us to see how each discipline uses creativity, and then how to use it to best speak each other’s languages.”
He and Beghetto, who came to the Neag School last year from the University of Oregon, along with Plucker, have also begun to outline a series of studies for grant proposals that would allow them to take advantage of UConn’s extensive research resources.
“We have so many top-notch people at UConn, and the range of available experts means we can look at sides of creativity that haven’t been explored before, involving people in disciplines like business and engineering, who are excited to see how we can use creativity to help them move their field forward,” Kaufman said. “We’ll also be focused on how to inspire teachers to be creative, as well as how teachers can inspire their students to be creative, too.”
His responsibilities this semester include teaching doctoral students in the Neag School’s Gifted and Talented Education program. Breaking the stereotype that being creative is something only those drawn to the fine or performing arts can do is also something he is tackling both inside and outside the classroom: “Everybody has the ability to be creative. If you take a critical look at creative performance, no difference can be attached to race, culture, privilege, or background. The capacity to be creative is universal, though those who have positive views of their ability to be creative tend to be more so.”
A graduate of the University of Southern California and Yale University, Kaufman will continue his work as editor of the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture. He and Beghetto are also writing a book on ways elementary, middle school, and secondary teachers can use creativity to better teach Common Core requirements.
“One of the things I want to show in all my work is how creativity is related to many of the things we care about, like success and happiness,” Kaufman says. “One of the many wonderful aspects of it is that everybody has the same potential to be creative, and if we can successfully identify specific elements associated with being creative in different domains, we can begin to help and guide people toward better tapping into their own. There’s so much to this field.”
Diane Ullman (pictured on the left) welcomed Mary Tadros to UConn as part of the program’s facilitation.
Schools in Jordan and throughout the Middle East will soon be led by administrators as confident and knowledgeable as those who have graduated from the Neag School of Education’s highly rated University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP).
As part of a recently announced partnership with the Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA) in Jordan, Neag Educational Leadership faculty will help develop a program and training materials for QRTA staff to use to teach administrators from local and international schools. Led by UCAPP Director Diane D. Ullman, the effort will focus on putting “UCAPP’s best content and concepts into Arabic and a Middle Eastern context.”
“One of the primary commonalities I see in education throughout the world is that successful schools have successful principals,” said Dr. Ullman. “Good principals encourage teachers and unleash their full potential. They create a community where teachers learn from one another.”
In addition to developing the curriculum, Neag faculty will train QRTA staff how to best present the materials. This process will begin in July 2014 when Neag faculty will begin teaching the curriculum to private schools in the region. In the near future the QRTA staff will be prepared to bring the curriculum to the public schools in Jordan
Recognized as one of the top educational leadership programs in the U.S., UCAPP provides courses in educational policy, curriculum leadership and program evaluation for school improvement, supervision and evaluation among other areas.
The Neag School- QRTA collaboration was announced in September, when Ullman presented a “School Leaders Promoting Excellence in Teaching” workshop to 100 school administrators from Jordan and several other Middle Eastern countries.
“Dr. Ullman shows the undeniable connection between good leadership and good teaching, and that coaching goes hand in hand with successful classroom instruction,” said Muna Fityani, communications officer for QRTA. The school was founded in 2009 with the help of Jordan’s Queen Rania to provide training and networking opportunities, professional development, and information about the latest educational research and policies to Middle Eastern school leaders.
As part of her visit to Jordan, Ullman outlined UCAPP courses and introduced several new and proven leadership techniques, including the need for teachers to be observed by principals and receive construction feedback on classroom performance. She also stressed the essentialness of schools establishing an environment of trust. The latter, Ullman said, is a concept that’s rarely been explored by educational leaders in the region.
“Principals need to know how teaching and learning occur, as well as have the ability to inspire and lead,” Ullman said. “It’s a much broader role than many people think, but we’re fortunate at the Neag School to have outstanding instructors that are among the best practitioners anywhere. It’s exciting to know they’ll now be sharing their knowledge and passion for educational leadership to help principals, and other school leaders, from around the world. Through this partnership, the Neag School becomes an even stronger global presence.”
Talks of a collaboration began in 2011, when Ullman—a commissioner for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges—met QRTA Academic Program Advisor Mary Tadros on a trip to evaluate an international school in Germany.
“After we work with Dr. Ullman to create a wholesome leadership program that we can develop to suit local needs, we hope to roll out the program to countries throughout the region,” Tadros said.
Added an equally thrilled Ullman: “This partnership will provide an opportunity for Neag faculty to broaden their international perspective on issues, strategies and practices. And who knows where it may lead. This work could be a doorway into an even more robust cross-cultural educational leadership exchange between our two organizations.”
Individuals who don’t usually exercise participated with a research study through UConn’s Human Performance Lab. (Sean Flynn/UConn)
Wearing a heart rate monitor while running, bicycling or performing other aerobic exercise helps ensure a person reaches and maintains his or her prescribed intensity level—an essential aspect of working out that not everyone understands.
Use of a wristwatch-style or similar type monitor is one method of tracking exercise intensity during a workout recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). However, for his doctoral research project, Neag School of Education kinesiology student Evan Johnson wanted to know whether people exercising without a monitor could feel or perceive when their bodies reached a prescribed level, as this method has been suggested as a surrogate for heart rate monitoring in the past. The results surprised him.
