This Saturday, we will welcome almost 700 prospective students and their parents to Accepted Students Day, a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase our modern campus and our outstanding range of academic offerings and student support services. Set against the backdrop of the state’s budget woes and the likelihood of deeper funding cuts to the Connecticut State Colleges and University System, a successful Accepted Students Day has never been more critical to the continued fiscal health of our university. With applications running 8 % ahead of last year and confirmations up by 47 % over the same time period, it is essential that we turn this peaked interest into significant yield.
On Tuesday, the CSCU Board of Regents approved a recommended 5 percent, or $480, tuition increase for the forthcoming academic year – a move that is expected to offset about half the system’s projected $37.3 million deficit for the next year. But unless we and our sister institutions can achieve a flat enrollment or better, the deficit will continue to balloon. And this does not take into account the outcome of union contract negotiations or further state budget cuts if revenue forecasts deteriorate.
Spending controls are already being implemented system wide. Last week, CSCU President Mark Ojakian announced a temporary hiring freeze across all 17 campuses and the System Office for at least the remainder of the fiscal year.
President Ojakian said that these measures “are necessary given our projected shortfall for the current fiscal year and the financial pressures being exerted on all CSCU institutions. We know it is not optimal and only intend to implement these procedures for the short-term.”
At Southern, we continue to plan the best we can for a variety of contingencies, and I will update you when the situation becomes clearer and we have hard numbers with which to work. I cannot overemphasize the importance of good budgetary planning, and I am confident that we will develop strategies similar to those that served us well during previous periods of fiscal challenge.
In the interim, we continue to concentrate on enhancing our own resources – through private giving, which is already on a record pace this year, and enrollment. As I noted above, applications are trending well, due in part to our recent adoption of the Common App, but also due to innovative strategies by our enrollment management team and the introduction of new and compelling ways to market Southern through the use of video and social media.
Accepted Students Day, which this year features expanded components such as mini classroom experiences, promises to be a celebratory occasion and a springboard for good things to come. I thank our admissions and student affairs teams, along with the faculty, administrators and staff from various departments who have worked so hard to ensure that our campus looks its best and that our guests feel welcomed and inspired to learn more about all that a Southern education has to offer.
A TIME FOR TOLERANCE
The recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium, and Lahore, Pakistan, were another stark reminder of the continued acts of senseless violence that are scarring our world. While we are thankful that no Southern students, faculty or staff were in either of these cities at the time of the attacks, we reach out as a community to embrace the relatives and friends of the deceased and injured.
Let us also be spurred to give renewed energy to the promotion of the values of peace, tolerance and understanding, both within our own community and beyond. As a public university, Southern is an institution that values diversity in all its forms. And as a result, we provide a welcoming forum to learn and grow from each other’s viewpoints, backgrounds and experiences.
In difficult times, it is essential that we remain a community that supports a climate of respect and dignity for all. As we know all too well, emotions are raw and fears are heightened when atrocities occur on a global scale. But we must remember that the evil actions of groups of radicals should not serve as an excuse to stereotype and offend individuals who are our classmates, our colleagues, our friends and neighbors.
We should carry these thoughts forward as we strive to make a better world in the months and years ahead. And let us continue to keep those who are suffering in our thoughts and prayers.
THE FUTURE OF BANNER
As you know, Banner is the major enterprise software system (ERP) used at Southern and throughout the CSCU system to run business and student support functions. It includes everything from registration to financial aid and financial systems.
Chief Information Officer Robert Rennie reports that Ellucian (the company that owns Banner), the BOR, and the universities have been working together to prepare for the future of Banner. The current system (Banner 8) will need to be replaced as it is quickly approaching its end of life.
Rob says that Banner 9, built on Ellucian’s new XE architecture, “will provide a tremendously better user experience as well as greater functionality and improved price performance. This upgrade will represent a significant move forward in our business processes, the availability of useful data, and the ways in which we interact with the system.”
