Dear Alumni and Friends of the Neag School of Education:

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neagawardspicThe Neag School of Education Alumni Society and the faculty of the Neag School of Education cordially invite you to attend our 16th Annual Awards Dinner on Saturday, March 22, 2014 at the South Campus Ballroom (Rome Ballroom) on the Storrs campus. Click here for directions or here for the UConn campus map.

This evening promises to be memorable as faculty and alumni gather to formally recognize the achievements of some of our outstanding graduates. It is our hope that you will be among those returning to the University for this event. Our award recipients are educators and professionals who have made significant contributions across all professions. We know that you will agree with our outstanding selection of alumni to honor:

The Outstanding Early Career Professional is Jennifer C. Nelson, ’09 BS special education, ’10 MA special education, Special Education Teacher in Ridgefield Public Schools in Ridgefield, CT.

The Outstanding Early Career Professional is Jon Welty Peachey, Ph.D., ’09 Ph.D. in sports management, Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism at the University of Illinois.

The Outstanding Kinesiology Professional is NiCole R. Keith, Ph.D., ’99 Ph.D. in exercise physiology, 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.

The Outstanding Physical Therapy Professional is Michael L. Reed, PT, DPT, OCS, MTC, ’89 BS in physical therapy, Director of HSS Florida and HSS Spine & Sport, Hospital for Special Surgery, NYC.

The Outstanding School Educator is Sandra M. Bidwell, ’87 MA in education, ’91 Sixth Year Degree in professional education, Reading Recovery Teacher and Reading and Writing Instructional Support Teacher at Staffordville Elementary School in Staffordville, CT.

The Outstanding School Administrator is Louis F. DeLoreto, Ph.D., ’00 Sixth Year Degree in educational leadership, ’12 Ph.D. educational leadership, Principal of Edwin O. Smith High School (Region 19) in Mansfield, CT.

The Outstanding School Superintendent is Paul S. Freeman, Ed.D., ’09 Ed.D. educational leadership, Superintendent of Guilford Public Schools in Guilford, CT.

The Outstanding Higher Education Professional is Sally M. Reis, Ph.D., ’81 Ph.D. educational psychology, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs; Letitia Neag Morgan Chair in Educational Psychology; and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT.

The Outstanding Professional is Felice M. Duffy, Ph.D., ’82 BA in psychology, ’85 MA in sport psychology, ’91 Ph.D. in sport psychology, Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut in New Haven, CT.

The Distinguished Alumni of the Year  will be announced the night of the awards dinner.

Come and bring others with you to honor your colleagues and friends who are so influential in the field of education. The evening begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. The entrees include Mediterranean stuffed chicken with lemon caper sauce or roast sirloin with burgundy wine sauce.  Attire is semi-formal. No-host bar. The cost of the dinner is $55.00 per person. To make reservations, go online at www.UConnAlumni.com/NeagAwardsRSVP or call (888) 822-5861 by Monday, March 3, 2014. If you have questions, please contact Robyn Wilgis at (860-486-6044) or robyn.wilgis@uconn.edu.

We look forward to greeting you on March 22 for our celebration.

 

Chinese Olympic Coaches, Sports Scientists Visit UConn Kinesiology Department

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Kinesiology Professor William J. Kraemer provides a tour of a kinesiology lab for the Chinese visitors.
Kinesiology Professor William J. Kraemer provides a tour of a kinesiology lab for the Chinese visitors. Photo credit: Shawn Kornegay, UConn

A delegation of elite Chinese sports scientists and Olympic coaches spent eight days attending lectures and discussions with Neag School of Education Department of Kinesiology experts to learn the latest in advanced sports and exercise science.

According to UConn Human Performance Laboratory Director Carl M. Maresh, PhD, conversations with the 47-member group gave faculty and students an exciting opportunity to discuss applied science topics in a very pragmatic way.

It was the second time in two years that Chinese sports scientists have spent time within the kinesiology department, which is home to the top-ranked doctoral kinesiology program in the nation. Twenty-two sports scientists visited in 2012. In both instances, delegates were selected by China’s State General Administration of Sports, the government agency responsible for organizing Chinese national sports events and promoting their country’s professional and amateur athletes’ sports development.

Assistant Kinesiology Professor Elaine Lee helps describe the kinesiology lab through the help of an interpreter for the Chinese delegation.
Assistant Kinesiology Professor Elaine Lee helps describe the kinesiology lab through the help of an interpreter for the Chinese delegation. Photo credit: Shawn Kornegay, UConn

“These are some of the top professionals in their field in China,” said Kinesiology Professor William J. Kraemer, Ph.D., who met Chinese sports officials, and told them about UConn’s expertise, during a 2011 strength and conditioning conference in China. “The interactions allow us to share some of the latest sports science information available, and at the same time help promote UConn on the international scene.”

The visiting experts were given the opportunity to attend lectures and interact with some of the United States’ top researchers in sports and exercise science, including among others, Kraemer who spoke on “Designing Resistance Training Programs”; Douglas J. Casa, Ph.D., who spoke on “Maximizing Athletic Performance in the Heat”; Lawrence E. Armstrong, Ph.D., who spoke on “Thermoregulation and Hydration Needs in Sports”; and Lindsay J. DiStefano, Ph.D., who spoke on “Movement Quality for Lower Extremity Injury and Prevention.”

Department of Kinesiology doctoral students also presented highlights of various field studies related to long-distance triathlon athletes.