“The study followed two groups of beginning runners: one whose members used a Timex heart rate monitor, and one whose didn’t. My hypothesis,” said Johnson, “was that the group without the monitors would exercise at a significantly lower rate and not be able to accurately tell when their bodies reached the prescribed exertion levels. What occurred, however, was that on average, both groups with and without monitors recognized when their bodies reached high-intensity workout levels, but only those with monitors were able to accurately identify when they reached low-intensity levels. Those without monitors who were attempting to exercise at a low-intensity were off by as much as 60 heartbeats per minute above or below the rate I prescribed.”
Based on age, overall health and variables like medication and environmental temperature, an adult’s maximum heart rate (MHR) level is generally calculated by subtracting his or her age from 220, according to the ACSM. For ideal exercise results, a person then exercises at their target heart rate, which is a percentage of the maximum rate. Ideally determined by a physician or health expert like Johnson, ACSM-recommend target heart rate levels for people in overall good health are:
50-65 percent of MHR for a beginning exerciser
60-75 percent of MHR for an intermediate exerciser
70-85 percent of MHR for an experienced exerciser
“Despite the recommendation of the American College of Sports Medicine and other experts, many do not use heart rate monitors,” Johnson said, “but they’re an easy way to ensure a person is reaching the prescribed level that is safe and that will bring about the most beneficial health results.”
Evan Johnson, a former graduate researcher with UConn’s Human Performance Lab, led the exercise study. (Sean Flynn/UConn)
Results of Johnson’s six-week study included both losses and gains. Overseen by Johnson, the 40 men who followed the ACSM’s recommended 150-270 minutes per week of moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise lost an average of 3 pounds and 0.6 percent of body fat. They also increased the distance they were able to run in 12 minutes an average of 780 feet—the equivalent of a little more than half a lap on a standard outdoor track. The majority also decreasedtheir running pace by one minute per mile during the same 12 minute running test.
Before the study, none of the participants exercised more than 90 minutes a week. Several didn’t previously exercise at all, and all were classified as overweight, based on the National Institutes of Health’s body mass index calculator.
“Also significant is that participants saw an average 10 percent improvement in maximal oxygen consumption, which is a measurement of the amount of oxygen a person is able to use during aerobic exercise,” Johnson explained. “This number is especially important for competitive athletes, because the more oxygen you can use, the more work can be completed for a given unit of time. It’s also important for non-athletes, as higher oxygen levels are related to a more efficient cardiovascular system and better overall heath.”
However, most people don’t realize the important role of intensity in a workout.
“To achieve the weight loss and disease prevention benefits most people desire, reaching appropriate intensity levels is necessary,” Johnson said. “Some people with medical conditions should limit themselves to lower-intensity workouts. And our data shows that when a heart rate monitor was utilized, participants were able to more accurately replicate prescribed intensities when they were lower. Therefore, the only way to know for sure that you’re not over- or under-doing it is by using a heart monitor.”
“One of the things that excites me most about this study is that everyone got healthier and fitter,” Johnson continued, adding that only about 20 percent of adults perform the kind of regular exercise a body needs. “Anytime you get evidence that a person’s health can be significantly improved in just six weeks it is a great thing. It also gives us stepping stones for future studies.”
According to Douglas Casa, UConn Athletic Training Education director and a kinesiology professor within the Neag School, Johnson’s study helps illustrate the Kinesiology Department’s dedication to advancing overall health and fitness. UConn’s kinesiology doctoral program is ranked No. 1 in the country by the National Academy of Kinesiology.
Conducted through UConn’s Korey Stringer Institute, Johnson’s research was part of a three-year, five-part study launched through a UConn-Timex partnership. Similarly committed to improving public health, the sports performance monitor and timepiece manufacturer joined forces with UConn to investigate links between health, performance improvements and monitoring devices.
While Johnson’s part focused on monitor use by those in the general public, others have focused on the roles GPS units, calorie trackers and similar devices can have on elite athletes, such as those who compete in the Ironman Triathlon World Championships and play for professional sports teams like the New York Giants.
Recently graduated, Johnson has taken the knowledge and expertise he acquired from the Neag School to the University of Arkansas, where he is working as a post-doctoral fellow studying the relationship between fluid intake and physical health. Yet he’s not fully leaving the Neag School behind. Over the next several months, Johnson and Casa will be fine-tuning at least one journal article about the heart rate monitor study, which they hope to publish in a scientific, peer-reviewed journal.
“The message people need is to not just exercise, but to achieve their prescribed dose which includes adequate intensity,” Johnson said. “Before exercising, a person should talk with a health expert to get that prescription. Once the level is known, heart rate monitors can be a great tool to ensure that maximum exercise benefits are achieved.”
Bottom row, L-R: Jennifer Nelson (outstanding early career professional), NiCole Keith (outstanding kinesiology professional), Felice Duffy (outstanding professional), Sandra Bidwell (outstanding educator), Sally Reis (outstanding higher education professional); top row, L-R: Michael Reed (outstanding physical therapy professional), Louis DeLoreto (outstanding school administrator), Dean Thomas DeFranco, Jon Welty Peachy (outstanding early career professional), Paul Freeman (outstanding superintendent), and Robert Pianta (outstanding alumni).
Outstanding Alumni Recognized by the Neag School of Education
The Neag School of Education Alumni Society and the faculty of the Neag School of Education recognized outstanding alumni at the 16th Annual Awards Dinner on Saturday, March 22, 2014 at UConn.
