Year-End Neag School Accolades: 2020-21

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Throughout the academic year, the Neag School is proud to share the latest achievements of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

Explore their most recent promotions, awards, retirements, publications, and more:

Dean’s Office

Miguel Cardona gives commencement speech.
Four-time Neag School grad and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona ’01 MS, ’04 6th Year, ’11 Ed.D., ’12 ELP gives the UConn Commencement address at Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field this May. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

The Neag School celebrated the Class of 2021 during the University’s in-person Commencement ceremonies at the Pratt and Whitney Stadium in May, which included UConn’s keynote speaker, Neag School alumnus and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona ’01 MA, ’04 6th Year, ’11 Ed.D., ’12 ELP.

https://youtu.be/sonzPeUgxGE

 

U.S. News & World Report issued its 2022 rankings of the best graduate schools of education in the nation, with the Neag School ranking among the top 20 public graduate schools of education in the United States for the sixth consecutive year. In addition, one of Neag School’s Special Education program stands among the top 20 in the U.S., tied at No. 13.

Faculty Promotions

During its May faculty/staff meeting, Interim Dean Jason Irizarry congratulated the following Neag School faculty members on their promotions, effective in August:

  • Milagros Castillo-Montoya — Promoted to associate professor with tenure
  • Robin Grenier — Promoted to professor
  • H. Kenny Nienhusser — Promoted to associate professor with tenure
Milagros Castillo-Montoya, H. Kenny Nienhusser, Robin Grenier.
Milagros Castillo-Montoya and H. Kenny Nienhusser (left and center) have each been promoted to associate professor with tenure. Robin Grenier has been promoted to professor.

Neag School Awards

Also honored were the winners of the following 2021 Neag School awards:

  • Jonathan Simmons, David Blick Science Education Award — Named in honor of the late David James Blick Jr., a former UConn chemistry professor, this award recognizes innovative and/or collaborative efforts in science education by the University or its graduates.
  • Line of individuals clapping for accolades.Jamison Judd, Valerie J. Pichette Outstanding Staff Award — Launched in 2021, this award is named in honor of the late Valerie J. Pichette, who had a 30-year history of service to the state of Connecticut, including having served as executive assistant to the Neag School dean for nearly two decades. This award recognizes an individual who has gone above and beyond in their work at the Neag School over the past academic year.
  • Suzanne Wilson and Brandi Simonsen, Distinguished Researcher Award — This award honors a senior-level investigator at the Neag School who, over at least the past 10 years, has made significant research contributions to their field of study.
  • Emily Tarconish — This award is given to an outstanding student whose research during study with the Neag School of Education demonstrates a pattern of excellence, which represents potential to make an impact in their field of study upon graduation.

UConn Gives 2021, the University’s 36-hour fundraising campaign, was an overwhelming success. This year’s top project was the Bill Servedio Scholarship Fund, which supports students in UConn’s Sport Management Program by offsetting costs associated with professional learning such as internships and professional conferences. More than 630 people donated to this project. Overall, the Neag School received $51,754 in donations from 889 donors. Read about the Neag School’s Giving Day efforts.

Cartoon graphic of two diverse males
Image courtesy of Justis Lopez.

UConn Alumni hosted #ThisIsAmerica: Representation Matters with Project Happyism virtually in March. The family-friendly event, which showed participants how to have meaningful conversations around representation, included Neag School alumnus Justis Lopez ’14 (ED), ’15 MA and welcome remarks from Interim Dean Jason Irizarry. Read more about the event.

E.B. Kennelly School of Hartford, Connecticut, celebrated “UConn Day” to recognize the Neag School’s student teachers. The annual event also brings awareness and excitement among Kennelly students’ about attending college. Festivities included a student parade around the school grounds and a pep rally led by UConn’s mascot Jonathan. Check out photos from the event.

Grade-school children in UConn gear cheering outdoors.
Grade-school children from the Kennelly School cheer during the annual UConn Day. (Shawn Kornegay/Neag School)

The Neag School co-sponsored the Connecticut Student Writers Student Recognition Night, held virtually in May. Jason Courtmanche ’91 (CLAS), Ph.D. ’06, Neag School alumnus and director of the Connecticut Writing Project, gave the welcome introduction.

Department of Curriculum and Instruction (EDCI) and Teacher Education

Cara Bernard and Joseph Abramo will lead a new master’s program in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in music education next year; the program was recently approved by the University.

The Environment Corps (“E-Corps”) held two workshops in April focused on E-Corps’ structure, operation, results, and early lessons learned. E-Corps, an interdisciplinary effort supported by a $2.25 million NSF grant, is co-sponsored by the Neag School and involves Todd Campbell as principal investigator, Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo, as well as Byung-Yeol Park ’21 Ph.D. and Ph.D. student Hannah Cooke, as part of the research team.

