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Central Connecticut State University is a
regional, comprehensive public university dedicated to learning in the
liberal arts and sciences and to education for the professions.
Comprising five schools—Arts & Sciences, Business, Education
& Professional Studies, Engineering & Technology, and Graduate Studies—CCSU offers undergraduate and
graduate programs through the Master’s and sixth-year levels and the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. Committed
to offering Connecticut citizens access to distinctive academic
programs of high quality, the University is also a responsive and
creative intellectual and economic resource for the people and
institutions of our state’s Capitol Region.
More than 85 percent of CCSU graduates remain in Connecticut,
contributing to the intellectual, cultural, and economic health of the state.
CCSU is, above all else, a vibrant
learning-centered community dedicated to teaching and to scholarship. Education at the undergraduate and graduate level balances
academic challenge and personal support, leading students to become
thoughtful, responsible, and successful citizens.
A network of study-abroad opportunities, overseas
inter-institutional arrangements, and other internationally focused
educational programming prepares students to become “global
citizens,” responsive to a world of cultural differences and able to
succeed in an increasingly international marketplace.
The faculty’s commitment to scholarly inquiry
ensures the intellectual vitality of our classrooms.
The University is led by
President John W. Miller, its 12th president.
History
Founded in 1849 as the New Britain Normal School—a teacher-training
facility—CCSU is Connecticut’s oldest publicly supported institution
of higher education. It
became the Teachers College of Connecticut in 1933, and after a period
of extensive institutional growth it became the Central Connecticut
State College in 1959. In
recognition of the institution’s continuous development in mission and
aspiration, the present name and educational charter were conferred in
1983.
The University values the development of knowledge
and its applications in an environment of intellectual integrity and
open discourse. Faculty,
students, and staff have a rich history of engaging in activities that
range beyond campus to help our neighbors and our fellow citizens.
Public service is a principal, valued, and expected part of
CCSU’s mission to serve Connecticut, and it is recognized as an
important means to enhance students’ intellectual, moral, civic, and
professional growth.
As a public university, we receive support from
the State of Connecticut. We have three designated Centers of Excellence
and many nationally accredited programs. We take very seriously our
commitment to provide access to higher education for all citizens in
this State who can benefit from our offerings. Our high expectations for
ourselves contribute to the fine quality and continuous improvement of
our undergraduate and graduate programs. We believe that quality and
access are compatible and simultaneously achievable; our objective is to
provide the support needed for our students to reach their full
potential.
We also believe that higher
education should promote the personal and social growth of our students,
as well as their intellectual achievement and professional competence.
We provide various opportunities for students to engage in activities or
to join organizations and clubs where they develop leadership and other
social skills. We foster a welcoming environment in which all members of
our diverse community receive encouragement and acquire self-confidence.
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Student Enrollment
The largest of four comprehensive universities within the
Connecticut State University System, CCSU enrolls nearly 7,000 full-time
and more than 5,000 part-time students.
Of these, 9,600 attend as undergraduates, and 2,730 as graduates.
Female students account for 53 percent of the student population; males,
47 percent. CCSU is richly diverse: more than 15 percent of students are
of traditional minority heritage; African American students comprise
7 percent of the student body; Latinos, nearly 6 percent; and Asians,
almost 3 percent.
In 2007, 7,303 men and women applied for
admission to CCSU.
Average combined SAT score for the enrolling class is 1011, up 32
points from the entering class in 2000.
For more detailed information, please see the Web
site for Planning & Institutional
Effectiveness
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Faculty
The University has a full-time faculty of 400 members, more than 75
percent of whom possess the doctorate; additionally, some 400 part-time
instructors offer a variety of distinctive educational and professional
experiences. CCSU faculty excel in teaching.
Professor of Astronomy Kristine Larsen, for example, was a
co-winner of the University’s Teaching Excellence Award and was
selected by the Hartford Courant as one of six “Great Profs in
Connecticut.” And, in the
School of Technology, Professor Karen Tracey was nationally
recognized as an “Outstanding Industrial Technology Professor.” CCSU
faculty have earned Ph.D.s at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cornell,
Columbia, Duke, the universities of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia,
and Indiana, Tufts, Brown, Rensselaer, New York University, and a number
of other world-class institutions.
A nationally recognized hallmark of the CCSU faculty is the close
working relationships established between students and professor, often
leading to collaborative publications or joint presentations.
