University of Connecticut

 

 

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At a Glance

 

MICHAEL J. HOGAN, President

Peter Nicholls, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Cato T. Laurencin, Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine

Established - 1881

Statutory authority - Chapter 185b, General Statutes

Central office - Route 195,

Storrs, CT 06269

Number of full-time employees - 4,288 + 3,667 (Health Center)

Recurring operating expenditures - 2007-08 (as of September 2008) $902.8 million

+ $719.1 million (Health Center)

Organizational structure - Public State University

 

 

Mission

Founded in 1881, the University of Connecticut serves as the flagship for public higher education and the primary doctoral degree granting public institution in the state.  The University of Connecticut is dedicated to excellence demonstrated through national and international recognition. As Connecticut’s public research university, through freedom of academic inquiry and expression, we create and disseminate knowledge by means of scholarly and creative achievements, graduate and professional education, and outreach. Through our focus on teaching and learning, the University helps every student grow intellectually and become a contributing member of the state, national, and world communities.  Through research, teaching, service, and outreach, we embrace diversity and cultivate leadership, integrity, and engaged citizenship in our students, faculty, staff, and alumni.  As our state’s flagship public university, and as a land and sea grant institution, we promote the health and well being of Connecticut’s citizens through enhancing the social, economic, cultural, and natural environments of the state and beyond. 

  

Statutory Responsibility

The General Statutes of the State of Connecticut and the Morrill Act adopted by the United States 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 give the University 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.

 

 

Public Service, Research and Clinical Care

     University offices authorized by Connecticut General Statutes to serve the public include: Connecticut Museum of Natural History, Sec. 10-112(a-c); Office of Archaeology, Sec. 10a-112; State Historian, Sec. 11-1; State Museum of Art, Sec. 10a-112(g); and Connecticut Poison Center, Sec. 10a-132. 

 

Support for Human Rights in Connecticut and Across the World

The University’s commitment to human rights and social justice is evidenced in interdisciplinary instruction in theoretical, comparative, and historical perspectives on human rights through classroom courses, supervised internships, the undergraduate human rights minor, and the graduate certificate in human rights.  The University’s support for human rights is also evident in the interdisciplinary research and public events sponsored by the Human Rights Institute, internationally renowned speakers on human rights issues brought to the campus through the The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lecture Series, activities and archival collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, the ongoing partnership with the African National Congress in South Africa, the focus of the Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee, the activities of the Center for Applied Genetics and Technology, and student organizations, such as the Idealists United, who promote human rights and social justice awareness on campus.  The Journal of Human Rights, a major international scholarly publication, is based at UConn with a University faculty member as the editor. 

A March symposium at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center entitled “Human Rights Archives and Documentation: Transforming Ideas into Practice” had a national attendance of human rights archivists, librarians, human rights practitioners, and information studies graduate students, and included archivists working with human rights collections at Columbia, Yale, and Duke Universities and at human rights organizations such as WITNESS and the International Center for Transitional Justice.    The Global Resources Network of the national Association of Research Libraries and the Center for Human Rights Documentation at Columbia University Libraries cosponsored the event.  Planning for an online Human Rights Archives Information Portal as a joint project among universities with human rights archival collections was facilitated by the University’s creation of an email listserve devoted to human rights archives.  

The University’s third Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights was awarded jointly to the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) and Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI).  CJA is an international human rights organization dedicated to ending torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world and advancing the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress.  MDRI is the world’s leading international human rights group dedicated to the protection of people with mental disabilities.  The Prize is awarded biannually to an individual or group who has significantly advanced the cause of international justice and global human rights.  A related event was a book signing at Storrs with U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, who recently published Letters from Nuremberg: My Father’s Narrative of a Quest of Justice.   The Dodd Prize commemorates the distinguished public service career of Thomas J. Dodd who, as Executive Trial Counsel at the Nuremberg Trials and a Connecticut Senator from 1959 to 1971, fought against infringement and suppression of human rights.

          

Initiatives to Enhance and Improve Access to Health Care

Through John Dempsey Hospital (204 general acute care beds and 20 nursery beds), the UConn Health Center provides specialized and routine inpatient and outpatient services. John Dempsey Hospital has long been regarded as the premier facility in the region for neonatal intensive care and high-risk maternity.  It is also widely recognized for its comprehensive cardiovascular, cancer and musculoskeletal services.  Additionally, John Dempsey Hospital is home to the only Emergency Department in Connecticut's Farmington Valley.  Also offered are a wide range of ambulatory and primary care services on the Health Center campus in Farmington and in physician offices conveniently located in Southington, West Hartford, Simsbury and East Hartford.  The UConn Medical Group is the largest medical practice in Greater Hartford, offering patients access to health care services from more than 350 Health Center physicians in more than 50 specialties.

In addition to the comprehensive health care services of the UConn Health Center, the University has many centers and services offering health care and educational information to the University community and to the public.  Examples include:  Connecticut Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos and Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources; Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), Center for Health Communication and Marketing, Child Development Laboratories, and the Humphrey Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychological Services and Speech and Hearing Clinics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Center for Healthcare and Insurance Studies in the School of Business; Nayden Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Clinic in the Neag School of Education; Center for Nursing Research in the School of Nursing; and Centers for Biochemical Toxicology and for Pharmaceutical Processing Research in the School of Pharmacy.

Several publications provide health information to the public.  Two examples are:  UConn House Call, a consumer health newsletter published by the Health Center that provides health and wellness information on a variety of timely topics, profiles new physicians and provides information on new programs, services and upcoming events; and CONSULTS, a quarterly publication serving physicians, spotlighting the clinical specialists and services, and offering the latest medical news and information on scientific research and development at the Health Center.

Celebrate Women, the free women’s health membership program at the UConn Health Center, provides health and wellness information on a variety of topics every month.  The public is welcome to attend single classes or a series of classes on such issues as: addictive behaviors; bleeding and clotting disorders; coping with grief and loss; dental implants and bone health; health effects of climate changes; keeping our skeleton healthy and happy; medical risks of anorexia; restorative yoga postures and om for the holidays; and tai chi for health and healing.

The Health Center’s Department of Psychiatry offers free, anonymous mental health screenings to the public on National Depression Screening Day.  The participants view a video on anxiety and depressive disorders, complete an anonymous screening questionnaire, obtain educational materials on a variety of psychiatric disorders and have the opportunity for a confidential meeting with a health care professional.

UConn faculty members in neuroscience, immunology, genetics, and molecular medicine have been awarded $3.3 million for human embryonic stem cell research in the second round of funding announced by the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee, a 13-member committee in charge of developing the state’s stem cell training and research grants-in-aid program.  Seven of the grants were awarded to scientists based at the Health Center, and two to researchers at the Center for Regenerative Biology in Storrs.  The new grants bring UConn’s total of state stem cell funding to $14.4 million.  The funding program, approved by the legislature and Governor M. Jodi Rell in 2005, has awarded a total of nearly $30 million for stem cell training and research programs in Connecticut higher education. 

The University has created a Stem Cell Institute to facilitate the scientific training and ethics education of basic research and clinical scientists and to disseminate the scientific impact and ethical considerations of stem cell research to the general public.  The Institute is a cross-campus, collaborative effort, uniting under one umbrella major UConn programs that explore the nature of stem cells and other early-stage cells: the Center for Regenerative Biology in Storrs, and the Health Center’s Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology and Center for Regenerative Medicine and Skeletal Development in Farmington. 

       The Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry at the UConn Health Center has introduced 3D ConeBeam Imaging.  This new technology, known as Cone-Beam Computed Tomography, is an X-ray imaging system that provides high-resolution three-dimensional images of the jaws and teeth and can create limitless views of the face, neck, and teeth for improved treatment planning and care.    The new imaging system is fast, simple, and completely painless and requires less exposure to radiation than similar images obtained with medical CAT scanners.

The New England Musculoskeletal Institute, the only facility of its kind in the Northeast and one of only a few nationwide, received a $100,000 commitment from Robert T. Samuels, a member of the Health Center Board of Directors, and his wife, Renee, in support of groundbreaking research and clinical care related to bone, joint, muscle and connective tissue health.  The Institute, opened in 2006 and one of the Health Center’s four signature programs, offers a wide range of services to help patients gain mobility and maintain overall health, ranging from orthopedic surgery, sports medicine, total joint replacement, hand, foot and ankle, neck and back pain, osteoporosis care, and treatment for arthritis and other rheumatologic conditions.

The UConn Health Center will use $1.5 million from the state’s Hospital Hardship Fund to make capital investments in John Dempsey Hospital’s Newborn Intensive Care Nurseries (formerly known as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).  This amount and $1.2 million in John Dempsey Hospital funds are collectively earmarked for two new neonatal ambulances, incubators, monitors, bassinets, cribs, and other medical equipment for the Newborn Intensive Care Nurseries, as well as general facility upgrades.

Several initiatives are associated with the Health Center’s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, which is nationally renowned for its excellence in research, education and community outreach, and for training and developing future leaders in basic, translational and clinical cancer research.  With a gift of $2.5 million from Carole and Ray Neag, the Center becomes the first facility in Connecticut to offer a new cancer treatment, the Helical TomoTherapy Hi-Art System.   TomoTherapy delivers radiation to a precisely mapped section of the body with accuracy not previously possible.  This precision not only allows for more specific treatment of tumors, but also reduces the amount of healthy tissue exposed to radiation.  It is especially useful in treating patients with cancers of the head and neck, prostate, brain and other tumors adjacent to organs that could be damaged by radiation.

The Health Center renewed its collaborative agreement with the American Cancer Society, New England Division, and continued a partnership first formed in 2004 to provide comprehensive and best-practice cancer information, care, and support services.  The UConn Cancer Center is the first site in New England to offer to newly diagnosed patients customized Personal Health Manager kits and free access to the Society’s vast Cancer Resource Network.