Participants from this spring’s Leadership in Diversity (L.I.D.) Conference listen to presentations during the annual event.

Leadership in Diversity (L.I.D.) hosted a virtual conference titled “Rewriting the Blueprint: Building a Community of Care” in March.

Department of Educational Leadership (EDLR)

The Center for Education Policy Analysis, Research, and Evaluation (CEPARE) hosted a Speaker Series in April featuring Thurston Domina from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who spoke on the academic consequences of diversity-driven school reassignments. View the recording.

The Sport Management program hosted a “Beyond the Field” virtual event in April on “Sport for Development and Peace.” The panel discussion co-moderated by Neag School’s Eli Wolff with innovator and changemaker Pharlone Toussaint featured the following panelists: alumna Batouly Camara ’19 (ED), ’20 MA, founder and CEO of WAKE; Sarah Hillyer, director of the Center for Sport, Peace, and Society at the University of Tennessee; and Richard Loat, co-editor of The Journal of Sport for Development. Held in recognition of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, which takes place annually on April 6, the event focused on the credibility and legitimacy of sport for development and peace in policy and practice. View a recording of the panel discussion.

Department of Educational Psychology (EPSY)

A trio of UConn researchers, including the Neag School’s Sandra Chafouleas as a principal investigator, have received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a network to address knowledge gaps on the topic of emotional wellbeing, an emerging public health concern. Learn about the project.NSF; National Science Foundation

Ido Davidesco is principal investigator on a new $1.4 million National Science Foundation grant, working with an interdisciplinary group that includes Neag School faculty Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead, Christopher Rhoads, and John Settlage, and Aaron Kyle of Columbia University. Read more about the grant.

Faculty/Staff

Dorothea Anagnostopoulos, Suzanne Wilson, and Sian Charles-Harris, a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction, co-published “Contesting Quality Teaching: Teachers’ Pragmatic Agency and the Debate About Teacher Evaluation” for the February issue of Teaching and Teacher Education.

Michele Back was selected as one of two recipients of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Second Language Research (SLR) Special Interest Group (SIG) Mid-Career Award. She gave remarks during the virtual AERA Annual Meeting in April. In addition, Back, Doug Kaufman, and David Moss co-published “Enhancing Orientation to Cultural Difference: The Role of Re-entry Work for Teacher Candidates Studying Abroad” for the April issue of Journal of Research in Childhood Education.

Todd Campbell co-authored “Are There Differences in How People Are Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States? If So, Why Are There Differences, and What Should We Do About the Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19” for the April issue of National Science Teaching Association. Campbell also co-authored, with former Neag School postdoctoral students Jonathan Hall and Lisa Lundgren, “Re-Designing Infrastructure as a Strategy for Crafting Coherence Across Three Networks Focused on the Implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards” for the March issue of Journal of Research in Science Teaching. In addition, he co-published “The Journal of Science Teacher Education in 2020: Striving for a Sentient Presence in Turbulent Times” with Byung-Yeol Park ’21 Ph.D. and other colleagues.

Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo led an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) workshop titled “IUSE Builds Community Around Improving Undergraduate STEM Education,” virtually in March. Campbell-Montalvo also co-hosted another virtual workshop, “Responses to COVID-19: Adapting Classroom Teaching Techniques and Hands-On Learning to an Online Environment,” for AAAS in March.

Tutita Casa was featured in a March issue of the Marshall Memo for her research article titled “Mathematics Teacher: Learning & Teaching PK-12.”.

Milagros Castillo-Montoya and Saran Stewart received an “Honorable Mention” in the category of Outstanding Publication Award from the AERA’s Division J for their special issue co-authored publication, “Black Deprivation, Black Resistance, and Black Liberation: The Influence of #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) on Higher Education.” The article also appeared in the first edition of Black Liberation in High Education (Routledge, 2021), which they co-edited. Castillo-Montoya and Jillian Ives ’12 MA, a doctoral student in educational leadership, also co-authored “Instructors’ Conceptions of Minoritized College Students’ Prior Knowledge and Their Related Teaching Practices” for the March issue of The Journal of Higher Education.

Kids and teacher wearing mask sitting on floor in classroom.
“Research shows small acts of kindness can make a big difference in classrooms,” says Sandra Chafouleas, a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor at the Neag School of Education in her article for The Conversation. (iStock)

Sandra Chafouleas released her latest blog post, “Spring Is Time for a Check-Up on Family Well-Being,” for Psychology Today. She also published “Bringing ‘Behavioral Vaccines’ to School: Five Ways Educators Can Support Student Well-Being” for The Conversation. Chafouleas, with alumna and postdoctoral research associate Emily Iovino 15 (ED), ’16 MA, ’20 Ph.D., co-wrote “Comparing the Initial Impact of COVID-19 on Burden and Psychological Distress Among Family Caregivers of Children With and Without Developmental Disabilities” for the January issue of School Psychology. Chafouleas also co-authored with UConn’s Jennifer Dineen, Betsy McCoach, and alumni Amy Briesch ’05 MA, ’09 6th Year, ’09 Ph.D.; Sarah Newton ’18 MA, ’20 Ph.D.; and Dakota Cintron ’20 Ph.D. “Exploring Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Screening Approaches in U.S. Public School Districts” for the March issue of American Educational Research Journal.

