Hartford, CT 06105-2337

Average number of full-time employees – 2,883

Recurring operating expenses -

General Fund - $185 million

CSU Operating Fund - $238 million

Value of real property - $741 million

Annualized number of students – 34,847

Richard L. Judd, President - Central Connecticut State University

David G. Carter, President - Eastern Connecticut State University

J. Philip Smith, Interim President - Southern Connecticut State University

James R. Roach, President - Western Connecticut State University

Mission

The four comprehensive universities of the Connecticut State University (CSU) System -- Central Connecticut State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, Southern Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut State University -- are Connecticut's universities of choice for students of all ages, backgrounds, races and ethnicities. CSU provides affordable and high quality, active-learning opportunities that are geographically and technologically accessible. A CSU education leads to baccalaureate, graduate and professional degrees, including applied doctoral degree programs consistent with its historical missions of teacher education and career advancement. CSU graduates think critically, acquire enduring problem solving skills and meet outcome standards that embody the competencies necessary for success in the workplace and in life.

Improvements/Achievements 2002-2003

This past academic/fiscal year was characterized by significant changes in approach toward the goal of serving more effectively Connecticut’s various constituencies.

· In an effort to improve technology services and contain costs, the CSU Board of Trustees approved an Information Technology Strategic Plan for the Connecticut State University System. The plan is focused on the several major strategic goals, including faculty-student teaching and learning, enhanced security of information technology, improved network infrastructure, architecture, and management, and achieving efficiencies and cost savings.

· The magazine U.S. News & World Report, in its 2003 College Rankings, moved Eastern Connecticut State University to Tier III from Tier IV and recognized the quality of their students by designating the university as “very selective”.

· Three of the four CSU universities are in the process of constructing new residence halls funded through CHEFA bonding, with debt service paid by student fees, in order to house their growing enrollment.

· Full-time and FTE enrollment are at record levels; applications are up almost 30 percent since 1998, and more students are returning to school in their second year than had previously.

· Eastern Connecticut State University has received a $150,000 grant from the Davis Foundation to pursue Outcomes Assessment in the academic area.

· The Board of Governors for Higher Education has approved Western Connecticut State University’s Ed.D. program, which will begin in fall of 2003 with a minimum enrollment of 25.

· OnlineCSU’s fifth year was very successful: forty courses were offered in the fall 2002 semester, serving a total of 562 students; and forty-nine courses were offered in spring of 2003, with an enrollment of 783 students. OnlineCSU’s success is further demonstrated by the results of the OnlineCSU spring 2003 Student Satisfaction Survey, which indicates that 86.3 percent of respondents are either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with their online education experience, and 85.3 percent of respondents would recommend OnlineCSU to others.

· Southern Connecticut State University has introduced an accelerated program for non-nursing graduates that allows nursing students to complete their degrees quickly. Under the program, nursing majors can graduate one semester early (in December rather than May). This is accomplished by offering seniors the option of taking their fall classes in the summer, and all of their spring classes in the fall. Sixteen Southern students were able to complete their degrees in the fall, rather than wait to complete their studies this spring. All 16 are now working at various Connecticut hospitals, including Yale-New Haven, St. Francis in Hartford and Hartford Hospital.

· Princeton Review, the college guidebook publisher, will include Central Connecticut State University in its new, forthcoming publication, The Best Northeastern Colleges. Profiling 131 colleges and universities in the region, the guidebook is based on student opinion surveys, analysis of institutional data, and advice from the Review’s educational consultants. Each profile offers student opinion—and editorial commentary—about the institution’s academics, life on campus, and student characteristics. CCSU will be featured with nine other Connecticut institutions, including Yale, Wesleyan, Trinity, the University of Connecticut, Connecticut College, Fairfield University, Quinnipiac University, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and St. Joseph College.

· Central Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut State University were among nine colleges and universities selected by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education to receive grants for teacher professional development projects in high-need school districts. The DHE grants, which total $437,400, were awarded under the new Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program, which is part of Title II of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This program succeeds the higher education portion of the former Eisenhower Professional Development Grant Program, and places new emphasis on content-driven projects led by education, and arts and sciences college faculty working with high-need school districts.

Information Reported as Required by State Statute

It is the intellectual and moral responsibility and the policy of the Connecticut State University System to advance social justice and equity by exercising affirmative action to remove all discriminatory barriers to equal employment opportunity and upward mobility. Accordingly, through its affirmative action plans, the university system has undertaken programs to overcome the present effects of past practices, policies and barriers to equal employment opportunity, and to achieve the full and fair participation of all protected groups found to be underutilized or adversely impacted in its workforce.

For the most recent reporting period, all five of the system’s affirmative action plans were in compliance with the requirements of the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, pursuant to the Regulations for Affirmative Action by State Government, Sections 46a-68-31 to 46a-68-74.

The system’s Affirmative Action Office is located at the CSU System Office, 39 Woodland Street, Hartford, CT 06105.