The Cancer Center’s Navigator Care Program will be expanded with a $750,000 pledge from the William Raveis Charitable Fund, Inc.  The program, currently focused on breast cancer, pairs newly diagnosed patients with trained volunteers who assist them through the treatment process.  A $300,000 grant to the Center from the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative supports the recruitment of a nationally recognized physician-researcher and basic, translational and clinical research in breast cancer.  The Initiative’s mission is to make a difference locally in the fight against breast cancer through education and the funding of a diversity of clinical and research projects.  A $250,000 gift from Gary S. Gladstein ’66 through the Marsha Lilien Gladstein Foundation provides strategic support for the new Women’s Cancer Prevention and Treatment Program at the Center.  The gift, in memory of Gladstein’s wife, will enable the recruitment of top-flight doctors as well as critical cancer research.

Students in School of Nursing and volunteers with the American Cancer Society and the Navigator Care Program at the UConn Health Center worked together to create a free resource guide for patients with breast cancer.  The guide is divided geographically to cover all corners of Connecticut and contains information about where to obtain medical supplies, wigs, prostheses, physical therapy services, and support services.

More than 500 cyclists helped UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun complete his second-annual signature cancer challenge bike ride.  The proceeds from the CIGNA-Jim Calhoun Cancer Challenge Ride will benefit the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center and Coaches vs. Cancer, a program of the American Cancer Society.  The event raised $233,000 in its inaugural ride, and the 2008 ride is anticipated to generate as much as $400,000.  More than 135 golfers took part in the thirtieth annual UConn Cancer Research Golf Tournament at the Country Club in Avon.  Nearly $150,000 was raised this year.  For three decades, the volunteer-run tournament has been dedicated to raising money to fight cancer and has generated more than $2 million for the UConn Health Center and the American Cancer Society. 

Proceeds from the 10th annual South Park 5K Road and Fitness Walk helped fund medical and oral health supplies for the free medical clinic serving the residents of the South Park Inn shelter for the homeless in Hartford.  The clinic, founded in 1987 by medical students at the University, serves almost 800 individuals each year.  Patient care is provided by UConn medical students and local volunteer physicians.  UConn dental students also run a free clinic at the shelter. 

A campaign dedicated to reducing college students’ episodic heavy drinking behavior was launched prior to Spring Weekend with a theme, Remember Last Night, a web site with videos and resources on safe drinking, and student support services on and off campus.  Funded with a two-year $273,923 grant from the U.S. Department of Education and directed by Carolyn Lin, professor of Communication Sciences, the campaign promotes life-saving knowledge and skills to students with high-risk drinking behavior. 

A new federal center, one of 14 Evidence-based Practice Centers nationwide, will be established at the University to conduct comprehensive, systematic reviews of research on health topics of importance to the U.S. healthcare system and to advise federal and state policymakers, professional organizations, and insurance companies on the highest quality, most effective, and most cost-effective healthcare treatments and delivery options.  The center, to receive up to $1 million in each of five years from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be led by the School of Pharmacy in collaboration with the School of Business and Hartford Hospital.  C. Michael White, associate professor of Pharmacy Practice, Craig Coleman, assistant professor of Pharmacy Practice, and John Vernon, assistant professor of Finance, will be involved in the management of UConn’s center, but specific projects will include other faculty in Storrs and at the UConn Health Center. 

 

Research, Scholarship and Professional Education

UConn research and training grants exceeded $185 million in FY 2007 from federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Endowment for the Humanities, and many others, and from such prestigious private entities as Carnegie Corporation of New York, Donaghue Medical Research Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Andrew W. Mellow Foundation.  The Storrs campus has more than 95 centers and institutes promoting scholarly activity and/or supporting teaching, research, diversity or the outreach mission of the University.  Examples include the Biotechnology/Bioservices Center, Center for Actuarial Sciences, Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Center for Land Use Education and Research, Center for Regenerative Biology, Center for Survey Research and Analysis, Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, Connecticut Sea Grant College Program, Connecticut Transportation Institute, Institute of Materials Science, Marine Sciences and Technology Center, National Undersea Research Center, Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, and Wildlife Conservation Research Center.  The Health Center has a broad array of world-class research activities facilitated by “Signature Programs” in cancer, cardiology, musculoskeletal medicine, and public health.  Examples include the Alcohol Research Center, Center for Biomaterials, Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, Center for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Infectious Diseases, Center for Molecular Medicine, Ethel Donaghue Center for Translating Research into Practice and Policy, Gambling Treatment and Research Center, New England Musculoskeletal Institute, Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center, Taste and Smell Center, and Waterborne Disease Center. 

Many of the centers and institutes benefit from the collaborative efforts of both the Storrs based and Health Center disciplines, including A.J. Pappanikou Center for Developmental Disabilities, Center for Public Health and Health Policy, and Stem Cell Institute.   The Center for Science and Technology Commercialization manages the commercial application of the discoveries, inventions and technologies developed at all the campuses of the University.  Each year, the Center receives approximately 75 new invention disclosures and files about 20 U.S. patent applications.  Ten to 15 commercial development agreements (options, licenses, etc.) are completed annually.  

UConn researchers working on five different projects will share in more than $1.5 million in state grants to study cancer, heart disease, and other tobacco-related illnesses.  The grants are from the Biomedical Research Trust Fund managed by the Connecticut Department of Public Health for payments received since 2005 from the settlement with the tobacco industry.  The grants included: nearly $540,000 to Lance Bauer, professor of Psychiatry at the Health Center, to share with a Yale University professor for their research examining the role of specific candidate genes in amplifying the effects of tobacco on brain structure and function; more than $315,000 to Quing Zhu, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Storrs, and Molly Brewer, director of Gynecologic Oncology at the Health Center, for research on a way to measure two different aspects of early ovarian cancer by joining technologies; nearly $300,000 to Jennifer Tirnauer, assistant professor of Medicine at the Health Center, for research on a gene mutation associated with the development of colon cancer; more than $280,000 to John Peluso, professor of Cell Biology and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Health Center, for research on a potential adjunct therapy for advanced ovarian cancer patients that would make tumors more sensitive to chemotherapy; and nearly $110,000 to David Gregorio, director of the Master of Public Health program, for reviews of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer studies to determine participants’ tobacco use.

Janine Caira, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, was awarded a $3 million National Science Foundation Planetary Biodiversity Inventory grant to oversee a worldwide network of specialists to study the biodiversity of tapeworms, her research specialty.  The grant will be shared with the University of Kansas, where Caira’s former Ph.D. student Kirsten Jensen is now an assistant professor of biology.  Other co-principal investigators will be a zoologist with the Natural History Museum in London and a zoologist with the Museum of Natural History of Geneva, Switzerland.  In all, 34 researchers from 20 countries around the world – from Vietnam to Ethiopia to Argentina – will be involved in the five-year project to learn as much as possible about the world’s diversity of tapeworms.

Strategic initiatives in the School of Business will be supported by a gift of $450,000 from ING for a variety of activities and programs such as internships, mentorships, career services, research projects and lecture opportunities for students and faculty.  ING, a global financial institution offering banking, insurance and asset management, previously provided funds for the creation of the ING Center for Financial Services and an ING Chair in Financial Services.

The creation and support of a multidisciplinary center for functional food research and education in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) has been enabled with a major gift from the Esperance Family Foundation.  The commitment will also fund the addition of new faculty specialists in the study and application of functional foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes rich in antioxidants and other bioactive compounds that may prevent or delay the onset of coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other chronic conditions.   

The bioacoustics laboratory in the Department of Animal Science in CANR is adding an Intelligent Hearing Systems (HIS) screener, the only device with a frequency range suitable for testing both humans and animals, with the assistance of a grant from the philanthropic foundation of David Bohnett, founder of Internet’s GeoCities.  The screener will be central to academic, clinical and research operations at the lab and will enable the department to complete an animal audiology clinic.

The Mandell L. Berman Institute North American Jewish Data Bank received a new gift of $122,000 from Mandell Berman for operating expenses of the central repository of social scientific studies of North American Jewry.  The data bank, located at the University since 2004, is housed at the Thomas J. Dodd Center and is a collaborative project of the United Jewish Communities and UConn’s Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life and Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, both of which are part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  A total of more than $400,000 has been committed by Berman to help further the Institute mission and activities.

Three School of Engineering faculty members were selected by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to receive honors.  Yaakov Bar-Shalom, Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the IEEE Dennis J. Picard Medal for Radar Technologies and Applications.  Bar-Shalom originated the probabilistic data association filter and tracking paradigms used worldwide for target detection and tracking and national defense organizations.  Bahram Javidi, Electrical and Computer Engineering, along with four of his post-doctoral students, received the IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award.  Javidi’s research has applications in image sensing and recognition, homeland security, medicine, and military uses.  Sanguthevar Rajasekaran, Computer Science and Engineering and director of the Booth Engineering Center for Advanced Technology, was selected to be a Fellow in the IEEE for his contributions to sequential, parallel, and randomized algorithms and to bioinformatics.

In the Faculty Large Grant Competition, The UConn Research Foundation’s Research Advisory Council received 61 proposals totaling more than $1.2 million and made 34 awards totaling more than $575,000.  The goal of these awards is to help faculty move into a better position to apply for and receive extramural funding for their research and scholarly activities.  Evarist Giné-Masdeu, professor of Mathematics, was the recipient of the 2008 Provost’s Research Excellence Award. 

 

General Community and Public Service

The winners of this year’s Awards for Excellence in Outreach and Public Engagement were announced by Provost Peter J. Nicholls during a special reception and poster display celebrating the variety of University outreach activities.  The Faculty Award recognized Tessa Getchis, Department of Extension, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Avery Point Campus, for developing programs to enhance aquaculture and marine ecology, serving on a national marine aquaculture committee, and presenting her work at the National Shellfisheries Association.  The Staff Award recognized Clinton Morse, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, for annually organizing greenhouse tours for more than 2,700 formal tour participants and 4,500 other visitors to the collections.  Morse’s efforts as plant growth facilities manager helped bring more than 22,000 people to campus when the Titan Arum bloomed.  He hosted the 2007 annual meeting of the Association of Educational and Research Greenhouse Curators, facilitated exchanges of plant material with more than 170 institutions throughout the U.S., and maintains a web site that is a vital resource for botanical researchers, educators, and gardeners.  The Program Award was given to Husky Sport, Department of Kinesiology, Neag School of Education, for connecting UConn students and student-athletes with youth in Hartford’s North End.  The program has sponsored hundreds of after-school days, physical education classes, and more than a dozen field trips in mentoring Hartford youth in learning to live healthier, more productive lives.  Husky Sport also recently received a gift of $250,000 from Emeka Okafor, the 2003-04 national player of the year for the NCAA champion UConn basketball team.

The Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Outreach and Public Engagement recognized Theodore Van Alst, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies Program, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, for being an advocate for Native American students and promoting University ties with the local native communities.  Van Alst, a Ph.D. candidate in modern and classical languages, is also program coordinator for the Native American Cultural Society.  The Undergraduate Student Award recognized Christopher Soares, Student Activities, Office of Community Outreach, for establishing the inaugural Husky Classic Special Olympics Soccer Tournament and promoting a stronger relationship between UConn and the Connecticut Special Olympics.  Soares, a senior majoring in molecular and cell biology, also has served as a leader with the Alternative Breaks program, including a healthcare-focused trip to Philadelphia and three trips to New Orleans to help with the rebuilding efforts.

The UConn Health Center’s ongoing efforts to help faculty, staff and students reach out to the local community include the Ethel Donaghue Center for Translating Research into Policy and Practice (TRIPP).  The center provides services to assist low-income and underrepresented populations that traditionally have the least access to health care.  Funded through a $1.7 million grant from the Patrick & Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation, the TRIPP Center is concerned with moving research from the clinical trial state into the community and primary care practices.  An example is Sister Talk Hartford, a faith-based weight-control program for women that focuses on predominately black churches in greater Hartford.  

The University was selected to co-lead a National Transportation Security Center of Excellence, one of five new university-based research centers established by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  The designation carries with it a minimum of $500,000 in federal funds.  UConn’s School of Engineering is home to the Connecticut Transportation Institute, the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center and the Booth Engineering Center for Advanced Technologies, all of which will contribute to the center’s activities to address the nation’s current and future transportation security issues.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded a training grant of more than $1.3 million to the Center for Continuing Studies to develop and deliver a collaborative leadership program for state and local homeland security senior and emerging leaders nationwide during the three-year project period.  The program will be offered 15 times to a total of 660 participants.  Under an articulation agreement with the Naval Postgraduate School, the Center successfully launched a cohort-based graduate program in homeland security leadership in 2005 with students from federal agencies such as the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Transportation Security Administration, as well as from local and state law enforcement agencies from across the continental U.S. and Alaska.

Fifty UConn student volunteers and a UConn staff member traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi for 12 days in January to help in the continuing cleanup and home rebuilding efforts in the hurricane devastated area.   Volunteers were recruited by the UConn Community Outreach Alternative Breaks Program to work in collaboration with the East Biloxi Relief and Redevelopment Agency, a non-profit group that helps individuals, families, small businesses and neighborhoods rebuild after hurricanes.  The trip is the University’s fifth volunteer effort in the Gulf Coast region.  UConn Community Outreach sponsors student activities during semester breaks that enhance the lives of communities while enriching and expanding students’ experiences.

The University’s Division of Athletics initiated a new community service program called Husky Reach through the support of the SBM Charitable Foundation, Inc.  The program is aimed at providing positive role models to the children of Verplanck Elementary School in Manchester by having UConn athletic teams and student-athletes participate in a variety of elementary school activities that teach the value of education, sportsmanship, integrity and teamwork.  The SBM Charitable Foundation, Inc. was established in 2000 by Connecticut Bancshares, Inc., the parent company of the former Savings Bank of Manchester and is committed to bettering the lives of those who live and work predominantly in Hartford, Tolland and Windham Counties.

The Co-op Cares Bag Program, launched on Earth Day 2008, is a new initiative to reduce plastic bag use and promote environmentalism.  For each customer who refuses a bag, the Co-op donates 5 cents (the average cost of a plastic bag) to one of four charities: the UConn Foundation’s Green Campus Fund, which promotes energy efficiency and works to reduce the University’s ecological footprint; the Carlee A. Wines Memorial Scholarship Fund, named in memory of a UConn freshman who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in 2007; SoundWaters, a nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental education and the preservation of the Long Island Sound; and Joshua’s Tract Conservation and Historic Trust, a Connecticut nonprofit organization which receives, purchases, and protects land considered important to preserve.  In the first four months of the program, more than 22,800 plastic bags were refused, raising a total of $1,140 for the charities.

The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History at the University received $1 million from Julia B. Budney for the promotion of educational programs as well as the design and construction of the next phase of the museum’s renovations.  It also included support for the Henry S. Budney Natural History Collection, comprising more than 115 high-quality vertebrate mounts and assorted ethnographic items collected by Mrs. Budney’s late husband and contributed by his estate.  The museum reaches more than 50,000 people annually through visits to the facility and exhibit loans to schools and organizations.  It also houses the Connecticut Office of State Archaeology and the Connecticut Archaeology Center, and coordinates numerous efforts, such as the Stone Wall Initiative.  Biodiversity, conservation and natural history are the education, research and outreach focus of many faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the museum’s home at UConn.

The former head of special collections for the Homer Babbidge Library, Richard Schimmelpfeng, made his second significant donation of books, more than 350 volumes of Aesop’s Fables, to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center.  He previously donated more than 400 volumes dealing with calligraphy and writing.  In addition, he continues his regular contributions to the University’s libraries by volunteering 16 hours per week cataloging rare and special materials, a task he began the day after he retired in 1992.

       Each year School of Fine Arts events in art, music and dramatic arts serve over 250,000 on campus and over 550,000 in locations throughout the state.   Some 600,000 annually register for the wide variety of non-credit programs offered by the schools and colleges, offices, and all the campuses of the University.    

 

Programs to Support Economic Development

President Hogan signed the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment, a document that commits the Storrs campus to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.  Signing the document and agreeing to help reduce carbon emissions formalizes UConn’s ongoing commitment to playing a leadership role in environmental stewardship.

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI) moved into its new office space in the University’s Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology in East Hartford.  Funded by the legislature as part of the 21st Century Jobs bill that was passed in 2006, CCEI is a partnership between UConn’s School of Business and School of Law.  It was created to facilitate the development of transformational technology businesses in Connecticut and enhance the state’s economic climate by assisting new and existing companies in solving complex business and legal problems.  In its first year of operation, the CCEI served more than 130 companies from the software, biotech, energy and engineering industries and involved nearly 150 UConn student participants from degree programs in business, law, engineering, and the liberal arts and sciences.

The Eminent Faculty Initiative in Sustainable Energy was launched in the School of Engineering supported by $2 million from the state and $2 million in matching funds from corporate partners FuelCell Energy of Danbury, Northeast Utilities Foundation, and UTC Power of South Windsor.  The special partnership among UConn, the state, and industry will support economic and workforce development and propel Connecticut onto the international stage in the development of sustainable energy.  The funding will be used to recruit senior-level faculty and staff and enhance programs at the school and its energy-focused units, including the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center and the Biofuels Consortium.

 Environmental problem solving capabilities of the interdisciplinary Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering (CESE) increased with a substantial gift from Sheldon Kasowitz ’83 and his wife, Samanth.  Kasowitz is a member of the UConn Foundation Board of Directors and co-founder and managing partner of Indus Capital Partners, LLC in New York City, which manages approximately $6 billion in assets worldwide.  More than 80 UConn faculty from every discipline of the University are affiliated with CESE, whose goal is to become an environmental commons where faculty members, graduate students, governmental scientists and policy professionals from the sciences, agriculture, law and dozens of other specialties come together to interact and collaborate.

The UConn Health Center won an Environmental Excellence Award from Practice Greenhealth, an independent not-for-profit organization that works with health care organizations to adopt best environment practices.  The Health Center established an Environmental Sustainability Action Committee last year and since then has taken steps to promote energy conservation, recycling, carpooling, and the use of environmentally responsible cleaning products.  Renewable sources were 12 percent of the electrical energy the Health Center purchased, compared to 5 percent last year.

Dining Services at the Storrs Campus began hosting its own bees to provide local honey for the dining facilities.  Ten bee hives and 100,000 bees were set up about a mile away from the campus, adjacent to a university apply orchard, to not only produce honey but also to environmentally assist in treating the crisis existing among North American pollinators – the colony collapse disorder that has had a significant impact on the shortage of honey bees and native bumblebees. Three fourths of the flowering plants in North America require the pollination of a bee, bird, bat or other animal or insect in order to bear fruit.

The Cooperative Extension System in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources offers a variety of programs in community and economic development: Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) - research and education focusing on the impacts of land use on natural resources to assist local land use decision makers; Connecticut Land Use Academy - basic training for elected and appointed land use commissioners on topics ranging from legal responsibilities to map reading; Connecticut Tax School - education for accountants and tax professionals on state and federal tax law updates, in cooperation with Internal Revenue Service and Connecticut Department of Revenue Services;  Farm Risk Management and Crop Insurance Program - educational programs about farm management;  Food Marketing Policy Center – information on the organization and performance of food markets in Connecticut, the nation, and the world; Green Valley Institute (GVI) - educational programs for municipal decision makers and others involved in land use planning in the Quinebaug-Shetucket National Heritage Corridor; Geospatial Technology Program - training on geospatial information technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing (RS), and global positioning systems (GPS);  Land Use Planning Program - statewide program addressing a wide range of planning issues for Connecticut communities, with program topics ranging from open space planning and farmland preservation to economic development; Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) Program and National NEMO Network - educational workshops for municipal officials on the benefits of comprehensive land use planning.

The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis (CCEA), established in 1992, serves the people of Connecticut by improving their understanding of the state's economy -- past, present, and future. The Center’s services include:  compiling data required to monitor and forecast economic developments in Connecticut; maintaining models of the state's economy, which the Center uses to conduct empirical analyses for state, municipal, and private groups; promoting economic and financial literacy through the research, publication and outreach of its Connecticut Center for Economic Education; and serving state agencies, municipal governments, non-profit and private organizations and Connecticut citizens through the data bank, research, publications, and  outreach of the Connecticut State Data Center, the official U.S. Census liaison for Connecticut.

Partnerships of the School of Business with state businesses have continued productively with the GE Edgelab in Stamford, the Financial Accelerator in Hartford, and part-time MBA and EMBA programs offered in several locations in the state. 

