![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/media.education.uconn.edu\/aurora\/neag\/2015\/06\/Harry-and-Dianne-400x244.jpg\")
\u2018The Value of Education\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n When the UConn Foundation announced its $150 million student-support fundraising initiative this past year, Hartley\u2019s longstanding sense of devotion to the University prompted him to lead the charge. Through a planned bequest, Hartley has designated a gift of $250,000 in support of undergraduate and graduate scholarship specifically for students in UConn\u2019s Neag School of Education. The gift will be made in his name and in that of his wife, Dianne.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents were both teachers, so I\u2019ve always seen the value of education,\u201d Hartley says. \u201cAnd if we can turn out better teachers, better administrators, counselors, et cetera, I think it\u2019s a net benefit to the state of Connecticut and to the country.\u201d<\/p>\n The scholarship initiative \u2013 which seeks to keep a UConn education affordable and, through merit and need scholarships, attract more high-achieving students \u2013 also resonated with Hartley on another level.<\/p>\n Raised in a steel community outside Pittsburgh, Hartley had been aware even from a young age of how financial constraints could limit one\u2019s career options.<\/p>\n \u201cYou either worked in a steel mill all your life or, if you were an athlete, you\u2019d get a scholarship that would put you into a college. But not every student has the athletic ability to earn a scholarship,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I saw a great need for financial assistance way back then for students who couldn\u2019t afford to go to college.\u201d<\/p>\n With his $250,000 scholarship gift on behalf of the Neag School, Hartley is now looking forward to supporting students who need financial assistance at UConn. Plans are in the works for a special celebratory campus visit from Hartley and his wife this summer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re investing in people, and I think it has a great return,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Making the Pitch<\/strong><\/p>\n Money makes a big difference, Hartley likes to say \u2013 and he should know this better than most. In addition to having served as dean of UConn\u2019s School of Education, as vice president for finance and administration under three different UConn presidents, and for many years as a professor of educational leadership \u2013 including up until his retirement in 2003 \u2013 Hartley has gone down in University history as the UConn president who successfully fought for the 1995 passage of UConn 2000, the 10-year, $1 billion program to rebuild and renew the University\u2019s infrastructure across each of its campuses.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were times when I was apprehensive that the request was too much, when Connecticut had no tradition of supporting its state university,\u201d Hartley says.<\/p>\n Adding to the challenge of passing such a groundbreaking bill was the fact that Storrs had the least amount of political representation of any UConn campus. \u201cEven though it\u2019s the main campus, we only had one or two legislators,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, politically, you had to make sure you had something in the plan for every campus.\u201d<\/p>\n Hartley and his team campaigned heavily across Connecticut, meeting with legislators and alumni, explaining the benefits of the billion-dollar program to campuses statewide. In his arguments before the legislature, Hartley says it was important to show that Connecticut was, at the time, losing its best and brightest students. \u201cThey weren\u2019t coming to UConn \u2013 and where they were going to school was where they\u2019d end up living,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I had to make the pitch that if Connecticut was going to be great, we had to keep them here.\u201d<\/p>\n As luck would have it, the UConn women\u2019s basketball team won its first national championship that spring. Hartley recalls introducing legislators in Hartford to the two basketball teams\u2019 captains \u2013 Rebecca Lobo and Kevin Ollie. \u201cThey both spoke from the heart about how UConn badly needed new facilities [in order to recruit the best student-athletes],\u201d Hartley says. \u201cThat played a key role in starting to switch the political support.\u201d<\/p>\n Promises Kept<\/strong><\/p>\n Years later, the level of transformation the University has undergone since the passage of UConn 2000 is no surprise to the president emeritus.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking back at all the promises I made to the legislature when we were fighting for UConn 2000: that we\u2019d raise the SAT scores if they funded us, that the quality of applicants would be much greater, that the financial contributions to the University would be greater, that our partnerships with state industries and companies would be great, that it would lift the general quality of life in the state \u2013 if only they could see it as an investment and not an expense,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cI take pride in what we achieved,\u201d he adds. \u201cI had a wonderful team. Looking back, I would\u2019ve tried to assemble the same kind of team.\u201d He pauses, smiling. \u201cI can\u2019t think of anything major that I would\u2019ve done differently \u2013 maybe worn a tuxedo around campus instead of a warm-up suit.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/media.education.uconn.edu\/aurora\/neag\/2015\/06\/DSC_9514-400x267.jpg\")
![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/media.education.uconn.edu\/aurora\/neag\/2015\/08\/DSC_5051-400x267.jpg\")
![\"President](\"https:\/\/media.education.uconn.edu\/aurora\/neag\/2015\/06\/HarryHartley_1988-0010_neg6092_frame5-400x267.jpg\")