{"id":99408,"date":"2014-12-22T11:09:29","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T16:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=99408"},"modified":"2015-12-22T12:21:44","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T17:21:44","slug":"a-dynamic-community-uconn-in-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/12\/a-dynamic-community-uconn-in-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dynamic Community: UConn in 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the year 2014 winds down, UConn Today takes a look at some highlights of the past 12 months. A series of posts leading up to the new year will feature various aspects of University life. Today, a look at UConn\u2019s dynamic community.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A candlelight Convocation ceremony was held for the first time on the Student Union Mall on Aug. 22. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The year began with a record number of applications<\/a> received in January, that translated a few months later to an incoming class of nearly 6,000 that set new records<\/a> as the most diverse and high-achieving freshman class to date.<\/p>\n

\"Mascot<\/a><\/div>\n

Early in the spring semester, Jonathan XIV received a warm welcome to the UConn community as he made his debut on campus<\/a>, and he was joined with almost as much fanfare in the fall by his new counterpart, the redesigned Husky mascot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"academic-vision-story\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The academic year 2013-14 wrapped up in May when 5,400 well-educated, well-traveled, and socially conscious students in the \u2018championship caliber\u2019 Class of 2014<\/a> graduated with their bachelor\u2019s degrees. In late August, the Class of 2018 began their UConn journey<\/a> with a spectacular Convocation ceremony by candlelight on the Student Union Mall.<\/p>\n

The University retained its No. 19 spot<\/a> in the U.S. News & World Report<\/em> ranking of top public universities, while adopting an ambitious new Academic Vision<\/a> designed to further elevate UConn\u2019s stature.<\/p>\n

If an institution is known by the company it keeps, UConn\u2019s visitors this year are a testament to the University\u2019s growing reputation. The University community welcomed leading personalities from a range of different walks of public life.<\/p>\n

\"Hillary<\/a>
Hillary Clinton answers questions from President Susan Herbst at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on April 23. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton<\/a> recognized UConn as a \u2018great University,\u2019 while calling on students to be \u2018the participation generation.\u2019 UConn alum and NASA astronaut, who said he probably has \u201cthe best job on \u2013 and off \u2013 the planet,\u201d connected with his alma mater from space when he gave a Commencement address from the International Space Station<\/a>. And TV late night show host Jay Leno test drove a race car designed by UConn engineering students<\/a> before his performance at Family Weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Rick<\/a>
Rick Mastracchio ’82 (ENG) brought a new perspective to his Commencement speech, which he delivered from the International Space Station. (Photo courtesy of NASA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Comedian<\/a>
Comedian Jay Leno cruises around campus in a student-built car while visiting UConn during Family Weekend. (Bret Eckhardt\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A look at UConn\u2019s evolving community during 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":95988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2227,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-99408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 00:56:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99408"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107599,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99408\/revisions\/107599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/95988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99408"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=99408"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=99408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}