Dorothea Anagnostopoulos Appointed Key Teacher Education Leadership Position

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anagnostopoulosDorothea Anagnostopoulos, Ph.D., brings proven leadership and extensive experience working with educators in culturally and linguistically complex school systems to her new role as executive director of Teacher Education at UConn’s Neag School of Education.

Among her priorities will be to ensure that graduates of Neag’s rigorous and innovative undergraduate and graduate teacher preparation programs continue to be the most well prepared in the nation. She comes to UConn from Michigan State University, where she directed its Chicago-based urban teacher preparation program.

“How to best prepare teachers to work with the diverse students in Connecticut’s urban school districts, and elsewhere, has become an area of focus for Neag, and an area we expect Dr. Anagnostopoulos is really going to help us move forward with,” said Neag School of Education Associate Dean Marijke Kehrhahn, Ph.D.

Kehrhahn also believes Anagnostopoulos’ experience working to best meet the educational needs of English Language Learners and others with cultural barriers will only strengthen UConn’s relationship with partner schools, which provide Neag students with challenging, high-quality clinical student teaching experiences.

“Her tremendous experience will help the Neag School of Education expand its expertise. Her background means she really understands the challenges of leading a high-profile program like ours,” Kehrhahn said, adding that one of the many things that attracted the hiring committee to Anagnostopoulos was the similarity between her personal educational philosophies and the Neag of School of Education mission, which recognizes teacher education as a “moral imperative” and views its commitment to improving education for children and adults as a way to “improve and enhance the quality of life in our ever-changing society.”

“Dr. Anagnostopoulos is a well-known scholar on school reform, as well as well-versed on the effects of the latest federal and state mandates, so her knowledge of the challenges schools, teachers and students are facing is vast,” Kehrhahn continued. “If one of our jobs is to best-prepare teachers to face emerging problems, Dr. Anagnostopoulos is going to help make sure we do.”

Ranked as the No. 1 public graduate school of education in the Northeast and the 17th best in the nation, the Neag School of Education’s broad range of teacher preparation programs include a five-year integrated bachelor-master program taught at its Storrs campus and a master’s with certification program taught at regional campuses in West Hartford, Waterbury and Avery Point.

Widely published, Anagnostopoulos holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Stanford University and a master’s and doctorate in Education from the University of Chicago.

“Dr. Anagnostopoulos is a wonderful listener and asks great questions that make people think,” Kehrhahn said. “Between her, our faculty and our partners, there was an instantaneous click.”

Dr. Schwab Serving as Committee Chair for University’s New Academic Plan

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SchwabThe University of Connecticut has launched a comprehensive process to develop a new Academic Plan to achieve its aspiration to become a top flagship university recognized for excellence in breakthrough research, innovative education, and engaged collaborations with state, community, and industry partners.

The plan, dubbed “Our Time: UConn’s Path to Excellence,” will identify specific goals and strategic initiatives as a basis for making informed decisions on hiring faculty and staff, organizing academics, investing in facilities, allocating space, and other actions.

The University Academic Vision Committee has begun the preliminary work of gathering information and researching plans adopted by other flagship institutions. Professor Richard Schwab, dean emeritus of the Neag School of Education and the Neag Endowed Professor of Educational Leadership, serves as the committee’s chairman. The group is comprised of highly respected faculty members who will provide diverse, relevant, and institutional perspectives in growing the academic and research excellence at the University,

The process includes public forums and other opportunities for input over the coming months. The new plan is expected to be ready for review by President Susan Herbst and the Board of Trustees in December, for implementation beginning in January 2014.

Visit UConn Today for the complete article.

 

iPads 101 for Teachers

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ipadOne day, Del Siegle had an epiphany while watching his two and a half-year-old daughter playing with a puzzle game on his new iPad.

