UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

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rodfromcranston
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by rodfromcranston »

Wow! Can you imagine this lousy state putting 1.5 billion dollars
into URI?
In Connecticut, as in most states, they have pride in their State University.
Not here. We have a major newspaper and TV outlet, trying to stir the pot
about coach's salaries, without ever informing the public of the low percentage
paid by tax dollars.
Investing heavily in State U , isn't a priority at all.
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RF1
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by RF1 »

Has anyone been to Storrs lately? Storrs had no town center and no college town feel (similar to Kingston). They decided to build a downtown right across from the UConn campus (Mt Holyoke did something similar, though on a smaller scale, 20 years ago). The center has restaurants, stores, apartments, and a common. I like the concept but this version looks too contrived and the buildings far too tall for what would be in a typical New England village center.
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rjsuperfly66
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by rjsuperfly66 »

UCONN is trying to make themselves sexy for other conferences ... It doesn't matter how good they make the campus look, if they can't dig their football team out of the hole they are in.
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RF1
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by RF1 »

rjsuperfly66 wrote:UCONN is trying to make themselves sexy for other conferences ... It doesn't matter how good they make the campus look, if they can't dig their football team out of the hole they are in.

Almost all of the money being spent on UConn is in no way connected to its quest to get into a better conference. It is all about making UConn the best university it can be and help attract better students with a full college experience.
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rjsuperfly66
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by rjsuperfly66 »

You could be right, but when you have a President in Herbst who has publically been whoring her university to any conference that would accept them, it makes it hard to imagine them doing anything with an ulterior motive. They've basically been told they don't have one thing about them that stands out, not the academics, not the campus, and not the football. At that point, don't you have to try to find some way to differentiate yourself?
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by SGreenwell »

rjsuperfly66 wrote:You could be right, but when you have a President in Herbst who has publically been whoring her university to any conference that would accept them, it makes it hard to imagine them doing anything with an ulterior motive. They've basically been told they don't have one thing about them that stands out, not the academics, not the campus, and not the football. At that point, don't you have to try to find some way to differentiate yourself?
I'm not sure where it falls in the actual rankings, but at least when I was applying for colleges even in 2002, UConn was seen as the best of the New England state schools. I was under the impression that UConn was a really good mix of the traditional big college experience with good academics, but since I'm a 29-year-old with no kids, I'm not sure if that's the case, since I haven't done much college research in a couple years.
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by OBRAM »

I would like to see the Kingston Emporium area rebuilt, and encompass the area area of stores just south across I believe Fortin Rd. from the Emporium. It could be a village area with a green in the middle and traffic diverted around the center. Most shopping centers are rebuild after so many years, just like Garden City was rebuilt about 25 years ago.
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Ramulous
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by Ramulous »

UConn is a well respected University in most national rankings.....interesting to see RJ's biased view against the school...
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rjsuperfly66
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by rjsuperfly66 »

My statement wasn't to say that UCONN has bad academics, I just don't think they have great academics. I think the problem is that they are looking to jump to another conference, and they don't have the football reputation to go on, and I don't think their academics are strong enough to overcome any objections to the football program. A conference like the B1G has been rumored to be interested in strong academic schools, that don't necessarily have a strong recent football history. UNC and Virginia were two of the schools listed as possible candidates over the past couple of years. It's to my knowledge that UCONN isn't close to those schools, unless things have changed recently.
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by SGreenwell »

rjsuperfly66 wrote:My statement wasn't to say that UCONN has bad academics, I just don't think they have great academics. I think the problem is that they are looking to jump to another conference, and they don't have the football reputation to go on, and I don't think their academics are strong enough to overcome any objections to the football program. A conference like the B1G has been rumored to be interested in strong academic schools, that don't necessarily have a strong recent football history. UNC and Virginia were two of the schools listed as possible candidates over the past couple of years. It's to my knowledge that UCONN isn't close to those schools, unless things have changed recently.
I don't think UConn is seen as, say, a substitute for an Ivy League education. But I think it's close to the next rung of schools - If it's not at the level of a great state school like UNC, it seems to aspire to be at that level, and $1.5B is going to help a lot in that pursuit.
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Ramulous
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by Ramulous »

Another alternative is to raise your tuition to $50,000 and proclaim yourself an elite school !!!
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by Seawrightspostgame »

UCONN wants to be ACC, which I believe boasts 6 schools in the top 100? I think I saw that. It is part of the ACC's deal that they have the highest amount of highly rated schools of the big 5.

