In This Section:
Philip E. Austin - 10 Years as UConn President
Fuller earns top football academic recognition
Championship teams reunited
UConn alums join NE hoop hall
Auriemma Enshrined
Neag faculty to lead journal
Again the Best M.B.A. in New England
Campus mourns student-soldier
Congressman visits Fuel Cell Center
Freshman class SAT scores rise again
UConn student selected by British Council
Faculty lectures available via podcast
Markers Note UConn History
Supreme Court in session
Seat of Heat’ on stage
at Jorgensen
Homecoming 2006
UConn 125th performance
2006 Alumni Association Honorees
Student Union Rededicated
New ballroom opens
Football and Training center completed
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| Click on the image above to view a slide show of President Philip E. Austin's ten years at UConn. |
When President Philip E. Austin joined the University in October 1996, the UConn 2000 program was in its infancy, private fund-raising was still limited, and the Health Center operated independently from the Storrs-based programs.
Ten years later, new and renovated academic facilities grace the Storrs campus, each of the five regional campuses, the law school, and the Health Center.
The University raises nearly $50 million annually, and public-private partnerships have established facilities at Stamford; in Hartford, where the Financial Accelerator was built; in Storrs; and at the Health Center – which has become an integral part of the University.
A new visual identity for the University was introduced in 1998. And in 1999, UConn entered a historic partnership with South Africa’s African National Congress party, giving impetus to the University’s human rights program.
Since Austin’s arrival in 1996, UConn has celebrated six NCAA basketball championships and the 2000 men’s soccer title.
UConn’s academic growth has been impressive, and the University has climbed in the U.S. News & World Report rankings to become the 27th best public university in the nation in 2006, and the best in New England for eight consecutive years.
The Honors Program has improved dramatically, reflecting the significant increases in the number, quality, and diversity of the student body.
Driven by hundreds of new, state-of-the-art labs and facilities, including the new Biology/Physics Building, and the efforts of faculty, research grants have nearly doubled in the past 10 years.
In 2001, Austin kicked-off a $300 million capital campaign, the most ambitious in UConn’s history. By 2004, the goal was surpassed.
It was the most successful campaign by a public university in New England. The endowment created through it rose from $61 million in 1996 to $287 million now.
It supports faculty research, student scholarships, and endowed chairs to help attract nationally and internationally renowned faculty.
As the undergraduate population increased, a mid-year Commencement was instituted.
The growth also demanded improved student services and innovative approaches to teaching and learning, spearheaded by the new Center for Undergraduate Education.
The Center occupies one of more than 70 new or renovated buildings that have transformed the Storrs campus during Austin’s 10 years as President.
A new football stadium in East Hartford, a Visitors Center, and soon a new downtown Storrs, will be part of Austin’s legacy.
More than 40,000 people stop at the Visitors Center annually, and a similar number attend each UConn football game.
A gift of $21 million to the School of Education from alumnus Raymond Neag in 1999 was the largest donation in UConn’s history and the largest gift to a school of education in the nation.
Austin, the fifth of UConn’s 13 presidents to attain 10 years of service, also has made dozens of trips to the state Capitol and Washington, D.C., advocating for appropriate state and federal support for the University’s programs.
Senior football co-captain Rhema Fuller ’07 (BUS) was named as one of 17 finalists, encompassing all NCAA divisions and the NAIA, for the 2006 Draddy Trophy, presented annually by the National Football Foundation to the football student-athlete who best combines academic success,
football performance and exemplary
community service.
He is the first UConn student-athlete to ever be a Draddy Trophy finalist.
The coveted Draddy Trophy comes with a $25,000 post-graduate scholarship while the remaining finalists, including Fuller, will receive a post-graduate scholarship of $18,000.
As one of the 17 finalists, Fuller is a recipient of a National Scholar-Athlete Award given by the NFF.
Fuller has been a Big East Academic All-Star every year since UConn joined the conference for football in 2004 and, in 2005 and 2006, he was named to the ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-District I team.
“This is the most meaningful honor a student-athlete can win in the sport of football,” says UConn head football coach Randy Edsall.
“Rhema has set a great example and there is no better representative for UConn football. He has always worked incredibly hard in the classroom and it is great to see him get this prestigious award as a National Scholar-Athlete and be in contention for the Draddy Trophy.”
The Huskies’ historic 1981 NCAA field hockey and men’s soccer championship teams were honored during 25th anniversary reunions in the fall.
