Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com December 22, 2014 • Hartford Business Journal 49 Industry Focus E c o n o m i c F o r E c a s t June 9 Connecticut law schools adjust to fewer applicants Fewer students across the country want to be lawyers, and Connecticut law schools are feeling the pinch of a diminishing applicant pool. Two of the state's three law schools are experiencing double-digit drops in ap- plications for the fall semester. Officials say an uncertain job market, exacerbated by negative media coverage, is making potential students shy away from what was once seen as a lucrative career. "The legal job market has suffered, and it hasn't quite fully rebounded yet," said Ed Wilkes, associate vice president and dean of law admissions at Quinnipiac Uni- versity School of Law. Combined with rising tuition and student debt, the trends have created a down- ward spiral for law schools nationally, Wilkes said. Law applications nationwide for fall 2014 are down 9 percent compared to last year, according to Law School Ad- missions Council (LSAC) data. That decline comes on top of years of plummeting interest: In 2004, nearly 100,000 people applied to law school; in 2013, that number dwindled to 59,400, according to LSAC. MArcH 27 Berger-Sweeney to be Trinity's first female head Hartford's Trinity College named Massachusetts scholar and neuroscientist Joanne Berger-Sweeney as its 22nd president in its 190-year history. Trinity announced Berger-Sweeney's hiring in March. She succeeded retiring Trinity President James F. Jones Jr. on July 1, becoming the first female and African-American head in Trinity's history. Berger-Sweeney, 55, who holds a Ph.D. in neurotoxicology from the Johns Hop- kins School of Public Health, served as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts since 2010. MAy 13 CCSU enters the MBa-degree fold Central Connecticut State University's business school launched a new master's in business administration program this past fall. The New Britain college's board of regents authorized the MBA program after the school's recent accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). In a nod to market demands for relevance and flexibility, pupils can specialize in accounting, business analytics, or create an individualized track toward an advanced degree, Shojai said. MAy 19 UHart charts new path Six years after it began, the University of Hartford has turned over to its board of re- gents a strategic plan that incorporates a top-to-bottom review of its mission, curricu- la, staffing and operations to intensify the private college's regional appeal to enrollees. President Walter Harrison says the collaborative, deep introspection and resulting vision for its future was precipitated by a 20 percent falloff in undergraduate enrollment. At UHart, some positions were eliminated along with a dozen or so fallow or dupli- cative degree programs — some with one, two or no students enrolled. & Happy Holidays From all of us at Why is Joe Zwiebel, publisher calling this important HBJ meeting and what is going on? Watch the Holiday video to find out! www.HartfordBusiness.com/holiday NO HBJ ISSUE DEC. 29th ~ Holiday Break NEXT ISSUE: JANUARY 5th, 2015 In Print. Online. In Person. www.HartfordBusiness.com Delivering Business.

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