The University of Connecticut

At a Glance

PHILIP E. AUSTIN, President

Fred Maryanski, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for University Affairs

Peter J. Deckers, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine

Established - 1881

Statutory authority - CGS Chapter 185b

Central office - Route 195, Storrs, CT 06269

Number of full-time employees - 3,782 + 3,276 (Health Center)

Recurring operating expenses - (as of August, 2004) $698,100,000

+ $565,900,000 (Health Center)

Organizational structure - Public State University

Mission

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

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

Statutory Responsibility

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

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

Improvements/Achievements 2003-04

National Recognition

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

· The University continued to be the best public university in New England in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings. It was ranked 25^th among 162 public universities in the nation.

· The University’s graduate and professional programs were highly rated by U.S. News in the latest issue of America’s Best Graduate Schools. Among public graduate and professional programs nationwide, UConn ranked: 17^th in the health discipline of Audiology; 20^th in Law; 21^st in Education doctoral programs (14^th in the Elementary Education doctoral specialty); 22^nd in Medical Schools-Primary Care; 27^th in Business master’s programs (14^th in the Information Systems graduate specialty); 28^th in Medical Schools-Research; 39^th in Engineering; 39^th in Public Administration master’s (5^th in the specialty of Public Finance and Budgeting); 41^st in Clinical Psychology; and 46^th in Social Work. The U.S. News rankings are based on expert opinion about program quality and statistical indicators of quality of faculty, research, and students.

· The MBA Program was included in the Forbes “Top 50”, among 1,200 business schools nationwide, for best return on investment and was a “Top Pick” by The Wall Street Journal. Business Week also has listed the University as a “Best B-School”. UConn’s undergraduate real estate program in Business was ranked 7th in the nation by U.S. News.

· UConn, including both the Health Center and the Storrs-based programs, ranked 68^th among all institutions and 46^th among public universities nationwide in research and development expenditures, as measured by the National Science Foundation.

· UConn’s twin NCAA national championships in men's and women's basketball made NCAA Division 1 Basketball history, as this was the first time the same school won the men’s and women’s basketball championships in the same year. Nearly 300,000 attended a parade in Hartford to honor the teams.

· Campaign UConn, the University’s $300 million six-year capital campaign, far exceeded its goal when it ended in June 30, 2004. Donations totaled $471 million, including $146 million gift-in-kind of computer software donated to the School of Engineering. Gifts and pledges were received from 115,000 corporations, charitable foundations and individuals. More than 61,000 were first-time donors. Most of the money will go toward programs, scholarships, and the hiring of faculty, including endowed chairs. About one-fifth of the money was designated for athletics.

· UConn has the 5th largest residential program and the highest percentage of students living on campus of any public university nationally, according to the Association of College and University Housing Officers International. More than 11,000 students live on the main campus at UConn, including 74 percent of the Storrs undergraduate population.

· Usage of the Storrs campus bus system has more than doubled since 1998, leading the Federal Transit Administration to recognize the University as a model for the region. UConn’s campus transit system was ranked with the campus systems in Seattle, Knoxville, and Birmingham for the number of riders.

· Two world leaders were awarded the inaugural Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights by the University. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain and Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern of Ireland were honored for developing the Good Friday Agreement, a blueprint for peace and justice following decades of conflict in Northern Ireland. Senator Christopher Dodd presented the awards, which were named for his late father, a U.S. senator from 1959 to 1971 and executive trial counsel during the post-World War II Nuremberg Trials.

· The Carnegie Corporation of New York named the University one of seven institutions nationwide to be designated as a “Teachers for a New Era” school and awarded a five-year, $5 million grant to be shared by the University’s Neag School of Education and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to improve the quality of teachers in the classroom. Part of the grant will be used to establish a Center for Collaborative Learning with academies of faculty and doctoral students focusing on seven areas: assessment, analysis and development; teaching and learning; technological advancement; numeration and literacy; multicultural issues; continuous learning; and research and practice.

· UGS PLM Solutions, a product lifecycle management subsidiary of EDS, the world's largest independent information technology services company, donated a software grant with a commercial value of $146.1 million -- the largest contribution ever received by the University. The gift-in-kind from EDS will provide students and faculty in the School of Engineering with a suite of leading industry software for computer aided design, computer aided manufacturing, computer aided engineering, collaborative visualization, finite element analysis, optimization programs, and advanced solid modeling.

· The Chemistry Department was awarded $4.2 million from I’m PACT World Ltd, a Japanese corporation, to endow the Yuji Hayashi Distinguished Chair in Plasma Chemistry. Plasma chemistry provides significant advances in catalysis, energy use, enhanced efficiency of vehicles, improvements in fuel cell applications, and improvements in clean processing of chemicals and materials.

· The School of Pharmacy received a $2 million gift from Pfizer Global Research and Development, a division of Pfizer Inc., to endow the Distinguished Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Technology, the applied science for development of medicinal agents and dosage forms. It is the first Distinguished Chair and the largest single gift ever received by the school.

· With the addition of the Pfizer Chair, UConn now has a total of 47 endowed chairs and 12 endowed professorships, including 24 chairs at the Health Center and one chair and three professorships at the School of Law.

· The Department of Journalism joined an elite list of programs, becoming one of only about 100

programs in the world and the only journalism program in New England, to be accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The accrediting team cited the department’s service to a large number of majors and its accommodation of non-journalism students in its introductory writing course.

· OR/MS Today, an industry journal for operations research/management sciences, ranked the Department of Operations and Information Management 7^th in the world for research productivity in key journals.

· The History Department was one of ten departments of history nationwide to be selected to participate in the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate, a three-year research and action project aimed at improving doctoral education at American universities. The project is sponsored by the Atlantic Philanthropies and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

· The School of Engineering organized and hosted the International Conference on Advanced Technologies for Homeland Security. The conference explored technical challenges involved in homeland security: recognition and identification, biological and chemical threat detection, secure information systems, secure infrastructures, and the politics of homeland security policy. More than 500 attended the conference, including faculty from 25 research universities, scientists from federal research centers, and representatives of defense contractors and high tech industries.

