UConn Adopts Bold Academic Vision

[Husky92]

Um, it's "DelanY".

Man, we'll never get an invite if we can't spell his name correctly. We're doomed!

 

[CAHUSKY]

After betting who would go farther in tourney, a buddy of mine who is Michigan grad recently treated me to nice lunch to satisfy our wager.

Me and a fellow UCONN alum living here in Reno enjoyed a lovely free lunch from our Arizona fan/friend who made the same bet with us!

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I like to think that the academic and athletic departments have a symbiotic relationship...

Jerry, I think this is it exactly. You've got folks on either extreme thinking it's all for academics or all for athletics, but you've got it spot on. They need each other to raise the overall bar. After UCONN's initial men's basketball success the applications rose big time which allowed the school to be more selective in who they accepted. That started the upward trending of student quality and the impression of UCONN as an academic institution. I think Pres. Herbst knows how this works. Raise the academics and raise our profile. An increased profile and athletic success makes us a viable candidate to a better conference which ultimately increases our revenue and keeps the cycle going.

 

[huskyrob1]

Herbst is doing what she can to market our great university to the general public. State of CT needs to commit even more resources to help UCONN grow. I hope we end up in a conference with similar universities and that's clearly the B1G.

She's also doing something that has been her absolute primary focus since she came here, and that is to shore up the schools endowment, which is only $300 million and change. If there is anything that has kept UCONN out of a big time conference, that's it. Any conference wanting us also wants us to have bucks in the bank, even lowly Louisville has an endowment over $1 billion and Maryland's is approaching $1 billion. Michigan's is something like 8 or 9 billion. All the talk of investing billions for athletics and academics and marketing us to the general public is all fine and dandy but it doesn't do if SH can't market UCONN to major corporations and wealthy alumni to get the donations she needs. To give you guys an idea of where UCONN stands right now, Sacred Heart has an endowment of just over $100 million, UMASS has an endowment of $230 million and Fairfield University's is almost $300 million. What the state needs to do more than just legislate building funds, etc is to light fires under the wealthier corporations in the state and wealthier individuals to donate to the university.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

She's also doing something that has been her absolute primary focus since she came here, and that is to shore up the schools endowment, which is only $300 million and change.

I know there are a lot of ways to donate to UCONN. How would you donate just to the endowment? Would they take $100 from someone or is endowment some kind of different beast? Clearly I know very little about it.

 

[upstater]

She's also doing something that has been her absolute primary focus since she came here, and that is to shore up the schools endowment, which is only $300 million and change. If there is anything that has kept UCONN out of a big time conference, that's it. Any conference wanting us also wants us to have bucks in the bank, even lowly Louisville has an endowment over $1 billion and Maryland's is approaching $1 billion. Michigan's is something like 8 or 9 billion. All the talk of investing billions for athletics and academics and marketing us to the general public is all fine and dandy but it doesn't do if SH can't market UCONN to major corporations and wealthy alumni to get the donations she needs. To give you guys an idea of where UCONN stands right now, Sacred Heart has an endowment of just over $100 million, UMASS has an endowment of $230 million and Fairfield University's is almost $300 million. What the state needs to do more than just legislate building funds, etc is to light fires under the wealthier corporations in the state and wealthier individuals to donate to the university.

State support though is more important than endowments. Louisville has 3x the endowment of many AAU schools, but where is the state support. It's practically non-existent. The yearly state support for UConn is equivalent to a $7-8 billion endowment. And that's not including UConn2000 or the recent initiative. Louisville's state appropriation, in contrast, is equivalent to a $3 billion endowment. The school gets half the support that UConn does.

 

[huskyrob1]

I know there are a lot of ways to donate to UCONN. How would you donate just to the endowment? Would they take $100 from someone or is endowment some kind of different beast? Clearly I know very little about it.

I would just send her a check, plain and simple. Hey, who knows, maybe she'd send me some season tickets. LOL!

http://www.foundation.uconn.edu/endowed-support.html

It doesn't have to be money either, it could be real estate, jewelry, valuable art, etc

 

[huskyrob1]

State support though is more important than endowments. Louisville has 3x the endowment of many AAU schools, but where is the state support. It's practically non-existent. The yearly state support for UConn is equivalent to a $7-8 billion endowment. And that's not including UConn2000 or the recent initiative. Louisville's state appropriation, in contrast, is equivalent to a $3 billion endowment. The school gets half the support that UConn does.

I hear what you are saying but as I said, it doesn't mean . Oh maybe it helps down the road but cabbage in the bank, real-estate holdings, etc is what counts. That being said, Susan Herbst, IMO is doing great job. She will have our endowment over $1 billion in 5 years or less.

