2. Enriching the Student Experience
Goal 1: Life and Career
To establish the premier liberal arts career program in the country, we
- opened the Hale Center for Career Development in Fanning Hall with support from Robert Hale ’88 and Karen Hale P’20
- designed a four-year career program, integrated into Connections, that begins with the first-year seminar.
To increase access to high-quality internships and other career-enhancing experiences, we have
- infused new “career-informed learning” modules into 77 courses across the curriculum
- introduced a finance cohort breakfast series and a Bloomberg terminal to prepare students early for competitive internships in finance and consulting
- created a new interdisciplinary finance minor that has quickly become one of the College’s most popular
- developed employer relations function and increased employer visits to campus by 69% since 2016
- launched a new job shadowing program and held the sixth annual Fast Forward program in 2020 – a week-long career-intensive training lab
- established a new 7-week, credit-bearing career preparation course, available to students in their first semester, and new funding options for students who complete the course
- created “Advanced Career Exploration” (ACE) opportunities for students in partnership with alumni and parent industry specialists
- established the Foreign Language Internship Program with a $165,000 grant from U.S. Department of Education.
- created a new partnership with Christie’s auction house that resulted in summer 2021 internships for three Connecticut College students
- created a new five-week summer career prep course for 20 incoming members of the Class of 2024 to increase their effectiveness in identifying and articulating what they have to offer to an employer
- created a new Student Employment program to expand the professional skill-development opportunities for our students through on-campus employment and provide quality assistance and support for campus departments.
To promote the plan’s third life-and-career objective, educating students about the relationships among health, well-being, and success, we
- developed collaborative strengths-based training to promote well-bring among career office fellows and student wellness coaches
- enhanced services for mental health through a $306,000 Garrett Lee Smith Grant
- launched the You@Conn online platform for wellbeing.
Goal 2: Campus Living
Because most of our students live on campus for all four years, our residential setting is a critical part of their experience. Our work to implement a phased strategy for upgrading campus housing has had two major components — one that shifts the residential patterns of our students by class year and one that invests in the facilities themselves. Specifically, we
- enhanced connections and engagement among firstyear students by converting Hamilton House and Morrisson House into first-year residences
- created first-year-only floors on north and central campus
- established south campus as upperclass-only housing
- renovated the Plant common room through a gift from Class of 1969
- completed comprehensive upgrade of heating and cooling in the Plex.
- Most importantly, during a global pandemic, we rearranged living, working, and dining protocols to make it possible for students to successfully advance their education
To redesign campus social spaces to facilitate greater contact among students, faculty, and staff, we
- completed architectural plans for a major renovation of the College Center at Crozier-Williams
- programmed new collaboration spaces into the renovation of Palmer Auditorium
- developed a proposal in our campus master plan for new space in Smith-Burdick to support dialogue and justice
To expand high-quality social activity, leadership, and mentoring opportunities across four years, we have
- substantially expanded student activities programming with $100K in new and reallocated resources
- created new emerging leaders program between office of student activities and division of institutional equity and inclusion (DIEI)
- vastly expanded the student ambassador program in DIEI to create new pathways for leadership development.
To increase student engagement with New London and the surrounding regions, we
- launched an outdoor education program to increase resources and opportunities for student recreation in New England, and a partnership with the New England Science and Sailing organization
- created a first-year learning community in Plant House that focuses on engagement in New London
- established a Civic Scholars summer program in partnership with the Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut and a Global New London Summer practicum for students, in collaboration with four community partners.
Goal 3. Athletics
To make strategic investments in infrastructure and operating support for varsity athletics, we
- completed an athletics master plan envisioning the long-term renewal of fields, facilities, and waterfront
- raised $1.7 million for and began construction on new bulkhead, floating docks, and roadway to the Thames River
- appointed Mo White as new director of athletics, the first woman to hold the position in Conn’s history, and promoted two head coaches to associate athletic director
- created new position of assistant director of athletics for business operations
- hired new coaches in men’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s squash and cross country, and elevated several coaches from part-time to full-time faculty status
- established the Camel Athletics Network to engage alumni, parents, and friends in the life of Camel Athletics and held well-attended events in Washington, D.C., Boston, and New York City, to garner further support
- reconfigured space in the Athletic Complex to expand facilities for strength and conditioning
- increased strength and conditioning staff and retained Hartford HealthCare to provide expertise in sports medicine, providing access to a network of orthopedic surgeons, sports medicine physicians, concussion experts, and cardiologists—along with sports neurology services at HHC’s Ayer Neuroscience Institute
- received $10 million from Rob ’88 and Karen Hale P’20 to support goals for coaching and recruiting excellence in the Action Plan for Competitive Success.
- supported NESCAC athletic competition during a global pandemic in spring 2021 in which all 28 varsity sports competed for the first time in College history
To develop club, intramural, and recreational programs for everyone, we
- provided new funding, leadership, management policies, and staffing for club sports
- launched a new ice hockey club for women, hired a coach for men’s club hockey, and hired two new on-call athletic trainers to support both men’s and women’s hockey and rugby clubs
To strengthen connections among athletics, academics, and the co-curriculum, we
- introduced the innovative “Coaching 2 Connect” program to the College, a three-year program in leadership and communications training
- established the Connecticut College Athletes of Color Coalition to provide support for and empower all student-athletes of color to safely share their respective experiences on and off the field.