“We are impressed by the high academic level of UConn’s kinesiology department, as well as the overall level of applied strength and conditioning, sports nutrition and exercise science available here,” said Xia Lunhao, division director of the China State General Administration of Sports’ officials training center. “We’ll bring this better understanding back to China.”

Coach Geno Auriemma welcomes the Chinese delegation to his restaurant and shared stories about his time with China's national basketball teams.
Coach Geno Auriemma welcomes the Chinese delegation to his restaurant and shared stories about his time with China’s national basketball teams. Photo credit: Shawn Kornegay, UConn

Lunch at Geno’s Grill, a restaurant owned by UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, was also part of their agenda.

Auriemma, who from 2009-12 coached the U.S. women’s national basketball team and in 2012 led them to an Olympic gold medal, shared stories about time he’s spent with China’s national basketball teams: “The Olympics have given me an opportunity to interact with coaches and athletes from around the world—and as much as other countries learn from us, I also learn a lot from them. I was very, very impressed with how hard and how intense the Chinese teams’ training regimen was.”

The delegation also toured the Korey Stringer Institute, the Human Performance Laboratory, the Burton Family Football Complex and the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, where they watched the UConn men’s and women’s basketball teams’ first full practice of the season. They also watched the UConn men’s soccer game against Columbia University.

Excited about the possibility of a third visit to UConn next year, Maresh said that “The Chinese delegation members and kinesiology faculty have already started talking about large-scale collaborations, including the possibility of establishing a graduate student exchange program, creating a China-based undergraduate exercise science program, arranging for collaborative research projects, and perhaps even bringing some of the Chinese coaches and athletes to UConn to train.”

“It is impressive that despite the language barrier, a very refreshing ‘can-do attitude’ is readily apparent in members of the delegation,” Maresh said.

 

Excerpts from the Hartford Courant

 

Accolades: Read About the News and Accomplishments from our Students, Alumni and Faculty/Staff

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104516017-hands-clapping1-300x2001Accolades – below are news and notes from our alumni, faculty, staff, and students. We are proud of all the amazing accomplishments by our Neag family. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you! Please send any news items (and story ideas) to shawn.kornegay@uconn.

Students

Austin Johnson (MA ’10 in educational psychology and current doctoral student) placed third in the inaugural UConn 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. 3MT presented a challenge for graduate students to consolidate and crystalize their research ideas into a very brief presentation. After two rounds of judging, he was awarded third place and won a $50 gift certificate to the UConn Co-op. President Herbst recognized the winners at the recent Board of Trustees meeting.

Giselle Garcia (secondary mathematics junior) and Estephani Orellana (secondary mathematics junior) were recently recognized at the Diversity Dinner as Hearst Scholarship Recipients.
Alumni

Alumni

The Neag Alumni Society, in conjunction with CLAS, welcomed UConn alumnus Bryan Schultz to screen a chess documentary, Brooklyn Castle. The event included panelists, Michele Femc-Bagwell, and Ruth Lyons (director of the Renzulli Academy), along with the film’s producer and a UConn chess team member.

Social studies alumni recently came back to the UConn campus for dinner, networking and a panel discussion. Alan Marcus organized the event, welcoming back interested alumni. Panelists included Richard Gonzales, Jeff Moore (IB/M ’06 assistant principal at the Academy of Aerospace and Engineering), Dave Maloney (social studies department chair at Manchester HS), and Dorothea Anagnostopoulos.

Meghan Angeletti (BS ’06 in sport leisure) was recognized with “30 under 30” by the Racquet Sports Industry for her work as community relations manager for USTA New England. She is the section coordinator for USTA Team Tennis in New England, focusing on growing tennis for 10 and Under Tennis and USTA School Tennis.

David Garvey (Ph.D. ’06 in educational administration) was recognized by ACCESS Community Action Agency for a Community Service Award. He is the director of UConn’s Nonprofit Leadership Program.

Brittany Hunter (BS ’08, MA ’11) recently Skyped into the Sport Based Youth Development class at UConn. Hunter is currently the vice principal of one of the Harlem Success Academies in NYC.

Uyi Osunde (BA ’03, MA ’08) was recently appointed assistant principal at Illing Middle School in Manchester, CT. A former UConn football star and defensive end for the Buffalo Bills, Osunde previously worked as a counselor in East Hartford and New London Schools.

Jocelyn Tamborello-Noble (BS Spanish ’03, MA in education ’04, Sixth-Year ’09) was a 2013 Polaris Award Winner from the Leadership Greater Hartford organization. She is a Spanish teacher at Glastonbury High School.

Denise E. Wilbur (MA ’80 in adult education) was appointed interim-vice president for academic affairs at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Prior to that role, she served as vice president for academic affairs and professor education, chief academic officer of the Gwynedd-Valley College in Gwynedd-Valley, PA.

Theodore “Ted” Yungclas (MA ’02 in higher education administration, Ph.D. ’07 in educational psychology) was recently appointed to the State Board of Regents in Hartford. He previously served as the assistant dean at UConn’s School of Fine Arts.

Faculty

Husky Sport is in its 10th year of operation. They have come a long way from their humble beginnings in the summer of 2003 from the living room of Hartford Catholic Workers’ Green House brainstorming on how to best connect UConn students and Hartford youth around sport. Middle school students from 10 years ago are now in college, some about to graduate this year. Others are employed and contributing members of their communities.