“She and I had played with this app together, and so when I walked into the room and saw her using it, I said to my wife, ʻDid you turn it on for her?ʼ And she said ʻNo,ʼ” remembers the department chair in educational psychology at UConnʼs Neag School of Education.

“My first thought was, ʻItʼs time to get password protection for my iPad,ʼ” he laughs. “And then I realized how intuitive this device was for her. A couple of years later, our son did the same thing when he was one and a half. I knew this was a powerful tool for them.”

That insight spurred Siegle to create a one-day workshop at UConn for teachers and administrators to show them the wealth of ways such an intuitive tool can be put to use in the education field. Now in its second year, “Teaching and Learning with iPads: Apps Applied” drew about 400 K-12 educators to Storrs on Wednesday, proof of the demand for practical instruction on using the tablet computer in a classroom setting.

And much of it was solid, practical advice, imparted by classroom teachers from around Connecticut: one of the hour-long sessions featured a series of quick tutorials on some of the most popular classroom apps available for the iPad, while another, conducted by Brookfield High School teacher Jennifer Rocca, offered a crash course on using the iPad to make video tutorials.

The sheer range of uses for the device was conveyed by the diversity of workshops and sessions, ranging from art to biology to math to language skills.

“This is something thatʼs applicable in basically every subject field,” Siegle says.

Of course, there are more theoretical aspects of using the iPad in schools, and the one-day workshop offered plenty of guidance there, too. Educators from schools in Branford, Glastonbury, and Willington offered perspectives on the advantages and challenges of huge, “one-to-one” iPad rollouts, in which every student in a school or even a school district is given one of the tablets to use.

“Thatʼs becoming a lot more common, and schools are looking for best practices when it comes to putting an iPad in every studentʼs hands,” Siegle says.

The conference, which had additional sponsorship from the Connecticut Educatorsʼ Computing Association and the UConn chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, has proven tremendously popular, even drawing some educators from other states, and Siegle says he looks forward to planning another one next year.

UConn Health Center Awarded Grant to Establish Early Childhood Personnel Center

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Mary Beth Bruder, director of the University of Connecticut A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (Janine Gelineau/UConn Health Center Photo)
Mary Beth Bruder, director of the University of Connecticut A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (Janine Gelineau/UConn Health Center Photo)

The U.S. Department of Education has announced a $1.2 million grant to the University of Connecticut Health Center to establish an Early Childhood Personnel Center to serve as a national resource for professionals serving infants, toddlers, and preschool children with disabilities and their families.

According to a news release by the U.S. Department of Education, the Early Childhood Personnel Center will address a need identified in recent studies to strengthen the skills of the early childhood workforce to improve developmental and learning outcomes for the very young with disabilities.

“This is very exciting,” says Mary Beth Bruder, director of the University of Connecticut A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. “The personnel center will receive $6 million over five years and we have five universities and 12 national organizations working with us.”

Key areas of focus for the center include:

  • Assisting states in aligning their personnel standards to national professional organization standards;
  • Assisting state agencies and institutions of higher education in developing partnerships with each other to support alignment between preservice and inservice training; and
  • Assisting states in developing integrated early childhood professional development systems.

Leadership Grants for Doctoral Students

The U.S. Department of Education also announced more than $3 million in grants to higher education institutions to help prepare graduate students for leadership positions in special education, early intervention and related services.

The Health Center, in collaboration with UConnʼs Neag School of Education and Yale University, will receive $1.25 million over five years for eight interdisciplinary doctoral students in early childhood intervention, according to Bruder.

The grants are meant to help fill a need that has developed in the past 20 years for leadership personnel who are prepared at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels to fill faculty positions in special education, early intervention and related services. Similarly, the grants will also help train scholars to eventually serve as supervisors of personnel providing direct services to infants and children with disabilities.

Ultimately, the funds will help develop a corps of both highly qualified college faculty and future supervisors of personnel providing direct services to infants and children with disabilities.

