Good afternoon. Today is my official last day in the office although I will still be working remotely on some projects for a few weeks, and be back for my farewell on August 8.  Over the last months I have been reflecting quite a bit about my 50+ year journey through libraries and would like to share a few parting thoughts.

I have been a librarian in an administrative role for over 30 of those years, working with hundreds of staff in several regions of the country. What I learned about leadership in those years I shared with you when I arrived in October, 2013 and I have done what I can to weave these into our environment – encouraging you to demonstrate initiative, promote a positive work environment, contribute to solutions, and do what needs to be done for the good of the whole.

By showing this kind of leadership throughout all levels of the organization, we have made amazing strides over the last four years. I am most proud of the work we did collectively on our Purposeful Path Forward. This is a solid document that resonates as an innovative path to follow, created through initiative, problem solving, and a roll-up your sleeves attitude.

I am also encouraged by the work we did together which led up to the Master Plan in Babbidge. As I write this with drilling above my head, I know that the countless meetings, focus groups, proposals, and number crunching were all worth what will come out of that Plan for our users. I look forward to coming back and seeing the progress over the next few years.

I am also pleased by the work of the One UConn Library. What started as a directive from the Provost’s Office became a true collaboration between organizations and a genuine desire from staff to find solutions to some challenging issues enabling us to help each other out and share resources.

The road to tackle these goals I laid out early in my tenure was not a straight or smooth path. I had to make tough decisions along the way and always had the best for the organization in mind when making those choices. In the end, we tackled them together and I believe have become a stronger organization.  As you continue down the path to success under new leadership, I encourage you to keep in mind a message I sent nearly a year ago – no matter what decisions are made, it is important to practice civility and whether or not you agree with or look like each other, please make the extra effort to show true respect and kindness.  It is the best foundation to build success.

All my best,

Martha

Hartford Campus Move

As you all know from Michael’s note, the Hartford Campus has officially moved to their new home within the Hartford Public Library and is open with limited services this week. I want to thank Michael and his staff for sticking through the long and sometimes trying process. The move of the entire campus downtown, and the relationship we will build with the Hartford Public Library is truly a one-of-a-kind experience that we are looking forward to shepherding. I know many of you have not had a chance to visit so we asked the staff to send photos so we could check out their new spaces.

School of Fine Arts Resource Center Update

We have continued to ask for more information about the construction plans in the School of Fine Arts and while I don’t have a lot of information, we did hear last week that the plan will be going to the Board of Trustee’s September meeting for funding approval with construction beginning after that. This is later than we anticipated so Holly will be meeting with the Dean and project manager from University Planning, Design and Construction soon to get further details and talk about what our plans are for the space and services during the fall semester. We will keep you posted on the plans as they progress, and appreciate your patience as the timing keeps shifting.

UITS Help Center

I know you have already received an email regarding the UITS Help Center, but I wanted to extend a personal welcome to our new colleagues. I believe this will be an important partnership that will be of great benefit to both the students and staff who use their services. Thanks to all who helped make this a reality.

Good luck Chenwei Zhao

As some of you are aware, Chenwei Zhao’s end-date contract expires today. Chenwei joined the UConn Library in 2009 in the position of Research Associate and currently holds the position of Electronic Resources Access & Discovery Librarian in the Metadata & Discovery Unit. During her time at UConn, Chenwei has worked hard to make important contributions to enable the Library to effectively manage and provide access to e-resource collections. For example, in the wake of the migration from Voyager to Alma, Chenwei applied her expertise to investigate underlying patterns in e-resource access problems and then develop solutions that have resulted in dramatic reductions in these e-resource access problems. Additionally, Chenwei has done much work to effectively manage the knowledgebases that power access to our large and complex e-resource collections.

Chenwei has been a collaborative and dedicated colleague, and I hope that you will join me in thanking her for her service to the UConn Library and wishing her every success in her future endeavors.

Staff News

Congratulations to Patrick on the birth of his twins, Ezra (left) and Audrey (right). I understand that although there is less time to sleep, everyone is doing well. Patrick plans on returning to work next week so please stop by and congratulate him.