Kinesiology hosted a visit of sport scientists and Olympic coaches from China. The coaches were at UConn for one week and the scientists were here for two weeks to learn about research and at UConn. They had lunch with Coach Auriemma, participated with tours of the labs and facilities and heard presentations from doctoral students and faculty members.

Teacher Education recently hosted the annual Diversity Dinner at the UConn Alumni Center, featuring guest speakers Dr. Santosha Oliver (assistant principal at O’Brien STEM Academy) and Mark Jenkins (IB/M student). The focus of the event is to show the support and encouragement for students of color to consider careers in education. Current education students, and prospective students from Bulkeley High School were in attendance to meet Neag alums, Neag professors and university administrators, and community leaders.

Teacher Education hosted a two-day pilot training institute for UConn partners called “RESPECT FOR ALL.” Neag was selected by the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER) to partner with GroundSpark, an educational and social justice non-profit that ignites change through film. GroundSpark is the home of The Respect for All Project, a national initiative focused on creating inclusive and welcoming school and community environments where young people of all backgrounds and experiences can thrive.

Jennie Bruening, along with other colleagues, published “Exploring the motives and retention factors sport-for-development volunteers” in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. She has also joined the Public Engagement Executive Committee serving as Co-Chair for Service Learning.

Tutita Casa was selected for a Math Reasoning Expert Panel by the Smarter Balanced Consortium.

Joseph Cooper recently had a manuscript accepted for publication. His manuscript titled, “The Transfer Effect: A Critical Race Theoretical Examination of Black Male Transfer Student Athletes’ Experiences” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Intercollegiate Sport (JIS).

Michael Coyne and George Sugai’s Connecticut Kindergarten to Grade 3 Literacy Initiative, was recently expanded, through additional state funding, to East Hartford’s John A. Langford Elementary School. The original five-year grant, funded at $1.7M from the state, has five schools in the program.

Lindsay DiStefano testified in DC at a Congressional Briefing on “Healthy and Safe Participation and Athletic Development in Youth Sports – A Call to Action” on behalf of the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Youth Sports Health & Safety Institute. The briefing was in collaboration with Congressional Caucus on Youth Sports.

Mary Anne Doyle received the 2013 Special Recognition Award from the New England Reading Association for contributions and accomplishments in literacy education for the state and region through leadership, teaching, scholarship, and service to colleagues, teachers, students and children.

Shaun Dougherty was named an Emerging Education Policy Scholar by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. He also had a paper accepted, “Can district-generated literacy interventions be effective?: Lessons from a regression discontinuity design” in Education Finance and Policy.”

Morgaen Donaldson was notified that she is the recipient of the University Council for Educational Administration’s Jack Culbertson Outstanding Junior Scholar Award.

Wendy Glenn was recognized as a 2013 recipient of the Richard A. Meade Award for Research in English Education, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English.

Tom Goodkind, coordinator of the annual Northeast Media Literacy Conference at UConn, recently was invited by the Free Press with other media leaders to meet with U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal in Hartford to discuss the possibility of his co-sponsoring the Television Consumer Freedom Act. As a timely step in one aspect of media policy reform, this bill would let people pay for only the cable channels they actually want — giving them more control over what they buy and watch — referred to as “cable a la carte”.

Robyn Grenier and Morgaen Donaldson, along with other colleagues, published “Making a Change: The Role of External Coaches in School-Based Communities of Practice” in Human Resource Development Quarterly.

Jae-Eun Joo received one-year funding of $63,182 from the CT Health Foundation with the UConn Health Center. The funding will support the development of a series of five online modules for low-income pregnant women. Linda Pescatello’s doctoral student, Yin Wu who took Dr. Joo’s last spring course, will work with her on this in collaboration with the research group at the UConn Health Center.

Kimberly LeChasseur announced that the Early Literacy Project, funded by the Graustein Memorial Fund in conjunction with the CT Center for School Change, is expanding from six communities to 10 this year. LeChasseur will work with these communities to document their community and district partnerships in addressing early literacy.

Alan Marcus has been appointed to the Editorial Board for Theory and Research in Social Education, the most prestigious scholarly social studies journal in the field. He has also been appointed to the committee that is rewriting the State of Connecticut Social Studies Curriculum Frameworks.

David Moss and Tom Levine served on a keynote panel regarding Fairness in Education at the Northeast Educational Research Association Annual Conference on October 25, 2013.

Jonathan Plucker, in conjunction with colleagues at two other universities, recently released a study “Talent on the Sidelines: Excellence Gaps and the Persistence of American’s Permanent Talent Underclass” which found that the highest-performing American students are disproportionately white and wealthy.

Joseph Renzulli recently gave a keynote speech to 600 guests from 35 countries at the International Conference of the Would Council for Gifted and Talented Children in Louisville, KY. He also presented to 350 guests in Indonesia for a conference hosted by the Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Ciputra in East Java.

Sue Saunders was selected as “Best Practices” column editor for the Journal of College and Character (JCC), a publication of NASPA, which focuses on moral and ethical development in college. The JCC announcement currently goes to about 14,000 individuals. The Best Practices column focuses especially on identifying educational practices that are effective in connecting theory and practice and that offer good models for application in the higher education setting, especially for student affairs practitioners.