All members of the campus community are invited to participate in an open forum to hear from Ellucian, the BOR, and our information technology staff and to ask questions about the future of Banner.
There will be two sessions on Monday, April 11. The first will be from 10 a.m. to noon, and the second from 2 to 4 p.m. – both in the Adanti Student Center Theater. Please take the opportunity to attend and learn more about this important process.
HEADING ACROSS THE POND
Our fledgling partnership with Liverpool John Moores University is beginning to flourish, with several student exchanges, joint faculty research and video conferenced class sessions. Eight Southern students will be studying in Liverpool in the fall, and up to 10 of their counterparts will be joining us here next semester. Our first joint master’s program, in coastal resilience, is in the advanced planning stages.
Next week, nine students will be the first such group from Southern to visit LJMU when they embark for a nine-day trip on April 3. Led by Lee deLisle, Professor in Recreation, Tourism and Sport Management, they will attend presentations on campus as well as visit museums and other points of interest in this vibrant city.
The group includes students from Tourism, Sport Management, Recreation Therapy, Community & Youth Development, Communications, Liberal Studies and one Southern alumnus who is a huge Beatles fan! You can follow their progress through a daily blog at: http://news.southernct.edu/blogs/
ENDOWED CHAIR
A proud moment for the university will occur April 18 when Ruth Eren, director of our Center of Excellence on Autism Spectrum Disorders, will be installed as the first endowed chair in Southern’s 122-year history.
Ruth, along with the late former interim dean of the School of Education James Granfield, co-created the Center in 2010 to provide the state with a distinctive resource to improve the experiences of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
She has spent many years consulting with public schools in Connecticut on program development for children with ASD and has served several state committees related to this topic, including Connecticut’s Task Force for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Ruth is a former special education teacher and administrator and currently serves as chair of our Special Education and Reading Department.
Dr. Louise Spear-Swerling, who chaired a national search for the Goodwin Endowed Chair in Special Education, noted that Ruth “combines an exceptional level of applied expertise with strong leadership skills and a deep personal commitment to helping this population of students and their families.”
The endowed chair is funded through a gift left by the late Dorothy Weisbauer Goodwin, who graduated from Southern in 1939, when we were still the New Haven State Teachers College. Upon her death in 2009 at the age of 91, $1 million of the $1.2 million gift to the SCSU Foundation was earmarked for an endowed chair.
Ruth plans to use the endowment “to support more SCSU student engagement in the Center and its activities, bring outstanding leaders in the field of education regarding ASD to our campus to share their knowledge with our students and community, and support efforts to increase our visibility and influence at state, national and international conferences.”
Most important, she says, “the endowed chair will allow SCSU and the Center to enhance the lives of individuals with ASD by giving their teachers, related service providers and families, the evidenced-based tools that will help them all to achieve the goal of successful participation in society as adults.”
This appointment will enhance the reputation and prestige of the Center and the university as a whole. Congratulations to Dr. Eren, and to the search committee for having selected such a worthy candidate.
BUSINESS MATTERS
As it continues its progress toward AACSB accreditation, our School of Business is becoming a fertile ground for new and innovative programming.
As I have mentioned in previous blog entries, our newly approved undergraduate Utilities Management program has been hailed as a model for responding to an industry’s needs. With an estimated third of the workforce at the region’s utility companies eligible to retire, this unique collaboration between Southern and Gateway Community College will help these companies with succession planning and leadership development.
In another development, budding entrepreneurs at Southern now can receive a taste of what it’s like to start a small business in the real world, thanks to their participation in a statewide, interdisciplinary course offered this semester called “New Venture Challenge.” Southern participants joined with 100 students from institutions statewide on teams that developed hypothetical businesses centered on student products and services, pitching their work to judges and investors.
“The New Venture Challenge course was tremendously successful in giving students a chance to develop the skills they will need if they opt to start their own businesses,” reports Dan Mabesoone, assistant professor of management/MIS. “The level of enthusiasm sparked by the course – especially during the Launch Weekend – was incredible. You could see the passion that these students have toward being entrepreneurs.”
