Dr. Radenka Maric
Students First. UConn Always. Huskies Forever.
Serving as the 17th president of the University of Connecticut since 2022, Dr. Radenka Maric is responsible for Connecticut’s $3.2 billion public flagship university with six campuses, more than 33,500 students, and an extensive network of research and service enterprises that include the UConn Health system.
A visionary leader and dedicated public servant, Dr. Maric focuses on strengthening the University's resources and operational position to ensure that UConn can thrive and fulfill its mission in teaching, research, public service, and outreach for years to come.
One of her first actions as President was to launch the University's strategic planning effort, Envisioning 2034. The strategic planning process engaged over 10,000 students, faculty, and stakeholders to collectively and collaboratively define the priorities and principles guiding UConn's development in the coming decade. The completed strategic plan outlines the University's core values, strategic goals, and focus areas and, importantly, identifies key performance indicators for measuring success.
President Maric's actions as president align with and advance the strategic plan's goals, including promoting holistic student success, expanding research impact, and powering a thriving Connecticut.
Putting students first, Dr. Maric has spearheaded efforts to give every student opportunities to develop skills that maximize their creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and emotional intelligence. She works closely with stakeholders in the public and private sectors to offer experiential learning opportunities that prepare students to thrive after graduation and contribute positively to the state’s economy.
Under her leadership, undergraduate applications surpassed 60,000 in the most recent cycle, a jump of more than 15,000 over three years. At the same time, UConn has increased student enrollment and retention rates and achieved one of the best time-to-graduation rates in the country. Her focus on accessibility and affordability has helped the University enroll and serve record numbers of first-generation students, spur growth, and build vibrant community connections at each of UConn's four regional campuses.
Dr. Maric is committed to building the endowment in support of UConn's educational and research missions. Her efforts contributed to dramatic growth in the University's endowment portfolio, which reached $634.3 million in fiscal year 2024, and have helped UConn set fundraising records by averaging more than $130 million raised in the past three years, a yearly increase of over $40 million. More than $265 million has been raised for scholarships to help support talented students from all backgrounds. The number of new donors in the last three years has increased by more than 1000. UConn is gearing up to announce a fundraising campaign on April 23, with an ambitious goal of $1.5 billion.
Dr. Maric has built strong partnerships with the State of Connecticut and the private sector to advance strategic initiatives in research and education designed to leverage and build on UConn's strengths in core areas aligned with state and federal priorities. For example, she stewarded the largest philanthropic gift in UConn’s history, a $50 million donation to support the expansion of the School of Nursing. She worked with the Governor of the State of Connecticut and the leadership of Yale University to establish QuantumCT, a major economic development effort through innovation in quantum technologies. She is also working to secure major advanced computing resources in support of innovation in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies that are shaping the future.
Dr. Maric has worked tirelessly to bring world-class infrastructure to UConn. Under her leadership, she has worked with the State of Connecticut to bring new facilities online to support research and learning, including the 198,000 sq. ft Science 1 STEM research and educational complex. She has worked to secure top-tier faculty to lead transformative research efforts and recruit talented graduate students who will shape the knowledge economy.
Dr. Maric is committed to maximizing the impact of UConn Health, Connecticut's premier public teaching hospital, on the health and wellbeing of the people of Connecticut. She has initiated and supported practices to help UConn Health grow its thriving enterprise of hospital and clinical care. She has also worked to ensure that the highly competitive Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine maintain and build research, education, and public service initiatives that contribute to exceptional training for Connecticut's future physicians and dental professionals.
In building a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship that drives discovery and economic development, Dr. Maric leads by example. She is an internationally acclaimed innovator and entrepreneur in technologies for clean energy and sustainability. She has significantly advanced understanding of materials and catalysts and has developed innovative manufacturing processes involved in fuel cell technologies, storage materials, and electrochemical sensors for health applications, leading to higher-performance, commercially viable clean energy systems.
In recognition of her scholarship, leadership, and public service, Dr. Maric holds the rank of Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and Chair Professor in Sustainable Energy in UConn’s Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2019), the National Academy of Inventors (2019), and the International Association of Advanced Materials (2020), and is an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.
Her many recognitions include receiving a Fulbright Chair Professor appointment at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy (2016-2017), a fellowship from the Japan Organization for the Promotion of Science (2012), the Leadership Award from the National Research Council of Canada (2009), and the Hartford Business Journal’s Women in Business Award (2020). Governor Lamont appointed her to serve on the Board of Directors of Connecticut Innovations in 2020, and she is a member Oracle Research Strategy Council.
Dr. Maric maintains an active research program and continues to present at national and international conferences. Her scholarly work has resulted in more than 300 articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings, 21 book chapters and invited review articles in major journals, one book published, and two books under preparation. She also has six issued patents and 11 published patent disclosures. She serves on numerous review panels for the Department of Energy, the European Commission, and Horizon 2020 and serves as a board member of the International Academy of Electrochemical Energy Science.