The University of Connecticut

 

 

At a Glance

 

PHILIP E. AUSTIN, President

John D. Petersen, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Peter J. Deckers, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs

Established - 1881

Statutory authority – CGS Chapter 185b

Central office - Route 195,

Storrs, CT 06269

Number of full-time employees - 4,054 + 3,326 (Health Center)

Recurring operating expenses (as of August, 2003) - $663,900,000

+ $524,700,000 (Health Center)

Organizational structure - Public State University

 

Mission

     Founded in 1881, the University of Connecticut serves as the flagship for higher education and the primary doctoral degree granting public institution in the state.  The University serves as a center for research, dedicated to excellence in higher education and fulfillment of its land grant status.  It is committed to meeting the educational needs of its undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education students and providing the faculty with the means to develop their intellectual capacity through teaching, research and interaction with society.  Through the integration of teaching, research and service, the University provides an outstanding educational experience for each student.

     The University will serve the state and its citizens in a manner that enhances the social and economic well-being of its communities.  It will do so by providing leadership in the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge to all its constituents, recognizing that the continual transmission of knowledge and lifelong learning are essential to Connecticut’s future in a global context.  It will seek to enhance the quality of life and the economic well-being of Connecticut.

 

 

Statutory Responsibility

     The General Statutes of the State of Connecticut and the Morrill Act of the U.S. Congress have

charged the University of Connecticut with the responsibility for the education of Connecticut youth in scientific and classical studies, agriculture and mechanic arts and liberal and practical education.  General Statutes have given it authority for programs leading to a wide variety of doctoral degrees and post-baccalaureate professional degrees.  The University's constitutional mandate, "excellence in higher education," is accomplished in its traditional triad of academic responsibilities: teaching, research and service.

 

 

Improvements/Achievements 2002-03

National Recognition

     The University received national recognition for the quality of its programs and accomplishments:

·         The University continued to be the best public university in New England in the annual U.S. News and World Report rankings.  It was ranked 31st among 292 public universities in the nation.

·         School of Dental Medicine was ranked first among 55 dental schools in the country on the National Board Dental Examinations.  This was the second time in three years that dental students achieved the top scores on the exam’s part II, on applied dental science and clinical judgment and decision-making.  UConn has consistently ranked among the top four schools on the National Boards. 

·         School of Medicine’s national ranking in the National Institutes of Health funding rose five places, over the previous year.  Both the national Liaison Committee on Medical Education and the Association of American Medical Colleges recognized the School's Clinical Skills Assessment Program for excellence.

·         School of Law was named one of the best law programs in the country according to U.S. News.  Among public law schools, it was ranked 17th, up from 20th two years ago.  The increased quality of the entering class, an increase in the number of students employed at graduation, and a substantial increase in the Bar pass rate supported the School’s improved ranking.

·         The National Jurist considered the Law Library one of the top ten law school libraries.  The Chicago-Kent Scholarship Survey rated Law faculty scholarship 30th in the nation.  

·         Neag School of Education was highlighted in a recent “Best Graduate Schools” guide.  It was one of seven graduate schools across the country selected for a pictorial feature of outstanding graduate programs.  Its Special Education Program was recognized by U.S. News as the 16th best program in the country.

·         National Commission for Teaching and America’s Future cited the Neag School’s five-year Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s program as an example of a teacher preparation program that prepares graduates well for teaching.  Although a third of all new teachers nationwide leave the classroom after three years, 90 percent of Neag graduates remain dedicated to their profession.

·         School of Business was named one of the best in the nation by Business Week.  It placed UConn among the top 30 public universities nationwide in the very competitive field of graduate business education.  Business Week and U.S. News ranked UConn as the best public business school in New England. 

·         The MBA Program was named by Forbes Magazine as one of the highest return-on-investments in the nation.  Wall Street Journal also listed UConn as one of the Top Business Schools in the country.

·         The Physical Therapy Program was rated among the top 15 percent of programs nationally by U.S. News.

·         UConn, including both the Health Center and the Storrs-based programs, ranked 65th among all institutions and 46th among public universities nationwide in terms of research and development expenditures, as measured by the National Science Foundation.

·         UConn 2000 projects earned three awards for the University of Connecticut: the Distinguished Leadership Award of the Connecticut Architecture Foundation, awarded to President Philip E. Austin on behalf of the University and the Board of Trustees; the grand prize for “outstanding achievement and impact on the State of Connecticut” by the Real Estate Exchange, a forum for women in commercial real estate; and the Energy Conservation Award for “innovation in energy-efficiency initiatives” by the Energy Conservation Management Board.  UConn 2000 is estimated to have saved the University, its students, and state taxpayers more than $24 million in energy costs since it was signed into Connecticut law in 1995.

·         John W. Rowe, one of the nation’s outstanding medical researchers and academic leaders and chairman and CEO of Aetna Inc., was appointed by Governor John G. Rowland to be the Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees.  He succeeds Roger A. Gelfenbien.

·         The women’s basketball team won their second straight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship, making it their fourth national championship.  The women also won championships in 1999, 2000, and 2002.  President Bush honored the Huskies at the White House for their back-to-back NCAA championships.