Dan noted that the additional $230 per student fee for the course was covered by a generous donation from Richard C. Meisenheimer, ’76, an area businessman who is president of the Meisenheimer Foundation and a member of the school’s Business Advisory Council – and has six family members who are graduates of Southern.
CHAMBRELLO CHALLENGE
A fellow Business Advisory Council member, Michael Chambrello, ’79, also is supporting the Business School through the Chambrello Challenge — for every dollar you give, up to $10,000, that amount immediately will be doubled.
Michael currently serves as CEO of North America Lottery for IGT, one of the world’s top end-to-end gaming companies and credits Southern with giving him a real-world foundation, pushing him to find his direction as an exceptional and hard-working business professional after graduating with a degree in economics
As an avid supporter of his alma mater, Michael serves as the treasurer of the SCSU Foundation Board of Directors, as well as Chair of the Finance Committee and member of both the Executive and Governance Committees.
You can take up the Chambrello Challenge at: https://chambrellochallenge.southernct.edu/gurl.html?SessionGuid=0cda5c38-a00d-428a-ad11-1a5c32076dac
STUFF A SHUTTLE
An excellent community service event takes place this Friday (April 1) when Zeta Delta Epsilon, the Disability Resource Center, First Student Transit Transportation and University Police will team up to host the 4th Annual Stuff a Shuttle. The shuttle will be parked in front of the Lyman Center from 8 a.m. to noon.
Please gather all your slightly worn clothing, jackets, shoes and similar items, along with non-perishable food and new toiletries to support our neighbors at St. Luke’s Church in New Haven. If you have food items and need to drop them off before Friday, please contact Vinnie Ferrie at ferriev1@southernct.edu. Last year the Southern community filled a shuttle for the same recipients, and I hope that we will do so again to support this worthy cause.
RESPONSIBLE EMPLOYEES
I mentioned last month that mandatory online training soon would be available for all Southern employees regarding sexual misconduct and the impact of such actions.
This “responsible employee” training course will provide a comprehensive overview of important issues related to sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, and sexual harassment. It also will provide information and access to University policies and reporting protocols, resources available on campus, and information on how to respond if you receive a report of an allegation of sexual misconduct.
All employees are required to complete this on-line training by May 1, 2016. Instructions on how to access the course are noted here:
- Go to: www.everfi.com/register and click to Register
- Tab should be highlighted on student/learner
- Enter the Registration Code: b2637f20 and click “Next” to create your EverFi Account.
In addition, employees are invited to attend one of two optional on-campus workshops that will provide additional information on how to navigate a disclosure or report of sexual misconduct in a sensitive and supportive way, while remaining compliant with the BOR policy. These workshops are scheduled for April 12, in Adanti Student Center 201 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. and May 2, in Adanti Student Center 301, from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
I thank you in advance for your cooperation in helping to enhance a key element of campus health and safety
NOTABLE EVENTS
As we move into the heart of the semester, the campus is alive with an eclectic range of events, from arts performances to public lectures and scholarly presentations. I will share a selection with you here, but please check the University online calendar: http://calendar.southernct.edu/ for more highlights.
Next week features two faculty music recitals sponsored by the Stuzman Family Foundation: Monday with Jonathan Irving (piano) and Kim Collins (flute) and Wednesday with Olav van Hezewijk (oboe) and Eric Trudel (piano). Both recitals are at 7:30 p.m. in the Garner Recital Hall (Engleman C112).
Nationally known media critic Anita Sarkeesian will be the keynote speaker for the 2016 SCSU Women’s Studies Conference, “Women, Community, Technology,” on April 16 at 5:30 p.m. in the Lyman Center.
Ms. Sarkeesian is the creator of “Feminist Frequency,” a video web-series that explores the representations of women in pop culture narratives. Her work focuses on exposing and deconstructing the sexist stereotypes and patterns in popular culture and highlighting issues surrounding the targeted harassment of women in online and gaming spaces.