BLC Retreat

Last week I joined my BLC colleagues for our annual retreat. The second day was kicked off by Mark Brimhall-Vargas, Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Brandeis University. Mark engaged BLC in a discussion around a variety of diversity issues and it was interesting and informative to see how different institutions are dealing with these challenges.  I also officially handed over the reins of the organization to Lisa Raymond, the Co-Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Vice President/President Elect, Simon Neame, Dean of Libraries at UMass Amherst.  It was a wonderful experience to have served as president for a great group of individuals across the BLC network, and I am proud of the expertise and participation on behalf of the UConn Library in the committees, the communities of interest groups, and the Leads initiative.

Health Sciences Library

I had the last of my monthly meetings at the Health Sciences Library last week. I have enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with the health sciences where I spent a significant amount of my career. I am encouraged by the progress we have made and expect that this will strengthen over time to benefit the One UConn Library system.

Staff Notes

It is of great pleasure to formally introduce to you a new title for a member of our staff – Dr. Patrick Carr. Patrick has earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communications from East Carolina University. The title of his dissertation was “Extending the Technological, Discursive, and Rhetorical Horizons of Academic Research Libraries’ Information Architectures: An Analysis of North Carolina State University’s James B. Hunt Jr. Library.” Please join me in congratulating Patrick on his accomplishment.

Khara Leon is also deserving of our congratulations, receiving her Master of Science in Human Resource Management from UConn’s School of Business in May.

I would also like to congratulate Richard Bleiler for his election to the EAST Operations Committee beginning in July. This Committee is responsible for development, implementation, and operationalization of EAST policies and procedures and I have no doubt that Richard’s expertise will be of great benefit to further the work of EAST.

Dear Colleagues,

It is my great privilege to serve as the Vice Provost for the UConn Library, which is why I find it so difficult to send this message.  After much deliberation and discussion with my family I have decided for personal reasons to retire, with an effective last date in the office of July 20. I will be taking accumulated leave after that and have agreed to work occasionally on high priority, non-operational issues for a few weeks, so you may see me around.

This year marks my 50th year working in libraries and I have enjoyed being a part of the rapid and exciting transformation spanning my career, including great changes here at UConn. I have truly enjoyed the time we have worked together and have confidence that the Master Plan, One Library initiative, and Purposeful Path, coupled with the Provost’s renewed commitment to the Library will keep the forward momentum going.

My plans for retirement include spending time travelling from Coast to Coast. Here on the East Coast I will be enjoying the special place that is our summer cottage, on the West Coast visiting my son and his growing family, and at our home in New Mexico in between.

The Provost will make a public announcement within the next few days regarding an interim appointment and his plans for a search.

Most sincerely yours,

Martha

UConn Dean’s Retreat

I recently had the opportunity to join the UConn Dean’s Retreat at the invitation of the Provost. It was a valuable experience to learn more about my colleagues both professionally and personally. We spent time talking about our approaches to leadership and how we meet the challenges and need to become a more diverse institution.

ARL Annual Meeting

In early May, I attended the ARL meeting held in Philadelphia. There was a great program of meetings and presentations but what grew to be a consistent thread in our meetings and informal discussions was the unsustainable practices of publishers and the “Big Deals”.  An old topic, but with renewed interest in tackling it.  I’m sure that you have all seen the law suit filed against Elsevier by LSU and the University of Montreal cancelling their Taylor and Francis deal.  These and recent studies about the low use of many titles in the packages, as well as alternative access to them was on the minds of all ARL Directors. Much of the conversation was how we, as a library community, could counteract some of this through putting more resources into supporting Open Access. I forwarded this information to our Provost, who shares this concern and expressed an interest in working with us and the University Senate to craft strategies appropriate for UConn.

ACRL & ELUNA Conferences

There were several members of the staff who attended these two conferences and I would encourage you to participate in a brown bag to share what you learned. I understand Roger is working on setting something up for ELUNA and we will work on setting something up for ACRL if there is nothing in the works already.

Staff News

I know that you have all received a note, but I wanted to take a moment to personally congratulate Graham Stinnett and Kate Fuller on their recent promotions. Their commitment to professional growth and excellence was recognized by their colleagues, the Provost and the Board of Trustees.

Marissa Gauthier from the Health Sciences Library was recently recognized by NAHSL (North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries) for co-authoring two systematic reviews in the supplemental January 2016 issue of the Journal of Prosthodontics. She has also been named the chair-elect for CAHSL (Connecticut Association of Health Sciences Librarians). Congratulations Marissa!