· The College of Continuing Studies also was involved in activities for the Division of Homeland Security: an education center for training first responders and overseeing exercises in terrorist attack simulations, and citizen corps and communication emergency response teams for coordinating statewide training programs. The college also established a management development program for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

· More than 21,000 plant enthusiasts visited the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Conservatory to see the blooming of the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), also known as the corpse flower. This is the first time a titan arum, the world’s largest un-branched inflorescence and most malodorous plant, has bloomed in New England, and the first time a bloom has appeared in the Northeast since 1937. More than two million hits were recorded on the University’s website Web cam that provided continuous coverage of the plant’s progress until it bloomed. The UConn plant is ten years old, grown from seed collected in the equatorial rainforests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Conservatory is home to about 3,000 species of plants, is utilized by dozens of research projects in biology, conservation, and plant ecology, and serves some 50 UConn classes.

Many individuals in the University community contributed to the national recognition of the institution. Examples include:

· John W. Rowe, one of the nation’s outstanding medical researchers and academic leaders and chairman and chief executive officer of Aetna, Inc., began in July a six-year term as chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees. A former professor of medicine and founding director of the Division on Aging at Harvard Medical School, he also previously served as chief of gerontology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, president of the Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Mount Sinai NYU Health. Among several professional honors, he is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Rowe delivered UConn's annual Commencement address to more than 3,000 graduating seniors in May.

· University President Philip Austin served on a Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education for reordering the Hartford public school system priorities to produce more college-ready students and to increase the college-enrollment rate of Hartford students.

· Gerard N. Burrow was named to the Health Center Board of Directors, replacing John W. Rowe when Rowe became chairman of the University's Board of Trustees. Dr. Burrow is president and chief executive officer at the Sea Research Foundation Inc. at Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration and the David Paige Smith Professor Emeritus of Internal Medicine and dean emeritus of the School of Medicine at Yale University.

· Joseph Civetta, professor and vice-chairman of the Department of Surgery at the Health Center, was honored with the Society of Critical Care Medicine's Lifetime Achievement Award. Civetta was cited for his many scientific and clinical advances in critical care medicine, as well as his organizational vision and leadership. He was a co-author of the first paper on pulmonary artery catheters outside the cardiology literature and opened the door to effective alternatives in respiratory failure treatment.

· Dr. Amii Omara-Otunnu, architect of the African National Congress-University of Connecticut Partnership and the sole holder of a UNESCO Chair in Human Rights in the U.S., was guest speaker at a Connecticut Bar Association meeting. He is the founder and Executive Director of the University’s Institute of Comparative Human Rights and a History faculty member.

· Franklin Chang-Diaz, an astronaut who has logged 1,600 hours in space, including nearly 20 hours in space walks, spoke to more than 650 graduating seniors during the University of Connecticut's first mid-year Commencement in December. Dr. Chang-Diaz, one of UConn’s most celebrated alumni, received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University in 1973. He currently directs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory in Houston.

· William Curt Hunter, senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, was named the new Dean of the School of Business. In December Hunter was elected to Xerox Corporation's (NYSE: XRX) board of directors.

· Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith, former vice chancellor for finance of the University of Alabama system and economic/educational adviser to the Alabama Governor, was selected for UConn’s newly created post of vice president and chief operating officer, part of an administrative reorganization designed to improve the quality of service and efficiency across the University.

· Carolyn D. Runowicz, a nationally prominent expert in gynecologic cancers and women’s health, became Director of the UConn Health Center's Cancer Center. Dr. Runowicz was professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and vice-chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. A 1973 graduate of UConn, she also will serve as director of women’s health services at the Health Center.

· Stone Wall Secrets, a children’s book authored by Robert Thorson, professor of Geology and Geophysics, and his wife, has become the catalyst of a novel elementary school curriculum. A $150,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant enabled Thorson to collaborate with Neag School faculty members to develop a K-8 curriculum that blends science, history, and writing lessons about how rocks provide clues to the past. The curriculum materials will be made available nationally on the NSF website.

· Men’s basketball junior Emeka Okafor was a unanimous selection to the 2004 Associated Press All-America first team and was named Co-National Player of the Year by the NABC. A Finance major with a 3.76 grade point average and a bachelor’s degree earned in three years, Okafor was the 2004 Co-SIDA Academic All-American of the Year. Women’s basketball senior Diana Taurasi was everybody’s 2004 All-American, with Naismith and Honda awards as the top college player and the honors of Nancy Lieberman-Cline National Point Guard of the Year, Kodak/WBCA All-America first team, and Associated Press All-America first team. Okafor and Taurasi both were selected to the USA Basketball Senior National Teams for the 2004 Olympics.

Academic Programs and Instruction

In Fall 2003, 26,629 students were enrolled in degree credit programs in the 13 Schools & Colleges at the Storrs Campus, the regional campuses (Avery Point, Stamford, and Tri-Campus with locations in Torrington, Waterbury, and West Hartford), the Schools of Law in Hartford, the School of Social Work in West Hartford, and the Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, and graduate programs at the Health Center in Farmington.

The number of freshmen applying to UConn has risen dramatically from 10,809 for fall 1995 to 14,677 for fall 2002, 18,724 for fall 2003, and 19,573 for fall 2004. The increased interest has been attributed to a number of reasons – state support of the University through UCONN 2000 and the planned 21^st Century UConn, the success of the Husky athletic teams, 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.

With the size of the freshman class at Storrs held to approximately 3,200, UConn became more selective in its admissions, accepting 53 percent of the Storrs freshman applicants for fall 2003 and 50 percent for fall 2004. In 1995, UConn accepted 70 percent of all applicants and received half as many applications at Storrs. Average SAT score of Storrs enrolled freshmen has risen 54 points since 1996, to 1167 for the fall 2003 entering class. In addition to the high quality of new students, the diversity of freshmen has increased. At all of UConn’s campuses in fall 2003, 19 percent of new freshmen were students of color, compared to 18 percent the previous fall.

