Two UConn Neag School of Education faculty members have been named Outstanding Reviewers for 2024 by the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Alexandra Freidus, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, was recognized for her service to AERA Open, while Suzanne Wilson, Neag Endowed Professor of Teacher Education, received the award for her work with the Review of Educational Research.

Both faculty officially received their awards last week at the AERA 2025 Annual Meeting in Denver, as the Outstanding Reviewer awards are always celebrated at the following year’s meeting. The awards are presented by AERA journal editors, recognizing the invaluable contribution of volunteer reviewers who have provided exemplary, thorough, and timely reviews of manuscripts received by their respective journals.

“The peer review process is crucial to advancing educational research, and I thank Dr. Freidus and Dr. Wilson for their service to these journals,” Dean Jason G. Irizarry says. “I’m thrilled that they were recognized for their excellent work, which is helping to inform important conversations that will ultimately shape policy and practice. Congratulations!”

The Review of Educational Research publishes critical, integrative reviews of research literature bimonthly. Such reviews typically include conceptualizations, interpretations, and syntheses of literature and scholarly work in a field broadly relevant to education, but the journal also encourages submissions from other disciplines if the research is relevant to education.

“Reviewing manuscripts is a crucial service to the field; more importantly for me, it allows one to learn about cutting-edge methodologies, innovative uses of theory, and new and innovative research,” Wilson says.

AERA Open aims to advance knowledge through rigorous empirical and theoretical study, conducted in a wide range of disciplines. It publishes studies of education and learning in various contexts, such as early childhood, after-school, primary and secondary, and post-secondary education.

“I’m honored to have had the opportunity to support AERA Open’s important work in making high-quality educational research publicly available to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers,” Freidus says. “I have learned a great deal from spending time with these manuscripts.”

To learn more about Neag School-affiliated awards and presentations from the 2025 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, visit education.uconn.edu/aera.