“You can’t have a president every one or two years and expect that you’re actually going to provide the best service to students and to our state,” President Mark Ojakian said during a recent wide-ranging interview in his Hartford office. “You just can’t do that.”
Mark Ojakian
Posted inEducation
What cuts loom at your community college or regional university?
“This is a very challenging budget that we are looking at,” said Mark Ojakian, the president of the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system. “Times of crisis are a time of opportunity. We are going to have to do business differently. We are not going to be able to sustain even this level of funding in the future. It’s going to be tough.”
Posted inEducation
Board of Regents gives final okay to tuition hikes
The Board of Regents for Higher Education approved 3.5 to 5 percent tuition hikes for the 17 schools in the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system with only one dissenting vote.
Posted inEducation
Session Notes: State college system freezes hiring
The president of the state’s largest public college system announced a hiring freeze Tuesday to cope with mid-year budget cuts to the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system as the state closes its budget shortfalls.
Posted inEducation
Financial aid for undocumented students garners support
The Higher Education Committee, for the second year in a row, is expected to approve a bill that would open a $140 million pool of financial aid to undocumented residents at the state’s public colleges.
Posted inEducation, Money
College leaders decry proposed cuts; ‘It’s grim’ says Herbst
At many of the state’s public colleges – which collectively enroll 150,000 students – tuition could rise, course offerings would shrink, class sizes would increase, library hours would be cut and some degrees would no longer be offered, the state’s higher education leaders testified Wednesday.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CSCU president could have addressed protest instead of breezing by
Last Thursday, this year’s President of the Connecticut’s Board of Regents for Higher Education, Mark Ojakian, hurried past a large group of AAUP protesters outside of his scheduled Board of Regents meeting at the old Phoenix Insurance building on Woodland Street in Hartford. It probably never occurred to this right-hand man of the governor that he was presented with a rare opportunity. In Ojakian’s defense, his boss probably would not have seized the opportunity either.
Posted inEducation, Justice
CSCU seeks funding to offer college degrees to inmates
The state’s largest public college system is asking the federal government to fund degree-granting programs in nine of the state’s prisons. The programs would help inmates successfully return to society and boost falling enrollment at the state’s community colleges.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Interim CSCU president’s appointment is not about education
Many assumed the next president of the Connecticut State College and University System would have an extensive background in education. Some are disappointed with the recent news, but, the appointment of the Gov. Dannel Malloy’s chief of staff as interim president for the Connecticut State College and University System has nothing to do with education. My read of the tea leaves is that the appointment is based upon the primary strength of the appointee which is collective bargaining experience and budget and finance expertise.
Posted inEducation
Board of Regents names Ojakian as interim CSCU president
The Board of Regents for Higher Education voted Friday to name Mark Ojakian, the governor’s chief of staff, as interim president of Connecticut’s largest system of public colleges and universities.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Board of Regents planning for departure of its president
The Board of Regents for Higher Education, the governing board of the state’s largest public college system, is planning for the departure of its embattled president, Gregory Gray. It is unclear if the board intends to force his departure, but sources say they already have identified at least one candidate for interim CEO.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Ojakian to leave as Malloy’s chief of staff
Mark Ojakian, the chief of staff to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy since the second year of the Malloy administration, is stepping down later this year. But he may not be entirely departing: A source close to the governor said Ojakian will remain “a close adviser.” His name already has surfaced for an interim post in higher education.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Budget debate: Malloy’s ‘childish,’ but GOP’s a ‘comedy show’
Leaders of the legislature’s Republican minority condemned Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget Thursday as savaging the social safety net, but they declined to commit to offering their own alternative to the one by the Democratic administration. Zingers ensued.
Posted inPolitics
Free of campaign, Malloy tries a new narrative
CROMWELL – Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a politician who’s never gone long in reminding voters of the weak economy and fiscal crisis he inherited, seemed to turn a page Tuesday morning with a speech focusing on the new term that begins Jan. 7.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy taps Ojakian, Barnes and two commissioners for 2nd terms
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Thursday that Chief of Staff Mark Ojakian, budget director Benjamin Barnes, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith and Department of Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin B. Sullivan all will return.