About Us, Our Mission and Our Guiding Principles

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 practitioner-based 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 university has atotal of 12,219 full and part-time, graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in the fall '03 semester for the 2003-04 academic year. The breakdown is as follows:

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.

Mission

The School of Education is a professional school whose mission is to develop outstanding educators who are grounded in scholarship, possess attitudes and dispositions that reflect a devotion to teaching and learning, have the personal and professional integrity to value themselves and others, who have the leadership skills to promote continuous improvement of the educational systems in which they work, and demonstrate commitment and responsibility to the communities in which they live.

The school is committed to fulfilling the following major functions: (1) maintaining quality, state-of-the-art undergraduate and graduate professional preparation opportunities for teachers, administrators, counselors, school service personnel, and others in education related positions; (2) providing programs and services that enable inservice professionals to acquire additional preparation necessary for continuous professional growth and/or changing career objectives;
(3) collaborating with school personnel, educational agencies, professional groups and others interested in the improvement of educational opportunities; and (4) promoting and conducting research directed toward improving the theory and practice of teaching.

The guiding principles of practice of the School of Education at Southern Connecticut State University are based upon a fundamental concept that individuals can influence both their future and the future of society through a lifelong commitment to learning. The freedom to survive and to make choices about one’s position in life is dependent on the ability to adapt to changing conditions without losing the essence of self. This includes a belief that no matter what position in life one currently occupies, it is possible to improve or find greater self-fulfillment if one desires to do so.

Guiding Principles of the Unit