Dear Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Students,

Today marks the first day of the new academic year and we are all excited for the return of our students, faculty, and staff to our campuses.

As of today, we have 6,848 graduate students and 23,561 undergraduate students registered for classes, including a remarkable first-year class of over 5,800 students across the Avery Point, Hartford, Stamford, Storrs, and Waterbury campuses. The incoming class of 2026 is the most diverse class we’ve seen to date, including over 27.5% first generation students. Our community continues to grow, and with it, so does our impact on the state, nation, and world.

As a state flagship, land- and sea-grant university, UConn strives for excellence in all that we do. Our faculty are of the highest caliber, engaged in innovative, entrepreneurial, and transformative work across a wide array of disciplines. The past year has been one of remarkable achievement. A record number of eleven NSF CAREER Awards were awarded to our faculty in Spring 2022, ranging from $435,000 to over $1.3 million. Oscar Guerra, Associate Professor of Digital Media & Design at the Stamford campus, won an Emmy award in Fall 2021 for his documentary film, Love, Life, & the Virus. Kathleen Segerson, BOT Distinguished Professor in the Department of Economics, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Our students come from all over the world and are exceptionally talented. In May of this year, five of our graduate students and one alumni earned highly competitive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, which have an annual acceptance rate of about 16%. Two graduate students, Bryan Greene and Josiah Grzywacz, received grants through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Sarah Luria, a Ph.D. candidate in Neag School of Education’s Educational Psychology program, was selected as one of 100 recipients of the $20,000 Scholar Award from the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) Sisterhood.

Finally, we must recognize the dedication and passion of our staff, who do so much to help the university move forward and fulfill its ambitions. We are especially grateful for the staff’s dedication in keeping the university open and our community thriving through the challenges of the pandemic.

We are entering the upcoming year feeling excitement, optimism, and gratitude. We will continue to work together to provide an outstanding educational experience for our students, expand our research enterprise, and serve our constituencies across the state. Any member of the UConn community should feel free to reach out to us for information or help in solving a problem or to share an idea.

We wish you the best as you begin the semester and look forward to seeing all that you accomplish in the coming year!

Sincerely,

Anne D’Alleva
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Pamir Alpay
Interim Vice President for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Office of Undergraduate Advising. Previously, the Director of University Advising, Erin Ciarimboli, reported dually to Enrichment Programs to also encompass Pre-Professional Advising. The establishment of this new office will serve to coordinate and enhance University advising services to undergraduate students across all campuses and disciplines, and the office will report to the Vice Provost for Faculty, Staff and Student Development. Erin will serve as Director of this new office, having previously served as Director of University Advising and Pre-Professional Advising at UConn since May 2020. Kelly Gilbert will also continue her essential work in the role of Learning and Development Specialist. Erin and Kelly are vital partners supporting undergraduate student success and this restructuring will provide necessary resources to support the growing needs of advising at UConn.

The Office of Undergraduate Advising will provide centralized leadership and advocacy for UConn’s undergraduate advising community; share critical communications and resources; build and deliver advisor onboarding, training, and professional development; oversee the university’s scholastic standing process; and facilitate collaborations with students, faculty, staff and other units across the university community in order to support and improve undergraduate student success.

The Office of Undergraduate Advising will work closely with First Year, ACES, ISS, SASP, transfer, school/college, and pre-professional advising centers, as well as advisors on all UConn campuses. The office will continue to conduct its work from the Rowe building.

We are excited for the work emerging from this area in support of Life-Transformative Education through advising and mentoring. Thank you to all those who contributed to the creation of this office. Supporting our undergraduate students is at the heart of our university’s mission, and the work of our colleagues in advising is instrumental to their success. Please reach out to advising@uconn.edu with any questions.

Sincerely,
Anne and Michael

Anne D’Alleva
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Michael Bradford
Vice Provost for Faculty, Staff, and Student Development

Dear Colleagues,

I am very pleased to announce the reappointment of Rachel O’Neill as director of the Institute for Systems Genomics for a second term of five years, effective August 23, 2022.

