Neag School Accolades: Spring 2021

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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! Please send any news items and story ideas to neag-communications@uconn.edu.

In addition to the Neag School Dean’s Office and Department achievements, explore this edition’s list for Accolades from the following: Faculty/Staff; Alumni; Students; as well as In Memoriam.

Neag School Dean’s Office and Departments

Gladis Kersaint, dean emerita, and Jason Irizarry, interim dean, of the Neag School.
Gladis Kersaint (left), dean emerita of the Neag School, joins the Provost’s Office as vice provost for strategic initiatives; Jason Irizarry has been named interim dean of the Neag School.
Martin Luther King, Jr.; Text reads: Black Lives Matter at UConn.
View the “Racial Justice at UConn” video.

The UConn Provost’s Office announced new leadership for the Neag School, including appointing Gladis Kersaint as UConn’s vice provost for strategic initiatives. Provost Lejeuz named Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Jason Irizarry as interim dean. Both appointments are effective March 1. Read more about these leadership and staffing updates.

UConn’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion produced “Black Lives Matter at UConn” to observe Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, which featured Neag School faculty and alumni, including Willena Price ’00 Ph.D., director of the H. Fred Simons African American Cultural Center; Michael Mallery Jr. ’15 MA, ’20 Ph.D., associate director of diversity initiatives for the UConn School of Business; Franklin Tuitt, vice president and chief diversity officer and professor of higher education and student affairs; Milagros Castillo-Montoya, assistant professor of higher education and student affairs; and William Pizzuto ’19 Ph.D., director of the UConn Waterbury campus.

The Neag School, UConn’s Department of English, and the Connecticut Writing Project recognized Connecticut’s winners of the 28th annual Letters About Literature contest this month. Doug Kaufman and alumnus Jason Courtmanche ’91 (CLAS), Ph.D. ’06 served as faculty advisors for the competition. The nationwide contest, formerly sponsored by the Library of Congress, is for students in grades 4 through 12. The Neag School served as a co-sponsor of the state’s contest for the sixth consecutive year, with students, alumni, and friends of the Neag School serving as judges for the contest submissions.

The Neag School and its Alumni Board celebrated the winners of the 2021 Alumni Awards Celebration. They were recognized at a virtual event this month. Watch the event recording and check out the winners’ featured pages.

Neag School alumna and Coach Jamelle Elliott.
Neag School alumna and UConn women’s basketball assistant coach Jamelle Elliott ’96 (ED), ’97 MA accepts the Neag School’s 2021 Distinguished Alumna Award.

Department of Curriculum and Instruction (EDCI) and Teacher Education

Sushruta Kunnenkeri teaching students at NFA
Avery Point TCPCG alum Sushruta Kunnenkeri ’18 MA, now a science teacher in Massachusetts, leads a lesson at Norwich Free Academy 2017. (Stefanie Dion Jones/Neag School)

For the Summer 2021 Neag School Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG) cohort, the UConn Graduate School has approved an expansion of UConn Avery Point offerings. Previously, TCPCG offerings at Avery Point were restricted to special education, math, or science. Avery Point is now able to enroll students across all TCPCG certification areas, including history/social studies, world languages, agricultural education, and English/language arts. Thanks to the work and support of various people, including Megan Pichette, Joe Madaus, Todd Campbell, Ann Traynor, and Jason Irizarry, this will enable the program to partner more effectively with districts in southeastern Connecticut to help meet their schools’ and communities’ needs.

Department of Educational Leadership (EDLR)

Husky Sport has joined operations with Husky Nutrition, another SNAP-Ed funded organization, to become one Neag School-based organization. This includes the addition of five full-time staff members primarily operating out of the UConn Hartford campus, with a presence in Storrs. Husky Nutrition already teaches several cross-listed courses and hosts a summer student intern program.

EDLR was a co-sponsor of the UConn Office for Diversity and Inclusion’s panel “Call to Action – Higher Education Institutions Supporting and Advancing Educational Opportunities for Undocumented Communities.” H. Kenny Nienhusser served as moderator, and graduate students, including Chelsea Connery, Kiara Ruesta, and Omar Romandia, served as panelists. The virtual panel was held in March.

The Sport Management Program hosted a “Beyond the Field” virtual event in February titled “The Lack of Diversity in Sport Leadership,” featuring Doug Glanville, doctoral student Ajhanai Newton, activist Richard Lapchick, and Chaim Bloom, chief baseball officer for the Red Sox. Charles Macauley, a doctoral student in educational psychology, moderated the event. View the event recording.

The Sport Management Program was ranked one of the Best Sports Management Degree Programs by Intelligent.com.

Department of Educational Psychology (EPSY)

The Neag School’s Department of Educational Psychology has been included as one of five research networks in a new $3.13 million National Institutes of Health research grant, which will allow investigators to refine and test critical concepts that advance the study of emotional well-being.