The University’s graduating classes each year provide a new resource of skilled individuals who help to keep business in the state, lure new firms, and serve with distinction in schools, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

Expanding Educational Opportunity

Many on-going collaborations of the University with Connecticut’s public schools expand educational opportunities and postsecondary education participation outcomes for the state’s elementary and secondary students.  In addition to the Carnegie Foundation funded, multi-year, multi-disciplinary Teachers for a New Era Project, the collaborations are illustrated by the examples below:

·        Neag School of Education: Reading Intervention Program to Increase Achievement, Fluency, and Enjoyment in Reading; Connecticut Reading Recovery Center; Project on Mentoring Mathematical Minds; Husky Sport Programs; and School Counseling Program to Improve Minority Achievement.

·        College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Kids Are Scientists Too (KAST) summer day camp; Physics Olympiad; Visiting Junior Scientist Program; Marine Scholars Program; BioBlitz; Archaeology camp; GlobalEd Project; and Writing Tutorial Center.

·        School of Engineering: Connecticut Invention Convention; Northeast Regional Science Bowl; Da Vinci Workshop; Galileo Project; Pre-Engineering Program (PEP); Engineering summer camp; Multiply Your Options workshop for female students; PATHS to the Future – Community of Learners program for urban students; and BRIDGE residential summer program for admitted underrepresented minorities.

·        School of Business: Connecticut Information Technology Institute (CITI) training and Teenage Minority Business Program.

·        College of Agriculture and Natural Resources: 4-H LIFT (Learning, Interaction, Friends, and Talents) and other after-school programs; Adventures of Lead Busters Club, focused on hazards of lead poisoning; Classroom Incubator Management instruction; Integrated Pest Management (IPM) training; Beetle Farmer Program; High School Student Internships; and Connecticut FFA Career Development Events.

·        School of Fine Arts: University Symphony Orchestra rehearsal option for public school musicians.

·        School of Nursing: Healthy Kids are Happy Kids Program and Healthy Schools Collaborative for key health topics; and a new Nursing Academy in Hartford Public High School with curriculum designed to focus on academic preparation for success in collegiate programs of nursing education.

·        School of Pharmacy: Science Fair judging and underrepresented minority student mentoring.

·        School of Law: Connections Mentoring Program and Street Law Seminar.

·        School of Social Work: Student Internship Program in school settings and Safe Schools/Health Students initiative to reduce and prevent school and urban violence.

·        Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine: Great Explorations Middle School Program and Health Professions Academy with the Hartford Public School system.

·        Avery Point Campus: Marine Scholars Program and summer outreach programs with Mystic Seaport; Yes I Can Program for minority students; Read Across America day; and Expect Great Things career paths program and mentoring by undergraduate students, staff, and faculty in the New London and Groton School Districts.

·        Greater Hartford Campus: Jumpstart for ninth and tenth graders interested in the health professions and Junior and Senior Doctors Academy for 11th and 12th graders preparing for health careers, both programs in collaboration with the UConn Health Center; College for Every Student program and Writing tutoring for Hartford Public High School; and Inroads New England for recruitment of minority students into business, engineering and other college preparatory careers.

·        Stamford Campus: University Pals program for middle school students; Speakers Bureau for faculty talks to high school students in Fairfield County; and Globalization Conference for high school students.

·        Torrington Campus: Highlander Transition Academy, a local group providing guidance to high school students with special needs; and partnerships with Explorations Charter School in Winsted and the Torrington, Terryville and New Milford High Schools.

·        Waterbury Campus: KnowHow2Go Program and College Goal Sunday planning for first-generation and lower-income students; tutoring to students in inner-city, minority-serving Waterbury public schools; and school-based research on the development and treatment of anxiety in children and adolescents.

·        Center for Continuing Studies: Community School of the Arts opportunities for credit and noncredit programs in music, theatre, art, and Homeland Security training.

·        Center for Academic Programs: Gear-Up Program; Educational Talent Search; Upward Bound for ninth graders; and Pre-Freshmen Student Support Services for summer before first UConn semester.

·        Early College Experience (ECE) Program: 44 different first-year University courses offered in 128 Connecticut high schools.  More than 5,000 high school students annually register for ECE credit courses.  UConn’s ECE program, begun in 1955, is the oldest high school-to-college transition program in the nation and this year became the first ECE program in the Northeast to earn accreditation from the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP).   

The Guaranteed Admissions Program (GAP) provides Connecticut’s community college students with admission to any UConn campus – Storrs, Avery Point, Greater Hartford, Torrington, Waterbury, or Stamford – provided they complete an associate’s degree and have at least a 3.0 (B) grade point average in a liberal arts or other approved major including horticulture, veterinary technician and environmental engineering technology.  A pilot program with 3 community colleges was begun in 2004.  The new agreement this year extends the program to all 12 Connecticut community colleges.  Students who do not participate in the GAP may still be eligible to transfer to UConn through the competitive transfer process.

The Harford Courant Foundation revised an existing scholarship fund for the purpose of assisting community college graduates in completion of bachelor’s degrees at UConn.  The new fund, called the Hartford Courant Foundation Fund for Community College Graduates at the University of Connecticut, provides scholarships to students who have completed an associate’s degree at one of the four community colleges in central Connecticut – Capital, Manchester, Tunxis or Middlesex – and been accepted at UConn through the Guaranteed Admissions Program. 

The U.S. Department of Education awarded Eliana Rojas, assistant professor-in-residence of Curriculum and Instruction, Neag School of Education, a $1.5 million grant to prepare teachers of English language learners to accelerate their students’ academic achievement.  The grant focuses on math literacy in the Hartford and Willimantic schools, Latino adolescents in grades six to 10, and the building of culturally responsive learning environments.

Through a collaborative effort of UConn’s Stamford Campus, corporate and foundation partners, and the Stamford public school system, more than 100 local middle school students experienced college life firsthand in the University Pals program.  Support from RBS Greenwich Capital, First County Bank, Pitney Bowes, Purdue Pharma, Nellie Mae Education Foundation and Linda Richardson Harper Foundation, as well as private contributors, provided for the experience.  The 12- and 13-year old students in the class of 2007 were the first to complete the program by attending UConn’s Stamford Campus for coursework in mathematics, the sciences, and the arts.  UConn launched the initiative to address a projected shortage of college-educated workers in the next decade.

Travelers’ Education Access Initiative seeks to improve access to higher education for underserved populations and to build awareness about careers in insurance and finance.  The comprehensive initiative supports leadership scholarships for students who demonstrate a commitment to multicultural diversity, and supports the Multicultural Business Club in the School of Business, Project M3: Mentoring Mathematical Minds developed by the Neag School of Education, the National Middle School Science Bowl, co-sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and other programs with the goal of success for underserved students.  Gifts for the initiative totaling $425,000 from the Travelers Connecticut Foundation, the charitable arm of Travelers, have strengthened the longstanding collaborative partnership between UConn and the insurance company, which has more than 700 alumni employees. 

The Health Professions Partnership Initiative (HPPI), formed in 1996, and renamed The Aetna Health Professions Partnership Initiative at the UConn Health Center following a $2 million gift from the Aetna Foundation, has continued to provide long-term academic enrichment and support activities for underrepresented and disadvantaged students in Hartford-area middle and high schools.  HPPI is a cooperative effort of faculty and staff of the University’s Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine, its Storrs-based School of Nursing, School of Pharmacy and Physical Therapy and Pre-Engineering Programs, UConn’s Greater Hartford Campus, Central Connecticut State University, and Wesleyan University, working with the Hartford Public Schools to recruit minority and low-income students for the medicine, dentistry, biomedical research, nursing, pharmacy, and allied health professions. 

 

Improvements /Achievements 2007-08

       The University of Connecticut, its students, alumni, faculty, and staff take pride in the University’s 127-year history of achievements.  The quality of our student population, and those seeking admission to the University, continues to rise, as the accomplishments of our faculty, staff and students continue to impress.

Michael J. Hogan became the 14th president of the University of Connecticut on September 14, 2007. He is a nationally distinguished specialist in the history of American diplomacy and is the author or editor of nine books and a host of scholarly articles and essays.  His books include the prize-winning study The Marshall Plan: America, Britain, and the Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947-1952 (1987), The End of the Cold War: Its Meaning and Implications (1992), Hiroshima in History and Memory (1996), A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945-1954 (1998), and a second edition of Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations (2004).  President Hogan also holds a faculty appointment at UConn as a professor in History.  Prior to coming to UConn, he was the Executive Vice President and Provost and F. Wendell Miller Professor of History at University of Iowa.  Previously he was at Ohio State University where he served as executive dean of the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, dean of the College of Humanities, and chair of the Department of History.  He has been a fellow at the Harry S. Truman Library Institute and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and has served as a distinguished professor of history at Purdue University.  His scholarship was recognized with the Bernath Lecture Prize in 1984 by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, which he served as president in 2003.

The formal inauguration of UConn’s 14th president, Michael J. Hogan, was held on April 13 in the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.  Following the ceremony, a University-wide celebration and festival took place on the Storrs campus featuring food and refreshments, entertainment and music, and a variety of celebratory activities.  Well-wishers attending the inauguration and related events included members of the University community, state government officials, and dignitaries.  

Philip E. Austin completed 11 years as the University’s President in September 2007, and, following a sabbatical, will return to teaching as a tenured professor of Economics.  His legacy included a refurbished campus, a five-fold growth in endowment, an increased reputation for academic excellence, national athletic success and many other points of pride.  A new $1.5-million endowed faculty chair was established to honor the former President and to recruit a nationally recognized scholar for the UConn faculty.

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) re-accredited the University of Connecticut on September 20, 2007 for another ten-year term, noting in glowing terms the University’s decade-long transformation.  The re-accreditation process included: the UConn submission of a comprehensive self-study; ten-member external review team meetings with faculty, students, administrators and staff at the Storrs Campus; review team visits with faculty, students, administrators and staff at other University sites, including the Health Center, and the Avery Point, Stamford, and Greater Hartford campuses, and the team presentation of its report to NEASC’s Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE).  The re-accreditation standards emphasize inclusiveness in university planning and organizational decision-making, and institutional commitment to the accreditation standards.  The University was first accredited by NEASC in 1931 and has been re-accredited in each review since that time.

