CT STATE CAPITAL

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Pulse of the Region, brought to you by
the Metro Hertford Alliance. The Metro Hertford Alliance collaborates with
investors and partners to elevate the Hartford region through economic
development work, convening the community, and providing chamber support for
the City of Hartford. Learn more about their mission and
how to get involved at Metrohartford dot com. Pulse of
the Region is produced in partnership with oak Hill. Oakhill

(00:24):
was originally founded as a school for the blind in
eighteen ninety three. Oak Hill has provided holistic, person centered
services for individuals with disabilities for over one hundred and
thirty years. With empowerment and independence as its guiding principles.
Okhill works in partnership with the individuals it serves to
provide residential education and enrichment opportunities. Learn more at OAKHILLCT

(00:48):
dot org. Now here's your host for Pulse of the Region,
Kate Bawman.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Hello, Hello, and welcome to Pulse of the Region, the
show where we get to highlight all of the wonderful
things happening here throughout the Green Hartford region. I'm your host,
Kate Allman here today in the beautiful iHeartMedia Studios in
our downtown capital city of Hartford, Connecticut, where today we
are getting the pulse about CT State Capital. We'll be

(01:12):
highlighting their relationship with our business community and their efforts
to ready a diverse student population for the workforce. And
thrilled to have our two guests here today. We're both
smiling at me. So that's a good thing. We're off
to a good start at least here. So first, he
is the CEO of CT State Capital. It is doctor G.
Duncan Harris. So, doctor Harris, welcome to Pulse of the Region.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Hey, glad to be here.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, we're happy to have you here. I think this
might be our first time, which I don't know how
I haven't gotten you on the show before.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
You've lucked out, You've dodged me. I guess yeah. I
don't know what took you so long.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
I know that's a good question.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
I hear that.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Very excited to have you here today and joining us.
Is one of your colleagues. He is the director of
Equity Division and Inclusion for CT State Capital. It is
Carl Garyere. So, Carl, welcome to Pulse of the Region.

Speaker 5 (01:56):
Thank you, and I look forward to talking with.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
You same here. That's our I know. I always love
prepping for the shows because you learn a little bit
and then when you have the conversation I learned every
single week, I get to learn a lot more. So
thrilled to do that today. And you know, Duncan first
to kick things off. You know, many of our listeners,
I'm sure are very familiar with the college and its
presence here in downtown Hartford. But if you don't mind
giving us a little bit of overview about the school.

Speaker 6 (02:17):
Yeah, Well, so the July one, twenty twenty three, things changed, right,
and so we merged our states amazing twelve community colleges
into Connecticut State Community College, which makes us the largest
community college in the Tri state area in New England,
nice makes one of the largest schools in the nation.

(02:40):
And so we are, as of today, one year and
seventy two days old.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
But who's counting, right?

Speaker 2 (02:47):
I was just gonna say, I can't tell who's counting?

Speaker 6 (02:48):
Yeah, yeah, but who's counting it? And when people ask
me what it is exactly? You know, I do a
lot of stuff nationally and people say, what's going on
in Connecticut? And I guess one of the things that
I'll say is if you were to launch community college
in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, now what would
it look like, right, And it wouldn't be what we
created fifty years ago when most of us were founded,

(03:10):
you know, with twelve ruggedly independent community colleges, etc. So
what we've done is we've you know, created this new
modern day community college. You'll hear a little bit about
how equity is at the center of it, right, best practices,
things that we're able to do at scale that in
the past, what we wouldn't have been able to do

(03:32):
once again as twelve independently accredited institutions.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
And so that's what it is.

Speaker 6 (03:36):
Please to share that, you know, we just got our
latest enrollment figures yesterday as a matter of fact, and
our enrollment is up three percent over this time last year.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
That's the aggregated enrollment.