Faculty, students, and alumni from the Renzulli Center for Creativity, Gifted Education, and Talent Development published a chapter titled “Identifying Underrepresented Gifted Students: A Developmental Process” in the Handbook of Giftedness and Talent Development in the Asia-Pacific (Spring International 2021). Co-authors included Pamela Peters, a doctoral student in educational psychology, E. Jean Gubbins, former postdoctoral students Rashea Hamilton and Jeb Puryear, as well as Betsy McCoach and Del Siegle. In addition, Gubbins, Siegle, and McCoach co-published “Identifying and Serving Gifted and Talented Students: Are Identification and Services Connected?” with other colleagues for the January issue of Gifted Child Quarterly.

The Renzulli Center also continued a series of free live webinars for educators and parents on such topics as developing and implementing enrichment clusters, student motivation, and avoiding fluff in differentiated activities.

Several EPSY faculty contributed chapters for the Handbook of University and Professional Careers in School Psychology (Routledge 2020), including “Making the Most of Collaborative Research Projects,” co-authored by Sandra Chafouleas, Lisa Sanetti, and Beth Russell from UConn’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences; and “Enhancing Skills in Research Methods and Statistics,” by Jacqueline M. Caemmerer and colleagues.

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.

Screenshot of virtual meeting
Michele Back (center right) of the Neag School speaks last month with several members of Congress and their staff members on issues pertinent to world language education and revitalization.

Michele Back participated in Virtual Language Advocacy Day in February. Sponsored by the Joint National Committee for Languages and the National Council for Languages and International Studies, Language Advocacy Day brings together world language advocates from across the country for meetings with Congressional offices and professional networking with experts from every sector of the language world. With a strong team of Connecticut language teachers and business leaders, Back spoke with several members of Congress and their staff members on issues pertinent to world language education and revitalization. Back also won the AERA Second Language Research (SLR) Special Interest Group (SIG) 2021 Mid-Career Award.

Cara Bernard co-published “‘It Depends:’ From Narration Sickness to Wide Awake Action in Music Education” for the February issue of Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Bernard was also elected president-elect for the Connecticut chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).

Melissa Bray and the late Tom Kehle previously developed the RICH theory (resources, intimacy, competence, and health), which was featured by Benjamin Springer, a nationally certified school psychologist, in a virtual presentation at the National Association of School Psychologists annual conference. Springer wrote a book, Happy Kids Don’t Punch You in the Face, which references their RICH theory as well. Bray also hosted UConn InCHIP’s virtual Mind-Body Research Interest Group Forum in February with more than 135 individuals in attendance. View the recording here.

Laura Burton was featured by Tucker Center Talks in an academic conversation about creating system change and providing advice for young women scholars; she also served as program chair for Sport Leaders and Pandemic Adapting at the International Leadership Association, 22nd  Annual Global Conference in November. In addition, Burton and Ajhanai Newton, a doctoral student in educational leadership, wrote a chapter titled “Organisation Level Practices to Support Women in Coaching” for Women in Sport Coaching (Routledge, 2021). Burton also presented “Opportunities and Challenges for Women in Sport Leadership in the COVID-19 World” at the Women in Sport and Exercise Academic Network virtual conference in the fall.

Jacqueline M. Caemmerer.
Jacqueline M. Caemmerer.

Jacqueline Caemmerer presented “Relations of Children’s Cognitive Abilities and Their Reading, Writing, and Math: Measured by Several Tests” at the Learning Disability Science to Practice virtual conference in January. 

Todd Campbell co-published “Teaching Science to Address Societally Pressing Phenomena and Challenges” for Thinkalong, an online blog by Connecticut Public Radio; “Mediating Influences in Professional Learning: Factors That Lead to Appropriation & Principled Adaptation” for the February issue of Professional Development in Education; “Teacher’s Attempts to Respond to Students’ Lived Experiences” for the February issue of Journal of Science Teacher Education; and, with Thomas J. McKenna ’18 Ph.D. and others, “Next Generation Science Classrooms: The Development of a Questionnaire for Examining Student Experiences in Science Classrooms” for the January issue of School Science and Mathematics. Campbell also co-published “On the Cusp of Profound Change: Science Teacher Education in and Beyond the Pandemic” for the January issue of Journal of Science Teacher Education.

Milagros Castillo-Montoya and Omar Romandia, a doctoral student in educational leadership, are co-hosts of a new podcast, the Higher Education Anti-Racist Teaching (HEART) Podcast, which focuses on elevating learning about anti-racist teaching at college and universities. The podcast is supported by the Office for Diversity and Inclusion and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at UConn. Saran Stewart was a featured guest for the first two episodes. Castillo-Montoya and Jillian Ives, a doctoral student in educational leadership, co-published “A Liberating Education: Integrating Funds of Knowledge and Disciplinary Knowledge to Create Tools for Students’ Lives” for the winter issue of New Directions for Teaching and Learning. She also published “Assessment: The ‘Wild Card’ in Student Affairs” for the February issue of Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice. A UConn anti-racism Black course, coordinated by Castillo-Montoya, was featured in UConn Today. Read more about the anti-racism course.

