Office of the Provost

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