 

Spirited Physical Therapy Student Stands Out Among His Classmates

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Kravitz enjoying skiing during his free time.
Kravitz enjoys skiing during his free time.

Physical Therapy student Jacob Kravitz is not what you would call an average UConn student.

As a part of the Neag School of Education’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, Kravitz is required to perform at least 40 hours a week of clinical education in addition to classes and human performance lab work. Outside of school, you might find Kravitz coaching the Middletown High School diving team or working as a ski instructor in Vermont.

Kravitz also spends free time crocheting ski caps and has even set up a successful online shop on Etsy where he sells his hats. Kravitz recently donated two of his own crocheted hats to the silent auction hosted  by Magic Mountain in Londonderry, VT.

Like many PT students, Kravitz loves spending  time outdoors and exercising. Days off are often spent mountain biking, running, skiing, playing ultimate Frisbee or even training for triathlons. Kravitz also enjoys road biking and has several times biked to UConn’s campus.

In addition, Kravitz is president of his PT class, which has him involved in PT traditions like the white coat and pinning ceremonies.

“I was interested in becoming class president after my experience as captain of an Ultimate Frisbee team for five years,” says Kravitz. “I enjoyed leading a team of people and wanted to do it again. Thankfully, my classmates elected me.”

Originally from Connecticut, Kravitz earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in television production from Fairfield University. After graduating, he had a few jobs before landing a position doing research in Yale University’s Neurobiology Department. After a couple of years there, Kravitz decided to apply his love of medicine and helping people by pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy.

However, within UConn’s Physical Therapy Department, Kravitz isn’t a typical student.

“Jacob is a high-energy student,” says DPT Program Director Craig R. Denegar. “He’s part of a group of great students who manage their time so well. They are committed to exercise and health.”

According to Denegar, students in the DPT program lead highly active lifestyles, both in school and during their free time. Many DPT students are not just heavily engaged in their academics, but also in their exercise pursuits, doing things like running the Boston marathon or, like Kravitz, competing in triathlons.

“They are phenomenal role models for physical therapy in terms of their commitment to outdoor activities,” says Denegar.

 

Educational Leadership Scholarship Named After Beloved UCAPP Professor

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Earle Bidwell gives thanks to the UCAPP Class of 2012 who honored him with a scholarship in his name.
Earle Bidwell gives thanks to the UCAPP Class of 2012 who honored him with a scholarship in his name.

As Earle Bidwell ’71 sees it, his job as a University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) clinical supervisor is to lead by example and help students working to become a principal, vice principal, department head or other school administrator see their strengths and “bring out all they have to offer.”

This kind of dedication and willingness to always go above and beyond deserve more than a thank-you card or plaque, said former UCAPP student Hannah Ruede, which is why she and the 12 other UCAPP East 21 cohort members who graduated in May established the Earle G Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship.

The scholarship provides $500 to a graduate student enrolled in one of the Neag School of Education’s Educational Leadership programs and shows both academic achievement and financial need. Priority is given to students enrolled in the rigorous, two-year UCAPP program that provides students with not just classroom and curriculum laboratory learning, but 90-hours-per-semester internships with a mentor administrator.

Like Ruede, more than 80 percent of those who’ve completed UCAPP give it an “A” for the professional learning, growth, management skills, collaboration tools and intellectual introspection they received from instructors like Bidwell.

“His titles are ‘supervisor’ and ‘advisor,’ but he provides students with so much more than what those titles define. He’s supportive, compassionate, there whenever you need him, and brings a wealth of information and experience,” said Ruede, an alternative education and science teacher at Windsor High School still deciding how she wants to use the Sixth-Year Diploma and Connecticut State Certification as Intermediate Administrators (CT-092) she achieved from her UCAPP experience.

“Earle is so committed to education and to helping educators discover their strengths and talents,” Ruede continued. “He was always telling us, ‘It’s OK if you try something new and fail. But if you don’t try new things, you’re never going to grow.’ He made each of us want to achieve our best; to never let him down.”