·         Four other teams advanced to NCAA Championship play in men’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, and field hockey.

·         The University’s intercollegiate athletic program was again named to the Top 20 in the national College Sports Honor Roll, which recognizes the best Division I schools in terms of graduation, compliance with Title IX, absence of NCAA violations, and athletic success.

·         John Dempsey Hospital clinical marketing team received an Award of Distinction for its advertising campaign by the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Institutional Advancement.  The Health Center's entry was selected out of more than 170 submissions from academic medical centers nationwide.

·         Three faculty members served as presidents of their national professional associations:  Diane Burgess, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists; Margaret Higonnet, American Comparative Literature Association; and Robert Michel, Society of Analytical Chemists.

·         The Health Center was the site of the first small pox vaccinations given to medical personnel in the

U.S. in 30 years, attracting worldwide news coverage.  The Occupational Medicine, Emergency

Medicine and Infectious Disease Divisions at the Health Center assisted the Department of Public

Health in developing a plan and vaccinating first responders for smallpox.

 

Academic Programs and Instruction

     In Fall 2002, 25,842 students were enrolled in degree credit programs in the 17 Schools and Colleges at the Storrs Campus, the regional campuses (Avery Point, Stamford, and Tri-Campus with locations in Torrington, Waterbury, and West Hartford), the Schools of Law and Social Work in Hartford, and the Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, and graduate programs at the Health Center in Farmington.

     The number of freshmen applying to UConn rose dramatically this spring for Fall 2003 - from 14,677 in 2002 to an estimated 18,724, an increase of 28 percent.  The jump, part of a steady trend at the University since 1995, is the most dramatic increase to date in a single year.  Applications also were up at the regional campuses, with 838 students applying to a regional campus as their first choice, an increase of 20 percent over last year’s total of 696.  There was a 50 percent jump in out-of-state freshmen applications and a 17 percent improvement in transfer applications, compared to last year.

     The increased interest was attributed to a number of reasons – the support of the state through UConn 2000 and 21st Century UConn, the success of the Husky athletic teams, the efforts of the University’s academic departments, and the perceived value of a top quality education at a reasonable cost.

     The growing demand has enabled the University to be more selective.  The 2003 freshman class is expected to have an average SAT score 20 points higher than last year’s average of 1149, and 57 points higher than in 1996 when the SAT scoring system was recentered. 

     At the School of Law, applications for Fall 2002 soared by 46 percent, nearly tripling the average gain nationally, and new student enrollment increased by 39 percent, from 180 to 250.  The first-year class also was better qualified, with median LSAT scores and undergraduate grade point averages higher than in previous entering classes.   The School’s growing national reputation, reasonable student-faculty ratios and class sizes, and excellent programs in insurance, international, and intellectual property law supported the increased interest. 

     Applications to the professional program in the School of Pharmacy increased greatly in the past two years, so that more than 300 applicants are now competing for an entering class of 100.  Other programs also have experienced increased interest by potential students. 

     Approximately 5,000 degrees were conferred in 2002-03 for completions of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs at the University Storrs-based and Health Center programs.

     Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and UConn alumnus Les Payne received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree following his commencement speech for the University of Connecticut graduating class of 2003.   Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt received the honorary Doctor of Laws after his speech at the graduate commencement ceremony.  Honorary degrees also were awarded to Connecticut forensic scientist Henry C. Lee, conductor and musical scholar Frederick Fennell, multi-media artist Gordon Parks, television executive John W. Kluge, philosopher Daniel Dennett, geneticist Philip Leder, and the former dean of UConn School of Medicine Harald Loe.

     A new Master of Arts program in Art History, the only one of its kind in Connecticut, will offer graduate students a foundation in critical theory and methodology, specialization in history topics, and a comprehensive range of interdisciplinary museum studies in partnership with UConn’s Benton Museum and Center for Visual Arts and Culture, Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, New Britain Museum of American Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  A Global Governance Studies Graduate Certificate program also was initiated.

     Two new completely online graduate programs were established:  the Master of Science in Accounting and the Master of Professional Studies with fields of study in Human Resources Management and Humanitarian Services Administration.

     The Master of Arts in Education with Teacher Certification began to be offered at Stamford and Tri-Campus.  Northeast Utilities Foundation donated $330,000 to the Neag School of Education for scholarships for students enrolling in the Stamford program, which is designed for college graduates interested in becoming secondary teachers in Fairfield County’s and Stamford Public Schools’ critical need areas of math, science, foreign languages, and special education.

     Other degree programs also were newly offered at the regional campuses: the Bachelor of Arts in Maritime Studies at Avery Point; the Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at Tri-Campus; and the Bachelor of Arts in American Studies at Avery Point, Stamford, and Tri-Campus.  The American Studies baccalaureate program also was established at Storrs. 

     UConn signed an agreement with Manchester, Quinebaug Valley, and Three Rivers community colleges to guarantee admission to their students who desire to transfer to UConn and who complete an associate degree in liberal arts or general studies with a grade point average of at least 2.5.  Tri-Campus signed an articulation agreement with Capitol Community College to ease the transfer of students interested in earning a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies.  Plans are underway to reach out to other community colleges and to offer articulations for other degree programs.