A revised Academic Plan that will set the future direction and priorities for the entire University, including the Health Center, builds on the previously identified themes of health and human behavior, the environment, and arts, culture and society from a local to global perspective.  Newly organized into five interrelated areas – undergraduate education; graduate and professional education; research, scholarship and creative activity; diversity; and public engagement – it includes specific goals for each theme and identifies timelines and metrics to evaluate the accomplishment of each goal. The reworked Plan takes into account input from a dozen faculty colloquia on specific themes and feedback from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges institutional reaccreditation team, as well as the recent reorganization that aligns the Health Center more closely with the rest of the University.

 

National Recognition

     The University received national recognition from many sources for the quality of its programs and accomplishments.  Following are a few examples of the recognition:

 

Academic Programs, Research and Scholarship

 

·        For the ninth consecutive year, the University of Connecticut was named the top public university in New England in U.S. News & World Report: America’s Best Colleges.  The report published in August 2007 ranked UConn 24th among 164 public universities in the nation. 

·        The Neag School of Education was ranked 21st among all graduate schools of education in the country, named the top public graduate school of education in the northeast, and ranked 12th among all public doctoral education programs in the country (and in the specialties, 18th in Special Education, 11th in Elementary Teacher Education, 15th in Curriculum and Instruction, and 12th in Secondary Teacher Education.  The rankings were in the U.S. News & World Report: America’s Best Graduate Schools published in Spring 2008.

·        For the third consecutive year, UConn’s School of Business was recognized as one of the top 70 MBA programs nationwide by Business Week and was ranked the #1 public MBA program in New England.  U.S. News & World Report’s Spring 2008 Best Graduate Schools ranked UConn’s MBA program 26th among the nation’s public Schools of Business.   Wall Street Journal Harris Interactive Business School Survey for 2007 rated the UConn MBA program as 51st in the regional schools category.  UConn’s MBA program was 10th in the nation for “Best Campus Facilities” in the Princeton Review’s 2007 “Best 282 Business Schools.”

·        Many of the University’s graduate and professional programs were highly rated by U.S. News & World Report in its latest issue of America’s Best Graduate Schools.  Among public medical schools nationwide, UConn ranked 30th in Medical Schools-Primary Care, 25th in Medical Schools-Research, and, in the medical specialties, 5th in Drugs and Alcohol Abuse.  In the Liberal Arts and Sciences, UConn national public graduate program rankings included 38th in Physics and 46th in Biological Sciences.  Public graduate and professional program rankings nationwide in other disciplines included: 23rd in Law, 28th in Social Work, 44th in Engineering (and in the specialties, 33rd in Environmental Engineering, 34th in Materials Engineering, 43rd in Computer Engineering, and 52nd in Electrical Engineering).  The U.S. News rankings are based on expert opinion about program quality and statistical indicators of quality of faculty, research, and students.  U.S. News does not rank all programs or all specialties every year.

·        UConn, including both the Health Center and Storrs-based programs, ranked 78th among all institutions and 54th among public universities nationwide in research and development expenditures, as measured by the National Science Foundation.

·        UConn was reported to be the 33rd best value public colleges for in-state costs by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.  The ranking is based on a combination of quality measures and cost, which Kiplinger defines in terms of schools where students can receive an excellent education without accumulating a large amount of debt.

·        The turfgrass programs in the Department of Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, were nationally recognized in the July 2007 issue of TurfNet, the Magazine, a special issue that rated North America’s top turf schools. UConn’s baccalaureate turfgrass science program was rated 17th and its associate degree turfgrass management program was rated 8th.  The turfgrass science program, established in 1998, and the turfgrass management program, begun in 2002, produce graduates who are employed in the golf industry, athletic field management, conservation and wildlife habitat work, and commercial and residential lawn care and landscaping.

 

Health Care

 

·        The UConn Health Center’s John Dempsey Hospital was honored with a 2007 Premier/CareScience Select Practice National Quality Award for superior patient outcomes in both quality and efficiency.  The award was announced by Premier, Inc., the nation’s largest independent health care alliance.  The UConn hospital is one of 49 hospitals nationally, the top 1 percent of acute inpatient facilities, recognized with the Select Practice Award.  It’s the second national honor the UConn Health Center has won recently.  Solucient, a leading source of health care information, named John Dempsey Hospital a “Top 100 Hospital”, another mark for prestige in health care. 

·        The Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Health Center won the highest possible overall rating from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons.  It was one of the facilities awarded “three-year approval with commendation” from the Commission for voluntary commitment to providing the highest level of quality cancer care and for successful completion of the rigorous evaluation process and review of performance.  An on-site review is required every three years to maintain approval.  The UConn Health Center first won Commission on Cancer approval in 1977 and has maintained that status ever since.  The American College of Surgeons is the world’s largest organization of surgeons and its Commission on Cancer is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving survival and quality of life for cancer patients.

·        President Bush appointed Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D., director of the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center and nationally prominent expert in gynecologic oncology, to serve a second term as chair of the National Cancer Advisory Board.  She also was recently named by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the world’s leading professional organization of physicians who treat people with cancer, as chair-elect of its cancer research committee.  President of the American Cancer Society in 2006, Runowicz has devoted her career to advances in the treatment, early detection and prevention of cancer.

·        Donna Buchanan was named the 2008 Direct Care State Nurse of the Year by the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services.  Buchanan has a dual role at the UConn Health Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).  As neonatal coordinator, she is responsible for the oversight of safety and performance of the neonatal transport system for stabilizing and transporting infants from other hospitals in the region to the NICU.  As neonatal nursing outreach coordinator, she provides multidisciplinary training and education to healthcare providers throughout the state.

 

Athletics

 

·        The University was re-certified by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), affirming that the institution operates its athletics program in conformity with the operating principles adopted by Division I membership.  NCAA certification is conducted on a 10-year cycle and involves a year-long self-study of the athletics division, a site visit and report by a peer review team, and an NCAA committee review of the self-study.  UConn last went through the process and was certified in 1998.  The University has 650 student-athletes participating in 24 intercollegiate sports at the Division I level, the highest level of athletics in the collegiate ranks.

·        The women’s polo team at the University won their fourth consecutive national championship.  The Huskies have won seven national titles during the last 13 years.

·        UConn’s athletic teams in all sports have won 8 NCAA Division I national championships, 38 Big East tournaments, and 44 Big East regular season titles since 1995.

·        Robert Arciero, M.D., a team physician for the University’s basketball, football and hockey programs, was selected to be the head physician for Team USA in the 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Hockey Championship tournament.  Arciero is the chief of the sports medicine division of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Health Center’s New England Musculoskeletal Institute.  He is a nationally recognized expert in the management of shoulder and knee injuries. 

·        Rebecca Lobo was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Hall of Fame.  CoSIDA established the Hall of Fame to honor former college student-athletes who have excelled in their professions and made substantial contributions to their communities.  To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, a candidate either had to be an Academic All-America team member who graduated at least 10 years ago, or fall into the honorary category.  Lobo was a two-time All-America selection, guided the UConn women’s basketball team to a perfect 35-0 record and the NCAA national championship in 1995, was a WNBA all-star, and now serves as an analyst with ESPN.  Lobo is the second student-athlete at the University to be named to the Hall of Fame; former UConn women’s basketball player Leigh Curl was inducted in 1998.

·        The Division of Athletics and Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) signed a new four-year contract extension for CPTV to continue to be UConn’s exclusive local market television broadcast partner for women’s basketball.  Under this agreement, local television rights which are controlled by the University are assigned to CPTV with all other UConn games continuing to be controlled by the BIG EAST Conference and subject to Conference television contracts.  This latest agreement will generate a minimum of $3.6 million for the University over the four-year period.

·        The Division of Athletics opened an on-line UConn Photo Store to enable UConn fans to purchase athletic-related pictures through the on-line website.  The photo depository features team photos and action images of teams and individuals from the current year as well as historical photos highlighting all 24 intercollegiate varsity teams at UConn.

·        A new official mascot – Jonathan XIII, a brilliant white, 100 percent pure Siberian Husky – was introduced at a spring basketball game.  The 14-month old dog replaces Jonathan XII, who retired two years ago.  The Husky became UConn’s mascot in 1934, after the University’s name changed from Connecticut Agricultural College to Connecticut State College, and athletics teams could no longer be called “Aggies.”  Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity, has cared for the UConn mascot since the 1970s. 

 

Fundraising for Charities and UConn    

 

·        The University of Connecticut Foundation reported more than $43 million in new gifts and commitments for the year, with total assets of $392 million as of May 31, 2008.   Endowments managed by the Foundation made available more than $13 million in spending allocation in FY 2008, a record level and 8.4% higher than the previous year.  Donations and endowment investments result in the addition of endowed chairs and professorships, expansion of merit-based student aid, major support for facilities in business, athletics, and the arts, and funding for many academic program initiatives. 

·        The Founders Society annual dinner and induction ceremony was held at the Hartford Marriott Downtown in Hartford. The event coincided with the inauguration weekend for President Michael J. Hogan.  During the festive gala, 68 new member individuals and couples were inducted and more than 120 ascended to higher honorary recognition circles.  Among the 270 guests were members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and UConn’s Board of Trustees, endowed faculty, Board of Trustees Distinguished Faculty, members of the president’s search committee and the Hogan family.

·        More than 300 people attended the inaugural “Imagine Ball”, raising more than $250,000 to create a new cutaneous oncology program within the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University’s Health Center.  The event, held at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, honored three individuals who have helped to raise awareness about cancer.  The honorees were Jim Calhoun, coach of the UConn men’s basketball program and a cancer survivor; Jack Rowe, M.D., former chairman and CEO of Aetna, Inc., and chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees; and Judith Reichman, M.D., a women’s health expert and physician correspondent for NBC’s Today show.  The Health Center is the only facility in Connecticut that offers whole body digital imaging to monitor and track potential skin cancer in high-risk populations. 