Uconn is an overachiever and they can certainly elbow their way into anything with money, thats how it has been done anywhere else. The fact URI doesn't have any restaurants or anything like that near the campus that alumni and families can visit is a travesty. I mean right there at the campus, not all the places we know.

I have thought for many years that the roads needed to be opened up for higher volume traffic to get to URI and then even open up the emporium to development. The 100 people that live above campus can't hold the whole university hostage and preclude any development around the school(not that I know that they are, but I assume so). I think it would not be a tall order for the top of campus to be opened up for development or have any restaurants that serve alcohol.

Its a model that has worked time and again around the country, "if you build it, they will come." Anyone that has visited Chapel Hill can see the effect it has that they have Franklin street or any other school for that matter because UNC is the high standard in having that vibe.

A single restaurant would thrive with just parents visiting their kids, not to mention a lunch crowd, whatever promotions they could do to attract students. Strange absence in my opinion.
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Rhodymob05
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by Rhodymob05 »

I can bet (no pun intended) Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have a little to do with CONN having all that money
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by rambone 78 »

Not really. Everybody thought that the "casino money" would solve all the state's financial problems. Well, that money has been declining in recent years, and even with that, the state of Connecticut is running billion dollar deficits.

However, it is a known fact that the CT. state government is a big supporter of higher education in the state. Unlike RI.

The RI state government is a big supporter, of whatever it takes to line their own pockets, and screw higher education. I know it drives Dooley crazy.
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UCH21377
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by UCH21377 »

I have been to Storrs recently and it is a huge step up from URI which unfortunately isn't saying much. However solid it's academic rating is it is certainly not up to UNC and UVA yet, although they are trying to get there. I do believe academically it is on a par with Rutgers, who was allowed into the Big 10 somehow. I know, the NY thing and all, but quite frankly nobody in metro NYC pays any attention to Rutgers sports. Syracuse gets more attention.
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by RF1 »

URI would be a much better place if the village at Kingston on Rte 138 near the Upper College Road entrance was more extensive with retail and restaurants and possibly even a decent sized inn. It would be a quintessential college town atmosphere and give URI students more nearby options. It might result in more students living on campus and those that do might be more inclined to stay on weekends. The college town vibe is really missing at URI. It was the same at UConn but they chose to do something about it with the Storrs Center development.

All the money that the state of CT has poured into UConn has had an effect. There is constant construction on campus and the existing buildings are all well maintained (unlike at URI). The level of students has risen and the academics have gotten appreciably better. The gap between UConn and URI wasn't all that much 3 decades ago. It is now significant. URI has been hurt by RI's failure to adequately support higher ed and it has not been able to keep up with its peers. The only New England public flagship university that URI bests is UMaine. Instead of URI being compared to UConn and UMass like it was 50 years ago, it is now being compared to Central CT State University and UMass-Lowell. You can thank the state of RI and its politicians for that.
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rambone 78
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by rambone 78 »

Academic wise UConn isn't much of a step up from URI, although they do have a med school.

Facility wise, no comparison.

URI will never compare to bigger state schools, simply because RI is a tiny state, not just in size but in stature.

And the 8% state funding level doesn't help either. Like I said, if URI wants to make a big leap forward, they need to go private, if at all possible.
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by RF1 »

rambone 78 wrote:Academic wise UConn isn't much of a step up from URI, although they do have a med school.

Facility wise, no comparison.

URI will never compare to bigger state schools, simply because RI is a tiny state, not just in size but in stature.