     The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education reaccredited Neag School of Education at the advanced preparation level.  The Department of Journalism received accreditation by the national Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications and became the only accredited Journalism program in New England.

     The School of Medicine was reaccredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to the M.D. degree in U.S. and Canadian medical schools.  UConn’s new curriculum was highlighted as a strength of the School. 

     Accreditations of John Dempsey Hospital were received for:  hospital licensure, from the Department of Public Health; Hospital Laboratories and Blood Bank, from the College of American Pathologists; and Blood Bank, from the American Red Cross and Federal Drug Administration.  The phlebotomy stations were awarded State certification.  The mammography program of the Radiology Department also received accreditation.  Health Services received a perfect score during the American Correctional Association Accreditation Survey.

     UConn’s Police Department attained reaccreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.  Only 14 Connecticut police departments have this national accreditation.

     The John Dempsey Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Nurseries Developmental Therapy and Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) was formally established with a training program for outside staff.  The Hospital also initiated a respiratory internship program. 

     School of Fine Arts formed a partnership with Eyebeam, a non-profit arts and technology center in New York City, to offer students access to video and new media arts opportunities.  The School also initiated a music composition prize competition, to promote composers and the performance of new musical works, with the financial support of Raymond and Beverly Sackler.  The Sacklers fund several other Fine Arts initiatives, including an artist-in-residence program, the Master Artists and Scholars Institute, the Art and Archeology Lecture Series, and UConn-Metropolitan Opera collaboration.

     An anonymous $500,000 donation from a School of Engineering alumnus launched the Learning Mentorship Program to increase the retention rate and academic success of women and other minorities, and to augment undergraduate engineering scholarships.

     Beginning Fall 2002, all first-year students enrolled in an interactive online course, AlcoholEdu, about alcohol and its effects on the body.  The course is part of a broad educational program the University developed to address alcohol and drug abuse.  Other initiatives include a peer-counseling network, motivational speakers, alcohol-screening day, alcohol resource library in Student Health Services, and a Task Force on Substance Abuse.

     The Academic Services Center in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences led the effort to devise and administer a university-wide advising survey, solicited at-risk students to participate in a pilot course to improve academic skills, and began advising freshmen and transfers during summer orientation.

     The Humanities Institute welcomed its first group of research fellows, sponsored one conference, co-sponsored two others, and offered a lecture series, courses for advanced undergraduates, lunchtime research colloquia, faculty study groups, and workshops for fellowship applications.

     College of Continuing Studies celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) Program, which offers non-traditional students the opportunity to finish their bachelor’s degrees.   The BGS program started with 27 students in 1977.  By 2002 enrollments had increased to more than 1,000 students, at all six campuses, with 369 new students admitted in Fall 2002, a 40 percent increase over the year before.

     The Human Rights Initiative continued to be developed with the hiring of the Gladstein Chair of Human Rights, building the curricula for the minor, planning a major that will emphasize cultural, social, and economic human rights, and hosting of the third annual comparative human rights conference.

     The Diversity Action Committee, under the direction of the Office of Multicultural and International Affairs, began implementation of a multi-faceted program to help the University community recognize the value of and embrace more diverse faculty, staff, and student populations.  Related efforts were undertaken by the Commission on the Status of Women and the Taskforce on Retention and Graduation.

     In Fall 2002, 17 percent of undergraduate students and 12 percent of graduate and professional students were from American minority populations.  An additional one percent of undergraduates and 18 percent of graduate and professional students were international students from 107 countries.  Over half (53 percent) of all students were female. 

     Minority representation among faculty was 16 percent at all campuses.  Minority representation among other staff was 19 percent at the Health Center and 15 percent at the remaining campuses.  Females comprised 34 percent of the Health Center’s faculty and 31 percent of the faculty at the other campuses.   Among other staff, females were 75 percent at the Health Center and 59 percent at the other campuses.

     Various centers and institutes offered activities supporting diversity.  For example, the Asian American Cultural Center and Asian American Studies Institute co-sponsored a three-day symposium focused on bringing together academics and community activists to discuss the culture, history and politics of Filipino Americans.  Tri-Campus Urban and Community Studies scheduled several community involvement events at the Waterbury Campus, including meetings with the Dominican and Albanian immigrant communities.

     The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences surveyed female undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty in mathematics and science for feedback on attracting, retaining, and increasing the success of women in these fields.  Women in math, science, and engineering (WIMSE) held monthly meetings on such issues as mentoring, promotion and tenure, childcare, and collaborative research. 

     State Archaeologist Nick Bellantoni and Kevin McBride, Anthropology, worked with the Mashantucket Pequots to identify and return to the tribe ten artifacts donated to the University but determined to be sacred funerary objects.  The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History at UConn houses more than 10,000 pieces collected from Connecticut sites that trace the history of migration to the state and the ongoing development of the Native American population.