Clewiston Challenger participated in a new video series titled “Making Voices Heard: Diversity Disadvantage, and Discrimination in Educational Settings,” hosted in April by the UConn Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development.

Michael Coyne, Betsy McCoach, alumna Sharon Ware ’11 Ph.D., and another colleague co-published “Reframing Adherence: Active Ingredients and Impromptu Interactions That Support Vocabulary Implementation Effectiveness” for the 2021 issue of Early Childhood Research Quarterly. Coyne also provided testimony on reading legislation in Connecticut.

Ido Davidesco presented “Brain-to-Brain Synchrony in the Classroom” for UConn’s Brain Imaging Research Center in March. He also was featured on a recent EdSurge podcast episode titled “What Can Teachers Learn From Students’ Brainwaves?”

Danielle Filipiak co-edited “Intergenerational Inquiry: Literacies of Activism and Desire in a Youth Research Collaborative” for the March issue of Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies.

Rachael Gabriel published “The Sciences of Reading Instruction” for the May issue of Educational Leadership.

Young female student studying with laptop.
“When the students talked about what worked well, it was clear, consistent, early, proactive communication and flexibility,” says Joseph Madaus, a professor of educational psychology at the Neag School and principal investigator of a study on the experience of online learning among college students with disabilities. (Adobe Stock image)

Nicholas Gelbar and Joseph Madaus are co-authors, with several other colleagues, of a new study recently published in the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability that examined the impact of the rapid transition to online learning during the spring 2020 academic semester on college students with disabilities. Read about the study, featured by UConn Today.

Doug Glanville was featured in an on-air interview titled “Former MLB Player, Analyst, Writer, Educator, and Author Doug Glanville Explores the Intersection Between Sports and Larger Society” with WBGO in April.

Preston Green co-published “Covenants to Discriminate: How the Anti-LGBT Policies of Participating Voucher Schools Might Violate the State Action Doctrine” for the April issue of the University of New Hampshire Law Review. Green also participated in a virtual panel “NEPC Talks Education: Discussing COVID-19 Relief Funds, School Vouchers, and Reparations” for the National Education Policy Center in March.

Book cover of Expertise at Work: Current and Emerging Trends, co-edited by Robin S. Grenier.Robin Grenier co-edited the book Expertise at Work: Current and Emerging Trends (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).

Elizabeth Howard, in partnership with Abt Associates, Public Charter Schools of New Mexico, Dual Language Education of New Mexico, and New Mexico Public Education Department, recently released the New Mexico Charter Schools Study: Findings Report. The report includes theories of change/logic models for both charter schools and dual language education programs.

James Kaufman co-edited Creativity: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and co-published a chapter for An Overview of Creativity Theories. Kaufman also co-published “Meta-Intelligence: Understanding, Control, and Interactivity Between Creative, Analytical, Practical, and Wisdom-Based Approaches in Problem Solving” for the April issue of Journal of Intelligence; “Norming the Muses: Establishing the Psychometric Properties of the Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale” for the March issue of Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment; and “I Didn’t Have Time! A Qualitative Exploration of Misbehaviors in Academic Contexts” for the March issue of Journal of Academic Ethics.

Devin Kearns and alumnus Stephen Kilgus ’06 (CLAS), ’07 MA, ’11 6th Year Diploma, ’11 Ph.D. contributed to The Next Big Thing in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities (Emerald Insight, 2021).

Gladis Kersaint contributed a chapter titled “Importance of Diversity in STEM” to the State of Black Women and Girls in 21st Century America: Analysis of Challenges and Opportunities for the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls. Kersaint also co-published with Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo and others “The Influence of Expressive and Instrumental Social Capital From Parents on Women and Underrepresented Minority Students’ Declaration and Persistence in Engineering Majors” for the March issue of International Journal of STEM Education.

Tamika La Salle is the new editor-in-chief for the International Journal of School and Educational Psychology (IJSEP), the official journal of the International School Psychology Association. Melissa Bray is an associate editor for the journal. La Salle also participated with the IJSEP’s Youth Mental Health Twitter Chat in May, hosted by Routledge.

Catherine Little was a featured presenter for the National Association for Gifted Children’s 67th Annual Convention, held virtually in March.

