Its one thing for UConn to merely talk about moving toward AAU acceptance. It's quite another to build the Tech Park in Storrs and have Gov.Malloy announce the $1.5B committment--and have SH send this to all alums yesterday.
To the University Community,
I write to you today to share some very exciting news for UConn – and the entire state of Connecticut. Earlier today, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced a proposal to invest $1.5 billion in the future of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education at our university.
Under his plan, we would be able to enroll 6,500 new undergraduate students; build STEM facilities to house expanded materials science, biology, engineering, cognitive science, physics, and genomics programs, to name a few; construct new STEM teaching laboratories; hire 259 new faculty above and beyond our current faculty hiring plans; and create a premier STEM honors program, among many other major advances.
This bold, visionary proposal would help build the STEM workforce that Connecticut needs in order to be economically vibrant and successful, while new faculty members and facilities would enable UConn to secure more federal research dollars, which drive discovery, patents, and new businesses.
This is, without question, one of the most – if not the most – significant higher education proposals in the nation today, and certainly the most significant when it comes to the STEM fields.
It is a great example of Connecticut leading the way and using its flagship public research university to drive economic development.
We are, as always, so grateful to the governor for his continued leadership and confidence as we work together to build Connecticut's future. We look forward to working with him and our other elected representatives as this proposal moves through the legislative process.
For a more detailed explanation of this proposal, please read our UConn Today story.
Susan Herbst
President, University of Connecticut
And this:
UConn Unveils Master Plan for $170M Technology Park
“We’re already a great research university,” she said, “but we want to expand our opportunities to work even more closely with increasing numbers of industry partners. The plan is to gradually build out the park with other facilities depending on the types of business partnerships that develop and the market demand for---research space."
All of these publicly committed and funded research oriented projects are not happening now for nothing, just sayin.