GRANT FROM AMERICAN SAVINGS FOUNDATION

ESTABLISHES CCSU’S FOURTH ENDOWED CHAIR

New Britain--President Richard L. Judd today announced that Central Connecticut State University has received a grant of $1 million from the American Savings Foundation to establish an endowed chair in banking and finance at the University.  This grant joins one of the community’s largest philanthropic resources with Central Connecticut State University in a pioneering program designed to support the state’s banking and financial services industry, while creating significant educational opportunities for CCSU students.

The grant leading to the creation of The American Savings Foundation Endowed Chair of Banking and Finance at CCSU permanently recognizes American Savings Bank’s 140-year history of leadership in banking, finance, and financial services and its positive contribution to the economic development of the region and the state.

In announcing the grant, Dr. Judd said that the University will use it to establish an Institute for Banking and Finance as an outreach arm of the Endowed Chair.  “This is an exciting initiative,” Judd noted, “and it will be a tremendous benefit for the state, the community, the Connecticut banking industry, and the students at CCSU.  On behalf of the University, I am deeply grateful to the American Savings Foundation for its farsighted generosity.”

Robert Kenney, chairman and CEO of American Savings Bank and chairman of the American Savings Foundation, noted that the grant is “one more expression of the Foundation’s commitment to the people of Connecticut.   Education is one of the Foundation’s key priority areas.  We are pleased this grant will significantly enhance the world-class educational mission of Central Connecticut State University, and continue the Foundation’s heritage of service to the community.”

The American Savings Foundation was established by New Britain-based American Savings Bank in 1995.  With American Savings’ conversion to a publicly held company in 1999, the bank expanded its commitment to the community by contributing over two million shares of the new stock to the Foundation.  With assets now totaling more than $70 million, American Savings Foundation is a permanent community resource committed to improving the quality of life for all residents in the communities served by American Savings Bank.

CCSU’s School of Business will serve as the home of the American Savings Foundation Endowed Chair of Banking and Finance and will coordinate the activities of the Institute for Banking and Finance.  Patricia Root, Interim Dean of the School of Business, explained that the Institute will offer an “extensive array of educational opportunities for CCSU faculty and students. Just as significant, the results of the research conducted at the Institute will produce information that can have an impact on the important decisions that we all face: decisions, for example, about buying or selling a home, purchasing an auto, or managing savings and retirement plans.”

Among the many educational and research activities initiated and coordinated by the Institute will be to:

·        work with the faculty, students, and the banking and financial services industry to conduct applied research, curriculum development, and collaborative interactions between academia, the private sector, and/or our public schools;

·        provide students with lectures on current trends in consumer banking, mortgage banking, personal and business credit, and business financing;

·        conduct programs for area business leaders on new venture evaluation and creation or managing family-owned or other small business enterprises;

·        provide students with lectures on current trends, innovations and issues affecting the national and international economy, banking, and monetary policy;

·        perform research, consultation and management development seminars to area banking and financial services executive and professional personnel;

·        collaborate with faculty and students in research projects with the expectation for intellectual patenting and publication.

David Davison, president and chief operating officer of the Foundation, said: “We are pleased that the American Savings Foundation will be a permanent part of the educational mission of CCSU.  As the University proclaims, CCSU is a great college for the real world, and the American Savings Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life to the ‘real-world’ people of Connecticut. This grant enriches the Foundation’s legacy for doing good.”

President Judd noted that the new institute will join other CCSU institutes and research centers.  “The CCSU Center for Social Research, the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, and the Institute for Technology and Business Development all contribute to the well-being of our community and state. I am pleased that The American Savings Foundation Endowed Chair of Banking and Finance and the Institute for Banking and Finance will enlarge CCSU’s rich heritage of service to the state.”

Judd noted that the American Savings Foundation endowed chair is CCSU’s fourth following the Stanislaus A. Blejwas Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies, the William A. O’Neill Chair in Pubic Policy and Practical Politics, and the Robert C. Vance Chair in Journalism and Mass Communication.