     More than 250 alumni and community leaders gathered to celebrate 30 years of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at the School of Social Work.  The program has many accomplishments, including studies of Latino dropouts, elderly Latinos, and HIV/AIDS among Latinos (a study that led to the establishment of the Journal of HIV Prevention and Education), a yearly conference for Latino youth, a national interactive satellite conference on child welfare in the Latino community, and a national model for recruiting Latino families as foster and adoptive families.  The School, currently with three faculty in the Puerto Rican and Latino Studies program and a fourth Latino faculty member, has graduated more than 400 Puerto Rican and Latino students since 1980.

     Five professors received UConn’s highest-ranking honor, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor: Gary English, Dramatic Arts, a stage designer with national and international recognition for his creative work in University and regional theater, Broadway, and television; Deborah Fein, Psychology, a pioneer in the study of autistic disorders and a leading pediatric neuropsychologist in the country; Debra Kendall, Molecular and Cell Biology, an expert in the structural properties of membrane proteins; Philip Marcus, Molecular and Cell Biology, interim director of the Biotechnology Center and a national leader in the field of interferon, used in treatment of cancer and other illnesses; and Robert Weiss, Chemical Engineering, widely recognized for research on polymers and the characterization of ionomer structure.

     Internationally renowned bone biology researcher and physician Lawrence Raisz was the first recipient of the new UConn Health Center Board of Directors Faculty Recognition Award.  He is Professor of Medicine, Director of the UConn Center for Osteoporosis, chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Osteoporosis Foundation, former president of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, and founding editor of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

     Peter Deckers, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine, was one of ten medical school deans invited by the Association of American Medical Colleges to serve on a national panel for improving residency training and medical education.

     Marja Hurley, Health Center physician and founding director of the Health Professions Partnership Initiative, was selected by the New England Board of Higher Education for one of its first New England Higher Education Excellence Awards.  The award recognizes her leadership in the Initiative’s enrichment and support for students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the health professions.  The program has sent 206 students from underrepresented groups to medical or dental school in the past 15 years.

     Many other individual faculty members received state and national recognition for academic and scholarly achievements.  Examples include:  Emmanouil Anagnostou, Civil and Environmental Engineering, member of NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission; Yaakov Bar-Shalom, Electrical and Computer Engineering, J. Mignona Data Fusion Award from the U.S. Department of Defense; Janice Callahan, Animal Science, award for 25 years of service from the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association; Carolyn Davanzo, Nursing, member of International Council on Women’s Health; Marcel P. Dufresne, Journalism, national Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists; William Farr, Curriculum and Instruction, Connecticut Educator of the Year award from the Connecticut Council of Teachers of English; and Changfeng Gui, Mathematics, Research Prize from the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.

     Other examples include: Karl Guillard, Plant Science, Food and Agricultural Sciences Excellence in College Teaching Award from the National Association of State Universities and Land-grant Colleges; Nancy Humphreys, Social Work, Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Social Workers; Seth Kalichman, Psychology, Salazar Award from the InterAmerican Society of Psychology for the most important publication in the previous two volumes of its journal; State Poet Laureate Marilyn Nelson, English, Connecticut Book Award for Children’s Literature and national Newbery Honor for poems celebrating African American botanist and inventor George Washington Carver; Sandra Shumway, Marine Sciences, Leadership Fellowship from the Ecological Society of America; Nancy Smith, Medicine and Allied Health, Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Society of Cytopathology and the American Society of Clinical Pathologists; and Nechama Tec, Sociology at Stamford Campus, appointment by U.S. President Bush to the Council of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, to serve on the museum’s academic advisory committee.

     Three faculty members in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology were nationally honored: Robin Chazdon, President’s Medal of the British Ecological Society for her high achievement in the field of ecology; Donald Les, Hall of Fame Award of the International Water Lily and Water Gardening Society for his career of research and teaching in aquatic plant biology and evolution; and Gregory Anderson, Outstanding Service Award of the American Institute of Biological Sciences for his championing of integrative and organismal biology.  Two Statistics faculty members, Lynn Kuo and Nitis Mukhopadhyay, were named Fellows of the American Statistical Association.

     Diana Taurasi was selected the 2003 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four Most Valuable Player.  She also was named the 2003 Best Female College Athlete by the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly (ESPY) Academy.  This was the second year the national Academy of sports journalists so honored a UConn student; Sue Bird received the award in 2002.  Emeka Okafor, on the men’s basketball team, was named to the Verizon Academic All-America Team and was honored as the Big East-Aeropostale Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

 

Research, Service and Clinical Care

     This past year the University continued to strengthen research operations and to enhance research support.  Federal funding increased from $35 million to more than $50 million over the past five years.  External awards for research, training and public service totaled an estimated $90 million for Storrs-based programs.  Health Center’s sponsored program funding totaled an estimated $95.5 million, more than a $14 million increase over last year, and continued the five-year trend in sponsored program growth at a rate greater than inflation.

     Commercialization of the University’s research brought in nearly $330,000 in gross income.  There were 13 invention disclosures, including three from the Health Center, ten new applications for patents, and 16 licenses producing income.