Neag School Professor Sandra Chafouleas holds books in classroom.
The biggest thing on my mind right now is, how are we going to support the mental health and emotional well-being of our children,” says Sandra Chafouleas. (UConn file photo)

Sandra Chafouleas was featured in a Q&A interview in UConn Today about parents supporting their child’s well-being during a pandemic, based on an interview from a UConn 360 podcast episode. Chafouleas co-published “Usability of Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Assessments in Schools: A Systematic Review From 2009 to 2019” for the January issue of School Psychology Review and “Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Translation into Action in K12 Education Settings” for the March issue of School Mental Health; wrote “Trump’s Reaction to Defeat Further Confirms Urgency for School Focus on Social Emotional Skills” for CT Mirror; was a panelist for the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry’s Spring Puppet Forum in February; and was a panelist for Broward County (Fla.) Crime Commission’s webinar on “Troubled Teens & COVID-19: The Lost Generation of America’s Youth” in March. She was also featured in a Blog Talk Radio episode titled “Teen Suicide During COVID-19: The Second Crisis in Our Schools,” led by Brian K. Perkins of Columbia University Teachers College.               

Casey Cobb received a $10,000 grant from the Connecticut State Department of Education to study student attrition in the Hartford region’s school choice programs. The award helps fund graduate assistant Chelsea Connery, a doctoral student in educational leadership and co-collaborator on the study.

Doug Glanville.
“The past year has been one of racial reckoning in America. But in the Black experience, much of what we saw was business as usual,” says former Major League Baseball player and Neag School faculty member Doug Glanville. (Joe Condren/UConn)

Michael Coyne was a panelist on The Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity & Opportunity’s February webinar, “Every Connecticut Student Should Have the Right to Read.”

Ido Davidesco spoke on “Brain-to-Brain Synchrony in the Classroom” for UConn’s Brain Imaging Research Center in March.

Morgaen Donaldson co-published “Doing the ‘Real’ Work”: How Superintendents’ Sensemaking Shapes Principal Evaluation Policies and Practices in School Districts” for the January issue of AERA Open and “Rethinking Teacher Evaluation Using Human, Social, and Material Capital” for the January issue of Journal of Educational Change.

Doug Glanville penned a commentary titled “MLB Needs More Black Managers. Here’s Why it Won’t Be Me Right Now” for ESPN.

Preston Green co-published “School Finance, Race, and Reparations” for the February issue of Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice. He was also featured in a podcast episode titled “Organizing Mutual Aid Education and School Funding Reparations” for Talk Out of School.

Terrell Hill, a faculty member with the UCAPP program, was selected as the superintendent of Windsor (Conn.) Public Schools. He previously served as the district’s assistant superintendent for human resources.

Illustration of Neag School Professor James Kaufman.
James Kaufman. (Illustration by Kyle Hilton)

James Kaufman was featured in UConn Magazine’s “Three Books” column about his reading choices. He also co-authored a chapter with alumna Anne Roberts ’20 (Grad Cert), and others, titled “Creativity and Cognition, Divergent Thinking, and Intelligence” for The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity (Cambridge University, 2021); co-authored  “Measuring Everyday Creativity: A Rasch Model Analysis of the Biographical Inventory of Creative Behaviors (BICB) Scales” for the January issue of Thinking Skills and Creativity; co-authored with Hansika Kapoor, a former postdoctoral student, and others, “Secondary Education in COVID Lockdown: More Anxious and Less Creative – Maybe Not?” for the February issue of Frontiers in Psychology; co-authored with Kapoor “Meaning-Making Through Creativity During COVID-19” for the December issue of Frontiers in Psychology; and co-authored “What is Creativity in Education? A Qualitative Study of International Curricula” for the January issue of Journal of Advanced Academics. In addition, he co-authored “The Relationship of the Quality of Creative Problem Solving Stages to Overall Creativity in Engineering Students” for the November issue of Thinking Skills and Creativity.

Devin Kearns co-published a chapter titled “Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies” for Peers as Change Agents: A Guide to Implementing Peer-mediated Interventions in Schools (Oxford University Press 2021); “An Examination of Unified English Braille and its Efficiency in Representing Print” for the February issue of British Journal of Visual Impairment; and, with UConn’s Fumiko Hoeft, “What is Dyslexia?” for a Connecticut General Assembly task force, for which Rachael Gabriel served as a committee member.

Craig H. Kennedy published “How Does Health Impact Challenging Behavior?” For the March issue of Research and Practice for Persons With Disabilities

Tamika La Salle was selected as a School Psychology Review (SPR) editorial fellow. The SPR Editorial Fellow program prepares future leaders in the field. La Salle also facilitated public forums for the West Springfield (Mass.) School Department’s equity committee.

Betsy McCoach co-published “Associations Among Childhood Threat and Deprivation Experiences, Emotion Dysregulation, and Mental Health in Pregnant Women” for the January issue of Psychological Trauma, which also appeared in Europe PMC.

African American male teen looks at cellphone, fellow teens are in the back.
Distinctions between online racism and in-person encounters matter less for so-called “digital natives,” according to new research co-authored by the Neag School’s Adam McCready. (Getty Images)

Adam McCready and colleagues from Boston College published a study in the February 2021 edition of the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, which found that social media constitutes an essential element in the traumatic stress that students of color experience. The research was featured in UConn Today. Read more about the study here.