This renewal recognizes Dr. O’Neill’s outstanding leadership as the director of the institute since 2017. An overarching highlight during her tenure is the development of a growing critical mass in genomics, solidifying UConn as a top institution in this field. This activity cuts across a number of areas, including a research portfolio of $256 million in active grant awards in fiscal year 2022 alone; growth in the number of affiliations in terms of faculty, UConn units, and industry partners; expansion of academic programs; and increasing the user base and revenue return for core facilities. Additionally, ISG was a leading force behind UConn’s COVID surveillance program, which has been credited with supporting the University’s ability to respond proactively and quickly to potential outbreaks and minimize disruption in the academic experience.

The review process works best when it is collaborative and comprehensive. I am grateful to all of the faculty, administrators, and other key partners of the center who shared your feedback on Dr. O’Neill’s leadership. There were several common themes regarding her leadership, including her ability to build networks and facilitate collaborations, her development and promotion of a compelling vision for ISG, exceptional skill in organizational and operational management, and her effective communications across all internal and external contexts.

I also want to thank the review committee for their thoughtful oversight of this process. The committee was chaired by Steven Suib, Director of the Institute of Materials Science and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and included the following members: Adam Adler, Director of the Biomedical Science Ph.D. Program Immunology Concentration; Judy Brown, Director of the Health Care Genetics Professional Science Master’s Degree Program; Steven Geary, Professor and Department Head of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science; Stephanie Holden, Administrative Program Coordinator of the Institute for Systems Genomics; Amy Howell, Professor of Chemistry; and Barbara Mellone, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology. Alexis Cassan, Executive Assistant to the Provost and Chief of Staff, managed administration of the committee.

In sum, Dr. O’Neill is a focused and driven leader who is committed to positioning UConn as a top-tier institution in genomics. She has propelled ISG forward in a number of ways already in her tenure and I trust she will continue to make significant strides as her appointment continues. Please join me in congratulating Dr. O’Neill on her reappointment and thanking her for her dedication and hard work on behalf of the Institute.

Sincerely,
Anne

Anne D’Alleva
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dear Colleagues, 

 We’re writing to share recent updates to the Policy and Procedures on Consulting for Faculty and Members of the Faculty Bargaining Unit. These were approved by the Board of Trustees on June 29, 2022. 

 Several broad changes were made to the procedures. These include:  

•  A greater ability to provide flexibility for exceptions to sanctions. We encourage you to still always seek pre-approval for consulting activities but hope this will reduce the need for sanctions in cases involving “low conflict of interest risk” activities that are reported shortly after taking place.
• A change in the reporting year, for the Storrs and regional campus faculty only. It will now align with the contract year. The upcoming year will be a transitional year, with FY23 requests spanning July 1, 2022, through to May 22, 2023. From FY24, requests will be approved within a 12-month period beginning on May 23, 2023, and running to May 22, 2024. This should mean that summer activities do not have to be split in two. At the Health Center the fiscal year will remain July 1st – June 30th.
   
• All faculty with faculty affiliated companies (FACs) will now have to submit a request for each entity each year. If there is no effort with the company in a given year, there is now a straightforward process to attest to this fact. This addresses an ongoing audit finding related to oversight of FACs.  

Additionally, the policy and procedures had updates to language and formatting throughout. This should improve readability. All faculty members should now be able to find it straightforward to understand the content of these documents. 

We would also like to give a friendly reminder that consulting requests for ongoing activities are needed for each new fiscal year. If you do have ongoing activities and have not yet submitted an FY23 request for these activities, please do ensure that you submit new requests as soon as possible. Activities for the upcoming year will be submitted into the newly launched InfoEd system. Please ensure you use the correct portal for either Storrs/regionals or UConn Health. 

Reconciliations for the last fiscal year should be completed in our old system. The link to this system for reconciliations can be found on the consulting website.  

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your relevant Faculty Consulting Office. The faculty consulting website also has a range of resources, including PDF and video tutorials for InfoEd, FAQs, and guides to information required generally on the form and for different activities under the “getting started” section.  

Best wishes, 

Sarah Croucher, Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Affairs (Faculty Consulting Office, Storrs and regional campuses)
Sarah.croucher@uconn.edu  

Dr. Jody Terranova, Director of Faculty Consulting (UConn Health Center), Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Jterranova@uchc.edu