Feeling success and gratitude

Photo: Tina Covensky

President Philip E. Austin with, from left, Peter J. Deckers, UConn executive vice president for health affairs and Campaign UConn co-chair Ray Neag ’56 (CLAS) and his wife, Carole.

Over the six years we conducted Campaign UConn , I often spoke of a critical, ironic reality in public higher education generally and at UConn in particular. Our aspirations are higher than ever and we are making dramatic progress on multiple fronts. Yet at just this moment in our history we face ever-tightening constraints on state operating budget support. The causes are complex but the bottom line is clear: If we hope to reach new levels of quality and fulfill the public’s increasing expectations for us, we need to cultivate other sources of support. And private investment, long an unfamiliar concept among public universities in our part of the country, now represents a vital avenue to progress.

This summer we proudly announced Campaign UConn’s successful conclusion. The Campaign attracted 115,000 donors, many of whom were first-time contributors. Together they raised $471.1 million (including a $146.1 million in-kind contribution of computer software from EDS). Not only did we reach our $300 million goal in a challenging economic climate; we exceeded it by 157 percent. (See p. 12). Alumni were instrumental to our success, and we proudly note that UConn ranks higher than almost all our public university peers in terms of percentage of alumni who give back to their University.

The numbers are impressive, but even more so is the impact of private support on UConn’s faculty, students, campus life and curriculum. Our donors helped create or enlarge innovative programs, attracted internationally recognized scholars to the faculty, provided scholarships to outstanding students, and added an extra dimension to the building program made possible by UCONN 2000. We are a more attractive, more diverse and more exciting university thanks to their investment.

The completion of the Campaign was exhilarating, but it was not this summer and fall’s only major event. In August we welcomed 3,200 new students to our Storrs campus and another 1,000 to our regional campuses. The incoming class is again remarkable in terms of academic achievement and ambition. Average SAT scores for incoming Storrs freshmen stand at 1177, ten points higher than last fall. Among our freshmen are 96 high school valedictorians and salutatorians. Many could have chosen to go anywhere in the country, often with merit-based scholarship support. That they chose UConn is a tribute to the quality of our program and to their own very good judgment.

Progress in other areas continues unabated. The inconveniences associated with a 20-year construction program pale by comparison with the amazing creation of a statewide campus at last worthy of our students, and our alumni. In just the past few months we opened, dedicated or broke ground for a wonderful new theater, an athletic training complex and student recreational facility, and several new academic buildings; we mapped plans for the next $1.3 billion phase of our construction program; and we worked with members of the surrounding community to create a new, vibrant downtown in Storrs that befits a college town.

In short, as the pages that follow demonstrate, the months since the last edition of Traditions have been as exciting as any period in our history. We are now well into the new academic year, and I look forward to working with our alumni as we build on a strong foundation.