Allison Lombardi presented a virtual session titled “High School Implementation: Supporting College and Career Readiness Through PBIS,” for the Association for Positive Behavior Support’s national conference in March. Listen to a UConn 360 podcast episode featuring Lombardi speaking on this topic.

Betsy McCoach, alumna Sharon Ware ’11 Ph.D., Michael Coyne, and others co-published “Effects of Spanish Vocabulary Knowledge on the English Word Knowledge and Listening Comprehension of Bilingual Students” for the March issue of International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

Rachelle Pérusse.
Rachelle Pérusse.

H. Kenny Nienhusser is a guest co-editor for “Policy Implementation as an Instrument to Achieve Educational Equity in the Community College Context” for Educational Policy Analysis Archives. Nienhusser also co-presented with Omar Romandi, a doctoral student in educational leadership, and Kiara Ruesta, a master’s student in Higher Education and Student Affairs, “Towards Supporting Our Vulnerable Students and Faculty During the COVID-19 Pandemic” for the Association of American Colleges and Universities Annual Conference in January.

Rachelle Pérusse retired this month after serving for nearly 17 years at the Neag School. Pérusse, who was an associate professor in the department of educational psychology, specialized in school counseling, the achievement gap, and postsecondary transition. Read a past article from her titled “10 Tips on Preparing for Your Child’s College Search.”

Higher Education Anti-Racist Teaching (HEART) Podcast graphic.
Grace Player, left, was featured as part of a recent Higher Education Anti-Racist Teaching (HEART) podcast episode.

Grace Player co-published “Re-Imagining Literacy and Language Education for Girls of Color” and “‘We Are Our Only Way Forward’”: Dialogic Re-Imaginings and the Cultivation of Homeplace for Girls, Women, and Femmes of Color” for the April issue of Urban Education. She also published “’My Color of My Name’: Composting Critical Self-Celebration With Girls of Color Through a Feminist of Color Writing Pedagogy” for the February issue of Research in the Teaching of English and “People Get Mistaken: Asian American Girls Using Multiple Literacies to Defy Dominant Imaginings of Asian American Girlhood” for a recent issue of International Literacy Association. In March, Player was also featured on the Higher Education Anti-Racist Teaching (HEART) podcast. The podcast is co-hosted by Milagros Castillo-Montoya.

Joseph Renzulli published “Assessment for Learning: The Missing Element for Identifying High Potential in Low Income and Minority Groups” for the August issue of Gifted Education International. Renzulli was also recognized as No. 3 among the “World’s Top 30 Education Professionals for 2021” by Global Gurus.

Lisa Sanetti co-published a brief titled “Total Worker Health: A New Direction in Supporting Teacher Well-Being” for the UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health (CSCH).

Del Siegle has been elected UConn’s 2021-22 Chair of the Senate Executive Committee. Siegle has served as a member of the Senate Faculty Standards Committee, chair and member of the Senate Nominating Committee, member of the Faculty Review Board, two terms as moderator of the Senate, and one term as the Senate parliamentarian. His term begins July 1. In addition, Siegle has been elected to serve as treasurer of the AERA’s Research on Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Special Interest Group. His two-year term begins after the 2021 AERA Annual Meeting. He also published “When Pictures Are Worth a 1,000 Words: Addressing Global Stereotypes With Dollar Street” for the March issue of Gifted Child Today and presented at the California Association for the Gifted’s virtual Administrator Conference in March.

Tracy Sinclair was elected to the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Association of Applied Behavior Analysis (CT-ABA).

Stephen Slota hosted a virtual conversation in April titled “The Gay Agenda: The Power of History as Storytelling” for his courses DMD 3522: Interactive Storytelling and EPSY5266: Instructional Media and Game Design. The conversation also featured public historian Nuri Sherif. In March, Slota hosted a virtual discussion with Trent Hergenrader titled “Collaborative Worldbuilding for Writers and Gamers.” View a recording of the discussion. Slota also participated in a panel “Things Higher Education Should Know About Neurodivergence”: University of Glasgow Neurodivergence Celebration Week Panel Discussion” in March. Check out the event recording.

George Sugai and Sandra Chafouleas co-published an editorial titled “Reopening Schools Requires Doing Less, Better” for the CT Mirror.

Jaci VanHeest and Nneka Arinze, an alumna of the sport management program and Husky Sport program leader, are featured in a CSCH podcast episode titled “The Importance of Physical Activity on Wellness.”CSCH Logo.

Jennie Weiner was featured in March by Harvard University’s EdCast on “Gender Matters: Challenges Facing Women in Education.” In addition, she moderated a virtual panel titled “Not Burnout, Betrayal: The Pandemic’s Impact on Working Mothers” in April. Read more about the event, hosted by UConn Alumni.

