Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • October 15, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Matt Pilon | mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com Health Care/Bioscience, Startups & Entrepreneurs, Government/Law and Energy HIGHER EDUCATION USJ program aims to graduate more low-income STEM students F or years, educators and researchers have studied why low-income, minor- ity and female students are underrepresented in college majors and jobs in the sci- ence, technology, engineer- ing and math fields. Now, the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford is hoping to put its mark on that discussion. USJ re- cently launched a federally- funded program in which it will provide scholarships and extra mentoring and support to an incoming cohort of biology, biochem- istry and chemistry stu- dents with hopes it will lead to better grades and higher degree completion rates. In all, two cohorts of 10 students this year and next — who come from low-income backgrounds but have been high academic achievers — will each receive $5,000. If they partici- pate in mentoring and networking events with faculty and senior students in their major, and maintain a 3.0 grade point average, they will receive an additional $5,000 per year for the remainder of their four-year program (a potential total scholarship of $20,000 per student). The project, which goes by the acro- nym CATaLYST, is funded by a $650,000 National Science Foundation grant. Melissa J. Marcucci, USJ associate professor and biology department chair, said she and her colleagues will track students' educational performances and outcomes, with an eye toward grades, graduation and retention rates, and how many students later enter the STEM workforce or graduate-level programs. The scholarship money is important, but Marcucci said extra and earlier mentoring and research experience will be crucial. "The idea is that we're mentoring them as professionals and adult peers, so that they understand how to envi- sion themselves in a professional role in STEM," Marcucci said. Low-income students in STEM bachelor's degree programs have higher rates of attrition than those who come from higher-income families, research shows. Using 2003-2004 federal data, the U.S. Department of Education found that nearly 30 percent of science, tech- nology, engineering or math majors in the lowest-income bracket did not complete their degree, a stark dif- ference from the highest- income bracket, which had a 15.4 percent attrition rate. USJ has long been focused on liberal arts, but that's started to shift in recent years. It launched a gradu- ate pharmacy program in Hartford in 2010 and is aim- ing to grow its overall STEM enrollment. USJ also just started enrolling male undergraduate students for the first time in its history. The NSF grant is actually the univer- sity's first since the 1990s, according to federal records. Marcucci said the grant program was competitive and that the Obama administration's ef- forts to increase the number of STEM graduates in the country has helped create a new push among colleges. She expects USJ to compete for more NSF grants in the future. "To be competitive and to do things well, federal monies are necessary," she said. GOVERNMENT Privatize DECD? Smith thought about it It's campaign season, so Con- necticut gubernatorial candidates are telling voters where they think state government could cut spend- ing and be more effective. So far, those ideas have included consolidating or even privatizing certain agencies, including the De- partment of Motor Vehicles. Unaffiliated gubernatorial can- didate Oz Griebel recently pitched the idea of privatizing the Depart- ment of Economic and Community Development (DECD), an agency that oversees major corpo- rate incentive programs like First Five Plus, which uses bond funds to incentivize job retention and growth. It turns out DECD Com- missioner Catherine Smith already explored that option about four years ago, shortly after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was re-elected to his second term. "I saw the benefits but I also saw the downsides," Smith said recently. "The biggest upside [to privatiz- ing] is there's more engagement by the private sector, and some states have done a good job on that." She added that it could also bring a certain nimbleness because pro- curement and other rules may not be as rigid. A potential downside, Smith said, is that the agency would be further removed from the will of the gover- nor and legislature. "If they can't control it, they might not want to invest in it," she said. Ultimately, Smith's biggest concern after her review was that privatizing could take the better part of a year, a process that would distract the agency from its core purpose of promoting development. She chose not to recommend the move to Malloy. INSURANCE Medicare Advantage open enrollment in CT The annual open enrollment period for Medicare Advan- tage kicks off Oct. 15. Insurers will be vying to retain their existing members, poach customers from competitors and enroll newly eligible (age 65-plus) Baby Boomers. As of September, there were more than 256,000 Con- necticut residents enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, a number that's been growing and is expected to continue to climb as the population ages. United Healthcare is the clear Medicare Advantage mar- ket leader in Connecticut, federal data show. Here's a break- down of the other major players: CT's largest Medicare Advantage insurers Insurer CT enrollment CT market share United Healthcare 106,874 41.6% Anthem 51,710 20.1% ConnectiCare 48,982 19.1% Aetna 40,435 15.7% CT enrollment total 25,6924 Note: United Healthcare's enrollment total includes Oxford Health and Sierra Health & Life policies. Source: CMS.gov, 'Monthly MA Enrollment by State/County/Contract'; data as of Sept. 2018 Catherine Smith, Commissioner, Department of Economic and Community Development Melissa Marcucci, associate professor of biology at USJ, is leading a new program that provides financial and mentoring support to lower- income STEM students. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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