This year’s Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching honors Education Teaching Professor Sumudu Lewis, who directs the university’s UTeach program, an education minor that prepares students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math for teaching careers.

Three recent alumni have won grants from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program to do research and teach abroad. They are the first UMass Lowell graduates to win the prestigious awards since 1979.

Researchers from UMass Lowell and Florida Gulf Coast University received nearly $100,000 in seed funding across five collaborative research projects.

Tara Goodhue ’09, ’20, a School of Education alumna and current adjunct faculty member, is the 2026 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. Goodhue teaches science at Lowell High School and serves as head of its science department.