And finally, congratulations to Erika McNeil for her recent publication in the Journal of Access Services titled “ILLiad, Rapid, and an unmediated solution to the interlibrary loan textbook dilemma.”

Budget Hearing Follow Up

I am pleased to say that based on our budget request for FY ’18 in February, Provost Teitelbaum has reinstated $1,000,000 in recurring funds to support our collections. While this does not represent an increase in our collection spending, it does provide significant relief from having to draw from other needs, such as staffing, to preserve the collections. I believe that these funds are a result of the University understanding the true value of our collections as well as our due diligence in ensuring that we are using our funds wisely.

Position Title Changes

At my last Mashup I rolled out our effort to standardize the multiple titles used across staff providing similar services. Since then there has been discussions specifically around the use of the title ‘Assistant.’ After much consideration that included an environmental scan of other academic libraries, the Library will be forgoing the use of UCPEA nomenclature in our working titles for ULAs in favor of using the term ‘Associates.’ Khara will be making the changes to our organizational charts and directory and they will be online soon. If you have any questions about your title please speak with your Unit or Area Head.

Library Area and Unit Goals

Thank you to the members of VPC for the thoughtful presentation of area and unit goals at last week’s meeting. It was interesting to see the vision of the Purposeful Path Forward in the discussions at each level of the organization. We are working on a document that will share the overall picture of the library goals.

Employee Appreciation Event

As I mentioned in my email last week, I have suggested that we put off our employee appreciation event to a quieter time in the semester when we can all relax more and enjoy each other’s company.  So please save the date of Friday, June 2nd for a bar-b-que on the patio. I will be taking that time as an opportunity to give the longevity awards from UConn to staff who celebrated that this past week.

Women’s Center Academic Achievement Awards

I have the privilege of representing the Provost’s Office for the 2017 Outstanding Senior Women Academic Achievement Awards, recognizing the work of graduating seniors and scholarship recipients. Sponsored by the Women’s Center, I will have an opportunity to talk about the work of the University in developing women for leadership roles, including promoting work/life flexibility and creating an environment to support women’s achievements and academic success. I would like to frame my remarks around personal experiences of women balancing work and life so if you have anything you would like to share with me I would be pleased to hear it.

WWI Exhibit

If you haven’t had a chance to look through our latest exhibits, I would encourage you to do so before they close on May 15. The exhibits are a commemoration of the United States entry into WWI through different eyes – from the national, state-wide and local stage. In the Dodd Research Center there are exhibits of war posters from the collections of the Library of Congress, a selection of papers from Connecticut solider Dana T. Leavenworth, and the role Connecticut Agricultural College played in the war through activities such as food production, research and military training. In Homer Babbidge you’ll get a look at the start of bibliotherapy, or using books to treat those wounded in the war, as well as a selection of materials from the archives including musical recordings and children’s books of the day. Betsy curated all five exhibits along with two graduate students, Allison Horrocks (History, Ph. D., 2016) and Mary Mahoney (History, Ph. D. candidate). The exhibits have been well received throughout the community through UConn Today, the Daily Campus, and a radio conversation on WILI on April 10.

Staff Notes

Congratulations to Jenny Miglus, Carolyn Mills and Michael Rodriguez for their winning proposal to assess UConn faculty attitudes and publishing patterns vis-à-vis open access from the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship. Michael has also been accepted into the 2017 cohort to represent the team during an all-expenses paid research design immersion program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, running June 3-11. The project involves a survey and ethnographic interviews, and the Institute will provide mentorship and support during the year-long research project. The program is funded in part by a grant from the IMLS.

I know this is a busy time for everyone but I wanted to take a few minutes of your day to update you on a few things.

Open Educational Resources

We have received approval to release the winners of the Provost’s OER Awards and will be doing that next week in celebration of Open Education Week. There are 14 faculty members who have been awarded a total of $98,000 for their projects to save students money on textbooks. Information about the winners can be found on our news blog next week.  I also joined others from around Connecticut to provide comments at a legislative hearing on what is now Proposed Substitute Bill No. 7235 – An Act Concerning the Recommendations of the Open Educational Task Force. The purpose of the bill is ‘To establish an open educational resource program to help lower the cost of acquiring a college degree in Connecticut.’ The bill has been filed with the Legislative Commissioners’ Office  and will now continue on through the process to the Senate for a vote.  You can keep track of the bill status page on the CGA website.

