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Southern Exposure
Adanti oversees an unprecedented upgrade at SCSU
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Business New Haven
7/9/2001
By: BNH
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Michael J. Adanti has been president of New Haven's largest institution of higher learning, Southern Connecticut State University, since 1984 - the first SCSU grad to head his alma mater and the first to become president of any U.S. college or university. The former two-term (1973-77) Ansonia mayor still lives in that Valley community with his wife of 35 years, Linda. BNH spoke with him recently in his office.
SCSU recently earned approval to offer a doctorate in education (Ed.D.). How did that come about?
We had been looking for ways to extend our education beyond the sixth-year certificate. Previously the University of Connecticut was the only school in the state to offer a doctorate [Ph.D.] in education. One of our trustees got an idea that we should pursue this effort, so we did. We got the governor to support it; we went through the legislature to change the statute to allow us to offer an Ed.D. In our case it will be in education leadership, so we'll be able to provide people who will become superintendents and principals with hands-on experience. It's more a practitioner's degree than a research-oriented degree.
Why does something like this require the state legislature's involvement anyway?
The state Department of Higher Education [DHE] handles the quality of programs, so we still have to go through DHE in terms of programmatic excellence, if you will. But the ability to offer it was limited by [state] statute. The [previous] statute said that UConn was the only university that could offer doctoral programs. We were able to get that changed.
Is it the first doctoral level program ever offered by Southern?
Yes. It's actually historic for this university. Think about it: We have a doctoral degree that's never been offered through Southern before; we have a [major] building campaign going on. We've never experienced a moment like this in Southern's history.
How does the ability to offer an Ed.D. advance the university's larger mission?
We think this is exactly what we are supposed to do: We prepare people to be educators. That's exactly where we came from [SCSU was founded in 1893 at the New Haven Normal Teachers College]. That's not all we do any more - we're a comprehensive university - but our roots are in education. So the Ed.D. is a clear extension of what we're supposed to be doing here, which is preparing people to go out into the community and educate our young people.
You have also added a new master's in computer science program. Why is that important?
Let me talk about how we approach New Haven: We're very active in the city. When I first got here [in 1984] I felt that Southern was somewhat insulated from the community. We were sitting here on the edge of New Haven but really weren't part of it. We've taken massive leaps in terms of getting involved - not only with the business community, but in terms of having a presence downtown - we're negotiating now to have a space at 900 Chapel Street for our M.B.A. program. The extension of our computer science program just indicates to us that there is one more level of need that we thinks fits the business community of New Haven.
Why all this construction activity right now?
A lot of construction has a domino effect on a community such as ours. So we built a new facilities building first, because it's the most important. Next to that is our parking garage, because parking is a critical problem on this campus. But Facilities was built first so its [existing] location could be torn down [to make room for] a four-story student center. [Buley] library will more than double in size with a new addition. Endleman Hall is being thoroughly renovated for classroom and faculty office space with an addition. So we have more than $280 million in new construction [taking place].
Why now?
We were able to convince the legislature and the bonding authority and the governor that there's a real need for this to happen. The community has been supportive of all of [this]. Third, the reason we didn't stretch this out is that bonding is an odd [mechanism]: If the money is available, you need to use it when it is available. If you don't, you lose it.
Plus, the state's coffers have been pretty flush.
It's been a great economy. I would say to you candidly, if it weren't for the economy, a lot of what is going on [at Southern] wouldn't be going on.
Are members of the Connecticut State University system self-sustaining financially?
Here's how it works: Fees and tuition, we keep. That's not enough to run the institution. For instance, it only costs $4,000 to come here [for state residents]; if you don't live here it's about $8,200. It costs a heck of a lot more than that [to educate one student over one academic year]. So the state really picks up the difference - there's always a built-in scholarship for every student who comes here, as we like to look at it, from the state of Connecticut to the tune of about $14,000. So I get about $40 million from the state annually. To the whole [CSU] system it's probably about $110 million, $115 million.
How has the profile of the SCSU student evolved over the 7 years of your tenure?
We like to think that they're a little more competitive academically, and I think that's true. No. 2, we're a lot more diverse than we used to be, and we think that's a critical component as well of making this university what it ought to be. About 17 percent of our students now are minorities, and we're pleased with that. Our students are a valuable commodity to this state. When they come here, they're not quite as defined as they will be when they leave here; when they leave here, they [typically] have a pretty good idea about what it is we want to do. They're going to be members of the workforce; they're going to involve themselves in what goes on in our state; for the most part they stay in Connecticut. They run for office; they run businesses here. They're going to be contributors.
Your mission statement includes a goal to make Southern 'a pre-eminent public academic institution in New England.' What exactly does that mean and, as a CEO, how do you approach objectifying or quantifying progress toward that goal?
We benchmark. We picked eight institutions that we think are peer institutions [against which to measure our progress]. We're creating an academic master plan to redirect us [and help us] focus in on the things we do best - and lose some things that we don't do well.
Completely different subject: Southern has had a lot of athletic success in Division II [of the NCAA]. This is a big school - any pressure to go to Division I?
Of course there is. [But] it's expensive, and it would mean we would have to comply [with NCAA regulations] in terms of participation rates and scholarship money. The Title IX thing [mandating parity between funding of men's and women's intercollegiate sports] would become an issue. It's an issue for us as we speak: Football [by far the most expensive intercollegiate sport] continues to disrupt those numbers. You can take only one sport Division I, and we've thought about doing that with [men's] soccer, given all the success we've had nationally. But I don't think we're going to do that. We're a Division II school; we're going to remain a powerhouse Division II school - even though that Division I thing is awfully attractive.
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