Bidwell said he can’t think of many things more rewarding than the work he does with UCAPP or as assistant executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS). Both jobs require him to use his close to 50 years in education to help current and emerging administrators inspire and lead, as well as to identify and provide needed supports and services.

“The ability to work with and influence administrators is such a privilege, because it’s such important work,” said Bidwell, who started his career in 1964 as a music teacher. After receiving both his master’s and Sixth-Year Diploma from UConn, he spent five years as a high school assistant principal and 19 years as a middle school principal. He’s also a former CAS president.

News that the UCAPP Class of 2012 cohort had created the Earle G Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship left him speechless, he said.

“Generally a person who’s honored in this way is no longer living, so this is truly an honor,” explained Bidwell, who’s taught with UCAPP for eight years. “I get the chance to enjoy it and to see students benefitting from it, because for many students enrolled in Neag Educational Leadership programs, the workload and finances can be a struggle. Most work full time, as well as have family responsibilities. But truly, it’s my privilege to work with them. In fact, I still work with many students from previous cohorts, doing everything I can to ensure they continue to grow, develop and succeed. I can’t think of too many things more rewarding.”

Earle Bidwell and scholarship recipient, Jennifer Geragotelis, gather at the Honors Celebration.
Earle Bidwell and scholarship recipient, Jennifer Geragotelis, gather at the Honors Celebration.

The first $500 Earle G Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship was awarded this past April to current East 23 cohort member Jennifer Geragotelis. Ruede said the goal of the cohort who started the scholarship is to eventually increase the amount given, but first an additional $3,000 to officially endow the scholarship needs to be raised. Fund-raisers organized by Ruede and her cohort helped raise the $7,000 that currently sits in the Bidwell scholarship account, but for the scholarship to become permanently endowed, it needs to be at $10,000 by October.

Donations to the Earle G Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship can be made through the UConn Foundation.

“We’re pretty confident we can make it happen and hopeful that others who have been positively affected by Earle and UCAPP will consider giving,” Ruede added. “So much of what we learn from UCAPP are lessons that can’t be learned in a book. They can only be learned from seasoned educators who, like Earle, tell it like it is, are tough when they need to be, and make you want to do your best. Earle emulates everything a teacher and administrator should be.”

For more information, including how to contribute, on the Earle G. Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship, contact Heather McDonald at hmcdonald@foundation.uconn.edu or (860) 486-4530.

HESA Alums Offer Valuable Insight to Current Students

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Rachel Jones ('01) provides insight on her college to career experiences. Also pictured (L-R) is Frank Duffy ('09) and Billy Dunn ('08).
Rachel Jones (’01) provides insight on her college to career experiences. Also pictured (L-R) is Frank Duffy (’09) and Billy Dunn (’08).

The Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) program’s first alumni feedback panel meeting this past February was a successful effort to enhance program offerings.  Alumni from a community college, a regional public university, and a technical college were invited to share their views of what elements of the current HESA program were useful and what aspects could be tweaked to strengthen the relevance to contemporary practice.

The HESA program prepares graduate students to become college administrators around the country.  Students who graduate, work in a variety of roles that can include anything from career services to residential life to programs that enhance academic success.  The HESA program is highly competitive. Within the last year 290 students applied for only 20 available spots. Each student must complete two 10-hour/week internships, plus 20 or more hours/week at an assistantship position within a student services office at the University of Connecticut. These intensive practical experiences foster the application of theories to complex challenges of practice.

Even though students get extensive opportunities for supervised practice while still enrolled, the program seeks to help its graduates make a seamless transition to professional administrative work.  Therefore the leaders of the HESA program decided to seek feedback from newer professionals who work at institutions very different from UConn.  At the panel, four alumni of the program came to UConn to talk about their experience and to give suggestions to current HESA faculty and the UConn professionals who supervise internships.

