UConn President Thomas Katsouleas will leave post, sources say

[mustafa]

He is staying on as a professor fully tenured at 330,000 dollars a year??? Who are the dopes that make these kinds of deals? He is leaving after less then 2 years and should get NO TENURE and No $330,000 thousand dollar job. Does anyone realize this is why Ct is so broke?

1,000,000% CORRECT!!!!

This guy should get nothing and like it. GTHO. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. No sweet paychecks buddy.

 

[Hoophound]

Ugh I know CCSU makes more sense for a number of reasons...but it’s such a friggin’ ugly campus

Really? I always thought it was the nicest of the CSU’s.

 

[mustafa]

Ugh I know CCSU makes more sense for a number of reasons...but it’s such a friggin’ ugly campus

Not really IMO.
Getting better and they've built / building some nice buildings. They can grow it out further and expand it.

 

[Guapo]

Really? I always thought it was the nicest of the CSU’s.

I think Eastern is the nicest campus...but I haven’t lived in CT in nearly 10 years

 

[husky429]

I think Eastern is the nicest campus...but I haven’t lived in CT in nearly 10 years

CCSU's campus has improved a lot in the past 10 years. It's far and away the best of the CSUs imo.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Agree regarding your first point. Build up the other state sponsored entities and differentiate so they become part of a single integrated system rather than compete against each other.

Where UConn is getting killed in UNWR rankings is the state funding component. As the state lowers its funding, our ranking drops.

As to your 3rd point, UConn could do much, much better. Penn State is a good school to emulate here. They do a lot of work to maintain and enhance the schools brand.

Except the entire state stood behind Jerry Sandusky according to the review conducted by P St Board of Dir.

 

[Guapo]

CCSU's campus has improved a lot in the past 10 years. It's far and away the best of the CSUs imo.

fair enough! I’ll defer to the people who live there, obviously

 

[UKemba15]

"One of the best choices a student can make in pursuing higher education is a research university where they are learning from faculty who are creating new knowledge,” he told The Courant’s editorial board in 2019. “There’s a value proposition when you are gaining the inspiration, insight and wisdom from those who are really leading the way. These are the kinds of experiential learning that you just can’t replicate anywhere else.”

This line kind of struck me. How true is that actually at the undergraduate level?

My fiance is defending her PhD as soon as her family gets time off from work, she also has a JD... I would think she has probably has taken more classes than most people. Her opinion is that the professor MOST attached to research are the worst teachers of undergrads. Even the most unique undergrad majors don't really require professors that are specialized like you would for grad programs.

Just food for thought. I don't really have enough experience to say definitively.

I went to a university with a lot of research professors and I agree with you. They are an EXTREMELY invaluable resource when you are really diving into a topic that you are passionate about, but when it comes to teaching the mechanics they have a hard time making the lessons relatable to undergrad students...or it just seems harder to absorb the material (in my personal experience). Half of the physics professors weren’t even shy about not giving a poop about the “teaching” component.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I still hold my UConn education up against any. My first 2 years were at the Stamford Branch and many of my professors were adjunct teachers at night who taught after working all day.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Goal should be to be MICHIGAN.
Trying to be Michigan State is pointless and stupid.
UCONN should be top tier. That needs to be the aim and overarching goal.
The more everyman qualities of a Michigan State can be filled by the Connecticut State University System (CCSU, ECSU, SCSU, WCSU) with continued investment in these universities.

That is pretty insulting to Michigan State. It’s endowment is 3.4 billion, dwarfing UConn’s. It’s ranked #80 in USNews and is not much less competitive than UConn. It is a bigger research school than UConn. It’s just a very poor example. CCSU, SCSU are never going to get in the ballpark of Michigan State, it’s quite a bit better than URI, Maine, UNH and UVM and the CT state system schools are way short of those.

UConn can strive for Michigan, UVA status but it isn’t going to get there.

 

[the Q]

not a bad idea but make the main campus in New Britain (CCSU). Middle of the state, bigger name, easily accessible and close to state capital / leadership.
Cutting out a lot of the redundancy in CSU (due to 4 campuses) can also save a lot of money.

uconn swallowing them up would save even more redundancy. Especially in management level salary and fringe. One large system.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Ugh I know CCSU makes more sense for a number of reasons...but it’s such a friggin’ ugly campus

Not that social life dictates academic decisions, but of all the historical Normal/Teaching colleges Southern's located in a city young people now actually enjoy and some want to live in after graduating. However, New Haven also enables reasonably convenient train access to the City, Fairfield county internships, or even Boston. Doesn't matter, unlikely to ever happen.

 

[CL82]

Except the entire state stood behind Jerry Sandusky according to the review conducted by P St Board of Dir.