Jennie McGarry has been invited to become an affiliated scholar at the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport. She also co-published “Race, Sport Type, and Divisional Classification Matters: An Examination of Female Athletes’ Experiences at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Institutions” for the 2020 issue of Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics.

Glenn Mitoma facilitated “Capitol Under Siege: Community Reflections on the Lawless and Violent Attack on Democracy,” a virtual session held by the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, Human Resources, and the Office of the Provost in January.

Kenny Nienhusser co-presented with Omar Romandia Diaz, a doctoral student in educational leadership, and Kiara Ruesta-Cayetano, a higher education and student affairs master’s student, “Towards Supporting Our Vulnerable Students and Faculty During the COVID-19 Pandemic” for the Association of American Colleges and Universities Annual Meeting in January.

Sally Reis and Joseph Renzulli co-author a chapter in Gifted Education in Rural Schools.

Sally Reis and Joseph Renzulli co-authored a chapter titled “The Schoolwide Enrichment Model: A Talent Development Approach That Works for Rural Schools” for Gifted Education in Rural Schools (Routledge, 2021); and “In Memoriam: Professor Victor Muller-Oppliger” for the January issue of Gifted Education International. Reis also co-authored “Perceptions of Talented University Students Related to Opportunities and Autonomy for Creative Productivity” for the February issue of Gifted Education International.

Lisa Sanetti co-published “Treatment Fidelity: What It Is and Why It Matters” for the January issue of Learning Disabilities.

Megan Staples co-published “Student Argumentation Work Sample Sorting Task and Teachers’ Evaluations of Arguments” for Volume 9/Issue 2 of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Saran Stewart and Glenn Mitoma were speakers for “Is the University Colonial?: Critical Conversations on its Past, Present, and Future,” a three-part series with the University of Nottingham’s Institute for Policy and Engagement and UConn’s Office of Global Affairs.

Frank Tuitt led a panel discussion titled “This is America: Exploring the History of Racism at UConn” about the student-of-color experience at UConn. The virtual event, hosted by the UConn Alumni Association, was held in January.

Jennie Weiner published a study with colleagues that examined the extent to which principals had created the sorts of conditions in their schools that support continued learning and teaching during the pandemic. Read more about the study here. Weiner and Morgaen Donaldson also received a new grant of approximately $50,000 to investigate the entry and exit patterns of black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) teachers and administrators in two school districts in Connecticut.

Sarah Woulfin and Britney Jones, a doctoral student in educational leadership, co-published “Special Development: The Nature, Content, and Structure of Special Education Teachers’ Professional Learning Opportunities” for the April issue of Teaching and Teacher Education.

Students

UConn alumna Pauline Batista Souza da Silva carries the torch at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
UConn alumna and current Neag School doctoral student Pauline Batista Souza da Silva carries the torch at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. (Courtesy of Pauline Batista)

Pauline Batista ’16 MA, a doctoral student in educational leadership, was featured in UConn Magazine. She also served as co-host for the UConn Digital Media Design’s Speaker Series, featuring Alana Mayo, president of Orion Pictures.

Chelsea Connery co-published “Teachers Making Sense of Undocumented Status and Their Responsibilities to Undocumented Students: A Critical Perspective” in the February 2021 issue of Teaching and Teacher Education with Jennie Weiner.

Kathleen Connolly, a doctoral student in educational psychology, co-authored with Sandra Chafouleas and others, “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.

Jillian Ives and Ashley Robinson, doctoral students in educational leadership, were awarded a Graduate Research Dissertation Fellowship from the UConn Graduate School.

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

Professor Amit Savkar gives lecture while writing on screen.
Amit Savkar, assistant professor-in-residence of mathematics at UConn and a current Neag School doctoral student, tapes a lecture using Lightboard technology in 2015. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

Ajhanai Newton-Anderson, a doctoral student in educational leadership, participated in The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Black History Month virtual panel “Black Experiences in Sport” in February.

Ashley Robinson, a doctoral student in educational leadership, facilitated a workshop titled “How Does Whiteness Show Up in Racist Harm Response Work” for College Student Educators International’s (ACPA) Mid-Level Community of Practice in December.

Amit Savkar ’07 Ph.D., ’17 MA, a doctoral student in educational psychology student and UConn associate professor-in-residence of mathematics, began looking into the reasons why so many students were dropping out of or failing math classes early in their college career. He launched a platform called Stemify, which was featured in UConn Today. Read more about Savkar’s work.

Alumni

Batouly Camara ’19 (ED), ’20 MA was selected as a Billie Jean Youth Leadership Award honoree. A former UConn women’s basketball player, she is the founder of Women and Kids Empowerment and is currently working to build an outdoor basketball court in Guinea, West Africa.

Neag School alum Miguel Cardona gives speech.
Four-time Neag School alum Miguel Cardona, now confirmed as U.S. Education Secretary, speaks in Delaware in December. (AP: Carolyn Kaster)

Miguel Cardona ’01 MA, ’04 6th Year, ’11 Ed.D., ’12 ELP was officially confirmed as President Joe Biden’s U.S. Secretary of Education in March. Cardona most recently served as Connecticut’s education commissioner and is the second UConn grad to hold a Cabinet-level position in the White House and the first Neag School alum to serve in this position. He was also featured in UConn Magazine about his new role and by NPR, The New York Times, NBC Connecticut, Washington Post, and Hartford Courant, among other outlets. Read more about Cardona’s confirmation.