 

[BlueMAB]

Someone has "business world" confused with "government bureaucracies"

 

[sdhusky]

The elbow-pad wall of silence rears its ugly head. The part I don't get about academics is why so many of you blindly defend colleagues who are so transparently mailing it in. If I was to walk down the hall at Monteith right now, what percent of tenured professors would be in their office, teaching a class, or at some definable location performing original research? Half? Two thirds?

The business faculty generally work a lot harder, for themselves in most cases. There are plenty of millionaires among the faculty at top business schools who use their affiliation with a top program to reap in the cash on consulting engagements.

A guy with 10,000 posts on this site complaining about people not working hard.

 

[huskyrob1]

Someone has "business world" confused with "government bureaucracies"

Yeah right, profits don't matter and big time college sports isn't a business. I got it.

 

[BlueMAB]

Yeah right, profits don't matter and big time college sports isn't a business. I got it.

I wasn't referring to you at all, honestly.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I would just send her a check, plain and simple. Hey, who knows, maybe she'd send me some season tickets. LOL!
http://www.foundation.uconn.edu/endowed-support.html
It doesn't have to be money either, it could be real estate, jewelry, valuable art, etc

Thanks for the info. I wish I had some of those valuables you mentioned to donate. It would mean I'm doing much better than I am. She's more likely to get the $100 I used as an example.

 

[huskyrob1]

I wasn't referring to you at all, honestly.

Could have fooled me, and you did!!! Sorry Bub.

 

[Seaa Blue]

Right on. Don't forget, we'd bring all of New England with us.

That's ok... Swag bag + iPad raffle will do.

 

[upstater]

Someone has "business world" confused with "government bureaucracies"

Nope. These are Six Sigma types installed by the BOTs from the business world. They excel at instituting coporate bureaucratic structure into non-profits. Are you corporate? You're telling me this doesn't exist there? Functionaries are taking over everywhere.

Put it this way. Here we are discussing tenure, and we've gone from 75% of faculty having it (or being on track) to 24% in the span of a decade, and meanwhile they keep taking people from corporate America to improve efficiency. In 5 years when 10% are tenure or TT we'll still be here discussing whether it's a thing that we should have around, even though it hardly even exists anymore. But hey, we will have our efficiency experts there to pat us on the back and tell us we are still meeting our goals! Even though there is no one around to teach anymore! Hooray.

 

[Gfunk]

Someone has "business world" confused with "government bureaucracies"

My general stereotype of Big Business is they are often worse than "government bureaucracies". Big business leadership is mostly comprised of non-elected leaders - often moved into these positions of power based on last name, friends of friends, continuos nepotism lives on & they rarely fall under the microscope of typical media scrutiny reserved for governments.

It's just too easy to bash the government (<-- much of these criticisms deserved) but a tall order to go after private enterprises - who've easily done more to screw this country. Such massive private enterprises are almost exclusively behind government corruption: lobbying for handouts & bending the laws without shame . It has become increasingly symbolic & reality that most research universities are filled with classrooms, auditoriums, facilities in general with corporate funding and naming rights - granted in part from state governments - full circle: my head is dizzy from the contradictions. Walking into the increasingly more prestigious Carlson Business School at the University of Minnesota has become a "who's who" of corporate branding. Marx is laughing in his grave, Ayn Rand has no counter-arguments, but she did die rich - meanwhile I disagree with both of them and hope for something different & more effective .

I'm not the biggest fans of state schools becoming corporate laboratories, which is trending strongly across the US & certainly not a fan of seeing them become kung- grip extensions of government - which they've never been.

 

[Gfunk]

Nope. These are Six Sigma types installed by the BOTs from the business world. They excel at instituting coporate bureaucratic structure into non-profits. Are you corporate? You're telling me this doesn't exist there? Functionaries are taking over everywhere.

Put it this way. Here we are discussing tenure, and we've gone from 75% of faculty having it (or being on track) to 24% in the span of a decade, and meanwhile they keep taking people from corporate America to improve efficiency. In 5 years when 10% are tenure or TT we'll still be here discussing whether it's a thing that we should have around, even though it hardly even exists anymore. But hey, we will have our efficiency experts there to pat us on the back and tell us we are still meeting our goals! Even though there is no one around to teach anymore! Hooray.

Spot on, sorry Wing-UConn but Upstater's quite correct.

 

[WestHartHusk]

My general stereotype of Big Business is they are often worse than "government bureaucracies". Big business leadership is mostly comprised of non-elected leaders - often moved into these positions of power based on last name, friends of friends, continuos nepotism lives on & they rarely fall under the microscope of typical media scrutiny reserved for governments.

