On May 19, the University of Connecticut named Dr. Andrew Agwunobi as interim president, following the resignation of current president Thomas Katsouleas. Agwunobi, who is CEO of UConn Health, will assume his new duties on July 1 and will make history as both the first foreign-born educator and the first person of color to lead the school.
Agwunobi was born in Scotland, the son of a Nigerian surgeon and a Scottish nurse. He graduated from medical school at the University of Jos in Nigeria in 1989 and emigrated to the U.S. to complete his pediatric residency at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. He later earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Prior to joining the UConn staff in 2014, Agwunobi held chief executive positions at Grady Health System in Atlanta, South Fulton Hospital in East Point, Georgia, and Providence Healthcare in Spokane, Washington. He also served as secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, and was a managing director of Berkeley Research Group and chief operating officer of the St. Joseph Health System in California.
In this edition of Suite Talk, Business Journal Senior Enterprise Editor Phil Hall speaks with Agwunobi about his responsibilities as UConn”™s interim president.
What are your immediate priorities as interim president?
“Our most critical near-term priority is successfully and safely reopening at near-full capacity this coming fall. Much work has been done in this direction and the foundation is in place, but we still have many questions to answer and details to nail down.
“Our primary focus remains health and safety and the increasing number of people receiving the Covid vaccine gives us confidence that we as a society ”” and UConn as a campus community ”” have weathered the worst of the storm.
“Another priority is continuing to move the university”™s strategic plan forward. Working with the provost, the board of trustees, deans and other academic leaders, faculty and staff, administrative leadership, alumni, the UConn Foundation, students and the university”™s many other stakeholders to chart a course for the next five years is a critical role of leadership.
“Of course, our main function of delivering an affordable world-class education and student experience, which requires listening to and supporting faculty and students, is always an overriding priority.
“This also requires providing not just physical but also mental health services, ensuring the long-term environmental sustainability of our campuses, and creating a culture that promotes and honors diversity, equity and inclusion.”
What will UConn look like in the fall? Will the school be back to pre-pandemic in-class learning or do you plan for a hybrid experience?
“For the fall, we are hopeful that we will be able to more fully return to an in-person student experience. To that end, students registering will see that the majority of courses are listed as in-person, close to the same levels as fall 2019: 93% of undergraduate classes are listed as in-person, compared with 98% in fall 2019, and 86% of graduate classes are listed as in-person, compared with 90% in fall 2019.
“While we have entered the registration process with the goal of offering a more fully in-person academic experience next year than was possible this year, we will be flexible moving forward to support evolving academic needs in our schools and colleges.
“In support of this opening, UConn is planning to return its campus residential density much closer to normal levels, albeit with a small percentage of the beds set aside for quarantine and isolation. This ensures we have space to provide medical care for students who test positive and quarantine space for those who might have been exposed.
“Moreover, we will be closely monitoring guidance on social distancing, vaccination rates and other public health indicators over the next few months that could affect these levels of in-person experiences. If any of these indicators result in significant changes to our expected levels of in-person academics, we will share that update as soon as possible.”
What is on tap for UConn”™s sports teams? Are you expecting the normal resumption of training and games beginning in the fall?
“Our football and men”™s and women”™s basketball programs are able to begin team activities in June.
“Student athletes who are fully vaccinated will be able to participate in team workouts immediately upon arrival. Student-athletes who are not fully vaccinated will enter into a modified quarantine, which will allow for in-person interaction within small groups. Student-athletes in this modified quarantine will be required to test negative for Covid-19 multiple times prior to integration with larger groups.
“We are still competing in baseball and track and are planning for the fall of 2021 to be carried out in a more normal fashion.”
As interim president, what is the message that you want to give the UConn community as it undergoes another leadership transition?
“My main message is that UConn has been advancing from strength to strength since its founding 140 years ago, demonstrating that this amazing university transcends any one leadership transition.
“I would also like to reassure the faculty, the students, the students”™ families, the employees, the legislature and the many thousands of people who love and support UConn that UConn is stable, UConn is strong and UConn will continue to perform its wonderful work during this transition and beyond.
“This work ”” which includes the pursuit of academic excellence, research expansion and service to the citizens of our state ”” is an effort in which we all play an important role, and I want to take this opportunity to thank our faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, the business community, and other community members for their ongoing dedication to UConn”™s mission.”
Has the board of trustees set a timeline regarding when the next president will be named? And will you be part of that decision making process?
“No timeline has been set at this time. For now, we are focusing on all of the deliverables we mentioned earlier, starting with opening successfully and at near full capacity in the fall.”