     Congressional committees earmarked nearly $20 million for 11 UConn programs that will support continued research on Long Island Sound, fuel cell technology, gifted education and infectious diseases.  The federal funding, included in both the approved Omnibus Appropriations Bill and Defense Appropriations Bill, show the confidence Connecticut’s Congressional delegation has in the work of UConn researchers and signals the importance of the research.  The appropriations include: $210,000 for a Long Island Integrated Coastal Observing System to monitor the Sound; $1.35 million to continue research on pollution in the Connecticut River Basin and on potential solutions; $3.5 million for the Global Fuel Cell Center for development of micro and miniature fuel cell systems, a promising energy technology for motors, lights, communications systems, cell phones, and other electronic equipment; about $2.25 million for the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program; $998,000 to continue efforts to increase the growth rates and disease resistance of rainbow trout and shrimp; $1 million to continue research on combating disease in cattle; and $2.1 million to continue Health Center development of vaccines for infectious diseases carried by ticks and mosquitoes.  Other federal funding for research included: $900,000 to the Health Center to study bone and muscle changes in individuals older than 65; $500,000 to develop an advanced technology multi-media center for learning languages of strategic importance, such as Arabic; $2.2 million to continue the National Undersea Research Program (UConn is one of only six sites nationally); and $490,000 to continue the Food Marketing Policy Center.

     Two prominent scientists were hired as chaired professors to help establish the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center as a world-class fuel cell research center.  Created through a partnership of the School of Engineering, the state, federal entities, and Connecticut industry, the Center supports fuel cell research and design, commercial development, education, and technology transfer.

     Eight Storrs-based faculty were recognized for bringing in more than $1 million in external funding: Ann Ferris, Nutritional Sciences; Jeffrey Fisher, Psychology; Carol Lammi-Keefe, Nutritional Sciences; Alexandros Makriyannis, Pharmacy; John Mathieu, Management; Joseph Renzulli, Educational Psychology; John Silander, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; and Peter Turchin, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

     Linguistics researchers were awarded federal grants to study acquisition of language and American Sign Language by deaf children.  Molecular and Cell Biology faculty received $2 million from the National Institutes of Justice for its Center for Applied Genetics and Technology.  The Health Center was awarded $3 million from the U. S. Department of Justice for the Connecticut Correctional Health Research Program.

     Three faculty members - Susan Porter Benson in History, Margaret Gilbert in Philosophy, and Brenda Murphy in English - were awarded prestigious research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities in a highly competitive and the largest national contest for humanists.

     Four School of Dental Medicine residents won first place in national research competition from the academies/societies of orthodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, as well as the American Association of Dental Research.

     The University of Connecticut Libraries became a member of the Boston Library Consortium, New England’s most prestigious library association of academic and research libraries.  The Consortium is involved in a number of strategic initiatives that complement and supplement ones already underway at UConn’s libraries, including a round-the-clock reference service, digitization of some collections, direct delivery to patrons, electronic resources, and information literacy initiatives.

     Faculty members served as senior editors of many nationally prestigious journals.  Some examples include the following: in Humanities – Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, LIT: Literature, Interpretation, Theory, MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, Public Affairs Quarterly, and Sites; in Social Sciences – International Studies Perspectives, Linguistic Review, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, and Politics, Groups, and the Individual; in Life and Physical Sciences – Applied Sequential Methodology, Biotropica, Cell Stress and Chaperones, Electronic Journal of Probability, Heredity, Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research, Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability, Reviews of Geophysics, Science, and Systematic Biology; in Agriculture and Natural Resources – Advances in Agricultural Sciences and Agribusiness;  in Business – Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research, Enterprising Family Issues, and International Journal of Accounting Information; and in Health and Human Development – Advances in Nursing Science and Physiotherapy Theory and Practice.  Engineering faculty were senior editors of several national IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) journals and the Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

     Southern New England Telephone Company (SNET), currently a part of SBC Communications, a worldwide provider of data, voice, and Internet services, completed its archive donation to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center during the 125th anniversary celebration of the world’s first commercial telephone exchange begun by the New Haven District Telephone Company, the predecessor of SNET.  The mammoth donation, numbering some 1.8 million items, is worth an estimated $3.8 million.  The collection, covering the period from 1878 to 1998, is already being used for research by students, faculty and outside scholars in the fields of business, telecommunications and Connecticut history.

     Scientists from UConn and the Universidad Aut-noma de Baja California (UABC) were selected to participate in the first round of higher education partnerships under a new U.S.–Mexico program.  The two universities will share a $600,000 matching grant in a three-year collaboration, including student and faculty training and exchange, to improve education in marine sciences and coastal management at the post-secondary and K-12 levels.  The UConn-UABC project, praised for its goal of combining scientific research with policy-making and economic solutions for ecological problems, is a component of the larger presidential Partnership for Prosperity program launched by U.S. President Bush to promote private sector growth in Mexico.

     The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History at UConn hosted its fifth annual BioBlitz in Bates Woods Park, New London on June 7.  The annual 24-hour survey of all plant and animal species in an urban park brings attention to biodiversity in the state, increases public awareness of the diverse array of species, assists over 100 scientists in biological research, and offers park visitors a BioBazaar of hands-on activities and demonstrations.  Previous BioBlitzes were held in Norwich’s Mohegan Park, Danbury’s Tarrywile Park, Meriden’s Hubbard Park, and Hartford’s Keney Park. 