Students

Kathleen Connolly, a doctoral student in educational psychology, along with Sandra Chafouleas and others, authored a report titled “Dedication, Innovation, and Collaboration: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of School Meals in Connecticut During COVID-19” for the 2021 issue of Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFCD), featured by JAFCD in its e-newsletter in April.

Daron Cyr ’09 (ED), (CLAS), ’10 MA, a doctoral student in educational psychology, co-published with Jennie Weiner and Laura Burton “‘I Want to Speak to a White Person’: Daily Microaggressions and Resilient Leadership” for the March issue of Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership.

Kurt Daigle wears mask outside Farmington High.
Kurt Daigle ’15 (CLAS), a second-year counseling student, was named Connecticut School Counseling Association’s Intern of the Year. (Photo courtesy of Kurt Daigle)

Kurt Daigle ’15 (CLAS), a second-year counseling student, was named Connecticut School Counseling Association’s Intern of the Year. Daigle will be recognized at an online ceremony at the end of May. He completed his internship at Farmington (Conn.) High, the same high school from which he graduated.

Susan Meabh Kelly, a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction, published “Digging for Data: Mining Geoscience Databases to Deepen and Expand STEM Learning Opportunities” for the May/June issue of The Science Teacher.

Alexandra Lamb, a doctoral student in educational leadership, co-published with Jennie Weiner “Technology as Infrastructure for Change: District Leader Understanding of 1:1 Educational Technology Initiatives and Educational Change” for the February issue of Journal of Educational Administration.

Mya Malaykhan, a UConn nursing student who has worked with Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo since Fall 2019 as a federal work-study research assistant on several Neag School research projects, has been accepted to the Research Experiences for Undergraduates summer program at the University of Georgia to work on biology education research.

T.J. McKenna, a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction, was featured by Boston University in a piece about preparing the next generation of science teachers.

TJ McKenna.
Neag School doctoral student T.J. McKenna discusses research with a colleague during a conference. (Photo courtesy of T.J. McKenna)

Jonathan Simmons ’09 (ED), ’11 MA, a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction, was appointed one of three new leadership team members for the Universitas 21 FINE, an international group of doctoral students and early-career researchers in education who collaborate on educational issues from a global perspective.

Alumni

Erika Bahler ’10 (CANHR), ’12 MA was a host for UConn Alumni’s Husky Plant Night, held virtually in March.This workshop provided information on when and how to plant seeds, type of soil, time to bloom, and related topics. View the recording. Bahler is the Agricultural Science and Technology Vernon Regional department head for plant science at Rockville (Conn.) High School and co-owner of Meadow Brook Farm in Ellington, Connecticut.

Paul Brenton ’06 6th Year, ’19 ELP was hired as superintendent for Plainfield (Conn.) Public Schools. He most recently served as the assistant superintendent for Killingly (Conn.) Public Schools.

Miguel Cardona ’01 MA, ’04 6th Year, ’11 Ed.D., ’12 ELP, the U.S. Secretary of Education, was a keynote speaker for the Education Writers Association’s National Seminar in May and the American Council on Education’s 2021 Conference in March. In addition, he served as UConn’s keynote speaker for the Class of 2021.

Beomyku Choi ’17 Ph.D. and Michael Young co-published “TPACK-L: Teachers’ Pedagogical Design Thinking for the Integration of Technology” for the April issue of Technology, Pedagogy, and Education.

School Counselor of the Year: Curtis R. Farrah IV, Westside Middle School Academy, Danbury.
(Image courtesy of Connecticut School Counselor Association.)

Curtis Darragh IV ’15 MA was recognized as School Counselor of the Year by the Connecticut School Counselor Association.

Alisha DiCorpo ’16 ELP was appointed superintendent for Milford (Conn.) Public Schools. She most recently served as the interim superintendent; before that, she was the district’s assistant superintendent for four years.

Roszena Haskins with flowers and award.
Roszena Haskins ’17 Ed.D. was named a champion of equity by Connecticut’s State Education Resource Center. (Photo courtesy of SERC)

Roszena Haskins ’17 Ed.D., director of Equity Advancement for West Hartford (Conn.) Public Schools, was honored as a champion of equity at Connecticut’s State Education Resource Center (SERC) virtual conference in May.

Josue Lopez ’16 Ph.D. was the 2021 UConn Graduate School’s virtual Doctoral Commencement ceremony’s student speaker.

Erin Mason ’16 MA was hired as university register for Ball State University. She most recently served as UConn’s associate registrar.

Ty C. McNamee ’15 MA, a doctoral student at Teacher’s College, co-published “Spatial Inequity and Social Class: Suggestions for Supporting Rural Students Across Social Class Backgrounds” for the April issue of New Directions for Student Services.

Salvator Menzo ’96 MA, ’99 6th Year, ’08 Ed.D has been hired as superintendent of Goodwin University Magnet Schools, starting in July. He most recently served as superintendent of Wallingford (Conn.) Public Schools for 12 years.

