Thanks to the generosity and legacy of the late Ray and Carole Neag, UConn’s Neag School of Education is able to support its expert faculty through several endowed chairs and professorships. This semester, the Neag School is thrilled to welcome Matthew Lemberger-Truelove as the new Letitia Neag Morgan Chair for Educational Psychology.
Lemberger-Truelove is a nationally renowned researcher in counselor education, focused on culturally responsive interventions that support pre-K-12 students, educators, and their families. A former school and community counselor, Lemberger-Truelove has published two books and more than 80 journal articles, as well as earned nearly $7 million in grants and contracts. He is also a Fellow of the American Counseling Association.
“Dr. Lemberger-Truelove’s work exemplifies the mission of the Neag School of Education: to create knowledge that matters and to prepare leaders who are agents of educational change,” Dean Jason G. Irizarry says. “What distinguishes Dr. Lemberger-Truelove is not only his academic rigor but also his focus on real-world educational contexts. His research ensures that the voices of students, families, educators, and communities are central to both the inquiry process and its outcomes. Through long-term, collaborative projects with schools and districts, his research has led to interventions that directly support the well-being and academic achievement of youth.”
The Letitia Neag Morgan Chair for Educational Psychology was established in 2011 through a $1.5 million endowment by the Neags. The position is named in honor of Ray Neag’s late sister, Letitia Neag Morgan, and aims to reward significant contributions in the field of educational psychology.
“Our focus is UConn,” Ray Neag said in 2011, “and in thinking about what to do with some of our good fortune, we thought that because education was so important to Letitia, wouldn’t this be a nice way to honor her?”
Lemberger-Truelove’s appointment was approved on Oct. 28 by the UConn Board of Trustees’ Academic Affairs Committee and the following day by the full board.
Dr. Lemberger-Truelove’s work exemplifies the mission of the Neag School of Education: to create knowledge that matters and to prepare leaders who are agents of educational change. — Dean Jason G. Irizarry
“This endowment means I can invest in the long arc of change rather than relying solely on short cycles of traditional funding, thus supporting engaged scholarship that truly responds to the complexities of K-12 communities where it matters most,” Lemberger-Truelove says.
Lemberger-Truelove is also dedicated to service to the field. He currently serves as the inaugural editor of the Counseling Scholarship & Practice in Educational Communities journal and is associate director of the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation at UMass Amherst. He previously served as editor of the Journal of Humanistic Counseling and completed two terms as editor of the Journal of Counseling and Development, the flagship journal of the American Counseling Association.
“Dr. Lemberger-Truelove’s national visibility and standing in counselor education, combined with his innovative and timely program of research, further elevate the Neag School’s Counseling Education Program’s longstanding reputation for excellence and innovation in preparing the next generation of counseling professionals,” says Michael Coyne, professor and head of the Department of Educational Psychology. “We are so fortunate to have Matthew join our Neag School community.”
Lemberger-Truelove earned his bachelor’s in psychology from Truman State University before completing his master’s in counselor education at Florida Atlantic University. His Ph.D. is in counselor education from the University of South Carolina. Before joining the Neag School, Lemberger-Truelove held various faculty positions at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the University of New Mexico, and the University of North Texas.
He is the second individual to hold the endowed chair position; it was previously held by Sally M. Reis, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and Letitia Neag Morgan’s daughter. Lemberger-Truelove will be recognized with an investiture ceremony at the Neag School in December.
“Coming to UConn and the Neag School has been a revelation,” Lemberger-Truelove says. “With each meeting, I’m more convinced that my colleagues here are pursuing scholarship that merits endowments of their own, work that doesn’t always make headlines but genuinely changes lives. Being surrounded by this caliber of dedication, and welcomed so generously by the broader Connecticut community, doesn’t just inspire me; it holds me accountable to pursue this important work as part of something larger and more enduring than any individual contribution.”
