To the UConn Community:

As we kick off the fall 2024 semester, I write to welcome our newest students, many of whom arrived on our campuses this past week and attended Friday’s torchlight convocation ceremony, and also to welcome back returning students and faculty who have been away from UConn for the summer.

This year saw a record high of over 60,000 applications to UConn. We accepted 1,000 more new students to our campuses over the previous year, bringing our total new student enrollment to over 7,000, the highest number in the University’s history. We also enrolled a record-high number of future doctors and nurses. Our University is in demand because of our tremendous academic programs and the creativity, research, and innovation our faculty offer with the support of our staff.

Related, to our students and faculty: Please take a moment and join me in thanking our year-round professional staff. Many have been working hard to prepare for the return of students and faculty this week, allowing for a smooth move-in process for our residential students and ensuring that all campus operations and services are ready to meet the needs of our community at the outset of the semester. The support our staff provides is essential to our success.

For our whole community: we all come from different towns, states, nations, and walks of life. But one thing we have in common is UConn. And this community has much to offer: whether it’s the exceptional education our faculty provides; the amazing student life that flourishes on our beautiful campuses; or the many great opportunities to fulfill a career, including those devoted to teaching, scholarship, clinical care, public service, or all four. For thousands of our students, UConn is a literal home away from home where, during the semester, you eat, sleep, learn, study, have fun, and work.

Knowing the unique and important role that UConn plays in peoples’ lives, we must do all we can to ensure it is a welcoming and supportive place, where every member of our community feels they belong.

In addition to our bedrock academic mission, our campuses are alive with countless student activities, a vibrant social life, athletics, the arts, and political and social activism, to name only a few. In each of these contexts, let’s always do our part to ensure that UConn is a place defined not only by academic achievement and camaraderie but also by empathy and compassion.

Being on a university campus means living and learning alongside others whose lives and views may be starkly different from your own. Our diversity is our strength, and dialogue and debate are a vital part of any academic experience. We also know that individuals’ strongly held views can be shared through any form of free expression — inside or outside the classroom — while still abiding by the policies and reflecting the values of our community, including the need to treat people and our campuses with dignity and respect, whether we agree or disagree.

We are an institution that embodies intellectual and scholarly life. Let’s embrace that by continually working to turn discord into dialogue — one of the great foundations of knowledge and understanding between people. By doing so, we are staying true to our mission, and, we hope, to ourselves.

Now is the time to continue to challenge yourselves in the classroom, the hospital, the moot courtroom, athletic competitions, artistic performances, and more. It’s time to give innovation and creativity a new meaning. We promise you an enriching experience while you learn new things here. We will provide you with the support you need to help you reach your fullest potential. The knowledge you gain through learning should be imparted to improve our world. Please be determined to work hard and be creative, have fun, and as always: GO HUSKIES!

Best wishes for a great semester.

Sincerely,
Radenka Maric
UConn President