“The evening was memorable as faculty and alumni gathered to formally recognize the achievements of some of our outstanding graduates,” said Dean Thomas C. DeFranco. “The award recipients are educators and health professionals who have made significant contributions across all levels of education.”
“The Neag School of Education is proud of all the recipients and their individual accomplishments,” he continued. “Congratulations to all of our honorees.”
Outstanding Early Career Professional
Jennifer C. Nelson – Special Education Teacher in Ridgefield Public Schools in Ridgefield, CT.
Nelson received her BS in special education in 2009 and MA in special education in 2010 from the Neag School of Education. Nelson currently serves as a special education teacher in Ridgefield Public Schools in Ridgefield, CT.
Working in the RISE program at Scotland Elementary School, Nelson’s responsibility includes creating and initiating a specialized program for students with autism, oppositional defiant disorder, speech and language impairment, hearing impairment, visual impairment, developmental delay and multiple disabilities. She also collaborates with administrators, teachers, related service providers and students in designing and implementing district and school wide programs and interventions to promote positive student behavior.
Nelson’s extensive experiences from student teaching, summer internship, paraprofessional and clinic placement brought her to schools in varied districts in the state, including Montville, Hartford, Willington, North Windham and Willimantic. Nelson is expected to graduate from the Applied Behavior Analysis Professional Development Program at Florida Institute of Technology. She holds a positive behavior supports certification gained from Neag School of Education in 2010.
Outstanding Early Career Professional
Jon Welty Peachey – Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism at the University of Illinois.
A 2009 Ph.D. alumnus in sport management, Welty Peachey is an assistant professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism at the University of Illinois. His research centers upon sport-for-development and social change, particularly examining inclusive leadership strategies, program design modalities, and program impact.
Welty Peachey’s research interests arise from his years of work with the Institute for International Sport as vice president of international operations and program development. From 2001 to 2007, he oversaw program development, implementation and event operations for 35 international programs in 15 countries, including successfully leading the organization of the 2006 World Scholar-Athlete Games, which brought together 3,000 athletes and 800 coaches and volunteers from 185 countries for 10 days of competition at 32 venues.
Transitioning into the academic world, he continues to combine his work experience and research focus to help developing community-based organizations including Street Soccer USA, a sport-for- development program using the power of soccer to help homeless men and women enhance their quality of life.
Welty Peachey’s work and research on sport for social and attitudinal change has brought him to countries including Greece, Germany and Cyprus as a guest lecturer and event management consultant.
Outstanding Kinesiology Professional
NiCole R. Keith – Research Scientist at Indiana University Center for Aging Research; Investigator in Regenstrief Institute Incorporated; and Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis.
Keith received her Ph.D. in exercise physiology from Neag School of Education’s Kinesiology Program in 1999. She is a research scientist at Indiana University Center for Aging Research and Investigator in Regenstrief Institute. She also holds the position of associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Indiana University-Purdue University.
Keith’s research interest focuses on obesity, nutrition and cardiovascular physical fitness, examining various demographic groups especially for under-represented minorities. She has received grants and funding from varied governmental and sports medicine organizations including National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute on Aging, and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.
Keith is the founder of the mentoring program of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the world’s largest sports medicine professional organization. As a fellow of ACSM, Keith organized the Leadership & Diversity Training Program, aiming to mentor and retain underrepresented minority members by recruiting more members from historically black colleges and universities, supporting underrepresented minority members’ involvement at ACSM meetings, and pursuit of ACSM professional presentations, publications and fellowship. Keith was a member of the Next Generation – Leadership Program for Faculty of Color at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis and the Dean’s List for Outstanding Professional Accomplishments at the University of Rhode Island.
Outstanding Physical Therapy Professional
Michael L. Reed – Director of HSS Florida and HSS Spine & Sport, Hospital for Special Surgery, NYC.
Reed received his BS in physical therapy (summa cum laude) from the Neag School of Education in 1989. He received his MS and Ph.D. in physical therapy at the University of St. Augustine, before establishing his own private practice physical therapy clinics. He currently serves as the director of Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Florida, HSS Spine & Sport in NYC.
Reed is a member of the Continuing Medical Education Committee of the American Spine Society, and co-chair for the Society’s 28th annual meeting. Although not in academia, Reed continues to explore his research interest in physical therapy in the academic arena. His paper “Perioperative Perspective of Spine Surgeons” won the North American Spine Society’s Best Paper Award in 2009.
Reed’s particular interest in the field is the outcomes of patients with orthopedic problems. He is the founder and chairman of the Commitment to Outcomes Partnership and Surgical Outcome Support. Reed is also actively involved with the National Orthopedic Physical Therapy Outcomes Database of the American Physical Therapy Association.
Reed keeps excelling himself through continued education courses and self-directed learning activities. He is a licensed physical therapist, a board certified specialist in orthopedic physical therapy, a certified manual therapist, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, a certified pilates-based rehabilitation practitioner, and a certified gyrotonic instructor. Reed is currently an MBA student at the University of Miami. He is also a graduate of Dale Carnegie Skills for Success with Highest Award for Achievement in 2012.
Outstanding School Educator
Sandra M. Bidwell – Reading Recovery Teacher and Reading and Writing Instructional Support Teacher at Staffordville Elementary School in Staffordville, CT.