·        Endowed chairs established by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. were recently filled with nationally renowned faculty members.  The endowed chair in Mechanistic Toxicology, recently enabled through a $1.25 million gift to the School of Pharmacy, was filled by Urs Boelsterli, professor of pharmaceutical sciences and toxicology at the National University of Signapore and previous head of molecular toxicology for Switzerland-based Roche Pharma.  The endowed chair in Cell Sciences at the UConn Health Center, established in a previous year, was recently filled by Leslie Loew, UConn professor of Cell Biology and Computer Science and Engineering, director of the R.D. Berlin Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, and leader of a multidisciplinary team of scientists awarded $12.3 million from the National Institutes of Health for research and development of tools and technologies to measure, manipulate, and model the function of biochemical networks in living cells.

·        The Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies will support teaching and research by an eminent scholar of Jewish life, history and religion.  Simon ’96 (Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters) and Doris M. ’50 Konover, two founding supporters of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, endowed the Center’s first faculty chair with a $1.5 million gift.  The Center, which celebrated its 25th anniversary, offers an individualized undergraduate major in Judaic Studies, a master’s degree program in Judaic Studies, an Israel Study Program, and co-sponsors an archaeological dig at Sepphoris in Israel.  In addition to the Center, the Konovers have made significant previous contributions to both the Storrs and Health Center programs. 

·        An endowed honors professorship in political science – the first for both the Department of Political Science and the Honors Program – was established with a $750,000 gift from Alan R. Bennett ’69.   The professorship is intended to enhance high-level course offerings and faculty research.

·        A professorship in classical music was established with a $500,000 bequest from emeritus education professor Jay S. Shivers.  The bequest also expanded an existing scholarship endowment for students in the School of Fine Arts.  

·        This year’s annual HuskyTHON Dance Marathon raised $57,000 for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford.  The Marathon, held each spring in UConn’s field house, is the University’s largest student-run philanthropic event.  Hundreds of students and dozens of student organizations form teams and pledge to remain standing for numerous consecutive hours to raise money for the national Children’s Miracle Network and the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, CT.

·        Mark R. Shenkman received the A.J. Pappanikou Outstanding Contribution Award.  Shenkman’s gift of $2.5 million, one of the largest ever to the UConn Division of Athletics, helped build the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center on the Storrs campus.  The indoor training facility is used by both intercollegiate teams and recreational services.  Shenkman is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Shenkman Capital Management, Inc.

 

Individual Achievement Examples

 

Many individuals in the University community contributed academic and scholarly achievements and services to the University, the state and beyond.  Examples include the following:

 

·        Fakhreddin Azimi’s book, The Quest for Democracy in Iran: A Century of Struggle Against Authoritarian Rule, was published by Harvard University Press.  The book discusses Iran’s Constitutional Revolution of 1906, the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty, the Anglo-American-backed coup of 1953, the Shah’s repressive policies, the revolution of 1979, and current-day Iran.  Azimi is professor of History and teaches courses on Iran and the Middle East and a graduate seminar on historiography and the epistemology of history.

·        Anne Bavier, new dean of the School of Nursing, brings to her position a dozen years of experience in leadership roles at federal health care agencies, including being the deputy director of the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s Health.  She also has previous administrative experience in schools of nursing at Emory University and St. Xavier University in Chicago. 

·        John Bell, an internationally renowned puppeteer, professor, and historian of puppet theater, was appointed director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry (BIMP).  Bell previously worked with the award-winning Great Small Works Theater Company, puppet and mask preservation projects at Columbia University, and as curator for puppet exhibits at Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts.  BIMP, located on the Depot Campus, houses a collection of more than 3,000 puppets, many created by leaders in the field, including Tony Sarg, Margo and Rufus Rose, Bil Baird, and Jim Henson, and resource materials of importance to researchers in the puppet arts.

·        Mark T. Bertolini, president of Aetna, Inc. (NYSE:AET), was appointed to the Health Center’s Board of Directors.  As president of Aetna, Bertolini is responsible for all businesses and service operations for health care products. 

·        Mun Young Choi, new dean of the School of Engineering, was previously the associate dean for research and graduate studies and department head of mechanical engineering and mechanics at Drexel University’s College of Engineering.  A National Research Council Post Doctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Choi’s research programs have been funded by various federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

·        Daniel Civco, professor of Natural Resources Management and Engineering and director of the Center for Land Use Education and Research, received a National Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching in the Food and Agricultural Sciences.  It is the highest honor an educator in the field of agriculture and natural resources can receive.  The award is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.  Civco is the sixth member of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to be honored with a U.S.D.A. award but the first to win the national award. 

·        Michael Crouch, new executive director of the Office for Sponsored Program (OSP) and assistant vice provost for research, had worked at the University of Pittsburgh for nearly 15 years in a similar role, managed the grants portfolio for a hospital consortium and the MedStar Research Institute, and been a consultant for non-profit grants management.  OSP coordinates sponsored research activities at Storrs-based programs.  

·        Desiree Diaz, clinical instructor in the School of Nursing, received a 2008 Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing from the Visiting Nurse Association of South Central Connecticut.  Nurses throughout the state are given this award to recognize outstanding commitment to the nursing profession.

·        Christopher Earley, new dean of the School of Business and the first Auran J. Fox Chair in Business, was previously the dean and Cycle and Carriage Professor at the National University of Singapore School of Business. He also has held chairs at London Business School and Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

·        Kenneth Fuchs, professor of Music, composed a concerto for French horn and orchestra, Canticle to the Sun, that was premiered by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra at the Bushnell Theater.  It is the longest piece on Fuchs’ new CD featuring five original compositions recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.  The CD was released by Naxos on the American Classics label.  Fuchs, who has written for orchestra, band, chorus, jazz ensemble and chamber ensembles, has received many national awards and honors for his compositions. 

·        Betty Hanson, retired professor of Political Science and director of India Studies, and Robert Chudy, interim director of International Services and Programs, were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in International Affairs.  The award, announced by the Vice Provost for Multicultural and International Affairs, was given in recognition of their significant contributions to students and to diversity at the University.

·        Bahram Javidi, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was granted a 2008 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for research on real-time automated detection and identification of biological microorganisms.  The Guggenheim Fellowship is among the highest peer honors that a scholar can receive. 

·        David A. Kenny, professor of Psychology, was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor societies.  Considered among the 100 most cited social psychologists in the country, he is the author of six books and has written extensively on mediational analysis, interpersonal perception and the analysis of social interaction data.  Kenny is one of 212 new scholars, scientists, artists, and civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders from 20 states and 15 countries to be elected this year.

·        Steve Kremer was named UConn’s executive director of residential life and will oversee a student housing program with 11,700 beds.    UConn houses about 70 percent of the undergraduate student body and has one of the largest student housing programs in the United States.  Kremer previously was a housing director at Ohio State University with expertise in creating residential learning communities.

·        Cato T. Laurencin, new Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine, comes from the University of Virginia where he was the Lillian T. Pratt Distinguished Professor, Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Orthopaedic Surgeon-in-Chief of the University of Virginia Health System.  He has published and lectured throughout the world about new innovations in musculoskeletal regeneration, biomaterials, and shoulder surgery.  At UConn, he holds the Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Chair in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery as well as professorships in Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering.

·        Ronald Mallett, professor of Physics, signed a film contract with director Spike Lee.  Lee’s production company, Forty Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has acquired the film rights to Mallett’s latest book, Time Traveler – a Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality.   The agreement resulted from a conversation between the two when Lee was the keynote speaker at the Harlem Renaissance Conference in Storrs organized by UConn’s Institute of African American Studies.

·        Jeremy R. Paul, new dean of the School of Law, has been a faculty member at the School since 1989 and an associate dean since 1999.  Paul previously served as a law clerk to Judge Irving R. Kaufman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; as professor-in-residence at the Appellate Staff of the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and as assistant to the president of TravelersGroup. 

·        Salome Raheim, new dean of the School of Social Work, located on the University’s West Hartford campus, was previously in the administration of the University of Iowa, where she was senior associate to its president and the director of its School of Social Work.  She also served on the board of directors of the Council on Social Work Education, the accrediting body for social work programs, and has received a national award for her contributions to social and economic justice.

·        Nechama Tec, retired professor of Sociology at the Stamford campus, sold the movie rights for her fourth book, Defiance, to Academy Award-winning director and producer Edward Zwick.  The motion picture has a $50 million budget and tells the story of the largest armed rescue of Jews by Jews during World War II.  Defiance has won two literary awards, including the International Ann Frank Prize in 1994.  Two of Tec’s other books, Resilience and Courage: Women, Men, and the Holocaust (Yale University Press 2003) and In the Lion’s Den: the Life of Oswald Rufeisen (Oxford University Press 1990), were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

·        Jeremy Teitelbaum, new dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), was previously a senior associate dean of liberal arts and sciences and professor of mathematics at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).  Teitelbaum, whose research interest is number theory, has overseen innovations in teaching at UIC such as the Mathematical Sciences Learning Center and public school teacher development in mathematics education.  CLAS is the largest academic unit at UConn, with 600 faculty, 23 departments, and more than 12,000 students. 

·        Gregory Weidemann, new dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, was previously dean of agriculture, food and life sciences at the University of Arkansas, where he also served as associate vice president for research and director of the agricultural experiment station.  As a faculty member, he has received several teaching awards and has focused his research on the taxonomy and biology of plant-pathogenic fungi and biological control. 

·        Two faculty members were named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  Sally McBrearty, professor of Anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was cited for her distinguished contributions to the field of hominid origins and African Paleolithic archaeology, and for her work on the origins of modern human behavior.  Laurinda Jaffe, professor of Cell Biology at the Health Center, was cited for distinguished contributions to the field of developmental cell biology.  AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science.

·        Three School of Nursing professors were elected to the American Academy of Nursing, the highest honor for nurses in the country.  Professor and associate dean Regina Cusson was recognized for her outstanding accomplishments in the field of neonatal care.  Professors Geraldine Pearson and Deborah Shelton were honored for their exceptional work in the fields of adolescent psychiatric nursing and correctional health care respectively.  The Academy recognizes top nursing leaders in the fields of education, management, research, and clinical practice.  Of the approximately 3 million registered nurses in the country, only about 1,500 have been elected to the Academy.

·        Three School of Pharmacy faculty members and one graduate student have been honored by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy with the 2008 Rufus A. Lyman Award for the best paper published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.  School of Pharmacy authors are assistant professor Craig Coleman, graduate student Eang Lao, assistant clinical professor Lauren Schlesselman, and professor C. Michael White.

