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COVER STORY
FACES OF LEARNING
We gathered the top guns from area colleges and universities to hash out the burning issues facing today's higher-ed institutions.
By Teresa M. Pelham
It was like
a group of six old friends getting together for lunch at the Hartford
Club. Except they are all really smart and have 15 advanced degrees
among them. They talked about getting away to their vacation homes in
Florida and Rhode Island, and they talked about what they characterized
as the hideously slow nature of the Department of Motor Vehicles. They
called each other Bonnie and Jimmy and Walt, and they made jabs at one
pal who needed a little cosmetic intervention during a group photo.
But once the
small talk ended, these six Greater Hartford college and university
presidents talked about the serious issues they all face in one form
or another: technology, access to education, capital improvements, attracting
faculty and finding ways to keep their graduates here in Connecticut
to lay the intellectual and professional groundwork for the state’s
future. Hartford Magazine invited Robert Aebersold, Central Connecticut
State University’s interim president; Philip Austin, president
of the University of Connecticut; David Carter, president of Eastern
Connecticut State University; Walter Harrison, president of the University
of Hartford; James “Jimmy” Jones Jr., president of Trinity
College, and Evelyn “Bonnie” Lynch, president of Saint Joseph
College, to participate in a forum moderated by contributing writer
Teresa Pelham.
Some of them have held their posts for a dozen years or more. Others,
such as St. Joseph’s Lynch and Trinity’s Jones, have yet
to complete their first year in Connecticut. But they all brought insight
and years of experience to the discussion of higher education’s
role in society and specifically in Greater Hartford.
Get
Hartford Magazine today for the entire interview
and all our great articles!
