Lauren Lafferty graduated with a BS in HDFS in 2005. During her time at UConn she led the HDFS student government, was named a New England Scholar, presented a thesis as an undergraduate and was later awarded an outstanding women’s award from the UConn Alumni Foundation. Lauren credits her HDFS degree as the bedrock for a nearly 20-year career focused on keeping families and children at the center of her equity focused work.

 

After graduating from UConn, Lauren worked for the Village for Families and Children in Hartford in out-of-school-time programming. Her work at the Village, combined with her HDFS background, fueled a desire to pursue her master’s degree. She moved to Boston and completed a master’s in education with a concentration in Risk and Prevention at Harvard University’s School of Education in 2008. At Harvard, Lauren was energized by her work as a Prevention Intern at the Gardner Pilot Academy (GPA), a community school in Boston. At this school she developed an ambition for high quality urban public education, led by a principal who excelled in this incredible work, allowing her to see the best practices in the field come to life.

 

In 2008 Lauren began her 16-year tenure at GPA. During this time, she designed, led and fundraised successfully for interventions, programs and partnerships that met the highest quality standards and supported families to thrive. She was tasked with funding the gap to ensure access to opportunity and quality learning for students beyond the public-school budget allocation. As a result of this work, Lauren raised and managed an average of $700,000 per year through grant writing and fundraising initiatives. Her work also required partnering with over 15 funders and 30 partners annually. Due to these efforts, GPA’s chronic absenteeism rate was lower than both the state and district averages, the family teacher conference rate of 100% was met annually and over 300 students and family members received basic needs in the form of clothing and food annually. As Senior Director of Extended Services, Lauren consulted, mentored and presented to many individuals from the field of community schools, early education, and prevention, all built off the foundation of HDFS.

 

Lauren is currently the Chief Program Officer at YWCA New Britain. In this role, she uses her collective experiences working in diverse urban communities for the past 20 years to support innovative programs and partnerships at the YWCA. She continues to work with an empowerment-focused and anti-racist lens, central to the YWCA mission, closing opportunity gaps through financial development.

 

Lauren currently resides in West Hartford, CT with her husband Gary and is the proud mom to Julia (4th grade) and Ava (1st grade). As someone raised in a large, loud and loving extended family, Lauren enjoys spending time with her many family members, friends and neighbors.

Samantha Collins earned her Bachelor of Arts in HDFS with a minor in Spanish in 2012. She has built a career in public education after receiving her Master of Arts in Educational Psychology with a concentration in School Counseling at UConn. She also received a certificate in College Counseling from UCLA Extension in 2019.

After obtaining her master’s degree, Samantha worked as a traditional high school counselor in Litchfield County before becoming the college & career counselor at Trumbull High School in 2016. Samantha has just begun her ninth year in this position at Trumbull High School. She is looking forward to taking students to both the UConn Stamford and Storrs campuses this fall! Samantha has also been an active member of the Connecticut School Counselor Association for over a decade engaging in various leadership roles such as public relations chair and director.

In 2022, Samantha and her husband welcomed twin boys to their family. Samantha is grateful for her time working in the infant room at the UConn Child Development Laboratories as an undergraduate and graduate student. She sings songs and uses Sign Language that she learned as a Child Care Trainee which has assisted in her boys’ development and communication skills. She is looking forward to taking them to UConn basketball games in the future. Luckily they have already seen two national championships in their nearly two years of life. Go Huskies!

After her freshman year at UConn, Christine changed her major and transferred into what was then the School of Family Studies to pursue a degree working with young children. Her concentration was Child Development and Early Childhood Education. This decision came after she took the course Programs for Young Children with Dr. Jane Goldman. Jane also became Christine’s academic advisor. Christine began a field placement at the Child Development Laboratories (CDL) in what was then the Infant/Toddler Room. She fell in love with the Program and completed student teaching experiences in both the Infant/Toddler Room and the Preschool Room.

