Hartford Business Journal

26 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | May 9, 2022 living on campus the following year dropped from 2,800 to 2,200. The school also had to spend millions of dollars on COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. It did recoup about $12 million from the federal government, but had to institute a significant cost-cutting plan to cover the remaining losses. Woodward said early retirements helped eliminate 72 positions. Seventeen staff — but no faculty — were let go and no programs were cut. "We streamlined the organization," Woodward said. "We are doing better on our business operations, we are tighter on our contracts, and we have outsourced a lot of things universities often think they can do themselves. … The total net pandemic loss was manageable within our annual budgets," and the school didn't have to tap its endowment to make ends meet. The school also recently sold the former 10.4 acre Hartford College for Women campus for $1 million, a move that will lead to longer-term savings on maintenance and other expenses. The university's annual operating budget is about $200 million, Woodward said. Moving forward, the strategic plan has numerous goals in how to maintain a sustainable budget. They include setting and achieving aggressive targets for major gifts, planned giving and philanthropy, increasing occupancy in residence halls, developing key partnerships — including with the private sector — for resource support, and enhancing international student recruitment and enrollment. International students are a popular target for schools because they typically pay the full cost of tuition and fees. UHart has also been actively adding new, in-demand programs to boost its sagging enrollment, including nursing, physical and occupational therapy, sports administration, aerospace and robotics engineering, business analytics and digital media and journalism, among others, Woodward said. He also believes investing in UHart's infrastructure, which the university has done the past several years, will attract more students. Martin Van Der Werf, director of editorial and education policy at Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, said UHart isn't the only higher- ed institution to face enrollment challenges. It's a nationwide trend that's been exacerbated by the pandemic. "The University of Hartford is caught up in the declining demographics in Connecticut and New England," Van Der Werf said. "There is also a lot of competition. There are so many schools in Connecticut and the region and it's hard to rise above the competition, such as against colleges like Yale, which have niches." Van Der Werf said most colleges can bounce back from COVID-19 if they are willing to make some changes. "They really have to look at their business model," he said. "Who do you want to attract, and will you look at new opportunities?" Those new opportunities, he added, could entail offering new programs, but also bringing older students into the fold. "Some colleges are moving forward with more professional and part-time programs for older students," he emphasized, a model that likely needs to be adopted by more colleges if they want to attract working professionals, an appealing demographic and customer base. Infrastructure investment UHart's strategic plan also calls for adding new buildings, teaching spaces and residence halls, something that's already started. The crown jewel of the $90-million campus face-lift is the 60,000-square-foot Francis X. and Nancy Hursey Center for Advanced Engineering and Health Professions, which opened in September. The center is equipped with specialized training technology for the engineering and healthcare fields. The university also has a renovated sports center; will have a $30 million wellness and recreation center; and there have been expansions to the Barney School of Business. There will also be new residence housing options beginning in the fall of 2022, when the Village Apartments open. Woodward said the school will begin a complete $20 million renovation of all seven quads — which house 207 apartments — when classes end later this month. The school also has a focus on increasing the racial diversity of faculty and staff and to provide ongoing mandatory diversity training and development. Woodward noted UHart recently hired its first-ever executive director of diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice. New minority faculty hires have also skyrocketed, he said. "It's gone from 10% of the new faculty hires being people of color in 2017 to today where 40% of new faculty hires are people of color," Woodward said. David Gordon, chair of UHart's Board of Regents since 2018, said this represents the first time in his 14 years with the school that he's seen a strategic plan as specific and planned out as the one undertaken under Woodward's leadership. Upwards of 400 people had direct input on the plan, which was approved by the board last winter and took effect at the start of the current academic year. "It's the first time I've seen a plan that sets such high-level goals and very specific actions to achieve those goals," said Gordon, a 1975 UHart alum who is a business strategy and development consultant and former executive at health insurer ConnectiCare. "It's a culmination of a lot of input from key constituents and from university faculty and staff." Gordon said he's optimistic the plan's goals – especially related to financial stability – will be met. "We will be successful," Gordon said. "We can absolutely get to financial sustainability. It will come from financial discipline and making sure we make the right financial decisions to achieve our goals. We will also succeed because of the investments we are making in our students." Focus UHart's Woodward: Move to Division III athletics still the right move By Robert Storace rstorace@hartfordbusiness.com T he University of Hartford Board of Regents' decision in May 2021 to transition the school's athletics program from NCAA Division I to Division III made statewide news and drew the ire and outrage of some students, alum and sports fans. It even led to a student-led lawsuit claiming UHart "reneged on its commitment" to student-athletes. Nearly a year later — and in the midst of a new five-year strategic plan — UHart President Gregory Woodward, who faced the brunt of the controversy, anger and outcry, said he stands by the decision to move to Division III because it's in the best long-term interests of the school. In March, the NCAA officially approved the transition, which will happen no later than Sept. 1, 2025. "As leaders of the University of Hartford, we are required to make decisions that are in the best long-term interest of the institution and the entire university community," Woodward said in an interview with the Hartford Business Journal. "The Division III intercollegiate athletics model better aligns with the university's mission and goals of creating exceptional academic athletes and wellness experiences for all students." The decision to move to Division III came on the heels of a university- sponsored study on the matter. The study — prepared by CarrReport and led by former UConn Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway — concluded the school was losing about $13 million annually on its athletics program and transitioning to Division III would save nearly $10 million a year. Critics tried to poke holes in the report's conclusions, arguing the savings would be much less, but Woodward and the Board of Regents moved forward with the plan anyway. The school's 17 athletic programs are currently competing in Division I but are not in a conference, while they await the move to Division III in a few years. Woodward spoke frankly about whether or not UHart needs to have a strong sports program to attract students. He said it does not. "Athletics is the lowest thing on the list of why students come here," he said. "Our sporting events are not very well-attended. We have athletes, great athletes and coaches and it's a sad thing to see excellence be unaffordable for us, but it is unaffordable for us." Woodward said UHart garners less than $500,000 a year in gifts for its sports programs. He said the university lost donors after the decision to move to Division III, but declined to disclose the financial impact. Meantime, Woodward said over the next two years, UHart will be adding field hockey, men's and women's ice hockey, and will be bringing back men's and women's tennis. David Gordon Manager is needed by SS&C Technologies, Inc. in Windsor, CT to validate integration of EVOLV system, update, and plug-in in client banking systems, and prepare SS&C Primatics Business Analytics components. Translate client data into functional specifications through EVOLV tools. May telecommute and work remotely from any location in the United States. Apply at www.ssctech.com/careers, select open position in the U.S. and sort by Job Title and apply, or mail resume and cover letter to: Jennifer Starrs, Talent Acquisition Manager, SS&C Technologies, lnc., 80 Lamberton Rd, Windsor, CT 06095 and reference job number R9740 in cover letter

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