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University of Bridgeport

Type	Private
Established	1927
President	Neil Albert Salonen
Academic staff	117 full-time
Undergraduates	1,791
Postgraduates	3,295
Location	Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA
Campus	Urban 50 acres
Colors	Purple and White
Nickname	File:Bridgeport Purple Knights.svg Purple Knights
Affiliations	ECC
Mascot	Purple Knight
Website	www.bridgeport.edu

University of Bridgeport is a private university located on Long Island Sound in the South Bridgeport section of Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. The University offers a broad range of standard, accredited, college and graduate level, art, science and professional degrees departments. It was the first American university offering the standard array of accredited programs to also offer an alternative medicine program. There are over 400 full- and part-time faculty, including Fulbright Scholars, National Science Foundation Fellows, Ford Fellows, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellows, American Council for Learned Societies Scholars and Phi Beta Kappa Scholars. The university has a student-faculty ratio of 18:1.

The university has had financial troubles in the 1990s and controversy when the trustees gave control of the institution to the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA), an affiliate of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, in order to save it from closure. Since then, the University of Bridgeport has heavily and aggressively recruited international students, largely unaware of university's past, its academic standing, its close connection with the Unification Church, or the city of Bridgeport. This has led to an unusually high number of international students and thus a high level of diversity, but it is not the most diverse institute of higher education in the country.

Accreditation

The University of Bridgeport is fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The University is also accredited by the Board of Governors of the Connecticut Department of Higher Education. The University gained full accreditation in 2004 after periods on probationary status.

History

Junior college to full university

Founder and first President Everett Cortright and Dr. Alfred Civillion Fones chartered the Junior College of Connecticut in November 1927 to expand the academic opportunities for local Connecticut youth. It was the first junior college chartered in the Northeastern United States. Cortright, the former superintendent of schools in Bridgeport and a professor of education at Columbia University, knew there was a great desire for higher education, given there were no colleges easily accessible to people in the region.

On the twentieth anniversary of the Junior College of Connecticut in 1947, the governor of Connecticut chartered the institution as a four-year university with authority to grant the baccalaureate degree. By that time, the P.T. Barnum estate at Seaside Park had been purchased. The Junior College of Connecticut was retained and the College of Arts and Sciences and the Colleges of Business Administration were established at once. These were followed soon after by the Colleges of Nursing, Education and Engineering. The legislature of Connecticut acknowledged the school's growth by renaming the institution "University of Bridgeport" in 1947.

The university's merger with the Weylister Secretarial Junior College of Milford, Conn., afforded additional expansion. The school became a division of the Junior College of Connecticut, as did the Fones School of Dental Hygiene which, at its inception in 1949, was the only such school in Connecticut and the second in New England.

The school began awarding master's degrees in 1951. Under President James Halsey, the university was among the first American universities to enroll a significant number of international students. In 1953, Arnold College merged with and was incorporated into the College of Education. Founded in 1886, Arnold was the oldest co-educational school of physical education in the United States. It was directed for many years by Dr. E. Herman Arnold, an eminent and pioneering educator.

The university had moved all of its operations from its Fairfield Avenue location to the campus at Seaside Park by 1950. There it occupied 22 acres of choice land that now has grown to 52 acres. An enrollment of almost 3,500 students included the first influx of international students. The university awarded its first master's degree in 1951 and its first doctoral program in Educational Leadership, in 1979, and added a Ph.D. degree program in Computer Science and Engineering in 2006. Two terminal, professional, alternative medicine programs in Chiropractic and Naturopathic Medicine were established in 1991 and 1996 respectively.

Expansion and decline

The University grew rapidly in the 1960s by capitalizing on the increased number of people seeking to attend a U.S. college resulting from the baby boom, Vietnam War veterans eligible for a higher education under the G.I. Bill, and international students who wanted to attend college in the United States. Enrollment peaked at 9100 students in 1969. Enrollment declined in the 1970s and 1980s after the waves of baby boom and Vietnam era veterans eligible for the G.I. Bill declined. By 1990, the University had cut tuition, room and board fees to $18,000 per year, but the school's reputation had not improved. More than a third of the 50 campus buildings were empty. To cut costs, the university decided to terminate 50 tenured faculty, and asked the other faculty to accept a 30% wage cut. This led to the longest faculty strike in the history of American higher education. Dr. Greenwood, the president at the time, quit abruptly. Standard & Poor's found that the university was in technical default on a $10.2 million loan from a consortium of local banks since it had not complied with loan conditions. They added that the University had exhausted its unrestricted funds, so they lowered the University's bond rating. Borrowing money became expensive and nearly impossible.