Speaker 6 (03:50):
And so we're at thirty six three hundred and sixteen
students across you know, all of our different locations capital
and please this year we're actually up up to nineteen percent.
And that's yeah, thanks, It's a big deal for us,
and it's a function of responding to the needs of
the state. We actually grew our nursing program by forty students, right,
and so you know, each year we would enroll in

(04:13):
the past about one hundred and sixty year one students.
This year we have two hundred, and that's a really
big deal. We have two cohorts of one hundred, which
is a different model. We're excited and optimistic about the
outcomes and pass and retention rate. So that was one area.
And then we also grew online education for our institutions.
So we have students that might be live in Norwalk, right,

(04:34):
and they're taking online courses with us. You know, Kinnecticut
has rural areas where often times individuals may have a
difficulty getting to one of our campuses, and so now
they're able to take online classes. So we have students
from all over the state enrolled at Capital this semester,
and that's part of that percentage increase. And then the
last thing I'll say is that we are one of
the most diverse institutions nationally too. And so some additional

(04:58):
figures in terms of the percentages. We are a Hispanic
serving institution, and by the federal definition, a Hispanic serving
institution has over twenty five percent of its students identifying
as being of Hispanic descent. Right, So across Connecticut state
we're at thirty three percent.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Wow, that's great, right.

Speaker 6 (05:17):
We are our seventeen percent of our students identify as black,
four percent Asian, thirty eight percent white, and then eight
percent very multiple or unknown. Right, So we are over
a majority minority institution, an MSI and also an HSI.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
So that's very exciting.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, as a part of our idea, and I think
even more impressive to some of those numbers in growth
is you know we're hearing in the news now that
kind of there's been a little bit of a pullback
in terms of you know, applications and admissions to colleges
and universities. So to have that growth across the board
and the huge growth at Capital, that's truly incredible.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (05:50):
Well, the other key cog in that enrollment growth is
that community colleges in Connecticut are free, right, and so
we thanks to our legislator legislature out to all of
our folks over there in the Capitol that really saw
the value added and community colleges as a part of
the really the backbone and the spine of our state
and our students. You know, they're born here, many of them,

(06:12):
but they stay here many of them. You know, new
arrivals that come here and they find a home in
our amazing state and they come through our community colleges
and so so part of that growth also is, you know,
the wisdom you know that our legislature deployed in creating
a way for our community colleges to be free to
the residents of the state.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Definitely, no excellent point there, and we'll definitely touch more
on that pipeline here, which has been creative I think
so important there. But first, Carl would love to get
a little bit of an insight about your role at
the college.

Speaker 5 (06:43):
So we're entering our sixth year with our Center for Diversity,
Equity and Inclusion, Okay, and so we have been the
vanguard of the twelve campuses in focusing on these efforts.
We were fortunate enough to get a grant from the
Harper Foundation for Public Givings to do a planning grant,
and through that planning grant, we came up with a

(07:05):
three year implementation plan and it has four strategies for
creating a more equity minded or equity focused campus. Okay,
So That's what I'm in charge of at Capital.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
So not much to do, right, I'm sure twiddling fantastic
And Duncan, it was great. You gave us a lot
of great statistics on kind of that student base and
really who attends Capital if you don't mind talking a
little bit more on you know, individuals who it's who
grew up here are from Connecticut. And also if you
could talk a little bit about Hartford. I think I
heard you speak at an event a couple of years
ago and was so impressed with just the amount of

(07:38):
individuals who were born and raised in Hartford who then
are going to Capital. Would love if you could highlight
out of it.

Speaker 6 (07:43):
Yeah, I mean, so when you look at at Capital's headcount,
we're roughly around and we'll get the final figures about
twenty five hundred students that are are identify Capital as
their home campus.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
That's the way we can do it right now.

Speaker 6 (07:54):
Out of that twenty five hundred, over seven hundred have
Hartford zip codes, okay, right, and so this is home
for them, you know, and and they're from you know,
the city that we love and from the neighborhoods that
make up Hartford, and so so Capital plays a key
role as the primary educator of undergraduate students that have

(08:15):
Hartford zip codes. Right, So I'm a proud Husky, right,
you know, I went to UK and things like that,
you know, so shout out.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
But and I also went to Central so I'm also
a blue devil.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
Right.

