Continuing to meet the challenges ahead

Alumni are a powerful constituency in reaching goals

This past December I announced that I will step down as president of the University later this year.

Several months remain before my departure, and there will be many opportunities (and at least one more issue of UConn magazine) for me to convey my general thoughts about what will be 11 deeply satisfying, challenging and often exhilarating years at the helm of this great institution.

President Philip E. Austin testifies about the UConn budget before a legislative comitteee at the State Capitol in Hartford.

Photo by Peter Morenus

For now, let me offer two thoughts.

First, the months to come will be as active and significant to the University as any in the past several years.

As this letter is written, we are engaged in presenting the University’s legislative requests for the upcoming two years to the Connecticut General Assembly.

There are no “frills” in our proposal; instead, there is a relatively short list of items vital to our continuing progress: additional faculty positions that will let us continue the tradition of individually focused undergraduate and graduate education; support for the recruitment of specially designated outstanding faculty whose research will help UConn meet critical state needs; support for new programs to help Connecticut’s economy grow and prepare our students to be major contributors in vital areas; and support that will enable the UConn Health Center to maintain its position as a premier educator of physicians, dentists and other health professionals — and, through John Dempsey Hospital, as an outstanding provider of clinical care.

As we stress to our state’s elected leaders, these things build on a strong foundation.

All of us — students, parents, faculty, alumni, staff and even presidents — have a deep interest in keeping the momentum going.

Second, now more than ever, our alumni represent a vital part of the University community.

Throughout my time here — and, I know, long before that — our graduates have been among our most reliable supporters in every sense of the term.

More than 170,000 UConn alumni, including about 100,000 in Connecticut, represent a force to be reckoned with, and our state’s leaders know that.

But what makes you such a powerful constituency is that your allegiance is based not on sentimental attachment to what UConn was in the past but on an appreciation of what we are today — and a commitment to what we can be in the future.

As I have so often in my 11 years here, I urge you to keep yourself informed about the University.

The pages that follow provide one important means of doing that, and there are others.

But communication is a two-way street, and we are eager to hear your own thoughts about where we are and where we are going.

Before the year is out I hope to express more completely my thoughts about the past 11 years and what they bode for the future.

In the meantime, enjoy this issue, and enjoy the Spring.