PWPA and Sun Myung Moon

Enrollment fell to 1,300 in 1991. The Board of Governors of the State Department of Higher Education, hereafter "the Board", found the university in non-compliance with several standards that year. Accreditation was granted for 2 years. The University was warned that it must comply with certain standard during this time. Debt rose to over $22 million in 1991-92. Trustees agreed to give control of the University to an affiliate of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA), in exchange for investing $50.5 million in the university. (The PWPA, founded by Sun Myung Moon, received about 90% of its funding from the Unification Church at the time.) Soon after the PWPA got involved, the Board evaluated the school for accreditation again. The Board was concerned that the PWPA might interfere with the academic freedom at the school, and called on the University trustees to create an independent, self-governing panel to oversee the school's operation to assure academic freedom. University trustees complied, but some of the Board was still concerned about the PWPA and academic freedom. So the Board rewarded the institution for making progress, but accredited the University for just 30 months; less than the standard 4 or 5 years accreditation, but longer than the previous 2 year accreditation. The University received 10 year full accreditation in 2004.

With the takeover of the university by the Unification Church imminent, the law school decided that Rev. Moon was an unworthy associate and severed any legal relations with the University. In order for the law school to remain open it had to merge with a financially-sound university. The law school faculty and students voted to merge with Quinnipiac University and the name was officially changed to the Quinnipiac University School of Law.

After the PWPA assumed control of the University, the trustees retained the president at the time, Dr. Edwin G. Eigel, Jr. (1932-2008). Eigel served as president till 1995. He was succeeded by educator and former PWPA president Dr. Richard Rubenstein, who served from 1995-1999. Neil Albert Salonen, also affiliated with the Unification Church, was the Chairman of the University's Board of Trustees when he was chosen to serve as ninth University president in 1999. Salonen originally studied engineering at Cornell, but later graduated in Political Science from the University of the State of New York. He attended a graduate program in international relations at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. Salonen had earned a Baccalaureate degree but no Ph.D. or professional degree. He has managed several Unification Church related organizations, serving as President of the Unification Church of America from 1973 to 1980, and as Chairman of the International Cultural Foundation prior to becoming the chief executive of the university.

The University of Bridgeport received funding from PWPA from 1992 until 2002. The University has been financially independent from PWPA since 2003. Other members of the Unification Church hold important administrative positions at the university; for example, the university's Board of Trustees includes Gordon L. Anderson.

Michael Tori, a professor at Marist College (Poughkeepsie, New York) cited the Unification Church's support for the University as a factor which helped the church gain more acceptance in mainstream American society.

Officers of the Board

According to the 2008 Annual Report:

• Frank N. Zullo – Tierney, Zullo, Flaherty & Murphy, PC
• Chung Hwan Kwak – Chairman and President, News World Communications, a media corporation owned by the Unification Church.
• Colin Gunn – Partner, Gunn, Godfrey & Allison
• Norge W. Jerome, Ph.D. – Professor Emerita of Preventive Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center. Vice-chair of the 1997 International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences and co-chair of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (now the Universal Peace Federation) conference Assembly 2000 , both run by Unification Church affiliates.
• Gordon L. Anderson, Ph.D. – Executive Director, Paragon House, a publisher owned by Unification Church affiliate Professors World Peace Academy.
• Michael D. Bromley, Esq.

Degree programs

The University of Bridgeport inaugurated its first doctoral program, Educational Leadership in 1979, and added a Ph.D. degree program in Computer Science and Engineering in 2006. Two terminal, professional, alternative medicine programs in Chiropractic and Naturopathic Medicine were established in 1991 and 1996 respectively.

Bridgeport became the first accredited American university with a focus on arts, sciences and professional studies to include a school of Acupuncture, Chiropractic, and Naturopathic Medicine. The school of Naturopathy is one of the five accredited naturopathic medical schools in the U.S.

The School of Arts and Sciences

• Biology (B.A., B.S.) With concentrations in: Chemistry, General Biology, Marine Biology, Pre-Chiropractic Studies, Pre-Dental Studies, Pre-Medical Studies, Pre-Naturopathic Studies, Pre-Veterinary Studies, Zoology.
• General Studies (B.S.) With concentrations in: Business Studies, Humanities, Internet Applications, Natural Sciences/Mathematics, Science, Engineering, and Computer-Related Fields, Social Sciences.
• Graphic Design (B.F.A.)
• Industrial Design (B.S.)
• Interior Design (B.S.)
• Literature and Civilization (B.A.) With concentrations in: Creative Writing, English, History, Interdisciplinary Studies, Philosophy, Psychology.
• Mathematics (B.A., B.S.) With concentrations in: Actuarial Mathematics, Computer Science, Natural Sciences.
• Music Arts (B.Mus.) With concentrations in: Jazz Studies, Music Business, Music Education, Music Performance.