After graduation, Christine accepted a teacher position in the Infant/Toddler Room at Packachoag Early Childhood Program in Auburn, Massachusetts. During her four years at the school, she taught children in both the Infant/Toddler and Preschool rooms. She developed and wrote the school’s first curriculum for Infants and Toddlers. Christine also wrote the Early Childhood newsletter for the school providing information about the Program and early childhood development news for families.

When Christine married her husband in 1993, she moved back to Connecticut and began teaching at the Creative Child Center at UConn Health. She was a Lead Teacher with toddlers in her 4 years there. Christine loved working in a team-teaching environment and the UConn position was her first experience preparing a program for accreditation with the National Association of Education for Young Children.

Upon returning from maternity leave after the birth of her son in 1998, Christine accepted a position as a Master Teacher here at UConn at the CDL. She has been teaching toddlers and mentoring UConn students for the past 26 years. Christine considers it a career achievement to come full circle and return to the model school that sparked her love of early childhood and supported her when most people did not recognize her as a “real” teacher. Two decades later, educators of young children are still not universally recognized or compensated for the very important work that they do. Many students and families come through the UConn Early Childhood Specializations programs each year and Christine considers it an honor and privilege to educate them about child development and the very important first three years of life for growth and learning.

Christine and her husband are proud to be UConn alumni, and both of their children are also UConn grads. They love to attend UConn sporting events and enjoy walks around the beautiful UConn campus. Christine is an avid reader and enjoys hiking with her husband and their dog Bennie.

Colleen K. Vesely, Ph.D. completed her M.A. at UConn in HDFS in 2006. She then earned a doctorate in Family Science at the University of Maryland. At UConn, Colleen worked closely with Sara Harkness and Charlie Super on the Baby Study. She gained hands-on experience conducting research with families with young children and developed a depth of knowledge regarding the role of culture in families’ experiences and children’s development. A favorite memory from her time at UConn is traveling with the entire Baby Study lab led by Drs. Harkness and Super to The Netherlands to present findings.

Colleen draws upon what she learned at UConn regarding working with families across cultures in her current work with students and families. Colleen is an Associate Professor and the Graduate Academic Program Coordinator in the Inclusive Early Childhood Education program at George Mason University. Colleen’s work is grounded in a critical, ecosystemic, antiracist perspective, focused on the intersection of two contexts, family and early childhood systems and considers how macro-level systemic and structural forces shape these contexts. She uses Community-based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) and other emancipatory approaches to examine and center the experiences and roles of primary caretakers and teachers in young children’s lives. In addition, Colleen teaches courses on families and family partnership and qualitative methods.

Over the last 10 years, using CBPAR approaches, Colleen has worked with families and child- and family-serving institutions across northern Virginia to understand and center families who experience marginalization to co-create knowledge that informs attuned, aligned, and responsive programs, policies, and practices. Much of this work is conducted using Community Advisory Boards or Family Councils, a hallmark of CBPAR work, to shift power back to communities—especially communities where systems were not built. Most recently, Colleen and collaborators were awarded a Spencer Foundation Vision Grant focused on early childhood systems change for educational equity.

Colleen continues to remain connected to UConn HDFS . Specifically, in support of the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation Child Care and Early Education Policy and Research Consortium, Colleen is facilitating a national research collaborative focused on reimagining family partnership in early education and child care. Vanessa Esquivel, a current HDFS doctoral student is co-facilitating this collaborative, and faculty member, Kevin Ferreira van Leer is a key member of this collaborative. Colleen and Kevin also led a webinar for the National Council on Family Relations focused on immigrant families and immigration policy. Colleen would love to connect and collaborate with other UConn faculty and students whose work focuses on participatory approaches with immigrant families who have young children. She is always looking to engage and learn with other scholars, family leaders, and community leaders regarding the big visions and the nitty gritty details/logistics of reimagining family partnership vis-a-vis family-centered systems change.

Colleen has three children, ages 14, 11, and 7, who keep her very busy with their swim, marching band, art and cross-country schedules. To relax and rejuvenate her spirit, Colleen likes to spend time outside with her husband, children, and their family’s black Lab named Puma.