Bidwell is a reading recovery teacher and reading and writing instructional support teacher at Staffordville Elementary School, Staffordville, CT. She started her career as a mathematics teacher at Assumption Jr. High, Manchester, CT before transitioning to teaching reading and mathematics for Stafford Schools, where she has continued to teach since 1986.
Bidwell earned a master’s degree in education in 1987 and a sixth year degree in professional education and reading in 1991 from the Neag School. Being a reading specialist for two decades, Bidwell has published multiple articles on using drama to improve motivation, comprehension and fluency, particularly for disabled readers. She actively serves as a beginning educator support team and teacher education and mentoring program mentor to numerous student teachers and beginning teachers. She also leads the district’s New Teacher Committee.
When she’s not teaching in the classroom, Bidwell actively volunteers within the community, including leading the community group at Staffordville School Parent Teacher Organization to develop surveys on improving home/school communication. Bidwell’s work earned her to present at the National Conference of the International Reading Association and an award from Connecticut Reading Association for Excellence in Teaching Reading in 2012. She was Stafford’s Teacher of the Year in 2011.
Outstanding School Administrator
Louis F. DeLoreto – Principal of Edwin O. Smith High School (Region 19) in Mansfield, CT.
DeLoreto earned his sixth year certificate in educational leadership in 2000 and a Ph.D. in educational administration in 2012 from Neag School of Education. He has served as the principal of Edwin O. Smith High School (Region 19) in Mansfield, CT. since 2001.
Centered around students “at risk”, DeLoreto’s work in the past 12 ½ years has increased students’ SAT participation and performance levels, and increased post-secondary enrollment among graduates at E.O Smith. As one of the first schools in Connecticut to adopt the Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) model, under DeLoreto’s leadership E.O. Smith has significantly reduced the number of disciplinary infractions and administrative sanctions placed on students. He is currently working to make E.O. Smith High School a leading institution in personalizing the educational experience for its students and providing multiple pathways to success.
DeLoreto started his career as a social studies teacher at Hartford Public High School from 1993 to 1995, and at East Harford High School from 1995 to 1999, before serving as an assistant principal at Wethersfield High School at Wethersfield, CT for three years. DeLoreto has been a regular presenter at New England Secondary School Consortium (NESSC) conferences. He is also a founding member of the League of Innovative Schools, a regional professional learning community for New England secondary schools.
Outstanding School Superintendent
Paul S. Freeman – Superintendent of Guilford Public Schools in Guilford, CT.
Freeman has served as the superintendent of Guilford Public Schools in Guilford, CT since November 2011. His work in Guilford – which has earned him the respect of colleagues, faculty, parents and students – has included efforts in advocating for extensive embedded professional development, expanding in-house special education services in order to improve the quality of learning for students with special needs, and working to thoughtfully shape and adopt changes in a teacher evaluation system that will support teachers and facilitate deep levels of student learning moving forward.
A Connecticut educator for 20 years, Freeman started his career teaching middle and high school English in Woodbridge, CT and later moved to an administrative role as an assistant principal in East Lyme in 1998. From there he progressed to principal and assistant superintendent. He served as superintendent in Griswold from 2009 to 2011.
Freeman graduated from Neag School of Education in 2009 with an Ed.D. in educational leadership. He has been a professor of practice in the school’s Executive Leadership Program and Five Year Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program since then. He is a member of a team of professors currently developing a partnership with Queen Rania’s Teachers’ Academy in Aman Jordan, bringing UConn’s principal preparation program, for the first time, into the Middle East.
Freeman also actively serves as an executive board member of LEARN, a regional educational service center serving 25 school districts in southeastern/shoreline Connecticut. In 2010, Freeman received the James P. Garvin Distinguished Service Award from the New England League of Middle Schools.
Outstanding Higher Education Professional
Sally M. Reis – Vice Provost for Academic Affairs; Letitia Neag Morgan Chair in Educational Psychology; and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, UConn
Having graduated in 1981 from the Neag School of Education with a Ph.D. in education psychology, Reis started her teaching career at UConn in the same year. Before joining UConn, she served as an educator and administrator in the Torrington Connecticut school district for 10 years. Reis is best known for her world-renowned research and tireless advocacy for academically talented and high potential students through the Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development. Reis is currently the University’s vice provost for academic affairs, along with being a professor in educational psychology, and institute co-director of Confratute – Summer Institute on Enrichment Learning and Teaching.
Reis has been recognized numerous times for her exceptional talent, including being recognized with the International Award for Research from the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children in 2013 and she was named Educator of the Year by Connecticut ASCD (the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) in 2010. She is a distinguished scholar of the National Association for Gifted Children and a fellow of the American Psychological Association, two of the highest honors in her field. She is also a Teaching Fellow and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor at UConn, two of the University’s highest honors for faculty.
Reis has traveled extensively across the country and internationally conducting workshops and providing professional development for school districts on enrichment programs and talent development programs.
Outstanding Professional
Felice M. Duffy – Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut in New Haven, CT.
Duffy received her MA in sport psychology in 1985 and Ph.D. in sport psychology in 1991 from the Neag School of Education. She also received her BA in psychology in 1982 at UConn. Duffy has served as the Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut in New Haven, CT since 2005.
Duffy went on to captain the team for five years, and was named twice the “most valuable player.” She was selected for the All-American first team in 1981 and later inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame. Duffy also served as the head women’s soccer coach at Yale University from 1985 to 1995, where she was instrumental in developing the team into one of the most competitive teams in New England and nationally.