Diane Ullman presented a workshop to over 100 heads of school and school leaders in Amman, Jordan. The workshop was the culminating event in a weeklong consulting engagement with the Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA) on the topic of school leadership development. This visit marked the launch of a multi-year partnership between the Neag School and QRTA to prepare school leaders for the country’s public schools. She was named chair of the board for the Women’s Education and Leadership Fund (WELFund). The Women’s Education and Leadership Fund (WELFund) was established as a legacy of Hartford College for Women (HCW) in 2006. Through programs, grants, and scholarships, WELFund enhances women’s education and empowers women to lead.

Bob Villanova and Diane Ullman (September 2013-June 2014) serve as lead presenters and facilitators for the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents and Neag School of Education Early Career Superintendent Institute.

 

 

 

 

William Pardus: One Active Retiree

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Bill Pardus cover IMG_5720 smallAward-winning composer William D. Pardus, ’58, ’59, ’60, has been recognized with the Director’s Prize in the International Composers’ Competition, sponsored by the Longfellow Chorus of Portland, Maine for his composition – FIVE SONGS of the SEA (for soprano voice and piano) which was part of a project of setting ten Longfellow poems to music, with varied types of accompaniments.

The event sounded the latest high note of this Neag School of Education alum’s long and varied career.

One of his major works, composed several years ago, an innovative musical piece that reflects the lives and times of the mill workers from his hometown of Willington, CT and of other New England mill towns.

Called “Mills of New England,” the 22-minute work premiered at the Eastern Division of Music Educators National Conference, where Pardus — professor emeritus and former Keene State College music department chairman — was an invited speaker.

Pardus, 81, said he composed the sounds of each movement of “Mills of New England” to represent the many aspects of the mill workers’ lives, which included several generations of his own family. The first movement, for example, illustrates through music, the bricks, windows and workers of the mills. The second movement paints a musical picture of the rows of gray company houses. The other movements explore labor unrest and the immigrants who came to the United States to work in the mills, among other topics.

Clearly, retirement does not equate with rest for Pardus. Since retiring from Keene State 15 years ago, he’s founded a music publishing company called Creation Station, where he uses specialized computer technology to compose and record his music, which these days focuses mostly on woodwind, brass and percussion compositions.

It’s cutting edge music technology. But for anyone who knows Pardus, it’s what one would expect. In the 1980s, Pardus updated how music was taught at Keene State by establishing an electronic music studio. He also worked closely with electronic music pioneer Robert Moog, who in the 1970s invented the first widely used synthesizer.

“At one time, I thought about going into electrical engineering, but I guess music was too much of an attraction,” Pardus said.  “Music was in my heart and soul.”

Indeed, Pardus has almost always been a musician. He started learning piano at age 6 and, in high school, played jazz and polkas with local bands. During this time, he also attended the Hartford Conservatory of Music, where he was given the opportunity to study, arrange and compose with the well-known arranger for Patti Page, Asher Zlotnick. The other aspects of his life at this time included working as a lithographer at the UConn College of Agriculture while waiting to get drafted into the U.S. Army. The Korean War had just begun.

And for Pardus, the military led to discoveries. The Army gave him the opportunity to attend a military-run electronics school. Based in New Jersey, he learned to construct radar equipment, as well as how to train other soldiers to use the technology. Music also continued to be a part of his life performing frequently in New Jersey while still in the Army.

Pardus remembers the learning opportunities during this time as “incredible.” They were also life changing when the college-educated engineers he worked with encouraged and inspired him to consider a career in higher education.

This new goal led Pardus to UConn, where while he studied to be a music teacher he played in jazz bands and many gigs on campus. In those years — the mid-1950s — jazz was in full swing. When bands like The Beatles made pop and rock a more popular genre, Pardus looked for ways to stay involved in jazz, swing and similar music forms. It led to a job as a band director at East Hartford High School, where Pardus stayed for six years.

At the high school, he built the music program from what he calls a “hapless, disjointed group, to one of the best in the state.” Along the way, he went back to UConn to earn a teaching certificate and then a master’s in Education. He also continued to perform with UConn musical groups both on and off campus.

Recognition for his work and passion came in the form of an invitation to teach at England’s Norwich College of Education as a Fullbright Scholar. “It was quite an honor,” he recalled. With his experience and MA from UConn, he was also able to teach at Eastern Connecticut State University as an adjunct professor.

During the Fulbright experience, he realized that teaching college students was his true passion, and he was recruited to join Keene State College as its Music Department chair. After stepping down as chair, he continued to teach music  arranging, American music and jazz history.

Pardus came across another opportunity to go abroad during a1994 sabbatical, when he was a visiting professor in residence at the United Kingdom’s University of Keele. “I lectured on jazz and American music,” he recalled. He also used his expertise to help them establish a “cutting edge” music studio.

But no matter what he was doing in the classroom, Pardus never stopped taking the stage as a musician. For years, he performed as a jazz keyboardist, as well as founded the Keene Jazz Ensemble that, during his tenure, performed more than 300 concerts.

“We played at almost every high school in New England, which was a great recruiting tool for Keene State,” he said. “We were also honored to be invited to national conferences of music educators.”

During this time, he also continued to present on musical technology at local, regional and national workshops and seminars.

His composition credits include 60 published works for brass, woodwinds percussion and voice. He has also composed numerous electronic scores for the Keene State College Dance Department. His many accolades include being elected to the New Hampshire Music Educators Association Hall of Fame and he was selected by the New Hampshire Music Teachers’ Association as “The 2001, 2004 and 2008 NHMTA Commissioned Composer”. After presenting a music education workshop to UConn music students in 2010, he presented copies of each of his compositions and arrangements to the UConn Music Department and its Music Library.