Both teams were recognized at half-time ceremonies in their own sports and during football games at Rentschler Field.
The 1981 field hockey team’s 4-1 victory over Massachusetts on Nov. 22, 1981 was the first women’s national championship in any sport in the history of NCAA athletics.
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| Photo by Stephen Slade |
The team was led by Laurie Decker ’84 (SFS), Lynn Kotler ’83 (ED), ’85 M.A., Lorie McCollum ’82 (CLAS) and Rose Smith (1980-84). Decker and McCollum became Connecticut field hockey’s first All-Americans.
The 1981 men’s soccer team beat Alabama A&M in overtime, 2-1, to win the first ever NCAA men’s soccer title.
The team was led by James D’Orsaneo ’84 (ED), Graziano Cornolo ’83 (ED), Elvis Comrie ’86 (SFS) and Pedro DeBrito (1978-82). Comrie and DeBrito became All-Americans the following year.
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| Photo by Stephen Slade |
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| 2006 New England Basketball Hall of Fame inductees, clockwise from top, left: UConn women's baskeball assistant coach Tonya Cardoza, Wes Bialosuknia '70 (CLAS), Tom Penders '67 (BUS), and Kathy Cermola '84 (ED). | |
Seven UConn alumni and three individuals with prominent long-time affiliations with UConn basketball were inducted into the fourth class of The New England Basketball Hall of Fame in October. The alumni include the following:
Leigh Montville ’65 (CLAS), a nationally known author and sportswriter for Sports Illustrated and the Boston Globe, was inducted in the media category.
Tom Penders ’67 (BUS) was inducted as head coach of the 1972-73 Tufts men’s basketball team. He is currently the men’s basketball head coach at the University of Houston.
Wes Bialosuknia ’70 (CLAS) still holds the school record for highest scoring average in a season with 28 points per game in his senior year.
Al Weston (1972-76) was inducted for his high school career at Cromwell High School in Connecticut.
Tony Hanson ’81 (ED), scored 1,990 career points—third all-time—and helped lead UConn to the Sweet 16 during the 1976 NCAA Tournament and to a pair of NIT appearances.
Jeff Carr ’82 (CLAS) was inducted for his playing at The Robinson School in West Hartford, Conn.
Kathy Cermola ’84 (ED) was inducted for her playing at Conard High School in West Hartford.
Those with long-time UConn connections included Tonya Cardoza, UConn women’s basketball assistant coach who was inducted for her playing career at Boston English High School in Massachusetts; John Toner, UConn athletic director from 1969-87, who played a key role in UConn’s entry as a charter member of the Big East Conference in 1979; and George Ehrlich, long-time radio play-by-play voice of UConn men’s basketball on WTIC radio.
UConn became only the third university in history to have both a women’s and men’s coach enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame when head women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma was inducted on Sept. 8 in Springfield, Mass.
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| Photo by Stephen Slade |
Auriemma joined men’s head coach Jim Calhoun, who was enshrined last year, to give UConn a pair of Hall of Fame coaches, a situation made unusual because both are still active as coaches.
The two other universities with both men’s and women’s coaches enshrined are UCLA and North Carolina State.
More than 40 former and current Husky players attended the ceremonies which also included the inductions of Big East founder Dave Gavitt; former NBA stars Charles Barkley, Joe Dumars and Dominique Wilkins; and Italian national team coach Sandro Gamba.
“When one of my players was named first team All-American, whenever they became player of the year or got some kind of award, I would say, ‘I think I had something to do with that.’ It made me feel really good when I watched them get an award,” Auriemma said in his address before turning to his former players.
“Well, right now, at this moment, at this point in time, this is your opportunity to sit there and look up here and say to yourselves, ‘You know what? If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t be there.’”
A team of six faculty members from the Neag School of Education was selected to serve as editorial board for the Journal of Literacy Research, a premier peer-reviewed research journal for more than 40 years.
This is the first time the Journal’s editorial team will be led by a large faculty group from one institution.
Published quarterly, JLR is the official journal of the National Reading Conference, the largest professional organization devoted solely to literacy and reading research.
The faculty members represent two departments — educational psychology and curriculum and instruction — and together bring a strong set of research and editorial experience to the journal.
All have served on the editorial review boards of major research journals and collectively they have been awarded $7.6 million in major research grants during the last two years.
Editorial team members include Douglas Hartman, Mary Anne Doyle, Douglas Kaufman, and Wendy Glenn from the department of curriculum and instruction and Sally Reis and Michael Coyne from the department of educational psychology.
