50 Reasons We’re Proud to be Owls

1. Southern’s student-faculty ratio is 12:1.
2. About 125 student clubs/organizations continue to connect students while maintaining social distancing: 1,100 students participated in the Virtual Involvement Fair held in Sept. 2020.
3. The retention rate in Southern’s Honors College is well above 90 percent – in step with many of the most-selective private institutions of higher education.
4. All first-year students accepted into the Honors College receive a merit-based scholarship covering one-half to full in-state tuition, beginning with the Class of 2020.
5. There were 52,000 visits to the Academic Success Center in 2019-20 for free services, including academic success coaching, tutoring, and the Peer Academic Leadership (PAL) program. In the latter, weekly review sessions are held for historically difficult courses.
6. The Academic Success Center works! 87 percent of students who completed academic success coaching requirements increased their GPA; 100 percent who attended five or more PALs sessions earned a higher grade than those who did not.
7. Southern has one  of “The 50 Best College Financial Literacy Programs for 2020,” the fourth year in a row for the honor. — LendEdu.com. Yale University is the only other college in Connecticut included on the list.
8. The nationally recognized Elm Shakespeare Company is Southern’s theatre-in-residence.
9. The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree program earned full accreditation this spring by the American Library Association (ALA). It’s the only accredited program of its kind in Connecticut and one of just three in New England.
10. Southern has 30 partnerships with distinguished universities worldwide. Fall 2020 study abroad programming is canceled due to COVID-19. Helping to broaden horizons, the Office of International Education is presenting “Owls In (Virtual) Flight,” a series of recorded conversations connecting Southern students with their peers at university partner institutions in Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and more.
11. An innovative trans-Atlantic partnership unites Southern and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). The partnership offers research internships, study abroad opportunities, and faculty exchanges when not influenced by COVID-19.
12. Southern typically provides 2,700+ experiential learning and workforce-prep opportunities for students each year. In response to COVID-19, Career Services is providing 10 virtual career fairs for the 2020-21 academic year, implementing a new practice interview platform, and integrating digital resources for networking and connecting virtually.
13. Graduates of the Class of 2019 nursing programs did exceptionally well on the National Council Licensing Examination for Registered Nurses (NYCLEX). The pass rate was 100 percent for the Accelerated Career Entry (ACE) Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) program and 95 percent for the traditional BSN program.
14. Graduates of the M.S.N. program had a 100 percent pass rate on the Family Nurse Practitioner Certification Examination in 2019.
15. Southern’s Department of Music earned accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) — becoming one of just six universities and colleges in Connecticut to hold the prestigious distinction.
16. Southern is home to the CSCU** Center for Nanotechnology, the only system-wide center for the field in the state.
17. Also housed at Southern, the Werth Center for Coastal and Marine Studies is the only CSCU** center dedicated to faculty-mentored student research that addresses environmental issues along the Connecticut shoreline and Long Island Sound.
18. Southern is an NCAA Division II athletics powerhouse, holding 80 individual titles and 10 team championships.
19. Southern is one of only 24 colleges/universities in the United States — and one of only two in Connecticut — accredited by the International Dyslexia Association for providing exceptional teacher training.
20. In 2017, Southern was honored by the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) as an Excellence Award Designee, which recognizes colleges/universities that best proactively use assessment data to strengthen undergraduate education.
21. The Barack H. Obama Magnet University School opened on campus in January 2020. The elementary school is a collaboration between Southern, the city of New Haven and its school system. As such, it is a rarity — uniting a public university with a public school system.
22. Southern received a federal grant of $3.68 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help improve the health of vulnerable populations in New Haven. The project is coordinated by the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE), which is co-housed at Southern’s College of Health and Human Services and the Yale School of Public Health. It is the largest grant ever received by Southern.
23. Approximately 300 members of the military community are attending Southern in fall 2020, including 245 veterans, 35 National Guard/Reservists, and 20 dependents.
24. About 650 first-year students typically volunteer at the annual Day of Service – just one example of Southern’s commitment to the community.
25.  Southern historically holds Social Justice Month, presenting about 100 events designed to further social justice education and awareness on campus.
26. Southern was designated the first breast-feeding friendly campus in the state and the nation. — Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition
27. Southern has lowered its carbon footprint for buildings by more than 50 percent since 2008 through energy efficiency, automated sensors and controls, and green energy purchasing.
28. Solar power provides approximately 8 percent of the electricity used at Southern — thanks to two multifaceted solar installations on opposite sides of campus. Combined they produce almost 2 megawatts of energy.
