Professional Development Highlights
UConn ECE’s Collaborative Community
By Stefanie Malinoski
UConn Early College Experience Faculty Coordinators offer annual professional development workshops for their Instructors. This spring, UConn ECE hosted thirty different professional development workshops for certified Instructors. Many of these events occurred in person on the Storrs campus, while others were held on UConn’s Hartford and Stamford campuses as well as at the New Britain Museum of Art. Other workshops were held virtually. Some highlights are below. Please be sure to check out the UConn ECE Professional Development Blog on the ECE website for details and pictures from our events.
Plant Science
UConn ECE certified Plant Science instructors were invited to attend the 2026 UConn Extension Vegetable and Small Fruit Grower’s Conference. During the event, instructors participated in a variety of educational sessions, explored research poster presentations, and connected with fellow educators and professionals from across the agricultural services industry.
Asian & Asian American Studies
Our UConn ECE Asian and Asian American Studies instructors convened virtually for an enriching and topical discussion surrounding citizenship in the United States. The keynote was: “Teaching the 14th Amendment & Birthright Citizenship: Making Sense of the Political Moment Through Asian American Histories.” Because the event was held virtually, participants also had the opportunity to hear from experts from across the country, including Sulynn Miao, Curriculum & Program Manager at AAPI New Jersey and Kimberly Leung from the Asian Law Caucus who shared insights and expertise from their work in the field.
European History
This year’s European History workshop featured discussions on topics such as Marxist critiques of political economy, the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, the British Industrial Revolution, and patterns of economic divergence between Europe and Asia. Special guests included: Prof. Eric Mielants (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Fairfield University), who presented “The ‘British’ Industrial Revolution: Explanans or Explanandum?”, and Prof. Henry Snow (Department of History, UConn) who shared his talk, “Why England… Why Anywhere? Revisiting the Industrial Revolution’s Origins.” Their presentations sparked thoughtful conversation and provided instructors with new perspectives to bring back to their classrooms.
American Studies & Maritime Studies
A group of thirty of our UConn ECE American Studies and Maritime Studies instructors joined together at the New Britain Museum of American Art for their annual workshop. Through a variety of group activities, a guided tour of the museum, and organic conversations, instructors were asked to ponder the ways that they might integrate the exploration of art into their existing teaching strategies. As part of the workshop, instructors explored thought-provoking questions such as: How does the construction of an image reflect an artist’s social environment? And how do maps reflect political and social conditions while illustrating the complex journey individuals undertake in search of a place to call home?
Digital Media & Design
Digital Media & Design instructors participated in a two-part professional development workshop designed to explore emerging technologies and creative storytelling techniques. The first session, led by Assistant Professor Zhenzhen Qi from UConn’s Digital Media & Design Department, focused on generative AI literacy. Instructors explored the capabilities of AI large language models through a hands-on activity in which they created a “Tamagotchi”-style virtual pet. The workshop encouraged participants to think critically about the role of AI in digital media and classroom instruction. Later in the day, Kelly Dennis, Associate Professor of Digital Culture from UConn’s Digital Media & Design and American Studies departments, presented a session on cinematic storytelling. The presentation examined the history of film through key filmmaking techniques, including editing, cinematography, and mise-en-scène, offering instructors new perspectives and approaches to share with their students.
Spanish
Faculty Coordinators for Spanish Dr. Celines Villalba Rosado and Dr. Eduardo Urios-Aparisi invited special guest Dolores Juan-Moreno, Associate Teaching Professor of Spanish at Clark University, to speak with a group of 75 Spanish teachers. Her talk centered around an intergenerational story of community engagement and experiential learning. This was a welcome opportunity to bring many of our Spanish instructors together to learn and talk together.
Statistics
UConn ECE Statistics instructors, led by Nalini Ravishanker, met virtually to exchange ideas on effective classroom practices and discuss program updates. The workshop provided instructors with an opportunity to collaborate, share teaching strategies, and explore new approaches for engaging students.
Participants also attended a keynote presentation by Alan F. Karr of the Fox School of Business at Temple University. His talk focused on the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) in analyzing opera audience survey data, demonstrated innovative and unexpected applications of statistics and data science across disciplines. The presentation encouraged instructors to think creatively about how statistical methods can be applied to real-world questions in diverse fields.