A civil rights activist at heart, Duffy graduated first in her class with a JD degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law in 1999. As the assistant United States attorney, she prosecutes criminal cases including money-laundering, cybercrime, violations of environmental laws, drug trafficking organizations, and white collar government fraud, among others.
Duffy is active in crime prevention and helping former prisoners avoid re-incarceration. The focus of her recent outreach efforts has been helping women avoid involvement in crimes committed by their husbands or boyfriends, and she was part of a group that created a 30-minute docudrama on the subject. Duffy was the recipient of National Organization for Women Alice Paul Award for Advocacy for the Advancement of Women in 2007.
Distinguished Alumni of the Year
Dr. Robert C. Pianta – Dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia
Known as a nationally recognized expert in early childhood education and K-12 teaching and learning, Pianta is the Dean of Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. He also holds positions as the Novartis Professor of Education and Founding Director of the Curry School’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning. Pianta received his B.S. in 1977 and M.A. in 1978 in special education from the Neag School of Education.
Pianta is the creator of an observational assessment of teacher-student interactions known as the Classroom Assessment Scoring System™ or CLASS, which has been used by every Head Start program in the country, affecting 50,000 teachers and over half a million students. He also developed My Teaching Partner™ or MTP, a series of professional development supports engineered to improve teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom.
Pianta is the author of more than 250 articles, 50 book chapters, and 11 books, and has been a principal investigator on research and training grants totaling over $55 million. He served as the editor of the Journal of School Psychology from 1997 to 2007.
The Washington Post calls him “one of America’s smartest educational scholars.” In addition, Pianta was named one of the “Most Influential Scholars in Education Policy” on 2013 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Presence Ranking by Education Week. He was also named one of the “Most Highly Cited Researchers of 2012” in the area of Psychology/Psychiatry by Web of Science (ISI). Pianta regularly consults with federal agencies and foundations including National Early Education Council, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Louisiana State Department of Education and Head Start National Research Advisory Board.
“We have come a long way developing a learning organization, where people are encouraged to share ideas, make mistakes, try something different and learn from those experiences,” said Sound Manufacturing and Monster Power Equipment President and CEO Kelli-Marie Vallieres. Talking from her office in Old Saybrook, Conn., Vallieres shared how she and her team transformed an idle family business into an innovative manufacturer and expanded into international markets.
Like many companies during the recession from late 2009 to early 2010, the precision sheet metal contract manufacturer lost 34 percent of its sales. However, instead of accepting the negative effects the economy had on Sound Manufacturing, Vallieres used the educational principles she gained as a PhD student in the Neag School’s Adult Learning Program to creatively direct her company out of this difficult period.
Drawing on her graduate research about how adults learn best, she developed and implemented a new strategic direction, engaging all members of the company in reflecting on what they’d learned from past experiences, as well as how this learning could enable the company to proactively change. “This led to the creation of Monster Power Equipment, an example of how applying prior experience to a new situation can enable individuals and organizations to grow,” Vallieres said.
Established in April 2011 by Sound Manufacturing, Monster Power Equipment focuses on developing and manufacturing commercial and municipal landscape equipment. It was an endeavor Vallieres and other staff believed both fit into the business’ overall core competencies as a precision sheet metal manufacturer and pushed it to expand its capabilities.
The result: Monster Power Equipment enabled Vallieres and her team to gain a foothold in the leaf- and debris-control market, with total sales of approximately $650,000 the first year. These sales tripled in 2012 and then grew by another 10 percent in 2013. Its success was highlighted on the Discovery Channel program “In View with Larry King.” The Made in America segment was titled “Why America Matters, Sound Manufacturing – Monster Power Equipment.” In it, Sound Manufacturing was spotlighted as one of the most forward thinking and innovative business enterprises in the country.
“To affect change and succeed, we need to understand ourselves as learners and critically examine our prior experiences,” said Vallieres, who took the company’s helm in 2006. “Then, we plan, monitor and evaluate how our decisions and actions effect current situations, and seek out new information to fill in the knowledge gaps.”
She credits the company’s successful transformation to the adoption of the organizational learning strategies she learned at the Neag School, coupled with first-hand manufacturing experience. She said she was drawn to UConn’s Adult Learning program after questioning the effectiveness of more traditional workshop training.
She describes this time at UConn, her undergraduate alma mater, as “one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. The entire learning process and interaction experience with faculty, fellow graduate students and groups of professionals made a great impact on my learning and personal growth.”
Located within the Department of Educational Leadership, the Neag School’s Adult Learning program is one of just a few programs of its kind in the country. It’s designed to provide students of varied backgrounds with a strong theoretical foundation and empirically-validated set of best practices to design, facilitate and evaluate learning opportunities for individuals, communities and organizations of all kinds.
Neag Professor Emeritus Barry Sheckley said he knows of no student involved in manufacturing who’s applied adult learning principals as effectively and insightfully as Vallieres, who used them to both withstand an economic downturn and establish her business as a global leader.
“Faced with a need to close her company, Kelli instead used the insights she gained from her graduate program, tapped the reservoir of learning among the company’s workers, and reinvented her company to become an industry leader,” said Sheckley, who helped develop the Adult Learning program and its focus on mining employees’ experiences.
