Two innovative art projects funded by the Neag School’s Rogers Educational Innovation Fund, including a photojournalism art exhibit in Norwalk, Connecticut, and a mural project at a middle school in Hartford, Connecticut, brought together middle school students this past spring. The fund is in place thanks to the support of the late Neag School of Education Professor Emeritus Vincent Rogers and his late wife, Chris, a lifelong teacher. While Professor Rogers wasn’t able to personally enjoy the fruits of the projects his fund supported due to his passing in December 2020, the projects lived on at a middle school and an art gallery.

Vincent Rogers of Storrs, Connecticut, a longtime educator and faculty emeritus at the Neag School of Education, died Thursday, Dec. 3, at age 93. He died at home, surrounded by his loving family.

University of Connecticut Professor Emeritus Vincent Rogers has announced an endowment to the University’s Neag School of Education, designating a legacy gift of $125,000 to expand the Rogers Educational Innovation Fund, according to the fund’s website. With the expansion, “The Rogers Award” will provide $5,000 annually to an elementary or middle school teacher in the state of Connecticut for use in the classroom, the fund’s website said.