The University of Connecticut continued its dramatic transformation in 2000-01 as the University fortified its standing in American public higher education.

Today, six years into UCONN 2000--the 10-year, $1 billion commitment to rebuild, renew, and enhance our campuses and spur private investment in the University--evidence of the positive effects of this historic effort abound. UCONN 2000 has played a key role in our drive to enhance the rigor of our academic program, to recruit additional outstanding faculty and students, and to enlist private financial support at levels unmatched in this institution's history and extraordinary for public universities in our part of the country. Through the commitment of Governor John G. Rowland and the Connecticut General Assembly, the leadership of the Board of Trustees, and the dedication of University faculty and staff, UConn has earned a reputation as the top public institution of higher education in New England. We are, moreover, recognized as an innovative model for universities throughout the United States.

The clearest single measure of our success is our attractiveness to talented, highly motivated students from diverse backgrounds. The numbers tell the story: Between 1997-98 and 2000-01, freshman enrollment increased 29 percent and average SAT scores went up 28 points. Twenty-three percent of the Class of 2004 ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class, and among our freshmen were 60 high school valedictorians and salutatorians. During the past four years there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of freshmen minority students. We are very much a school of choice for many exceptional young people within Connecticut, and for a significant number of very talented students from other parts of the United States and beyond.

As in recent prior years, 2000-01 was marked by a number of particularly significant achievements and external honors. Faculty in law, ecology and evolutionary biology, dramatic arts, marine sciences, art and art history and political science were awarded Fulbrights. Professor of English Dr. Marilyn Nelson was named Connecticut's poet laureate. Remarkable advances in genetic research at the Storrs campus and the University of Connecticut Health Center attracted widespread media attention. The UConn Dental School was ranked first in the nation. Our athletic program built on its long-established record of excellence, as our men's soccer team captured the 2000 NCAA Division I championship. As the pages that follow indicate, these are just a few examples from a very long list.

Moreover, the most ambitious private fund-raising campaign ever conducted by a public university in New England--Campaign UConn--went into its public phase during the 2000-01 year. The campaign reflects the phenomenal growth of private support for the University, which for the first time raised over $50 million in annual support, including an $8 million commitment by GE Capital that has catapulted UConn to the forefront of e-business research. This growth in private support reflects a growing conviction that the University has a central role in enhancing Connecticut's economic development and quality of life.

This report discusses these and other major achievements at the University of Connecticut during the year. In so doing it presents the story of an important institution of higher education making progress on multiple fronts, serving its students and its state, and demonstrating the extraordinary value of a great university in the 21st century.

President Philip E. Austin