Carol Ann (Knott) Conboy ’69 (ED) penned an essay about the passing of her college friend, Margaret “Peggy” E. Sczesny ’69 (NUR), ’79 MS, for UConn Magazine.

Neag School alum Paul Freeman listening to children.
Neag School alumnus and Guilford (Conn.) Public School’s superintendent Paul Freeman listens to children while on a school visit. (Editor’s note: This photo was prior to the pandemic; photo courtesy of Paul Freeman)

Paul Freeman ’09 Ed.D., the superintendent of Guilford (Conn.) Public Schools, was named Connecticut’s Superintendent of the Year by the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS). Read a recent Q&A with Freeman.

Mihyun Han Ph.D. ’19, a visiting assistant professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, received a $20,000 award from the Community Foundation of Holland-Zeeland COVID-19 Community Stabilization Fund. Funds will contribute to a collaborative project between Han and the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District (OAISD), linking Hope College students with English language learners in OAISD to provide one-on-one, intensive tutoring in math, science, and social studies.

Neag School alumna Kristi Kaeppel ’20 Ph.D., Robin Grenier, and UConn alumna Emma Bjorngard-Basayne received the Elwood F. Holton III Research Excellence Award for their co-authored article, “The F-Word: The Role of Women’s Friendships in Navigating the Gendered Workplace in Academia,” which was published in the October issue of Human Resources Development Review (HRDR). The award, named for the first editor of HRDR, recognizes an outstanding Development Review refereed article in each annual volume. Kaeppel recently joined the faculty of St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies, in the Department of Educational Services as an instructor in Leadership and Excellence in Academic Development.

Taylor Kielpinski-Rogers ’12 (ED), director of communications for the NFL, was part of a video presented by Mercedes Benz on the females’ roles in football and the importance of diversity in the sports industry. In addition, a UConn Alumni discussion on sports and recreation careers during COVID-19 featured Kielpinski-Rogers as a panelist in February.

Kathryn O’Connor ’17 (ED), ’18 MA, Emma (Pavano) Dearborne ’17 (ED), ’18 MA, and Tutita Casa co-authored “Inquiry + Math Workshop Model = Success!” for the Volume 114:Issue 3 of Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12.

Neag School alum Karen Rambo-Hernandez and her two children gather on doorstep.
Texas residents Karen Rambo-Hernandez ’11 Ph.D. and her children, Clark (left) and Clara, were excited to find boxes of Girl Scout cookies and hot cocoa mix on their doorstep, left by a neighbor during the recent wintry weather. (CNN photo)

Karen Rambo-Hernandez ’11 Ph.D., an associate professor at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, was featured by CNN about receiving neighborhood help after the record-breaking freeze.

Nathan Quesnel ’01 (ED), ’02 MA, superintendent of East Hartford (Conn.) Public Schools, Robert Villanova, and Mark Benigni, superintendent of Meriden (Conn.) Public Schools, co-published “Shared Governance: How Pandemic Partnerships Can Lead to Progress,” in American City and County.

Kelli-Marie Vallieres ’92 (BUS), ’05 MA, ’08 Ph.D., executive director of the Connecticut Workforce Unit, formerly CEO of Sound Manufacturing and Monster Power Equipment in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, was featured as a “2021 Power 50” in the Hartford Business Journal.


In Memoriam

Edward J. Adam ’63
Joanne M. Centola ’68
Donald E. Chase ’65
Susan (Dan) Gilbert ’75
James P. Kennedy ’67
Leroy C. Kleinschmidt ’56
Catherine C. Konefal ’69
Patricia Ayers Chase Saltsman ’82
Priscilla “Pre” Ubysz ’00
Joseph A. Zalaski, Jr. ’52

Spring 2021 Neag School Leadership Updates, New Appointments

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Jason Irizarry, Interim Dean, among the new appointments at the Neag School.
Professor Jason Irizarry has been named interim dean of the Neag School. He previously served as associate dean for academic affairs. (Stefanie Dion Jones/Neag School)

The Neag School announces Spring 2021 updates and new appointments to its administration, faculty, and staff.

Dean’s Office Leadership

Effective March 1, 2021, Gladis Kersaint, dean of the Neag School of Education since 2016, joins the UConn Provost’s Office as the University’s vice provost for strategic initiatives. Jason Irizarry, associate dean for academic affairs at the Neag School since January 2020 and a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, has been named the School’s interim dean, also effective March 1.

“[Gladis] has provided strong leadership for the Neag School,” wrote Carl Lejuez, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, in an announcement earlier this year. “However, her strengths as dean also overlap with needs in the Provost’s Office, which led us to consider possibilities for a new leadership role.”

Kersaint’s academic home continues to be the Neag School’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, where she is a professor of mathematics education.

“I am excited to serve the school in this capacity and look forward to supporting the wonderful work of Neag School faculty, staff and students.”

