Connecticut State University System

At a Glance

WILLIAM J. CIBES, Jr., Chancellor

Established - 1965

Statutory authority – CGS Sec. 10a-87 through 10a-101, inclusive

System office - 39 Woodland Street, Hartford, CT 06105-2337

Average number of full-time employees – 3,018

Recurring operating expenditures -

General Fund - $197 million

CSU Operating Fund - $223 million

Value of real property - $918 million

Annualized number of students – 34,508

John W. Miller, President - Central Connecticut State University

David G. Carter, President - Eastern Connecticut State University

Cheryl J. Norton, President - Southern Connecticut State University

James W. Schmotter, President - Western Connecticut State University

Mission

The four comprehensive universities of the 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 consistent with CSU’s historical missions of teacher education and career advancement, including applied doctoral degree programs in education. 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 2004-05

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

· Full-time and FTE enrollment are at record levels; applications are up over 19% since 2000, and the freshman to sophomore retention rate continues to increase.

· Eastern, Southern and Western opened new residence halls in Fall 2004 to house their growing enrollment. Two additional residence halls are expected to open at Eastern in Fall 2005.

· A new Course Management System was purchased through a consortial arrangement by CSU, CTDLC, the Community-Technical Colleges, and the University of Connecticut, at substantial savings. The system will be piloted at Central in Fall 2005 and will be rolled out at the other three universities in FY2006.

· CSU secured $2 million in federal funding for projects throughout the system including a system-wide initiative to address the teacher shortage and for other specific projects. A collaborative effort to expand access to the preparation of nursing faculty through MSN in Education programs at CSU received combined state funding of $250,000 in grants (including $75,000 in FY06 dollars) for the nursing programs at Southern and Western from CHEFA, DHE, and the Office of Workforce Competitiveness. In addition, St. Paul Travelers provided a grant of $50,000 to enhance development programs at the universities.

· Princeton Review, the college guidebook publisher, selected Central as one of the Best Northeastern Colleges.

· Economic impact studies revealed that Central has a major and direct economic impact of more than $350 million annually on the state, providing compelling evidence of the extraordinary “return” achieved by investing in higher education.

· In 2004-05, Central’s faculty was awarded $2.5 million in grants to support scholarly research-funds essential to ensuring classroom vitality and a curriculum geared to best practices.

· The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching awarded Dr. Rhona Free, Professor of Economics at Eastern, the prestigious 2004 U.S. Professor of the Year Award.

· Eastern’s ConnCap Program was the recipient of one of seventeen National Coming Up Taller Awards, presented by First Lady Laura Bush in Washington, D.C.

· Eastern’s Institute for Sustainable Energy received the EPA’s Merit Award recognizing outstanding environmental advocates who have made significant contributions toward preserving and protecting our natural resources.

· At Southern, a newly renovated lab for the nursing program was completed with federal funding secured by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. The new building will enhance the university’s efforts to alleviate the shortage of nurses in Connecticut.

· Reaching out to its neighbors, Southern established a transition to work program for older special education students from Hamden schools and will soon be expanding it to other municipalities.

· Southern’s School of Education received a full, five-year accreditation by The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The NCATE accreditation comes on the heels of state accreditation, granted in September 2004 by the state Board of Education.

· In Fall 2005, Western will open a new $42 million science facility on the Midtown Campus and begin construction of a new Student Center on the Westside Campus.

· To address the critical nursing shortage and to promote careers in nursing, Western has entered into a Nursing Pathways Collaborative in the Waterbury region with Naugatuck Valley Community College and the University of Connecticut to provide seamless advancement of degree programs from RN to BSN to MSN. This is in addition to the Western and Southern collaboration on an MSN in Education mentioned above.

· Western and the Danbury and Bethel Public School Districts have established the Bridge Program to improve proficiency in English and mathematics to increase college readiness in these areas.

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.