PresRelease

Welcoming guests to our campuses is an important priority for all of us. It’s how we open our front door when someone rings our doorbell. Our guests include members of our families and our friends, prospective students and their parents, alumni, people we’ve invited to participate in our activities, and citizens who respect UConn as their public university – and we all have good reason to be proud. On our Storrs campus, the Lodewick Visitors Center helps us welcome these members of our larger university family.

On January 21 I had lunch with 40 Lodewick Visitors Center campus tour leaders (they are known as Colleagues) who spent the whole day in “spring training” reviewing their responsibilities and recent changes at the campus. Meg Malmborg, Manager of the Lodewick Center, coordinates this for us. I was really impressed with the enthusiasm and outgoing spirit in our new class of Colleagues.

They toured the Commissary where Dennis Pierce, Director of Dining Services, and Robert Min, Chief Baker, plied them with sweets and explained the challenges of feeding 15,000 people every day during the semester. (Did you know that they serve 30 tons of peanut butter a year?) They visited the CT Museum of Natural History where Leanne Harty told them about the programs hosted by the Museum at the Storrs campus and around the state. And – since they were in training – they went to the Burton-Shenkman Football Complex for a personal tour by our Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway.

I’m proud of our tour volunteers, and I hope everyone will join them by offering a smile to the visitors we encounter as we go about our daily routines. Our guests will appreciate it, and we’ll feel better, too.

Last Friday (Jan. 25) the Daily Campus editorial was critical of the newly created Guaranteed Admission Program (GAP) between UConn and Connecticut’s community colleges. I’d like to provide some details about the agreement that may help dispel misperceptions that the GAP somehow lessens the value of a UConn degree by admitting students who are not qualified.

GAP students do apply to the University through the GAP. They commit to the University early in their community college careers, establishing their intention to earn the associate degree in a liberal arts transfer program at a Connecticut community college, then complete a major at UConn in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences or the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources. Our GAP students are no less prepared than any other transfer student admitted to the University: they complete a rigorous two-year postsecondary degree with a cumulative average of at least a 3.0.

Our community college transfer students hold jobs, earn transfer scholarships, are military veterans, are members of a national honor society for transfer students, and are in every way prepared to meet the challenges and requirements of a public research university. These students satisfy our own transfer-admission requirements upon entering the University, and satisfy the same general education and major requirements that all UConn students must satisfy to earn their degree from the University.

UConn’s mission as a public research university includes providing avenues of access to quality higher education to able, high-achieving students from families facing very challenging financial situations. The GAP provides these students the option of starting their college career elsewhere and then transferring to UConn to complete a four-year degree. It also encourages access to the University for students from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. A diverse educational community is an important component in the education of all UConn students.

I hope this helps clarify the nature of the Guaranteed Admission Program. Able students who transfer into UConn, whether from community colleges or other universities, bring valuable talents, skills, and insights to our academic community. I’m pleased to welcome them to our campuses, and I hope you will, too.

Last week I sent an email to our faculty and staff, to let them know about some new initiatives we’ve been advancing recently in the research area. These involve what is called CTSA (Clinical and Translational Science Awards) and a reorganization of upper administration at the UConn Health Center. If you work in biomedical research, you probably know about the CTSA program at the National Institutes of Health. CTSA is a major initiative at NIH, intended to revitalize the nation’s biomedical research enterprise through restructuring and refocusing clinical research at our major research universities. It will influence research proposals across many disciplines, colleges and schools. I’ve posted my e-mail text on my webpage and I encourage you to become familiar with these developments. There’s also an article in the January 22 Advance.

Lip Synch ’07 (not the SA breakfast)

On Thursday morning (January 17) I had the privilege of thanking our Student Affairs staff for the many ways they make UConn a better place to learn, to live, and to work. Each year, Vice President John Saddlemire holds this recognition breakfast, and I was really glad that he invited me to participate. And not just because there was good food available. As I said to them, I’m very grateful because what they do makes UConn what it is – a home away from home for our students – and for some of our faculty, too, probably. But I was upstaged by Student President Ryan McHardy, who followed me to the podium and gave an outstanding speech, thanking our Student Affairs employees on behalf of the students. The speech was so good that I’m posting it on my web page. I encourage you to read it: Ryan McHardy’s Speech

I received some emails from Ryan Matthews, a sixth-semester history and political science major who is part of UConn Community Outreach’s third alternative break trip to Biloxi, MS. It sounds like things are going very well, and I have Ryan’s permission to post part of his report here:

Sent: Sat Jan 12 14:05:27 2008

Greetings from Biloxi!

After 27 hours on the bus we made it down here to ‘Yankie’ Stadium. It’s an old high school football stadium the salvation army converted into a pretty spectacular place to house volunteers. Underneath the stadium seats are multiple dormitories, showers, a kitchen, dining area, and living area equipped with a tv, foosball table, ping pong, board games, and lots of books. It’s absolutely unreal how awesome this place is.

The work has been really awesome so far as well. The different teams have been split up at multiple sites around the downtown area working on a variety of different projects. Some are doing stuff like roofing, siding, framing, window installation, laying foundations, and other construction type projects. Others are ripping up old floors and removing mold. Everyone is in extremely high spirits and coming together as one amazing unit. The love felt between this group of people who were only a week ago strangers is absolutely breathtaking.

Later today and tomorrow we’ll be visiting an area nursing home and visiting the amazing city of New Orleans which will both be inspiring experiences.

As for the people of Biloxi, they are extremely optimistic and everyone I have spoken with has had a story to share about hope, courage, and amazing vitality.

Enjoy the snow!

Ryan
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Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 6:18 PM

To keep you even further up to date… Last night we went to New Orleans and visited the 9th Ward and the French Quarter. It was a tremendously emotional day for me. To go from a place of complete devastation to a place of complete rebirth was striking, and also a bit troubling considering the tremendous wealth disparity which is very apparent.

Everyone here is in very high spirits and everybody continues to work hard. Four work days remain and we hope many of our projects we began last week can be finished up by week’s end. Plus, the weather is GORGEOUS. Nothing like the BLIZZARD ya’ll (have I been in the South too long? haha) are getting up North. It’s been clear skies and 60-70 degrees every day. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the remainder of the week.

Cheers from Biloxi,

Ryan

See my post below for more about the Biloxi trip, and other opportunities to get involved with Community Outreach.

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