Even though CCSU professors consider teaching
their first calling, they produce excellent scholarly works that not
only enliven the classroom but also contribute to the advancement of
knowledge. CCSU faculty published books on teaching, school violence,
experimental psychology, Irish immigration, Andrew Jackson, a dictionary
of world philosophy, LEAN management,
development communication, family therapy, and modernism and history. Testifying to the importance of faculty scholarship, prominent
national media, from MSNBC to the Discovery Channel, from USAToday, to The New Yorker, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, have relied on the academic
expertise of our faculty for insightful, expert commentary. In 2005,
2006, and 2007
President Jack Miller’s annual "America’s Most Literate Cities" survey
was released in USA Today, bringing widespread coverage in
newspapers nationwide and on over 100 TV and radio programs.
For more information about faculty expertise,
please see the Faculty
Experts Web site.
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Points of Pride
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Recognizing
our “visionary innovations in undergraduate education,” the
Association of American Colleges & Universities selected CCSU as
one of only 16 “Leadership Institutions” in the
nation—and the only one in Connecticut.
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Princeton
Review selected CCSU as one of “The Best Northeastern
Colleges” and one of “America's Best Value Colleges.”
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The
college guide book, Great Colleges for the Real World: Get in,
Get out, Get a Job, selected CCSU as one of the
“best 201 colleges” in the nation.
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Centers
of Excellence. The
Connecticut Board of Governors for Higher Education has designated
CCSU’s centers of International Studies and of Public Policy and
Practical Politics, and the School of Technology as “Centers of
Excellence.”
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Data
mining—In the fall of 2001, CCSU became the first institution
anywhere to offer an online Master of Science program in data
mining.
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Four
endowed chairs ensure CCSU’s academic excellence: The American Savings Foundation Endowed Chair of Banking and Finance
and the Institute for Banking and Finance; 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
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CCSU has received outstanding
support for its academic programs: in 2006-07 CCSU's
faculty and administrators were awarded a record-breaking $4.3
million in grants to support scholarly research and other
programs.
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CCSU
is a resource for the state and region, and not only in the superb
education it offers.
Each year, CCSU creates an estimated economic impact of $555
million, representing money and jobs that circulated throughout
Connecticut’s economy. As a state-supported institution, CCSU
receives roughly $71 million in legislative appropriations. By any
measure—educational, cultural, or economic— CCSU provides an
excellent Return On Investment.
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Alumni
CCSU has more than 65,000 living alumni.
Many work actively on CCSU’s behalf as volunteers supporting
the University’s efforts in admissions, career advising,
communications, and fundraising. Although
85 percent remain in Connecticut, the University's alumni are also to be
found throughout the nation and around the globe. CCSU graduates are
accomplished in richly diverse fields—successful industrialists and
corporate leaders, award-winning teachers, path-breaking inventors,
medical doctors, and distinguished novelists.
They enjoy lives of accomplishment, personal satisfaction, and civic
participation.
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Curriculum
CCSU’s undergraduate curriculum, nationally recognized for
its excellence by the Association of American Colleges &
Universities, offers 100 majors in more than 80 fields of study—a
breadth of programming that promotes students’ post-graduate success
in whatever career they choose. Programs range widely—liberal arts and
sciences, teacher education, nursing, engineering and technology, and business
administration. The University also offers a wealth of special programs
that enrich and further diversify educational opportunities.
International and area studies and study abroad opportunities prepare
CCSU students to become global citizens, at home in the world and able
to thrive in America’s multicultural society. The University recently
expanded its global connections by establishing innovative learning
partnerships with leading universities in Poland, Italy,
Lebanon, and Israel, for a total of 70 universities in nearly 40
countries throughout the world.
Covering 41 academic fields, the University’s
School of Graduate
Studies offers a wealth of choices for enhancing careers or
enriching minds. Students may pursue Master of Arts or Master of Science
degrees in a wide range of fields,
the Master of Arts in Teaching, and the Educational Doctorate in Educational Leadership degrees, as well
as certificate non-degree programs of study. ^Top
Student
Cooperative
Programs
The University’s Co-Op program provides students with invaluable
career-related work experiences plus the opportunity to make connections
with potential employers. Annually,
some 300 students in the University’s Co-Op program are placed at over
200 Connecticut businesses, where they earn a total of $4 million.
Some 65 percent of these students are offered permanent
employment with their Co-Op employers.
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Student
Internships
As part of their educational programs, many CCSU students intern
with local and area businesses and agencies. While students benefit from this opportunity to test
classroom learning in the “real world,” business owners and agency
directors benefit from student labor valued in the millions of dollars.
