Connecticut State University System

At a Glance

KARL J. KRAPEK, Chairman of the Board

David G. Carter, Sr., Chancellor

Louise H. Feroe, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic & Student Affairs

Established – 1965, 1983

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 – 3,182

Recurring operating expenditures –

General Fund – $242 million

CSUS Operating Fund – $313 million

Value of Real Property– $1,175 million

Annualized number of students – 36,503

President, Central Connecticut State University – John W. Miller

President, Eastern Connecticut State University – Elsa M. Nunez

President, Southern Connecticut State University – Stanley F. Battle (interim)

President, Western Connecticut State University – James W. Schmotter

Mission

The four comprehensive universities of the Connecticut State University System (CSUS) provide affordable, accessible, high quality learning opportunities, offering baccalaureate, graduate and professional programs in approximately 160 subject areas.

Consistent with CSUS’s historical missions of teacher education and career advancement and cognizant of Connecticut’s workforce areas of high demand, Central Connecticut State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, Southern Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut State University provide extensive opportunities for advancing educational excellence, as well as a wide range of internships, community service and cultural engagement.

Important facts about CSUS include:

· With more than 36,000 students, CSUS is Connecticut’s largest university system.

· 93% of CSUS students are Connecticut residents.

· CSUS enrolls the largest share (41%) of all Connecticut residents who are pursuing a bachelor’s or graduate degree at all colleges, both public and private, in the state, according to the most recent data from the Department of Higher Education.

· 86% of CSUS graduates live and work in Connecticut after completing their degrees.

· 49% of students are first generation in their families to attend college

Improvements/Achievements 2009-10

This past academic/fiscal year was characterized by significant achievements in serving Connecticut citizens:

• Full-time undergraduate and graduate enrollment is at the highest level ever. Undergraduate enrollment increased for the seventh consecutive year in 2009-10, and graduate enrollment increased for the first time in the past six years. Total enrollment is 36,503, increasing by more than 8,000 since 1996.
• Reflecting a strong commitment to dramatically improve the ease of transfer from Connecticut’s community colleges to CSUS institutions, a new Dual Admission program began, which includes all 12 colleges and four CSUS universities. It includes a joint advising component to work with students who plan on transferring to a CSUS university after earning their associate’s degree. The number of students transferring from Connecticut Community Colleges has increased 51 percent since 2001. At seven of the 12 colleges in 2009-10, the number of transfer students matched or surpassed previous record levels.
• The CSUS Board of Trustees voted to strengthen academic admission standards, as early as 2015. The new standards address requirements in English, math, science, social studies, and world language, as well as the arts.
• More than 1,000 students originally attending out-of-state colleges and universities transferred to CSUS universities in fall 2009, and 83 percent were returning Connecticut residents, an increase from 76 percent the previous year.
• Slightly more than 75 percent of full-time students received some form of financial aid, and 71 percent of all financial aid awarded was need-based aid. Nearly 90 percent of all non-loan institutional aid awarded was need-based.
• There are over one thousand more undergraduate students of color enrolled in the fall of 2009, an increase of 23 percent since fall 2000. The gap in retention rates, comparing white and minority students who began as full-time freshmen, has dropped from seven percent to one percent over the past five years. The six-year graduation rate has increased for African-American and Latino students in each of the past two years.
• CSUS 2020, a long-term capital infrastructure investment plan for the CSUS, approved by the legislature and Governor, continued with initial design work underway on some first-year projects. The ten-year $950 million plan includes funds for code compliance, infrastructure improvements, mechanical and electrical upgrades, as well as new construction, consistent with the master plans at the four universities.
• Working collaboratively, CSUS obtained an almost unprecedented $1.9 million in federal appropriations for university programs, including nanotechnology, autism, nursing, college readiness and dual enrollment, to benefit students and the state.
• Western’s innovative collaboration between university faculty and teachers at Danbury and Bethel High Schools to improve core subject college readiness, Building a Bridge to Improve Student Success, continues to result in a reduction in the number of freshmen placing into remedial classes upon entering the university, as well as improved retention of those students from freshman to sophomore year. The Bridges program has been extended to include science, and middle school students. Similar programs are now underway at each of the CSUS universities, working with local school districts focusing on their particular needs related to college readiness.
• CSUS is working with the State Departments of Education and Higher Education as part of a coalition promoting the national KnowHow2Go program in Connecticut, aimed at increasing awareness and encouraging middle school and high school students to take the necessary steps to prepare for post-secondary education. Initiatives in 2009-10 include a collaborative effort with the Hartford Courant’s Newspapers in Education program which resulted in middle school teachers in more than 20 communities engaging in college readiness activities in their classrooms.
• Each of the universities has supported the transition to the classroom for men and women who served in the U.S. armed forces with the opening of specifically designated Veterans Centers on campus.
• CSUS is one of 20 university systems nationwide to participate in Access to Success, an unprecedented multi-year, multi-tier effort to increase the number of students entering and graduating college, with special focus on minority and low-income students, recognizing changing demographics and the increasing demands of global competition. The initiative was developed by the National Association of System Heads in partnership with the Education Trust.