It's just too easy to bash the government (<-- much of these criticisms deserved) but a tall order to go after private enterprises - who've easily done more to screw this country. Such massive private enterprises are almost exclusively behind government corruption: lobbying for handouts & bending the laws without shame . It has become increasingly symbolic & reality that most research universities are filled with classrooms, auditoriums, facilities in general with corporate funding and naming rights - granted in part from state governments - full circle: my head is dizzy from the contradictions. Walking into the increasingly more prestigious Carlson Business School at the University of Minnesota has become a "who's who" of corporate branding. Marx is laughing in his grave, Ayn Rand has no counter-arguments, but she did die rich - meanwhile I disagree with both of them and hope for something different & more effective .

I'm not the biggest fans of state schools becoming corporate laboratories, which is trending strongly across the US & certainly not a fan of seeing them become kung- grip extensions of government - which they've never been.

I agree with all of this, except that Ayn Rand, while having an estate with some money, died collecting welfare and medicaide.

 

[Gfunk]

I agree with all of this, except that Ayn Rand, while having an estate with some money, died collecting welfare and medicaide.

And there I went stereotyping. But then again, the medicaid & welfare monies she received are debatable, although they support my thinking above - "full circle . . . dizzy . . . contradictions".

 

[CL82]

"The University has adopted a wide-ranging new academic vision to shape its next decade of progress."
http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2014/04/uconn-adopts-bold-academic-vision/

I congratulate your university for the adoption of your new academic vision. Although athletics, economics, geography, population, etc. are critical factors in B1G expansion, it is of vital importance to the Presidents and Chancellors of the B1G that any candidate university be an academic and cultural fit for the conference.

A few selections from your new academic vision that speak to your university as being an academic and cultural fit for the B1G.
http://academicvision.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/643/2014/04/academic-plan-single.pdf
"As our state’s flagship public University, and as a land and sea grant institution, we promote the health and well-being of citizens by enhancing the social, economic, cultural, and natural environments of the state and beyond."

"A top flagship university provides access to a rich campus experience and offers lifelong learning opportunities to traditional and nontraditional students alike. It is a center of excellence for graduate and professional education, research, and scholarship—creating knowledge and innovation that fundamentally improves learning and the way people live. An internationally renowned university excels in the arts and sciences, dynamically enhancing the way our graduates understand and experience their world. Finally, a top public state university serves its citizens in a multiplicity of useful ways."

"The initiatives noted in our plan should and will play a major role in moving the University toward its vision of joining the ranks of the greatest public research universities in the world."

Although you can better speak to the vision of the leadership of your university as it relates to conference realignment, from my vantage point this new academic vision aligns exceptionally well with the other universities of the B1G if it is the intention of your leadership to seek membership for UConn in the conference.

Anyone else ever wonder if B1GALUM is Susan Herbst?

 

[CL82]

Often, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I think the ongoing efforts are tied to getting into an optimum conference. Aside from TV revenue, there are many academic and research synergies. But at the end of the day, UConn will be a better university for it. Lastly, I don't want to imply that SH deserves all the credit, because many people have worked hard over the past 20+ years to get UConn where it is in terms of academics and national stature.

But few, if any, as effectively.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Anyone else ever wonder if B1GALUM is Susan Herbst?

She is not a B1G alum though.

 

[CAHUSKY]

She is not a B1G alum though.

Of course, not. That would be too obvious. She's trying to sneak her real identity past us by using that name.

 

[nomar]

The document itself is mostly platitudes, but the reality is that Herbst is trying to drive UConn to the next level. I don't think it is much of a secret that this is Herbst's plan on conference realignment. Per the other thread, WhartonHusky was getting a similar message, and I have heard second hand from people that have met with senior administration members in recent months that this is the plan. Herbst believes she can drive the academic (edited from earlier post) profile high enough that, together with the strong basketball and adequate football, it will be hard to ignore us. Her first responsibility is to the academics anyway.

I don't know if it will work or not, but from their perspective, if they are successful in driving UConn to this level, that is the more important achievement than getting in the B1G in the big scheme of things.

What Herbst is trying to do is really, really, really hard, and has the potentially of failing spectacularly, and leaving UConn with an overpriced faculty that does not generate sufficient research dollars to justify their own salaries. Schools don't really move up or down the prestige rankings very much. The Top 10 and Top 20 look the same today that it looked 30 years ago. But Herbst is trying to bust in, and put UConn in the same class with UNC, Virginia and Michigan. I can not think of too many other schools that have moved as far up the prestige curve in the last 25 years as UConn has already, and that is due in a large part to Calhoun and Auriemma driving alumni contributions, corporate support, and state funding. Getting to the same level as Pitt, Rutgers and Syracuse is one thing, getting to the next level is going to be really hard, especially in a northern state that is not growing. She needs to find more money, and not a few million. I am guessing she needs to find $2-3 billion to pull this off, give or take a billion. The state doesn't have it. This is going to need to come from private sources.

She must succeed, because there are serious consequences for the school if she tries and fails.

Our only option is joining the Big East as a basketball member and becoming a football independent. I don't know why nobody else sees it this way, when it is obviously the right thing to do.