By Caroline Lynch, UConn ECE Graduate Assistant, Master’s Student, UConn, Higher
Education and Student Affairs

 

It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the end of another semester here at Early College Experience! This Fall has been chock-full of events, including 18 professional development workshops for our ECE Instructors from various disciplines. So far, we’ve been given the opportunity to connect with our Instructors from U.S. History, Philosophy, Chemistry, Business, Chinese, European History, Marine Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Economics, Human Rights, Environmental Sciences, Sociology, Music, English, Human Development and Family Sciences, and Math, as well as holding a Fall training for our ECE Library Media Specialists. Please enjoy a brief overview of some of the professional development highlights from the Fall 2025 semester.

 

 

September 25, 2025: U.S. History Workshop

 

Our first event for the 2025-26 academic year was a virtual session for United States History Instructors, including a keynote address titled “Teaching US History in Our Current Climate: Challenges, Opportunities, and Student Support Strategies.” Fifty-two teachers joined us for this interesting and topical session, and we were excited to kick off the year with such a highly attended event.

October 10, 2025: Business Workshop

 

In early October, we hosted our first-ever ECE Business Workshop, thanks to the efforts of our ECE Business Faculty Coordinator, Associate Professor Vishal Baloria. Eleven Instructors were in attendance for the event, which included several guest addresses. First, Daniel Gilham, Managing Director of Advisor Strategy at Farther financial services firm, facilitated a discussion on wealth management and technology. Next, Francine McKenna, a financial journalist and lecturer at the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) presented a talk on financial and media literacy. Finally, Ilona Bastiaansen, Assistant Professor of Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame, joined us for a discussion on high school financial education mandates. The biggest highlight of the day was a lively student panel with four undergraduates who had previously been enrolled in Dr. Baloria’s Personal Financial Literacy course. Thank you to Conner, Jack, Kaeleigh, and Maya for their time and insights.

 

 

October 10, 2025: Chinese Workshop

 

Also on October 10th, our ECE Chinese Instructors convened on the UConn Storrs campus for a networking opportunity, as well as several presentations from ECE Instructors and guest faculty who shared teaching strategies and assignment ideas to integrate into their classrooms. First, Amy Watt from Simsbury High School and Shiffon Theodore from Conard High School led the group in a discussion on strategies to improve L2 Chinese reading. Then, Feng Xia from Amity High School executed a presentation on engaging communicative projects in class. Finally, Yang Wang, an Associate Teaching Professor of East Asian Studies from Brown University, presented a digital storytelling project to the
group.

 

October 17, 2025: Mechanical Engineering Workshop

 

Marking another UConn ECE first, our Mechanical Engineering Instructors met on October 17th for a jam-packed professional development experience. Many thanks to our joint Faculty Coordinators, Jorge Paricio Garcia, Ph.D. and Edward Weingart for their collaborative efforts to make this a session to remember! Several guest contributors joined Instructors on campus for a variety of resource demonstrations. First, Nate Delson from Grove Education delivered a demo of Spatial Vis, an engineering education software that helps students improve their 2D and 3D spatial visualization skills via an app on their personal devices. Next, Rachel Gregorio of Tech Ed Solutions provided a demonstration of SolidWorks, an industry-standard engineering technology used in the UConn College of Engineering. The afternoon continued with a field trip to the Krenicki Arts and Engineering Institute, an “innovative, interdisciplinary nexus that offers groundbreaking classes in areas like entertainment engineering and industrial design” that was born out of a collaboration between the College of Engineering and the School of Fine Arts at UConn. Instructors shared lunch in the Institute and then were given the chance to explore the 3D printers at the facility.

 

October 23, 2025: Human Rights Workshop

 

The week of October 23rd, UConn’s Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute hosted their annual summit, entitled “Sport and Human Rights.” UConn ECE Instructors were invited to the second day of the conference, convening on the UConn Storrs campus for a keynote address by Pablo Torre, host of the acclaimed podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” and a celebrated sports journalist and human rights advocate. For a full overview of the summit schedule, review the link here: summit.humanrights.uconn.edu/2025-summit/

 

 

November 6, 2025: Environmental Sciences Workshop

 

UConn ECE took a field trip with our Environmental Sciences Instructors on November 6th to the UConn Middlesex County Extension Center in Haddam, CT. Instructors were given lots of time to share resources and build connections with one another, as well as engaging in a keynote address delivered by Dr. Mayra Rodriguez, the UConn Extension Center’s Assistant Extension Educator in Urban and Community Forestry, entitled Building Connections to Urban Forests: Your Teacher’s Toolkit.

 

 

November 7, 2025: Sociology Workshop

 

On Friday, November 7th, our UConn ECE Sociology Instructors met on the UConn Hartford campus for their annual professional development conference. Instructors were given the opportunity to engage in a lively discussion of current successes and challenges in their classrooms, followed by a presentation of exemplar assignments by Instructors Mike Barile (Suffield High School) and Karen Prager (CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering), and Faculty Coordinator Dr. Ingrid Semaan. We extend our thanks to our contributors and to Dr. Semaan for her continued efforts to support our UConn ECE Instructors and community.

 

November 21, 2025: Fall English Conference

 

Our largest event this semester was our Fall English Conference, which boasted over 100 attendees from high schools across the state. The theme of this year’s conference was Speaking Together: Discourse as Literacy, and throughout the day Instructors were encouraged to “explore activities and strategies that put students in conversation with each other, hone their critical thinking skills, and build their confidence as consumers and producers of knowledge.” There were several panel sessions throughout the day, which focused on themes including reading and revision, authentic discussion, and multimodality.

 

 

UConn ECE extends our thanks to all our Faculty Coordinators, guest speakers, and attendees for their contributions towards making Fall 2025 such a successful semester. To find more information and photographs from these and the rest of our professional development events, please feel free to visit the “ECE PD Blog” on our website. In the meantime, we are busy gearing up for the Spring, which will be filled with even more engagement opportunities and professional development events. We look forward to seeing many more of our UConn ECE community members very soon.

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.