The Center honors the work of Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, who was a member of Russell Sage College’s Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and the Principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where she and 25 others lost their lives on December 14, 2012, in one of the nation’s most tragic school shootings. Dawn is remembered by her faculty and cohort members as a vibrant, dedicated, and caring educator and administrator who inspired students and colleagues alike. To recognize her achievements and passion for education, in 2015, Sage conferred the degree of Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) upon Dawn with her fellow members of her academic cohort.

The Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Center for the Promotion of Mental Health and School Safety continues to focus on the mental health of students and professionals in the field of education, social-emotional learning, well-being and school safety in recognition of the fact that:
• 1 in 4 Americans suffer a diagnosable mental illness in a given year;
• 60% of people with mental health issues do not receive treatment.
• Childhood mental illnesses affect up to 1 in 5 children between the ages of 3 and 17 and costs $247 billion per year in medical bills, special education and juvenile justice.
• Tragedies at Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary School, University of Texas at Austin, Columbine High School, Chardon High School, Oikos University have claimed the lives of over 100 students and staff.

Vision Statement
Our vision is inspired by the life of Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, the 2012 principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. It is a responsibility shared by all to ensure our schools are places where children and the adults who work with them are safe to learn and grow. By honoring her sacrifice, we work to advance her legacy.

Mission Statement
The Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Center for the Promotion of Mental Health and School Safety will explore, develop and share solutions that support the mental health of each child and safe school environments to maximize opportunities for teaching and learning.

To further Dawn’s legacy, the Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Doctoral Fellowship was established in Dawn’s honor to recognize and advance scholarly research in the areas of mental health or school safety. Doctoral students in Russell Sage College’s Educational Leadership program who are completing their dissertation are eligible to apply. Please click below for application information.

Dr. Alica Martin is a 2026 graduate of the Educational Leadership program at Russell Sage College and is a member of Long Island Cohort II. She serves as an Assistant Principal of Freeport High School in the Freeport Union Free School District, an urban school district in Nassau County. Her dissertation is titled The Relationship Between Teachers’ Perceptions of Trauma-Informed Leadership Practices and Teacher Outcomes in Nassau County Public Schools.

Using a quantitative correlational design grounded in the Trauma-Informed Positive Education (TIPE) framework and a researcher-developed survey that combined original items measuring trauma-informed leadership, attendance, and retention with items adapted from the Perceived Stress Scale and the Burnout Assessment Tool, it was found that teachers rated Safety as the weakest leadership domain overall. Yet Safety showed the strongest relationship to teacher stress and burnout, while Trust and Collaboration showed the strongest link to retention. Among several conclusions, it was determined that trauma-informed leadership is a meaningful factor that school leaders can actively shape to support teacher well-being, leading to the proposal of a SAFE Leadership Model as an extension of TIPE for principal practice. Further, the findings suggest that psychological well-being should be treated as a core leadership competency, with direct implications for teacher retention and school stability.

Dr. Laura Tarlo was a member of Albany Cohort 17 graduating from the program in December 2025. She serves as the Principal of Cohoes High School, Cohoes City School District, an urban school district in Albany County. Her dissertation is titled Work-Related Stress and the Leadership Actions of  Superintendents in New York State. Using a quantitative research design including Siegrist’s Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire (2019) and Marzano’s Superintendent Leadership Framework (2006), it was found that on average superintendents reported exerting greater effort to realize rewards, thereby resulting in an imbalance. Among several conclusions, it was determined that actions related to relationships with the Board of Education were negatively correlated with superintendent ERI, suggesting that engaging in more frequent and effective professional development with board members could help achieve better effort-reward balance. Further, the negative relationship between ERI and monitoring instructional practice suggests that superintendent wellness could benefit from monitoring the implementation of their district’s instructional program.

The Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Center for the Promotion of Mental Health and School Safety at Russell Sage College is pleased to announce the 2024 recipient of the Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Doctoral Fellowship is Janine Tubiolo.

Tubiolo is a candidate in the Russell Sage Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. She is the Founding Principal of PS 469- The Bronx School for Continuous Learners, Bronx, New York. Her doctoral research is titled, “Those Kids…or Those Leaders? How the decision-making and accountability measures of educational leaders influence personnel perceptions of underperforming students who experience trauma in K-12 educational settings.” Her dissertation emphasizes educational leadership’s accountability measures for shifting personnel’s perceptions and mindsets of underperforming students who experience trauma in various K-12 educational settings in the northeast region of the United States.