The University began offering a generous incentive – half off the cost of tuition – to all freshmen in the top ten percent of their high school senior class with a minimum 1350 SAT score. Valedictorians and salutatorians receive half tuition scholarships and also receive a $2,500 stipend for a research or scholarly experience, such as study abroad or a lab project. A total of 100 valedictorians or salutatorians are expected to enroll at UConn in fall 2004, a noteworthy increase over the 77 enrolled in fall 2003 and a dramatic increase over the 40 in the fall 1995 freshman class.

Over 80 percent of freshmen participated in the First Year Experience (FYE) seminars aimed at helping first year students make a comfortable and meaningful transition to college life. A new Office of National Scholarships identifies, recruits and mentors high-achieving undergraduate students seeking prestigious national and international scholarships.

Results of a student survey on advising were utilized to improve several aspects of undergraduate advising, including: addition of advisers in Academic Center for Entering Students (ACES); incoming freshman seminar on advising; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences distribution of a new student advising handbook and information on college requirements; offering of an advising refresher course to faculty; and the College’s creation of a new undergraduate advising council with faculty representation from each department. Other academic units also increased emphasis on advising or instituted changes designed to improve service to students.

Approximately 2,100 graduate students at the master’s and doctoral levels were supported on merit based graduate research and teaching assistantships, up from 1,800 five years ago. The Graduate School also provided $1.81 million in competitive fellowship funding for graduate students, up from $1.43 million five years ago. The support, awarded in 87 fields of study in the arts and sciences and professional disciplines, with health insurance and tuition waiver benefits, have enabled the University to compete for quality graduate students.

Applications for admission to the University’s School of Law were expected to exceed 4,000 for the fall 2004 first-year class of 220. The significant increase in applications over last year is attributed to the School’s high quality education, its public school price tag, and the high ranking of the School nationally.

Nearly 5,500 degrees were conferred in 2003-04 for completions of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs at the Storrs, regional and Health Center campuses. The 3,673 bachelor’s degrees were a new high in the number of baccalaureates awarded in any year of the University’s history.

Six honorary degrees were conferred by the University at its Commencement ceremonies: honorary Doctor of Fine Arts - David Macaulay, an artist and illustrator; honorary Doctor of Humane Letters - Linda Darling-Hammond, former executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future; honorary Doctor of Science – Gene E. Likens, expert in the study of forest, stream and lake ecosystems and director of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York; honorary Doctor of Science degree - Iogna id G. O’Muircheartaigh, president of the National University of Ireland and instrumental in establishing a center for human rights at that institution; honorary Doctor of Science – Gerhard H. Giebisch, Sterling Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale University School of Medicine and a former chair at that school; and honorary Doctor of Laws – Dennis Wayne Archer, former mayor of the city of Detroit, Michigan, and former president of the National League of Cities.

The Commencement speakers included Mr. Archer, Dr. Likens, Board of Trustees Chairman John W. Rowe, and Francisco Jimenez, director of ethnic studies at Santa Clara University in California and well-known author about migrant workers in the U.S., who addressed the Health Center graduating students. Many of the students had volunteered medical and dental care to Connecticut’s tobacco and fruit pickers.

The University Medal, one of the highest honors presented at the University, was awarded to two outstanding individuals during Commencement ceremonies. In December, the Medal was presented to Connecticut insurance leader and community activist Thomas J. Wolff. Wolff, who graduated cum laude in economics from UConn in 1956, has provided major philanthropic support to UConn, including the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium, the Thomas and Bette Wolff Family Park, the Wolff Program for Entrepreneurship in the School of Business, an endowed chair and several endowed scholarships. In May, the Medal was presented to Peter W. McFadden, who earned two degrees from the University of Connecticut and since 1971 has served in a variety of administrative posts at UConn, including dean and director of development of the School of Engineering, interim vice president and provost, executive assistant to the president, and executive secretary to the Board of Trustees. Since his retirement in 1996, he has continued to serve the University in key administrative posts.

The Institute for Teaching and Learning and the Department of Accounting together developed an online Master of Science in Accounting program, employing the latest instructional technology as well as leading edge instructional design methodologies. This program has served as the prototype for the future development of online programs and department-wide application of instructional design techniques. The College of Continuing Studies also has online master’s programs in Professional Studies with specialization possible in Human Resource Management and Humanitarian Services Administration.

A program in India Studies was established with a gift of $100,000 from Gyan and Sheela Joshi. The program will enhance undergraduate and graduate instruction and research pertaining to Indian culture and heritage, with proposed fields of research and scholarship in Indian philosophy, classical languages, culture and society, and fine arts.

To help remedy the state's nursing shortage, the Paul L. Jones Fund gave the School of Nursing $300,000 to establish scholarships for a fast track nursing education program. The school also increased fellowships and expanded course offerings at UConn’s regional campuses, area hospitals, and community colleges to attract more people to the field of nursing.

In the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Department of Geology and Geophysics was eliminated to improve support of the geosciences and environmental science research and instructional programs through a new interdisciplinary, non-departmental administrative structure. Faculty in the department will be reassigned, and current majors will be able to complete their degrees. A Department of Public Policy was created to offer master’s programs in public administration and survey research and to include the Center for Survey Research and Analysis. The new department will be located at the Tri-Campus, in Hartford.

The University made plans to establish an insurance and financial center in downtown Hartford and relocate its Hartford MBA and its Farmington Executive MBA programs to the city. The centerpiece will be a Financial Accelerator, with a trading floor and state-of-the-art computer technology, that will enable students to investigate alternative markets and trader support tools, develop products to enhance competitive advantage, evaluate emerging technology, and create specialized business processes. The move is designed to assist Hartford’s renewal by having some 500 students, many of them mid-level executives, obtain advanced business degrees in the city during evenings and weekends. A similar program, edgelab, was previously established for the Stamford MBA and EMBA programs in cooperation with General Electric executives.

Investments in regional campus facilities and programs have enabled the Tri-Campus (Hartford, Torrington, and Waterbury campuses) to offer two bachelor’s degree programs in their entirety: Urban and Community Studies, an interdisciplinary program preparing students for careers in public and community service; and Business and Technology, an applied program with casework, experiential learning, and other educational applications useful in local manufacturing, high-tech, health services, and financial services companies. Torrington, the smallest of the three campuses, is anticipated to grow with the new Tri-Campus emphasis on Business, American Studies, and Psychology.

