Getting to Know Incoming UConn Interim President Radenka Maric: ‘For Me, The Students Are Everything’
As UConn’s incoming interim president, Radenka Maric brings a background of talents and interests that are as multi-faceted as the University itself, but with the same cardinal commitment to place students at the center of its efforts.
Radenka Maric, at her lab at the Center for Clean Energy Engineering (C2E2). (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)
Maric is UConn’s vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and has been a faculty member and researcher since 2010 at the University, where she also is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor. She will serve as interim president starting Feb. 1 to succeed Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, who is leaving for private industry.
Maric’s accomplishments could fill many pages: She holds multiple patents, has been elected to prestigious professional organizations, published hundreds of scholarly works, received more than $40 million in research grants, and is fluent in four languages with a working knowledge of others.
But what has always been most important to her is the process of mentoring students and ensuring their wellbeing, helping them discover their academic passions and create professional and personal lives in which they, too, make their mark on the next generation as mentors.