“Kelli Vallieres’ success is a testament to the program’s growth over the years in enhancing adult learning effectiveness through engaging students with authentic experiences and job-embedded learning,” added Educational Leadership Department Head and Professor Casey Cobb. “We are proud to see more and more non-traditional students from a variety of industries join our program and strive to be as successful as Kelli.”
Vallieres and her team’s success made Monster Power Equipment a finalist for the Dealers’ Choice Award at the 2012 GIE-EXPO in the Industrial Engine Category. Today, the company is winning contracts that were once awarded to overseas firms from large, established organizations such as Briggs and Stratton. Yet Vallieres’ ambition in developing the company has no limits.
“The most important thing I learned in the Adult Learning program is that learning is a lifelong activity,” Vallieres said. “I will utilize the knowledge I gained at the Neag School to continue to engage myself, and our organization, in learning opportunities to adapt to our continuously changing environment.”
Holding her new book Treatment Integrity: A Foundation for Evidence-Based Practice in Applied Psychology, Dr. Lisa M. Hagermoser Sanetti was relieved and proud to show off the “exciting” results of a four-year project.
An associate professor in school psychology at the Neag School, Sanetti said she always hoped to write a book reviewing the theoretical and practical developments related to implementation of evidence-based interventions from across different fields, with a focus on psychology and education.
“I’ve been interested in bringing all these pieces together. The field of implementation science has been growing fast but previously ignored in the psychology and education literature,” said Sanetti, also a research scientist with the Center for Behavioral Education and Research.
Co-written by Dr. Thomas R. Kratochwill at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the book is “the first comprehensive source” on the conceptualization, assessment, and promotion of treatment integrity across psychology, education, health services and related fields, she said.
Over the past century, both the theory and science of treatment of those who experience social, emotional and behavioral problems have evolved significantly, explain Sanetti and Kratochwill in the book’s introduction. There are now numerous interventions that have lots of empirical support for their effectiveness. Over the past two decades, they report, the focus has shifted from identifying what treatment is effective to figuring out how to get the effective treatment implemented. This is the concept of treatment integrity, ensuring that an evidence-based treatment is implemented as intended to achieve positive outcomes.
Consisting of four primary sections, the book presents a broad view on “what is known and what is not yet known about the implementation of evidence-based interventions,” including the development of conceptual models related to treatment integrity across different fields.
One of the most inspiring aspects of crafting and editing this book was the experience of “building each chapter with leading researchers” known for cutting-edge work on treatment integrity in their respective fields, Sanetti said.
“We have physicians who have done in-depth work on intervention implementation but do not know how their practices can apply to education,” Sanetti said. In addition, she added that this book includes the first comprehensive look at legal and ethical issues related to treatment integrity. “I’m glad we were able to incorporate and disseminate this knowledge to a whole new audience.”
A recipient of the American Psychological Association’s 2012 Lightner Witmer Award for her work on treatment integrity of intervention implementation, Sanetti said her research interests date back to working in an child psychiatry outpatient clinic before going to graduate school: “I remember seeing families coming in whose children were prescribed medication, probably the simplest medical intervention, and even implementing that was not consistent,” Sanetti said. “And that’s when I started thinking.”
“In comparison, what we do in education psychology is way more complicated,” she continued, recalling her work as a behavioral consultant for schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut before joining the UConn faculty. “At any time, you might have four or five children with academic, behavioral, and/or mental health issues who need individual interventions. I saw teachers struggling with how to implement effective practices, knowing that their practices weren’t consistent. They were not getting enough support to make helping those children easier.”
Sanetti hopes her book will provide psychologists, educators, social workers, counselors, speech-language pathologists, and administrators with the information they need to develop a foundational knowledge of treatment integrity, identify treatment integrity assessment methods, and promote higher levels of treatment integrity using approaches appropriate for their respective practices.
Developing treatment integrity for community-based prevention programs, in which community members volunteer at after-school programs, are among the interventions discussed. “There are different strategies for community members working in a community setting, verse clinical psychologists working a therapeutic setting,” Sanetti explained. “The variety of approaches adds to the complexity of how you measure and promote treatment integrity.”
The author of more than 20 school psychology articles, book chapters and journal articles, Sanetti believes the biggest need in improving this field is the continued development of treatment integrity assessment.
“Without appropriate assessment methods, you don’t really know when you need to provide support to promote higher levels of implementation to achieve greater intervention effectiveness,” she said. “There has been an explosion of research in this area over the past decade, but there is still so much work to be done. I’m excited we are heading into the right direction.”
Neag alumnus June Cahill welcomed fellow alums and students during the Meet & Greet Breakfast. (Shawn Kornegay/Neag School of Education at UConn)
Neag graduate student Jessica Cydylo’s internship at E.B. Kennelly School in Hartford provided her with not just much-needed professional experience, but help with job hunting, networking and career development. This invaluable extra support was provided by Kennelly instructional coach June Cahill, a Neag graduate (MA in Education ’94) and a site coordinator of the UConn Alumni Association’s Workplace Ambassadors Program.
Led by Cahill, Kennelly is the first school to participate in the Workplace Ambassadors Program, which was launched in 2012 to provide UConn students with an alumni mentor at their internship site.
“Having a mentor at the school has provided me with a sense of calm,” said Cydylo, who is majoring in elementary education as part of the Neag School’s Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s program. “Knowing she has gone to UConn, can understand the mental place I’m in, and can answer my questions about my career plans has been great.”