The first slate of courses meeting the new general education requirements was approved by the University Senate to take effect with the fall 2005 entering freshman class. A total of 511 proposals for new and revised courses to fulfill the new general education competencies were reviewed first by departments or programs, and then by the General Education Oversight Committee (GEOC) and Senate Curricula and Courses Committee before being presented to the Senate for approval. Sixty-two courses taught under the old general education system were dropped, and 203 courses new to the general education system - though not necessarily new to the University - were added; many other courses were substantially revised. In the new general education system, more emphasis is placed on diversity and multiculturalism (both international and non-international), writing, social science, computer technology and information literacy competency requirements. The process of general education course development is ongoing and course proposals may be submitted to GEOC at any time.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) reaccredited John Dempsey Hospital for three years. JCAHO is a private, non-profit organization charged by Congress with evaluating and accrediting health care organizations in the U. S. Dempsey Hospital received high marks in the two categories evaluated: a score of 97 out of 100 for behavioral health care; and a score of 93 for hospital services, including inpatient units, emergency department, and outpatient clinics. The hospital met performance standards in patient safety and security, medical equipment, utility systems management, hazardous materials and waste management, safety and quality improvement efforts, and appropriate level of care for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and other third parties.

The University community celebrated the 25th anniversary of Homer D. Babbidge Library, which opened in 1978. A few hundred books in the personal library of Charles Storrs made up the first library collection of the Storrs Agricultural School in 1882. By 1962, when Homer Babbidge became the University’s president, there were approximately 300,000 volumes. The University Libraries now have more than 2 million volumes. In addition to the Babbidge Library in Storrs, libraries also are located at the regional campuses, Health Center, and in the Schools of Law, Pharmacy, and Fine Arts.

Six faculty members, a recent graduate of the University, and a doctoral candidate received Fulbright awards. The Fulbright Scholar Program and the Fulbright-Hays Fellowship Program provide prestigious grants for worldwide studies and research. The 2003-2004 award recipients and their grant activities were: James Franklin (professor Dramatic Arts), teaching theatrical lighting design at the State Academy of Theatre Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia; Mark Janis (William F. Staff Professor of Law), curricular and institutional planning at Riga Graduate School of Law in Latvia; Jocelyn Linnekin (professor Anthropology), conducting research in Guatemala on the variation in conceptualizations of “democracy”; Timothy Reagan (professor Educational Leadership), working with the Ministry of Education and the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educacion in Chile to develop teacher education programs for teaching English; Karen Spalding (professor History), exploring in Peru and Spain the politics of the Spanish colonial rule; Steven Wisensale (professor Family Studies), participating in a German seminar on comparative family and aging policies; Robert Dunn (who received a doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2003), investigating ecosystem interactions between ants and plants in Australia; and Carolyn Schwarz (doctoral candidate in Anthropology), investigating the political implications of Christianity in an Australian Aboriginal community and conducting the research in Gupapuyngu, the language of the people she studied.

Two Fulbright Scholars visited UConn this year. Michael Magwa, professor of botany at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, conducted research on sustainable plant utilization. His UConn host was Mark Brand, professor of Plant Science. Nobutaka Matsumura, professor of education at Kansai University of Japan, carried out research on addressing the psychological needs of the gifted and talented. His UConn host was Joseph Renzulli, director of The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.

The University’s Humanities Institute announced the following Fellows and their projects: Residential Fellows - Cynthia MacDonald (Philosophy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand), self-knowledge; and Sonya Stephens (French, University of London, England), forms of the non finito in 19^th century France; UConn Fellows - Peter Baldwin (History), a history of urban public space, 1800-1930; Rae Beth Gordon (Modern and Classical Languages/French), primitivism, pathology and the idea of modernity in popular culture; Kenneth Gouwens (History), Clement VII and the Renaissance Papacy; Joel Kupperman (Philosophy), values in ethics; Michael Orwicz (Art and Art History), Gauguin’s Brittany; and Sylvia Schafer (History), law and government of difference in modern France; UConn Graduate Fellows - Charles McGraw (History), the Spanish-American war nurse; and Timothy Nulty (Philosophy), Davidson and Heidegger on the nature of truth.

Ross Miller, professor of English and Comparative Literature, was chosen to write a critical biography of novelist Philip Roth. He also was selected a Guggenheim Fellow. The award winning UConn Jazz Ensemble released its first compact disc, UConn Jazz, on the SeaBreeze Vista Record label. The CD attests to the high quality of students in Music in the School of Fine Arts.

Walter Woodward, an expert on seventeenth-century Connecticut, was named State Historian. He replaces Professor Emeritus Christopher Collier, who retired after serving in the position since 1985. A faculty member in History, Woodward will be based at the Hartford campus, easily accessible to state government and state archives. Connecticut statutes (Section 10a-111a) provide for the UConn appointment of the history scholar.

Richard Zeff, associate professor of Pathology, was this year's winner of the Charles N. Loeser Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Basic Medical Sciences. Second-year medical and dental students present the Loeser Award yearly to a Health Center faculty member who demonstrates scholarly curiosity, evokes in students an enthusiasm for learning, and advances the welfare and education of their students. It is the 29th time the Loeser award has been presented and the 3rd time Zeff has won.

Susan Reisine, professor and department head of Behavioral Sciences and Community Health and associate dean for research for the School of Dental Medicine, was this year’s recipient of the UConn Health Center Board of Directors Faculty Recognition Award. Reisine was given the award for outstanding academic and clinical accomplishments and sustained excellence of the highest order in her professional endeavors.

