History

Located in New Haven, Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State University, a fully accredited institution of higher education by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), is authorized by the Connecticut General Assembly to offer courses and programs leading to bachelor's and master's degrees in the arts and sciences and in various professional fields. Southern also offers a sixth year diploma in several special areas as well as a doctorate in Educational Leadership. One of four institutions governed by the Board of Trustees for the Connecticut State University System (CSU), Southern receives its major support from legislative appropriations.

Founded in 1893 as the New Haven State Normal School, Southern became a four-year college with degree granting powers in 1937. Ten years later, Southern joined with Yale University's department of education to offer a graduate program leading to a masters of arts degree. In 1954, with Southern growing and changing to meet the needs of its students, the State Board of Education authorized the institution - then known as the New Haven State Teachers College - to assume complete responsibility for this program. As a result, Southern made its name during the 1950's and 1960's preparing teachers in virtually every major scholastic area.

In 1959, six years after the institution had moved to its present modern campus, state legislation expanded Southern's offerings to include liberal arts curricula leading to bachelor's degrees in the arts and sciences. This legislation also reorganized the institution into a multipurpose institution and renamed it Southern Connecticut State College. Since then Southern has continued its growth as a modern, diversified center of higher learning, expanding both its undergraduate and graduate programs and opening up entirely new fields of study and research. In March 1983, Southern became a university completing its evolution. Today, the University is composed of seven academic schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, the School of Communication, Information, and Library Science, the School of Education, the School of Health and Human Services, the School of Extended Learning, and the School of Graduate Studies.

The university has been approved to offer a doctoral program to be administered by the Department of Educational Leadership in the School of Education. This is a practitionerbased Ed.D. program aimed at professionals seeking to be educational leaders within the greater Fairfield and New Haven counties. The program extends the mission of the university to provide excellence in all academic programs and seeks to provide transformational and reflective leaders for an ever changing and diverse American society. The program focuses on educational leadership with a foundation in the Unit's conceptual framework of service, attitudes and dispositions, integrity, leadership, and service (SAILS). This highly rigorous and innovative program incorporates a Proseminar in Leadership Dynamics as part of the admissions procedure. The program contains research, and leadership and organizational cores as well as areas of specialization that allow for an interdisciplinary program that crosses departments. In addition, doctoral inquiry seminars that combine field experience with field-based research enhance the quality of the program. Because the cohort model has been shown to produce high retention and graduation rates for practicing professionals, twenty-five students will be recruited each year to fulfill a four year planned course of study.

The School of Education (the Unit) offers initial undergraduate and post-baccalaureate teacher certification programs, advanced programs in early childhood, elementary, and secondary education, and advanced specialty programs in reading, school counseling, school psychology, and educational leadership including a doctoral program.