Rulookinatme

[husky210]

Here he is on Ohio state's scout board talking about our academics and aau. Very well thought out and informative post. Ill let you judge:

As someone with direct knowledge of the AAU,let me explain a couple of things. Without rehashing the complete saga of UN-L's ouster, remember that the AAU's decision to cull the herd came as a shock to some of the legacy invites. The criteria promulgated through the biannual review group was fairly consistent with the AAU's broadened outlook, but denial was not just a river in eygpt. There will be more voluntary departures. I doubt that we bear witness to the public shennanigans of neb. As far as some of the schools listed above which read as a definitive candidates list of next invitees, Cincy is not on that list. This isn't just my wildnerness opinion. The research dollars claimed by cincy conflate med operations and research. That's more anathama then claiming noncomp ag dollars to majority of schools. Quite frankly, if any univ hospital could claim, eg, cap construction costs as research dollars, well we'd have hundreds of aau members. Also, be careful with aggregate research dollars; AAU focuses on comp fed dollars, NSF, NIH, etc. Next, be mindful of the size of the university when discussing research dollars. For example, brandeis has very few (comparatively) research $'s vis a vis Hopkins, Stanford, etc. However, AAU norms that out by merely using a faculty/research $ ratio. And while not quite cause/effect, the underlying academic quality of the institution matters. Each AAU school knows how eg,avg mcat,lsat,gre of candidate schools' undergrad students. cincy isn't playing in the same league as the others. (franky, nor are ku, oregon, and a few other legacy aa members) That's why the above list is in error. As sone of you probably know, Boston Univ was just extended an AAU invite based on total research $'s in the $380m range, of which $280ish was comp federal grants, normed out to 1400 faculty, that is the figure invitees need to shoot for. KU, Oregon, coupe of others are laggards and will be next on the ouster list. Georgia, UConn will be AAU in next 5 years. UConn in particular is getting a tremendous buzz right now in research academia because of its shopping spree for research talent. It truly is amzing what it is doing right now. It's plucking a LOT of talent during a period of angst in the community. This is a football board, but if it interests you, you'll find a lot of the back story of its talent hunt on google. How this relates to realignment? Let's just say the circle of academia intersects the AD/tv circle in a degenerate point, and never forget that point is all about the dollars.

 

[auggie22]

I think rulookinatme is upstater. There, I said it.

 

[Rumrunner]

this sounds like an upstater talking point.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

RUlookinatme is the same name as the guy who posted a couple times over on West Virginia's board about UConn and Virginia going to B1G.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

There apparently are a couple of posts from August where RUlookinatme says Maryland and Rutgers would be added to the Big 10. I think he is making very educated guesses, but he has a good track record.

 

[upstater]

I think rulookinatme is upstater. There, I said it.

He's not. It's a good post, except for the very beginning. The idea that people were surprised by this is hard to accept. I saw the letters go out many years ago about thresholds needing to be met. We discussed this internally for awhile at 2 different schools that I was at (both in the bottom quartile--i.e. $350m range). With the addition of BU, some of these schools are breathing a lot easier.

It is great to see Uconn pushing things on the one hand--but I'd be scared about Herbst's budget cuts. If she is axing departments in this environment to hire all the new faculty, it could rebound on her the way it did at Rutgers and a few other places. She says it's coming from higher tuition (I'm not a fan of that either). Whatever she's doing however will be very impressive if she can manage to increase research by 100% in 5 years.

Just to give you an idea: the most ambitious goals/challenges I've seen from 4 other schools (both inside and outside the AAU) are to go up by 40%. Two of those schools are looking at 20%. And one wants 10%. Junglehusky has been posting regularly about decreases in research funding. In other words, what Uconn wants to do--if RULook is right--is unprecedented.

I'd suggest the state get behind this and stop slashing funding to the school. The residuals from helping Uconn out in this environment will only help the state. I well realize Ct. has a bad budget crunch. Still, it should return that $10 million to UConn. That's a big chunk of money for a school.

 

[Dann]

There apparently are a couple of posts from August where RUlookinatme says Maryland and Rutgers would be added to the Big 10. I think he is making very educated guesses, but he has a good track record.

over the summer he got his info from me. hes trustworhty.

 

[Mr Blueskin]

RUlookinatme is the same name as the guy who posted a couple times over on West Virginia's board about UConn and Virginia going to B1G.

In those WV posts, he stated he has a source who is very close with Rutgers AD. RUlookingatme doesn't seem to just throw crap out there like those other predictors. I wonder how long these little hints of UConn to Big10 stay so quiet in the media, especially with the obvious moves Herbst is making. When all this is done and HFD is dead right about all this, I hope they put up a statue of Susan taking pics in the middle of the campus. (Secondary to Calhouns statue of course)

 

[Nostical]

UConn in particular is getting a tremendous buzz right now in research academia because of its shopping spree for research talent. It truly is amzing what it is doing right now. It's plucking a LOT of talent during a period of angst in the community.

Herbst is making all the right (and bold) academic and research moves. The fact that its taken this long is an indictment of past administrations. These are the academic equivilent of Rutgers expanding their stadium when funds were tight. Not only in academics is she spending but there's now a new head of Athletic Fundraising, Vince Volpe. In his letter today he mentioned that Susan has OK'd additional hires in his department. They need to raise lots of money. It's a two pronged attack. And people are noticing.

