Fairfield County Business Journal 052118

Page 1

SOOTHING THE RAVAGED SOLE

DOCTORS HONORED

PAGE

PAGE

2

12

MAY 21, 2018 | VOL. 54, No. 21

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

westfaironline.com

CT tourism industry to do more with less (again) BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com

T

he 2018 Connecticut Governor’s Conference on Tourism, held May 9 in Hartford, was “really great,” according to Randy Fiveash, director of the Connecticut Office of Tourism (COT). “We had attendance in the low 400s from the travel and tourism industry from all over the state, including a good-sized contingent from Fairfield County,” Fiveash said. A day later, the state legislature finalized its $20.86 billion budget — which included slashing the COT’s budget from $6.4 million to $4.1 million. “It means we need to focus on the most effective and efficient ways to maximize the reach of our message,” Fiveash said. “We’re evaluating all of our strategies to ensure that we can remain successful, and to work with the money we have in the most effective ways we can.” That Gov. Dannel Malloy used his remarks at the May 9 conference to question whether members of the legislature or the gubernatorial candidates from both parties fully understand the importance of the tourism industry was another sign, Fiveash said, that he’s “been a great tourism supporter and a great tourism governor.” Indeed, Malloy’s own budget proposal included $8.3 million for » TOURISM

6

Art on the go page 5

Tiffany Benincasa of C. Parker Gallery and Steve Desloge of Rockwell Art & Framing. Photo by Phil Hall.

CSCU’s Ojakian vows to continue consolidation fight BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com

M

ark Ojakian’s “Students First” plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in the Connecticut State Colleges

& Universities (CSCU) into one system may be down but — like the CSCU president himself — is evidently far from out. “I was very surprised” by accrediting agency the New England Association of Schools and Colleges’ (NEASC) decision not to implement the plan in late April, Ojakian said. “And I’ve been very vocal in my disappointment.” Ojakian said that, contrary to most news reports, NEASC did not “reject” Students First: “What happened was they received our report and chose not to act upon it.” Whatever the phraseology,

the fact remains that the NEASC did not pass the plan, which Ojakian continues to maintain would save nearly $28 million a year in administrative costs by eliminating some 200 administrative positions and combining curricula for more than 200 degree programs at the 12 community colleges, which include Norwalk Community College and Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport. In a letter to the CSCU announcing its decision, David Angel, chair of the NEASC’s Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, wrote that the plan wasn’t “just a substantive change” but would create an entirely new college system that would require a thorough vetting process, adding that it did not believe the vast changes involved could be accomplished by CSCU’s proposed 2019.

Mark Ojakian

“Because of the magnitude of the proposed changes, the proposed timeline and the limited investment in supporting the changes, the Commission is concerned that the potential for a disorderly environment is too high to approve the proposed Community College of Connecticut as a candidate » CSCU

6


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.