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 Welcome to The New President
Neil
Albert Salonen
Neil
Albert Salonen, Unanimously Appointed Ninth
President of the University of Bridgeport
Neil Albert
Salonen, former Chairman of the Board of Trustees
of the University of Bridgeport, was unanimously
appointed ninth President of the University
during an Executive Session of the Board of
Trustees in December. President Salonen succeeds
Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein, who has served as
President of the University since January 1995.
"The experience I bring to the University is
my ability to put teams of professionals together
and help them work in harmony toward a defined
goal," said President Salonen. Our goal at
the University will be to strengthen our already
successful programs and continue to give our
students a high quality undergraduate and
graduate education with a global
perspective."
The President noted that while he does not have a
background in higher education administration,
there has been a recent trend toward hiring
presidents who have strong managerial and
financial capabilities. He has served on the
University Board of Trustees since 1992 and has
been Chairman since 1995.
"The caliber of students, faculty and
administration at the University is outstanding
and they are extraordinarily loyal to the
institution," said President Salonen.
"One of my primary objectives will be to
increase the range of resources and opportunities
available to them and, in general, ensure the
smooth administration of the University. I've
been working with the campus community for the
past seven years and I know many of the
challenges facing it. I look forward to bringing
fresh approaches and expertise to meeting
them."
"Dr. Rubenstein has been an excellent
President and has restored confidence in the
academic stature of the University. I will be a
different kind of President and intend to focus
on a different range of issues,"said
President Salonen.
During a recent senior staff meeting, the
President outlined several areas of concern which
he will immediately address, beginning first with
budgetary issues and a review of our resources
and expenditures, while at the same time asked
the senior administrators to have an
entrepreneurial attitude in developing new
program offerings in strategic partnership with
admissions efforts.
He finished his address by asking the senior
staff to work on refining what he called, 'the UB
experience' and being able to articulate more
clearly our uniqueness - going beyond training in
a specific discipline to inspiring a commitment
to invest in the development of the global
community.
Mr. Salonen has served on a number of boards over
the years, most notably as Vice Chairman of the
Professors World Peace Academy, which is in
partnership with the University, and as President
of the International Cultural Foundation, which
spon- sors a number of programs and conferences
both in the US and abroad.
He is 54 years old, is married and has two grown
children. He was born in New York and grew up on
Long Island. He attended Cornell University and
graduated from the University of the State of New
York with a BA in political science in 1980. He
subsequently has done graduate work at the George
Washington University.
He and his family currently reside in Rockville,
Maryland, and will be moving to the Bridgeport
area as soon as possible.
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