Speaker 6 (08:25):
But when you look at the sector of public higher
education in the state or nationally, and you were to
assess where individuals that reside in Hartford where the most
undergraduate they're at at ct State Capital, right, And so
if you're trying to have an impact and move the needle,
you know, as it rate relates to on ramps to
to access an opportunity, oftentimes they come through our building.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Which is a shout out to everybody who grew up here.
You know, the old g Fox I used to go
all the time. Yeah right, you know it's to.

Speaker 6 (08:52):
Shop there and buy my Benetton or whatever we were
wearing back then, a Coca Cola and so. But but
now it's it's Hartford's Community College camp. You know.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
We we do amazing work.

Speaker 6 (09:02):
We had a study done a number of years ago
where we talk about capital's role in moving individuals out
of poverty or up in terms of income quartiles. Okay, right,
We actually had a study done by by folks out
of Harvard. They came and they were pulling data and
they looked at it and this idea of that if
somebody who lives in O six one two oh or

(09:22):
O six one, O one one two oh or O
six one O six.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
Or Carl zip code which is one one four.

Speaker 6 (09:28):
One four hart Ford resident that by coming to Capital
they're able to kind of, you know, improve the likelihood
of them moving up in terms of the income quartiles.
So they come to us, they get a great job
at one of the hospitals or Travelers or Etna or
working for the city, and they're able to provide for
themselves and the families in a very different way.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
That's great. Yeah, so great for our community, for a
capital city and really for the region. And Carl want
to circle back a little bit, you know, on that
diversity piece, because certainly, you know, incredible to see the
diverse group that you have of students. If you a
little bit kind of some of the goals that you
really have to ensure that continues and that's something that's sustainable.

Speaker 5 (10:05):
Well, the terms diversity, equity, inclusion, and the various contexts
are in it changes. So in the business community it's
one thing, and they hire it it's another. And so
we're looking at how to, like I said, how to
create a more equity minded campus so that our students
have a greater sense of belonging, not only our students
but staff and faculty. And when that happens, we all
know that people are more successful, more productive, and so

(10:28):
that's kind of our goals, okay, And so that when
students feel comfortable, they're more likely to stay and be
successful and complete their certificate and degree programs. So we
have these four strategies. The first one is our Equity Center,
and that is a place where students can go to
get supports that are non academic but essential supports for them.

(10:48):
So many of our students are academically equipped but are
dealing with tough issues of having to take care of parents,
have childcare issues, of a variety of barriers that traditionally
have kept them from being successful or prolonging their their
stay at the college. And so this center focuses on
providing microgrants, providing book scholarships. We have mental health services,

(11:12):
we have a food pantry on campus, so we have
a variety of services helping them learn more about finances.
We also have a screening where they can learn about
all the benefit programs they and their family members are
eligible for, so that we can make sure that they
have the finances so they can stay in school. The
second thing is what we call DEI learning, and that's

(11:33):
professional development for staff and faculty, but also cultural activities
and the discussions we have. We have had Common Reads.
It's connected to other programming that we have at the college.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
We have.

Speaker 5 (11:47):
Ensis Latinas Initiative, which is focusing on Latino or Hispanic culture.
We also have a Black Heritage Project, our Pentiteen lecture
series on Common Reads related to the speakers and discussions
about identity and how that all plays out. The third
one is collecting what I call DEI data, so making

(12:11):
sure that we're collecting information about our students so that
we can then impact policy and advocate for our students.
Is because they're traditionally there are barriers and so there
are structures in place, and so with this information we
can use that to change some of that, so remove
these barriers. And it not only affects our students at Capital,

(12:34):
but for all students in the state.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
I was going to ask if that data is used
elsewhere as well.

Speaker 5 (12:40):
That's the intent. So it's a lot of data, it's
a lot of information. Quantitative data is good, but we
can't always attribute the success of our programming to that,
and so we're doing more qualitative data and initial results
are showing that these interventions are having a significant impact
on our students.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Okay, nice, And as you look at kind of this,
you know, I'll call it a journey, as you know,
over the last set handful of years, you know, duncan
kind of really what are some of the things you've
taken as kind of key takeaways that you've learned kind
of throughout this. You know, I'm going to say transition.
I don't know if that's exactly the right word, but
you know, kind of through this process.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, I think. So this is year seven for me
at Capital.

