UConn’s vision of charting a renewed course for Avery Point is moving ahead well, including progress toward providing on-campus student housing and a plan in place to offer the University’s most popular major as a four-year program starting this fall.
UConn plans to relocate the baseball practice field near the center of campus and build its student housing development there, and is compiling more details to be presented to the community and brought to the Board of Trustees for a vote in April.
Starting this fall, UConn also will offer an undergraduate degree at Avery Point in psychological sciences, which students will be able to complete there without needing to travel or transfer to Storrs as they currently must.
UConn leaders also are looking at engineering concentrations on campus that would complement the region’s industries, while continuing to build academic and cultural connections with the area’s Tribal Nations as part of a historic partnership announced in late 2024.
The University recently details on the Avery Point website to address specific questions posed at a recent on-campus community meeting, where President Radenka Maric and Provost Anne D’Alleva were joined by several trustees and other administrators to gather feedback.
“This is a very special place and a resource not only for UConn and this part of Connecticut, but for the entire state,” D’Alleva told the audience as the sun set outside over Long Island Sound, framed by the Branford House administrative building’s window overlooking the shoreline.
D’Alleva and others also told the large audience of residents, local and state leaders, industry officials, and others that community input will be critical to the University’s plans for the campus to ensure its growth aligns with the region’s economic priorities.
In fact, UConn is starting the state’s regulatory evaluation processes, which involve public meetings and evaluating issues such as potential traffic impacts, environmental factors, noise, and other considerations.
UConn has been exploring potential enhancements at Avery Point for more than two years to increase its draw as a destination campus, including more academic options and student services. In turn, its growth will fuel the economy of southeastern Connecticut by providing a skilled workforce for the myriad industries in that area.
Providing on-campus student housing is seen as a key element, both because the local rental market is limited and expensive – often forcing students to commute long distances — and because research consistently shows that students are more successful when they have strong social networks such as those they build in residence halls.
Situated on 82 acres on Long Island Sound, UConn Avery Point offers specialized programs in marine sciences and maritime studies that can be completed in four years on site, along with four-year majors in English and General Studies.
The four-year major in psychological sciences will be available on campus starting this fall, benefiting both first-year students who are just starting their academic journeys and returning students in that major who otherwise would have had to travel or transfer to Storrs for their last required classes.
The Avery Point campus was founded in 1967 and has more than 450 full-time students, including more than two-fifths who are the first generation in their families to enroll in college.
At one time, UConn Avery Point had more than 700 undergraduates enrolled and the University aims to rebuild its enrollment again, bolstered by its vision of a residence hall on campus for about 250 students with dining, health care, and other support services.
UConn will fund the construction, owning and operating the residence hall as part of its portfolio of student housing.
Having on-campus housing at Avery Point will also complement the range of academic, recreational, artistic, and community-oriented activities currently on campus, along with the faculty and staff who are deeply invested in its success.
Situated on Long Island Sound, it reflects the region’s proud maritime tradition and active leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
“UConn Avery Point is uniquely positioned to not only benefit but also to contribute to the economic boom that we are experiencing in the region,” U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, whose Congressional district includes southeastern Connecticut, recently wrote in a letter to UConn leaders.
Southeastern Connecticut’s economic boom is fueled by Electric Boat’s record hiring that will continue into the late 2030s, as well as the trilateral AUKUS security agreement that has put all eyes on the region, he said in his letter.
“UConn’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Adelaide in Australia will build mutually beneficial academic and scientific capabilities, and this collaboration will result in increased visits and exchanges between our research institutions,” Courtney said.
“Furthermore, the U.S. State Department has already recognized the potential for this type of cooperation with UConn’s award to develop Navy STEM partnerships to support AUKUS,” he added. “Expanding the engineering, business, and other four-year degrees offered at Avery Point will enable more young people in our region to fill these critically important job positions.”
UConn’s wide-ranging new Strategic Plan includes a focus on celebrating and expanding the strengths of its seven campuses, which include Avery Point along with Storrs, Hartford, Stamford, Waterbury, UConn Health in Farmington, and the School of Law in Hartford.
In addition to UConn’s status as a Land Grant University, it also is among 34 institutions designated as a Sea Grant University by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration due to its Avery Point campus academic and research activities.
They include marine vessels equipped to be at sea for short- and long-term field studies, a variety of research activities in specialized on-shore facilities and in the waters of Long Island Sound, and community partnerships such as its role in the Connecticut Natural Estuarian Research Reserve and its research with corporate partners to determine the effects of offshore wind farms on marine life.
The Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation (CIRCA), also located at Avery Point, also has become a critical regional asset to help communities that are vulnerable to the growing impacts of climate change.