Although not as tuned in to the latest music technology advancements as he was in the 1970s and ’80s, Pardus still keeps tabs on the industry through the work he performs in his two music studios – the partial studio he established in his Rhode Island summer home, and the full one at his home in New Hampshire.

Pardus second pix“Writing music on computers saves the countless hours of hand-writing scores and parts for each musician,” he noted, then joked: “Using computers was the product of my fundamental laziness — the same laziness that kept me from writing music consistently until the end of my teaching career.”

Along with his wife, Barbara, Pardus has had the pleasure of seeing his love for both higher education and music continue through his three children. They all graduated from college (daughter, Julie, from UConn) and have various levels of musical interest. He enjoys spending time with them, along with his six active grandchildren.

He also enjoys seeing young people enjoy music making: “In the 1970s and 1980s, I was on the leading edge of this. Now, for crying out loud, junior high kids have access to this technology and are out doing the same stuff I was doing. It’s incredible.”

 

 

Wally Lamb – A New Book At Last

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Wally Lamb (Chris Hetzer Photo)It’s been four years since Wally Lamb published a new book, his short, light-hearted novel, Wishin’ and Hopin’. Now at last, he gives us a rich new novel, We Are Water.

Lamb launched We Are Water (Harper Collins) on Oct. 21 at the new UConn Co-op Bookstore at Storrs Center, which opened – before even the bookshelves are installed – on one night only for this special occasion.

We Are Water absorbs you from the very first page, indeed the first paragraph, and does not let you go until you have read the last word; and even then, the book, the events, the characters linger in your mind for weeks.

On one level, it is the story of an all-American family trying to cope with the decision of the wife to leave her husband and marry a woman. But this is a book with many layers and stories. Lamb examines the impact of our early lives on who we become as adults and, more profoundly, who our children become. He probes the urge to create, the sources of art. With unstinting courage, he looks at sexuality in all its permutations.

This is also a book about how we remember and how we forget. Underlying We Are Water is a rich sense of place and history, and a horrific flood (based on fact). And key to the story is a long-deceased outsider artist (based on a real person), whose powerful paintings change lives years after he made them.

Like much of his writing, We Are Water is set in Eastern Connecticut in Three Rivers, a town based on Norwich and Willimantic and a bit of New London. Readers in the Storrs area will recognize many places. And, perhaps amusing himself, he has named some of his characters after people he knows. You might recognize the names too.

Lamb received a BA and MA from UConn, an MFA from Vermont College, and taught in the English Department at UConn. His books include She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, both Oprah Picks and New York Times and national number one bestsellers; The Hour I First Believed, also a New York Times bestseller; Wishin’ and Hopin’; and, with contributions from the women of York Correctional Institution, Couldn’t Keep It To Myself and I’ll Fly Away.  Lamb has received the Connecticut Center for the Book Lifetime Achievement Award, The New England Book Award for Fiction, an NEA grant; and many other awards and accolades.

Lamb was also honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Neag Alumni Society and he was the 2013 Commencement Speaker for Neag School of Education’s graduation ceremonies.

Nayden Clinic Study Focuses on Effective Evaluation Techniques for People with Parkinson’s Disease

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Study participant, Bob Bohn, stretches as part of the Parkinson's study exercise class. Photo credit: Shawn Kornegay, UConn
Study participant, Bob Bohn, stretches as part of the Parkinson’s disease exercise class at the Nayden Clinic. Photo credit: Shawn Kornegay, UConn

Results of a clinical study on how to best gauge whether patients with Parkinson’s disease are effectively responding to treatments will be presented by two Nayden Rehabilitation Clinic graduate students and their advisors this fall.

Overseen by Neag School of Education Department of Kinesiology clinical instructors Cristina Colon-Semenza and Laurie Devaney, and Dr. Michael Joseph, the study is the first neurological rehabilitation study conducted at the Nayden Clinic.

What makes the research so important, Colon-Semenza said, is that its goal is not just to provide rehab clinicians with better tools to assess Parkinson’s patients’ progress, but to help ensure Parkinson’s patients are living with the highest-possible quality of life.

“Parkinson’s is a tricky disease in that not all people respond to medications in the same way, and most need very individualized treatments,” said Colon-Semenza, who also founded and oversees the Nayden Clinic’s weekly Exercise Group for People with Parkinson’s disease. “Determining what tests and measures can most effectively gauge a patient’s mobility will, in turn, help clinicians provide the most effective treatments.”

Participants in the Parkinson's study stretch during their exercise class at the Nayden Clinic. Photo credit: Shawn Kornegay, UConn
Participants in the Parkinson’s study stretch during their exercise class at the Nayden Clinic. Photo credit: Shawn Kornegay, UConn

Approximately 40 patients of varying ages, and representing a diverse range of cultures and disease progression, participated in the study, which examined the reliability of measuring gait speed in people with Parkinson’s disease with a 10 Meter Walking Test. Doing most of the hands-on work to gather the needed data and log participants’ walking speed were Doctor of Physical Therapy students Jesse Lang and Thomas Kassan. The research group has determined that the 10 Meter Walk Test is a reliable tool for assessing gait speed in people with Parkinson’s disease. In addition, the Minimal Detectable Change, a measure that determines change not due to error, was determined for gait velocity and step frequency.

