{"id":202473,"date":"2016-06-09T13:10:01","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T17:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=202473"},"modified":"2023-08-08T13:13:38","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T17:13:38","slug":"a-time-to-pay-it-forward-honoring-former-dean-richard-l-schwabs-years-of-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2016\/06\/a-time-to-pay-it-forward-honoring-former-dean-richard-l-schwabs-years-of-service\/","title":{"rendered":"A Time to Pay It Forward: Honoring Former Dean Richard L. Schwab\u2019s Years of Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the course of his time as dean \u2014\u00a014 years in total between 1997 and 2016 \u2014 Richard L. Schwab \u201979 MA, \u201981 Ph.D. has overseen a veritable transformation of the Neag School of Education. A community he affectionately refers to as his \u201csecond family,\u201d the Neag School is one that Schwab, who stepped down as dean this past month to return to the faculty, has continually shaped for the better with every passing year.<\/p>\n

\"Schwab\"
Richard L. Schwab \u201979 MA, \u201981 Ph.D. served as dean of the Neag School for a total of 14 years. Over the course of his tenure, the Neag School has received contributions of more than $38 million \u2014 and counting \u2014 the most money raised under any dean in the School\u2019s history. (Photo Credit: Peter Morenus\/UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For one, the Neag School has come to be widely recognized as a premier school of education in recent years, currently ranked by\u00a0U.S. News & World Report<\/em>\u00a0as the\u00a0No. 16 public graduate school of education in the United States<\/a>. Four of its specialty programs are also ranked today among the top 20 nationally: Special Education, Educational Psychology, Secondary Teacher Education, and Educational Administration.<\/p>\n

As the longest-serving dean in the Neag School\u2019s history \u2014 and the only alum to have held the position\u00a0\u2014 Schwab has directed the implementation of new\u00a0University academic vision<\/a>\u00a0as well as a new\u00a0academic vision<\/a>\u00a0for the Neag School; recruited a wealth of nationally and internationally renowned experts to its faculty; and seen numerous Neag School alumni and former mentees receive regional and national recognition for their leadership in the field. In 2014, Schwab also established the\u00a0Dean\u2019s Doctoral Scholars Program<\/a>, through which the Neag School offers four years of financial support to a selection of promising Ph.D. candidates. This coming fall, the program will welcome its second cohort of scholars, all of whom are dedicated to pursuing research in one or more of the Neag School\u2019s four strategic areas of focus \u2014 STEM education; creativity and innovation; educator quality and effectiveness; and social justice.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most memorably, Schwab found himself at the helm when the School announced at the state Capitol in 1999 the largest gift ever given to a school of education in the country \u2014\u00a0$21 million donated by UConn alumnus\u00a0Raymond Neag \u201956<\/a>, after whom the Neag School takes its name.<\/p>\n

Serving as dean for a total of 14 years between 1997 and 2016, Richard L. Schwab is the longest-serving dean in the Neag School\u2019s history \u2014 and the only alum to have held the position.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A Spirit of Giving<\/strong><\/p>\n

That spirit of giving seems to have followed Schwab throughout his years as dean. In addition to Raymond Neag\u2019s unprecedented investment, the Neag School has received contributions of more than $17 million \u2014 and counting \u2014 over the course of Schwab\u2019s tenure, the most money raised under any dean in the School\u2019s history. Support for scholarships has increased dramatically over the course of his tenure as well. Whereas the Neag School awarded roughly $30,000 in scholarship support in 1998, the School today is providing upwards of $1.5 million in scholarship and fellowship aid to its undergraduate and graduate students.<\/p>\n

\"Schwab\"
Past and present Neag School Alumni Board members and friends of the School gathered in Hartford, Conn., earlier this month to celebrate with Schwab\u2019s years of service as dean. (Photo Credit: Shawn Kornegay\/Neag School)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is precisely this kind of support that hits particularly close to home for the Neag Endowed Professor of Educational Leadership and former dean.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know from personal experience just how meaningful this kind of support is,\u201d Schwab has said. His \u201csecond family,\u201d he says, is responsible for providing him with the kind of invaluable opportunities that brought him to where he is today.<\/p>\n

The first high school graduate in his family, Schwab himself received funding in the form of a graduate assistantship as part of the educational leadership program during the late \u201970s and early \u201980s\u00a0\u2014 support that he is quick to credit with enabling him to pursue his chosen career path.<\/p>\n

His commitment to education has not ceased in all the years since he was a student; Schwab has dedicated himself to service at the regional, national, and international levels, from serving as a National Commission on Teaching America\u2019s Future commissioner and as a past president of the Council of Academic Deans for Research Education Institutions to working with universities around the world on educational reform issues.<\/p>\n

Recognizing Richard Schwab<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colleagues and friends have been eager to pay tribute to Schwab\u2019s years of service. This past spring, for instance, Neag School faculty and staff together contributed in honor of Schwab and Neag School associate deans Casey Cobb and Sandra Chafouleas an additional $3,200 to the\u00a0Valerie J. Pichette Scholarship Fund<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a scholarship that Schwab established this past fall in memory of his late longtime colleague, and which quickly amassed more than $61,000 from friends in and beyond the Neag School.<\/p>\n

As three-time Neag School alumnus Desi Nesmith \u201901, \u201902, \u201909 shared at this past year\u2019s Undergraduate Commencement ceremony: \u201cDean Schwab has truly devoted himself to the Neag School. He has been integral to its success. He sincerely cares about its future. And now, as he concludes his final year as dean, we can look back and know that his superb leadership has, in large part, brought the Neag School to where it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Schwabs\"
Former Dean Richard Schwab and his wife, associate professor Kristin Schwab, established the Richard L. and Kristin E. Schwab Fellowship Fund to help support Neag School graduate students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Neag School now invites you, too, to consider honoring Schwab\u2019s longtime dedication to the field of education and to help advance the careers of Neag School students \u2014 whether through a gift to the fellowship fund established by Schwab and his wife, Kristin, or to another Neag School-affiliated fund.<\/p>\n

Examples of funds established in support of the Neag School and its faculty and students include the following:<\/p>\n