College of Education and Social Services at UVM

09/04/2026

One of the best parts of our CESS community is watching it grow across generations. 💚🐾 We're proud to celebrate these family members of CESS faculty and staff as they begin their journey!

09/02/2026

What makes a great Week of Welcome? It’s more than events—it’s about building connection, belonging, and a sense of agency from day one. 💚

This week on , CESS' HESA Program Coordinator and Senior Lecturer Dr. Melissa Rocco shared the science behind UVM’s Week of Welcome (WOW), including the power of peer-to-peer learning and the ways students grow by helping create the experience for others.

“When you feel connected to a place, you’re also more likely to thrive yourself and to contribute to that place.”

From exploring and local farmers markets to collaborating across campus, WOW gives students opportunities to learn, lead, build community, and connect with UVM’s commitment to sustainability.

And it’s not just about personal growth—it’s about generativity: taking care of the people who come after us and creating a stronger community for everyone.

🎥 Watch the conversation at youtube.com/ and learn more about WOW at UVMbored.com/welcome

08/31/2026

🌅🍕 We had a blast kicking off the new academic year at the annual CESS Welcome Back Picnic!

With a beautiful evening by the lake, delicious wood-fired pizza from , and a wonderful gathering of new and familiar colleagues, families, friends, and pups, it was the perfect celebration of CESS community and connection.

On this first day of classes, we’re feeling SO energized for the inspiring moments and meaningful transformations ahead. Here’s to a great year! 💛

08/28/2026

“Discomfort is not the obstacle—it is the mechanism.”

On Monday, CESS Professor and University Scholar Dr. Jessica Strolin-Goltzman provided a powerful keynote address at UVM’s New Faculty Orientation.

Dr. Strolin-Goltzman drew on her deep personal and professional experience as she called upon faculty to foster student journeys that leave behind the familiar, cross into the unknown, and encourage returns with hard-earned insight.

As we begin a new academic year, CESS is more committed than ever to our mission of forging bold futures through experiential and supportive learning environments.

Photos by

08/26/2026

06/16/2026

Maggie Whitman, a senior in Human Development and Family Science, has been awarded the Simon Family Fellowship Award. This summer, Maggie is partnering with the Greater Burlington YMCA Early Childhood Program. Through her project, Maggie aims to identify opportunities to integrate developmentally appropriate sensory strategies and supports to benefit educators and children in the classroom, drawing on developmental science research and evidence-based occupational therapy-informed strategies.

Learn more about the Simon Family Fellowship: https://www.uvm.edu/honorscollege/four/simon-family-public-research-fellowship

06/01/2026

Social Work major Maya Auger has earned the prestigious Simon Family Public Research Fellowship! The award will support Maya’s community-based research in partnership with Lyndon Institute, an independent school in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Learn more about the CESS Scholar of Distinction program: uvm.edu/cess/cess-undergraduate-scholar-distinction-program; and the Simon Fellowship: uvm.edu/honorscollege/four/simon-family-public-research-fellowship.

05/27/2026

All are invited to tune in to Dr. Kelly Hamshaw’s keynote address for the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty next week! Register now at go.uvm.edu/hamshaw to receive the Zoom link. Hamshaw is a researcher in UVM’s Center for Rural Studies and a faculty member in Community Development and Applied Economics.

05/12/2026

Christine Proulx Conferred Fellow Status by NCFR

We are excited and proud to announce that the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) has conferred its prestigious Fellow status on Christine M. Proulx, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Counseling, Human Development and Family Science at the University of Vermont.

Read the article here:

https://www.ncfr.org/news/christine-proulx-conferred-fellow-status-ncfr

05/05/2026

Congratulations to Educational Leadership and Policy Studies PhD Student Mandy Chesley-Park for being selected to participate in the National Rural Higher Education Research Center’s inaugural cohort of the Rural Research Mentorship Network out of