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.
t. Instructors were given the opportunity to meet with Eric Schneider, Associate Director of Athletics and Compliance at UConn, to discuss the ever-evolving landscape of college athletics, including NIL (name, image, and likeness) policies. The afternoon was topped off by a walking tour of several of UConn’s athletic facilities, including Gampel Pavilion, the flagship site of the “Basketball Capitol of the World”, along with the baseball, softball, volleyball, and ice hockey facilities.
in-person and virtual. Instructors from Philosophy, American Studies, Maritime Studies, U. S. History, Medieval Studies, Civil Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Biology, Chinese, Marine Sciences, Music, Economics, Physics, Sustainable Plant and Soil Systems, Sociology, and English, along with our ECE Library Media Specialists, have had the opportunity to connect with their colleagues, faculty coordinators, and the ECE program staff so far this school year! We would like to take the time to highlight some of these incredible events and thank all attendees and organizers for their efforts this semester.
with some exciting stories of ECE student successes (congratulations to Cheshire High School for placing 3rd in their Future Business Leaders of America competition!), and brainstorming classroom activities. Several guest speakers joined us in the afternoon, including Ariel Slonim, curriculum designer for Marginal RevolutionUniversity, a nonprofit dedicated to providing everyone with a “world-class economic education”, and Mary Claire Peate, a Senior Economic Education Specialist from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
descriptions were as follows:
UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators from Spanish, Profs. Gustavo Nanclares and Eduardo Urios-Aparisi met with more than 60 Spanish Instructors to listen to Prof. Maria Acosta Cruz, Professor of Spanish in the Language, Literature & Culture Dept at Clark University. Prof. Acosta shared her talk “Ecocrítica, cultura y nación: La cultura puertorriqueña a través de cinco siglos” (“Ecocriticism, Culture, and Nation: Puerto Rican Culture Through Five Centuries”) with the teachers.
UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from French, Prof. Florence Marsal met with 30 UConn ECE certified French Instructors to hear from Joëlle Vitiello, Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Macalester College for her talk “Enseigner les trésors d’Haïti” (“Teaching the Treasures of Haiti”). In addition, Mary Catherine Decoteau, Career Consultant from UConn’s Career Services, spoke to teachers about enhancing and highlighting career competencies in UConn French courses.
activities including a field practicum on analyzing soil for specific purposes, a discussion and update on plant diseases, and learning about new trends in the landscape industry. The group also discussed students’ preparation for future careers in the Green Industry and took part in a hands-on floral workshop where teachers were introduced to beautiful fall arrangements which can be introduced in their Floral Art classes.
Wolla, Economic Education Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and Ariel Solomon, Curriculum Designer, Marginal Revolution University. Ian Tiedemann highlighted his students’ who created a podcast script for the 2023 issue of the Journal of Future Economists. The theme was “Economics of Globalization”. Ian’s students submitted their podcast script titled “It’s a (s)Mall World: Globalization, E-Commerce, and Shopping Malls” which can be reviewed in the Journal of Future Economists. Scott A. Wolla’s shared a teaching activity “Teaching Market Structures with Gum” and discussed “Monetary Policy has Changed. Has Your Teaching?” Ariel Slonim, Curriculum Designer, Marginal Revolution University presented on: “Supply, Demand, Action! Harnessing interactive tools to teach supply and demand” and “Cracking the Code: Understanding GDP and Inflation through interactive tools.” ECE Faculty Coordinator for Economics, Natalia V. Smirnova discussed “Teaching Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Topics in Economics”.
Faculty Coordinator, Dr. Claudia Koerting during their professional development workshop. The group of 13 teachers conducted water testing by taking readings using instruments that measure salinity, oxygen, and temperature. They deployed a water sampler to retrieve water samples near the bottom of the river and gathered surface water samples as well. Instructors performed two plankton tows and brought samples back for microscopic evaluation. An additional two sample sites were chosen, and all samples returned with the group to the seaport sailing center where they tested for chlorophyll content using a fluorometer and performed a light/dark experiment with water from two sites. At the sailing center the group ran their analysis, looked at the plankton tow and compared oxygen uptake in the light/dark bottle experiment. Conversations were held about how these samples could inform scientists and regulators about policy guiding water use in the river. By the end of the day Instructors learned a new method, a new instrument, and made new connections and shared ideas to implement in their UConn Marine Science courses.
UConn ECE 
After being introduced to molecular photoswitches by Dr. Michael Kienzler, from UConn’s Chemistry Department and the ECE 
Sustainable Plant and Soil Science
Guest speaker, S. Garnett Russell, Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University joined the UConn ECE 
At the European 
At the virtual 
UConn ECE 
Art: Along with UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator, Cora Lynn Deibler, certified UConn ECE ART 1030: Drawing I Instructors were able to visit the Thomas J. Dodd Center on the Storrs campus to take a firsthand look at the Maurice Sendak archives. Recently, the Maurice Sendak Foundation chose to share Sendak's archives with the University of Connecticut who are now housing and stewarding the Collection. Project Archivist, Carla Nguyen shared her knowledge with the group who were able to learn more about Sendak's life, and view his original artwork, sketches, books and other materials.
