A gathering of 50 BGS graduates, active and retired counselors and CCS staff met and mingled in the Grover Gallery in Hartford on September 26 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of UConn’s Bachelor of General Studies program. UConn Professor Emeritus Robinson Grover hosted the celebration in the spacious gallery that holds his nationally known photography collection.

Dean Krista K. Rodin welcomed the guests and expressed pride that UConn’s BGS degree was among the first of many multifaceted, multi-disciplinary degrees that began the growing trend of degrees designed for working adults.

John D. Petersen, Chancellor and Provost for University Affairs, extolled BGS graduates for their “commitment to their studies and to knowledge” and recognized the BGS program for playing a significant role in reversing Connecticut’s “brain drain” (a term coined to describe the trend of a state losing its best and brightest when students attend out-of-state colleges and consequently find employment outside of Connecticut).

BGS graduate Denise W. Merrill ’88 is serving her fourth term as State Representative, 54th House District, is Deputy Majority Leader and serves on the Appropriations and Education Committees. She called the BGS program “a very pioneering idea” when she started taking classes in 1984. Merrill still remembers her public speaking class, which was “incredibly scary but a great experience” and credits the wisdom and understanding of Tracie Borden, a counselor at the Waterbury campus, for helping her build a program around the credits she had earned at various institutions over the years. BGS counselors “just do God’s work as far as I’m concerned,” she said.

BGS graduate John B. Stewart, Jr. ’91 was the first African-American fire chief in New England, and a City of Hartford Council Member and Majority Leader from 1995-1999. As Hartford Fire Chief, he hired the first two females in a paid non-volunteer) fire department in New England, and recruited the first Hispanic firefighter.

Stewart briefly attended the UConn Agricultural School in 1948, and returned nearly four decades later as a BGS student. He praised the BGS program for giving him “the ability to use your lifelong background and bring it together.”

“UConn BGS got me started and that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “It’s the individuals who make this program, the staff, the counselors, and particularly the students. I want to thank everybody for the opportunity, especially Gretchen.” (Gretchen Craffey, a retired BGS counselor, who worked as his counselor at the Hartford campus).

“Gretchen, I love you - you made me,” he said to the stately woman beaming proudly at her former student, and the audience greeted his heartfelt emotion with a warm round of applause.

UConn launched the BGS program at its Stamford campus twenty-five years ago. It was 1977, the year moviegoers flocked to theaters to see Star Wars, Annie Hall, and Saturday Night Fever, “Roots” captivated one of the largest audiences in TV history, and thousands of mourners lined the streets of Memphis to pay their last respects to Elvis Presley.

The BGS program began with 27 students, and enrollments increased substantially each year. In 1981, the program expanded to all six campuses, and by 2002, enrollment had increased to more than 1000 students.

The accomplishments of BGS graduates are significant: thirty percent have continued their education and have been accepted at Yale, Princeton, University of California at Berkeley, UConn, Wesleyan, and other prestigious universities. BGS graduates have attended graduate programs in business administration, law, education, human services, ministry and dentistry. BGS graduates have become CEOs, business executives, attorneys, legislators, police chiefs, bankers, dentists, nurse practitioners, clergy, counselors, civic officials, faculty and even BGS counselors.

During the coming year, UConn’s Center for Continuing Studies will be hosting 25th Anniversary Celebrations at all six campuses to celebrate the success of the program and its 3700 graduates. Upcoming celebrations will be held at Torrington on October 10, Stamford on November 7, Storrs on February 27, 2003, Waterbury on March 20, 2003, and Avery Point on April 10, 2003.