By Christopher Todd
The Office of Early College Programs and the UConn ECE Community is excited to officially welcome Christopher Todd, as our new Executive Director of OECP/ECE. With nearly 20 years in public education, Chris comes to UConn as a practitioner with extensive field experiences and a proven track record of success as both a classroom educator and state agency leader, who has worked tirelessly to elevate the profession on the behalf of students and educators. While Chris may be stepping into a new role, UConn and the ECE Community is in no way new to him, and his return to UConn serves as a homecoming of sorts
Growing up in Willington, CT, Chris’ first experience with the UConn ECE Community and concurrent enrollment programs began as a student at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, where he enrolled in UConn courses as both a junior and senior. After completing his BA in History and a secondary social studies education licensure program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Chris returned home to Connecticut, beginning his teaching career at Windsor High School. For the next 15 years of his career, Chris dedicated himself to the Windsor Public School community, in both classroom and district-based leadership roles. Chris benefited from the support of incredible colleagues, mentors, and leaders during his time at Windsor as he worked to refine his own instructional practices in order to develop and deliver highly engaging and rigorous lessons designed to motivate and prepare students to pursue their post-secondary goals and career aspirations. As a classroom teacher, Chris distinguished himself as both a state and national award winner, teaching a wide variety of courses and levels including alternative education, Advanced Placement and UConn ECE (POLS 1602). In addition to his teaching, Chris was a longtime varsity swimming & diving coach and a frequent participant on district and building-wide committees. While teaching, Chris went on to complete his MA in Public Policy at Trinity College, and eventually returned to UConn to earn an MA in Curriculum & Instruction.
As a district-based teacher leader, Chris split his time between the classroom and facilitating the district’s Teacher Education and Mentoring (TEAM ) program. Chris worked with district leadership and colleagues to advocate for the expansion of Windsor’s New Teacher Academy and provide educators with release time to observe colleagues and participate in PD. Additionally, Chris coordinated district Educator Preparation Program (EPP) partnerships and teacher leader initiatives. Under Commissioners Stefan Pryor and Dr. Dianna Wentzell, Chris had the distinct privilege of serving as a Teacher Leader-in-Residence at the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) where he co-led the Department’s Teacher Leadership initiatives and advocated for educator voice and input into the policy making process. In 2013, Chris was honored to be recognized by his colleagues as the Windsor Public Schools Teacher of the Year and was recognized as Connecticut’s 2013 James Madison Memorial Foundation Fellow. In 2014, Chris was a Finalist for the 2014 Connecticut State Teacher of the Year and was the recipient of the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution Outstanding Teacher of American History.
For nearly three and half years, Chris has served as Bureau Chief in the Talent Office at the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) where he provided leadership and support to the Bureau of Educator Effectiveness and the Bureau of Educator Standards and Certification. While at the Department Chris helped design, build, and implement systemic changes to support educators, districts, and students statewide. During his time in the Talent Office Chris fought to streamline and enhance educator certification; bolster relationships with the state’s Educator Preparation Programs and RESC Alliance; enhance Connecticut’s TEAM program; and engage critical stakeholders in the reform of educator evaluation and support. However, Chris is most proud of his work and efforts with the Talent Office team to provide timely and meaningful guidance and flexibilities to the field during the Covid-19 pandemic. During his time at the Department, Chris has also served as an adjunct faculty member for both UConn’s Neag School of Education and Sacred Heart University’s Farrington College of Education.
As Chris begins his new role of Executive Director of the Office of Early College Programs, he is excited to bring his passion for education and high-quality curriculum and instruction, as well as his experience building robust and meaningful partnerships, to a nationally recognized program that he believes offers a critical and timely solution to ensuring that all Connecticut students have equitable access to a high-quality education.
WHS POLS 1602 (Annual trip to the CT State Capital and meeting with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Brandon McGee and Sec. of State Denise Merrill).
trying to understand the ways that 1004 leads to and supports 1007. The two-day seminar & workshop engaged ECE English Instructors in current scholarship and practices in composition studies and provided a supportive, collaborative environment for experiments with classroom application. They invented, explored, and tweaked course materials in a spirit of shared inquiry and discussion.
Marine Science Symposium 
Dylan Gaffney, New Fairfield High School In 2021, I graduated summa cum laude from UConn with dual degrees in Political Science and History. I was a three-time Babbidge Scholar, an Honors Scholar, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. I am currently a 1L at Columbia Law School, where I am pursuing my JD. My ECE experience as a senior in high school was a major asset in accomplishing these goals, as it provided me a crucial head start in developing college level academic skills, such as scholarly research and writing.
Kenneth Gouwens, UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for History 1400, arrived at UConn in 1998, and served four years as coordinator for both HIST 1300 and HIST 1400. He took leave from the position when he went abroad for a year on a fellowship, but resumed the position as Faculty Coordinator for HIST 1400 again in 2016. It’s hard for Dr. Gouwens to pick a single memory most dear to his heart. He states, “This has been the most meaningful “service” I’ve done in my career, and I found it both edifying and fun to work both with Brian Boecherer as my supervisor and with the teachers. The one thing that stands out, and of which I’m proudest, is that with strong support from Brian, I was able to assemble a team of four outstanding teachers to help me design and edit a new proprietary course reader, a substantial project which we completed in January. I’m really proud of the product and of my collaborators, Mark Peters, Trina Bowman, Jen Dufault, and Martin Glasser.” The UConn ECE HIST 1400 200-page reader, exclusively for ECE-certified history instructors, is now posted on the HIST 1400 HuskyCT site! Dr. Gouwens and his wife have retired to Ft. Lauderdale, which they love. He explained that his retirement so far includes, “While we have lots of travel plans now that the pandemic has let up (Machu Picchu just a month from now, for example), I am continuing with my scholarship: in February I sent off the final version of another Latin edition and English translation of a work by Paolo Giovio (a Renaissance humanist), submitted an article to an Italian journal in March, and just now am completing another article for a different Italian journal. After that I’ll return to work on my book project, which concerns how Renaissance intellectuals used descriptions of monkeys to talk about human nature, and vice-versa. Now of course I can work at my own pace!”
Frederick Turner, UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Political Science, had retired from his department back in 1997, spent some time at the Universidad de San Andres outside Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then held a second career teaching at Hartford’s Bulkele High School from 2003 until 2016. Dr. Turner graciously acted as the UConn ECE Political Science Faculty Coordinator from 2004 through the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Dr. Turner’s fondest memory as Faculty Coordinator is New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie’s visit for the 2022 UConn ECE Political Science Professional Development Workshop. A long-time admirer of his writing, Dr. Turner shares, “[I] learned that both his parents were in the Navy, so he grew up in Virginia Beach, and that his most cherished academic memory is of a seminar at the University of Virginia where the professor had students read Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine and then debate the French Revolution as though they were observing it then. Bouie said that he thinks back to that seminar all the time. I saw Bouie give a lecture to a large audience on Thursday night
Q. Which courses do you teach?