— Jason Irizarry, Interim Dean

“Serving as dean has been among the most rewarding times in my career,” says Kersaint. “I take great pride in looking back over the past few years at the tremendous strides the Neag School has made, and with Jason now at the helm, I certainly leave the Neag School in good hands.” At a recent UConn Foundation event, Kersaint looked back at some of her accomplishments as dean over the past five years.

Dean Emerita Gladis Kersaint.
Dean Emerita Gladis Kersaint joined the UConn Provost’s Office this month as vice provost for strategic initiatives. (Nathan Oldham/Neag School)

A faculty associate in El Instituto: Institute for Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies, Irizarry is a Latino first-generation college graduate. His research interests include culturally responsive pedagogy, Latino/a students in U.S. schools, and urban teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention with an emphasis on increasing the number of teachers of color. A central focus of his work involves promoting the academic achievement of youth in urban schools by addressing issues associated with educator preparation. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in multicultural education, culturally responsive curriculum development, participatory action research, and urban education.

His first book, The Latinization of U.S. Schools: Successful Teaching and Learning in Shifting Cultural Contexts (Routledge, 2011), was awarded the Phillip C. Chin Book Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education. He is also the co-editor of Diaspora Studies in Education: Toward a Framework for Understanding the Experiences of Transnational Communities. Irizarry has an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

“I am excited to serve the school in this capacity and look forward to supporting the wonderful work of Neag School faculty, staff and students,” says Irizarry.

Additional New Appointments, Hires, and Retirements

In the Neag School Dean’s Office, Ann Traynor has been named interim assistant dean, and Jamison Judd has been promoted to director of technology.

The Neag School Department of Educational Leadership welcomed Alyssa Dillon this January as an administrative program support 2. Dillion is a UConn graduate with a degree in communications and a minor in political science. Most recently, she served as a faculty support specialist/online learning facilitator at Harvard Business School.

Gary Hendrickson, business operations specialist in the Dean’s Office, retired at year’s end, having served the state of Connecticut since 1993 — first at Quinnebaug Community College before arriving at UConn in 1999. In 2001, he began at the Neag School, where he established its technology department. He also served as a sailing coach for UConn and as a high school ski coach.

Mary Truxaw, associate professor of mathematics education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, also retired in December, after 20 years at UConn. In addition to teaching and advising students, she was instrumental in helping to develop elementary education mathematics courses at the Neag School. In 2014, the University named her a Teaching Fellow — its highest honor awarded for instructional excellence. Truxaw earned her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction at the Neag School in 2004. Prior to that, she had served as a public school teacher in Connecticut, New York, and California.

In addition, two longtime Department of Educational Psychology faculty retired this past January: Associate Professor H. Jane Rogers, renowned expert in psychometrics, quantitative methods, and research methodology; and Professor Hariharan Swaminathan, an internationally recognized expert in educational measurement and, in particular, item response theory.

“They gave our program instant credibility.”

— Professor D. Betsy McCoach, on colleagues H. Jane Rogers and Hariharan Swaminathan

Together with another colleague, they were co-authors of Fundamentals of Item Response Theory (Sage, 1991) — what fellow Neag School faculty member D. Betsy McCoach called the “classic, quintessential book” on the topic during remarks she shared at the School’s December faculty-staff meeting. When Rogers and Swaminathan arrived at UConn, McCoach said, “They gave our program instant credibility.”

Rogers was widely published in numerous journals and also served at the National Council on Measurement in Education and the American Educational Research Association. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts in 1989.

Swaminathan had presented around the world and served as a consultant to numerous testing agencies, state departments of education, and international ministries of education. Among his many accolades, Swaminathan received the governor’s award for outstanding contribution to the state of Connecticut by a naturalized citizen for his work with the state’s Department of Education. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 1971.

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Animation graphic of fourth-grade class.
Madison Corlett and her students created a graphic of their fourth-grade class using Pixton, which was used for the fundraiser. (Image courtesy of Madison Corlett)

When Madison Corlett started teaching, the idea of giving back came full circle with her desire to share that focus with her students.

From a young age, Madison Corlett ’16 (ED), ’17 MA, was excited about helping others, raising money through lemonade stands and other fundraisers, then donating the money to local causes.

In elementary school, Corlett was hospitalized for a week with pneumonia. She saw other kids in the hospital who were much sicker than she was.

“I wasn’t as sick as some of the other kids who were fighting these horrible diseases,” she says. “I realized that these kids weren’t able to go to school.”

She recalled one of her mom’s early fundraisers for her best friend in grade school, who had a rare disease that required a bone marrow transplant.

“My mom had a hair-cut-a-thon that helped raised money for my friend’s treatments. I remember at the time that these treatments would cost almost a million dollars in the end,” she says. “That stuck with me, as she was out from school for a whole year.”

Her friend’s brother went through the same treatment a few years later. Luckily, both of them are now healthy and thriving. Her own hospitalization, her friend’s hospitalization, and the realization that other children had it much worse, stuck with her.

Today, as a fourth-grade teacher in Mansfield, Connecticut, she brings those life lessons to her classroom.

Corlett Gets Her Students to Be Passionate

When Corlett started teaching four years ago, the idea of giving back came full circle with her desire to share that focus with her students.