Clearly I was talking about the way school promotes it's brand among employers and alumni, not about the Sandusky outrage. But you already knew that, right?

 

[Edward Sargent]

Clearly I was talking about the way school promotes it's brand among employers and alumni, not about the Sandusky outrage. But you already knew that, right?

Promoting its brand yes they do a great job. Providing an education? I can’t say they are any better than UConn.

 

[BackAftaThis]

UConn’s sales pitch should be pretty obvious; it’s the closest approximation to a big time school experience with sports culture/school pride etc. as you’re going to find in New England and, maybe, the Northeast (as I think UConn has “that” more than Rutgers does)

I’m from Long Island and UConn checked all the boxes for me of what I wanted in a school and was far away enough that I could be away from home but close enough that I could always get home if needed

 

[Chin Diesel]

I see some problems along this line.
1. Connecticut doesn't have a Michigan State, Kansas State, Iowa State, U Cincinnati, etc. level public behind UConn. The drop off from UConn to Central or Southern is massive. The smart move would be to rebrand one of those and put money into it. Differentiate it, make it really good at a couple of things, perhaps better than UConn.

2. The other problem is the USNews ranking gaming that is so critical to these schools now. Kansas gets clobbered in USNews, because it is required by the state to accept any KS HS grad with certain GPA and AP score. Then, lots of those kids flunk out as freshmen. Both of those things hurt your ranking. If you increase the % of in state kids, you likely drop your ranking.

3. Local perception and employer recognition. While UConn itself has improved in this area, it is still well behind many private schools. That's not really true in Michigan. Michigan State grads don't struggle to find jobs because the employers in state prefer private school kids. UMass has this problem, probably to an even greater extent.

#1 is huge. For State U it's UConn or bust. Directional state schools have zero cache.

It's dilemma of small size and small population.

Larger states can have a flagship state U and still put 40k plus students in legitimate state U's. UConn is closer to Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, the Dakota's and other small populations with a single flagship and no secondary level for public education.

Not just educationally but also in terms of campus life and alumni pride/support.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Promoting its brand yes they do a great job. Providing an education? I can’t say they are any better than UConn.

That's a really bad statement that is empirically false.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I’m from Long Island and UConn checked all the boxes for me of what I wanted in a school and was far away enough that I could be away from home but close enough that I could always get home if needed

Im from Jersey and I completely agree. Was not trying to go to Rutgers lol

edit now that I think about it I ended up nudging my little cousin to UConn too because she was in to athletics

 

[Skiblets]

‘Returning to faculty’? Just wondering. Doesn’t one have to be part of faculty before one can return to faculty? Asking for a friend

 

[Magruber]

That is pretty insulting to Michigan State. It’s endowment is 3.4 billion, dwarfing UConn’s. It’s ranked #80 in USNews and is not much less competitive than UConn. It is a bigger research school than UConn. It’s just a very poor example. CCSU, SCSU are never going to get in the ballpark of Michigan State, it’s quite a bit better than URI, Maine, UNH and UVM and the CT state system schools are way short of those.

UConn can strive for Michigan, UVA status but it isn’t going to get there.

UCONN doesn't have to get there but get in the ballpark. We got as high as16 or 18 nationally in USNWR. I know MICHIGAN is top tier but we can get into their universe BUT ONLY WITH continued and sustained big investments.
MState is certainly solid but we should be trying to compare ourselves to a Top 80 school when we are well above that already.

 

[huskymedic]

‘Returning to faculty’? Just wondering. Doesn’t one have to be part of faculty before one can return to faculty? Asking for a friend

7.0 below:

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/20707498/thomas-katsouleas-contract.pdf

 

[gtcam]

Does UConn still offer the Nutmeg Scholarship? My son received one in 1999 and it paid his full boat. It was designed to keep the best CT HS students in the state at Storrs. I think UConn should always strive to keep the best of CT in CT.

 

[CL82]

That's a really bad statement that is empirically false.

Actually unless you know what he can or cannot say, you cannot prove it’s a false statement.

 

[LIuconn]

Move the campus to the CT riverfront and get some tax incentives for entrepreneurs to setup shop in Hartford.

and yes as a long islander and fan of big East hoops growing up, UConn was the closest thing to a big time school within a reasonable drive

 

[Guapo]

Does UConn still offer the Nutmeg Scholarship? My son received one in 1999 and it paid his full boat. It was designed to keep the best CT HS students in the state at Storrs. I think UConn should always strive to keep the best of CT in CT.

I don’t think that scholarship still exists, but they at least aggressively recruited the top few kids in our class (I graduated high school in 2009). Our valedictorian went to UConn.