Radenka Maric’s Post

It was a pleasure spending time with our UConn orientation and tour guide leaders. There's no one better to make our incoming and prospective students feel more at home!

UConn and Connecticut are bringing new value in innovation, every day. I'm thrilled for everyone to see this documentary from UConn’s Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation that chronicles the significant achievements and inventions UConn has contributed to in American history.

UConn Huskies are everywhere! Congratulations to UConn Women's Basketball star Ashley Battle for her NBA Finals victory with the Boston Celtics. Our Huskies are champions in everything they do – on and off the court!

I am so impressed by the generosity of UConn Nation! This year's UConn Gives event was the largest in history, with nearly $800,000 donated by more than 4,100 people in just 36 hours. Those generous gifts will support our students and faculty across the entire university. Thank you, everyone who contributed!

Congratulations to the UConn students who built a Formula-style vehicle and placed 4th out of 118 teams in a three-day competition at Michigan International Speedway! That's the highest placing for UConn in 14 years of competition. I can say with great confidence that UConn produces the best engineers in the country! Go Huskies!

One of my favorite occasions every year is the UConn Honors Program's Medals Ceremony, where we celebrate and recognize Honors Scholars, University Honors Laureates, and University Scholars. By completing an Honors thesis or creative project, by taking honors classes as part of their standard course of study, these students have truly added depth and richness to their experience as scholars. My thanks to Honors Program Director Jennifer Lease Butts and, of course, to all the students who made this year's event such a special occasion.

I was so proud to be part of the ceremony to rededicate the Pratt & Whitney Engineering Building at UConn, along with Senior Vice President of Engineering and Technology at Pratt & Whitney Geoff Hunt and a great group of faculty, supporters, and friends of UConn. For nearly 100 years, UConn and Pratt & Whitney have been partners and collaborators, building a relationship that's been fruitful for academia and industry alike. About 65% of all the engineers in Connecticut are UConn graduates, and Pratt & Whitney has helped expand and enrich that talent pool with initiatives like the Pratt & Whitney Scholars Program. Here's to another 100 years of this great partnership!

It's truly an honor to have industry leaders like Mott Corporation as UConn's partners!

I was incredibly proud this week to make UConn a signatory of the Okanagan Charter, joining a growing network of other institutions of higher education and formalizing our commitment to being a Health Promoting University. As laid out in our recently adopted Strategic Plan, the wellbeing of our students, faculty, staff, and visitors is of central importance to our mission, but so is the wellbeing of our planet and society. In the language of the Charter, we are committed to “transform the health and sustainability of our current and future society, strengthen communities, and contribute to the wellbeing of people, places, and the planet.” As a premiere research university, we are in a unique position to use our core strengths in teaching, research, and innovation to pursue these essential goals.