Standard One

Mission and Purposes

The University of Connecticut is dedicated to excellence demonstrated through national and international recognition. As Connecticut’s public research university, through freedom of academic inquiry and expression, we create and disseminate knowledge by means of scholarly and creative achievements, graduate and professional education, and outreach. Through our focus on teaching and learning, the University helps every student grow intellectually and become a contributing member of the state, national, and world communities. Through research, teaching, service, and outreach, we embrace diversity and cultivate leadership, integrity, and engaged citizenship in our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. As our state’s flagship public university, and as a land and sea grant institution, we promote the health and well being of Connecticut’s citizens through enhancing the social, economic, cultural, and natural environments of the state and beyond.

The University of Connecticut is the flagship public research University of the State of Connecticut. Enrolling some 28,000 students at its multiple campuses (located in Avery Point, Farmington, Hartford, Stamford, Storrs, Waterbury, and Torrington), it is a land and sea grant university with a wide range of graduate programs, professional schools, and research centers and institutes in addition to a comprehensive undergraduate program.

Founded as Connecticut’s agricultural school in 1881, over its first five decades the institution developed engineering, home economics, education, liberal arts and science programsbefore the legislature chartered it as the University of Connecticut in 1939. After 1945 the state expanded the University rapidly at the main campus at Storrs and at several regional campuses, and by 1965 the University had added schools of law, social work, medicine, dental medicine, and fine arts. In 1994 the Board of Trustees adopted a new mission statement that set higher, more comprehensive goals for the University, and in the following year (1995) the state enacted UCONN 2000, a ten-year, one billion-dollar program to rebuild and expand the University’s infrastructure. In 2004 the State extended that commitment with 21st Century UConn, an additional ten-year $1.3 billion infrastructure program.

Since the drafting of the 1994 University Mission Statement and the strategic planning that laid its foundation and the foundations for UCONN 2000 and 21st Century UConn, the administration, faculty, and students have repeatedly engaged in planning, reviewing goals and objectives, assessing performance, and revising programs and the allocation of resources.

Appraisal

Because of the substantial changes in the institution and its aspirations since 1994, administration and faculty recognized that a fresh mission statement would be useful as the University of Connecticut moves through the next phase of its development. Accordingly a committee including administration, faculty, and professional staff was convened in summer 2005 to draft a mission statement. This draft was then developed and revised in collaboration with a wide range of University constituencies. The only controversy that emerged during this process concerned the statement’s level of elaboration and detail—its length. In the end, all parties agreed that the concise Mission Statement above would serve effectively. The present Mission Statement, adopted in 2006, represents a shared consensus as to the University’s mission.

Projection

The 2006 mission statement will be widely disseminated through all constituencies in the coming years, and will serve as a reminder and guide during the University’s continuing strategic planning efforts. Directly or indirectly, it will guide implementation of every University-sponsored program and activity.

INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

The University of Connecticut has periodically reviewed its Mission Statement and its activities to ensure that the two are in alignment. The latest revision of the Mission Statement was adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2006. This Mission Statement will serve as a guide as the transformation of the University of Connecticut into a major nationally-recognized comprehensive research institution continues.