Sarah R. Luria, a Ph.D. candidate in Neag School of Education’s Educational Psychology program, has been selected as one of 100 recipients nation-wide of the $20,000 Scholar Award from the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) Sisterhood.

This award was established in 1991 to provide substantial merit-based awards for women who are pursuing a doctoral-level degree at an accredited college or university. Women are chosen based on their high-level of academic achievement and their potential for having a positive impact on society. The P.E.O. Sisterhood is a philanthropic educational organization dedicated to supporting higher education for women.

Luria’s research focuses on the relationship between creativity and equitable thinking with a particular interest in human rights education.  Previously, Luria completed graduate programs in special education at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and gifted education at Duke University. She was recently awarded a research grant from the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut for work focusing on equity mindset and human rights orientations. In the future, Luria hopes to become a professor in an education department dedicated to student learning and a culture of social justice and equity.

“I am honored and humbled to be among so many talented women who have been awarded the P.E.O. Scholarship,” Luria noted when asked what winning this award means for herself and her academic career. “Receiving this award, I feel my time as a public school teacher is being valued and recognized for the ways that classroom skills will benefit my work in the academic world. My ultimate aim is to become a professor in an education department. This award offers me the time and confidence to work toward my goal of professorship while focusing on my dissertation research.”

Luria marks UConn’s second consecutive recipient of the P.E.O. Scholar Award. Anna Ziering, a Ph.D. candidate in English, was selected to receive the award in 2021.