UConn is continuing to explore ways to enhance its Avery Point campus, including offering one of the University’s most popular majors there starting this fall and gathering information to inform discussions on a proposal to add student housing.
The Board of Trustees on Wednesday, April 23 approved plans to start offering a bachelor’s degree in psychological sciences at Avery Point, where students pursuing that major must currently either commute or transfer to other campuses to finish their required coursework.
Trustees also approved a planning budget to assess factors that will provide more information to help assess the scope, cost, and feasibility of developing a residence hall and dining facility on the campus.
Those reviews will include checking the preferred site for bedrock and other variables that could affect construction costs. Trustees will use the information to inform their discussions this spring, possibly as early as June, about next steps on the housing proposal.
UConn has been considering several ways to enhance offerings at its Avery Point campus for several years in consultation with local and state leaders, residents, industry officials, and other community stakeholders.
The discussions also include 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.
Anne D’Alleva, UConn’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, said many of the Avery Point students majoring in psychological sciences have been commuting to and from Storrs to complete their requirements, despite the lack of mass transit between the sites.
Offering it at Avery Point from start to completion will draw newcomers interested in that major and help retain current students who otherwise might have transferred to Storrs for the convenience, even though they preferred the smaller Avery Point campus experience.
“This is one the programs that students themselves identified as important to them,” D’Alleva said. “This will be a very important addition – it is one of the largest majors at UConn and very popular with our students.”
UConn has also been considering the feasibility of developing a 250-bed residence hall and 125-seat dining facility on the Avery Point campus.
The proposal’s proponents say providing on-campus student housing at Avery Point is critical to meeting the goals of the UConn Strategic Plan, which includes a commitment to build on the unique attributes of each regional location to make them destination campuses.
Providing on-campus student housing is seen by many as a key element at Avery Point, 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 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.
“UConn Avery Point is a special place. It’s more than just a campus; it’s a close-knit community where students, faculty, and neighbors all feel connected and invested in each other’s success,” says Annemarie Seifert, its campus dean and chief administrative officer.
At one time, UConn Avery Point had more than 700 undergraduates enrolled. The University aims to rebuild its enrollment again, bolstered by its vision of a residence hall and other services already being expanded there in mental health services, student activities, and other supports.
“It’s an amazing campus. Avery Point has so much opportunity for us to tap into as a university, and our team has been working very hard on it,” UConn Board of Trustees Chairman Daniel Toscano said Wednesday.
