Letter to the Community

November 11, 1997
TO: The University Community
FROM: Philip E. Austin

Over the past several months I have had the opportunity to speak frequently about our immediate agenda and long-term goals. It has been valuable to hear from so many members of the University community and gratifying to confirm that my own sense of exhilaration about UConn's prospects is widely shared. I write at this time to update you on several significant issues. As always, I invite your reactions and comments.

In the pages that follow I deal with concerns that, while important in themselves, are significant primarily in terms of their relationship to the University's overall mission. We are in a period of profound transformation. The massive construction program at Storrs, the regional campuses and the Health Center is perhaps the most dramatic manifestation of the change at UConn. But equally significant evidence of our progress comes in the form of the eminent additions to our faculty, our talented students, our exciting collaborations with the Connecticut business community, and a vast expansion of philanthropic support.

We should not allow these achievements, however dramatic, to cause us to lose sight of our fundamental mission. The University of Connecticut is first and foremost a center of scholarship and research. Every project, whether its immediate focus is faculty and student recruitment, construction, football or anything else must be evaluated in terms of the extent to which it helps bring the University to its proper place as an institution of academic excellence. Sometimes the relationship between an immediate issue and our long-term objective is clear. Often it is indirect, and we must frequently operate in a climate of uncertainty. But that is true of every major university. The important point for all of us, and my paramount responsibility as president, is to assure that we remain true to our mission and focused on our critical goals.

With that in mind, I offer a status report on several major topics that have occupied my attention in recent months.

I. The Health Center

In my fifteen months at UConn I have emphasized the Health Center's close linkage to the rest of the institution and have taken several administrative steps to cement those ties. Particularly in the area of economic development, the Health Center's activities are being integrated with those at Storrs and the regional campuses. That movement will continue.

In its special role as a major participant in the region's health care delivery system, however, our Health Center faces challenges that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. We need to meet those challenges aggressively.

Like the rest of the University, the Health Center's core mission is education and scholarship. Its essential purposes are to train health care professionals and conduct medical research; it must be evaluated primarily in terms of how well it fulfills those functions. Like all important medical training institutions, it educates students on a platform of clinical experience. The principal site for that experience, John Dempsey Hospital, is a major state resource and is vital to the preparation of skilled personnel.

The Health Center performs its training and research role with extraordinary effectiveness. By any qualitative measure the research record is impressive; by the key quantitative measure, grant volume, performance is strong and growing stronger. We have, however, encountered some serious difficulties this year. Questions were raised with regard to a federal grant supporting geriatric medical and dental training. We are investigating to determine if the grant was managed in a manner consistent with commitments made in the application and in progress reports. In order to protect the University's other grants and avoid significant fines and penalties, a legal settlement was reached without admission of wrongdoing. We are taking the questions raised very seriously. I have asked Chancellor Leslie Cutler to personally lead an investigation, report to me on the facts, and revise procedures as necessary. He shares my commitment to the integrity of all funded research and training.

The educational program itself continues to be a national model. The medical curriculum was enhanced by a major revision last year and the School of Dental Medicine also instituted significant curricular modifications. Major rankings consistently place our programs in or near the top tier. We receive 35-40 applications for every space in the entering class of the medical and dental programs. We are giving a very high priority to increasing the proportion of minority students in both areas.

As at other medical training facilities in the United States, our primary challenges stem not from the educational program itself, but from issues being dealt with at the clinical support facility. John Dempsey Hospital is a superb center of health care and health training whose fiscal difficulties must be resolved if the hospital and the Health Center itself are to function at full strength. Basically those difficulties result from two causes--an oversupply of beds in the Hartford area resulting in underutilization of Dempsey's services, and changes in federal funding formulas.

We are addressing Dempsey's fiscal problems through a combination of cost controls and collaborations with other hospitals in the region. The cost savings are similar to those implemented at other top-ranked hospitals and are limited only by our refusal to compromise the quality of patient care. The collaborative efforts are logistically, economically and politically complex. The goal here, as in other areas of the country served by multiple facilities, is to reduce duplication, concentrate resources where they can be used most effectively, and permit each institution to pursue its specific mission. As a state facility, John Dempsey Hospital has a special role in fostering cooperation in a way that protects patients' access to all health care services. We will endeavor to fulfill that role as we continue to fulfill our basic educational mission.

