Ray Dunaway reports UConn to AAU inside a year? | The Boneyard

Ray Dunaway reports UConn to AAU inside a year?

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Second hand information. I didn't hear it myself, but I heard the general consensus was that if all our proposals were accepted a vote could take place within a year. Did anyone hear this first-hand?
 
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Second hand information. I didn't hear it myself, but I heard the general consensus was that if all our proposals were accepted a vote could take place within a year. Did anyone hear this first-hand?

Who is Ray Dunaway?

What proposals?

And, because of the sequester, research funding took a huge nosedive everywhere. If this continues, look for the AAU to start a big purge.

http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Colleges-say-federal-cuts-could-cause-brain-drain-4360051.php
 
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Second hand information. I didn't hear it myself, but I heard the general consensus was that if all our proposals were accepted a vote could take place within a year. Did anyone hear this first-hand?

Based on Google looks like a CBS Connecticut employee. Huge news if true. Although "if all our proposals were accepted" seems like a GIGANTIC if. kind of like "We will be in the B1G within a year IF the B1G accepts our application."
 
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Wtic 1080. Sequester or not, seems every day on today.uconn.edu there's another faculty member poached from some school. They bring grant money with them. Not telling you anything you don't already know about that, though.
 

pj

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And, because of the sequester, research funding took a huge nosedive everywhere. If this continues, look for the AAU to start a big purge.

http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Colleges-say-federal-cuts-could-cause-brain-drain-4360051.php

Don't get that. If funding is getting cut, they need more lobbying power, not less. More institutions would strengthen the AAU.

The point of purging was to help the AAU members outcompete the non-members. That assumes the pie is fixed and they want a larger share. (Rather like the formation of BCS conferences and networks and the freezing out of lesser programs is a way to get a larger share of the athletics pie.) But if the size of the pie is variable, then you want all the feeders of the pie to lobby for a bigger pie.
 
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While UConn is making all of the right moves for AAU, you'd think that it would be in the interest of aau members to see the moves come to a fruition as well as have a track record of them being sustainable.

UConn's fed research dollars are still well short of what bu's were on a per faculty/cap basis, so my guess is dunaway is wrong.
 
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I find Dunaway wildly entertaining, but it would be far from the first time he jumped the shark.
 
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Don't get that. If funding is getting cut, they need more lobbying power, not less. More institutions would strengthen the AAU.

The point of purging was to help the AAU members outcompete the non-members. That assumes the pie is fixed and they want a larger share. (Rather like the formation of BCS conferences and networks and the freezing out of lesser programs is a way to get a larger share of the athletics pie.) But if the size of the pie is variable, then you want all the feeders of the pie to lobby for a bigger pie.

The pie is limited. The lobbyists are already at work. This kind of lobbying is very different from the sort that normally goes on. The grants are given through vetting, not through lobbyist connections. In other words, lobbyists press congress to increase funding to the national institutes. Lobbyists are not at work then telling the institutes who should receive the funding(that's beyond their expertise).

Essentially you're asking what is the advantage of being in the AAU. Let me tell you: many top administrators and faculty have asked this question.

There is only one answer: prestige. And prestige is built in one way only: exclusion.

There's a good Franz Kafka parable that explains this dynamic.
 
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I find Dunaway wildly entertaining, but it would be far from the first time he jumped the shark.

Agreed but he does have "contacts" developed over the years both inside and outside Storrs and inside and outside 210 Capital Ave. Would love to have heard the context.
 
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Ray Dunaway is the "morning man" on WTIC radio, the UConn sports flagship and arguably the best known and oldest station in the state. I wouldn't say it has the level of influence it once had but it is still the best known at least in Hartford and most powerful in terms of its coverage. Of course it has gone all right wing over the past few years, but it's AM so what station hasn't. Ray is actually a pretty nice guy in person. He is one of the guys who can and does get all the local politicians and so forth to appear on his show and he treats them with courtesy when he gets them. He might not agree with a Dan Malloy, but he won't attack him personally or try and trap him when he appears on the show. He'll ask about policy and listen respectfully for an answer. Something of a lost art in this day and age. I suspect that he in fact does have good contacts both at UConn and in state government as a result of his longevity and his work. But as someone else posted, ti doesn't keep him from occasionally jumping the shark.
 

