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A Transformative Investment in the next Chapter of UConn

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Dear Colleagues,

I am excited to share a major new investment in UConn’s future.

Over the next several years, UConn will undertake a coordinated faculty hiring initiative designed to build on our strongest areas of scholarship, create new areas of discovery, and bring additional exceptional faculty into our academic community. This program will allow us to position UConn for its next stage of growth as a world class public research institution.

The catalyst for this initiative was a series of actions by our State. Public Act 21-111 authorized an Innovation Faculty Hires and Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Initiative intended to expand UConn’s capacity for innovation, entrepreneurship and technology translation/commercialization with public and economic benefit. More recently, Special Act 25-3 asked us to chart a course toward joining an organization of the nation’s foremost research universities. The state subsequently provided funding to help us build the research capacity and scholarly impact needed to reach that level. UConn’s leadership in the new NSF Quantum Technologies Engine in Connecticut creates another opportunity to attract faculty in quantum science and technology.

Together, these investments give us the ability to recruit faculty through three connected efforts summarized below:

  • Top Tier Faculty hires will build on UConn’s areas of established and emerging excellence by recruiting nationally and internationally recognized scholars who bring new approaches to consequential questions and deepen connections across disciplines. Their expertise will extend work already underway while positioning the University to lead in important new directions.
  • Innovation and Entrepreneurship Faculty hires will strengthen the path from discovery to practical application and public benefit, with an emphasis on areas that support Connecticut’s workforce, industries, and economy. This investment will build on UConn’s strong culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, which spans disciplines and recognizes the many ways research, scholarship, and creative activity can have an impact beyond the University.
  • The Quantum Futures Cluster will expand UConn’s position in quantum science and technology, growing our expertise in this rapidly advancing field and supporting UConn’s leadership in the NSF Engine.

These opportunities are not limited to traditionally technology-focused fields. We will support ideas from all disciplines.

This initiative is fully aligned with Envisioning 2034. Our strategic plan calls on us to advance research, innovation, and engagement by hiring and retaining outstanding faculty conducting cutting-edge work in areas of existing or emerging strength. It also calls for investment in research infrastructure, greater interdisciplinary collaboration, and stronger support for translating UConn research into benefits for Connecticut and beyond.

This initiative gives us a concrete way to act on those priorities. New faculty can expand the reach of work already underway, bring complementary expertise into our departments, spark new collaborations, and create opportunities for students. The associated investments in lab spaces, equipment, and shared research infrastructure can also support broader communities of scholars rather than individual hires alone. Over time, this added capacity will make UConn more competitive for federal, philanthropic, and industry funding; attract exceptional students and scholars from around the world; strengthen our national and international standing; and expand the impact of UConn research on lives and communities.

We are grateful to Governor Ned Lamont and the General Assembly for making these resources available and for recognizing the pivotal role UConn plays in our state and its future.

I also recognize that this announcement comes at a complicated time for us. We remain in a structural deficit, even as our financial position improves. Faculty and staff have worked within tight budgets, units have made difficult choices, and many members of our community will reasonably ask why UConn is investing in new faculty when there is more we need to do to support and retain the people already here.

The answer begins with the sources and permitted uses of the funding. The principal funds supporting these hires were provided by the state for specific purposes. Much of the funding is restricted to capital costs such as laboratories, specialized equipment, research infrastructure, and faculty startup needs. It cannot be redirected towards supplementing recurring operating expenses.

This work is also supported by a portion of the state’s recent $35 million investment in research at UConn and UConn Health. That funding was provided in response to serious disruption in federal research support and is intended to protect important work, improve our competitiveness for future funding, and help recruit and retain research talent in areas important to Connecticut.

These distinctions matter, but they do not eliminate the need for financial discipline. Every proposal will be reviewed for its academic value, strategic fit, infrastructure requirements, and long-term sustainability. Schools and colleges will need to show that they can support the ongoing costs of proposed positions before searches or offers are authorized.

More information about the initiative including procedures for submissions and future faculty positions will be posted on the faculty hiring initiative webpage. We will share updates as proposals are approved and searches begin.

