Fairfield County Business Journals 060115

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FAIRFIELD COUNTY

BUSINESS JOURNAL June 1, 2015 | VOL. 51, No. 22

19 | AN IMMIGRANT’S JOURNEY

22 | GOOD THINGS HAPPENING

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SHU adapts and grows A WELCOME MAT FOR THE ‘21ST-CENTURY LEARNER’

BY BILL FALLON bfallon@westfairinc.com

CORPORATIONS, TAKE YOUR MARKS u SEE PAGE 6

Stamford Mayor David Martin and Michael Cotela, executive director, Stamford Boys & Girls Club. Photo by Bill Fallon

FROM ITS 1963 FOUNDING BY now-deceased Catholic Bishop Walter Curtis as a Fairfield commuter school with nine professors and 173 students, Sacred Heart University has grown into a major New England campus, today housing 2,603 students and educating 7,000 across 70 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral disciplines. Among both its challenges and successes is the engagement of what Vice Provost for Special Academic Programs Mary Lou DeRosa called “the 21st-century learners.” “We were a sleepy commuter school,” DeRosa said. “But we arrived on the cusp of Vatican II” — the Catholic modernization push of the 1960s — “and we

embraced what was then called the nontraditional learners. Today we call them 21st-century learners.” DeRosa helps shepherd 700 to 800 of these part-time students through their studies during the spring and fall semesters. In the summer, that number shoots up to 1,000. The university in the 1990s was designed around four colleges: arts and sciences, business, health and education, and University College, which is where DeRosa works. Education has since splintered off and is its own entity, the Isabelle Farrington College of Education, making it the fifth college and leaving health as the stand-alone College of Health Professions. SHU’s new College of Nursing is college No. 6. Each college has its own dean. » SHU, page 4

Remaking it in America FORGING NEW WAVE OF MANUFACTURERS

BY DANIELLE BRODY dbrody@westfairinc.com AS MANUFACTURING EMPLOYEES AGE AND RETIRE, the gap between skilled workers and qualified replacements is catching up to the industry. A recent annual survey by the Manufacturing Alliance of Connecticut revealed hiring is one of manufacturing’s biggest challenges. “We have that problem and unfortunately

every company I know has that problem,” Bill Manthey, CFO/vice president of Bridgeport Fittings Inc., an electrical parts manufacturer, said. “What happens if you can’t find the skilled workers, you may not be able to take the jobs you might have.” MAC conducted its third annual survey during the first quarter of 2015 by collecting opinion data from more than 200 manufacturers in the state. Manthey, also the president of the MAC Board of Directors, said the goal of the survey was to formally pool data so the state legislature

can address industry needs and to inform the manufacturing community. Other challenges reported include overhead costs like energy and electricity, but the inability to find skilled workers is a limitation that could keep companies from growing, Manthey said. Kathy Saint, the fourth-generation co-owner of The Schwerdtle Stamp Co., a plastic design company in Bridgeport, said because companies outsourced and experienced economic down» MANUFACTURING, page 5

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