In 2013, Newsweek magazine and The Daily Beast named Sarkeesian as one of their “125 Women of Impact.” In 2015, she was chosen as one of the Time 100, Time Magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
On Wednesday, April 20, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., in the Adanti Student Center Theater, the World Languages & Literatures Department presents “Literature Across Disciplines, Gabriel García Márquez II: An Interdisciplinary & Transcultural Conference.” Keynote speakers will be Gene H. Bell-Villada and Fan Ye; the conference will also feature presentations by Southern’s own David Pettigrew, Carlos Torre, Patricia Olney, Luisa Piemontese, Maria Diamantis, and Ruben Pelayo, with Rafael Hernandez and Resha Cardone moderating. The conference is free and open to the public. Contact Ruben Pelayo for more information at pelayor1@southernct.edu.
Also on April 20, a 25th-year anniversary gala celebration of the SCSU Program in Salamanca, Spain, will be held from 6:30-10:30 p.m. in the Adanti Student Center Ballroom. The event includes dinner and entertainment to celebrate this study abroad program’s quarter-century milestone and also will raise funds for a scholarship program to assist future study abroad students in Spain. Tickets are $60 per person and $20 for current SCSU students. The event is sponsored by the World Languages and Literatures Department, the Office of International Education, and the Dean’s Office in the School of Arts & Sciences. For more information, please contact Carlos Arboleda at arboledac1@southernct.edu. Tickets may be purchased at https://southernct.ejoinme.org/MyPages/SalamancaGala/tabid/735300/Default.aspx
The second annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference is an inclusive event giving SCSU undergraduate students a unique, local opportunity to gain experience presenting scholarly papers, posters, art exhibitions, and live performances. It is open to all undergraduates and will take place on Saturday, April 23, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Adanti Student Center. For more information, please contact Christine Broadbridge at (203) 392-6461
The 7th annual Latino & Native American Film Festival (April 22, 27, 28, 29) once again will showcase groundbreaking feature films, documentaries, shorts, animations, and other artistic manifestations by or about Latinos and Native Americans. This festival has helped familiarize Southern’s, the New Haven Public Schools’ (NHPS), and Greater New Haven’s diverse communities with excellent artistic and entertainment film projects being created by contemporary Latino and Native American filmmakers. By bringing NHPS students to our campus, as well as taking selected films, Southern students, and filmmakers to the public schools, festival organizers successfully have used the film festival as a tool for the recruitment and retention of Latino and Native American students who wish to further their education at the university level. The festival is scheduled to open on 22 April (Earth Day) with a program dedicated to Puerto Rico. The festival is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Carlos Torre at (203) 668-9940.
Southern will host the 12th Annual Conference of The International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place on April 29 and 30 and May 1. The conference theme is “Mythical Places/Legendary Spaces” — Myths and legends play a vital role in explaining how human beings understand their world. Many myths and legends are linked to a specific places or environments. The place can be an ordinary spot that became associated with an important event, or it can be created as an ideal or to serve as a critique for an existing society. The conference will explore aspects of mythical or legendary places/spaces. Sessions will take place at Southern on the Green and in the Academic Science and Laboratory Building. For more information, please contact Troy Paddock at PaddockT1@SouthernCT.edu or (203) 392-5639.
Finally, on Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m., the university will host a recital by the exceptional Armenian concert pianist Kariné Poghosyan in the Charles Garner Recital Hall (Engleman C112). Ms. Poghosyan is a very fine New York City-based pianist who made her orchestral debut at 14 playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1, and her solo Carnegie Hall debut at 23, and has since gone on to win numerous awards as well as perform in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls. Last year she released a solo CD of piano works by Khachaturian that was well received. She has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras including the New West Symphony, Park Avenue Chamber Symphony Orchestra, Musica Bella Symphony Orchestra, the CSUN Symphony, and the Kokolo Ensemble, and the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra, whose music director Dr. Choe described Ms. Poghosyan as “an audience magnet” and “a born performer.”