Letters From the Board
Authors: Sivaprasad Vaishnavi , Terterian Ani , Trudel Sierra , Winter Emily 
Published: March 2023

It is with great pleasure we present the inaugural edition of the Neag School of Education Journal. This project has been in the works for close to two years, beginning with conversations amongst graduate students during the pandemic who were in search of ways to gain experience in research and editing, as well as foster connection with others in graduate school whilst enduring remote learning. Drawing inspiration from various other graduate student-led journals in the field, the Neag School of Education Journal seeks to contribute to the development of graduate-student research and scholarship. Our publishing perspective was designed to prioritize novel ideas in research, tackling common problems in the review process, seeking to provide tailored and quick feedback to our contributors. Our goal is simple: to foster growth in research, whether that be for the authors of the five inaugural pieces or for the editorial board’s development of their editing and feedback skills. In our initial conceptualization of the Journal we wanted to appeal to research and the development of scholarship through soliciting manuscripts ranging from research articles, essays, literature reviews, and reflective pieces. The Journal was designed for graduate students, with graduate students in mind, so we conceptualized novel copyrighting policies to allow for just that: development. We hope that authors take our feedback, and feedback from consumers of their publication, to peer reviewed journals in the future. We hope to see our prior publications (our alumni!) in top peer-reviewed journals, in part thanks to the editor feedback and peer support received at Neag School of Education Journal. We are proudly an open-access journal, contributing to the idea that research should be free and easy to access for all, to bridge the gap between research and practice, and connect academia and tangible implementation. Our featured pieces in this issue tie together themes aligning with the mission of the Journal and the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. We sought to include articles that improve education and social systems, providing wisdom, innovation, and creativity. We are so excited for you to read the phenomenal work of graduate students across the country in our beautiful first issue. For this inaugural issue we have many people to thank. To Dr. Jennie Weiner, thank you for your unwavering support and commitment to us and your graduate students. You are a wonderful role model as a scholar, academic, and all-around person. Thank you for all you have done for the team. To the dean of the School, Dr. Jason Irizarry, we are forever grateful for your enthusiasm and passion for our work. Thank you for believing in us and using your role at Neag to lift up the work of graduate students. Thank you to the design team at UConn who helped oversee the details of a beautiful first issue, we admire your creativity and collaboration. To the editors, thank you for your time and dedication to providing feedback to our submissions, we appreciate your thoughtfulness and willingness to learn. To the individuals who submitted to our inaugural journal, thank you for your interest. We look forward to continuing to uplift graduate students’ work in years to come. To the board, thank you for the camaraderie, the passion and grit, and for being wonderful friends. To learn more about our team and mission, please visit us at https://education.uconn.edu/neag-journal/