The Health Center's role in implementing our mission of service to the state will be enhanced this year as the Health Center assumes, under Chancellor Cutler's leadership, central responsibility for coordinating the University's economic and technological development activities. I have asked Chancellors Cutler and Emmert to work closely with their colleagues throughout the University, consult extensively with the business community across the state, and develop a program that makes UConn a major participant in Connecticut's economic growth.

I cannot overstate the importance of active UConn involvement in this area. Through most of Connecticut's history our position of economic leadership was based on innovation and knowledge. As the state's economy centers increasingly on new technologies, we, as Connecticut's public research university, must play an ever more central role as the state's laboratory for basic and applied research. In recent years the University has contributed significantly to the development of new technologies with major commercial applications; our new Center for Science and Technology Commercialization will give us an effective organizational structure to promote the development and transfer of technology. Our faculty's expertise is an increasingly important resource to the state's existing and emerging businesses. Moreover, we continue to give young men and women the superior education demanded by Connecticut's economy. Nothing is more essential to this state's economic vitality than the presence of a pool of qualified, creative professionals, and no institution plays a larger part than we do in maintaining that vital state asset.

II. Football

Lest any of you have been anesthetized or out of the country for the past few weeks, let me summarize the status of the football issue.

On October 17 the Board of Trustees voted to affirm its prior decision to seek Division 1-A status for the football program, to build the new stadium that the NCAA requires for Division 1-A competition, and to put that stadium at a North Campus location in Storrs. The vote came a few hours after Governor Rowland appeared before the Board to pledge support for full state funding. The Board's resolution conditioned final stadium approval on the State's provision of resources, stating unequivocally "that any funding must not diminish the current level of funding for academic operations or current capital programs and must not increase the levels of tuition and fees for University students." On November 24 the General Assembly is expected to vote on whether to approve the Governor's recommendation. If and only if state funds are guaranteed, I will recommend that we upgrade to Division 1-A status and proceed with construction of the stadium.

We now approach closure on an issue that has consumed vast attention throughout the University for several years. I came to UConn last year with no preconceptions but with plenty of first-hand experience in the potential benefits and the potential pitfalls of college football at this level. I listened closely to the community-wide debate. I share the concern that failure to move to Division 1-A football might jeopardize our basketball program; I understand the serious impact that could have on public support for the University. UConn basketball generated statewide excitement that was critical to the adoption of UConn 2000 and was helpful in other legislative battles. I would certainly welcome the insurance policy for UConn basketball that a football upgrade would offer.

But I want to make my position clear. We are an academic institution, and our mission is education, not football or basketball. What convinces me that we are making the right decision about the football upgrade is not a concern with the quality of athletics per se; rather it is the indirect but indisputable relationship at major public universities between a vibrant athletic program and a top-flight educational program.

There are no guarantees. The football stadium we build today obviously will not by itself produce internationally ranked academic programs tomorrow. But the former creates a set of conditions, which make the latter more likely. The reasons are clear. Division 1-A athletics makes the campus a more exciting place, generates public interest, and offers unique opportunities to raise private funds. This leads to more freshman applications, more private and corporate support for University programs, and more political support in the General Assembly and the executive branch. It is no accident that almost every public institution in the American Association of Universities, the peer group of prestigious universities with which we should be associated, offers Division 1-A football.

Because this issue has achieved such a high degree of prominence, it is important that there be no misconceptions. I have asked University staff to post a question and answer summary on the Advance web site, and I urge anyone concerned about the football upgrade to review the information provided there.

III. Building a University for the 21st Century

I am happy to report that the rebuilding of the University's physical plant progresses within budget and generally on schedule. As of today there are 69 capital projects in process with a total value of more than $450 million. Prominent among them are the downtown Stamford campus, the Avery Point Marine Science Research Center, and the Chemistry Building, Technology Quadrant, the South Campus residence halls, and new parking garage in Storrs.

Overall, the University of Connecticut is implementing the largest construction project in the state and one of the largest in the nation. It is an understatement to say that UConn 2000 already touches every member of the University community. Each of the buildings is important on its own terms, and the total impact is staggering. Taken in aggregate the construction program offers evidence of the state's commitment to the University and our own commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and campus life.

The size and scope of UConn 2000 should not overshadow other vital construction projects, many of them initiated several years ago but only now coming on-line in addition to the UConn 2000 buildings. The renovated Field House opened its doors in September. Last month Governor Rowland visited the University to announce State funding approval for a new music and drama building addition that will, when completed, send a clear signal of the importance we attach to the fine and performing arts at the University of Connecticut. The Academic Research Building at the Health Center, now nearing completion, will greatly enhance our ability to draw eminent faculty to the University and to attract research support.