     Cooperative Extension System’s faculty and programmatic staff offered to many thousands of Connecticut residents a wide diversity of outstanding outreach educational programs: economic viability; sustainable agriculture; sustainable landscapes, fisheries; aquaculture; family and community development; land use planning and management; natural resources and environmental management, master gardener certification; 4-H youth development; and nutrition and good safety.  The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program celebrated 30 years of serving low-income families and youth in the state.

     Other Schools and Colleges, the several campuses, and the International Affairs Office also provided outreach, service, and professional continuing education.  Continuing Studies enrolled approximately 46,000 participants in credit-free professional programs.

     UConn medical and dental students were named "Connecticut Treasures" by the Lieutenant Governor in recognition of the more than 10,000 hours of community service they provide each year.  Social Work graduate students provided 182,000 hours of community service, an increase over the prior year, in their internships throughout the Hartford region. 

     School of Family Studies’ Humphrey Center for Marital and Family Therapy and the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) joined forces to help reunite parents and children separated by DCF for safety reasons.  These clients, who do not fit into either of the two existing DCF programs in the area, will be directed for counseling to the Center’s advanced graduate counseling students at a lower cost than private sector counseling services.

     The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Neag School of Education will share in a five-year $5 million grant from the Carnegie Foundation for its “Teachers for a New Era” program to improve the quality of teachers in K-12 classrooms.

     Nearly 700 students in the state attended the 20th annual Invention Convention in Storrs.  Hosted by the School of Engineering, the competition for K-12 students encourages creativity and the spirit of invention.  Engineering also sponsored a weeklong summer camp for promising high school students and, with Neag School of Education, continued the Da Vinci project to integrate engineering into the secondary school curriculum.

     Non-profit organizations throughout the Capitol Region were provided access to free legal advice from top attorneys through a new collaborative program, the Non-Profit Pro Bono Initiative.  The program is a partnership among the School of Law’s Connecticut Urban Legal Initiative Inc., the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, several major corporate legal departments, and two prominent law firms.  A Pharmacy Summit was sponsored by the School of Pharmacy to bring together diverse organizations within the state for discussions of contemporary issues for the pharmacy profession. 

     Economics faculty developed PoliceDat software to provide police officers and planners information on recent crimes in a given district – date, time of day, and neighborhood – and suggestions on where and when to deploy officers.  PoliceDat and related software on patrol car needs and patrol district performance measures have been utilized by several Connecticut police departments, including New Britain, Bloomfield, and the Capitol Region Council of Governments.

     In compliance with the Quality Act of 2002, the John Dempsey Hospital began reporting to the Department of Public Health.  The Hospital completed implementation of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy standards.  Reorganization of the Health Center's human research oversight program included the creation of the Human Subjects Protection Office. 

     John Dempsey Hospital clinical activities continued to grow, with inpatient activity increasing by four percent and same day surgery increasing by ten percent, compared to last year.  Ambulatory hospital growth remained at double digits for the second straight year.

     Hospital improvements in medication safety and services included: increase in the pharmacist-to-patient ratio and the assignment of a dedicated neonatal intensive care pharmacist; enactment of procedures in the operating rooms to preclude wrong site surgery; introduction of a “falls” reduction program, including bed alarms and merry go walkers; availability of drug-eluting cardiac stents; and initiation of rapid fetal fibronectin testing to help avoid unnecessary interventions in women at high risk for preterm delivery.

     Hospital enhancements in psychiatric services involved implementation of a dual diagnosis program, expanded geriatric services, protocols developed specific to the Department of Mental Retardation, and reopening of three beds to accommodate geriatric psychiatric needs.  A Hospital nursing redesign project began with planning for improving patient care, improving workflow, improving patient satisfaction, reducing the use of high cost agency personnel, and retaining employees.

     The University Medical Group expanded its services by opening the Allergy Center at the Health Center for allergy testing and immunizations, beginning Orthopedic Services for Sports Medicine in East Hartford, opening the Charlotte Hollfelder Women’s Health Center with Integrative Medicine services, and initiating Lasik corrective eye surgery, with surgery performed at the Yale Eye Center.

     At the request of the March of Dimes, the John Dempsey Hospital exhibited the Neonatal Transport Van at the State Capitol.  Selected high school students from Granby, New Britain and Farmington participated in a career development program in the Hospital’s neonatal nursery.

     Pharmacy faculty members received awards from the Connecticut Pharmacists Association, including the Innovative Pharmacy Practice, Special Recognition, and Distinguished Young Pharmacist Awards.  Five registered nurses at the John Dempsey Hospital received the Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing.  Numerous faculty at the University of Connecticut Health Center were named as Best Doctors in Connecticut. Among the groups identified were faculty from Dermatology, Geriatrics, Neurology, Orthopedics, Rheumatology, and Surgery.   Hospital Departments of Clinical Engineering and Social Work received Silver Connecticut Quality Improvement Awards for process improvement activities.