Five professors received UConn’s highest academic honor for faculty and were named Board of Trustees Distinguished Professors. The honor is reserved exclusively to recognize faculty who have achieved exceptional distinction in three areas – scholarship, teaching and service – while at the University of Connecticut. The 2004 Distinguished Professors were: William Fitzgerald (Marine Sciences), well known as the father of mercury research and currently studying the environmental impact of mercury in Long Island Sound; Bahram Javidi (Electrical and Computer Engineering), creator of an internationally recognized research program on optics for information systems; James Marsden (Operations and Information Management), director of Connecticut Information Technology Institute and Treibick Electronic Commerce Initiative, and co-founder and co-developer of the Stamford Campus edgelab, an e-business think tank; Lawrence Raisz (Medicine), developer and first head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and a national leader in bone biology, whose research on factors influencing bone metabolism has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for 38 years; and Howard Tennen (Community Medicine and Health Care), an innovative teacher with many teaching and national professional awards and a significant research contributor to the study of how people adapt to major health crises and everyday stressful situations.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at UConn announced the recipients of its 2004 awards for excellence in teaching, research, and service: Frederick Roden (English, Tri-Campus Torrington), teaching promise; Sarah Glaz (Mathematics, Tri-Campus Hartford), teaching innovation; Dipak Dey (Statistics), research excellence; and Carl Schaefer (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), service excellence.

The Asian American Studies Institute and Asian American Cultural Center hosted with the Korean American Society of Connecticut a Storrs symposium to celebrate 100 years of Korean immigration to the U.S., and to discuss Korean contributions to American history, culture and accomplishments. Many other centers and institutes offered a variety of activities supporting diversity.

Eight women at the UConn Health Center were honored for overcoming obstacles and inspiring hope in others: Ann Marie Capo (UConn Medical Group); Petra Clark-Dufner (Health Career Opportunities Program); Alicia Craffey (Genetics and Developmental Biology); Jeri Hepworth (Family Medicine); Jeanne Lattanzio (Hospital Administration and Nursing); Mary Jane Osborne (Microbiology); Betriz Tendler (Medicine-Hypertension); and Jane Ungemack (Community Medicine and Health). Black History Month featured the first African American female graduate of the School of Dental Medicine, Elizabeth Daniels.

Research, Service and Clinical Care

The University continued to strengthen research operations and to enhance research support. For FY 2003-04 (as of June, 2004), external awards for research, training, and public service totaled an estimated $95 million for Storrs-based programs. The Health Center’s sponsored program funding totaled an estimated $100 million. The University has more than 70 focused research centers that explore subjects from improving human health to enhancing education to protecting natural resources.

Commercialization of the University’s research brought in $725,000 in gross revenue. Invention disclosures have risen from a total of 45 in 1999 to between 70 and 80 annually in recent years. Between 12 and 16 new options and licenses are signed each year at the University.

For the third consecutive year, Congressional committees provided more than $20 million in federal funding, including more than $6 million for new projects, to researchers at UConn's Storrs-based programs and at the Health Center. The funding, in the approved Department of Defense budget appropriation and Omnibus Appropriations Bill, enables faculty to conduct groundbreaking research in agriculture, health, education, the environment, and life sciences. Newly funded projects include: $2 million to the Center for Land Use Education and Research for utilizing NASA satellites and Geographic Information Systems to track urban sprawl, farmland loss, water resources impairment, and other features of land use and abuse in Connecticut; $1.3 million to the Health Center Psychiatry Department for a multi-year study evaluating the effectiveness of two programs (pediatric primary care clinic and early identification of children at risk of neglect) for reducing criminal involvement among at-risk and previously incarcerated parents and for reducing behavioral problems in their children; and $2.4 million to the Health Center Cardiovascular Research Institute for developing methods to enhance physical capacity and decrease muscle fatigue of soldiers in adverse (high altitude or excessively cold or hot) environments.

Federal funding extensions were granted to a number of existing research projects, including several – Javits Gifted and Talented Student Education Program ($2.25 million, shared with other universities), National Undersea Research Program ($1.4 million), and Food Marketing Policy Center ($585,000) – that have received federal support for many years. The Long Island Sound Integrated Coastal Observing System won a large increase, from $210,000 received in its first year of funding in 2003 to $1.8 million in the new legislation, to more quickly establish an observing system of changes occurring in water conditions, and to include experiments conducted from on board the research vessel Connecticut. Other programs renewed were the Center of Excellence for Vaccine Research ($2.4 million); the Fuel Cell Research Center ($1.44 million); the Biotechnology Center, to continue its study of bovine genetics ($1.56 million); the Research Center for Advanced Deployable Nano-Sensors ($1.2 million); and an ongoing study of the Connecticut River watershed and airshed ($1.5 million). Several of the renewed grants were shared with partner universities. The University also received $500,000 for the New England Green Chemistry Consortium, to be shared with other New England state universities, for developing products that incorporate the reduction or removal of hazardous substances during production, preventing the need for costly changes or clean-up after production.

The Provost’s Research Fellowship program offers an opportunity for release time from UConn teaching for one semester for long-term research projects. Recipients of the 2003 Research Fellowships were: Paul Schiff Berman (Law), Eleni Coundouriotis (English), Clare Eby (English), Kathryn Myers (Art and Art History), and Stephen Ross (Economics). The Provost’s Research Excellence Awards recognize excellence in research among UConn tenured faculty. Recipients of the 2003 Excellence Awards were: Yung-Sze Choi (Mathematics), Carol Lammi-Keefe (Nutritional Sciences), James Rusling (Chemistry), and Montgomery Shaw (Chemical Engineering).

Vernon Cormier, one of two geophysicists on the UConn faculty and a professor in both Physics and Geology/Geophysics, received a $60,000 NSF equipment grant for a Beowulf-style, 20-processor cluster computer for the high-speed computing that his models of material at the earth's center require. NSF also awarded Cormier a four-year, $360,000 grants to support his research on earth structure, which has applications in oil and mineral exploration, medical imaging, and underground nuclear test monitoring.

Peter Auster, the science director at UConn’s National Undersea Research Center (NURC) and a fish specialist, and Ivar Babb, the director of the Center, participated in two undersea mountaineering expeditions to the New England Seamounts some 500 miles off the Atlantic coast. Both projects, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration, were part of a multi-year exploration-based research program on the chain of 30 extinct volcanoes 4,000 feet deep in the Atlantic, with peaks some 1,500 feet below the surface. The first research cruise included several deep-sea dives with Alvin, a 23-foot manned submersible, famous for its role in the discovery of the Titanic in 1985. The second research cruise depended upon the Big Hercules, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for underwater exploration. Both projects focused on surveying deep-sea corals and collecting specimens for genetic and reproduction studies and on observing how differences in underwater landscapes affect populations and communities of fishes.