·        Seven UConn professors were elected to membership in the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE): in the School of Engineering – Michael Accorsi, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Baki Cetegen, Mechanical Engineering; and Kazem Kazerounian, Mechanical Engineering; in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences – William Fitzgerald, Marine Sciences; and Charles Yarish, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Marine Sciences; and in the School of Medicine – Leo Lefrancois, Immunology; and Leslie Loew, Cell Sciences.  CASE, Connecticut’s version of the National Academy of Sciences, is comprised of distinguished scientists and engineers from the state’s academic, industrial, and institutional communities. 

·        Three individuals were selected by the Board of Trustees to be honored with the University Medal for their significant public service to UConn.  In October, Donald “Dee” Rowe, former head coach of the UConn men’s basketball team and retired athletics development officer, was awarded the Medal for being an active and contributing member of the UConn community since 1969, establishing the Athletic Development Fund in 1978, and leading the Fund’s efforts to a funding level of $2 million by 1990-91, when he retired.  Today, the organization for which Rowe laid the groundwork raises $15.5 million per year.  In May, at the Commencement ceremonies, the University Medal was awarded to: Claire Leonardi, a former member of both the University Board of Trustees and the Health Center Board of Directors and a key leader in laying the foundation for the UConn 2000 program and addressing major financial challenges of the Health Center; and Samuel Kalmanowitz ’61, philanthropist, leader in the practice of community pharmacy and technological innovations in pharmacy, and a past recipient of the UConn Alumni Association’s Award for distinguished service.  The Medal is an honor established by the UConn Board of Trustees to recognize individuals whose life and achievements serve as examples of the University’s aspirations for its students and who have had a significant influence on the University.  It has been awarded only 28 times since its creation in 1983.

 

 Academic Programs

In Fall 2007, 28,677 students were enrolled in degree credit programs in: College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Schools of Business, Neag Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Graduate, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Ratcliffe Hicks at the Storrs campus, the five regional campuses (Avery Point, Greater Hartford, Stamford, Torrington, Waterbury), the School of Law in Hartford; the School of Social Work in West Hartford; and the Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine and graduate programs at the Health Center in Farmington.  The enrollment represents the largest number of students ever at the University. 

The number of freshmen applying to UConn has risen dramatically, from 10,809 for fall 1995, to 14,677 for Fall 2002, to 22,355 for Fall 2007.  The increased interest has been attributed to the physical transformation of the University through the state-supported UCONN 2000 and its continuation into 21st Century UConn, the quality and efforts of the University’s academic departments and faculty, the success of Husky athletic teams, and the perceived value of a top quality education at a reasonable cost.

Nearly 4,400 new freshmen and more than 900 new transfers joined the UConn community in Fall 2007.  At all of UConn’s campuses, more than three-fourths of the new freshmen were Connecticut residents, and 21.6 percent were from minority groups.

The average SAT score for Storrs enrolled freshmen has risen 79 points since 1996, to 1192 for the Fall 2007 entering class.  The Fall 2007 entering freshman class included 146 valedictorians and salutatorians, bringing the total since 1995 to 928 at all campuses.

At the Health Center, the Fall 2007 incoming class included 39 new dental students and 81 new medical students (less than 3 percent of the applicants to the Schools of Dental Medicine and Medicine).

Nearly 6,900 degrees were conferred in FY 2007-08 for completions of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs at the Storrs, regional and Health Center campuses.  The 4,591 bachelor’s degrees were the highest number of baccalaureates awarded in any year of the University’s history.  Other degrees awarded included: 1,409 masters, 285 doctoral, 73 education sixth-year, and 35 agricultural associates.  The graduate professional programs awarded 79 medicine (M.D.), 40 dental medicine (D.M.D.), 103 doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.), and 216 law (J.D. and LL.M.) degrees.  Since its founding in 1881, the University has conferred more than 235,000 degrees. 

Three honorary degrees were conferred by the University at its May Commencement ceremonies: Doctor of Laws – Charlotte Bunch, women’s and human rights activist, author, and founder and executive director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership; Doctor of Humane Letters – Gary S. Gladstein ’66, philanthropist and retired CEO of Soros Fund Management; and Doctor of Letters – Garry Wills, scholar, journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner.

The May Commencement speakers included Paul Adams, Kevin Bouley, Peggy L. Chinn, Samuel Kalmanowitz ’61, U.S. Representative John Larson, Valerie Lewis, Rebecca Lobo ’95, Denis J. Nayden ’76 BA ’77 MBA, Roger Newton ’74, and Joseph Volpe for the undergraduate ceremonies; Garry Wills for the Storrs-based graduate ceremony; Gerald Gianutsos for the School of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.); Gary Bailey for the School of Social Work; Pauline Chen for the Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine; and Chase T. Rogers, Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, for the School of Law.  The December Commencement ceremony, with scheduled speaker Charlotte Bunch, was cancelled due to inclement weather.

The School of Nursing’s full-time accelerated Master’s Entry into Nursing Program was approved for expansion to the Waterbury and Stamford campuses.  The program, which started at the Storrs campus in 2003, is intended to help ease the state’s nursing shortage.  The 45 credit program takes 11 months to complete and is geared for those who hold bachelor’s degrees or higher in fields other than nursing.  It culminates in a certificate that allows students to take the licensing exam in Connecticut and enroll in the master’s program in nursing at UConn.

The University’s new bachelor’s degree program in African American Studies is the first to be offered at a public university in Connecticut.  The program provides interdisciplinary coursework in art and art history, dramatic arts, history, music, political science, psychology, and sociology, and involves more than a dozen faculty members, 10 of whom hold joint appointments in the Institute for African American Studies.  The major will help the University establish strategic partnerships with other institutions in Connecticut and the nation and will complement course work already offered in Asian American Studies, Human Rights, Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, and Women’s Studies.

The University’s American English Language Institute’s Intensive English Program was reaccredited for another 10 years after a year long review of standards covering all aspects of academics, administration and student services.  The program serves students from more than 25 countries on six continents and is one of two nationally accredited university-based English language programs in New England.

Many academic programs and scholarship funds are developed and expanded through gifts and endowments.  Some recent examples include:

·        Peter J. and Barbara A. Deckers Student Academic Enhancement Endowment Fund supports students who plan to be the next generation of physicians, medical faculty, and biomedical scientists.  Its purpose is to make medical school affordable and accessible to students who have the aptitude and desire, but not the full financial means, to thrive in medical school.  It also supports student research projects during any of the four years of medical school.  The Fund honors the University service of Peter J. Deckers, M.D., who returned to faculty from the Health Center positions of executive vice president for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. 

·        Jerry and Katrina DesRoches Accounting Enhancement Fund supports program enhancements, undergraduate and graduate scholarships, and faculty initiatives in the Department of Accounting within the School of Business.  Gerald ‘82 and Katrina DesRoches established a $50,000 endowment to be matched by his employer.  Mr. DesRoches, managing director of Wealth & Tax Advisory Services, credits his education at UConn for putting him on the path toward professional success. 

·        Dorothy C. Goodwin Fund for Teacher Preparation Fund supports Connecticut State Museum of Natural History programs aimed at improving teacher quality that are consistent with the principles of the Teachers for New Era (TNE) initiative.  UConn is one of only 11 colleges and universities nationwide selected as TNE institutions by the initiative’s lead sponsor, the Carnegie Corporation of New York.  The Fund was established with a bequest of more than $141,000 from Dorothy C. Goodwin ‘57 (and ’88 Honorary Doctorate), who earned the first doctorate awarded in agricultural economics at UConn in 1957, was a long-time faculty member and assistant provost at UConn, and later served in the Connecticut General Assembly.

·        Cecil E. and Martha C. Hinkel Scholarship and Fellowship and the Martha C. Hinkel Jorgensen Auditorium Fund assist the School of Fine Arts in a variety of programs.  They were created from a gift of more than $300,000 from the estate of Martha C. Hinkel, a retired UConn staff member. 

·        Paul Krenicki Endowed Scholars in Sustainable Energy Fund supports scholarships for full-time undergraduate and graduate Engineering students who demonstrate an interest in sustainable energy.  The Donna Samson Krenicki Fund for Fine Arts supports program enhancements, specifically for the graphic design studio programs and activities within the Department of Art and Art History.  John Krenicki, Jr. ‘84 and Donna Krenicki ‘84, who met when they were UConn undergraduates, established a $100,000 endowment to be shared evenly by the Schools of Engineering and Fine Arts.   Mr. Krenicki is president and chief executive officer of GE Energy.

·        Dean Ross MacKinnon Endowment for College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Graduate Fellows will offer critical merit- and need-based support to graduate students, including award opportunities for research collaborations with faculty and teaching assistantship supplements for undergraduate mentoring.  The fund was established by faculty, staff and friends to honor the CLAS dean who retired at the end of the academic year. 

·        John T. Szarlan Memorial Student Mentor Award supports full-time sophomores, juniors and seniors who demonstrate academic achievement and volunteer as mentors to freshmen.  The scholarship was established by Jennie C. Szarlan in memory of her son, a counselor in the Institute for Teaching and Learning and one of the architects of UConn’s First Year Experience program, which has helped the Storrs Campus achieve a 93-percent retention rate for freshmen.

·        A $100,000 gift from Robert E. (M.A. ’51 Ph.D. ’55) and Gladys B. Dunn supports Neag School of Education student scholarships and faculty research related to international studies and global issues.  Their gift enhances the goals of both the Neag School and the University to increase the percentage of students pursuing international experiences in their degree programs.  The University offers over 200 study abroad programs in 65 countries on six continents.  Some 15% of UConn students participate in study abroad opportunities before graduation.

·        Waterbury Campus scholarships to assist financially challenged students have been established with a $100,000 endowment gift from Dorothy Bessette-DeSomma ’66 and Martin DeSomma D.D.S. ’66.  The couple, who met while they were undergraduate students at the Waterbury Campus, wanted to support the campus that continues to serve students of working-class upbringing in an industrial town. 