 

Strategic Planning

     In 21st Century UConn, the $1.3 billion program to continue the transformation of UConn and its campuses, was approved in August by the General Assembly and Governor John G. Rowland.  A continuation of the $1 billion UConn 2000 program, the legislation endorsed and recognized UConn 2000’s achievements and the University’s management of UConn 2000.  The state support, unprecedented in the nation, provides the University the means to attract high-achieving and increasingly diverse students, high quality faculty, and funding from both private donors and grants.

     The submission of a statutorily mandated progress report on UConn 2000 to the legislature, and an in-depth review by the General Assembly’s Program Review and Investigations Committee, resulted in a positive assessment of the management and outcomes of the program to date.  The American Institute of Architects, Connecticut Chapter, also recognized the University for excellent methods of selecting architects for UConn 2000 projects.

     The 21st Century UConn will accomplish the following:  at the Health Center, a new state-of-the-art 200,000-square-foot medical research facility, additions and renovations to the medical school academic building and the support building, and a new parking garage; at Storrs, a new student health services building, replacement of six major academic buildings, renovations or additions to many academic buildings, a third parking garage, and intramural and recreational facilities; at the Law School, renovations to several buildings; at Stamford and Tri-Campus, renovations and improvements to the academic buildings; and at Avery Point, a new undergraduate library.   

     A new Biology/Physics Building, UConn’s tallest at 110 feet, was completed this year and houses Physics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Molecular and Cell Biology faculty, research laboratories, and classrooms, an accelerator and laser technology facility, Biotechnology Center functions, a rooftop greenhouse, and the University’s natural history collections of 250,000 insects, 125,000 plants, and 50,000 mammals and birds.  A new Information Technology Building contains laboratories, offices, and classrooms of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. 

     Other improvements were a new, expanded UConn Co-op Book Store, new Greek housing and apartment complex to add nearly 1,300 beds to Storrs campus residential options, and modernization of sprinkler and electrical systems, lighting, and elevators in several existing residence halls.  Renovation or new building projects underway or nearing completion include: Student Union, School of Pharmacy, Undergraduate Center, William Benton Museum of Art, Towers Central Dining Facility, Gentry Building, Nafe Katter Theater, and the Waterbury Campus. 

     Plans for the School of Fine Arts’ complex were developed through a national architectural design competition funded by the National Endowment of the Arts.  World-renowned architects Gehry Partners/Herbert S. Newman and Partners were named the winner of the competition.  The planned project will consolidate all of the School’s programs, currently housed in nearly 20 buildings, into one complex to be built with funds from various sources, including 21st Century UConn and private donations.

     The new football stadium, Rentschler Field, located on the former Pratt and Whitney Airfield in East Hartford, was nearing completion for opening day August 30, 2003.  Seating approximately 40,000, it supports UConn’s upgrade of the football program to Division I-A competition and serves the state in other ways, such as high school and recreational sports championships, fund-raising events, and major concerts.  It will house the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. 

     At the Health Center, completion of construction on the 1st and 2nd floors of the Academic Research Building greatly expanded the research space.  John Dempsey Hospital facility improvements included: a new interventional radiology suite with state-of-the-art equipment to perform minimally invasive radiological procedures; a new linear accelerator to support radiation oncology and the cancer signature program; addition of a tenth operating room; replacement of the operating room information systems; installation of a pneumatic tube system between the emergency room and the laboratory to speed up test results for medical decision making; construction of a special psychiatry care area to enhance patient safety; renovation of space to add Correctional Managed Healthcare Pharmacy Operations and a third endoscopy room; conversion of two double occupancy rooms to two private rooms in the Obstetrical Unit; and renovations to the emergency room and the main lobby. 

     UConn Medical Group facility improvements included: a new Charlotte Johnson Hollfelder Center for Women’s Health services; renovations at the Health Center’s Dowling South Building to expand the surgical suite, improve workflow, and create space for an optical shop and on-site pharmacy; and renovations in the East Hartford office for increased provider presence.

     The Authentication Project of the University’s Information Technology Services was introduced to establish a system that will verify a person’s identity across computer systems and thus reduce the number of user names and passwords needed for access.  A single network ID was created for each member of the University community for the authentication.

     John Dempsey Hospital began installation of a new patient safety system. The Invision Sieman’s Medical System will form the basis for an electronic record of each patient with numerous patient safety checks to greatly enhance patient care and reduce the chances for medical errors.  A clinical manager component for the UConn Medical Group will improve documentation, patient safety, and billing, facilitate transcription, and establish lifetime electronic patient records.  A digital archiving system also was installed in the Hospital cardiac catheterization laboratory to record all images.

     The $300 million Campaign UConn, the largest fundraising effort by a public university in New England, moved closer to its completion goal of June 30, 2004, with an estimated $252 million raised by the end of the 2002-03 fiscal year.  Private giving to UConn increased more than 600 percent over the past six years.  Donors totaled more than 33,000, of whom over half were alumni. 

     Connecticut legislators approved a provision that continued the state’s matching gift program, providing 50 cents for every dollar raised from private sources for the University’s endowment.  The matching gift program began originally as part of the UConn 2000 program and has since been renewed twice.