Public Services Area Meeting

Earlier this week Holly and I met with the new Public Services Area which includes Research Services, Reference & Curriculum Services, Access Services, and the Regional Campus Libraries. We had an opportunity to review some of the goals achieved last year as well as ideas for Area Goals for the coming year, and took a look at the draft job description for the new AUL position. I know this Area includes a lot of staff so Holly and I appreciate all who were able to attend – physically and virtually.

One UConn Library Initiatives

As an outcome of last year’s One UConn Library report, several efforts are currently underway to increase and build on collaborations within the UConn Library system. Three of these efforts are being led out of our Collections & Discovery Area and below is a report from Patrick to share.

Alma/Primo Integration Assessment
Under the leadership of Roger Brisson, this team has been charged with analyzing the UConn Library System’s three independent instances of Alma/Primo and assessing the feasibility and potential benefits/challenges associated with a migration to a single shared instance of Alma/Primo that would be used by all system libraries. The team is meeting on a weekly basis and currently analyzing similarities and differences across the instances as they relate to pertinent policies, practices, and system configurations. The team’s deliverable will be a report that includes a recommendation regarding if and how the UConn Library System might pursue migration to a single shared instance of Alma/Primo.

Resource Sharing
Under the leadership of Erika McNeil, this team was charged with:

• Developing shared understandings of resource sharing practices, systems, and responsibilities across the libraries;
• Building relationships among the libraries to facilitate enhanced collaboration and the sharing of expertise;
• Identifying and recommending short and long-term changes that will lead to efficiencies and enhanced services to the UConn community.

The team met from September 2016 through January 2017, and completed their work with the submission of a report summarizing what was learned and including recommendations for next steps. One of these recommendations was that we explore ways to integrate the UConn Library system’s three separate instances of ILLiad. A working group of personnel from Health, Law, and Storrs is currently assessing different options regarding ILLiad integration and will be formulating a recommendation to best achieve this effort.

Licensing
Under the leadership of Michael Rodriguez, this team was formed to establish and implement plans for the consistent use of license management capabilities in Alma across the UConn Library system. Also, this team will be focused on developing shared understandings, working toward consistencies in practice, and building relationships among licensing personnel across the UConn Library system. The team has met twice so far with a focus on learning about similarities and differences in licensing practices.

Water Woes in Health Sciences

Earlier this week a pipe burst in the Health Sciences Library which affected the ground floor hallway where staff offices are located and the sub-basement where the journal collections are. There was some minor water damage to sheet rock, carpeting and wallpaper as well as a row of Science journals. Fortunately the journals are all available online. Big thanks to Arta Dobbs, Mike Gargula, and Jenny Miglus for jumping in and doing immediate damage control so there was no significant loss, and Janice reports they are back to business as usual.

Homies Ignite Fundraising Campaign

The Homies, Student Friends of the Library have been actively participating in the UConn Foundation’s Ignite fundraising campaign since early February. They have had several activities including tabling, handing out buttons, speed dating on Valentine’s Day and will be hosting a fun run this Saturday from 11am-12pm around Homer Babbidge. They have also produced a special video with a balance books challenge which received the highest points in the campaign’s video competition. All of this has brought them 65% of the way towards their $1,000 goal. If you were interested in donating to the cause, for which all funds go directly to the Library, don’t delay because the competition ends on Sunday.

Good Things

I have two good things to share. One is a compilation of some comments I have received from two staff members in Health and Storrs about Wendy Urciuoli. One note mentioned that working with Wendy is always a very positive experience and that she always has new ideas and inspiration. She is also very dedicated to connecting clinical staff and patients to the Library. In fact, many of you may not know that Wendy is responsible for HealthNet News, a regular e-newsletter that provides health information to the public. You can find copies of these newsletters from the Health website. It is nice to know that we have the right person heading our Patient & Family Health Information Services.

I would also like to congratulate Terry Baughman for receiving the Student Employee Supervisor of the Year Award and thank Erika for taking the time to nominate her. Terry has been invited to the Student Life Award Reception in April to receive her award. Way to go!