Speaker 6 (13:21):
So I actually in my twenty ninth year working cause
so I prior to it to coming to Capitol, I
worked at Manchester across the bridge, right, So I was
there for twenty two years and then I came to
Capital in twenty eighteen July twenty and eighteen, and so
so there's been you know, pretty substantive significant change during
that that seven year period. Of course, you know there

(13:42):
was the pandemic, you know, and the COVID. I actually
get extra credit for the extra time, so that's like,
you know, so it's seven but it feels.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Like you know, yeah exactly, yeah, you get bonus here.

Speaker 6 (13:52):
Yeah, I get bonus yares for that like dog years
and so so there was that piece. But then that
the merger was significant, and it was tough on folks.
You know, you have a school that was you know,
had school pride and and you know alumni and faculty
that you know worked there and you know, blood sweat
and tears and standing the place up and pouring themselves
into the into So there was a period that we've

(14:14):
we've gone through, you know, an appropriate period of kind
of mourning but then also celebration, right and you know,
I was born in New Haven, grew up in Bloomfield.
My wife shout out to Garcia, Garcia Harris, my beautiful,
lovely wife.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
Good bye bonus. Yeah yeah, buonus points for that.

Speaker 6 (14:32):
But but yeah, so we've we've raised our family and
Windsor we've lived there for the last twenty one years,
and so I'm a nutmegger, okay, And and what what
we've done, I believe fervently is with CT State is
going to be good for folks that aren't even born yet, right, right,
And so so whatever we have to go through now
to support you know, our current students, but the generations
that come off in terms of this new model for

(14:54):
access to to education and careers to.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
Not just make it, but to thrive.

Speaker 6 (14:58):
Right, so, you know, me wages and enough, you know,
we need, you know, twenty three plus to make sure
that individuals, you know, aren't working two or three jobs
just to kind of pay rent and their lighting bills. Right. So,
so that's what we're what we're building, and I feel,
you know, very passionate about that that it will be
empirically a good thing, you know what we've what we've done,
and it's taken us a while, you know, so like

(15:20):
over five or six years to really to stand this up.
But but the you know, trains left the station, I
think we're headed in the right direction for the for
the good of the folks in the state that we love.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
That's great, and Carl would love from your perspective kind
of where do you see what's next and kind of
you know that next if we were to put you know,
set up ten polls, you know, kind of what do
you see in the in the near future.

Speaker 5 (15:40):
Well, there's no guidebook, okay, So we have been kind
of looking at research and looking at other institutions, but
there's been no guidebook. And I think we've done a
good job pulling together programming for our students. And so
now that we have the merger and CT state, so
there's a new office of DEI for that, and so

(16:02):
again they're looking at how they're going to set up
the DEI efforts for the new community college. Okay, So
I think that what we're doing is going to be
a model for what's happening what will happen across the state.
And we're about to embark on an equity audit which

(16:22):
is going to look at equity at every level of
the college. Okay, So I think that's going to be
very revealing and informative, and so this will definitely have
an impact on how pretty much anything happens at the college.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Very nice, great, Well, next, I kind of want to
transition over, you know, to that talent landscape, and you know,
certainly a hot topic, and I say on the show,
no matter what, sometimes the initial conversation starts out as
we somehow ended up end up talking about talent. And
you know, so for today certainly a big piece of this.
So Duncan first off, would love to hear from you
just kind of from your vantage point, sort of what
you're hearing from the business community in terms of what

(16:59):
is the High Ring landscape look like at this point
in time.

Speaker 6 (17:02):
Yeah, well, you know where where I get calls every
week really from employers that are challenged with finding equally
important keeping talent. Seems like there's a there's a mindset
often times where we don't have company men and women
you know, who intend to set up a stake in
a company and work there their entire lives, right, So

(17:23):
there's there's a different mindset, and so companies are are
getting more adept and.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
Used to kind of some of the churn, right.

