The PresRelease is my own little page where I can share items of interest, celebration, or concern with my University colleagues. It's my hope to update things here every few days. If you'd like to get in touch with me, I invite you to email me at this address: president@uconn.edu.
I might use one of your emails for a future posting.
Virginia and I are off for a week to visit family for the holidays and to the Meineke Car Care Bowl on December 29 in Charlotte. Our best wishes to everyone for a safe and happy season, and to Randy Edsall and the Husky Football Team. You are all Number One in my book, as this photo from the recent Midnight Breakfast will plainly show. Peace and joy to all!
Congratulations to Bruce Stave for his recognition by the Association for the Study of Connecticut’s History. Professor Stave’s book, Red Brick in the Land of Steady Habits: Creating the University of Connecticut, 1881-2006 received the Association’s Homer D. Babbidge Jr. Award for 2006. The book was written in celebration of UConn’s 125th anniversary.
Bruce Stave is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History emeritus, associate editor of The Journal of Urban History, and editor of The Oral History Review.
The award was presented at the fall meeting of the Association, held this November at the UConn School of Law.
Bruce joined the UConn history faculty in 1970 and has directed the University’s Center for Oral History since 1981. His research interest in oral history has included interviewing American participants in the war crimes trials at Nuremberg, a topic on which he co-authored a book, Witnesses to Nuremberg.
I hope you had a chance to see the Gingerbread Campus on display in the Provost’s Office in Gulley Hall and in Wilbur Cross. It’s an astonishing replica of the Storrs campus, made of gingerbread, frosting and, as you’ll see in the picture, a few mini shredded wheats for hay bales. It was created by UConn bakery manager Robert Min and his staff, who once again prove themselves Masters of Bakership.
Robert and his team in the bakery create incredible, delightful and essential staples for our lives, every day. It’s hard for me to image the work involved, or the scale of the projects, just to bake bread and pastries for the Storrs campus. But I do know how to appreciate them. And I’ve resisted the temptation to break the top off that gingerbread chimney for a midafternoon snack in the Provost’s Office. Thanks to Robert and everyone in the UConn bakery for making this a better place.
Robert Min, M.B. (Master of Bakership)
On Saturday I decided to cancel our December commencement exercises on Sunday, December 16 because of imminent bad weather and difficult driving conditions. It was a difficult decision, although I think it was the right one.
We did our best to avoid cancelling the exercises because we knew there would be families with long-standing plans in place. We knew that students were looking forward to the ceremony, and that it would be a great disappointment if it had to be cancelled. A bachelor’s-degree commencement is a proud moment for students and families alike. We considered a one-day postponement, but the logistics of postponing a ceremony involving 5,000 graduates and guests, during a period of unpredictable weather, were just too difficult to handle on short notice.
In the end, the strong prediction of very bad weather turned out to be accurate. The Governor advised that there be no travel in Connecticut on Sunday if it could be avoided. That was our best judgment, also, even as we knew that many would not be pleased with a decision to cancel the commencement exercises. Our foremost concern was the safety of our students and their families.
With that said, I do want to say that I regret that we could not have the ceremony. In my eyes, our December graduates’ accomplishments here at UConn and the degree each of you earned are in no way diminished or less noteworthy. I’m proud of you and want to thank you for making UConn a better place by being one of our students.
Virginia and I were welcomed to Winter in Connecticut by some ten inches of fresh snow yesterday afternoon and evening. It didn’t take students long to head off to Horsebarn Hill for a little impromptu sledding and snowboarding. I think it’s the most beautiful snowfall I ever saw. But of course I didn’t have far to go to get home.
We had to adjust our exam schedule for the second time this Exam Week, but our students and faculty seem to be taking this in stride and in reasonably good spirits. We do want to make sure that you don’t feel compelled to take dangerous risks as you navigate our roads and campuses. Commencement is scheduled for this Sunday at 2:00 pm in Gampel. Watch this link http://news.uconn.edu/emergency_closings.php for updates should the weather again present a challenge to our activities.
Skiing Behind the Sheep Barn, 1967