·        The AAUP Endowed Scholarship Fund provides tuition assistance for both incoming and continuing full-time undergraduate students whose parents die while active members of the UConn chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).  AAUP, which represents approximately 1,400 members, established the fund with a $100,000 gift to the University.

The Stamford Campus’s Student Involvement and Activities Center was named in honor of Devin Gaines, a 2007 graduate who died in a swimming accident two months later.  Gaines, who had attended both the Stamford and Storrs campuses, had achieved an extraordinary feat: he earned 276 credits in five years, enough to earn five degrees – in computer science, cognitive science, theater studies, linguistics/psychology, and an individualized major in cinema, culture and cognition – while maintaining a 3.2 grade point average.

Three faculty members were named the 2008 Board of Trustees Distinguished Professors.  Richard Bass, professor of Mathematics, is editor of Transactions of the American Mathematics Society, one of the foremost mathematics journals in the world, and is internationally renowned for his research in probability theory.  Cheryl Tatano Beck, professor of Nursing, is a renowned scholar in qualitative inquiry in nursing research, a leading nurse researcher on post-partum depression, and co-author of two seminal texts on nursing research that are used worldwide.  She also is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the highest honor for U.S. nurses.  Dipak Dey, professor and head of Statistics, is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.  The designation, the University’s highest honor for faculty, is reserved for no more than five percent of the full professors in active service at the University.

Mina Mina, professor and chair of the Division of Pediatric Dentistry in the Department of Craniofacial Sciences, received this year’s Faculty Recognition Award from the Health Center’s board of directors.  An internationally renowned researcher in the field of craniofacial biology, Mina has served as mentor for summer research projects and a major research adviser for pediatric dentistry residents and dental science master’s and doctoral students.  Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms regulating the growth and differentiation of the skeletal tissues in the lower jaw and tooth formation, and on the identification of stem cells for tissue engineering a human tooth.  In 2006 she was awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award for Craniofacial Biology Research from the International Association for Dental Research.

The Alumni Association announced the winners of its 2008 Alumni and Faculty Awards. The recipients are: Distinguished Alumni Award – Roger Newton ’74 M.S., President and CEO of Esperion Therapeutics Division of Pfizer Global; Humanitarian Award – Thomas Buckley ’82, ’94 M.P.H., volunteer clinical advisor for the Mae Tao Clinic in Thailand; Service Award – Annette Lombardi ’76, Connecticut Department of Social Services; G.O.L.D. Award – Jessica Stone Beauchemin ’98, President of Special Olympics International; Faculty Excellence in Research (Humanities/Social Sciences) –Nancy Naples, professor of Sociology; Faculty Excellence in Research (Sciences) – Wolodymyr Madych, professor of Mathematics; Faculty Excellence in Teaching at the Undergraduate Level –Robert Milvae, associate professor of Animal Science; and Faculty Excellence in Teaching at the Graduate Level – Marijke Kehrhahn ’76, ’95 Ph.D., associate professor of Educational Leadership.

Six UConn faculty members received Humanities Institute Fellowships: Joel Blatt, associate professor of History; Paul Bloomfield, associate professor of Philosophy; Robert Bonner, research fellow of Humanities Institute; Mary Crawford, professor of English; Brenda Murphy, distinguished professor of English; Sharon Harris, professor of English; Jennifer Travis, research fellow of Humanities Institute; Katherine O’Sullivan, doctoral candidate in Medieval studies; and Andrew Pfrenger, doctoral candidate in Medieval Studies.  The fellows spend two semesters engaged in research and writing and in sharing their projects with their colleagues in the Institute and the larger UConn scholarly community.   

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) UConn chapter awarded the following faculty members for excellence in teaching: Teaching Promise – Pamela Bedore, assistant professor English, Avery Point Campus; and Teaching Innovation – Thomas DeFranco, professor of Curriculum and Instruction.  The annual Instructional Excellence Recognition Dinner also recognized the following teaching award winners: First Year Experience – Joseph Briody, Student Development and Learning, and Carl Dean, Jr., Center for Academic Programs; Advising – Jennifer Murphy, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Morty Ortega, Natural Resources Management and Engineering; University Teaching Fellows – Robin Bogner, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Joseph Madaus, Educational Psychology; Outstanding Teaching Assistant – Steven Todd, Philosophy, and Jason Schmink, Chemistry; The John T. Szarlan Memorial Outstanding FYE Mentor – Robert Gendreau, Health Care Management, and Benjamin Gruenbaum, Psychology.  Many other teaching awards, including those in various academic disciplines, were acknowledged throughout the year.

       Office of Audit, Compliance and Ethics held annual required compliance training sessions for all University employees to educate them on the Code of Conduct and the University Guide to the State Code of Ethics.   Separate sessions were offered to new employees, to staff members for recent updates to last year’s training, and to faculty covering all the elements of the staff session, but also including a comprehensive overview of the new AAUP Consulting Policy. 

 

Facilities Development

 

Students returning in Fall 2007 to the Storrs campus came back to cranes and busy construction workers, as the UCONN 2000 (also known as 21st Century UConn) building programs continued.  More than 9.5 million square feet of new and renovated space has been completed since UCONN 2000 was established in 1996 with state legislation.   Recently begun projects included landscaping for the Student Union Mall on the former site of the pharmacy building, exterior renovations to the Wilbur Cross Building, and both interior and exterior renovations on the 92-year-old Hawley Armory.  Wilbur Cross and Hawley are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

UConn’s Avery Point Campus re-opened its recreation facility, closed for nearly two years due to rain damage.  The Avery Point campus is the only UConn regional campus to house an athletic facility, which provides a newly renovated basketball/volleyball court, a six lane 25-yard swimming pool, weight-training programs and equipment, recreational sports programs and intercollegiate men’s basketball, women’s basketball and men’s baseball programs.

Renovations to UConn’s Torrington Campus, including a new main entrance, improved accessibility features, and improvements to restrooms and a lecture hall, were directed toward making the campus more accommodating to students, faculty, staff and the public, and a resource and destination for the citizens of Litchfield County.

UCONN 2000 projects were re-phased to be in alignment with Academic Plan priorities: enhancement of undergraduate teaching and learning – Arjona and Monteith schematic design in progress; building upon research and creative activities – Psychology, Fine Arts, and Neag Education building renovations; improvement of technology support (Institute of Materials Science, Mathematics, Physics, Information Technology Services) – Gant planning underway; increase in capacity for modern life science research – determination to replace or renovate Torrey in process; and achievement of the standards of the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC).  The re-phasing of UCONN 2000 enables the University to focus on academic priorities, continue emphasis on deferred maintenance projects, preserve older beautiful buildings, achieve efficiencies by completing code corrections and renovations together, and fund smaller projects while planning for larger projects.

The Burton Family Football Complex and Mark R. Shenkman Training Center have been named the first silver LEED-certified building at the University and the first athletic complex in the nation to earn the green building status.  The designation was granted by the U.S. Green Building Council, which noted the complex meets leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for “green” buildings.  The project was granted a “silver” designation.  The U.S. Green Building Council is a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of building industry leaders.  More than three dozen components in the construction of the complex promoted environmental sustainability, from site selection to building design and selection of materials, energy and water conservation, and indoor environmental quality.  Recycled steel was used to construct the facility, and the synthetic turf for the indoor field is comprised of various recycled materials, including rubber from shredded tires and sneakers.  With these facilities setting an important example of technical and economic feasibility, the University has adopted a policy that sets the LEED-silver rating level as a minimum performance standard for all larger construction and renovation projects.

A new University Alert Notification System was developed and put into place to enhance communications with the University community in emergency situations.   The system includes website alerts, email, voice mail, text messages, broadcasts through classroom cable and intercom systems, outdoor sirens and Code Blue phone kiosks, and is overseen by a committee with broad representation from University offices involved with preparation for emergencies.

Master plan development continued for the 50-acre site that will offer the UConn Storrs Campus and Mansfield community a future village of restaurants and retail stores, offices, and up to 800 units of new housing.  The Mansfield Downtown Partnership received the 2008 Community Consensus-Building Award for the Storrs Center project from the Connecticut Main Street program, a statewide non-profit organization under the auspices of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that supports the development of economically vibrant, traditional main streets as a foundation for healthy communities.   The project, approved by the University’s Board of Trustees and local agencies in 2005 and by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development in 2006, has also received a $10 million bonding authorization from the State.   Storrs Center is planned in phases that will allow flexibility to make changes along the way while remaining focused on bringing together residents, members of the University community, and visitors in a vibrant downtown environment. 

 

Information Reported as Required by State Statute

       In accordance with state and federal laws and regulations, the University of Connecticut is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.  The University’s affirmative action plans are in compliance with the requirements of the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, pursuant to the Regulations for Affirmative Action in the Connecticut General Statutes. 

       Fall 2007 minority undergraduate enrollment at all campuses was 19 percent.  Graduate and professional minority enrollment was 14 percent.  One hundred and nine countries were represented among the international students, who comprised 16 percent of the graduate and professional students.

       The Fall 2007 workforce for Storrs and regional campuses included 18 percent minority faculty and 15 percent minority staff.  At the Health Center, the workforce included 21 percent minority faculty and 22 percent minority staff.

       The University of Connecticut Board of Trustees is comprised of 21 members: 12 appointed by the Governor; two elected by alumni; two elected by students; and five ex-officio, including the Governor, the Commissioners of Agriculture, Economic & Community Development, Education, and the Chair of the Health Center Board of Directors.  Members of the Board of Trustees are: the Honorable M. Jodi Rell (President), John W. Rowe, M.D. (Chairman), Louise M. Bailey (Secretary), Philip P. Barry, Michael A. Bozzuto, Gerard N. Burrow, M.D., Richard Colon, Jr. (Student Trustee), Andrea Dennis-LaVigne, D.V.M., Peter S. Drotch, Linda P. Gatling, Ross Gionfriddo (Student Trustee), Lenworth M. Jacobs, M.D., Rebecca Lobo, Michael J. Martinez, the Honorable Joan McDonald, the Honorable Mark K. McQuillan, Denis J. Nayden, the Honorable F. Philip Prelli, Thomas D. Ritter, Wayne J. Shepperd, and Richard Treibick.

Other information required by state statute appears in other sections of this report.