Using the lessons of the past as a guide for today

Photo: Peter Morenus

The 125th anniversary exhibition is on display in the center gallery of the Wilbur Cross Building.

One hundred twenty-five years may seem like a long time, but in the lifespan of a great university, it is barely a beginning.

Here in our region, Yale dates its origins to 1701, Harvard to 1636, Brown to 1764, and Wesleyan to 1831.

When the institution that later became the University of Connecticut first opened its doors as the Storrs Agricultural School in 1881, those private institutions had been around for a generation or more.

Even among our counterpart New England flagship public institutions, UConn is a relative newcomer: Only the University of Rhode Island is younger than we are and by just seven years.

Still, a century and a quarter is time enough for some important things.

For the University of Connecticut, it has been time enough to earn designation as Connecticut’s land grant university and, later, as a sea grant and space grant university as well.

Time enough to grow from six young men in the entering Class of 1881 to 11,009 men and 12,176 women enrolled as of fall 2005.

Time enough to broaden its mission from an important but narrow focus on agriculture to a contemporary focus on several dozen disciplines.

In 125 years, 215,413 students have received degrees, assisted by many thousands of learned faculty and dedicated staff.

Every one of them benefited from their association with UConn.

Many of them — probably more than the number that realized the fact — contributed in equal if not greater measure to our progress.

A century and a quarter is long enough to establish a set of shared traditions, a common heritage, and a special role in the national and state community.

All of this gives us cause to pause, reflect and celebrate.

What better time than in this anniversary year to learn about the achievements of generations past—or to examine how this remote outpost of vocational training morphed into one of America’s most distinguished public universities?

The wonderful exhibits on display in Storrs and many of the articles in this issue of Traditions give us an opportunity to explore that story of transformation.

We can best honor an inspiring history, however, not by standing in awe of what went before but by using the lessons of decades past as guides for what our university can do now and in decades to come.

In a world characterized by increasingly rapid change, it is reassuring that our fundamental mission of teaching, research and service to the wider community remains constant.

The application of that mission, however, must keep pace with the needs of a new century, in terms of economy, technology, social structures and modes of artistic expression.

UConn’s past offers many lessons, but the greatest may be that an institution of higher learning can remain true to its identity while changing its focus to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

In honoring that achievement in years past, we set a standard for ourselves in the years yet to come.