     At the Health Center, a wide range of accomplishments supported a strategic plan for the development of Signature Programs (SP) to integrate the clinical, academic and research strategies of the Health Center and its affiliates and to better focus limited resources on areas of clinical and research strength at the Center.  With the assistance of PriceWaterhouse Coopers, management and faculty had previously identified the Signature Programs - Connecticut Health, Cardiology and Cardiovascular Biology, Bone Biology and Musculoskeletal Disorders and Cancer – and documented the economic feasibility of the strategy. 

     This year a new Senior Executive was recruited and an Office of Signature Programs was established to oversee the development of the Signature Programs from strategic vision to operational reality and to ensure continuity among the constituencies involved in the management structure required for the Programs’ success.  Significant accomplishments for the Programs included: development of detailed inventories for each SP codifying their programmatic composition; identification of all SP related physician scientists and clinicians, with clinical, research, educational, and administrative (CREA) profiles established for each physician participant; and establishment of a policy to define lines of authority and accountabilities for the CREA components of each SP participant.

     For the Center for Cardiology and Cardiovascular Biology (CCCB), Bruce Liang, Ray Neag Professor of Vascular Biology and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, was recruited to become the Director.  An operating infrastructure for the new Center was established to integrate the leadership of John Dempsey Hospital, University Medical Group, Health Center Research Operations and School of Medicine.  It also facilitated collaboration and co-development of clinical and scientific advances. 

     The CCCB operating infrastructure, to serve as the prototype for the other SP’s, was set up with a leadership team and subcommittees assigned to oversee six areas - physician recruitment and retention/program development, fund development, finance/budget, marketing, education and research, and operations tracking and improvement.  Each subcommittee developed annual business plan/goals to assist in the tracking of progress of the SP.  Key performance indicators are being developed to provide a mechanism to track performance, identify early variances from objectives, allow for the occurrence of rapid intervention/performance improvements, and establish accountabilities that should enhance performance over the conventional model.

     The Center for Cardiology and Cardiovascular Biology Signature Program Kick Off was held in June.   Several faculty have been recruited for the Center, including a physician scientist, a nuclear cardiologist, and a peripheral vascular surgeon.

     The Bone Biology and Musculoskeletal Institute (BBMSI) activities were largely focused on the development of the Medical Arts and Research Building and the Farmington Surgery Center. Development of a formal business plan for the Osteoporosis Center and extensive evaluation of the potential role of community based orthopedics as an integral component of the BBMSI are underway.

     The Cancer Institute development focused on evaluation of the feasibility of establishing a National Cancer Institute designated Center and recruitment of a director.

     An Academic Plan for the Storrs and regional campuses, and including collaborations with programs at the Health Center, was drafted to assist trustees, administration, and faculty in choosing academic priorities, capital projects, and the allocation of resources in the next decade.  The plan is based on a number of criteria, including the best use of existing assets, faculty and academic programs, tracking performance against that of other schools, emphasizing areas where UConn has a competitive advantage, and the University's obligations as a Land and Sea Grant institution.

     The plan sets out six broad areas of emphasis to focus the creative energies of faculty and to concentrate University resources so as to achieve excellence and recognition in Connecticut, national, and international arenas: (1) arts, culture, and society from a local to global perspective, (2) environmental sustainability, (3) health and human service systems, (4) life sciences, (5) innovations in science and technology, and (6) undergraduate enrichment.  These areas of emphasis were initially developed by an Academic Plan Task Force and were further refined with input gathered from deans, department heads, faculty, students, and other interested parties.

     Specific goals in the Academic Plan include: for undergraduates - increasing the mean high school rank in class and the combined SAT score of entering students, improving retention rates, and helping students win prestigious national prizes; for graduate students - improving scores on the Graduate Record Exam for entering students, increasing graduate student support from federal and other external funding sources, and winning prestigious awards; for faculty - increasing diversity, productivity, and invention disclosures, and increasing prestigious national and international grants, fellowships, artistic commissions, and prizes; for the institution - increasing research expenditures, increasing grants in size and improving the average number of awards per faculty member, increasing externally funded postdoctoral fellowships, and elevating doctoral program rankings.  One of the goals of the Plan is to identify significant new areas of future funding and to encourage synergies across academic units to foster multidisciplinary approaches.  Assessment of progress in such areas as student performance, diversity goals, external grants, productivity, and best academic practices is to be measured according to internal and national benchmarks.

     The draft plan outlined priorities for 21st Century UConn and indicated the high priority of replacing the Torrey, Arjona, and Monteith Buildings.  A number of specific recommendations also were outlined to help the University achieve its goals, including improving student advising and the possibility of providing a Senior Year Experience to assist in the transition to post-graduate studies or careers.  Several of the Schools and Colleges also have developed specific strategic plans for improving academic programs, research, and service. 

     When the Academic Plan is finalized, it will become the basis for raising the level of academic excellence and for budget reallocations, the sequencing of 21st Century UConn projects, and decisions on refilling vacancies resulting from faculty and staff retirements.  The resource reallocation model builds on existing processes that have been concentrating University resources on selected programs through budgetary realignment and strategic hires.   The selective strategic investments are intended to bring the University into the top tier of public universities nationwide and to better serve the higher education needs of the citizens of Connecticut.