Fourth Annual CSCU Conference on Student Success and Shared Governance

Khizr Kahn, Gold Star parent and author of An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Justice, will be the keynote speaker at the Fourth Annual CSCU Conference on Student Success and Shared Governance on Friday, April 13, in the Adanti Student Center at Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent St., New Haven. Mr. Khan will speak from 1-2 p.m.

The daylong conference titled “Preserving Access, Building Futures, Creating Justice,” will focus on educational initiatives and innovative support services that promote student success and feature more than 30 presentations by educators and administrators within the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system. It is presented by the CSCU Faculty Advisory Committee to the Board of Regents for Higher Education.

At 9 a.m. Mark Huelsman, a higher education policy analyst at Demos, will speak on the rising levels of student debt and college affordability. From 2-3 p.m., there will be a student panel of current and recently graduated CSCU students who overcame challenges and found opportunities as CSCU students. At 3 p.m., the Board of Regents Teaching and Research Awards  will be presented to CSCU faculty in the areas of teaching, scholarship, research, and shared governance.

Keynote speaker Khizr Kahn and his wife Ghazala made national headlines for a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention in July 2016. The speech evoked the memory of their son, Humayun, who was lost to a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004, and called for dignity and respect to those who give their lives for the nation. Mr. Kahn is an American citizen and graduate of Harvard Law School who was born in Pakistan. His 2017 memoir, An American Family, has earned praise and was named one of the five best memoirs of the year by The Washington Post.