The study illustrates the Nayden’s Clinic commitment to not just providing the best possible rehabilitative care, but advancing it. Results were presented recently at the Connecticut Physical Therapy Association’s annual Fall conference and will be presented to alumni, faculty and peers later this fall. Colon-Semenza said: “We’re hoping this will be the first of many neurological rehabilitation studies coming out of the clinic.”

She’s also hoping news of the study will help shine a light on the services the Nayden Clinic provides Parkinson’s patients, which include an exercise group that meets Fridays from 12-1pm.  A board-certified neurologic clinical specialist, Colon-Semenza also recently underwent the needed training to become certified in the Lee Silverman Voice Training BIG program that has provided Parkinson’s patients intense amplitude based physical therapy with impressive improvements in function and balance after a short period of rehabilitation.

“Exercise and physical rehabilitation are the big focus of what we do at the Nayden Center, but I’ve also watched real friendships and camaraderie form between our Parkinson’s patients, which helps battle the depression and isolation that can come along with this disease,” she added. “The best care is always holistic care—care that treats body, mind and spirit. It’s exciting for me to see us doing so much for people with Parkinson’s disease, who too often aren’t able to access the wide range of services they need. The services the Nayden Clinic offers, coupled with this new study, have the potential to offer Parkinson’s patients a chance for remarkable improvements.”

 

UConn Professor Emeritus Recalls March on Washington

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Stan Shaw, in the front passenger seat, along with other college students en route to Washington, DC in 1963.
Stan Shaw, in the front passenger seat, along with other college students en route to Washington, DC in 1963.

The upbeat chant of “We shall overcome” on August 28,1963 still echoes in Neag Professor Emeritus Stan Shaw’s ears. The anthem led him through a sea of people at the Washington Monument where he joined his students from Prince Edward County, VA for the “best school field trip ever.”

That day became the peak of a “life-changing” summer, recalled Shaw, a then 20-year old college student majoring in sociology and education at Queens College, City University of New York.

The early 1960s marked the era of the civil rights movements’ constant clashes with the prevailing discrimination against African Americans and massive resistance to integration. Shaw, born and raised in a white middle class family, showed his commitment to equality and skill as a change agent early in his college career. As the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at its Queens College chapter, he organized the “Queens College Student-Help Project” that tutored over 1,000 black children throughout the city of New York.

stan shaw
Stan Shaw helps tutor students in the summer of 1963.

Given the success of the tutorial program, he and his fellow Queens College students decided to bring their efforts to the South, where “black communities were in segregated and unequal school facilities, faced constant economic threats and daily humiliation,” recalled Shaw.

In the summer of 1963, Shaw and 16 other Queens College students, all white except for a single black student, embarked on a trip to Prince Edward County in Virginia, where all its public schools were closed for nearly four years with 1,700 black children kept out of the “private academies” created for white students.

The student tutors immediately felt the hostile climate from the white community, with their cars being followed in town and evening get-togethers surrounded by unfriendly locals. “We were told there wouldn’t be a problem as long as we stick to the teaching and stay away from the marches,” said Shaw.

It turned out to be an unexpected challenge for Shaw and his peers, many of whom were new to teaching. It was especially difficult teaching kids in the same classroom who had missed different years of education. Yet, the group managed to attract more than 500 kids  — across five churches — to the classrooms in churches throughout the county while club-carrying policemen were arresting demonstrators in the streets.

“I realized teaching punctuation and algebra is so much less important than giving these kids an idea of the need for education, also an enjoyment of learning,” Shaw wrote in his diaries recording the summer in Prince Edward County.

“If I could bring them to work better with groups of peers, to think and feel the problems and events facing their world, I would have done my job,” he reflected.

These goals were appropriate given that their last task in Prince Edward was to clean up and prepare the long abandoned classrooms to open as integrated public schools the following week.

Shaw’s six-week journey culminated in Washington D.C. where the Queens College tutors marched with a sea of people of all skin colors and listened to the “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “As we headed home, our vision of the world and plans for the rest of our lives had been forever altered,” recalled Shaw. “We learned that life was far more complicated than we had imagined, that we could make difficult choices and commitments, and live with the consequences of our decisions. We learned that we could confront danger and survive, but most importantly we could make a difference.”

In October 2009, 46 years after the Queens College Student-

Help Project, Shaw and other tutors returned to Prince Edward County to be honored by the Moton Museum, the once closed segregated R.R. Moton High School, and reunited with the black students they had guided through that deeply difficult time. “I thought I was only doing my small share, but I came to understand how much of an impact we had. We made a difference in their lives,” said Shaw.

Continuing his advocacy on civil rights and equality, Shaw has changed his battlefront to special education during his more than 40 years’ academic career at UConn, focusing on education for students with disabilities especially law and policy providing equal access for students with disabilities. Shaw remains as a senior research scholar at the Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability.

“I am proud of the efforts of white and black Americans who have successfully fought for change, but there is still much to be done,” said Shaw, looking back on the tremendous strides the country has made over the past 40 years since the summer of 1963.

“I would urge this generation of young people to pick up the mantle of social justice to continue the battle for equality for all including people of color, the LGBT community, immigrants and individuals with disabilities,” he said.