“We’re extremely proud that a Neag group has been selected to lead this prestigious journal during a transformation that is sure to better serve the literacy research community as well as the field of education as a whole,” says Richard Schwab, dean of the Neag School.
“The National Reading Conference’s decision to move its journal to UConn demonstrates its trust in our team’s ability to provide leadership and expertise.”
The Neag team’s first issue will be published in early 2007.
Additional information about the Journal of Literacy Research is online at www.nrconline.org.
The UConn School of Business continues to be ranked among the best business schools in the United States.
The master of business administration program is again ranked as the number one public M.B.A. program in New England by both Business Week and U.S.News & World Report.
The program also is listed by The Wall Street Journal and The Princeton Review in their rankings of the top business schools. There are more than 1,400 business schools worldwide.
This marks UConn’s third consecutive appearance in the Business Week rankings based on a survey of more than 10,000 business students, who rank the quality of their teaching staff, career opportunities, recruiting efforts, and alumni network.
Corporate recruiters were queried on the number of M.B.A.s. they hired in the past two years and from where their companies actively recruited.
The latest Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Business School Survey places the School of Business in the top 4 percent of business schools worldwide.
The Princeton Review’s 2007 edition of the “Best 282 Business Schools” describes UConn as “an outstanding business school.”
The publication’s survey found the school to offer a challenging program that mirrored life in the corporate world.
U.S.News & World Report ranks UConn’s M.B.A. as the top public university program in New England for the eighth consecutive year.
The School of Business has a total of 1,181 full, and part-time M.B.A. students on its campuses in Storrs, Hartford, Stamford and Waterbury.
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Marine Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson ’09, who left UConn for active military duty in Oct. 2005, was killed Aug. 25 while on foot patrol in Iraq.Scheduled to return to Storrs this fall, he was a member of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Div. in Plainville, Conn. He began his studies at Avery Point in 2003 and arrived at the main campus in 2004. Previously, he was awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel from an insurgent grenade last May. He was buried with military honors Sept. 6 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. The city of Milford, Conn., plans to rename the neighborhood park where Pierson grew up as Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson Memorial Park. |
| U.S. Rep. John Larson, right, discusses advances in fuel cell technology at UConn’s Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center with Ken Reifsnider, director of the center. |  |
For the 11th consecutive year, UConn’s entering class exhibits the academic success that has made it the top public university in New England.
U.S. News & World Report also ranked UConn as the 27th best public university in the nation, one spot higher than last year.
The Class of 2010 averaged 1195 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), a six-point increase compared to last year’s entering class and 82 points higher than the class that entered in 1996, when the SAT was reconfigured.
The class also includes 98 valedictorians and salutatorians; and minorities represent 19 percent of the class.
Thirty-eight percent of the students were ranked in the top 10 percent of their graduating class.
Applications also increased for the 11th straight year, up 6.4 percent over last year, at nearly 20,000, an increase of more than 100 percent since 1995.
UConn’s regional campuses also are attracting large numbers of students, with more than 1,100 freshmen enrolling at the five campuses, and another 200 students transferring into the regionals, largely from four-year schools, says Dolan Evanovich, vice provost for enrollment management.
At 1,300, the total number of new students is about 15 percent higher than last year’s class, with increases reported at all five campuses.
UConn’s retention rates also have climbed from 87 percent of the freshmen class in 1995 to 92 percent in 2004, the most recent data available.
The six-year graduation rate — the federal standard — is 72 percent, placing UConn among the top public universities in the nation.
In May, the Educational Policy Institute awarded UConn its 2006 Outstanding Retention Program Award at its annual RETENTION 2006 Conference.
by British Council
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| Photo by Jordan Bender |
Mitch Nozka ’08 (CLAS) was selected by The British Council USA as one of 69 university students to participate in its prestigious Student Ambassador Program.
These distinguished students help spread the word about the many and varied educational opportunities available to those who study in the United Kingdom.
Selection is based on advisor recommendations and a demonstrated enthusiasm for overseas study experience. British Council USA student ambassadors coordinate with study abroad offices at their universities, as well as British consulates in their regions, to highlight educational, cultural and scientific opportunities in the United Kingdom.
To be eligible for the program, students must have studied at a university in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland and currently be enrolled in a U.S. institution.
