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CCSU given $1M endowment
The Herald February 11, 2003 By BRIAN FRAGA, Staff Writer NEW BRITAIN -- The American Savings Foundation is giving Central Connecticut State University a $1 million grant to establish an endowed chair in banking and finance at the university in what CCSU officials are labeling a pioneering program designed to support the state’s banking and financial services industry. CCSU President Richard Judd will make the announcement Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in Founders Hall inside Davidson Hall on the CCSU campus. Robert Kenny, chief executive officer and chair of American Savings Bank and American Savings Foundation, will present Judd with an actual chair to mark the occasion. "This is an exciting initiative," Judd said in written statement. "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." The American Savings Foundation Endowed Chair of Banking and Finance, as the endowment will be known, will be stationed at CCSU’s School of Business. The school will coordinate the activities of the Institute for Banking and Finance, which Patricia Root, interim dean of the School of Business, said will offer "an extensive array of educational opportunities for CCSU faculty and students." Nicholas Pettinico, vice president for advancement at CCSU, said the university and the American Savings Foundation had discussed various project ideas and initiatives for two years. CCSU gave the foundation its proposal for a chair late last year, which was approved in November. "Anytime the university is able to implement an academic chair, it raises the prestige and the visibility of the university," Pettinico said. "What’s key here is that this is consistent with the university’s mission of community outreach. CCSU will be able to do things to meet the needs of the local financial community. The university seeks to be a resource for the community and this chair will provide things that will tie CCSU with the business community." Among some of the educational and research activities the Institute will be expected to coordinate include: providing students with lectures on current trends in consumer and mortgage banking; lectures on innovations and issues affecting the national and international economy; banking and monetary policy as well as performing research; and management development seminars to area banking and financial services professional personnel. David Davison, president of the American Savings Foundation, said the foundation was able to approve the million-dollar grant because of its immense growth in the two years since talks began. According to Davison, the foundation’s overall worth has increased from $32 million in 2001 to over $72 million today. "That enormous growth has made it possible for us to afford this significant commitment," Davison said. "This is by far the largest gift ever made by the American Savings Foundation. This is an investment in a great institution, in our town and in our region. It reflects the foundation’s overall commitment to education." This will be CCSU’s fourth academic chair following the Stanislaus A. Blejwas Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies, the William A. O’Neill Chair in Public Policy, and Practical Politics and the Robert C. Vance Chair in Journalism and Mass Communication. Brian Fraga can be reached at bfraga@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 225. Reprinted by permission. ©The Herald 2003
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