$1.5B University of Connecticut expansion to create 30k construction jobs

Updated Jun 13, 2013

University of Connecticut sealLawmakers in Connecticut have approved a $1.5 billion expansion of the University of Connecticut that will create 30,000 construction jobs, according to the Associated Press.

Dubbed “Next Generation Connecticut” the plan and praised by UConn President Susan Herbst as “Nothing short of transformational,” the project will build new classrooms, labs and housing.

Construction will take place not only at the school’s main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, but also at satellite campuses in Stanford and Avery point as well as in the form of the relocation of the West Hartford satellite campus to downtown Hartford.

The expansion will allow the university increase enrollment by 30 percent. To meet the potential student demand, UConn plans to add 259 faculty positions.

Opponents chief concern was cost, but Herbst lauded the lawmakers ambition to go against the grain in comparison to other states. ‘‘In an era of lagging state support for public higher education throughout the nation, Connecticut is going in the opposite direction by making extraordinary investments in its research university,’’ she said in a statement.