Tanika Eaves Simpson (PhD 2018) recently returned from a six month research visit to Australia, funded by the Fulbright Global Scholars program to study perinatal health practices of indigenous and BIPOC individuals and families. She also recently received a promotion to associate professor of Social Work at Fairfield University. Learn more here: https://www.fairfield.edu/news/archive/2023/april/two-fairfield-faculty-earn-prestigious-fulbright-awards.html

Taylor Maag, a 2013 graduate with a BA in Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), has built a successful career in education and workforce policy, driven by her passion for ensuring that every learner and worker, regardless of their background, has access to economic opportunity. Taylor credits her HDFS education for providing a strong foundation in child welfare, family dynamics, and social policy, which fueled her passion for direct service and advocacy work.
After graduating from UConn, Taylor began her career in San Diego, CA, as a Therapeutic Behavioral Coach at New Alternatives, a nonprofit organization. In this role, she provided in-home support to clients aged 2-21 who had experienced severe trauma and were from low-income backgrounds, including foster and homeless youth. In this role, Taylor developed treatment plans, maintained detailed case files, and coached caregivers using behavioral interventions to improve day-to-day functioning. Her work with young people and families in San Diego inspired her to address challenges on a national scale.
Motivated by a desire to influence policy at a broader level, Taylor moved to Washington, DC, where she earned a Master’s in Public Policy from Georgetown University. During her studies, she interned on Capitol Hill, gaining firsthand experience in government operations and collaborating with national policymakers.
Upon completing her degree, Taylor joined Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national nonprofit focused on education and workforce reform. For over six years, she played a pivotal role in developing and implementing JFF’s federal and state policy agenda, focusing on workforce innovation, access to postsecondary education, and poverty alleviation policies. Taylor also led JFF’s congressional and practitioner networks, ensuring that federal policymakers remained connected with grassroots leaders implementing effective strategies.
Taylor then advanced to the role of Director of Workforce Development Policy at the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI). At PPI, she launched “The New Skills for a New Economy Project,” a bold initiative aimed at providing economic opportunities for workers without degrees. Her time at PPI also involved publishing policy briefs, op-eds, and blogs, and representing the organization at panels and conferences, both domestically and internationally.
Recently, Taylor has returned to JFF as the Director of Workforce Policy, where she leads the organization’s federal and state policy efforts to enact change that allows the organization to reach their north star – that by 2033, 75 million people facing systemic barriers to advancement will work in quality jobs.
On a personal note, Taylor got married this year in her hometown outside of Boston and continues to reside in Washington, DC, with her husband, Peter and their dog, Richard. Outside of work, she remains active, enjoys traveling, and is an avid fan of Boston sports!

Congratulations to Samantha Lawrence (PhD ’22), who recently started a new role as Assistant Research Professor in the UConn School of Social Work. She will continue to serve as the Director of Research and Evaluation for the state of Connecticut’s Office of Early Childhood – UConn Partnership.

Paige Desjardins graduated from UConn in 2013 with a B.A. in HDFS with a focus on Early Childhood Education. Learning through first-hand experiences at the university’s Child Labs, Paige left school with a deep understanding of Child Development and the importance of instilling positive values in the lives of young children. She went on to work at Natural Learning Children’s Community School in Simsbury, Connecticut where she was head teacher of their preschool room, breaking the typical four walls of the classroom by taking her students out onto hiking trails and into the school’s gardens and composting units. Paige started sharing her curriculums online under the handle Natural Learning Kids, which slowly gained a following as she was promoted to Curriculum Coordinator at NLCCS.

After four years and 20,000+ followers, Paige decided to quit her teaching job and move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in children’s media. While nannying for high profile families and obtaining her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, Paige volunteered with the Children’s Media Association, a networking group whose purpose is to connect people within the industry. She ran their social media pages and eventually became their Director of Marketing while starting to get freelance education consulting work on animated preschool scripts. Paige landed her first real role in the industry as a Coordinator on Disney Junior’s Educational Resource Group, providing educational notes for outlines and scripts on all of Disney Junior’s properties as well as testing shows in the form of storybooks at schools around Los Angeles.