The International College

• International Political Economy & Diplomacy (B.A.) With concentrations in: International Relations, International Studies.
• Mass Communications (B.A.) With concentrations in: Advertising, Communication Studies, International Communication, Journalism, Public Relations.
• World Religions (B.A.) With concentrations in: Conflict Analysis and Mediation, World Religions and Culture, World Religions and Service.
• Martial Arts Studies (B.A.) With concentrations in: Criminal Justice, Health Science, Business Track, Mass Communication, Asia Pacific Studies.
• Social Science (B.A.) With concentrations in: Political Science, Criminal Justice, Economics, Sociology.
• Global Peace and Development (M.A.) With concentrations in: Political Economy and Development, Culture and Conflict Resolution, Global Management.

English Language Institute

The School of Business

• Accounting (B.S.)
• Business Administration (A.A., B.S.)
• Computer Applications and Information Systems (B.S.)
• Fashion Merchandising (A.A., B.S.)
• Finance (B.S.)
• International Business (B.S.)
• Management and Industrial Relations (B.S.)
• Marketing (B.S.)
• Business Administration (M.B.A.) With Concentrations in: Accounting, Bio-Tech Management,Computer Applications and Information Systems (CAIS),Corporate, Government and Information Security, e-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Environmental and Energy Management, Fashion Merchandising, Finance, Foundations of Doing Business in China, Foundations of Doing Business in India, Global Management, Global Marketing, Global Program and Project Development, Healthcare Management and Administration, Human Resources Management, Information Technology Management, Intellectual Property Management, Management and Operations, Manufacturing Management, New Product Development and Management, Service Management and Engineering, Strategic Sourcing/Outsourcing, Supply Chain Management.

The School of Education and Human Resources

• Psychology (B.S.)
• Human Services (B.S.)
• Counseling (M.S.) With concentrations in: Community Counseling, Human Resource Development, College Student Personnel, Human Services.
• Education (M.S.) With concentrations in:
  • Elementary (Grades K-6),
  • Middle Grades With concentrations in: TESOL (four-summer courses, mainly for Taiwanese.), Biology, Business, Chemistry, Earth Science, English, General Science, Mathematics, History & Social Studies, Physics, Remedial Reading/Language Arts, Music.
  • Secondary with subject specializations in: Biology, Business, Chemistry, Earth Science, English, General Science, Mathematics, History & Social Studies, Physics, Remedial Reading/Language Arts, Music.
• Master of Science in Instructional Technology (iMSIT)
• Sixth Year Degree/Diploma/Certificate With concentrations in: Remedial Reading & Remedial Language Arts (Certificate Program), Reading & Language Arts Consultant (Certification Program), Instructional Technology, Elementary Education (Degree Program), Secondary Education (Degree Program), Intermediate Administrator or Supervisor (Diploma/Certification Program).
• Educational Leadership (Ed.D.)

The School of Engineering

• Computer Engineering (B.S.)
• Computer Science (B.S.)
• Computer Engineering (M.S.) With Concentrations in:Advanced Applications and Systems Programming, Bio-Medical Engineering, CAD/CAM, Computer and Information Security, Computer Communications and Networking, e-Commerce, Microelectronics and Computer Architecture, Modern Data Base Systems, Robotics and Automation, Signal and Image Processing, Software Engineering, Very Large Scale Integration (VSLI), Wireless and Mobile Communications.
• Computer Science (M.S.) With Concentrations in: Advanced Applications and Systems Programming, Bio-Medical Engineering, CAD/CAM, Computer and Information Security, Computer Communications and Networking, e-Commerce, Microelectronics and Computer Architecture, Modern Data Base Systems, Robotics and Automation, Signal and Image Processing, Software Engineering, Very Large Scale Integration (VSLI), Wireless and Mobile Communications.
• Electrical and Electronics Engineering (M.S.) With Concentrations in: Bio-Medical Engineering, Computer Communications and Networking, Environmental and Energy Management, Microelectronics and Computer Architecture, Modern Data Base Systems, Robotics and Automation, Security (IT Security, Biometrics, etc.), Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI), Wireless and Mobile Communications.
• Mechanical Engineering (M.S.) With Concentrations in: CAD/CAM, Intellectual Property Management, Manufacturing Management, Supply Chain Management, Robotics and Automation.
• Technology Management (M.S.) With Concentrations in:Accounting, Automation and Robotics, Bio-Tech Management, CAD/CAM, China/India Trade, Computer Communications and Networking Corporate, Government and Information Security & Continuity Management, Environmental and Energy Management, Finance, Global Business, Global Marketing, Global Program and Project Management.
• Computer Science and Engineering (Ph.D.) Research Areas Available: Computer architecture and VLSI and FPGA; Design, modeling and simulation of embedded and integrated systems; Electromechanical systems prototyping and optimization; Robotics, automation, machine perception and sensing; Software engineering, Web development and computational sciences; Systems and computer security and biometrics; Wireless and mobile computing and networking.