 

Neag Alumna Kathleen Reardon Receives 2013 UConn Alumni Association Humanitarian Award

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Kathleen Reardon gives her acceptance speech during the UConn Alumni Awards ceremony.
Kathleen Reardon gives her acceptance speech during the UConn Alumni Awards ceremony.

University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Professor Kathleen Kelley Reardon, a 1971 Neag alumna and former UConn associate professor, was awarded the UConn Alumni Association Humanitarian Award at the UConn Alumni Awards in October.

A professor of management and organization development and leading authority on persuasion, negotiation, leadership and interpersonal communication, Reardon received the award Oct. 11 as part of UConn’s 2013 Homecoming celebrations.

“Dr. Kathleen Kelley Reardon is a distinguished UConn alumna,” said Laura Cahill, president of the UConn Alumni Association awards selection committee. “She has performed outstanding and exemplary achievements that have made, and continue to make, the UConn community, our national community and our global community a better place.”

Among other accomplishments, her research on organizational power and politics has led to a new understanding of the hidden dynamics that affect the workplace and too often discriminate against women. She has also provided leading-edge advice, tools and strategies to organizations that include Toyota, CIGNA, Hewlett Packard, AT&T, Sony, NewsCorp, Pfizer and the NASA Jet Propulsion Labs. Her seminal research on the role of gift giving in international negotiations was adopted by the U.S. Chief of Protocol, as well as chiefs of protocol around the world.

“What sets Kathleen apart from her many eminent colleagues is that she is willing to put her research and actions where her mouth is, devoting enormous energy and work to understanding and improving some of the most pressing problems facing us today,” said University of Southern California Department of Management and Organization Department Chair Thomas Cummings.

Reardon has also been a champion for children, using her scholarly research to develop persuasive strategies to alter dangerous health habits. A feasibility study she conducted in 1982 as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute led to the founding of the non-profit Starbright Foundation (now Starlight), which uses social technology to provide critically ill children and their families with medical information, educational support and entertainment. Conducted years before Facebook or any other type of social media existed, it was a pioneering achievement.

Co-author of "Childhood Denied" and husband, UConn alumnus Chris Noblet, with Kathleen Reardon.
Co-author of “Childhood Denied” and husband, UConn alumnus Chris Noblet, with Kathleen Reardon.

Reardon’s dedication to at-risk populations also led to her 1999 conceptualization and co- founding of First Star, a non-profit designed to help abused and neglected foster children by establishing college-prep academies on college campuses. The University of Los Angeles, University of Rhode Island and George Washington University were among the first sites. Their creation is outlined in Reardon’s 2009 book “Childhood Denied,” which she co-authored with UConn alumnus Chris Noblet. Last summer, the fourth First Star Academy opened at UConn to provide foster teens each summer for four years with four weeks of academic training, life skills instruction and access to health and social services followed by montly meetings throughout their high school academic years.

A Stratford native, Reardon’s vast philanthropic work began as a child within in her community. Her life of service has ranged from caring for elderly patients as a Carmelette at St. Joseph’s Manor in Trumbull, teaching chronically ill patients how to paint to establishing a Girl Guide scouting program in West Cork, Ireland.  Reardon—a breast cancer survivor—also wrote and produced the award-winning documentary “How Will I Survive” to support other breast cancer survivors.  She has worked with Patrick Kennedy to shed greater light and understanding on the challenges of mental illness.

Reardon is an inspiration to the countless lives that have crossed hers: “Dr. Reardon saw the best in me, instructed me on how to survive difficult situations and showed me how to be socially and ethically responsible,” said Theresa Carilli, one of Dr. Reardon’s first UConn graduate students. Today, Carilli is a professor of Communication and Creative Arts at Purdue University Calumet.

“Dr. Reardon believes all individuals have the potential to rise to the occasion and do something meaningful, useful and worthwhile with their lives. She’s a heartfelt humanitarian,” Carilli continued.

A renowned author of nine books of non-fiction, Reardon recently published her first novel, the mystery thriller “Shadow Campus,” which tackles crime, conspiracy and politics on a university campus.  Dorie Clark of Forbes recently described it as a “masterful debut mystery.”

“This novel is part of my return to certain aspects of the arts always in the back of my mind,” Reardon said.  “I began as an English major and teacher and I’ve returned full circle.”  Reardon is also a painter of watercolors and oils, many of which she donates to charities.

A former high school teacher, Reardon received her BA in Secondary Education from the Neag School. After receiving her MA and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she returned to UConn to teach for six years in the Department of Communications Science where she was tenured in 1984 and took a sabbatical at Stanford University.

She has been a featured blogger on Huffington Post’s front page since 2005 and also blogs regularly at kathleenkelleyreardon.com.

Helping Young Athletes Avoid Injury

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Kinesiology researcher Lindsay DiStefano is working with several hundred young soccer players to find out whether special warm-ups can help prevent sports-related injuries among middle school children. (Stock image)
Kinesiology researcher Lindsay DiStefano is working with several hundred young soccer players to find out whether special warm-ups can help prevent sports-related injuries among middle school children. (Stock image)

Getting young children involved in sports and other recreational activities is a great way to keep them healthy, happy, and fit. But being active also increases a child’s chances of getting hurt. Each year, more than 3.5 million children ages 14 and under receive medical treatment for sports-related injuries, according to Safe Kids USA, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing injuries to children.