Paige used this script coverage experience as fuel to take screenwriting classes and pursue a career in children’s animation writing. She moved into a production role on Disney Junior’s Alice’s Wonderland Bakery and worked her way into an Associate Writer role by its second season. Paige is currently a staff writer on Disney Junior’s Mickey Mouse Funhouse and spends her free time volunteering on the board of Black Thumb Farm, a nonprofit brining gardening opportunities to kids around East Los Angeles as well as playing flag football with her friends.

Since graduating in 2008, Tonya has already made an impact in the world of early childhood education and her influence only continues to grow. She credits this success to her time in HDFS at UConn. Tonya came to UConn excited about majoring in HDFS with a concentration in Early Childhood Development and Education and participating in the work-study program at the UConn Child Development Labs. Her classwork with top-notch professors and mentors who weren’t afraid to be progressive, the hours she spent in the amazing Child Labs, and her years as president of the HDFS Undergraduate Committee, were foundational to her future success. Her study of child development, families, diversity, and curriculum set the stage for her advocacy for high-quality and equitable childcare across several states and settings. With a desire to dive more deeply into teacher certification to enable her to serve young children with special needs and in urban settings, Tonya completed a Master’s in Early Childhood Special Education from Southern Connecticut State University in 2012. Tonya strove to acquire a range of experiences to decide where she could have the most impact and to understand experiences of children in different socioeconomic and ability groups. Her full-time work was at a private school in the PreK program. During several summers and weekends, she worked at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for kids with chronic illnesses. She completed student teaching in urban settings within public school elementary classrooms as well as an inclusive Head Start classroom. During graduate school, Tonya completed a summer with Semester at Sea studying Multicultural Education to expand her understanding of early childhood education globally. Tonya then joined Teach For America in New Orleans to work on the complex and urgent educational inequity movement happening there. She started working in one of the most challenging schools in the city. Tonya then moved to a progressive charter management organization called ReNEW Schools where they were starting an early childhood program directly related to her graduate school work. She started in their first early childhood center that would feature classrooms with both students with special needs and typically developing students (often referred to as a collaborative model). Over her eight years with ReNEW, Tonya became Center Director, then Curriculum Specialist, then Instructional Coach for all early childhood programs, and then Director of Early Childhood Programs. Tonya led the original center as well as two additional centers she started with the organization, several public preschool and pre-k grant programs, and a city-wide early intervention program. Tonya led all programs to have high-quality scores on state-wide quality assurance measures ensuring positive early education outcomes that could change the trajectory of young children’s lives. Under her leadership, ReNEW Schools provided fair wages and full benefits for all full-time early childhood educators. Her high standards for herself, the teachers and leaders she mentored, and her programs were grounded in her early work in HDFS and at the Child Labs. She constantly seeks growth and learning for herself but her foundations for what is right for kids and what is possible for them is rooted in the content, mentoring, and experience that she received at UConn from mentors like Anne Bladen, Meg Galante-DeAngelis, Fabienne Doucet, and Kate Andrew.

In 2019, Tonya started a family and relocated to Pennsylvania where she started a consulting firm, Teach Reach Master Consulting, that serves childcare centers, school systems, and families nationally to provide training and coaching. She continues to stretch her impact at local and national levels through providing training to promote the implementation of high-quality interactions, higher-order thinking, and equity-based leadership. Tonya’s time at UConn allowed her to be outside of her comfort zone and lead others. Those challenges provided her the confidence and courage to continue to face larger challenges and adversity after college. She was mentored by women who held the bar high regarding interacting and teaching students to help them meet their highest potential every day. The experience, courage, and confidence she built at UConn, has helped Tonya influence many children and to ensure that ALL children have access to the highest quality of early childhood education.