The four alumni agreed that HESA provided them with many invaluable experiences that helped with their transition to the real world. Patrick Duffy (’09), the internship coordinator and academic advisor at Westchester Community College said that the structure of the program, having conversations with his advisor, and his expectations with the assistantship settled his nerves and made him more comfortable about his professional job.  Students in the HESA cohort were also seen as important to the educational process.

“Every student was ambitious and driven,” said Rachel Jones (‘10), the academic advisor of the Gateway to College Program at Springfield Technical College. “You will not find a group of students as driven. A lot of these students are willing to bend over backwards to get their jobs done.”

Jones also suggested a more extensive focus on budget.  Because of the changes in the fiscal landscape within higher education, budget management is a more critical skill now than it was just three or four years ago. “Provide students with experiences with budget,” she said. “It’s really important and it makes or breaks your program.”

Jones discussed different ways to incorporate budget learning into the program by allowing students to get some practice before graduating.

Duffy added that a focus on the political side of the budget should be included, going over justification behind why certain budget decisions could be made. Another helpful suggestion raised during the discussion was to teach HESA students how to collaborate with the faculty members employed at their institutions.

Panelists for the HESA alumni event share their experiences. Pictured (L-r) Adam Frank ('09), Patrick Duffy ('09), Billy Dunn ('08) and Rachel Jones ('10).
Panelists for the HESA alumni event share their experiences. Pictured (L-r) Adam Frank (’09), Patrick Duffy (’09), Billy Dunn (’08) and Rachel Jones (’10).

Adam Frank (’09), the student involvement director at Westchester Community College, shared his lack of experience when dealing with faculty. Frank admitted to facing challenges when trying to incorporate faculty into his programs at Westchester. Frank explained how he was unsure how to handle the faculty culture when he first began, even though he had a strong desire to bring faculty in as partners with co-curricular student involvement initiatives.

Billy Dunn (’08), the assistant director for Residential Education at Westfield State University, also noted having difficulty starting conversations with professors since he didn’t know the particulars of the faculty culture or incentives. Dunn suggested that students in the program should learn how to start building connections with faculty, which will help them when they move into their careers. “It could be as simple as having a student watch as you work with faculty,” Dunn told the attendees.

Dr. Sue Saunders, extension professor in Neag School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and coordinator of the HESA program, was pleased with the outcome of the panel discussion. Saunders stated that the four alumni identified useful ways to capitalize on program strengths and to add new emphases that will continue to make the program relevant.  Saunders hopes to continue with more discussions to create the vital link between alums and students in the HESA program.

“The alums are very invested in the program and always ask me for ways they can contribute to the program,” says Saunders. “The faculty and internship supervisors don’t have a chance to dialogue with the alums outside of UConn staff otherwise.”

Saunders and other HESA program leaders plan to include alumni in more intentional ways with more panel discussion and as consultants to students‘  class projects.  More alumni involvement will help students learn how their work at UConn can be translated into the field, says Saunders. Saunders sees discussions such as this one becoming a tradition within the program.

 

 

Donation Takes Okafor’s Legacy Beyond UConn Sports Record Books

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Photo caption: Emeka Okafor greets children at Hartford’s Clark Elementary School in 2007. UConn Foundation
Photo caption: Emeka Okafor greets children at Hartford’s Clark Elementary School in 2007. UConn Foundation

Celebrated NBA and UConn basketball standout Emeka Okafor doesn’t just believe in the power dreams, but in the importance of every young person having them—which is why he recently donated $100,000 to Husky Sport. His gift is an extension of an initial donation of $250,000 to the program in 2007.

Okafor’s first gift allowed for the expansion in the number of trips per week Husky Sport could take to Hartford.  Since 2007 the yearly enrollment in the service learning courses associated with Husky Sport went from 40 to 100.