Scholarly Communications Coordinating Group

I am pleased to announce the new Scholarly Communications Coordinating Group and its new chair, Jenny Miglus. This restructure of the long standing Scholarly Communications Committee will gather together staff in the UCL (including Health and Law) who have position responsibilities which fit within our broad definition of Scholarly Communications. The new purpose of the Coordinating Group will be to provide a forum for discussion of the issues facing us, information about what is happening throughout the UCL, identify any critical gaps, and to make recommendations for taking coordinated action. Jenny has served as a member of the prior committee and is committed to engaging staff in this conversation which is of strategic importance. The Scholarly Communications Coordination Group will report to me and we will be talking with unit heads to identify members to serve. I would like to thank Scott Kennedy for all of his efforts in revitalizing the committee and producing great work in a short time. One of those items was recommendations to decrease the number and length of embargoed thesis and dissertations. We will continue to work with the Graduate School to make progress on this.

Monthly Deans Meeting

I am pleased to report that I have been asked by Provost Teitelbaum to join the monthly meeting of the deans. This regular meeting is held outside of the formal Dean’s Council and will be a wonderful opportunity for me to have more meaningful and effective contact with our schools and colleges. My goal is to gain a greater understanding of their needs to continue to strengthen our collections and services, and of course to remind them of the important role we play in their work.

BLC Board Meeting

Next month’s BLC Board Meeting will take advantage of an opportunity to engage with the newly appointed Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden while she visits Boston. In the planning stages now, we are looking forward to speaking with her about the unique perspective BLC members have in academic research and the role the Library of Congress can play in supporting that.

I would also like to congratulate Marisol Ramos for her upcoming participation in the BLC Leads program. Marisol expressed an interest in being a part of this first year and I am pleased to support her aspirations and designate her as our choice from UConn.

Provost’s Library Advisory Committee

PLAC members met last week and were given updates on our collection reviews, work within the Research & Curriculum Services, and our recent budget hearing. We also had the opportunity to show them their updated website. The updates include a new section where members can access agendas, minutes, and other meeting documentation. Located behind a login, it is accessible to all members of the University community with a NetID. The Committee will be working over the next month to prepare for their yearly summary meeting with the Provost in April, which will also be their first official meeting with Provost Teitelbaum. Their intention is to reinforce the importance of the Library as a core part of UConn’s mission with particular focus on requesting he find ways to restore our collections budget on a recurring basis.

Health Sciences Library Visit

Last Friday was my monthly day-long visit to the Health Sciences Library and as always I enjoyed getting up to date on what they are working on. I am also pleased that I will see many of them at Yale tomorrow for a lecture with the new director of the US National Library of Medicine, Dr. Patricia Flatley Brennan. The lecture, which both Holly and I will be attending alongside many of our Farmington colleagues, is a wonderful opportunity to meet the new Director of an organization both Holly and I have worked closely with for many years. Also, with the recent changes to the distribution lists we now have a separate list for our colleagues in Health at ‘LIB – Health Sciences Library Staff’ and they are also now included in the ‘LIB – All Libraries Staff’ distribution list.

Upcoming Calendar Dates 

There are two important dates coming up next week so please make sure they are on your calendar. The first is the opportunity to join our colleagues to wish Scott and Carole well on their retirement next Tuesday, the 28th from 9:30-10:30 in the Staff Lounge. The second is my Mashup on Wednesday, March 1 from 10-11. We will be discussing the highlights from our budget hearing as well as some interim and long-term organizational changes.

One Good Thing

Today’s comment came in recently about Hilda. “Hilda is incredibly efficient and effective at her job and does it all with a bit of fun. Her recent glow is her relishing in being a new grandmother which I’m sure if you ask she will gladly share some adorable photos.”

Have your own good thing to share? Please do!

Upcoming Staff Shifts

With more upcoming changes in our staffing, including new hires and retirements, we will take the opportunity to shift some job roles and responsibilities between our units to continue to strengthen our organizational structure. The changes being made are a way to capitalize on what is an increasingly fluid environment, both externally and internally, as well as a way to continue to focus on our Purposeful Path Forward. I have already begun talking to people who will be directly affected by this upcoming reorganization and will continue to do that before we make any official moves.

Budget Hearing

Last week Holly and I presented our current fiscal situation and future budgetary needs at our annual budget hearing. As you may recall in a prior message, the University asked each unit to consider an up-front one-time fund sweep or a longer-term permanent reduction to our base budget. Our strategies are dependent upon our ability to rebuild our staff, therefore we proposed the one-time fund give back as the route to achieve that goal. The budget materials and presentation was well received, including our suggested hiring plan.  I received positive feedback from the members of the review group, including  Dean Teitelbaum who I met with  on Monday for the first time as Provost.