The University’s own 76-foot research vessel, RV Connecticut, located at the Avery Point campus, has remained a popular tool for marine researchers from UConn, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and other New England universities.

NURC was featured on the Discovery Science Channel in a documentary on The Wreck of the Portland, a paddleboat with 192 passengers and crew that sank off the Massachusetts coast during a winter storm in 1898. The location of the wreckage had been a mystery until 2002, when NOAA and NURC scientists worked together with NURC technology to identify the Portland’s remaining ruins. In 2003, NURC researchers returned to the site and utilized the Center’s ROV to conduct a comprehensive survey of the ship and to provide footage for the documentary.

The first recipient of the University’s F.T. Bacon Medal for Fuel Cell Research and Deployment was Hans C. Maru. Maru is an expert in the field of fuel cell generators with 13 patents, and is an executive at Fuel Cell Energy in Danbury, a world leader in the development and manufacture of high temperature hydrogen fuel cells for clean electric power generation. The medal was established in conjunction with the University’s first International Conference on Fuel Cell Development and Deployment, held on the Storrs campus. The medal honors the late Francis T. (Tom) Bacon, a British scientist who invented the first commercial fuel cell.

In the School of Allied Health, the Britta R. Nayden Rehabilitation Clinic opened to provide faculty and students with a fully accessible, modern facility for physical therapy and research. Administered in partnership with Windham Community Memorial Hospital, the clinic can provide care for more than 10,000 patient visits annually. The clinic was made possible by a gift of $125,000 from Denis J. and Britta R. Nayden.

Researchers in the School of Social Work identified the characteristics of child sex offenders in a study conducted for the Children’s Trust Fund, an independent agency that develops child abuse prevention programs.

Cooperative Extension System’s faculty and programmatic staff offered to many thousands of Connecticut residents a wide diversity of outstanding outreach educational programs: economic viability; sustainable agriculture; sustainable landscapes; fisheries; aquaculture; family and community development; land use planning and management; natural resources and environmental management; master gardener certification; 4-H youth development; and nutrition and food safety.

Other Schools and Colleges, the several campuses, and the Office of International Affairs also provided outreach, service, and professional continuing education. Continuing Studies enrolled approximately 32,000 participants in credit-free professional programs and collaborated with 110 external and 9 international partners in credit and non-credit projects. Attendance exceeded 300,000 at Fine Arts cultural, artistic and academic exhibits and performances on University campuses and throughout the state.

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, awarded Edward Rossomando a two-year, $322,000 grant to bring his concept of biodontics to reality and to introduce the entrepreneurial process to dental students, faculty, and practitioners. Biodontics, an emerging dental specialty that applies molecular biology and biotechnology to clinical dentistry, was developed by Rossomando, a professor of biostructure and function at the School of Dental Medicine. He also established the Center for Research and Education in Technology Evaluation at the School to further explore biodontics and its practical use.

The Health Center's signature program in cardiology was named the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center, in recognition of the Calhouns' many years of support to cardiology research.

Controlling the symptoms of Parkinson's disease is the focus of a relatively new procedure offered at the Health Center. The procedure, linking electrodes implanted in the brain to chest pulse generators, significantly controls tremors, sluggish movement, rigidity, and impaired coordination, the most frustrating symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The Health Center is the only site in Connecticut offering the procedure.

A new radiation treatment for liver tumors became available at the Health Center, the only site in New England that offers the specialized procedure. The treatment, called selective internal radiation therapy, or SIRT, is for patients with inoperable primary liver cancer or other cancers that have spread to the liver. The SIRT procedure delivers radiation directly to the cancer tumor in minuscule spheres injected into the main hepatic artery and containing radioactive yttrium-90.

Andrew Arnold, Murray-Heilig Chair in Molecular Medicine and director of the Center of Molecular Medicine, found that a mutated gene causes parathyroid cancer and that the gene mutation can be passed down to one’s children. Arnold’s research on this rare but often fatal type of cancer was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The safety and effectiveness of nicotine gum for pregnant smokers who want to quit is the focus of new research by the Health Center to be conducted at the Hartford Hospital. Cheryl Oncken, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the School of Medicine, will lead a team of researchers in the study, funded by a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. It is the first national, large-scale study of its kind and is directed toward lowering the risks of miscarriage, low birth weight, premature delivery, and sudden death syndrome associated with smoking during pregnancy.

Connecticut Health Foundation (CHF) awarded UConn a $150,000, 18-month grant to determine the best methods of increasing the recruitment, retention and graduation rates of historically underrepresented minority students in health care degree programs. CHF is the state’s largest independent, nonprofit grant-making foundation dedicated to improving the health of the people of Connecticut.

UConn’s Health Center offered ongoing training to approximately 700 employees of the Correctional Managed Health Care program, established with the state Department of Correction (DOC) in 1997 to provide care to Connecticut’s prison population of about 18,000 offenders. The Health Center directs the provision of care at all 21 DOC institutions and halfway houses and staffs six prison-based medical and mental health infirmaries. Acute care is provided at John Dempsey Hospital in a secure unit. Connecticut is the only state in the country to provide comprehensive health care to the entire prison system through the state’s public medical and dental schools.

Strategic and Facilities Planning

The ninth year of UCONN 2000 – the $1 billion 10-year program to renew and rebuild the infrastructure of the University – was completed with many outstanding additions and enhancements to the campuses as planning continued for the extension of the program in a new $1.3 billion 11-year initiative called 21^st Century UConn. The new initiative was scheduled to begin in July 2004 and will include the Health Center as well as the Storrs and regional campuses. Both programs were approved by the General Assembly and the Governor to transform the University with new and renovated facilities and state-of-the-art academic equipment. Since UCONN 2000 began in 1995, infrastructure improvements – more than 30 new buildings and major renovations of more than 50 buildings – have been influential in enrollment growth, enhancement of the academic quality of the student body, and attraction of high-level faculty and research support. Together UCONN 2000 and 21^st Century UConn represent an unprecedented $2.3 billion investment in the University’s infrastructure and have become a national model for other public universities.