“These students engage in a curriculum on sport based youth development in low income neighborhoods with a strong infusion of cultural competency education,” said Jennifer Bruening, Ph.D., Husky Sport director and associate professor of educational leadership. “These students typically say that their experience with Husky Sport evolves from believing that they have something to give, to expressing that what they’ve given pales in comparison to how much they’ve learned from the class and their time with the kids in Hartford.

Founded in 2003 by UConn’s Neag School of Education, this far-reaching community engagement initiative provides children in Hartford’s North End with a broad range of in-school, afterschool, and weekend programs focusing on sports, physical activity, nutrition, academic enrichment and life skills.

Led by UConn faculty, staff and student mentors and conducted in partnership with the City of Hartford, several Hartford Public Schools and community agencies, Husky Sport encourages kindergarteners to 12th-graders to become not just their best selves, but to believe in their best selves. Its school-day programs focus on academic success, while afterschool and weekend programs tackle topics as broad and essential as accountability, sportsmanship, conflict resolution, college preparation and community pride.

“There are many avenues to success,” said Okafor. A No. 2 pick in the 2004 NBA draft, he graduated from UConn with a 3.8 GPA and bachelor’s degree in finance in just three years. “It’s OK if you don’t play for the Rockets. You can be a rocket scientist. It’s OK if you don’t play for the Rams. You can be a veterinarian.”

It’s these kinds of ambitious, but attainable, dreams that Husky Sport encourages, Okafor said, and why he’s so committed to the program. Since his initial gift to Husky Sport, Husky Sport has expanded its service learning course opportunities in Storrs, the number of UConn students involved in Husky Sport, and the number of programs operated in Hartford.

Since its founding, Husky Sport has provided more than 100,000 hours of academic, health and other support services to more than 1,500 Hartford schoolchildren. Among its many successes is the Read & Raise school-based reading program that offers youth who participate incentives like extra recess time, healthy food parties and trips to UConn.

Although the program has the potential to expand to other areas of the state, staff have purposely kept it focused on children living in the Clay Arsenal, North East, Blue Hills and Upper Albany neighborhoods of Hartford’s North End. “The goal is for the program to provide a concentrated and continuous presence, and to show youths—as well as their families—the successes and possibilities that can come from focusing on academics, personal and social growth and healthy lifestyles,” said Bruening.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the program is when former participants become UConn or other college grads, Bruening said—though for many young people, dreams of college are not the draw: “Often, it’s the association with sports, particularly UConn sports that gets kids initially interested.”

Indeed, UConn sports are extremely popular in Hartford, where many young people and their families follow the careers of alumni like Okafor, who currently is in his ninth NBA season as a starting center for the Washington Wizards. Before that, he spent three seasons with the New Orleans Hornets and five with the Charlotte Bobcats. At UConn, he was an NCAA Tournament Outstanding Player, two-time NABC Defensive Player of the Year and Big East Player of the Year.

Many youths also get excited when they hear that Okafor’s fellow 2004 UConn NCAA basketball championship teammate Justin Evanovich, Ph.D., is Husky Sport’s assistant director. But then they learn the program provides countless other aspects to get excited about, too, including how they’ll benefit from:

  • Improving their academic and physical abilities
  • Working with mentors and peers
  • Connecting with their community
  • Applying the skills they learn from Husky Sport to all aspects of their lives
  • Believing in themselves and their abilities

“Sports is the initial bond, but then we use it as the common denominator to teach, bring people together and to build positive, lasting relationships between people from very different lifestyles and backgrounds,” said Evanovich. “Since everything we do at Husky Sport involves collaborating with a school or agency in some way, there’s a lot of power sharing going on. We at UConn bring our strengths, the school or agency brings its strengths, and together we give the kids something really powerful to take away.”

That idea of being “powerful”—that every young person has the power and potential to become his or her best self—is something Okafor also believes in, and that his continued support of Husky Sport proves.

“Connecticut is a big part of who I am, and who I have become,” Okafor said, “and I’m privileged to be able to help in any way.”