Speaker 6 (17:31):
You know, there the reality that they need to create
environments where people feel valued. You know, Carl talked about
belonging of employees is important. They need to see themselves off.
And I conducted a survey of a couple of students
as it relates to what they look for in a company.
And it was interesting because it wasn't just salary, right, Yeah,

(17:54):
they were talking.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
About alignment with their values and morals.

Speaker 6 (17:59):
Are the average age of our students is twenty eight
at Capital, right, and so they talked about a recognition
of the importance of family and family being a priority.
So it was really interesting to collect some of that data.
I shared that with some of our employers, you know.
And the other thing that that's shifted. And we have
a few kind of example oars of companies that we
work with where where we start with the In the past,

(18:24):
oftentimes higher ed would kind of go off on their
own and prepare students without folding in, you know, the
end point, which is what the employer needs and the
skills et cetera, you know, to be successful to employees.
So we would say, right, well, here's what we think
you need to know to go to a job. But
we've we've really flipped that and re engineered it now
so we will pull companies in and this is their

(18:46):
anti They got it anti up in terms of the
time like that, right, and they put their chips in.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
We put our chips in. As it relates to building.

Speaker 6 (18:52):
Curriculum they need to. Oftentimes they'll even provide instructors. So
we have a program with ever source. Right. As a
matter of back, Thursday will be graduating our fifth co
work of ever.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Source line workers.

Speaker 6 (19:04):
Right. And in twenty twenty, Eversource came to us. They said,
you know, I guess part of the issue cartoon, you know,
people flying in line workers every time there's a weather event.
And so they there was there was they had a
will to develop local talent that could do that work.
Great jobs, and so they came to the table and

(19:25):
we have an eleven week program. Part of the programs
online we actually hire Eversource staff to serve as instructors. Nice, right,
students will go out to their site and learn. But
learning they're climbing the polls and learning about the electricity
and they're doing the theory piece, you know, through our
instructors online. Right.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
And so that was a different model.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, but I like it. This is I mean, incredible
opportunity for individual.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
Incredible opportunities, great jobs.

Speaker 6 (19:52):
All the overtime, ever Source will pay for them to
go back to school. Now they're not guaranteed a job,
but imagine I've done this program for eleven weeks, trust me,
I'm probably first in line.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yes.

Speaker 6 (20:01):
And the other thing is that they'll they'll only reach
out to us when they need a cohort, okay, right,
So there's not right and they'll say, all right, well
we're about to staff up, okay, and we'll roll out cohorts.
We actually have had cohorts in the southern part of
the state too at CT State Who'satonic in Bridgeport, and
those line workers would work the southern part of the state.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
Nice.

Speaker 6 (20:22):
So that's just just one example of kind of this
this symbiotic kind of relationship, this partnership mutually beneficial partnership
that we developed with various companies, right, which is a
different model.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
And understand there's other kind of relationships. And probably to
talk about all the relationships you have, we'd need several
hours for the show, but we'd love I know there's
some you know, kind of more corporate jobs basically hard
for it that there. You've had some you know programs
for many years. If you could highlight a couple of those,
that'd be great.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Yeah, let me give you two.

Speaker 6 (20:49):
Right, So, so, of course are one of our flagship
programs is our Traveler's Edge program, yes, which is which
is over twenty years old now, right, and so there's
the program. Individuals that are interested in aspire to have
careers in business would come to us. They're majoring in
you know, management, finance, accounting, et cetera, some of the

(21:09):
computer fields that they'll become and compete to get into
the EDGE program.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
And the EDGE program they have mentoring coaching.