The Fones School of Dental Hygiene

• Dental Hygiene (A.S.)
• Dental Hygiene (B.S.)
• Dental Hygiene (M.S.)

Acupuncture Institute

• Acupuncture (M.S.)

Nutrition Institute

• Human Nutrition (M.S.)

College of Chiropractic

• Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.)

College of Naturopathic Medicine

• Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (N.D.)

Athletics

The Bridgeport Purple Knights participate in the NCAA Division II program which includes men’s baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, and swimming; and women’s basketball, cross country, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and volleyball. The most popular intramural sports include basketball, flag football, cricket, floor hockey, golf, soccer, racquetball, volleyball, and Ultimate Frisbee.

Admissions

U.S. News and World Report classifies the university's selectivity as "less selective", and 56.9% of incoming applicants are accepted.

According to U.S. Department of Education data, UB is the fastest growing four-year college in Connecticut. Enrollment has grown dramatically in recent years, from 1,383 total students in 1992 to 5,323 students in Fall 2008.

Academics

Since the takeover of the university by the PWPA, the school has been trying to restore and improve its academic reputation. Currently, University of Bridgeport is unranked but placed in Tier 4 of Best Colleges 2009 from U.S. News and World Report. Incoming students have an average GPA of 2.7.

In its 2006 annual college rankings, The Washington Monthly ranked University of Bridgeport 147th of all 245 National universities, with criteria based on research, community service, and social mobility.

Radar Magazine has rated the university the "Worst College in America" saying that it "swept the competition in every category, not only for its meager academics, post-apocalyptic campus and downright shady administration, but because of the 'ghetto-type atmosphere' where students are scared for their lives" . While Radar fully discloses that the ratings are "semiscientific", they nonetheless use "statistics on academics, graduation rates, and student life from a diverse array of sources, including the Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report, and the U.S. Department of Education."

Since 2006, three International College students majoring in International Political Economy and Diplomacy have been given prestigious academic awards. Two have been named William J. Clinton Scholars and in 2008, a student was chosen as a Fulbright Fellow for academic year 2008-2009.

Campus Safety

The University, located in downtown Bridgeport, has had many instances where students' safety and security have been threatened. This is true on campus, but especially in surrounding areas. To ameliorate this, the University instituted a program whereby students were issued portable alarm units that pinpoint their position and enable campus security to get to them in under 2 minutes earning them the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Award. This has been attributed to increased security on campus, but problems still arise in surrounding areas because relatively few students live on the campus.

The University has received the Pewter Stag Award, the highest institutional workplace safety honor given by one of the nation’s largest insurers, The Hartford.

References

2. http://www.ncaa.com/schools/74_Bridgeport.html
3. University of Bridgeport Viewbook 2008
4. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/08/nyregion/troubled-u-of-bridgeport-is-seeing-a-turnaround.html?pagewanted=2
5. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/national-campus-ethnic-diversity
6. http://www.bridgeport.edu
7. University of Bridgeport Alumni Directory ~2005~, Harris Connect, Inc. 2005
8. Schaffer, Robert Illustrated History of Bridgeport NY: Wislow Publishing, 1992, p. 52.
9. Davey, Robert “Moon Over Bridgeport” Connecticut Magazine (July, 1994), p. 69
10. Bridgeport U. Closes Deal to Cede Control, The New York Times New York and Region, May 30, 1992
11. Richard Rubenstein: A Brief Biographical Note
12. Featuring Neil Albert Salonen in The American Chiropractor, July 30, 2005.
13. Church urges Christian unity: Valley seminary open since 1975 Poughkeepsie Journal, 2003-12-11.
14. 2008 Annual Report, University of Bridgeport.
15. http://www.tparents.org/UNews/Unws9712/icus-beland-article.htm
16. http://www.fwu.nl/Bestand/Assembly%202000.pdf
17. University of Bridgeport Viewbook 2008
18. Knightlines Fall 2008
19. Public colleges lead state enrollment rise Connecticut Post November 19 2008
23. http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/tag/university-of-bridgeport/
25. Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Award Recipients For 2003

External links

• University of Bridgeport
• The Scribe (Student Newspaper of University of Bridgeport)

41°09′57″N 73°11′28″W / 41.16586°N 73.19109°W / 41.16586; -73.19109

• Articles needing cleanup from July 2009
• Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from July 2009
• Misplaced Pages pages needing cleanup from July 2009
• Educational institutions established in 1927
• Universities and colleges in Connecticut
• Chiropractic schools
• Accredited Naturopathic medical schools
• Bridgeport, Connecticut
• Education in Fairfield County, Connecticut
• Unification Church
• Entities which received funding from the Unification Church