Our Work and Research for School of Education

A local community of mentors and students

QUADS student plays ping pong with their mentor at the Quinnipiac North Haven campus.

The Quinnipiac University Advancing Diversity in Science (QUADS) program recently debuted its summer experience, bringing together Quinnipiac faculty and student mentors with local high school teachers and students for a week of team-building, games, improv activities, wellness exercises, crafts and more.

The QUADS initiative launched in July 2021 under the leadership of Cindy Kern, associate teaching professor of education. The three-year-long program hosts 75 high school students from Hamden, Ansonia and Meriden.

The last year of QUADS will see participants entering their communities to engage with stakeholders that can affect change, including parent groups, government officials and town boards. Teachers and mentors will also work with the high schoolers on college preparation, supplying guidance on applications, FAFSA forms and more.

“We’re hoping to build community in the students’ schools and connect with the communities they live in,” Kern said. “The summer experience really helped students understand that Quinnipiac is their community, too.”

Kicking off the summer experience

QUADS students play ping pong with their mentors at the Quinnipiac North Haven campus. — The Quinnipiac University Advancing Diversity in Science (QUADS) program kicked off their summer experience June 20, 2022 on the university’s North Haven Campus.

QUADS students receive direction from their instructor in the North Haven campus School of Education . — QUADS students had lunch and game time, then joined Quinnipiac faculty and alumni in improv activities designed to foster collaboration, care, critical thinking, communication and problem-solving.

QUADS mentor and QUADS student stand in front of their project at the Quinnipiac North Haven campus. — The three-year-long program hosts 75 high school students from Hamden, Ansonia and Meriden.

QUADS student presents their project at the Quest for Questions event at the North Haven campus. — QUADS helps gides high school students toward their potential career paths.

QUADS students at the event on the Quinnipiac North Haven campus. — The group gathered at the North Haven campus to showcase their projects centered on the Quest for Questions on June 24, 2022.

Inspiring future educators

Students sit in on an education symposium

High school students urged to find their superpowers

More than 170 local high school students seeking to become the next generation of high-impact educators were urged to find their superpower during a passionate keynote address by Quinnipiac University Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professor of Political Science Khalilah Brown-Dean at the second annual Increasing Educator Diversity Symposium.

The students, selected through the State Department of Education’s Educators Rising program, gathered at the North Haven campus for Brown-Dean’s presentation and a series of panel discussions chaired by various in-state dignitaries from the educational community. The discussion was centered around successful transitions from high school to higher education but the overarching message was about representation and breaking down barriers at a time when there is already an urgent demand for quality teachers.

Brown-Dean said she was honored to be in the presence of so many young people who had “made the decision that they want to have an impact.” It’s a misnomer to characterize kids as “future leaders,” Brown-Dean said, when in reality the state and the country “don’t have the luxury of waiting for you to be a future leader.”

“We need you right now,” she said.

Read the full story on Quinnipiac Today

10th annual Kaleidoscope of Creativity

The School of Education recently opened its 10th annual Kaleidoscope of Creativity art exhibit. Twenty-one pieces of art by students from Hamden public schools, North Haven public schools and Fair Haven School in New Haven will be proudly displayed on the walls of our North Haven Campus until April 2023.