UCONN's Future

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Message from President Herbst

To the UConn Community,

I recently participated in an event titled “A Conversation on the Future of UConn” held in the Beanery Café here on the Storrs campus. It was a wide-ranging discussion with members of our community about where we are now as a university and where we want to go in the years ahead.
The discussion was recorded so that it could be shared with the entire UConn community, which is why I write to you today.

Those in attendance included students, faculty, and staff from Storrs, the regional campuses, the School of Law, and UConn Health; the students were both undergrads and graduate students. Several of our alumni and other supporters were present, some of whom are parents of current UConn students.

As I noted at the outset of the discussion, they collectively represent what we have come to call “UConn Nation” – meaning the diverse and far-reaching membership of our whole community, which exists not only on our campuses, but throughout the state, the nation, and the world.

The video, found here, captures many of the critical questions and issues we covered, including how to continue to grow UConn’s academic strength in an era of uncertain financial resources, the role of STEM, climbing in the rankings, our efforts to ensure diversity throughout our community, career services for graduates, and the importance of UConn Health and the regional campuses, among many other topics.

You’ll find the overarching theme was building and maintaining excellence at the university, and ensuring that we are carrying out our mission as best we can on behalf of Connecticut – and every member of UConn Nation.

The reality is that while incredible investments have been made in UConn, we have also had to face continual financial challenges in recent years because of cuts and shortfalls in the funding UConn receives from the state. This has required careful management, financial sacrifice, and painful reductions. We will continue to meet these challenges as they arise in the years ahead. And we will do so together, as one university with one shared future.

I hope you are able to find the time to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plg99YPuJYw.

My thanks to all those who participated in the discussion.

Sincerely,

Susan Herbst
President, University of Connecticut

 

[Nostical]

She's simply magnificent.

 

[uconnphil2016]

She's simply magnificent.

She's alright. Depends on your vantage point I suppose.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Good if the sole measuring stick is creating marketability and improving rankings. Bad with managing any kind of tension on campus (sexual assault, race-fueled attacks, etc. etc.).

 

[Nostical]

Good if the sole measuring stick is creating marketability and improving rankings. Bad with managing any kind of tension on campus (sexual assault, race-fueled attacks, etc. etc.).

She's the best President we've ever had. I'm not saying she's perfect.

 

[Stainmaster]

She's the best President we've ever had. I'm not saying she's perfect.

Agreed. Ask someone who worked with some of her predecessors what that was like and you'll get an earful.

 

[Palatine]

She's the best President we've ever had. I'm not saying she's perfect.

True. But I wish the bar was higher.

 

[Pudge]

Absolutely dynamic academic leader. She arrived when we needed her most.

 

[Nostical]

I wish the bar was higher.

Could you reach your martini?

 

[Milo65]

Circa 1987, John Casteen was the UConn president and Burger King was running a promotion/commercial "Where's Herb" campaign. If you found Herb at your local Burger King, you would win cash. I know exactly where Herb was hiding out, he was hiding out in Storrs.

 

[JMick]

From a student standpoint, Herbst was awful. She is great in terms of boosting the reputation of UCONN but she really doesn't care about students. People can disagree all they want, but she is probably the least student-friendly president the school has had in a long time.

In terms of academic standings, many forget that the recession was the greatest driver of the climbing academic ratings. Connecticut has a lot of smart kids and good high schools - keeping them home due to cost was the biggest reason the rankings climbed. All you have to do is look at the ratings in 2005 and the ratings in 2010 before Herbst got here - they shoot up right around 2008 and continued to climb. She inherited a perfect storm.

 

[uconnphil2016]

From a student standpoint, Herbst was awful. She is great in terms of boosting the reputation of UCONN but she really doesn't care about students. People can disagree all they want, but she is probably the least student-friendly president the school has had in a long time.

In terms of academic standings, many forget that the recession was the greatest driver of the climbing academic ratings. Connecticut has a lot of smart kids and good high schools - keeping them home due to cost was the biggest reason the rankings climbed. All you have to do is look at the ratings in 2005 and the ratings in 2010 before Herbst got here - they shoot up right around 2008 and continued to climb. She inherited a perfect storm.

Very true that she's perceived as hugely unfriendly to students. Also agree w other posters that she's done a lot for UConn as a brand

 

[gars44]

Like her. Afraid not to be here long haul.

 

[huskyinfl]

Not unfriendly. New generation of students are babies.

 

[CTMike]

Why, specifically, is she viewed as unfriendly towards students?

 

[JMick]

Why, specifically, is she viewed as unfriendly towards students?

She doesn't relate well to students. She's pretty distant and really only spends time within the STEM programs. Friends of mine in physics, CS, etc. said she would stop by their classes and job fairs all the time yet she never showed her face to other departments. She has had some questionable stances in regards to incidents happening on campus and she never really backed the student body with regards to mistreatment of students by the UCPD.