Jacqueline Millisits ’18 (CLAS), ’18 (ED) co-published “Financial Well-Being of Sportswomen” for the March issue of International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. She works as the integrated digital planner, global sales, and partnership marketing for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Uyi Osunde ’03 (CLAS), ’08 MA, ’20 Ed.D., a current student in the Executive Leadership Program, was appointed superintendent of Stratford (Conn.) Public Schools. He most recently served as Windsor (Conn.) High’s principal.

Noemi Maldonado Picardi ’02 (CLAS), ’21 Ed.D. was promoted to director of student services at UConn Avery Point. She most recently served as the interim director; before that, she was the associate director of advising.

Willena Kimpson Price ’20 Ph.D., director of UConn’s African American Cultural Center, was a finalist for UConn’s Inclusive Excellence Award.

Lisa (Deorio) Wolak ’82 (CLAS), ’99 ELP, ’02 6th Year was appointed superintendent of Weston (Conn.) Public Schools, starting July 1. Her most recent position was Weston High’s principal.

Koichi Yoshikawa ’12 MA, ’14 6th Year, ’14 Ph.D. co-authored with Thomas Kehle; Melissa Bray; Marisa del Campo ’11 MA, ’15 6th Year, ’20 Ph.D.; Johanna deLeyer-Tiarks ’17 MA, ’20 6th Year, ’20 Ph.D.; Neag School doctoral student Emily Louise Winter; and Natalie Starling ’06 (CLAS), ’15 Ph.D. “Self-Distancing to Reduce Anger in High School Students” for the March issue of International Journal of School and Educational Psychology.

In Memoriam

Jerome “Jerry” Auclair ’91
Donald P. Bellizzi ’75
Raymond E. Bryant ’82
Barbara J. Croskey ’68
Alan R. Curtis ’78
Estelle L. Duggan ’61
John T. Flynn, Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology
Amanda Higgins ’21
Michael A. McGuire ’69
Louise C. Muzin ’72
Kenneth “Ken” J. Sullivan ’68
Richard R. Teller ’63
Richard L. Thompson ’82
Sheila N. Williams ’55
George A. Wilson ’69

 

Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you! Email us any news items or story ideas.

Creating a National Network on Emotional Well-Being Research

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A trio of UConn researchers are developing an interdisciplinary network to advance scientific understanding of emotional well-being.

Four girls silhouetted by sunset
“We are thrilled to partner with the other networks around the country, and for UConn to become a central hub in emotional well-being,” says the research team.

Editor’s Note: The following piece was originally published on UConn Today, the University’s news website.

A group of UConn researchers have received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a network to address knowledge gaps on the topic of emotional well-being, an emerging public health concern. This project is one of six, totaling more than $3.13 million in year one funding from the NIH.

PIs on this project are Crystal Park, professor of psychological sciences and researcher at UConn’s Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP); Sandra Chafouleas, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of educational psychology and director of the Collaboratory on School and Child Health; and Fumiko Hoeft, professor of psychological sciences and director of the Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC).

The research team brings diverse strengths to the table. Park has extensive experience in measurement development and studying emotional well-being and mind-body interventions. Chafouleas is an expert in child development and intergenerational approaches to wel-lbeing. Hoeft brings her expertise in neuroimaging and cognitive neuroscience.

Emotional well-being is a broad health category that encompasses measures such as life satisfaction, happiness, meaning and purpose, and positive emotions.

While scientists and healthcare professionals have become increasingly accepting of the critical role emotional well-being plays in promoting public health, research has been slowed by several challenges. Scientists currently lack a consensus on the essential components of emotional well-being, valid ways to measure these components, and mechanisms to inform interventions.

The group will address these research challenges through the creation of a multidisciplinary network. The network aims to identify and measure components of emotional well-being, study its biological mechanisms, and then focus on the potential role of mind-body interventions in promoting it.

The UConn researchers will create the “M3 Network of Emotional Wellbeing (M3EWB, pronounced “mube”). M3 stands for Measurement, Mechanisms, and Mind-Body Interventions – the three areas the researchers will focus on.

“We are thrilled to partner with the other networks around the country, and for UConn to become a central hub in emotional well-being.”

Specifically, this project will create an online conceptual and methodological resource for researchers to comprehensively assess emotional well-being. It will catalogue for example, not only self-report methods, but also objective indicators like brain imaging.

Second, this project will uniquely study how emotional well-being plays out across the lifespan. Children, caregivers, and adults with health challenges face substantially different burdens. Yet, to date, emotional well-being research has minimally addressed lifespan-wide questions. By focusing on children and caregivers, who are often excluded from this kind of work, the researchers at UConn will shed new light on populations whose experiences are critical to advancing the field’s understanding of emotional well-being and how experiences may transfer from caregiver to child.

