PREFACE

The University of Connecticut Self Study process leading up to the 2007 re-accreditation decision began with the appointment by the President and Provost in late 2003 of Dr. Karla Fox to be the Chair of the University of Connecticut Re-accreditation Steering Committee. Dr. Fox, who is a Full Professor in the School of Business, brings a combination of extensive faculty leadership, academic administration and accreditation expertise to this effort. The Provost appointed a full time staff member in his office, Ms. Lauren Douglas, to provide administrative support for the re-accreditation effort. The NEASC re-accreditation office is located in Gulley Hall, the primary site for the Central Administration, including the President, Provost and most of the Vice Presidents. Many university units have made significant contributions to the preparation of this self-study, but the university’s Office of Institutional Research has especially played an invaluable and fundamental role in its development.

After discussion with the President, Provost, Vice Presidents and Vice Provosts and Deans, it was decided to use a model that has served UConn well in past re-accreditation efforts: putting responsibility for developing the self study with an eleven-member Steering Committee, each of whom in turn was Chair of a Committee for a particular standard. Ten of the eleven were senior faculty members chosen for their interest and knowledge of the subject matter of the standard whose committee they chaired. The Public Disclosure committee was co-chaired by the Director of University Communications and the University Ethics Compliance Officer. The Steering Committee also had ex officio members: a graduate student, an undergraduate student, the Director of the Office of Institutional Research, a representative of the University of Connecticut Health Center, the Director of the Office of Audit, Ethics and Compliance, and two individuals, one a faculty member, one an Assistant Vice Provost, who have been leading the university Assessment effort.

The Steering Committee appointments were made in 2004, and the Standards’ committees were appointed and began working. A great deal of attention was paid to making sure that collectively the various groups contained a representative cross section of university constituencies, including faculty, staff, students, administrators and Trustees. To facilitate transparency and encourage university contribution to the self-study effort, a NEASC Accreditation website, www.neasc.uconn.edu, was created in 2005. This site has been regularly updated since its inception. The Provost formally announced the existence of the on-going self-study efforts in 2005, including the existence of the website. The Chair of the Re-accreditation Committee worked closely with each member of the Steering Committee and many of the individual committees to develop the Self-Study. In mid-spring of 2006, all committees submitted their chapters to the Chair for editing. After revisions, the document was submitted to the Vice Provosts and pertinent other administrative personnel, for suggestions and a check for accuracy. In the summer of 2006, the document was then submitted to the staff of the NEASC CIHE for its comments. After revision based on the NEASC CIHE staff comments, the entire draft self study was put on the Re-accreditation website in October of 2006, and university community comment solicited. Based on this input, the self- study was revised for the final time and sent to the review team and NEASC in early December of 2006. Third party comment, to be sent to the NEASC CIHE, will be solicited in mid-December, 2006.

The self-study on the following pages is the result of extraordinary efforts by a large number of the University of Connecticut faculty, staff and administration. The level of detail and insight provided by involving almost one hundred people in the difficult effort of introspection and assessment is invaluable. This effort will make UConn an even better place, and has helped in the positive path of The Transformation that has occurred over the last ten years.