“We talk a lot about being a citizen of the world and doing more than just within yourself,” she says. “I think it’s important to give kids opportunities to give back and learn why that’s so important and how it feels good to give and to take care of people.”

“That’s something that I always try and think about and share with my students,” she adds.

Corlett came up with the idea of “passion projects” for her students one day when before school after she was inspired by one of her own students who had created an animal sanctuary drive.

“I think it’s important to give kids opportunities to give back and learn why that’s so important … to take care of people.”

— Madison Corlett ’16 (ED), ’17 MA

As Corlett and students in her class talked about what was going on due to the pandemic, she asked, “What are you passionate about helping?”

Ideas from the students included helping seniors, animals, and essential workers. To help seniors in the area, the students made greeting cards and delivered them to convalescent homes and senior centers.

“Senior citizens were alone during the holidays, and this small gesture meant a lot,” Corlett says.

They also collected items and goods for an animal sanctuary in nearby Ashford, Connecticut. Before the pandemic, a previous class of Corlett’s had made care packages for veterans and collected stuffed animals for a Children’s Hospital.

This winter, the students decided to help local businesses in Mansfield, Connecticut. These local businesses were familiar to them, and some of their families knew the owners or managers.

Corlett suggested they put together a presentation and set up a meeting with the Mansfield Public Schools’ superintendent, Neag School alumna Kelly Lyman ’88 MA, ’01 6th Year, ’10 ELP.

In a Hartford Courant article, Lyman remarked that she wasn’t surprised the Mansfield students came up with the idea.

“In our district, we focus on providing authentic experiences that build life skills, and help find opportunities for students to apply what they are learning,” said Lyman.

“In our district, we focus on providing … opportunities for students to apply what they are learning.”

— Kelly Lyman ’88 MA, ’01 6th Year, ’10 ELP

“Superintendent Lyman was great and was able to ask them all kinds of questions to push their thinking and get them to think a little outside of the box, and that’s where the idea of gift cards came from,” says Corlett. “The students then thought they could encourage Mansfield citizens to buy the gift cards.”

Lyman suggested the student group meet with the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, a local organization that supports Mansfield’s promotion and economic development. During the meeting, there was a discussion about what they would do with the gift cards. The students decided the gift cards should go back to local essential workers.

“Their cool idea came full circle, and we started a GoFundMe page to raise funds,” says Corlett. “We are close to reaching our goal, and the students and their families are continuing to get the word out.”

Madison Corlett taking selfie holding laptop.
Madison Corlett says she enjoys teaching in the virtual space, as it allows her the opportunity to know families at a different level than before. (Photo courtesy of Madison Corlett)

Managing Teaching Through the Pandemic 

Like all educators this past year, Corlett learned how to deal with the pandemic and remote teaching and learning. Her class of fourth-graders is a group of 22 students from across three elementary schools whose parents selected remote-only learning for their child during the academic year.

Corlett acknowledges that it’s been “crazy,” but feels like her students are in a “really good groove now.”

“They’re able to access all of the academics almost exactly as they would in class,” she says.

She says she has enjoyed teaching in this space, as it allows her the opportunity to know families at a different level than before. “My class feels a strong sense of community because they’re the only fourth-graders that are remote.”

When they transition to middle school in fifth grade, they will know kids from different schools. “That’s a cool experience,” she says.

Pivoting to remote-only learning was a transition for her, and it was trial and error at first.

“I would give the kids a whole week of assignments at the beginning of the week, thinking that it would be helpful for them to see across the week,” she says. “That was not helpful at all. They like to get their assignments daily. That’s one thing I learned.”

She also learned that using too many platforms became overwhelming and stressful for the kids, and found a balance between synchronous and asynchronous instruction. “Keeping the classroom routines and community building activities, similar to regular learning, is key,” she says.

Like the passion projects, she says community-building activities have helped her and her students during this chaotic time. One of her favorite activities includes a daily “lunch bunch” where the students go into a breakout room with their friends to have lunch.

“Doing things you and your students love and are excited about, in addition to the regular curriculum, is so important.”

— Madison Corlett

“Doing these activities makes your heart full and, at the same time, they benefit the kids,” she says.

The passion projects have helped keep Corlett, and her students, stay engaged in school on a different level. “It’s been a bonus for them, and they have gained new communication and thinking skills.”

In reflecting on this past year, Corlett says that “doing things you and your students love and are excited about, in addition to the regular curriculum, is so important.”

“Teachers forget they were people — and kids are people,” she adds, “and doing things a little outside the box makes learning meaningful, fun, and fresh.”

Alumna Anne Hill Brings People Together Online During COVID-19

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Coleman Hill and Anne Hill
Alumna Anne Hill ’90 (CLAS), ’92 MA (right) joins her son, Coleman, at the UConn Convocation for the Class of 2023. (Photo courtesy of Anne Hill)

When the pandemic hit, Anne Hill and her team had to uproot the strategies they had been using to design in-person events.

A program specialist for University Events and Conference Services at the University of Connecticut, alumna Anne Hill ’90 (CLAS), ’92 MA, has been planning events across campus for nearly 24 years. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last spring, Hill and her team had to uproot the strategies they had been using to design in-person events and pivot to online platforms.