Speaker 6 (21:18):
They work full time during the summer, so there's an
intern you know component to it. Travelers pours themselves into
the program and resources. They pay for them to continue
their education so they'll get their social's degree and then
they're working every summer and then they'll Travelers will pay
for them to continue to complete their back galaureate degrees.
And then once again, of course, an individual that has

(21:40):
worked for Travelers you know, for consecutive summers and over
time to this period, you know, is likely to be
a successful candidate when they're applying. So they're really gearing
them up to roll right into the company. And we
now have individuals that you know, kind of started at Capital,
but they're in the suite, the C suite now you know,
they're execute Yeah, they're executive cases. Yeah great, Yeah, and

(22:03):
then the other program that I'll talk about is our
Accenture program. Yes, right, And so Accenture came to the CSCU,
I guess there's probably two years ago now, right, And
they had a model where they have hubs of talent
hubs across the nation. So there's one in Columbus, I

(22:24):
believe there's one in like Houston. That they'd partnerships with
community colleges. And what accentrire realized was that you don't
have to have a degree from Bentley Bryant or you know,
an elite business school in order to come into their
company and be successful and add value, right. And so
what they have developed is a different way to develop

(22:47):
and mind talent. And all they say is that you
have to at least have your your high school diploma, right,
and then they'll it's a very competitive program. So we've
we've had cohorts of sixteen, but there might be you know,
sixty seven people, sixty seventy people that apply for those
sixteen slots right to get into their prentice program.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
And uh.

Speaker 6 (23:06):
And so I'll give you the story of Kayan, who's
you know, a gentleman who had come to Capital actually
to pursue our Morehouse program. We have a bridge the
Morehouse program, which is amazing. H And but but kayan brilliant,
you know, gleam in his eye, and he grit motivated.
He competed for the Accenture program right, and was offered

(23:27):
one of the sixteen slots in the inaugural class. And
he said, hey, doctor Harris, you know I came here,
you know, to go to Morehouse. But but you know,
Eccentric picked me, you know, for this program five thousand
dollars signing bonus, you know, paying them hourly, you know,
the mid twenties in terms of you know, for twenty
five dollars an hour, you know, training badges, all these
kinds of things that that that they're invested in. And

(23:49):
I said that, Kay, And I said, Kay, on the
job opportunity that you have in this in this year
longer prentice program is the job individuals coming out of
Morehouse with a degree in finance management or counting or
trying to get right. That's you're eighteen years old, right,
you could get this job now and and Eccentric will
pay for you to go back to school in the

(24:10):
Central Yukon or wherever you're going to go order more
else's online program.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
Right.

Speaker 6 (24:14):
So, so he took advantage of the opportunity. He was
one of the first sixteen Accenture offered all sixteen students
in that first cohort a permanent placement. Wow, that's all
sixteen are now employees with the eccentric you know, with
four one k's and the ability once again to provide
for themselves and family and kind of this trajectory. And
once again we're not diminishing the value of the potential

(24:36):
backclaoriate degree in anyway, but just this idea that there
are other paths.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Correct, definitely, definitely, And you know, Carl would love your
take on too, is you know, as you're looking at
bringing a diverse population of students, is how much are
these programs really, you know, incentivizing someone who maybe didn't think,
hey at first, you know, okay, I'm thinking of going
to Capitol or I'm thinking to go to kind of
further my education at all. How much were these programs
playing a role there in that decision making.

Speaker 5 (24:59):
Well, I think that what we're doing, or any institution
of higher education, is opening opportunities in a vision for
what possibly could happen and when you look at traditionally
marginalized groups who have not been able expose to that vision.
Capital does that right. They get a chance to see
and interact with people who are you know, different than them,

(25:23):
even though they may come from they're people of color,
they may not have diversity in their lives, and so
they're being presented with that as well at Capital. And
so we have many opportunities, whether it's in the business
community or in our theater program with the Harvard Stage, etc.
We have lots of opportunities that they're being exposed to.
So my job is to help them stay in school

(25:46):
with the and have a greater sense of belonging.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
That's great, And you know, another big piece and we
have a couple of minutes left here is you know,
it's also kind of that keeping those students engage is
the faculty and you know, and you've done a lot,
you know, to really make sure that there's a lot
of efforts kind of fostering a great culture. And if
you could touch a little bit on that, Tounkan.