29. 100 percent of the electricity used on campus is eco-friendly — a combination of solar and Green-e-certified electricity.
30. Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification was awarded to two campus buildings: the Academic Science and Laboratory Building and the home for the School of Business. The certification recognizes construction and design meeting exceptional ecological standards.
31. The university composts about 45 tons of food scraps annually.
32.  Students and recent alumni were awarded the most prestigious national and international honors in recent years, including a Rhodes Scholarship (2020); four Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants since 2012; the Harry S. Truman Scholarship for “outstanding potential for leadership, commitment to public service, and academic excellence” (2020); the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship (2020); and an American Academy for the Advancement of Science [AAAS] Science and Technology Fellowship (2019).
33. Kenneth Walters, associate professor of psychology,  is the 2020 Mensa Foundation Distinguished Teacher of the Year. He is one of only three college professors to ever receive the honor.
34. Three 1st place finishes were awarded to Southern student teams at the Connecticut Venture Capital Investment Competition in recent years.
35. Jacob Santos, ’19, is one of only 14 in the country named a 2019-20 Newman’s Own Foundation Fellow, a program designed to provide young leaders with experience in the nonprofit sector.
36. Rigoberto Escalera, ’19, received one of two 2019 Legacy Awards from New Haven Promise. The award recognizes recent graduates who have demonstrated a deep commitment to their studies, fellow scholars, and the city of New Haven.
37. The College of Education is lauded for its exceptional teacher preparation programs and graduates — including Jahana Hayes, ’05, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year. Hayes went on to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and is the first African American woman to represent the state of Connecticut in Congress.
38. Alumni teachers and education administrators received many accolades in 2019 and 2020, including the Milken Educator Award (which carries with it a $25,000 prize), the Connecticut History Teacher of the Year Award, three Connecticut PTA Outstanding Administrators Awards, and the George Olmsted Jr. Class of 1924 Prize for Excellence in Secondary Education from Williams College.
39. In both 2018 and 2019, Southern student photographers were one of only two national finalists in the “feature photography” category of the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards, recognizing the best of student journalism in the U.S.
40. Southern students won numerous awards at the annual conference of the Society of Professional Journalists for Region 1, which represents universities throughout New England, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. They were honored for their work on Crescent Magazine and the Southern News student newspaper.
41. December 2019 graduate Karen Reyes-Benzi was the Yale New Haven Hospital’s 2019 Magnet Nurse of the Year.
42. In 2019, a group of 12 journalism students earned first place in the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists’ Excellence in Journalism Awards in the “health” category for a group project. The project was awarded the highest honor above all the major news outlets in the state in the Regional A division.
43. Astrophysicist Elliott Horch, who was recently named  a Connecticut State University System Professor, and Carolyn Thompson, who teaches geography as an adjunct faculty member, are this year’s J. Philip Smith Outstanding Teaching Award recipients. In addition, Carrie Michalski, professor of nursing, has been chosen as the Academic Advisor Award winner.
44. In 2019, just seven years after graduation, Jeffrey Nowak, ’12, realized one of the pinnacles of journalism success — membership on a news team honored with a Pulitzer Prize, the nation’s most prestigious journalism award.
45. Sandra Gomez-Aceves, ’17, beat out nearly 500 applicants to win one of twelve coveted spots at the 2017 ProPublica Data Institute, a seminar for journalist and journalism students. Gomez-Aceves was one of only three students chosen by the Pulitzer Prize-winning organization to participate.
46. Computer science majors Michael Solati and Robert Crowdis, ’19, won first place at the 2017 College Tech Challenge — standing out among many of the state’s top engineering and programming students. The duo won a $5,000 prize.
47. A Southern team was a semi-finalist in the 2017 American Marketing Association’s Collegiate Case Competition. Southern was the only institution of higher learning in Connecticut to score among the semi-finalists and finalists — and joined Providence College as the only two in New England.
48. There are 11,000 student members in the American Marketing Association (AMA), and recent graduate Julia Rotella, ’17, was one of the best, finishing second in the organization’s “Student Marketer of the Year” competition.
49. A Southern student team was one of only three from Connecticut to medal at the 2016 IGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition. Southern, the University of Connecticut, and Yale University each won bronze at the competition.
50.  Two Southern graduates were chosen among a total of 10 librarians from throughout the U.S. to receive the 2015 “I Love My Librarian Award,” sponsored by the American Library Association.

** Connecticut State Colleges and Universities