And the 8% state funding level doesn't help either. Like I said, if URI wants to make a big leap forward, they need to go private, if at all possible.

That isn't true according to the ranking surveys. While the US News and World Report has its flaws, it puts UConn far above URI in its national university rankings. Here are the rankings of New England schools:


#2 Harvard
#3 Yale
#7 MIT
#10 Dartmouth
#14 Brown
#28 Tufts
#31 Boston College
#32 Brandeis
#41 Boston University
#49 Northeastern
#57 UConn
#62 Worcester Polytechnic Institute
#75 Clark University
#82 U of Vermont
#91 UMass-Amherst
#97 UNH
#152 URI
#158 UMass-Lowell
#167 UMaine



http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandrevie ... s/spp%2B50
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rambone 78
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by rambone 78 »

That's piss poor.

Things are getting better on the academic front, but miles to go obviously.

Are those ratings strictly academic? Or financial too?
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by RF1 »

rambone 78 wrote:That's piss poor.

Things are getting better on the academic front, but miles to go obviously.

Are those ratings strictly academic? Or financial too?

There is no financial element to my knowledge. It is sad but URI's New England peers are now UMass-Lowell and UMaine. All the other public state universities are in the top 100. The last few decades have seen great strides made by schools such as UConn and Northeastern while URI has remained stagnant. URI hasn't gotten worse. It just hasn't been able to keep up with its neighboring peers which have seen much improvement.
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by Ramulous »

In addition to the medical school, UConn's law school is thought of well.....to belittle UConn academically is to not face facts....something big east/pc fans like to do.....
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by Seawrightspostgame »

URI has many new buildings and I would venture to say that there are more new buildings or refurbished buildings today than there are not.

Just needs more to keep up. A college village like (countless schools), would go a long way I think.

The lack of law/med schools I think damages URI. Brown never had a med school, if URI could have scraped together a med program in the late 80s they would have had the jump on Brown by 20 years. Shame they don't offer those professional schools. After all there are lawyers and doctors in RI. I would have saved $$$$$$$ and stayed at home for L school.
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by rhodylaw »

Law schools are money makers - not much investment in equipment, we already have a law library. Unfortunately in the world of law schools it is all about being accredited and you would have to go a few years unaccredited unless you bought out the only law school in RI, which brown had been rumored to have interest in a few years back.
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

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I would like to see a hotel, maybe on Upper college road, and replace the faculty Center with a Faculty Center inside a new Hotel. The Hotel would be busy during the summer with the beaches and Newport close by, and during the school year with URI events. Also, a new Fine Arts building could improve that Northeast section of campus. I think URI offers just as much potential as exists anywhere. Rt 138 road access is awful. The state was supposed to put in rotaries at Rt.2 , and at the entrance to the Boss Arena area years ago, but of course, anything the state does for URI takes a big back burner to everything else in the state. It just takes so long for anything to happen, didn't the new Chemistry building get voter approval 3 years ago and nothing has happened?
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by Seawrightspostgame »

Isn't there a new chem building? or is that pharmacy exclusive?
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by Rhodymob05 »

lol I think those rankings are a joke. academics are definitely better than #152. And a new chemistry building is proposed to be built in the very near future. TOP of the line academic facilities.
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by RF1 »

I am not saying that URI is not constructing any new buildings. The problem is that UConn is constructing something like three for every one being built at URI. Go to the UConn campus for yourself and see what they are doing. I was just there two months ago. URI in no way compares.
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Re: UCONN $1.5 Billion Master Plan

Unread post by Maineiac66 »

One of the things that hurts the Flagship University of Maine is the necessity of supporting four year campuses in Presque Isle, Fort Kent, Machias, Augusta, Farmington and Portland with a population base of about 1.2 million. In addition there are several Community Colleges. Efforts have been made to consolidate campuses but it gets lost in the politics. On top of that we have over 25% of our population on Medicaid. Maine is basically a third world country outside of the major population centers. We have significantly less corruption than Rhode Island but about the same level of stupidity!
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