Information from a Courant story was used for part of this story. 

Neag Researcher’s Work May Prevent ACL Injuries

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Effectively preventing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries is a critical focus of sports medicine, because ACL injuries often require surgery, followed by an extensive period of rehabilitation, there are high-rates of re-injury to the ACL, which keeps the knee stable, and because ACL injuries often lead to the early development of osteoarthritis.

Recent research studies have determined significant risk factors for ACL injury and suggest that exercise-based interventions help to prevent such injury, but pressing questions remain.

Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Lindsay DiStefano, a new Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP) Principal Investigator (PI), recently was awarded a one-year grant from the National Athletic Trainer’s Association (NATA) Research and Education Foundation (REF) to implement a lower-extremity injury prevention intervention in a high-risk population – nearly 1,200 incoming United States Military Academy (USMA) cadets.

Specifically, Dr. DiStefano, who is also a faculty member in the Neag School of Education, is in the process of determining if a single dose of such an intervention is sufficient and if a “train the trainers” approach could allow for the effective and widespread dissemination of lower-extremity injury prevention programs.

“Can the intervention be delivered one time, like a vaccine, with the effects sustained over time, or does it need to be repeated every season or year?” asked Dr. DiStefano. The intervention typically lasts between six and eight weeks, or an entire sports season, she said.

Dr. DiStefano began working with USMA as a University of North Carolina doctoral student.

She was part of the research team that conducted JUMP_ACL, an R01 clinical trial to determine risk factors for ACL injury, from 2004 to 2009. Involving more than 6,000 cadets from three major U.S. service academies (U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, and U.S. Air Force Academy), it remains to date one of the largest prospective sports medicine studies ever conducted, Dr. DiStefano said. This large study led to the development of the evidence-based injury prevention program currently being evaluated.

Since 2010, Dr. DiStefano has been studying the effectiveness of the lower-extremity injury prevention program for ACL injuries and for stress fractures. Her research team has shown preliminary success reducing these injury rates and modifying risk factors associated with ACL injury.

This past summer, when her new NATA REF grant began, Dr. DiStefano’s research team implemented the 10-minute neuromuscular intervention, comprised of balance, plyometric, and strengthening exercises, approximately three times a week during the cadets’ six-week summer training.

Delivered as a warm-up before their physical training, the intervention is designed to help the cadets improve the way they control their bodies while performing various tasks, Dr. DiStefano said. Her research team taught half the cadets in the study how to decelerate their bodies more efficiently, how to land more softly, how to help their bodies absorb the force of landing better, and how to keep their bodies aligned properly with their bases of support, she said.

The other half of the cadets make up the study’s control group, which was led in a standard warm-up prior to their physical training this summer, Dr. DiStefano said.

The USMA at West Point provides an ideal setting for this study for several reasons, Dr. DiStefano said. Because of the amount and intensity of their physical activity, the cadets are at increased risk for ACL and other lower-extremity injuries. For instance, every cadet must participate in an organized sport in addition to their basic physical training. The military setting also offers Dr. DiStefano’s research team advantages in that they are working with a controlled active population and they are part of a closed medical system, she said.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention over time, Dr. DiStefano returned to West Point in October and December to collect follow-up measurements. She returned two more times, in March and again in May, collecting more data for the time series panel study.

Her research team uses a standardized test to collect its follow-up data – having cadets jump off a platform onto a force plate they put into the ground.

“If a cadet just stands on the force plate, it measures his or her weight,” Dr. DiStefano said. “But, if he or she jumps on it, it gives more information – the force with which the cadets land, the angle of their landing, and how fast the force is absorbed.”

The research team also is video-taping the cadets jumping onto the force plate, which, combined with the force plate data, improves the ability to understand how the cadets are controlling their bodies.

“This study is novel in that it is simultaneously collecting injury data and risk factor data,” Dr. DiStefano said. “We’ll not only be able to tell if the cadets’ rates of injuries are reduced – we’ll be able to see if those reductions in injuries are because of changes in the way an individual moves.”

