And Thus Ends a Three-Night Streak of Awards & Recognition. Tonight Was for the SEHD Dean Award and Dr. Campbell and I Are Proud of Victoria

I believe it is true that Thursday and Friday are complete without any obligations to attend ceremonies and hand out awards. There's two-days off before Saturday commencement for graduates and Sunday commencement for undergraduates. Always fascinating to see which of my colleagues show. 

Last night, Dr. Anne Campbell and I got to celebrate Victoria Tomé as the 2026 Dean's Award for Academic Excellence from the School of Education and Human Development. Although Victoria finished in December, she'll graduate with her 6th year this Spring. She's been an all-start and we had a lot of fun celebrating her last night with her son Tiago, who was getting restless with all the talking of the Dean and President. He was there for his mommy and we were there for him (even had him come to the Mic to help us give the award You can see how thrilled he was about having to attend his mother's achievement. 

ESTP Dean’s Award – Victoria Tomè

Bryan: Good Evening, I’m Sonny,

Anne: And I’m Cher,

Bryan: And tonight we are going to perform a couple of songs for you.

Anne: Actually, no Bryan, we’re here because we have the honor of announcing the 2026 Dean’s Award for Educational Studies and Teacher Preparation to Victoria Tomè.

Bryan: Unfortunately, our Chair Dr. Emily Shamash was unable to make tonight’s event, and she asked us to introduce Victoria to all of you. 

Anne: Victoria Tome, a student from the 6^th Year Certificate of Advanced Study program in Bilingual Education. Tori completed her degree in December of 2025 and will be graduating this year at the 2026 commencement. This was her second degree at Fairfield. In Spring 2021, she earned to MA with initial certification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

Bryan: And both of us had the privilege of mentoring and guiding her for the past couple of years. 

Anne: Victoria truly embodies the Jesuit principle of service to others, as evidenced by her work as an ESL teacher at Shelton High School. Her passion for language learning and her dedication to meeting the needs of immigrant and refugee high school students comes from a very deep place in her heart.” Victoria has been a powerhouse in advocating for immigrant and refugee youth in her district. She is very adept at finding resources and navigating ways to serve the needs of students with limited English language abilities. She consistently champions best practices for working with English language learners and has offered professional development to teachers at her school and across the district.

Last year, she completed a capstone action research project entitled “Curriculum Design to Teach Academic Reading and Writing to Long Term English Learners.” For this project she researched best practices, documented the needs of her students, and designed a semester course that she taught fall 2025. 

Bryan: In addition, she has published two articles: “Empowering Multilingual Learners with YA Literature to Bridge Cultural Divides in Secondary Classrooms” on YA Wednesday, an online resource for teachers and scholars of young adult literature; as well as “Ten Ways to Teach Your Kids About Love” in Power of Words, a publication of the Connecticut Writing Project.

Anne: Victoria Tomé is an SEHD gem – a true emblem of teacher leaders who give everything to their students, career, and graduate studies. Her brilliance was obvious from day one, and her willingness to use knowledge from her coursework into her everyday practice made her unique. 

Bryan: She represents the best of Jesuit Education, caring for her students in tremendous ways. She is truly deserving of the Dean’s Award.

Anne: Please welcome us in congratulation Victoria as this year’s Educational Studies and Teacher Preparation recipient. 

Super proud of our student. It's always wonderful to honor the good ones!