President Michael Hogan said he 'hasn't had a bad day' since taking over as president of UConn.

Hogan Looks Forward To Changes In UConn's Future

By: Kate King

Posted: 5/11/08

As President Michael Hogan's first academic year in Storrs draws to a close today with the graduation of UConn's class of 2008, the new president looks back on the past several months as an overall success, despite several road blocks the university has encountered with this year's state budget.

"Generally speaking, I haven't had many disappointments this year," Hogan said.

One thing that Hogan does regret is that the state budget for the university will not be as high as he had anticipated due to the current economic recession.

UConn had asked for $1 million this year for new faculty, Hogan said. The money would have been used to decrease the student to faculty ratio and to expand UConn's Honors Program by 40 percent over the next five years.

Earlier in the year, Hogan had expected that UConn would be granted the money by the state for this faculty expansion, but due to the current state of the economy, he is now less hopeful.

Despite this disappointment, Hogan has a very positive impression of his first year as head of the Huskies.

"I don't think it could have gone better," Hogan said. "I've enjoyed every single minute. I haven't had a bad day in eight months."

When he arrived on campus in September, the first thing that struck Hogan about UConn was the New England landscape.

"I thought the campus was beautiful," Hogan said, adding that he loved the sprawling, spacious layout of the university and the changing colors of the fall season.

He also noticed, however, that Storrs lacks a college-town community. This was a change from the University of Iowa, where Hogan was executive vice-president and provost before coming to UConn and which has a bustling town encircling the university.

A college town would not only enliven the Storrs campus but also help recruit new students to the university, Hogan said. For this reason, he is looking forward to the Mansfield Downtown Project, which has drawn up plans for a town center in Storrs, and which Hogan estimates may be complete in 10 to 12 years after it passes through state bureaucratic lines.

"We need to move forward with this particular project," Hogan said.

While Hogan says that college-aged students everywhere are similar in many respects, he has noticed several differences between the students at UConn and the University of Iowa.

UConn students perform better academically and graduate at a higher rate than students at the University of Iowa, Hogan said.

"On the average, the students here are just better prepared, they're smarter and so they do better," Hogan said.

UConn students are also more involved in the community and have a higher sense of civic duty and citizenship, Hogan said. He attributes these qualities to New England's more heterogeneous population and culture.

"Students here are just a little less insular, a little more cosmopolitan," Hogan said.

While he says the undergraduate program at UConn is stronger than at the University of Iowa, Hogan believes that its research portfolio and graduate programs lack the same strength. These are areas in which he hopes to improve in the next several years, as well as solving the long-term economic crisis with the John Dempsey Hospital at the UConn Health Center in Farmington.

The hospital, which lost $22 million dollars this year alone, needs to be expanded and updated with better facilities, Hogan said.

The hospital's financial problems are a "very, very substantial challenge," that needs to be resolved since it comprises one half of the university's budget, Hogan said. He hopes to collaborate with the state legislature in order to address this issue.

Despite budget woes and challenges facing him in the future, Hogan said he is very happy with his new job as UConn's president. He has been especially pleased with how the administration has reorganized and finished a new academic plan, a draft of which was presented April 15 to the Board of Trustees.

Dr. John W. Rowe, chair of the UConn Board of Trustees, believes that Hogan has had a "seamless transition" to UConn. Rowe said he is particularly happy with Hogan's goal of unity for UConn, which is something the university has been challenged with due to the geographic distribution of its different branches. One way in which Hogan has already been working towards this goal is by looking to unify the Health Center with Storrs-based research, Rowe said.

"This has not been just a year of study on [Hogan's] part but a year of already developing momentum," Rowe said. "I would characterize it as a year of due diligence and discovery…and at the same time already tangible progress in a number of areas."

Hogan has also been happy with the rapport he has been able to establish with the student body at UConn, which he has interacted with on bus rides to football games, during a Halloween function at Gulley Hall and most recently at the Carriage House, Celeron and X-Lot parties during Spring Weekend.

"I've just had very happy relationships with the student population here," Hogan said.

Melissa Poulin, a French and history major who will be graduating today, has noticed this relationship that Hogan has developed with the student body.

"He seems much more approachable than President Austin," Poulin said. "He seems to be really going out of his way to be more accessible and to understand the student mindset, which is a good thing."

Hogan is looking forward to today's graduation ceremony, which will be his first as UConn's president because the winter 2007 graduation was cancelled due to bad weather. Hogan will attend the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and also the graduate program ceremonies.

As his first graduating class leaves UConn and enters into graduate school or the working world, Hogan hopes that departing students will take away from the university a curiosity and desire to learn and explore. He wants graduates to have basic skills but also an ability to investigate and adapt because "these are the skills that make us human," he said.

Contact Kate King at Katherine.King@UConn.edu.