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IF the B1G sees Connecticut as adding value to their league within whatever time frame they are looking at (5, 10, 25 or 50 years), than it would be in the interest of the league to promote a Connecticut admission to the AAU to maintain the prestige of their conference and consortium (CIC). Under those circumstances, I can see Connecticut getting an AAU invite with the prestige and reputation of the B1G taking preference over the prestige and reputation of the AAU.

Upstater, does the B1G have the AAU have the votes and /or throw weight to make that happen?
 

Husky25

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Who is Ray Dunaway?

What proposals?

And, because of the sequester, research funding took a huge nosedive everywhere. If this continues, look for the AAU to start a big purge.

http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Colleges-say-federal-cuts-could-cause-brain-drain-4360051.php

He's hosted the morning drive on WTIC AM-1080 in CT for, seemingly, the last 50 years. WTIC broadcasts all relevent UConn athletic events and has a huge coverage area within the state, MA, and NY.
 
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IF the B1G sees Connecticut as adding value to their league within whatever time frame they are looking at (5, 10, 25 or 50 years), than it would be in the interest of the league to promote a Connecticut admission to the AAU to maintain the prestige of their conference and consortium (CIC). Under those circumstances, I can see Connecticut getting an AAU invite with the prestige and reputation of the B1G taking preference over the prestige and reputation of the AAU.

Upstater, does the B1G have the AAU have the votes and /or throw weight to make that happen?

It was the B1G Presidents who conspired to kick Nebraska out. So.... no. It just doesn't matter to them. The current Pres. of Amherst College, then Pres. of Wisconsin and also on the committee that ousted Nebraska from the AAU, was quoted as saying that Nebraska's AAU membership didn't come up once during discussions for entry into the B1G. And we know why. Because Wisky and Michigan were already at work setting the ground for their ouster.
 

HuskyHawk

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It was the B1G Presidents who conspired to kick Nebraska out. So.... no. It just doesn't matter to them. The current Pres. of Amherst College, then Pres. of Wisconsin and also on the committee that ousted Nebraska from the AAU, was quoted as saying that Nebraska's AAU membership didn't come up once during discussions for entry into the B1G. And we know why. Because Wisky and Michigan were already at work setting the ground for their ouster.

Indeed there are already rumors that some longstanding members, including Iowa State, Oregon and Missouri, may get the axe as well. We should hope that they shuffle the deck rather than just shrinking the numbers.
 

UConn Dan

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Well my conspiracy detector is really acting up today - the current AAU Chairman is Tulane President Scott Cowen. Yup, the Scott Cowen who graduated from UConn in 1968.

Maybe we allowed Tulane into the conference in exchange for "consideration" come AAU-time?? Could we be so smooth?
That's some NWO level ish right there. I don't think our admin is that smooth though.

I hope Cowen does us a solid though. If I were in position I would put UConn first.
 
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Indeed there are already rumors that some longstanding members, including Iowa State, Oregon and Missouri, may get the axe as well. We should hope that they shuffle the deck rather than just shrinking the numbers.

The problem is that they might be tossed for their bottom line research numbers, which is a threshold that is higher than UConn's current number. No doubt they are reshuffling rather than reducing, given Boston U's recent entry. But--prior to Boston U. joining, I thought they were just reducing. I have actually read AAU internal memos about a new survey underway to make sure membership meets criteria (i.e. they were looking to cut).
 
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Well my conspiracy detector is really acting up today - the current AAU Chairman is Tulane President Scott Cowen. Yup, the Scott Cowen who graduated from UConn in 1968.

Maybe we allowed Tulane into the conference in exchange for "consideration" come AAU-time?? Could we be so smooth?
Please tell me someone has pictures of him.....

& there is no Fn way our Admins are that smooth...
 
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People are underestimating how smooth Herbst is, IMO.
 

RS9999X

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The pie is limited. The lobbyists are already at work. This kind of lobbying is very different from the sort that normally goes on. The grants are given through vetting, not through lobbyist connections. In other words, lobbyists press congress to increase funding to the national institutes. Lobbyists are not at work then telling the institutes who should receive the funding(that's beyond their expertise).
.

Too simplistic. There's funding for the facilities and equipment that makes obtaining research funding a near shoe-in and allows curve fitting grant appropriations to the Institutes as a high=percentage pass through. Michigan States cyclotron was one such example. Albany's nano-tech investment is a more current one.
 
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