Geno Auriemma, coach of the NCAA women’s basketball champions, encouraged more than 200 Neag School of Education graduates to merge the arts and sciences into their approach as teachers.
“Take the science that you learned, add the creative art that’s in your soul, and I think you’re on your way to become a good teacher,” Auriemma said to the Mother’s Day crowd in the Jorgensen Auditorium. An audience member punctuated his point with a loud handclap, and Auriemma responded, “Yeah, I like that, too.”
The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame coach was …

Eight outstanding graduates of the Neag School of Education, including the first recipient of the Promising Young Professional Award, were honored in May by the Neag Alumni Society at its 12th Annual Awards Dinner. Lynne Allen, the Neag alumni coordinator who is retiring, also was honored by alumni and faculty at the May 15 event.

Lisa Landa, already designated Teacher of the Year in Madison, CT, picked up the Neag honor for Outstanding School Educator. Landa, B.S. 1973 and M.A. 1978, teaches English at Daniel Hand High School and was …

Scholarships were bestowed on students who have excelled in the arenas of special needs, physical therapy, educational leadership and a host of other specialties at the Neag School of Education’s 16th Annual Honors Celebration in April.
“Over the past 16 years, this event has grown from a small, lunchtime reception in the faculty lounge, to over 170 scholarship recipients and more than 50 scholarships,” Dean Thomas DeFranco said in his welcome to the crowd on April 23.
Recipients were noted for their scholastic achievement, passion for a certain subject, research on children …

About 200 Neag School of Education students received bachelor’s degrees and sixth-year diplomas in educational specialties at the May 9 graduation ceremonies in the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.
“I’ve been telling him to be a school teacher his whole life … summers off,” Paul Hurst said before the proceedings. He was speaking of his son, Michael Thomas Hurst, a teacher preparation student in secondary English. Paul Hurst works in the Hamden schools and says he and his son often discuss philosophy. “He’s an all-around kid, very cerebral and physical. …