Speaker 6 (26:05):
Yeah, well, well, one of the most think important things
that I do is is decide who gets the privilege
to have access.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
To our students right, and very well said I like, yeah.

Speaker 6 (26:15):
It's the privilege, it's not a right, right, right, And
so I take that very seriously. One of the best
jobs in the world to be frank as a faculty member.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
If I had my.

Speaker 6 (26:24):
Brothers, I would have probably wouldn't be a college president
or CEO, but I'd have a classroom and be able to,
you know, ignite a fire in the belly for a
particular discipline in students. And so it's an amazing job.
But one of the things that I asked all fin
so I interview all finals. There's a committee, you know, colleagues,
and then they'll refer finals to me. But I ask
all individuals, of course about the mission of community college

(26:47):
and make sure that there's alignment there that they get
what we do, right.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
But then I ask them why capital and why Hartford?

Speaker 4 (26:55):
Right?

Speaker 6 (26:55):
You know there are other jobs, yeah, And oftentimes you
know that response I weigh equally to you know, proficiency
and their teaching ability and their discipline. Right, Why do
you want to work here?

Speaker 4 (27:09):
Right?

Speaker 6 (27:09):
You know, why should I decide that you will have
this privilege to have access to these minds that are
entrusting their futures to you. Right, And so that's a
big piece about and we have currently we have a
sixty full time faculty. Overall, we have one hundred and
fifty seven full time staff, you know. And I asked

(27:30):
the staff that same question, right, so I interview all
you know and why do you want to work here?

Speaker 1 (27:34):
Right?

Speaker 4 (27:35):
Right?

Speaker 6 (27:35):
And invariably we've assembled an amazing team. You can imagine
in seven years, you know how many people you know,
I've been privileged to grant the opportunity to have access to,
you know, supporting our students. And whether that's the police
officer who keeps our building safe and asks students how

(27:55):
they're doing and smiles at them when they come in
and knows them by a name Carmen shout out to
Carmen and Scottie and the crew, right, Or it's it's
a faculty member, you know, like Clear Role who's a
brilliant uh you know PhD who teaches biotechnology, African American
female who is you know, creating ladders in stem fields

(28:17):
for you know, underhistorically underrepresented groups, right or or Karen
Gilbert who does an amazing job of making sure and
bringing in resources so that we could give you know,
micro grants that Carl was talking about that keeps students
in school or others, right, and so so we I've
got an amazing group of loving we love our students, right,

(28:39):
and caring people that recognize how important the work that
we do.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
It's it's life changing work.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Definitely, noble work. Noble work definitely is well, thank you
so much for that. And where can listeners go to
learn more about CT State Capital?

Speaker 6 (28:54):
Yeah, and so you're going to go to our website
www dot dot ct state dot ed you right, and
you could. All twelve campuses are identified on that website,
so you can click you know once again, individuals apply once,
but you take classes at any campus, which is amazing, right,
free community college, right, So individuals go on, if you've

(29:15):
gone to a Connecticut high school full or part time,
I mean in terms of enrolling full part time, but
you have to attend the Connecticut high school or GDED
in Connecticut and you can go for free.

Speaker 4 (29:25):
So just going back, Yes, yeah, good, it's the place
to be. I hope that came through in thirty minutes
that we got it going on. We did, Yeah, we
got it going on over there, and so.

Speaker 6 (29:36):
But yeah, no, it's just amazing hope. I hope that
came through in the last thirty minutes, but that it's
you know, it's not just work, it's a special place.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
Definitely, No, definitely did so. And thank you so much
for the conversation today. Really appreciate both of your time
and you know, and the efforts you're putting in in
your team as well to kind of, you know, make
our region, our state, you know, a better place to live,
work in place. So thank you guys, so much.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Awesome, Thanks a.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Lot, of course, of course, for all the details about
today's show, you can visit Pulse offthregion dot com. A
big thank you to our show partner Okill and of
course thanks to you for listening. I'm Kate Bauman. Go
out and make today a good day here in Connecticut.