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Athletics
Sports are at the heart of CCSU’s active campus life and are a
constant outlet for fun and recreation. The University offers 18 NCAA
Division I sports programs. The Blue Devil men’s basketball,
baseball, football, and golf teams and the women’s soccer team have
frequently been crowned Northeast
Conference Champs and have earned berths in their NCAA
Championship tourneys. The University
also offers club and intramural sports teams as well as a
state-of-the-art fitness center, swimming pool, and modern exercise
equipment. For up- to-the-moment scores and more, please see
the Blue Devil
athletics site.
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Campus
With a campus of nearly 165 acres and some 40 buildings, CCSU is
embarked on a major campus renovation program, investing in
state-of-the-art technologies and creating a campus of beauty and
hospitality to assure the University’s place among the finest
educational institutions in Connecticut.
All major academic buildings feature classrooms with computers,
ceiling-mounted video/data projectors, VCRs, document cameras, and DVD
players, along with other components enabling satellite teleconferencing
and computer software demonstrations.
Wireless access is available throughout the campus.
The University offers 9 residence halls, housing some 20 percent
of students.
CCSU is located in a neighborhood on
the northern edge of New Britain, 15 minutes from the state capital of
Hartford and about two hours from New York City and Boston.
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The Elihu Burritt
Library
CCSU supports a
comprehensive library designed to meet the needs of undergraduate and
graduate students and a faculty of serious scholars.
Current holdings of books total more than 650,000 volumes;
periodicals total over 3,000; and microform and other non-print
materials total an additional 550,000 items. The library facility offers
both individual and group study areas and is open over 112 hours per
week during the academic year.
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Electronic
Resources. The
Library offers a wide range of electronic information services,
including access to electronic journals, databases, and full-text
resources. CONSULS (Connecticut
State University Library System) is a shared library information system
linking the catalogs of the four CSU libraries and the State Library of
Connecticut. CONSULS
provides CCSU students and faculty access to nearly 2 million volumes
and a number of indexing and abstracting services.
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Special
collections. The Elihu Burritt Collection, an archive of books, articles,
manuscripts, pamphlets by and about the New Britain blacksmith who
became a linguist, educator, humanitarian, and a U.S. consul, provides a
compelling view of mid 19th-century America. Connecticut
Polish American Archive (CPAA) presents documents related to the history
of the Polish American community, with a special emphasis on the history
of the Polish Americans in Connecticut and New England.
The
Equity Archive Collection comprises substantial holdings on women,
feminism, and sexuality and includes holdings from the libraries of the
George W. Henry Foundation, the Hartford Women’s Center, and the
Audrey Beck Learning in Equity (A.B.L.E) Archives.
The Library is
also a repository for the John Woodcock “Lemon Law”
collection, as part of the emerging Center for Public Policy and
Practical Politics.
For
more information, please see the library's
Web site.
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New Britain and Central Connecticut
The University has been an important part
of New Britain’s educational and cultural life since its founding in
1849. On campus, CCSU offers outstanding cultural events, exciting
sports, distinguished guest speakers, innovative educational programs,
and the energies of our students, faculty, and staff, who each year
reach out to serve our neighbors.
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ITBD
The Institute of Technology and Business Development, located in
downtown New Britain, is CCSU’s comprehensive business outreach
facility. With a mission “to promote the economic development of the
state and to help business and industry sustain economic growth,” the
ITBD serves a statewide clientele ranging from manufacturers,
entrepreneurs, inventors, health-care providers, and real-estate firms
to State agencies, Chambers of Commerce, professional organizations, and
media groups. Operating four business centers, the ITBD offers
technology training, conferencing, procurement, engineering, and
business incubation services.
For more information, please see the ITBD's
Web site.
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College
Finances
The market value of CCSU’s endowment was $26 million on June
30, 2007.
A total of 3,872 donors supported the Annual Fund in
2006-07, contributing a total of $1,209,822. Of that number, 3,063 CCSU
alumni generously contributed a total of $339,835.
The annual operating budget
for the University is approximately $197 million. ^Top
Tuition
For the
most current information about tuition and fees, please see the Bursar's
Web site.
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Financial
Aid
CCSU’s comprehensive financial aid program provided undergraduate
students over $48.5 million
in student aid during 2006-07; the University contributes $4.5
million from endowed scholarship funds. Approximately 65 percent of CCSU
undergraduate students receive some form of financial aid.
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Governance
CCSU is
governed by the Connecticut State University Board of Trustees, which
oversees the four Connecticut state universities (Central, Eastern,
Southern, and Western) and guides them in effectively serving the
public. For more information:
http://www.ctstateu.edu/trustees/index.htm
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