Save the Date for Martha’s Mashup

Please hold March 1 for my Spring Mashup. A more formal announcement will be coming once we confirm the date, but the agenda will include information on the staff changes, hiring plan, and budget hearing.

OER Updates

Last Thursday I met with Representative Haddad and members of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee to discuss the potential for funded OER legislation in the upcoming session. We came to an agreement on priorities for state-wide impact which will take the form of a bill for which there will be a hearing in this session. On Friday I met with the Council of Connecticut Academic Library Directors (CCALD) regarding the advances in OER initiatives across the state as well as what UConn has been able to accomplish, which all agreed was impressive. I am hopeful that the award winners of the Provost’s OER incentives will be announced in the near future so that we can celebrate additional progress and savings for our students.

Changes to Vice Provost’s Council

We will be making some important changes to Vice Provost Council starting in February that will expand the membership to include all unit heads and directors from the Storrs campus, regionals and the Health Sciences Library. I believe the changes will increase our successes in reaching our strategic initiatives and improve communication throughout the organization. The group will be working on a charge in February and I will be discussing this in more detail at the January 25th Open Forum. I hope you will join us and share your thoughts. We will also be discussing updates related to recent activities of the Collections Steering Committee next Wednesday.

Open Source Textbook Task Force Final Report

I am pleased to say that the state-wide Open Source Textbook Task Force successfully submitted its final report to the State Legislature this month. I have spoken with Representative Gregg Haddad and he has asked me to provide more information on how other states are funding and promoting the use of Open Educational Resources so we can continue to talk about this on a state-wide platform, particularly in light of his new role as the Chair of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee. I want to thank Kathy and Steve Batt for collecting and analyzing the data from over 1,000 faculty members across Connecticut. We were able to get valuable information about their collective knowledge and use of open access materials. Here at home, I have been working with Sally Reis to select the faculty who have requested funding for adopting OER in their courses through the Provost’s office. There will be an announcement regarding this soon. This is also a good time to remind you that we have a great website that provides more information about all things OER at UConn at http://open.uconn.edu.

Scholars’ Collaborative News

I am pleased to report that Jennifer Snow has been doing a wonderful job of creating and enhancing our relationship with the Humanities Institute through both her role as the liaison to the Institute as well as her work for the Scholars’ Collaborative. Together they will be sponsoring monthly Coffee Conversations starting next Friday, January 27th from 10-11 in the 4th floor meeting space just inside of the Humanities Institute. The coffees are open to anyone who is interested in digital scholarship, whether they are expert pros or new to the field. Jennifer is also organizing a series of workshops this spring on various digital scholarship tools and platforms and part of discussions on a potential copyright workshop/conference in April. If you are interested in learning more about any of these, I encourage you to talk with Jennifer.

The Homies Receive Green Light to Ignite

The Homies student organization applied to participate in the UConn Foundation crowdsourcing campaign, Ignite and were accepted into the program. Ignite is designed to bring students together to raise money for their favorite UConn causes and these students will be directly raising funds for the Library. Ignite 2016 raised over $44,000 for various programs across UConn last year. The program will kick off in February so keep an eye out for it.

Implicit Bias Exhibit

If you reside in the Homer Babbidge Library, you have likely seen the temporary exhibit currently in our Plaza entrance. The exhibit, being coordinated through the Neag School of Education and the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, is an effort to help us to identify and understand that we all have attitudes or stereotypes that affect our actions in an unconscious manner.  When it officially opens on Monday, it will include some interactive components as well as a survey done through Harvard University. Also on Monday will be an opening reception from 3-5pm in our Staff Lounge featuring Thomas Craemer, an associate professor in UConn’s Department of Public Policy. You can learn more about the exhibit through the newly released promo video.

One Good Thing

Today I would like to share a wonderful note about Richard Bleiler. “I thoroughly enjoy the intellectual conversations I have with Richard. I have worked with Richard for 23 years and have worked on teams with him. He grants me the utmost respect and is someone I can work alongside with and look up to at the same time. I look forward to seeing Richard every morning.”