In addition to Nozka, who studied in the UK at the University of Essex, the new student ambassadors represent 57 different institutions including Brown University, Iowa State, Georgetown University, Parsons New School of Design, University of Miami and University of California, among others.
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The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has a page on its Web site where faculty lectures and discussions on various subjects can be heard as podcasts, digital multimedia files made available via the Internet, downloaded and played on personal computers or iPods. The CLAS podcast page is here.
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A series of 11 historical markers are now located across the Storrs campus, giving the UConn community and visitors an easy-to-read primer on the University’s history.
The signs are close replicas of the historic markers found along the nation’s roadsides and at Civil War sites.
They highlight people, places and events in UConn’s history as part of this year’s 125th anniversary celebration.
Information for the signs was prepared by Mark J. Roy ’74 (CLAS), author of the 2001 College History Series book University of Connecticut, a photographic history of UConn, and a member of the 125th Anniversary Committee.
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| Provost Peter Nicholls with (L-R) Justices Christine S. Vertefuille '75 J.D., Richard N. Palmer '77 J.D. and Joette Katz '77 J.D. |
| Photo by Peter Morenus |
The Connecticut Supreme Court sat in session at UConn’s main campus for two cases in October as part of an ongoing educational initiative of the Connecticut Judicial Branch to introduce students, educators and the public to the role of the appellate court system.
It was also an opportunity for three associate justices who are alumni of the School of Law to discuss legal education programs with UConn Provost Peter J. Nicholls, who hosted a breakfast for the justices before the session opened in the Lewis B. Rome Ballroom, which was transformed into a courtroom.
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| Photo by Peter Morenus |
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Jon Stewart, host of the satirica “Daily Show” on the Comedy Network, performed two sold-out shows during Family Weekend at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in early October, part of UConn’s 125th Anniversary celebration. |
| Photo by Peter Morenus |
The University’s 125th Anniversary celebration was a theme carried out during Homecoming 2006 in a variety of activities, including the annual parade, the Lip Sync Competition and a special theatrical performance at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.
Eddie Silva ’07 (CLAS) of the UConn Conn Men and Tina Kim ’08 (CLAS) of the Asian-American Cultural Center were named 2006 Homecoming king and queen.
Other activities included the rededication of the newly expanded Student Union, the Alumni Association’s Alumni & Faculty Awards Gala, and a student leader reunion.
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| Above, left: Students from the Asian American Cultural Center work through their Lip Sync performance, which took first place honors. Above, right, students dance while holding the flag of Jamaica during the Homecoming parade, below. | |
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| Photos by Peter Morenus | |
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| Photo by Peter Morenus |
Six Huskies in Search of an Author, written and directed by Robert McDonald, a professor of dramatic arts in the School of Fine Arts, was performed in the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.
The play, a lighthearted theatrical romp through UConn’s 125-year history, was based on Red Brick in the Land of Steady Habits, the UConn history book recently written by Bruce Stave, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus and director of the Center for Oral History.
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| The UConn Alumni Association held its annual Alumni & Faculty Awards Gala during Homecoming to honor faculty and alumni achievements. Alumni who were recognized included, from left, Jeffrey Konspore ’79 (CLAS) ’05 M.B.A., Connecticut Alumni Service Award; Alena Cybart ’96 (CLAS), Graduate of the Last Decade Award; Louis Ulizio ’58 (CANR) ’64 (BUS), ’66 M.B.A., University Service Award; Karl Guillard ’83 M.S., ’86 Ph.D., Faculty Excellence in Teaching at the Undergraduate Level; Wally Lamb ’72 (CLAS), ’77 M.A., Distinguished Alumni Award. |
| Photo by Alex Bothell |
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| A rededication ceremony for the renovated Student Union took place during Homecoming weekend. |
| Photo by Peter Morenus |
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| Above, left: Historian and social activist Howard Zinn was the first speaker to address a capacity audience of students and faculty in new ballroom of the Student Union, which opened the completed section of its most recent expansion that includes a new food court, top right. | |
| Photos by Peter Morenus | |
The Burton Family Football Complex and Mark R. Shenkman Training Center provide one of the nation's best facilities for student-athletes. The Shenkman Center includes a large, fully equipped strength and conditioning facility, right, and an indoor turf field for the Husky football team, as well as for other intercollegiate and intramural teams, below. |
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The Burton Complex is home to the player's locker room, a state-of-the-art athletic training room, an academic resource center, left, study lounge and cafeteria and offices for academic advisors from the Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletics. Below is the lobby to the Burton Complex. |
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