Neag student teachers and interns gathered after the breakfast.
Cydylo is one of seven interns and six student teachers from the Neag School matched with UConn alumni working at Kennelly. They met and were paired in February at a welcome breakfast.
“In order for new teachers to be successful, we need to have a good support system in place,” said Cahill, who in 2013 received the Neag Alumni Society Outstanding School Educator Award. “The program is a great way to provide an additional layer of support, and our goal is for all of the UConn students who come here to feel valued and supported. We also want them to leave Kennelly with solid professional connections.”
Elementary Education graduate student Danielle Cecco said she believes she’s received all that and more: “I’ve learned how to be a teacher leader and how to improve my teaching and professional presence in a school.”
Joshua Proulx shared more information on the Workplace Ambassadors Program, while Marijke Kehrhahn (pictured on the left) and Robyn Wilgis listened.
Adding the Neag School to UConn’s alumni Workplace Ambassadors Program was a “natural fit,” said Neag Director of Alumni Relations Robyn Wilgis, as many seasoned UConn graduates work at the schools where students in the IB/M program are assigned.
“It is great to see our alumni and current students connect, and to see our Neag alumni re-connect and engage with UConn,” Wilgis added. “We are thrilled to embark on this collaboration with E.B. Kennelly School and hope to form additional partnerships with other school districts in the near future.”
Non-schools participating in this alumni program include Webster Bank, Altria, Prudential, General Electric, Northwestern Mutual, Group, The Hartford, State Street Bank and the Connecticut General Assembly.
“One of our goals is to allow the alumni in the participating location to assist in developing a stronger UConn intern,” said Husky Alumni Network Director Joshua R. Proulx. “In many instances, it leads to the student matriculating into a full-time hire within the participating company,”
Click here to view a photo album from the Breakfast.
Neag School of Education graduate student Mark Jenkins shared his thoughts at the Diversity Dinner about the importance of more male African-American teachers. (UConn/Shawn Kornegay)
“I hope in the not-too-distant future, young African Americans, Latinos and other minorities won’t have to question whether they can one day be a teacher, because the answer will be standing at the front of their classrooms,” said Mark Jenkins Jr. in front of 80 school administrators and Neag School of Education’s faculty, students and alumni at the fifth annual “Celebrating Diversity in Education” dinner.
Jenkins is “one of the African American males who make up less than two percent of the nation’s public school teachers.” Currently pursuing his master’s degree in the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s (IB/M) Teacher Education Program, Jenkins decided to make a difference by bringing the support and guidance he received from Neag School to his students.
The change Jenkins hopes to see reflects a growing concern in diversity in the teaching workforce nationally. “In over 40 percent of public schools there is not a single teacher of color,” said Thomas C. DeFranco, dean of the Neag School.
“Researchers found that teachers of color have higher performance expectations for students from their own ethnic group,” DeFranco explained, “and students of color tend to have higher academic, personal, and social performance when taught by teachers from their own ethnic groups.”
“Teachers of color are not only role models, but also an important part in improving of the lives of these children,” DeFranco continued.
Coordinated by Ann Traynor, academic advisory center director at the Neag School of Education, the Diversity Dinner brought together Neag faculty, alumni and students, school administrators, and high school minority students who show interests in pursuing a teaching career.
“We decided to have a dinner celebrating diversity as part of our efforts to encourage students of color to become teachers, and also to create a networking platform for future and current students, Neag faculty and alumni, and K-12 school administrators,” Traynor recalled how the event came about five years ago.
Santosha Oliver, Director of STEM Education for Manchester Public Schools, shared her story at the Diversity Dinner. (UConn/Shawn Kornegay)
Santosha Oliver, a UConn alumna with a doctorate in genetics and developmental biology shared her story of being the first-generation college student from an African American family. Raised by her mother and grandmother who were both factory workers, Oliver recalled how her grandmother became a lifelong learner without the opportunity to finish high school or get a college degree.
“Looking back at what my grandmother encountered and achieved in her life, I knew I had no excuse not to be well educated as much as I can,” Now a proud Director of STEM Education for Manchester Public Schools, Oliver believes that her classroom was “a unique experience” for most of her students, because “they are learning about science from a teacher that looks like them, has a Ph.D., and perhaps has overcome some of the very obstacles that they face.”
“Each year I attend the Diversity Dinner I am inspired by the guest speakers who are enthusiastic and committed to teaching and student learning,” said Gayle Allen-Green, principal of Bulkeley High School (BHS), with whom the Neag School has partnered to support the BHS teacher preparation studies program since 2009. The program’s curriculum is modeled after Neag’s nationally-acclaimed teacher preparation program. It is the state’s first dedicated teacher preparation studies program with a focus on recruiting, supporting, and preparing high school minority students to pursue careers in education.
“Diversity in teacher educations is very important in a global society we face today. Our teaching force should be more reflective of the student population we serve,” said Allen-Green, “Our collaboration with the Neag School allows our staff to be exposed to the most recent trends in education, including Common Core, technology integration and parent/teacher relationship building. It also provides our students with opportunities to frequently visit UConn and learn more about teacher education.”
Shantel Honeyghan, Jamaica-born and a resident of Hartford, CT, is a BHS teacher preparation academy alumna. “I had attended the dinner annually starting from my junior year in high school, anticipating being accepted into the program in the years to come,” said Honeyghan. “It was a great experience to finally be a part of the Neag family and see more minority students interested in becoming teachers.”
