🔒UHart President Woodward eyes $90M campus face-lift to boost university’s profile

The University of Hartford is planning to build a new $58-million, 62,000-square-foot academic building that will provide a state-of-the-art facility for two of the private college’s most in-demand and growing majors: engineering and nursing.

But beyond the practicality of space dedicated to popular programs, this and other infrastructure projects UHart has planned, or recently completed, represent President Gregory Wooward’s vision to increase the school’s prestige to a level he thinks it deserves.

UHart alumni, Woodward said, are everywhere, including in leadership positions at some of the country’s largest companies, like Cigna (CEO David Cordani got his MBA there in 1994), Travelers and others; not to mention nationally known graduates of the Hartt School for performing arts. And yet, UHart doesn’t seem to get much recognition.

Wooward, who took over as the college’s president in 2017, is trying to change that, while also putting his stamp on the 6,800-student university.

“It’s so funny to me that our schools and colleges and the alums from those schools actually have independently higher reputations than the University as a whole,” Woodward said.

The new academic building is just a piece of Woodward’s “Vision 2019” plan, which also includes a proposed $30-million wellness and recreation center, $10 million in classroom and residence-hall upgrades, as well as the launch of new academic programs. All in, the various projects should amount to a $90 million investment, Woodward said.

“What can we do to raise the physical reality of our school, raise the programmatic mix of our school, and raise the regional national profile?” Woodward asked.

University officials are working on a tight timeline for the new academic building, which will house colleges for engineering, technology, and architecture and education, nursing and health professions, said UHart Vice President for Finance and Operations Laura Whitney.

The school is currently working with Standard & Poor’s to get a bond rating so it can finance $50 million to pay for most of the construction, Whitney said. The bonds could go to market in early November. After that, construction of the yet-to-be-named academic building must begin by next spring, so the university can open it for the 2021 fall semester. That’s when the school’s first cohort of nursing students — a bachelor’s degree program created last fall — will take interactive courses offered in the new building.

“Everyone’s a little nervous about the timeline,” Whitney said. “But why drag it out when you can get it done?”

Renderings show a sleek looking rectangular structure built into a small hill in the center of an underutilized and expansive academic quad. It has two floors on one end, and three stories on the other.

The technology and equipment proposed for inside the building, which includes simulation, robotics, 3D-printing and cybersecurity labs, among others, as well as R&D space, are the real selling point, said Woodward, who thinks the quality of UHart’s buildings and equipment have fallen behind that of its instructors. The new equipment will service areas of study that are poised for growth.

“This is a little bit of catching up in some areas,” Woodward said of building up resources for engineering and health-science majors. “Especially our health professions, we’re kind of going all-in on that.”

Meeting demand

As Connecticut’s population shrinks and colleges — including UHart — face the threat and reality of declining enrollments, it’s crucial for schools to be able to offer prospective students majors in fields that are hiring, said Jennifer Widness, president of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC).

That’s precisely why UHart, which has seen its overall student enrollment shrink by 2 percent since 2013, is investing in facilities to support its nursing and engineering majors.

Both are expected to experience double-digit growth over the next five years. The school also plans to add new programs like occupational therapy and exercise science.

A 2017 analysis by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. found Connecticut’s ratio of open jobs in health care and people qualified to fill those positions is nearly 13:1. For engineering, the ratio is a little over 3:1, the study found.

“I think in general higher education needs to pick where it’s going to make critical investments right now,” Widness said. “As demographic changes are coming to Connecticut, competition for students is going to increase.”

UHart isn’t the only local university adding facilities and programs that cater to in-demand careers.

Within the last year, the University of St. Joseph partnered with Sacred Heart to offer a pharmacy doctoral program; Central Connecticut State University opened a new nursing-program lab; and UConn announced creation of a cybersecurity lab.

“Colleges understand that competition is going to grow, so they have to make smart investments now so that they can attract students, and make sure that they’re preparing them for the jobs that exist,” Widness said.

At UHart, the new nursing and engineering building is just the latest initiative to that end.

Over the summer, the university opened its $5-million Barney School of Business expansion, which renovated 1,300 square feet and added 10,000 square feet in the school’s Auerbach Hall. It has high-tech features like an analytics lab that simulates the stock market, complete with 12 Bloomberg terminals.

Woodward, the UHart president, said he wants to go beyond academics in his effort to revamp the university’s campus, though. The next project he has in mind is a $30-million student wellness center, which would include space for physical workouts, and also nutrition information and counseling, he said. He also plans to put in an additional $10 million to fix up residence halls — adding new kitchens, basements, laundry rooms and bathrooms, he said.

But while Woodward has a lot of big ideas, he said the ultimate goal is to train students for jobs needed in today’s workforce.

“We looked very carefully at the Hartford area’s and the Northeast’s needs in the workforce,” Woodward said. “We decided to respond to it, both because it’s good business sense, and because it’s the right thing to do.”