{"id":206016,"date":"2013-05-29T08:36:49","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T12:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=206016"},"modified":"2023-10-23T08:50:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T12:50:20","slug":"educational-leadership-scholarship-named-after-beloved-ucapp-professor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/05\/educational-leadership-scholarship-named-after-beloved-ucapp-professor\/","title":{"rendered":"Educational Leadership Scholarship Named After Beloved UCAPP Professor"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Earle Bidwell \u201971 sees it, his job as a University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) clinical supervisor is to lead by example and help students working to become a principal, vice principal, department head or other school administrator see their strengths and \u201cbring out all they have to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

This kind of dedication and willingness to always go above and beyond deserve more than a thank-you card or plaque, said former UCAPP student Hannah Ruede, which is why she and the 12 other UCAPP East 21 cohort members who graduated in May established the Earle G Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship.<\/p>\n

The scholarship provides $500 to a graduate student enrolled in one of the Neag School of Education\u2019s Educational Leadership programs and shows both academic achievement and financial need. Priority is given to students enrolled in the rigorous, two-year UCAPP program that provides students with not just classroom and curriculum laboratory learning, but 90-hours-per-semester internships with a mentor administrator.<\/p>\n

Like Ruede, more than 80 percent of those who\u2019ve completed UCAPP give it an \u201cA\u201d for the professional learning, growth, management skills, collaboration tools and intellectual introspection they received from instructors like Bidwell.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis titles are \u2018supervisor\u2019 and \u2018advisor,\u2019 but he provides students with so much more than what those titles define. He\u2019s supportive, compassionate, there whenever you need him, and brings a wealth of information and experience,\u201d said Ruede, an alternative education and science teacher at Windsor High School still deciding how she wants to use the Sixth-Year Diploma and Connecticut State Certification as Intermediate Administrators (CT-092) she achieved from her UCAPP experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarle is so committed to education and to helping educators discover their strengths and talents,\u201d Ruede continued. \u201cHe was always telling us, \u2018It\u2019s OK if you try something new and fail. But if you don\u2019t try new things, you\u2019re never going to grow.\u2019 He made each of us want to achieve our best; to never let him down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bidwell said he can\u2019t think of many things more rewarding than the work he does with UCAPP or as assistant executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS). Both jobs require him to use his close to 50 years in education to help current and emerging administrators inspire and lead, as well as to identify and provide needed supports and services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to work with and influence administrators is such a privilege, because it\u2019s such important work,\u201d said Bidwell, who started his career in 1964 as a music teacher. After receiving both his master\u2019s and Sixth-Year Diploma from UConn, he spent five years as a high school assistant principal and 19 years as a middle school principal. He\u2019s also a former CAS president.<\/p>\n

News that the UCAPP Class of 2012 cohort had created the Earle G Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship left him speechless, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally a person who\u2019s honored in this way is no longer living, so this is truly an honor,\u201d explained Bidwell, who\u2019s taught with UCAPP for eight years. \u201cI get the chance to enjoy it and to see students benefitting from it, because for many students enrolled in Neag Educational Leadership programs, the workload and finances can be a struggle. Most work full time, as well as have family responsibilities. But truly, it\u2019s my privilege to work with them. In fact, I still work with many students from previous cohorts, doing everything I can to ensure they continue to grow, develop and succeed. I can\u2019t think of too many things more rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Earle
Earle Bidwell and scholarship recipient, Jennifer Geragotelis, gather at the Honors Celebration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first $500 Earle G Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship was awarded this past April to current East 23 cohort member Jennifer Geragotelis. Ruede said the goal of the cohort who started the scholarship is to eventually increase the amount given, but first an additional $3,000 to officially endow the scholarship needs to be raised. Fund-raisers organized by Ruede and her cohort helped raise the $7,000 that currently sits in the Bidwell scholarship account, but for the scholarship to become permanently endowed, it needs to be at $10,000 by October.<\/p>\n

Donations to the Earle G Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship can be made through the UConn Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pretty confident we can make it happen and hopeful that others who have been positively affected by Earle and UCAPP will consider giving,\u201d Ruede added. \u201cSo much of what we learn from UCAPP are lessons that can\u2019t be learned in a book. They can only be learned from seasoned educators who, like Earle, tell it like it is, are tough when they need to be, and make you want to do your best. Earle emulates everything a teacher and administrator should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, including how to contribute, on the Earle G. Bidwell Educational Leadership Scholarship, contact Heather McDonald at\u00a0hmcdonald@foundation.uconn.edu<\/a>\u00a0or (860) 486-4530.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Earle Bidwell \u201971 sees it, his job as a University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) clinical supervisor is to lead by example and help students working to become a principal, vice principal, department head or other school administrator see their strengths and \u201cbring out all they have to offer.\u201d This kind of dedication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":206018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,2427,1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2455],"class_list":["post-206016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-educational-leadership","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 09:12:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206023,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206016\/revisions\/206023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/206018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206016"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=206016"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=206016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}