At UConn, Lindsay DiStefano, assistant professor of kinesiology in the Neag School of Education, is studying ways to protect these young athletes from injury. DiStefano, a certified athletic trainer with expertise in lower-body mechanics, is currently working with several hundred young Connecticut soccer players as part of study supported by a $150,000 grant from the Charles H. Hood Foundation.

DiStefano wants to see whether special warm-ups and exercises might help prevent sports-related injuries in middle-school children 14 years of age and younger.

“Millions of children participate in organized sports and the rate of youth sports-related injuries, such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) sprains, is rising,” says DiStefano. “Much of the research to date has focused on preventing injuries in the high school and adult populations because injury risk is greatest in adolescents aged 15 to 17. This study looks at children younger than 15, where we believe early intervention and an understanding of preventative approaches can significantly reduce the risks.”

As part of her research study, DiStefano is working with 400 children – 200 boys and 200 girls – participating in a youth soccer program in the town of South Windsor, Conn. Teams were randomly selected to take part in a specially-developed prevention program, a traditional injury prevention program, or a control group. Each group is participating in the warm-ups prior to soccer for eight weeks.  Participants will then be evaluated on the way they land when they jump, and how well they maintain their balance before and after the program. They will be evaluated again two and four months later, to see how much information is retained and whether follow-up training is necessary.

Sports-related injuries, even at a young age, can lead to re-injuries, osteoarthritis, and future decreased activity. Sprains (mostly of the ankle) account for the most common injuries, followed by muscle strains, bone injuries, repetitive motion injuries, and heat-related illness. Preventing only 10 percent of youth sport-related injuries potentially saves $4.9 billion annually in immediate health care costs, DiStefano says, citing a Safe Kids USA sports and recreation safety report from 2011.

While early intervention and awareness is important for all children active in sports, it is particularly important for young girls, who are eight times more likely to experience an ACL injury than boys, according to statistics. The anterior cruciate ligament keeps the knee stable. ACL injuries often require surgery and a lengthy recovery time.

Many of the lower extremity injuries that are being reported are preventable with the right kind of preparation and prevention, says DiStefano, who is also a principal investigator with UConn’s Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP). Injury prevention activities focusing on movement and balance techniques and performed as a 15-minute warm-up can improve neuromuscular control and the way an individual controls his or her body, DiStefano says. Studies show that improving neuromuscular control and gaining better body control – by learning to flex a knee properly, land safely after jumping, and generally maintain proper balance – reduces ACL and other lower extremity injury risk by 50 percent to 70 percent.

“Implementing injury prevention programs to young children in the early stages of organized sport has potential for making these programs the social norm by the time children reach adolescence, which is when the highest risk of injury occurs,” DiStefano says. “While a specialized, more simplified program may be required for younger children, implementing injury prevention programs for a middle school population is ideal for optimizing long-term adoption of the program.”

DiStefano’s expertise in injury prevention and lower extremity injuries is nationally known. She is currently participating in one of the largest prospective federally-funded studies in sports medicine to identify risk factors for lower extremity injuries in military personnel. UConn kinesiology professor Douglas Casa, director of athletic training education, said he is “absolutely certain that Dr. DiStefano is one of the top five young researchers currently working within the athletic training profession nationally.”

Neag Student Reflects on the Impact of Scholarship

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Colin Usher IMG_5360 copyNeag Alumni Society Scholarship recipient, Colin Usher, is a current student in the Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG). He recently reflected on the impact of the scholarship from the Neag Alumni Society.

Q: What did the Neag Alumni Scholarship mean to you?

The Neag Alumni Scholarship is very important to me because it is a scholarship for educators given by educators and it shows that the alumni see potential in me to become a great educator. There were many people who applied for this scholarship and all of them were deserving. The fact that I was chosen for this honor has been both humbling and inspiring.

Q: What are your plans for the scholarship?

The scholarship is going towards my tuition in graduate school.  I am leaving a professional career that I have had for the past 10 years to pursue my goal of becoming a teacher.  This scholarship is creating a smoother transition between the two.

Q: How will the scholarship help you achieve your goals?

The Neag Alumni Scholarship has put me in a position where I am able to further my education.  As we go through life we should always be looking for opportunities to improve and broaden ourselves.  Becoming an educator has always been something that I have had an interest in.  This scholarship has presented that opportunity of improvement to me. My main goal, once I complete my education, is to become a mathematics teacher in a high school.  There I hope to provide my students with a well-rounded education in order to help them and be ready for whatever life presents.

Q: Why do you want to be a teacher?

I want to be a teacher because I want to help my students be able to recognize their own abilities that exist within them.  My particular interest is to be a math teacher.  I have always enjoyed mathematics, and I feel that I can convey information with others in a way that they are able to understand.  The way I see math is not just the 2+2 part of it, but how it is integrated into everything in the world today.  It stretches from smartphones and tablets to a farmer planting crops, and from balancing a national budget to a young couple painting the walls of their first apartment together.  I believe that I can bring my enthusiasm for mathematics into a classroom in an interesting and entertaining way.  It is my goal to have students come out of their schooling with a greater understanding and appreciation for the subject as well as being prepared to achieve success in the world they live.

Thank you to all those who have supported students like Colin. We greatly appreciate your support with helping our future educators! Do you want to make a difference? Please join us and make a gift today! Visit www.friends.uconn.edu/neagschool and select our Neag Alumni Society Scholarship Fund. For more information, please contact Heather McDonald at hmcdonald@foundation.uconn.edu or (860) 486-4530.