UCPD is the true underlying issue with students as they pretty much have free reign to do whatever they want. I know a lot of people who were pulled over by them and searched without warrants and the issues have been brought up to USG and the administration yet they've never touched on the subject. There were a few incidents of police brutality while I was in school and she kept her nose out of it. Students don't feel like she has any interest in their day-day lives and I don't think she does either.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Why, specifically, is she viewed as unfriendly towards students?

Additionally, how would current or recent students have much definitive or direct insight on relatively recent presidents' comparative student-friendliness let alone that of presidents from several years to a few decades ago? Quantitative analyses, qualitative measures, pure conjecture, news reports of unclear validity, beer-fed BSing, some hybrid?

 

[minidarren]

She doesn't relate well to students. She's pretty distant and really only spends time within the STEM programs. Friends of mine in physics, CS, etc. said she would stop by their classes and job fairs all the time yet she never showed her face to other departments. She has had some questionable stances in regards to incidents happening on campus and she never really backed the student body with regards to mistreatment of students by the UCPD.

UCPD is the true underlying issue with students as they pretty much have free reign to do whatever they want. I know a lot of people who were pulled over by them and searched without warrants and the issues have been brought up to USG and the administration yet they've never touched on the subject. There were a few incidents of police brutality while I was in school and she kept her nose out of it. Students don't feel like she has any interest in their day-day lives and I don't think she does either.

You understand the PD does not need a warrant to search your car? When you roll the window down and it appears that Cheech and Chong are locked up in your trunk it gives them probable cause to search. I'd hate to be a cop on a college campus. A whole bunch of jalapeño bacon mac and cheese entitled babies.

 

[CAHUSKY]

She doesn't relate well to students. She's pretty distant and really only spends time within the STEM programs. Friends of mine in physics, CS, etc. said she would stop by their classes and job fairs all the time yet she never showed her face to other departments. She has had some questionable stances in regards to incidents happening on campus and she never really backed the student body with regards to mistreatment of students by the UCPD.

UCPD is the true underlying issue with students as they pretty much have free reign to do whatever they want. I know a lot of people who were pulled over by them and searched without warrants and the issues have been brought up to USG and the administration yet they've never touched on the subject. There were a few incidents of police brutality while I was in school and she kept her nose out of it. Students don't feel like she has any interest in their day-day lives and I don't think she does either.

Huh?

 

[Fishy]

Every generation of student believes they are somehow put upon by their president.

They're not.

 

[Nostical]

JMick, with all due respect, I suggest you listen to Fishy.
President Herbst may not have said hello to you in the hallway but she is on a relentless mission, working at breakneck speed, to raise the entire image of a University that had been puttering along for years before she arrived. Among the critical things she's done is to push STEM. While it may appear to you that it's gotten too much of the attention, she's hard at work rebranding UConn as a major "research" university. Don't lose sight of how critical that label is as we try to advance to better and B1gger days ahead. She's exactly the leader we need to get the job done. I suggest we cut her some slack along the way.

 

[CTMike]

She doesn't relate well to students. She's pretty distant and really only spends time within the STEM programs. Friends of mine in physics, CS, etc. said she would stop by their classes and job fairs all the time yet she never showed her face to other departments. She has had some questionable stances in regards to incidents happening on campus and she never really backed the student body with regards to mistreatment of students by the UCPD.

UCPD is the true underlying issue with students as they pretty much have free reign to do whatever they want. I know a lot of people who were pulled over by them and searched without warrants and the issues have been brought up to USG and the administration yet they've never touched on the subject. There were a few incidents of police brutality while I was in school and she kept her nose out of it. Students don't feel like she has any interest in their day-day lives and I don't think she does either.

Appreciate the response. Just weren't things that I worried about when I was there 15 years ago.

 

[gioff23]

I would suggest folks ask themselves what is the role of a university president before deciding he or she is good, bad or indifferent. When you look at the list of "responsibilities", you have to ask how to best prioritize them. I think she (I am sure with the advice and support of others) has done a very good job of addressing the needs of the university and plotting a path for the future of the school. While we often get lost in the here and now, her job is to plot a future path for the institution as a whole. I like the path on which she has put UConn.

 

[mikedog10]

I was a freshman during Hogan's first year as president. As a student, I thought he was great. I remember watching a couch burn with him in Celeron during spring weekend my freshman year, and seeing him party at football games my junior year. But he spent state money like a drunken sailor, bailed on UConn the minute he had a better job offer, and did nothing great for the university that I can remember.

I may have liked Hogan as a student, but I'll take Herbst any day. She genuinely cares about the long-term growth of UConn and has been a great ambassador for the university. Plus, she's not bad to look at either!

 

[John Greene]

All of you are forgetting the three most important functions of a university president.

1. Provide competitive sports teams for the alumni
2. Provide lots of teaching assistants so that senior faculty can minimize the time they spend in the class room
3. Provide s safe environment where undergraduates can get drunk, high and have sex.