Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 23, 2023 13 Having women and minorities lead colleges is also vital in sending a message to students, Free said. "There are a number of benefits to having diversity in leadership," she said. "It's important in providing an example so that students know that leadership is not limited by gender, race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. It's even more important because diverse (college) presidents see things differently and can take different approaches to a problem. There is often greater success with diversity because diverse people bring a broader perspective." Board directives Of course, ensuring leadership diversity starts with a school's board of directors, which is often in charge of major hiring decisions. Those who hire college presi- dents and other university leaders said gender and race are two of many factors that go into who is ultimately chosen for the top spot. Dan Toscano is chairman of UConn's Board of Trustees, which has 21 members, including seven women and six individuals who are non-white/Hispanic. Toscano played a key role in Maric's hiring as president of the state's flagship university. The school also hired Atlan- ta-based executive search firm Parker Executive Search to help with its recruitment efforts. UConn tasked the organization with finding diverse candidates, Toscano said. The school's national search yielded about 50 applicants and nine were interviewed. Maric ended up as one of three finalists; the other two were white men, Toscano said. UConn declined to provide a gender and racial breakdown of the 50 candidates, saying the search process was confidential. "We wanted to hire the best person for the job, but we also wanted to make sure we didn't miss people because we were too narrowly focused," Toscano said. "It was important to not limit yourself to sitting university presidents or provosts, something that many colleges and universities do. Candi- dates representing diversity are in high demand. We went beyond the presidents and provosts and came up with diverse candidates from a variety of different places, including a Black woman who was a sitting law school dean. She was a viable candidate. It was a completely open playing field with many diverse candidates." Maric, who at the time of the search process was UConn's interim president, was, in the end, the best candidate, Toscano said. "We were thrilled that the best person suited for us just happened to be a woman," he said. "Being a woman is still identified as an underrepresented class. She is also an immigrant to this country (from Serbia) and she brings a sense of awareness and empathy for others." JoAnn Ryan, president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Board of Regents, which oversees four state univer- sities, community colleges and the online Charter Oak State College, was on the search committee that eventually hired Cheng and Maduko to their leadership roles. Ryan, also CEO of the North- west Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, said it was important to get a strong, diverse candidate pool. Ryan emphasized that both Cheng and Maduko were more than qualified for their respective jobs. "We were so fortunate that the individuals we selected came from a background different from ours," Ryan said. "They could enhance and add so much to the culture and, having people from different ethnicities and diversity is really key in attracting and retaining students." Room for improvement While colleges have made strides in diversifying their top ranks, they still have more work to do when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion, said Fred McKinney, partner and co-founder of Trum- bull-based economic consulting firm BJM Solutions LLC. McKinney spent 25 years on the faculty of four colleges and univer- sities, including the UConn School of Business and Quinnipiac Univer- sity. He also served on the board of New Haven-based Gateway Community College. He said colleges in general are "still lacking faculty representation of Black and brown people in their departments." Since presidents often work their way up from a faculty position, it behooves colleges to do a better job in attracting minority professors and staff, McKinney said. "They need to do a better job at getting young people interested in pursuing academics," McKinney said. "They need to go into middle schools and high schools and build that pipeline. Share this information with young people and let them know there is a good career for them and the oppor- tunity to make a good living as a university professor." In addition, McKinney said, colleges need to focus on diversi- fying their boards, since they make the hiring decisions. He said that while most college boards are more diverse than they were 20 years ago, "they are still not where they should be." Fred McKinney Dan Toscano Diverse Leadership Here's a look at some of the women and minority presidents leading higher-education institutions in Greater Hartford ZULMA R. TORO President Central Connecticut State University Education: Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, University of Puerto Rico; master's degree in industrial and operations engi- neering, University of Michigan; graduate certificate in computer integrated manufacturing systems; Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology Age: 63 By Robert Storace rstorace@hartfordbusiness.com A t the helm as president of New Britain-based Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) since January 2017, Zulma Toro comes from a background in engineering and research. Toro, who was born in Puerto Rico, not only broke barriers in the engineering world as the dean of the College of Engineering at Wichita State University from 2005 to 2013, she became the first woman and woman of color to lead CCSU as pres- ident. The university was founded in 1849, and up until Toro took the reins in 2017, all the presidents had been white men. "The key to my success is that my life has been blessed with mentors," said the 63-year-old Toro, who over- sees about 9,500 students, 35% of whom come from underserved groups. "Most of my mentors saw potential in me and helped me get the profes- sional development I needed to be a university administrator. That was key. The message to young women is that if I did it, you can do it. Hard work pays off and being mentored is important." Immediately prior to joining CCSU, Toro was the executive vice chan- cellor and provost at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. At CCSU, Toro has overseen the expansion of the university's physical and technology infrastructure, and manages an annual budget of more than $240 million. Noting that the populations of New Britain and many surrounding towns are diverse, especially with a large Latino community, Toro said CCSU will open a community clinic in late spring to address the needs of those in typically underserved groups. "The benefits of having a more diverse leadership at the top is that we've had the struggles and the challenges that our student population have and face," Toro said. "There- fore, we can design and implement programs to serve those needs." JOANNE BERGER-SWEENEY President Trinity College Education: Bachelor's degree in psychobiology, Wellesley College; master's degree of public health in environmental health sciences, University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D. in neurotoxicology, John Hopkins School of Public Health; postdoctoral, National Institute of Health in Paris, France Age: 64 By Robert Storace rstorace@hartfordbusiness.com I n 2014, Joanne Berger-Sweeney became both the first woman and first person of color to be named president of Trinity College, a liberal arts school that dates back to 1823. Berger-Sweeney, who was dean of Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences from 2010 to 2014, said it was her parents and mentors along the way that led her to have a career in education leadership. The 64-year-old Los Angeles native said her father, Paul, was one of the first Black attorneys in LA, and her mother, Arminta, was the first Black woman in a major metropolitan area to lead a Girl Scouts chapter as executive director. "My mother said I could be anything I wanted to be and my parents were great examples of what you could become with hard work," she said. "I also had great mentors who saw something in me and were always giving me good advice." Academia first became Berg- er-Sweeney's profession in 1991,

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