Alumni and Friends

More than $1.2 million

in New Funding Raised for the Neag School
in FY22-23.

25th Annual Alumni Awards

The Neag School’s 25th Annual Alumni Awards Celebration was held in-person in March 2023 at the UConn Alumni Center and consisted of an awards ceremony that recognized 1 Rogers Award winner and 8 Alumni Awardees. This event was attended by over 100 alumni, faculty, staff, family, and friends:

  • Outstanding School Educator: Kristen Negron, Counselor, Middletown Public Schools
  • Outstanding Professional: Margery Daniels, Executive Director, Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc.
  • Outstanding Early Career Professional: Andrew Alexi Almazan Anaya, Director of the Department of Psychology and Coordinator of the Projects Research Unit at the Talent Attention Service Center (CEDAT), Mexico City
  • Outstanding School Administrator: Emily Gomes, Principal of Ivy Drive Elementary School, Bristol Public Schools
  • Outstanding School Superintendent: Joseph Macary, Superintendent, Vernon Public Schools
  • Outstanding Higher Education Professional: Raymond Pecheone, Professor of Practice (Retired) and Executive Director, Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning & Equity (SCALE), Stanford University
  • Outstanding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Roszena Haskins, Executive Director of Equity Advancement, West Hartford Public Schools & Town of West Hartford
  • Distinguished Alum: Richard Schwab, Dean Emeritus, Neag School of Education

2022-2023 Neag School Alumni Board

The Neag School Alumni Board has a history of influencing the School’s outreach in the alumni community and supporting current and future students. Board members who supported all the efforts are listed below.

  • Madison Coutu ’16, ’17
  • Lisa Cushing ’17
  • Anna Cutaia ’07, ’13
  • Danielle DeRosa '09, '16
  • Elizabeth DeVitto '14, '15 (Secretary)
  • Sharon Fuller ’83, ’87, ’94
  • Ryan Hayes '20
  • Carl Johnson ’03, ’04, ’15 (Past President)
  • Bryan Kirby ’18, ’19
  • Shay Lewis ’20
  • Kelly Lyman ’92, ’93, ’10
  • Faith Celeste McCarthy '17, '18
  • Timothy Neville ’06, ’18
  • Emmanuel Omokaro '11, '12
  • Jocelyn Tamborello-Noble ’03, ’04, ’09
  • Kim Wachtelhausen '08 (President)
  • Jeffrey Wihbey '95, '06, '16

Alumni Board Scholarship Awards

Funded by gifts from Neag School alumni, this award supports current Neag School students who are continuing their education.

  • Megan Go — master's student, Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA)
  • Kenya Overton — Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction, Concentration in Secondary Mathematics Education
  • Amanda Sutter — Ph.D., Research Methods, Measurement, and Evaluation

Fundraising

Each year, a Strategic Fundraising Plan is developed that outlines funding priorities, which include:

  • Undergraduate and Graduate Student Support (e.g., scholarships, Unmet Needs, etc.)
  • Faculty Support (e.g., endowments, research support,  etc.)
  • Program Support (e.g., Center, teacher education, global education efforts, etc.)

Working collaboratively with the UConn Foundation’s Neag School Director of Development, we implemented a multi-pronged strategic approach to engage multiple stakeholders in the Neag School’s fundraising efforts as part of our FY23 Strategic Plan. The return to in-person allowed Dean Irizarry to host several Neag events and travel to meet with donors out of state. The team increased the solicitation of foundation and corporate support for the Neag School. This also marked the fifth year of the Dean’s Board of Advocates, and a successful UConn Gives campaign. Collectively, these efforts resulted in the generation of $1,244,392 of new funding for the Neag School.

Advancement Team

The goal of the Neag School’s Advancement Team is to support the mission of the Neag School and its Development, Alumni Relations, and Communications Divisions. The members of the Advancement Team work individually with the dean in areas of responsibility and collaboratively as a unit in consultation with the dean. In FY23, the members of the Advancement Team included the following:

  • Director of Development, Marcy Jarzabek
  • Senior Director of Alumni Relations, Emily Auger Murray
  • Director of Communications and Digital Strategy, Mikala Kane
  • Publicity & Marketing Administrator, Shawn Kornegay
  • Dean's Assistant, LeShonda Owens

Working collaboratively with the dean and UConn Foundation, the Neag School Advancement Team:

  • Leverages their individualized areas of expertise to maximize the dean’s ability to engage in high-value advancement efforts and promote the Neag School’s mission and funding priorities.
  • Identifies programming and events to support the advancement mission of the Neag School; events are planned by the individuals whose role most closely matches the nature of the activity (e.g., alumni relations and development for donor specific events)
  • The team partnered with University Events to host the annual fall Scholarship Celebration event in-person at the Student Union. There were 92 attendees including registrants who opted for the livestream option. Marcy hosted virtual one-on-one donor and student introductions post event.
  • The September donor and alumni event at the Stamford campus featured the Neag School’s expansion to this regional campus including the TCPCG, ELP and UCAPP programs.

    UConn Gives 2023

    In conjunction with advancement team members in each academic unit, the UConn Foundation conducted the annual UConn Gives on March 8 and 9, 2023. The Neag School launched an internal competition and yielded fantastic results with $15,300 raised from 275 donors. The Dr. Sue Saunders HESA Professional Development fund project came in first place among the Neag School projects and therefore received the matching gift funds from the BOA challenge ($3,300) raising $7,260 total.

    • Dr. Sue Saunders HESA Professional Development Fund — 114 donors, $3,960
    • Alumni Board Endowed Scholarship — 69 donors, $3,540
    • Department of Curriculum & Instruction: Forging a Path for Aspiring Educators — 40 donors, $2,765
    • UConn Collaboratory on School & Child Health — 51 donors, $1,775

      2022-2023 Dean's Board of Advocates

      The goal of the Dean’s Board of Advocates is to support the Neag School’s mission and dean’s vision for growth. The members promote and advocate for the advancement of the Neag School locally and nationally. They assist in efforts to raise funds and build relationships through their networks and engage in Neag School activities. There were three meetings held during the academic year including two hybrid meetings at the Storrs campus and one virtual. Members include:

      • Crisanne Colgan ’72 (CLAS), ’81,’84 Ph.D.
      • Steven Edwards ’85 MA, ‘90 Ph.D.
      • Carmen Effron ’72 (ED), ’81 MBA - Chair
      • Sandra Hastings ’89 MA, ‘94 Ph.D.
      • Terrell Hill, Ph.D.
      • John Robert “Bob” Jones ’73 (BUS)
      • Karen Jones
      • Julie Wood ’71 (ED), ’72 MA, Ph.D. – Past Chair

      During FY23, the Board of Advocates accomplished the following:

      • Raised a total of $25k from personal contributions to the Neag School.
        • This included a collective contribution for a $3,300 match gift for UConn Gives.
      • Members participated in a social media campaign test targeted to promote philanthropic support of the Neag School.
      • Several members helped to host the fall alumni and donor event at the Stamford campus promoting the Neag School’s expansion across the state.
      • The board members attended several Neag events including the annual scholarship celebration, Alumni Awards, “Neag networking night” and even hosted golf outings to introduce prospective donors.