NEWS
from
Central Connecticut State University
Honored as a "Leadership Institution" by the
Association of American Colleges & Universities
Media contact:
Bart Fisher,
Associate
Director of
Marketing and Communications
(860) 832-1624;
Fisherb@ccsu.edu
CCSU to graduate more than 1,800
at Hartford’s XL Center, May 17
NEW
BRITAIN – May 7, 2008 - The 2008 Commencement
Exercises of Central Connecticut State
University will take place on Saturday, May 17
at 10:30 a.m. in the XL Center (formerly
Hartford Civic Center). “A total of 1,822
students are eligible to participate in this
year’s commencement exercises,” said Dr. Carl R.
Lovitt, Provost and Vice President for Academic
Affairs. “The degree recipients have come from
nearly every town and city in Connecticut, 18
other states as well as from China, India,
Poland and 31 other nations. A total of 1,334
undergraduates will be joined by 488 students
who are eligible for graduate degrees.
Governor M. Jodi Rell will deliver the
Commencement Address. She is the 87th
governor of the state and the first Republican
woman to hold the office. Governor Rell has
held elective office in the state for more than
20 years, including more than nine years as
lieutenant governor. Before that she served
Brookfield in the state House of Representatives
and held several leadership posts including
Deputy House Minority Leader and Assistant House
Minority Leader.
As the leader of “Team Connecticut” she played a
major role in helping to preserve 31,000 jobs by
successfully lobbying to keep the Groton/New
London Submarine Base from closing. She is also
an outspoken advocate of stem cell research and
proposed legislation to fund research in the
promising area here in the state.
Rell has also sanctioned major investments and
improvements in public transportation, hoping to
impact the state’s serious transportation
problems through her historic investments in
railways, busways, highways and ports. One
such initiative is a proposed busway system that
would link downtown Hartford with downtown New
Britain with at least one stop very near the
Central Connecticut State University campus.
Governor Rell has also made unprecedented
investments – more than any other Connecticut
governor – in innovative early childhood
programs and education aid (ECS) for the state’s
cities and towns. Born in Norfolk, VA, she
attended Old Dominion University and Western
Connecticut State University.
Founded in 1849 as the New Britain Normal School,
CCSU is Connecticut’s oldest publicly
supported institution of higher education.
The Association of American Colleges &
Universities has recognized Central Connecticut
State University’s “visionary innovations in
undergraduate education,” and selected the
University as one of only 16 “Leadership
Institutions” in the nation—and the only one in
Connecticut.
Princeton Review named CCSU one of “The Best
Northeastern Colleges” and one of “America's
Best Value Colleges,” while the college guide
book, Great Colleges for the Real World: Get
in, Get out, Get a Job, designated CCSU as
one of the “best 200
colleges” in the nation.
Tickets are not required for guest admission to
Commencement
ceremonies. Persons with physical disabilities
should identify themselves to one of the XL
Center ushers for assistance. A sign
language interpreter will be present at the
ceremony. Doors to the XL Center open at 9:30
a.m.
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