“Growing evidence supports that these challenges and burdens can be passed intergenerationally,” Chafouleas says. “It is important to not only understand the relevance of different components to emotional well-being across the lifespan, but the potential for mind-body interventions to elicit synchronous effects, such as between caregiver and child.”

Third, the team will address the important but understudied issues of whether mind-body interventions like yoga, tai chi, or meditation may improve emotional well-being, and if so, how. Mind-body interventions have been proven to help reduce negative mental health states such as anxiety, depression, and stress. However, whether such interventions also promote emotional well-being remains to be explored. In a preliminary study, Park and colleagues found single sessions of yoga were associated with several aspects of emotional well-being.

Sandra Chafouleas, an expert in school mental health and emotional well-being.
Sandra Chafouleas, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of educational psychology and director of the Collaboratory on School and Child Health, is one of three PIs on the project.

Guided by Park, the team will study the relationship between mind-body interventions and emotional well-being. They will look at both mind-body interventions as a mechanism for improving emotional well-being and emotional well-being as an outcome itself. Further, the research from this network aims to identify the mechanisms through which mind-body interventions bring about these positive effects.

The work will also advance the field by capitalizing on Hoeft’s expertise and the resources at BIRC.

“This opportunity is particularly exciting for me as a neuroscientist, to charter into the understudied area of the biological mechanisms of emotional well-being,” Hoeft says.

The M3 Network of Emotional Wellbeing will be a champion for interdisciplinary collaboration in this field.

The UConn team will work with the other five networks to collectively advance the science of emotional well-being. Each network is working within their respective niches to tackle gaps in the field. This approach will lead to an overall greater understanding of how to study this topic.

“We hope our educational and training activities, as well as pilot grants we provide, will facilitate discoveries in emotional well-being research and help train the next generation of researchers,” the team says. “We are thrilled to partner with the other networks around the country, and for UConn to become a central hub in emotional well-being.”

For an issue as multifaceted as emotional well-being, this interdisciplinary approach is the most prudent and rewarding path to deepen our scientific understanding and promoting all of us, children, adults and caregivers alike, to live our full potential.

Those interested in learning more about the project can contact the research team at M3EWB@uconn.edu.

This work is supported by NIH Grant U24AT011281.

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Developing Computational Thinking for High School Biology Classes

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As computational thinking becomes an increasingly important part of STEM fields, a group of researchers is developing a program to prepare high school students with these skills.

Editor’s Note: The following story originally appeared on UConn Today, the University of Connecticut’s news website.

Brain graphic with gears.
“As computational thinking becomes an increasingly important part of STEM fields, a group of researchers is developing a program to prepare high school students with these skills,” says Ido Davidesco, assistant professor of learning sciences and lead researcher on the NSF grant.

As the world of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) becomes increasingly computational, promoting students’ computational thinking is essential to prepare them for future STEM careers.

Neag School of Education assistant professor of learning sciences, Ido Davidesco, has received a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a month-long computational thinking unit in high school biology classes.

Davidesco will work with Neag School colleagues Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead, Christopher Rhoads, and John Settlage, as well as Aaron Kyle from Columbia University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The project will enhance students’ computational thinking through hands-on neural engineering experiences. Computational thinking involves strategies like using abstractions and pattern recognition to represent problems in new ways, organizing and analyzing data, breaking problems down into smaller pieces, thinking about a problem as a series of ordered steps or “algorithmic thinking,” and generalizing this process to a wider variety of problems.

“In K-12 education, computational thinking has largely been constrained to computer science and programming courses,” Davidesco, the project lead, says. “This project addresses a critical need to incorporate computational thinking into other STEM fields, in this case, biology and engineering, to introduce students to the computational nature of science nowadays.”

As part of the program students will measure their own muscle and brain activity using low-cost, wearable sensors. They will then analyze the data and design a brain-computer interface to turn neural activity into real-world output, like a mechanical claw, powered by brain activity. In addition to designing curriculum materials, the interdisciplinary project team will develop an interactive web-based app to guide students through the design process and a complimentary professional development program for teachers. Neuroscience and engineering Ph.D. students and postdocs will serve as STEM mentors for the high school students.

“This project addresses a critical need to incorporate computational thinking into other STEM fields … to introduce students to the computational nature of science nowadays.”

— Assistant Professor Ido Davidesco

The project will include approximately 500 students from 18 ninth and tenth grade biology classes. Incorporating this unit into regular biology courses rather than specialized electives will ensure more students have the benefit of participating.

The program will be implemented in a range of schools including an all-girls school and schools whose student body is primarily students from minoritized groups. This diversity will ensure this project reaches groups that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Through this project, the researchers hope to spark high school students’ interest in STEM and encourage them to pursue STEM in college and as careers.

