The Daily Campus

Issue date: 9/29/08 Section: Commentary

UConn was conspicuously absent from the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings of the Top-25 public universities in the country.UConn responded to that drop with a five-year academic plan issued by UConn leaders last week. The plan, which seeks to put UConn in the Top-20 public universities nationwide in five years, contains many provisions, including raising the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen, doubling the number of students in the Honors program, and increasing the number of students who participate in study abroad programs. Even though these actions will help increase the university's rankings in the future, the most important action for UConn to take to regain a spot is to increase the current student-faculty ratio, which now stands at 17-to-1.

In last Friday's edition of The Daily Campus, Scott Brohinsky, the university communications director, stated that "the highest priority for the Storrs campus is to increase faculty."

It is essential that Brohinsky, President Michael Hogan and the UConn Board of Trustees follow through on their top priority.

UConn's current student-faculty ratio, 17-to-1, is on a negative trend compared to recent years. This is not only diminishing UConn's standings in future public-school rankings, but more importantly, it is negatively affecting current UConn students' ability to learn and succeed.

With only one faculty member for every 17 students, classes are noticeably larger. Students have more difficulty scheduling appointments with their advisors because faculty advisors have been forced to meet with more students in less time. Any good university educator will explain that a low student-faculty ratio is key to students ultimately achieving success.

Classes have become even harder to get in to. Considering that UConn's student enrollment is at an all-time high, UConn should be hiring more faculty, not less. It has been well established that UConn is not receiving the full funding it needs from the state. This means that Hogan needs to find a way to secure more funds at the Capitol. UConn has established a goal of a 15-to-1 student-faculty ratio by next year, which means that UConn needs to hire at least 150 more faculty members.

To secure the funds necessary to accomplish this goal, Hogan needs to do a more effective job of lobbying state legislators. Hogan has joked that "I could have an apartment down [at the Capitol], I've been there so much."

No matter how often Hogan has met with legislators, he has not gotten the job done. More aggressive lobbying is key in order to meet the goal of lowering the student-faculty ratio to 15-to-1 by next year.

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