Two assistant professors in the Neag School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction have been named recipients of Early Career Awards by the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Danielle Filipiak will receive the award from Division K, which is dedicated to teaching and teacher education, while Grace D. Player will be recognized by Division G, which focuses on the social context of education.

“My heartfelt congratulations to both Dr. Filipiak and Dr. Player,” Dean Jason G. Irizarry says. “These are highly competitive awards and it’s extremely rare for two faculty members from the same institution, let alone the same department, to receive them in the same year. As the name of the award indicates, both faculty members have already accomplished so much in the early years of their careers, and I can’t wait to see how their research continues to grow and impact communities.”

Division K is the largest division out of the 12 at AERA, which is the largest educational research organization in the world. The division contains 10 sections, aligned around subtopics such as clinical practice and community engagement; Indigenous teaching and teacher education; and transformative justice in teacher education, just to name a few.

“We believe it’s important to engage in critical discussions about diversity and social justice, as our work is much more than public schools or the classrooms,” Division K writes on its Facebook page.

These are highly competitive awards and it’s extremely rare for two faculty members from the same institution, let alone the same department, to receive them in the same year. — Dean Jason G. Irizarry

Filipiak’s scholarly interests sit at the nexus of youth critical (including digital) literacies, sociocultural literacy studies, and practitioner and participatory research approaches. These interests grew from her experiences as a classroom teacher and community organizer in Detroit and later honed as she partnered with New York City youth and teachers across the duration of her Ph.D. at Columbia University to advance initiatives focused on educational justice. Her work seeks to advance socially just, culturally sustaining literacy curricula and pedagogies that amplify the voices, brilliance, and ingenuity of youth from historically marginalized communities.

Since joining the Neag School, Filipiak has also established a record of excellence in teaching. So much so, that she received the Neag School’s 2023 Dr. Perry A. Zirkel Distinguished Teaching Award.

“It’s a real gift to be recognized with such a substantial honor at the same time as my brilliant and generous colleague Dr. Player,” Filipiak says. “I’m incredibly grateful for our sisterhood, for the ongoing support offered by the Neag School community, and for the continued opportunities I’ve had to learn from young people, teachers, and families engaging in such incredibly important and transformative work.”

Division G includes five major sections dedicated to subtopics such as differences and intersectionalities; policies, mattering, and praxis; and languages, literacies, and representations. This division examines processes of teaching and learning within a social context, taking into consideration social, cultural, political, discourse, and economic influences.

It’s a real gift to be recognized with such a substantial honor at the same time as my brilliant and generous colleague Dr. Player. I’m incredibly grateful for our sisterhood … — Danielle Filipiak

“These complex views of teaching and learning provide a context in which to shed light on the ways in which significant social and technological change shapes our educational research, policy, and practices,” Division G says on its website.

Player’s work is rooted in her experiences as a mixed-race Asian American woman of color and a daughter of a Japanese Brazilian migrant woman. She is a literacy scholar, educator, and artist who has a longstanding commitment to collaborating with communities of color to work toward educational justice. Following a career of classroom teaching and literacy professional development, she pursued her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania where she developed as a community partner, researcher, and educator. Her work takes on a feminist of color lens and inquires into how girls and women of color mobilize their raced, gendered, and cultural knowledges and ways of knowing to forge sisterhoods that resist injustice and transform worlds.

In early 2023, Player received a competitive Spencer Foundation grant to support her project, “Curators of Educational Dreams.” These grants specifically target transformative, methodologically rigorous education research projects that help create a better, more equitable society.

“I am so grateful to be honored with the Division G Early Career Award, and, especially, to be honored in the same year that my scholar-sister, Dr. Filipiak, is awarded by Division K,” Player says. “She and I started our careers at UConn together and I consider her such a huge part of my support system within the academy. I am so proud of both of us and grateful to the communities, including the ones we’ve formed at the Neag School, that have helped us to do work that matters to us with integrity, care, joy, and passion.”

I am so grateful to be honored with the Division G Early Career Award, and, especially, to be honored in the same year that my scholar-sister, Dr. Filipiak, is awarded by Division K. — Grace D. Player

While both women are being recognized by separate AERA divisions, they have previously partnered at the Neag School to work with preservice and early career women of color teachers. They have investigated how nondominant knowledges may be centered and mobilized toward creating healthier, more justice-oriented, and culturally sustaining practices in teacher education.

“The fact that both Drs. Filipiak and Player are being recognized for the importance and impact of their work by AERA is exciting, but not surprising,” says Todd Campbell, professor and head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. “Both faculty members have helped shape and reshape our department and students’ experiences since arriving at the Neag School. Students are quick to detail how their perspectives are challenged and broadened because of being in their classes, especially in relation to how they center educational justice as a core commitment in both their teaching and research.”

Both faculty members will officially receive their awards during their division business meetings on April 13 at the AERA annual meeting in Philadelphia.

To view a full schedule of Neag School-affiliated presentations and events at the 2024 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, visit education.uconn.edu/aera.