In her role, Hill is responsible for coordinating events and conferences at UConn. She also serves as a resource for clients on campus, offering them advice and best practices for event planning. Each year, University Events holds a one-day conference for UConn staff called UConnference. In collaboration with Total Webcasting, a webcasting and content management service, Hill and her colleagues held their first fully online UConnference in July to offer people across campus guidance in planning virtual events amid the pandemic.

“We wanted to show people that this can be done, and it can be done successfully … so people could think about their own programs and imagine what it would look like based on participating in ours,” says Hill.

Celebrating Students and Donors Virtually

Thanks to expert advice from Hill and the University Events team, the Neag School was able to hold the 2020 Scholarship Celebration, one of its signature annual events, virtually this past fall. Hill’s colleague Juliet Kapsis of University Events coordinated with the Neag School of Education to design and implement the program.

Typically held as an in-person luncheon where Neag School donors enjoy an opportunity to meet with the students whose scholarships they have supported, the 2020 virtual celebration brought donors, students, and their guests together with current students, alumni, and administrators for an hour filled with testimonials from student scholarship recipients from as far away as Portugal. It also featured a musical performance by Neag School music education students as well as remarks by UConn alumni and donors Jim and Beth Degnan, both ’87 (CLAS), who shared personal insights into why they have dedicated themselves to supporting the Neag School. Attendees tuned in from around the world.

“The fact that we work with people from all over campus has really been one of the joys for me.”

— Anne Hill ’90 (CLAS), ’92 MA

Later this month, the Neag School will host its 2021 Alumni Awards Celebration virtually as well, coordinated by Lauren Schaller, another representative from University Events.

University Events has been able to pivot many of its other campus events and conferences to an online format and are still finding new platforms and strategies to help keep audiences engaged. Hill says she and her colleagues have since learned there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to virtual event planning, and some events require different platforms or a combination of platforms to be executed effectively.

“It’s similar in many ways to what we were doing in person, but it also requires a lot more script writing and more producing,” says Hill. “It’s become similar to producing a television show in some ways.”

Group of women in front of UConn banner.
University Events was a finalist team at the 2018 Spirit Awards ceremony. The team gathered at the Wilbur Cross North Reading Room in March 2018. Pictured L-R: Carolyn Postemski, Wendy Baker, Amy Erhart, Cara Workman, Juliet Kapsis, Kate Copeland, Karen Zajac, Harley Erickson, and Anne Hill. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

Problem Solving and Relationship Building

In reflecting on her work with University Events and the impact she has had over the years, Hill says that while there are many aspects of the job that she enjoys, the most rewarding is the problem-solving aspects and the relationships she has built with colleagues across the University. Each event she works on comes with different challenges, different personalities, and different rewards.

“While the structure of events can be very similar in the sense of the process that you go through, the fact that we work with people from all over campus and on all campuses has really been one of the joys for me,” says Hill.

For Hill, one of the most memorable events on campus was held in collaboration with Lockheed Martin and the UConn School of Engineering, during which they landed two helicopters on the Student Union lawn.

“In events like that, it’s really the people behind the scenes that make it a success, and we’re able to bring them all together to make the event happen,” says Hill.

Another one of her favorites is the annual gingerbread house decorating competition for faculty and staff that the University Events team organizes annually. The event brings together teams from across the University to get creative and have fun.

“I enjoy working on this and having the event evolve over the years but fostering creativity and collaboration among my colleagues is most rewarding,” says Hill.

Hill has also worked on the Graduate School New Student Orientation in the past, helping them evolve from a standard lecture-based event into a multifaceted event where panels and tours are happening simultaneously, and students can choose the aspects in which they want to take part. Shalyn Hopley, graduate programming assistant and fellow Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) alumna, organized the event with Hill for two years, and says Hill was instrumental in sorting out the logistics and creating a space for students to navigate easily.

“Anne was particularly helpful when it came to thinking through how to make the event accessible for our graduate students and how to ask the right questions,” says Hopley.

Adapting to Change as a Higher Education Professional  

Hill earned her master’s degree from the Neag School of Education’s Higher Education and Student Affairs program in 1992. She has applied the skills and knowledge she learned not only in her current role, but also in previous roles in higher education and in many different scenarios of her life.

“I am confident that the education and the experiences that I was able to have because … the Neag School prepared me for this path.”

— Anne Hill ’90 (CLAS), ’92 MA

“I am confident that the education and the experiences that I was able to have because of being in the Neag School prepared me for this path,” says Hill.

While much has evolved in the higher education profession since Hill’s time at the Neag School, certain standards reinforced through the program remain the same. HESA director and associate professor, Saran Stewart, came to the University in July and while she does not know Hill personally, she points out that the field of higher education prepares professionals to respond to crisis situations. She describes higher education as a microcosm of society, in which professionals have to respond to all aspects facing social and cultural life.

“I think what Anne has afforded and what should be credited is what she has been able to do in this pivot and the lessons learned from these challenges that are still applicable when we are able to come back face-to-face,” says Stewart. “She has increased equity and accessibility to these kinds of events and programming.”