Cheng: Time at UConn-Stamford good preparation for taking charge of CSCU system
“The experience I’ve had at UConn-Stamford has absolutely prepared me for this role because it’s allowed me to learn so much about not only higher education in Connecticut and the students of Connecticut, it also allowed me to learn about the state, how the state functions, what its needs are.” Terrence Cheng
STAMFORD — When Terrence Cheng arrived at the University of ConnecticutStamford in 2016 as the new campus director, one of the complaints he heard the most was that the university did not have enough of a presence in the community and region.
Certain relationships, such as partnerships with Stamford-based Synchrony Financial, as well as with AT&T — which will make UConn-Stamford the first 5G campus in the Northeast — were borne out of an effort to expand the university’s involvement.
Additionally, the university introduced technology incubators focused on a variety of startups.
“I’ve been fortunate to work on those types of initiatives,” he said.
On Friday, Cheng was announced as the new president of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, or CSCU.
He hopes to bring the same strategy of establishing and expanding relationships to his new job.
“The experience I’ve had at UConnStamford has absolutely prepared me for this role because it’s allowed me to learn so much about not only higher education in Connecticut and the students of Connecticut, it also allowed me to learn about the state, how the state functions, what its needs are,” he said, in a phone interview Friday afternoon.
Cheng said he was attracted to the position with CSCU because it allows him to work in public higher education, which he called his “passion.”
“I am a product of public higher education,” he said.
Earlier this year, Cheng organized a virtual panel at the campus on anti-Asian violence. Just two days before the event, which had been scheduled weeks prior, a 21-year-old man shot and killed eight people — including six Asian women — inside three spas or massage parlors in Atlanta.
The violent attacks drove Cheng to publish a letter to the UConn-Stamford community condemning the attacks and pushing back on the “model minority” stereotype for keeping Asian and Asian American people silent for too long.
“In the past I would not have said anything about this publicly,” he wrote. “Even now, I feel uncomfortable doing so. But that is the problem, that society has conditioned us to be ‘the model minority,’ to be silent when we should be speaking out and taking action.”
Once he begins his new job as president of CSCU, Cheng said his first order of business is figuring out how to open campuses safely in the wake of COVID-19.
While UConn-Stamford will not fall under Cheng’s new responsibilities, he said he would still have a relationship with the university he has called home for the past five years.
“The folks at UConn are amazing, No. 1,” he said. “I think the fact that I have relationships with them will allow us to work together in a collegial and synergized fashion.”
In addition to his work as an educator, the Westchester, N.Y. resident is the author of two novels, “Sons of Heaven” and “Deep in the Mountains,” and has written articles for several publications.
Cheng said he has not shut the door on teaching but would give himself two years to focus on his new position. If he’s able to carve out time to teach a class in the future, and do it “properly” he added, he would consider it.
“The classroom is my first passion,” he said.