The other key component of Dr. DiStefano’s study is determining the best way to disseminate an effective lower-extremity injury prevention program.

The program was designed to be delivered as a 10-minute warm-up routine with dissemination in mind.

“The amount of time the intervention takes to implement is key to its successful dissemination, particularly in a military academy setting, where cadets have scheduled activities most minutes of the day,” Dr. DiStefano said. This is also true when working with sports teams where every minute of practice is considered critical, she added.

Training people to implement the intervention effectively is another critical piece of its successful dissemination, she said.

During the summer, Dr. DiStefano’s team trained the cadre at USMA, the upper-class cadets who orient the incoming cadets, how to implement the intervention during their warm-up exercises.

Half of the incoming cadets who received the intervention had their warm-ups led by the cadre while the other half had their warm-ups led by members of Dr. DiStefano’s research team. This will allow the researchers to determine if the cadre implemented the intervention correctly and the “train the trainers” approach is a viable model for future dissemination of the intervention.

In addition to the NATA REF funding, this study also has been supported by a University of Connecticut Faculty Large Grant, an internal grant at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, and the Department of Defense.

Dr. DiStefano’s research team includes investigators from USMA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences.

Greenwich’s Joseph Williamson Plans on Being a Social Studies Teacher

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Williamson130402e009-headshot-225x300It’s not much of a stretch to say Joe Williamson was born to be a teacher.

His mother, grandmother, and grandfather were all teachers. And even as a teen at Greenwich High School, he spent much of his free time helping and nurturing others. He volunteered as a music camp counselor, interned at a middle school, and spent much of his senior year teaching underclassmen the practical and interpersonal skills needed to publish Greenwich High’s yearbook, of which he was the editor.

Almost as natural were his decisions to apply to UConn’s Neag School of Education and focus his coursework for the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Teacher Preparation Program on social studies.

“My mother is a Neag graduate, and social studies has always been my favorite subject,” says Williamson. “I’ve been reading history books and biographies for as long as I’ve been able to read.”

Williamson, who graduates with his bachelor’s degree in education this May and will study for his master’s degree next year, has made the most of both the academic and the extracurricular activities offered at UConn. In addition to being on the dean’s list, he is a four-year member of UConn’s Marching and Pep bands.

“Not every university gives education students the kinds of opportunities that Neag students receive,” he says.

Since September, he has been student teaching at Edwin O. Smith High School in Storrs. “This semester, I’ve worked full-time as a teacher, creating lessons, teaching them, and working alongside educators who provide critiques and guidance that will only make me stronger and better in the future. All of the education I’ve received has been great, but the student teaching experience has made all the difference, as it’s given me the chance to bring the lessons I’ve learned from my professors to life.”

That idea of bringing lessons to life and making learning real, is something Williamson not just appreciates, but works to achieve when he’s at the head of the classroom. A Connecticut history buff, he made learning about Mansfield-area history one of his priorities when he arrived at Storrs as a freshman, and now incorporates it into his social studies lessons.

Because of this, the E.O. Smith freshmen and juniors he teaches now know that the Eagle Manufacturing Company on South Eagleville Road produced rifle parts during the Civil War, and that Mansfield was once the silk-making capital of America.

“When you’re teaching students who like social studies, it doesn’t matter as much whether you’re a good teacher or a terrible teacher, because they’re going to be interested. What I’m working to do is create lessons for the kids who don’t like history – to get them excited and engaged, and to make the learning experience interesting and meaningful for them,” Williamson says.

Williamson credits his Neag professors for not just telling him what it takes to succeed as an educator, but showing him as well: “Neag professors are role models. Their lessons are creative, interesting, and serve as great examples of effective teaching. I’m confident that because of the education I received at UConn, there will be a job for me when I graduate, and I’ll be well-prepared to succee