Southern prepares its students to work in more than 91 percent of the occupations requiring at least a bachelor’s degree for employment, through in-demand degrees, innovative partnerships, practical learning experiences, and community engagement. And, with more than 80 percent of its 2,300 annual graduates staying on to live and work in Connecticut, Southern is a major contributor in building the state’s knowledge-based economy. Southern continues to seek new opportunities, in both growth and in-demand fields of study, to build on its 117 offerings at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Advancing the Sciences
The focus of Southern’s mission is to provide its students with the foundational knowledge and skills they need to be key contributors in areas of workforce demands, particularly in the STEM disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Southern has seen impressive programmatic and enrollment growth in these fields.
The University was named as the host site for Connecticut’s first research center devoted solely to the cutting-edge field of nanotechnology. Concurrent with the launching of the Southern-based center is the establishment of a graduate certificate program in nanotech. Students and faculty at Southern and in New Haven schools are also able to create and examine new materials at the atomic level thanks to a National Science Foundation–supported partnership with Yale University.
Arts and Athletics
Southern has become an integral part of the arts community as well. Partnerships have been established with the Long Wharf Theatre, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. And campus events at the Lyman Center for the Performing Arts bring a wide range of affordable, cultural activities to the general public, including the center’s acclaimed annual smooth jazz series.
Southern Athletics has one of the top NCAA Division II programs in the country, with 10 national team titles and 79 individual championships. Learn more about Southern Connecticut State University at southernct.edu.
Campus Life
One of the great things about Southern is the energy on campus. Southern offers a wide range of services and programs to motivate students and enrich their learning and to contribute to their individual growth. Recognizing that much learning occurs beyond the physical boundaries of the classroom, Southern dedicates itself to maximizing the potential of both the individual and the campus community.
Community Partnerships
Southern is also committed to improving educational standards and opportunities at the grassroots level. As part of this effort, hundreds of Southern students and faculty are involved each year in dozens of community initiatives and partnerships: from internships and volunteer projects to unique collaborations with city schools and other organizations.
For example, the Center for Excellence in Mathematics and Science is helping to increase the number and quality of students in those fields by reaching out to local elementary schools with fun, hands-on engineering programs, and to high schools with scholarship opportunities for outstanding students. And SCSU’s Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders provides current and future educators with best practices when teaching students with autism.
A Growing Campus
Southern continues to develop its modern, 172-acre campus with dramatic new additions and enhancements. Construction was recently completed on a $50 million, 103,608-square-foot science building that houses teaching and research laboratories for Southern’s programs in the STEM disciplines, which have seen enrollments increase by nearly 20 percent in recent years. Embracing an innovative, sustainable design, the building is home to nanotechnology, physics and optics, cancer research, marine and coastal studies, astronomy, and other sciences.
A 135,000-square-foot addition to Buley Library coupled with a total renovation of the original building — in total a $32 million project completed in 2015 — has doubled the size of the library’s footprint. The new-look library incorporates general classroom space, a learning commons, information technology operations offices, the academic success center, faculty offices, a cyber café, an art gallery, and storage for the University’s art collection, which is also displayed throughout the building.
The University’s master plan also calls for a new building to house Southern’s health and human services programs. The design phase is nearly completed, and $53 million has already been earmarked for the project. A new building for the School of Business has been officially approved and an architectural firm has been selected. Construction of the new lab school has also just been officially approved.
The University’s commitment to sustainability is strong. It is reflected in its expanded staff and in programming offered through the Office of Sustainability. Moreover, in order to meet Connecticut’s stringent environmental standards for state funding eligibility, each construction or renovation project totaling $5 million or more will meet a minimum LEED Silver rating. The current building for the School of Business has already garnered a LEED Gold rating. Southern’s committed efforts on the environmental front have earned inclusion in The Princeton Review’s Guide to the 322 Greenest Campuses. In addition, for the second year in a row, Sierra Magazine has included Southern on its list of “Cool Schools” — a compilation of America’s greenest universities.