Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • May 18, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 7 istrators and faculty has been good so far, Bailey said, as have actions like extending by a year the time ten- ure track faculty must meet certain requirements. When it comes to opening for in-person coursework, Bailey said there are safety concerns — especially among those at greater risk for complications from CO- VID-19 — but they largely agree with Katsouleas' sentiment of returning to face-to-face classes as soon as it's safe. "[Faculty] don't feel that online learn- ing is the best environment for learn- ing," Bailey said. "They would like to get back to that face-to-face learning." Financial future One of Katsouleas' major goals when he first started at UConn was to dou- ble annual research spending to about $500 million over the next decade. He still says that is in the cards, despite mounting financial pressures, noting that most of the increased funding would come from outside grants. If anything, Katsouleas said, he sees the virus sparking new lines of research. "What does [the virus] mean to us as humans? How do we respond to this individually and collectively? … How do we get the economy going?" Katsouleas queried. "These are all questions our scholars are going to be grappling with, and I actually think there's an opportunity for a sort of renaissance in research." But to make up for financial losses UConn has already or may experi- ence, some things will likely have to go away, Katsouleas said. Decisions about cuts will revolve around priorities like ensuring current students can finish degree programs, and avoiding jeopardizing future rev- enue streams, Katsouleas said. "You have to just lay everything on the table, and there can be no sacred cows," Katsouleas said. "You have to put in all the components of your budget, figure out what your priori- ties are and then deal with the fiscal realities as they may come." Those fiscal realities could prove dire to public universities, said James Kvaal, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, a Califor- nia-based nonprofit that advocates for making affordable higher educa- tion available to Americans. That's because state budgets, which contribute to public universities, are likely to experience drastic cuts in the wake of the pandemic, Kvaal said. Connecticut taxpayers subsidize about a quarter of UConn's current $1.46 billion budget. "There are not going to be very many good options [for cost reduc- tion]," Kvaal said, predicting higher tuition, faculty layoffs and reduction of student aid as actions colleges and universities will likely take. "[The situation] is threatening colleges and universities' ability to serve as sources of economic opportunity." But as UConn faces questions as existential for a university as, "can we have students on campus?", Katsouleas says he's been heartened at how the college community has pulled together so far. "We've been touched by loss … but we've had more successes, includ- ing getting an email from a faculty member who contracted COVID-19, and had just been released [from UConn Health] saying, 'UConn Health saved my life,' " Katsouleas said. "There have been a lot of sweet moments, and they come more rapidly in this time than during a normal time." A TV monitor shows President Thomas Katsouleas during UConn's May 9 virtual graduation ceremony broadcast from the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. PHOTO | PETER MORENUS/UCONN PHOTO 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 (860) 242-8586 | Fax (860) 242-8587 www.pdsec.com PDS ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION, INC. THINK • PLAN • BUILD Spotlight on: Commercial TriPoint Performance Based Insurance | Avon, CT Total Project Size: 4,000 SF Another Successful Project by PDS DESIGN BUILDERS • GENERAL CONTRACTORS • CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS PDS served in the role as General Contractor for a two story 4,000 square foot interior renovation of new office space. The renovation was a full gut of the existing facility consisting of new carpeting, wood flooring, ceilings, walls, millwork, doors, painting, toilet accessories, sprinkler, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical. This project was completed within a fast track two month span and finished within budget.

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