![\"The](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Welsh-Family-1024x683.jpg\")
Soon after the luncheon, family members got together and decided to express their appreciation. They gave a joint gift that would pay for installing state-of-the-art technology in two new classrooms in the Thomas J. Meskill Law Library.<\/p>\n
The generous donation allowed the school to equip the classrooms with interactive touch screens, videoconferencing equipment, cameras that track the speaker, and other equipment to greatly improve distance learning and small group collaborations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state-of-the-art technology included in the newly designed classrooms will allow for more seamless, collaborative, and interactive learning between students, faculty, and guest lecturers,\u201d School of Law Dean Eboni Nelson said. \u201cWe are incredibly thankful for the Welsh family\u2019s generous gift that has allowed us to enhance the educational experience for faculty and students, particularly those engaged in distance education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter, who has built a career in tax and insurance law, has been an adjunct professor at the law school for many years. More recently, he has taught in the Master\u2019s in Insurance Law program, which relies on the existing classrooms in the school that provide for distance-learning students. With new classrooms and new technology, the law school will be able to provide a greater number of students with an improved in-class experience and an almost \u201cin classroom\u201d experience for distance learners.<\/p>\n
The Welsh family understands that public universities like UConn increasingly rely on donations from alumni as state funding continues to dwindle. Currently, the state funding now covers only 25.7 percent of UConn\u2019s budget. The rest comes from tuition and fees, room and board, research grants, and donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though it\u2019s a public institution, the school needs help from alumni in the same way that a private institution does,\u201d Walter said.<\/p>\n
The UConn School of Law is an important part of the Welsh family, one of UConn\u2019s biggest legacy families. Walter\u2019s two brothers, Charles \u201cChuck\u201d R. Welsh \u201988 JD and James \u201cJim\u201d P. Welsh \u201984 JD, attended, as did Jim\u2019s daughter, Katherine Laliberte, who attended for two years, then graduated from a law school in Canada.<\/p>\n
In addition, Walter\u2019s sons, Kevin W. Welsh \u201905 JD and Walter B. Welsh \u201906 JD, are proud graduates, as is the younger Walter\u2019s wife, Aidan R. Welsh \u201906 JD.<\/p>\n
If that weren\u2019t enough, Walter Sr.\u2019s wife, Elizabeth W. Welsh \u201970, and his brother Chuck\u2019s wife, Cynthia Gregory-Welsh \u201995, were UConn undergraduates. That\u2019s a total of nine huskies!<\/p>\n
While they have pursued a variety of law careers, they all feel grateful for the strong foundation the law school gave them.
\n\u201cThe law school did so much for us,\u201d Walter said. \u201cBeing able to give a little back gives us a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n