Board for State Academic Awards (CGS § 10a-143)

• The board consists of nine members.

• The governor appoints eight members for six-year terms; students elect the ninth member for a two-year term.

• One chamber confirms.

• The board governs Charter Oak College, which offers an alternative, personalized approach to college education for adult learners. The college offers degrees by validating credits based assessments of student portfolios and through standardized and special examination. The college also operates the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium.

QUESTIONS

1. What experience do you have in the field of education, particularly higher education for adults?

2. What do you see as the board's mission? In what areas of the board's activities do you especially want to work?

3. How do the learning needs of adults differ from those of traditional college students? How should the board address those differences?

4. Do you believe Charter Oak College is effectively communicating its mission and services to the public and, if not, how it might improve?

5. How might Charter Oak better market itself to immigrant and minority communities?

6. How should Charter Oak coordinate its role with the state's traditional two- and four-year colleges? Does Charter Oak have articulation agreements with the state's public colleges? How well are these working?

7. What is the value of distance learning for higher education in general and Charter Oak's students in particular? Do you see any downside to distance learning?

8. Should the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium expand its learning opportunities to secondary schools, perhaps as a way to help students in smaller, rural schools access a broader offering of courses?

SC: ts