Four high school students from BHS teacher preparation academy attended the dinner. Didier Narcisse, a senior class president said he hoped to study music education at UConn and become a music teacher in the future.
Representatives from the Connecticut Alliance of Regional Educational Service Centers were also at the dinner. Working with the RESC’s Pathways to Teaching Program, Neag School invites high school minority students to UConn campus yearly. Their most recent visit saw 80 young men of color from six Connecticut high schools attending a one-day panel session in Storrs. The students were able to interact and make connections with UConn faculty and alumni, as well as listen to stories from minority role models including Dr. Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, UConn’s vice provost for diversity and Aida Silva, an undergraduate admissions counselor and a first-generation college student herself.
“One of our ways to increase the number of minority teachers in Connecticut is to make sure we have more students of color in our own teacher education program,” said Marijke Kehrhahn, associate dean of the school, who organized UConn’s hosting of the recent RESC Alliance conference.
“We try to create as many opportunities as we can for students to visit UConn, let them know the importance of a college education and hopefully encourage them to become a teacher in the future,” she continued.
To Dorothea Anagnostopoulos, recently appointed executive director of teacher education, the Diversity Dinner was the highlight of the Neag School’s “multi-pronged initiatives” in increasing diversity in teacher education. “It’s a matter of bringing small pieces together, by working with existing school partners, organizing more mentor programs for high school minority students and bringing in new staff for minority teacher recruitment outreach. Theses all contribute to continuously moving our program forward.”
One of Anagnostopoulos’ missions is to create an urban teacher preparation program in the school. “A lot of people from urban and high-need districts go into teaching because they see it as a way to improve the lives of the community they are from. We need to make sure our program best serves and clearly aligns with their purpose-driven goals.”
Two Neag junior students Giselle Garcia, majoring in secondary mathematics, and Estephani Orellana, majoring in elementary education, were recognized as the newest Hearst Scholars at the dinner, joining Jonathan Brown and Justis Lopez. Hearst scholars, promising students of color in the teacher preparation program, are selected from each cohort and provided with a scholarship each year. Hearst Scholars participate in diversity outreach efforts organized by the Neag School.
Inspired by the speeches at the dinner, Anagnostopoulos added: “What’s remarkable is how the event brought together people who are committed to increase opportunities to quality education for diverse students. We should constantly remind ourselves there are more to be done to reduce the opportunity gap and keep refining our program to a higher caliber.”
Neag Endowed Professor Suzanne Wilson was one of 14 preeminent international education leaders recently elected to the National Academy of Education (NAEd). She is the first Neag faculty member to receive this prestigious honor.
Wilson was chosen for her valuable contributions to educational research and policy development, and welcomed to the academy by President Michael Feurer.
Founded in 1956, the NAEd is dedicated to advancing high-quality education research and seeing it carried out in both policy formation and practice. Members come from throughout the U.S. and several foreign countries; serve on expert study panels focused on pressing educational issues; and engage in NAEd professional development programs, such as the NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program.
Wilson first became connected to the NAEd in 1990, when she was selected as a National Academy of Education Postdoctoral Fellow. One of the outcomes of her fellowship work, California Dreaming: Reforming Mathematics Education was a book published in 2003, that examined two decades of efforts to reform mathematics education in California, weaving together facts, conversations, and events to provide still relevant insight into education policy and practice reform.
Numerous other paper and research projects followed. In 2009, NAEd tapped Wilson to chair a committee of education experts from across the U.S. tasked with writing an education policy white paper on teacher quality, calling for improvements in teacher recruitment, preparation, and ongoing professional development. The paper “Education Policy White Paper on Teacher Quality” was part of a series of papers providing policymakers in the Obama administration and Congress with the best available evidence on selected education policy issues.
“We were looking to make education research accessible to policymakers, and this provided a good summary of a wide variety of education topics,” Wilson said. “We were looking to articulate education research to the public, showing where the problems were and the hot topics.”
Wilson said being elected to the NAEd validates her research and expertise. “I was selected because of my influence,” she said. “I really care about being a good teacher and doing research across the education community.”
Wilson has been paying it forward for NAEd by reviewing applications of post-doctoral students for the fellowship she was the beneficiary of almost 25 years ago. NAEd recently commissioned Wilson to review federal and state policy and efforts affecting STEM education. The resulting paper, “Recent Developments in STEM Education Relevant to the Qualities of Teacher Preparation Programs” (2013) was funded by the National Science Foundation.
Wilson joined the Neag School of Education in the fall of 2013 as part of the University’s aggressive academic hiring initiative, which focused on bringing in new faculty who would have a significant impact on research, scholarship and funding. She was one of 17 faculty members hired by the Neag School. Like Wilson, many are recognized across the nation as among the top scholars in their fields.
Before coming to UConn, Wilson was a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, where she also was a Department of Teacher Education faculty member for 26 years, the last six as chair. Her research interests focus on teacher quality, and she has written extensively about teacher learning, professionalism and education policy. She also started MSU’s Center for the Scholarship of Teaching and has served as a visiting scholar at the American Museum of Natural History and Hebrew University. She holds a doctorate in Education from Stanford University.
Neag Endowed Professor Suzanne Wilson was one of 14 preeminent international education leaders recently elected to the National Academy of Education (NAEd). She is the first Neag faculty member to receive this prestigious honor.