The Master Plan began to be updated to incorporate the extensive physical changes resulting from UCONN 2000 and planned in the forthcoming 21^st Century UConn, and to include the West Hartford, Torrington, and Avery Point campuses. For the Storrs campus, the updated plan called for environmentally friendly buildings, a concentration of all the academic facilities within walking range, a third garage, and an undeveloped East Campus to be designated for forest management, agriculture research, and environmental education. Possible locations for new buildings also were identified. In completed UCONN 2000 projects, 53 percent of the funding has been used for academic buildings, 21 percent for residential buildings, 18 percent for infrastructure, 5 percent for student services, 2 percent for athletics, and 1 percent for university support.

Major planned projects for the 21^st Century UConn program include: a new classroom building to replace Arjona and Monteith buildings; completion of North Hillside Road, which will connect Hillside Road to Route 44; completion of the new pharmacy building; renovation of the Torrey Life Science Building, a third parking garage; renovations at the School of Law; a new library and classroom building at the Avery point campus; and a new research tower and renovation of the main building at the Health Center.

Key projects completed this year were: the new Advanced Technologies Laboratory in the Agricultural BioScience Complex; a new, 350-seat underground lecture hall located behind the new Information Technologies Engineering Building; renovations and additions to the Gentry (Neag Education) Building; and the transformation of the former School of Business building into the Center for Undergraduate Education. The Center provides a centralized location for academic support services for students and teaching support services for faculty members and graduate students. It houses the First Year Experience, Honors, Study Abroad, and Urban Semester programs, Career Services, the Centers for Community Outreach, Instructional Resource, and Learning Research, and the Institute for Teaching and Learning. The Nafe Katter Theater, with a state-of-the-art three-sided thrust stage that extends into the audience, is scheduled to open for the fall 2004 semester.

The first phase of the Student Union expansion and renovations was completed this year and included offices for student organizations and student affairs personnel, a reconfigured Nutmeg Grille, and the first on-campus movie theater in UConn's history. The second phase, projected to be completed in fall 2005, involves replacing and expanding the southern end of the Student Union building with a new, three-story extension that will include cultural centers, food court, ballroom, multi-purpose rooms, central post office for student mail, and retail space.

The Academic Way, a new pedestrian walkway featuring period lighting and benches, was completed from South Campus to Babbidge Library, and ultimately will reach across campus to North Eagleville Road. The site of the former UConn Co-op and the adjacent metered parking lot were converted to green space.

The William Benton Museum of Art addition, funded through a combination of UCONN 2000 funds and private gifts, resulted in the new Evelyn Simon Gilman Gallery to showcase special exhibitions and works from the Benton’s permanent collection of more than 5,500 pieces, as well as refurbished galleries and lecture areas, a new members lounge, a café, and an expanded museum store. The addition was designed to complement the original collegiate gothic structure that served the campus as the main dining hall from 1920 through the mid-1940’s and is among the campus buildings listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The expansion enhanced the reputation of the Benton, Connecticut’s official art museum, as a museum of significance for the state and the Northeast.

The State Museum of Natural History, with funds from UCONN 2000 and private donors, announced plans to establish a Connecticut Archaeology Center. The center will provide support for graduate and undergraduate students, offer archaeology field schools, and provide elementary and secondary schoolteachers with training, curriculum guides, and teaching resources. It also will provide Connecticut towns with technical training and assistance, enable an active Web presence, and offer access to maps, an archaeology library, and the state’s largest collection of Connecticut artifacts. The museum, founded in 1985, is the official state repository for all archaeological materials. The new center will support the Office of State Archaeology and the State Archaeologist (both located at the University), mandated to protect some 1,000 archaeological sites on state land and over 3,000 sites on private land, care for anthropological collections, and work with the Native American community to protect burial sites and return sacred materials.

New residential life facilities opened in fall 2003 at the Storrs campus: Charter Oak Apartments and Suites, a seven-building combination of student apartments and suites housing approximately 1,000 students; Husky Village, a centralized complex of buildings housing 300 members of the University's fraternities and sororities; and Towers Dining Hall, a large, colorful, contemporary style eatery that replaces four small dining facilities. Extensive renovations to the Towers Residence Hall Complex (including the conversion of the first floors of all six buildings from small dining halls into large community spaces, computer labs, and small classrooms) and renovations to Grad and East campus North (Holcomb, Whitney and Sprague) dormitories were completed for the start of the fall 2003 semester. A three-year program to install sprinkler systems in all of UConn's residence halls was completed with the exception of West Campus, currently up to code and scheduled for a new system in summer 2004.

At the Law School, a $4.3 million renovation of the Starr Building included a new Moot Court, complete with tiered seating for students to observe mock trials. Another large classroom also was created in the building, which for years served as the school's library.

The new Waterbury Downtown campus relocated the Waterbury regional campus from its Hillside location to East Main Street and opened in August 2003. Existing academic programs and additional Bachelor of Business and MBA programs are offered in the new facilities, which house classrooms, labs, offices, a bookstore, and a three-story-high library. Fall 2003 undergraduate enrollments totaled 501, 26 percent higher than in fall 2002. The campus is designed to serve more than 1,200 students, faculty, and staff.

At the Health Center, construction began on a new 99,000 square foot, four-story Medical Arts and Research Building for clinical, educational, and research programs. The building will be the centerpiece of the new Musculoskeletal Institute for research in bone biology, biomaterials, biomechanics, arthritis, and orthopedics. It also will house outpatient diagnostic imaging and rehabilitation services and a new ambulatory surgery center for same-day operations. The Health Center’s existing operating room facilities, used for both inpatient and outpatient surgery, have reached maximum capacity. Inpatient surgeries at John Dempsey Hospital increased 24 percent and ambulatory surgery increased 33 percent in a recent three-year time period.

