DANBURY, Connecticut — The Western Connecticut State University library was awarded a $5,000 grant by the Jane T. Muhlethaler Foundation Inc., a private independent foundation in Fairfield County, to purchase textbooks for core business classes. This is the second grant from the Muhlethaler Foundation in support of the textbook project.
The main goal of the project is to alleviate the financial burden associated with the high cost of textbooks, making required materials accessible to all. The average business textbook is now $180, and professors often require more than one textbook per class. One-fourth of WCSU’s student body is enrolled in the AACSB-accredited Ancell School of Business.
Approximately 49% of WCSU students are from historically underrepresented minority populations, 34% are low-income, and 29% are the first generation in their families to go to college.
WCSU’s mission is to change lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Its two libraries, the Haas Library on the Midtown campus and Robert S. Young Library on the Westside campus, are key to fulfilling the university’s mission as dynamic learning centers that foster the discovery, creation and reinterpretation of knowledge.
The Muhlethaler Foundation grant plus matching WCSU library funds will keep the collection of textbooks for the five business disciplines — Marketing, Management, Finance and Economics, Accounting and Management Information Systems — current through summer 2024.
Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.