In the posting for the job Volpe got it said the following:
The Division of Athletics has embarked on a $110 million capital campaign, which is part of the University of Connecticut's broader $600 million capital campaign, Our University, Our Moment. To date the Campaign for UConn has raised over $85 million toward athletic campaign priorities. The Athletic Department is currently undergoing a large capital expansion with plans to build a new basketball practice facility ($35M), a new soccer stadium ($15M) and renovation to the existing baseball stadium ($10M). In addition to being the primary major gifts officer for the department, this individual will also help to lead the expansion of unrestricted annual revenues, and endowed scholarships for the athletic department.

Increasing the number of major gift donors to the UConn Athletic Department is a top priority and the UConn Division of Athletics is uniquely positioned to leverage its national visibility and membership among BCS participant universities to achieve greater success.

Volpe is from Oral Roberts but spent time at Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana. You just may be hearing from him soon because, as we all know, it's always about the money.

 

[businesslawyer]

Herbst is making all the right (and bold) academic and research moves. The fact that its taken this long is an indictment of past administrations.

I'm not sure that is fair. There was a time, not long ago, when UConn making the bold moves it is making now on a number of fronts would have been an impossibility because UConn was just too far down the reputational rankings to pull it off. I think it took a long, slow, at times barely noticable building of the university and it's reputation before we could attempt to do what she is now doing.

It is tougher to become one of the five or eight or whatever flagship state universities than it is to win basketball national championships. It takes more than the best coach of a generation, one or two great recruits and a lot of team building around them. And it takes more time because you don't become a great university just on the floor or field -- you have to be perceived as such to be one.

 

[upstater]

I'm not sure that is fair. There was a time, not long ago, when UConn making the bold moves it is making now on a number of fronts would have been an impossibility because UConn was just too far down the reputational rankings to pull it off. I think it took a long, slow, at times barely noticable building of the university and it's reputation before we could attempt to do what she is now doing.

It is tougher to become one of the five or eight or whatever flagship state universities than it is to win basketball national championships. It takes more than the best coach of a generation, one or two great recruits and a lot of team building around them. And it takes more time because you don't become a great university just on the floor or field -- you have to be perceived as such to be one.

Also, Herbst is robbing Peter to pay Paul. This is not necessarily a farsighted move that people are imagining. If it were, everyone would be doing it. Slashing budgets in other university programs and raising tuition rapidly is no easy thing. In New York, the SUNY's are still at $5k+ tuition. They could easily ramp things up this quickly, but there's a reason they don't.

I wouldn't blame previous administrators either, though given what Hogan did at Illinois, you have to wonder if there might've been a problem.

 

[UConnRock]

I'm not sure that is fair. There was a time, not long ago, when UConn making the bold moves it is making now on a number of fronts would have been an impossibility because UConn was just too far down the reputational rankings to pull it off. I think it took a long, slow, at times barely noticable building of the university and it's reputation before we could attempt to do what she is now doing.

It is tougher to become one of the five or eight or whatever flagship state universities than it is to win basketball national championships. It takes more than the best coach of a generation, one or two great recruits and a lot of team building around them. And it takes more time because you don't become a great university just on the floor or field -- you have to be perceived as such to be one.

Have to agree with Bizlaw here. UConn has been on an upward trajectory for more than a decade now and finally has the gravitas to attract the professors and research dollars that are the foundation of Herbst's plan. Without UConn 2000 and other advancements UConn's current goals would be scoffed at in most high ranking academic circles. We all need to remember what UConn looked like in the 1980 and 1990s .

However, tangential to Herbst's academic goals, she has established fundraising and endowment goals that should have been in place a long time ago. The fact that UConn went through the economic glory days of the mid-2000s and didn't build up the endowment an other financial cushions shows a glaring lack of leadership.

 

[Rumrunner]

supposedly the $16m less that uconn is getting will be offset by savings from the consultancy report- purchasing, etc. not the academic side. i don't see the peter that is being robbed here.

Also, Herbst is robbing Peter to pay Paul. This is not necessarily a farsighted move that people are imagining. If it were, everyone would be doing it. Slashing budgets in other university programs and raising tuition rapidly is no easy thing. In New York, the SUNY's are still at $5k+ tuition. They could easily ramp things up this quickly, but there's a reason they don't.

I wouldn't blame previous administrators either, though given what Hogan did at Illinois, you have to wonder if there might've been a problem.

 

[upstater]

supposedly the $16m less that uconn is getting will be offset by savings from the consultancy report- purchasing, etc. not the academic side. i don't see the peter that is being robbed here.

If, after the last 5 years, they haven't streamlined operations, that's crazy. Everyone I know at every university has seen presentation budgets cut (i.e. airplane tix to give a presentation elsewhere), fellowship release cut, office supplies, etc. If they haven't already looked into this stuff, what are they doing? Most places have already cut programs too! But the sharp rise in tuition--that's where I look at this and say, that's pretty questionable. If she manages to pull it off, and people don't moan about paying Michigan-like tuition, good for her. But the way I look at it, $10k is the absolute cut-off for being able to afford a university education with no help these days. A full-time summer job + college work study + the full amount in gov't student loans + pell grants does not cover your costs about $10k + room&board. If you go far above it, you're doing a huge disservice to the state.

 

[zls44]

You talking in state tuition or out of state?

 

[upstater]

You talking in state tuition or out of state?

For UConn? I thought in state was around $10k. No?

EDIT: Total, Commuting Student $ 11,362
Total, Dormitory Student $22,742

Looking at those two numbers, UConn is already at the breaking point. I would be weary of raising tuition.