This winter we will announce the Master Plan for the Storrs campus. Developed in close consultation with all campus constituencies, the plan reflects a strong consensus of support for a visually attractive, student-focused and pedestrian-friendly facility.

In a related sphere, the University has been developing a long-term strategy to enhance our communications efforts. As a major public institution it is essential that we convey our objectives and achievements to many key constituencies: prospective students and their families; the business community; faculty, staff, and students; alumni; philanthropic individuals and groups; peer institutions; and the state legislature. UConn has a compelling story. We should tell it accurately, comprehensively, and attractively.

With the help of M. Booth & Associates, Inc. and Cummings & Goode, Inc., early this fall we completed a full assessment of specific communications needs and objectives. The next step is to implement a strategic communications plan directed at our multiple audiences, and to establish a clear visual identity that conveys in all our communications a sense of our academic role and mission and the quality of our programs.

IV. Tri-Campus Initiative

The concept of UConn as a university with a statewide presence has for too long been honored more in rhetoric than in reality. We need to change that through a program of advocacy, facilities improvement, administrative consolidation and program upgrade.

Our Strategic Plan directs us to evaluate and enhance the role of the regional campuses. I take this mandate seriously and have addressed the issue often. The incorporation in UConn 2000 of the new campus in Stamford, the major upgrade at Avery Point, and improvements at the other regional campuses demonstrate the University's commitment.

I continue to be concerned, however, that the regional campuses are not serving students to the maximum possible level of effectiveness. With some exceptions these campuses do not offer full degree programs and in recent years fewer than half the students completing their sophomore year at a regional facility have "branchferred" to Storrs. The same factors that led students to a regional campus in the first place-finances, family obligations, work status-generally continue to operate two or more years later.

This fall we proposed a "Tri-Campus Initiative" to address this issue at Torrington, Waterbury and Hartford. Our recommendation is to establish a closer administrative linkage among these units, building them into a three-site campus of sufficient size and scope to offer several four-year programs. As at present, students will continue to have the option of moving to Storrs and all graduates will receive the same University of Connecticut degree awarded to people who complete their program at Storrs.

There has been apprehension-understandable, given what I have been told about events in recent years-that our proposal is somehow designed to diminish the role of the three facilities. In fact the opposite is true. While I hope that we will be able to consolidate some services, our primary objective is not fiscal but academic.

Chancellor Emmert, Vice Chancellor Maryanski and other administrators have been meeting with faculty, students and community leaders in Torrington, Waterbury and Hartford. Our proposal is subject to modification and will, we hope, ultimately reflect a consensus of support. What is not subject to modification is our commitment to maintaining all existing regional campuses and to providing a quality program at each.

Concluding Thoughts

A message of this length can touch on only a few major topics and must, therefore, leave other important issues for future discussion. As the academic year progresses I will continue to meet with as many University groups as possible to hear and address your concerns. I will also continue my efforts to communicate UConn's message to our multiple external audiences. At some point in the not too distant future, I expect to announce a long-term capital campaign to generate private resources essential to meeting our objectives. Ongoing communication of the University's progress will be as important to that campaign's success as it is to the success of our overall agenda.

We recognize that no change is free of difficulty and that every opportunity has its cost. I am particularly mindful of the inconvenience associated with our construction program and I express my gratitude to faculty, staff and students for their understanding and forbearance. I appreciate as well the faculty and staff's extra effort this year as we absorbed the loss of more than 300 valued colleagues who left through the retirement incentive programs. We are using the flexibility we gained through those programs to recruit outstanding people in areas where they can best help us attain excellence, but I realize the stresses created in the interim.

As we cope with immediate challenges, however, it is important for us to stand back and remind ourselves how far we have come in a short time. Our objective now, as always, is to create an institution of national prominence, known for many things but above all for the quality of its scholars and the strength of its academic programs. I am convinced that the actions we are taking in 1997-98 will enhance the quality of education we provide, expand the range and volume of important research, and make the University an even more significant partner in strengthening Connecticut's economic base. A strong foundation has been laid over the decades, and with recent support we are well on our way to creating a university appropriate to this extraordinary state.

cc: Board of Trustees