Major renovations to the Health Center’s Lyman Maynard Stowe Library - the first since it opened more than 30 years ago – began in the spring to create more efficient and user-friendly access to its collections. The improvements include the addition of a 24-hour study room with access to the library’s 2,700 electronic journals, 179 electronic databases, and 173 electronic textbooks. A total of $3.2 million in bond funds were released to the Center, with $1.65 million for the renovation and the remainder for upgrading a wide variety of research equipment for the medical, dental, and graduate biosciences programs.

The inaugural UConn football game at the new $91 million stadium, Rentschler Field, located on the former Pratt and Whitney Airfield in East Hartford, was played against the Indiana University on August 30. Seating approximately 40,000, the stadium supports UConn’s upgrade of the football program to Division I-A competition and serves the state in other ways, such as high school and recreational sports championships, fund-raising events, and major concerts. The stadium was constructed through the state’s Department of Public Works.

Plans were announced for an indoor football practice facility at the Storrs campus. Robert G. Burton, chief executive officer of the Burton Management Group LLC of Greenwich, donated some $2.5 million for the facility, which will be known as the Burton Family Football Complex.

The Mansfield Downtown Partnership, a town-gown cooperative effort, selected a team of architects, investors, and planners to begin to develop some 35 acres of land off Route 195 near the School of Fine Arts. The goal of the partnership is a village of retail, cultural and residential activity that will enhance the campus experience for the UConn community and for Mansfield residents.

On Earth Day the University announced a new wide-ranging environmental policy that sets siting and building guidelines for new construction and campus renovations, conserves energy and water resources, further encourages recycling, and increases efforts to improve environmental literacy among students, faculty and staff. The University’s Environmental Policy Advisory Council and its three subcommittees - compliance and best practices, land use and sustainable development, and environmental outreach - identified opportunities where the University can improve its environmental performance and reach out to the community. An EcoHusky student awareness campaign began this spring to encourage students to donate rather than discard electronic devices and clothing when they leave the University for summer vacation.

More than 30 recommendations presented in the Diversity Plan have been implemented in the past two years, including: general education requirements to promote greater understanding of diverse cultures and community; UConn faculty diversity at least comparable to that at peer institutions; females constituting nearly 50 percent of total staff; and diversity websites and brochures to assist with the overall positioning of UConn as an environment supporting diversity.

In fall 2003, the minority enrollment at all the campuses was 4,263; 17 percent of the undergraduate students and 12 percent of the graduate and professional students were from American minority populations. An additional 1 percent of undergraduates and 18 percent of graduate and professional students were international students from 113 countries. Over half (53 percent) of all students were female.

Minority representation among faculty was 17 percent at Storrs and the regional campuses and 16 percent at the Health Center. Minority representation among other staff was 20 percent at the Health Center and 16 percent at the remaining campuses. Females comprised 38 percent of the Health Center’s faculty and 32 percent of the faculty at the other campuses. Among other staff, females were 75 percent at the Health Center and 57 percent at the other campuses.

The state’s Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERIP) resulted in financial reductions and temporary hiring measures when 365 faculty and staff at Storrs and the regional campuses and 121 faculty and staff at the Health Center took advantage of the program. With the support of faculty and staff, continued funded research, ongoing success in private fundraising, and Storrs-based AAUP and UCPEA bargaining units’ approval of a wage freeze, the University completed the year with programs intact and quality remaining high. A national faculty recruitment campaign was initiated to fill approximately 100 faculty positions.

At the Health Center, the Signature Programs (centers of excellence where the educational, clinical and research programs converge) continued to be at the core of achieving strategic focus at the Health Center. An integrated model for synergistic outcomes – better patient care, research, education and economics – was planned from the following process elements: communication of vision; inventory; alignment of scientists and clinicians with signature programs; development of infrastructure to support collaboration; recruitment of directors; strategic business planning; and balanced scorecard with key performance metrics for faculty. The Information Technology Strategic Plan was completed and began to be implemented. The Clinical Facilities Plan for the Health Center will be completed in summer 2004.

The Academic Plan for the Storrs and regional campuses, and including collaborations with programs at the Health Center, continued to assist trustees, administration, and faculty in choosing academic priorities, capital projects for 21^st Century UConn, and the allocation of resources in the next decade. The plan is based on a number of criteria, including the best use of existing assets, faculty and academic programs, tracking performance against that of other schools, emphasizing areas where UConn has a competitive advantage, and the University's obligations as a Land and Sea Grant institution. Its purpose is to meet the expectations of the students and state for a world-class university, to provide an educational experience that is unrivalled in its cost-benefit ratio, to accelerate Connecticut’s “Brain Gain”, to enhance the quality of the state’s workforce, and to strengthen the scientific/technological infrastructure of Connecticut’s economy.

The Provost's Grant Competition was initiated with $1.5 million to advance strategically the areas of emphasis identified in the Academic Plan. Three or four grants will be awarded to UConn researchers with projects in areas of strategic choice, that have opportunities for longer-term external funding, or that will further UConn's rise in the national rankings among top-tier public research universities. From the 48 submitting pre-proposals, seven were invited to present full proposals for the award decision in fall 2004. The pre-proposal topics, indicating exemplary research potential, included: Center for Internet Data and Research Intelligence Services to support multi-disciplinary internet research; Collaboratory for Rehabilitation Research; Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology; research and training on the emergence of humanitarianism; partnership for excellence in structural biology; enhancement of global perspectives of innovative science and technology; and forensic-related research, education and innovation.

A set of metrics to compare UConn with its research university peers was drafted to help quantify academic unit indicators of productivity in five areas: undergraduate education; research and graduate/professional education; diversity; resources; and national reputation. The metrics are intended to improve the ability to compare UConn with peer institutions in a clear and concise fashion, identify factors which characterize the University’s success in meeting its academic goals; provide the basis for a consistent resource allocation model; and serve as a guide for reallocation and hiring decisions. Improved research and scholarly activity and continued support of the undergraduate experience require a significant investment in new faculty. This investment will be strategically allocated to areas that result in strengthening UConn’s position relative to peers while enhancing the education of Connecticut’s future leaders and contributing to the state’s economic development.