· For the first time, Central, Eastern and Southern were ranked by U.S. News and World Report in the top 100 Regional Universities in the North.

· Eastern was recognized for the second year in a row as a “Great College to Work For” by the Chronicle of Higher Education (one of only 97 institutions in U.S.) and by The Princeton Review as one of the best colleges in the Northeast for the second consecutive issue of their Guide to Best Colleges.

· Eastern has established a new interdisciplinary major in Labor Relations and Human Resource Management shared by the Economics, Business, and Psychology departments.

• Southern received Board of Trustees approval to develop a Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders – the first of its kind among Connecticut schools. The Center will focus on three areas: 1) the training of current and future educators and professional staff in the best practices of teaching students with autism spectrum disorders, 2) practical autism research designed to benefit these students, and 3) direct service through such activities as evaluating children, conducting clinics and holding special events.
• The Board of Governors for Higher Education approved Accreditation of a Master of Arts in Teaching Program (leading to Certification in Secondary Education (6-12) with options in mathematics, Spanish, and biology) at Western, Licensure of a Bachelor of Science in Labor & Workplace Studies Degree Program at Eastern, Licensure & Accreditation of 6^th year Education Coach Certification Program at Southern, Licensure of a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theater at Western and Accreditation of a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism Degree Program at Central. In addition, the General Assembly approved statutory changes that would permit Southern and Western to move forward with a planned Ed.D. in nursing education, helping to address the state’s shortage in nursing educators.
• Southern's new Center for Excellence in Mathematics and Science aims to boost the number and quality of students pursuing careers within the mathematics and sciences orbit. The Center’s initiatives include the creation of a Pathways to Academic Excellence (PAcE) program, in which 26 outstanding high school and community college students wishing to pursue math, computer science, biology, chemistry, physics or earth science will receive full four-year scholarships to Southern.  The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $600,000 grant to fund the PAcE program. In addition, NSF has selected Southern as a pilot site for the Family Engineering Program, which will introduce parents and elementary school-aged children to the world of engineering. The center has also created the Southern Women in Mathematics and Science (SWIMS) program, designed to provide support for women interested in those fields.
• Southern’s Master of Fine Arts in creative writing program welcomed its inaugural class in fall 2009. The program, the only full-residence M.F.A. program in the state, prepares students for careers as writers, teachers, editors and professionals in the publishing world. With its main focus on the writing workshop and the creative thesis, the M.F.A. also requires students to study literature at the graduate level and provides opportunities for students to train for teaching collegiate-level writing.
• In the past year, the Collegiate Commission of Nursing Education renewed its accreditation of the nursing department at Western, and the department of music was similarly recognized by the National Association of Schools of Music. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business notified The Ancell School of Business that its application for eligibility had been accepted and The School of Professional Studies and the education department were granted accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the gold standard of education accreditation.
• Western was the focal point for a 20^th anniversary celebration of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, which was built in Danbury. The university hosted a family science fair, an educational panel for girls interested in science and technology, a discussion by corporate executives about the future of aerospace, teacher training based on Hubble discoveries, and an exclusive showing of the IMAX movie featuring the latest Hubble repair mission.
• The Board of Trustees of the CSUS, highlighting the exceptional scholarship and academic excellence of faculty at the four universities, awarded eight outstanding faculty members with the Trustees Research Award and Trustees Teaching Award. 
  
  

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 CSUS Office, 39 Woodland Street, Hartford, CT 06105.