The project team will evaluate the success of the program by looking at the students’ projects, interviews, classroom observations, and surveys.

This project is part of the NSF Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12). DRK-12’s mission is to enhance the learning and teaching of STEM subjects in preK-12 schools using innovative resources.

Davidesco holds a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. His research interests include studying how students learn science using portable EEG and eye tracking technologies and enhancing authentic research experiences in STEM education.

Neag School Grad Supports Literacy, Leadership at Local School

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Isabella Gradante works with young student.
Isabella “Bella” Gradante ’20 (ED), ’21 MA works with a young student during her graduate internship at E.B. Kennelly School in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo courtesy of Isabella Gradante)

Future Educator Poised to Help Her Students Take Action Toward Social Justice

Isabella “Bella” Gradante ’20 (ED), ’21 MA says she always knew she would pursue a career in education, having been raised by a family of educators and around schools her whole life. It wasn’t until she entered her master’s year in the Neag School’s Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s (IB/M) program that she found what truly called her to the field: the practice of culturally relevant and sustaining teaching. This approach, which emphasizes the importance of holistically recognizing and including students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning, has inspired her, she says, to one day lead a classroom that is responsive to the diverse needs of her students.

As a biracial Asian American woman and an aspiring educator, Gradante recognizes the impact that representation in the classroom had on her own educational experience. While she only had one Asian teacher in her K-12 experience, having a role model that looked like her made her feel valued and accepted.

“I think being a person of color that will be a future educator is really important because it can have students of all backgrounds be able to see themselves as a teacher, too, or simply see the potential for them to be educated and successful individuals,” she says.

As part of her final year in the IB/M program, Gradante served as a graduate intern at E.B. Kennelly School in Hartford, Connecticut. The internship was multifaceted, ranging from literacy intervention to instructional collaboration. For her master’s internship, she worked on a team alongside fellow interns and staff to provide in-person and virtual small-group literacy intervention for K-5 students.

“I think being a person of color that will be a future educator is really important because it can have students of all backgrounds be able to see themselves as a teacher.”

— Isabella “Bella’ Gradante ’20 (ED), ’21 MA

“This allow[ed] us to see where our students are at with reading, monitoring the progress that we’re making, which is super informative for their classroom teachers,” says Gradante.

Leaving a Lasting Impact

Isabella Gradante holds graduation cap in front of UConn's Red Barn.
“It’s really my dream to be an educator that values and respects all cultures and helps my students take action towards social justice,” says Isabella Gradante. (Photo courtesy of Isabella Gradante)

Gradante found other ways to support Kennelly, too. Early on in the academic year, Kennelly’s staff had been brainstorming ideas for a token-based book vending machine to promote a love for literacy and reinforce positive behavior in its students. When it came to securing enough funding to implement the project, Gradante proved indispensable.

“We didn’t really know how far we could take it, but I wanted to put my effort towards it because I thought it was such an amazing idea,” she says.

Making sure students have access to books is something that Gradante says is very important to her. The pandemic has highlighted inequities in education; for example, some students may not have books at home and may not be able to access their school or community libraries.

About one-third of students at Kennelly are English Language Learners, so providing students with texts in different languages and representing different levels of literacy was also a driving factor behind the project.

“It’s really important to have this area for literacy where students can have choice and autonomy to what they want to read and just simply have access to books,” says Gradante.

She coordinated fundraising through DonorsChoose, a funding site used by educators to raise money for classroom projects, and within days, the book vending machine was fully funded. Gradante is now working with the administrative team at Kennelly to design and customize the vending machine.

“Bella embraced the idea and ran with it,” says June Cahill ’92 (CLAS), ’93 (ED), ’94 MA, principal of Kennelly School. “We never expected that it would be funded so quickly, but it was due to her leadership and her commitment to leaving a lasting artifact after her internship was over that we were able to see this project come to fruition.”

Identity and Representation

Gradante says the Neag School’s commitment to initiating and sustaining conversation around identity in education has been influential for her as she decided what kind of educator she wants to be. For her, Professor David Moss served as a role model in the way he engaged conversations around race and culture in his classes.

“He has made me feel like I’ve become a leader in a lot of my classes because of the work that we do and the conversations we have,” says Gradante.

“I want to teach my students to be problem solvers and critical thinkers,” she adds. “It’s an immense task to take on, especially as a first-year teacher, but it’s really my dream to be an educator that values and respects all cultures and helps my students take action towards social justice.”

Principal Cahill, who works with many Neag School interns in their fifth year of the IB/M program, she says she is thrilled to see the leadership traits they possess.

“Neag is giving students the content knowledge that they need to be successful in the classroom, as well as the empathetic lens to really focus on a population that is slowly emerging from a pandemic,” says Cahill. “This year, more than ever, students really needed connections to caring adults, and Bella fit that role for them.”

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