Faculty are encouraged to think creatively about how these investments could build on UConn’s strengths or open new directions. I invite faculty with ideas for potential positions to bring them forward to their department heads and deans. We are especially interested in proposals that cross departmental boundaries or bring schools and colleges together in ways that would not otherwise be possible.

UConn’s financial position is improving, but our work is not finished. We must continue to make thoughtful choices as we address the structural deficit. At the same time, restraint alone will not build the research university we want UConn to become. This initiative gives us the means to invest in people and ideas, extend the work of our current community, and pursue new possibilities for UConn and Connecticut. I look forward to shaping that work together.

Sincerely,
Pamir

Pamir Alpay, PhD
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
University of Connecticut

Meet Tadarrayl Starke: Associate Vice Provost for Student Success

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September 4, 2020

Photograph of Tadarrayl STarke

The University of Connecticut is pleased to welcome Tadarrayl Starke as the new Associate Vice Provost for Student Success. Starke began his position at UConn in mid-August after serving as the Director of the Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement at Florida State since 2011.

Starke oversees the Institute for Student Success (ISS), which is the focus point at UConn for success in the undergraduate experience, using mentoring, training, teaching, leadership, and community building. ISS provides one-on-one holistic support, strengthens student readiness, increases access to higher education and research opportunities, and promotes the recruitment, transition, retention, and graduation of UConn students.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Starke has been committed to student success for over 20 years, with an emphasis in serving students traditionally underrepresented in higher education like himself.

“I’m honored for the opportunity to serve and support our students at UConn through the Institute for Student Success,” said Starke. “I’m equally excited for ISS to engage our entire campus community to build, develop, and continue life-transformative experiences and academic supportive networks for UConn student success.”

Starke earned three degrees from Florida State – undergraduate in psychology in 2003, master’s in higher education in 2010 and doctorate in higher education in 2019. He also earned a certificate in institutional research and a certificate in college teaching from FSU.

He has over 15 years of work with retention and academic support programs for students in a higher educational setting, both at the community college and four-year university levels. In total, Starke has over 20 years of programming experience in educational access, equity, and success in higher education.

“Tadarrayl brings an incredible depth of experience to this role, and will be an important partner in our drive to provide a life-transformative education to our undergraduates, in line with President Katsouleas’s priorities,” said Carl Lejuez, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “The programs within ISS are so critical for expanding access to higher education for more diverse populations of students. I am really pleased that Tadarrayl has joined us at UConn to lead these efforts.”

While at Florida State University, Starke served as director and department chair of the FSU Center for Academic Retention & Enhancement (CARE), leading many of the school’s efforts to encourage enrollment and persistence in higher education for first-generation, low-income, minority, and other student populations traditionally underrepresented in higher education.

In his role, Starke managed a team of over 300 staff members to coordinate efforts to facilitate student success and development initiatives for almost 1,800 first-generation and historically disadvantaged college students.

He was also responsible for a portfolio of access and postsecondary success programs and services, which included federal TRiO programs, the Unconquered Scholars Program for students from foster care and homeless backgrounds, the 400-plus student Summer Bridge Program, college academic advising and life coaching, financial literacy, graduate school preparation, academic support programming, the W.E.B. DuBois Honor Society, and the Hispanic Honor Society.

During his time at FSU, Starke secured over $10 million in grants and external funding to support student success efforts at the institution and managed an annual budget of almost $3 million.

Starke previously served as the program administrator and director for Take Stock in Children and the College Reach-Out Program at Tallahassee Community College, working to support low-income and underrepresented students reach their dream of a college education. He has also served as a pre-collegiate program consultant for Florida A&M and a volunteer coordinator for the City of Tallahassee Neighborhood, Parks, & Recreation Department.

Starke is supported by his wife of 14 years, Tiffany, and their two daughters, Trinity and Tristen. As a first-generation college graduate, Starke sees his work to support student success as his purpose and works to develop and support initiatives and structures related to access, educational equity, persistence, and graduation for all students, with a particular focus on first-generation college students and those historically underserved in higher education.