One Riverside Drive
East Hartford, CT 06118
Tel 860.528-4111
Toll Free 800.889.3282

 

 

Goodwin College was founded in 1999 at the former East Hartford campus of the Data Institute Business School, a career school founded in 1962. Data Institute owner Mark Scheinberg became the Goodwin College’s first president, and in 2004, the college transitioned to not-for-profit status and was granted accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).

The college soon garnered attention for its health sciences programs, including its nursing program, which has helped alleviate the state’s critical shortage of nurses by training over 300 new RNs since 2003. In 2007, Goodwin College’s nursing program was the second largest in Connecticut.

In addition to healthcare specialties, Goodwin programs were developed to train students for careers in business, human services, and criminal justice. In 2006, the college initiated the first associate degree program in the state for homeland security. Online classes were added as an option for students in 2007.

Between 2004 and 2007, student enrollment increased 53 percent to 1,440, making Goodwin College one of the fastest growing institutions in the Northeast. At the same time, dozens of new faculty and staff members were hired to support the growing student body, and, in 2007, the college maintained its 13:1 student-to-faculty ratio, ensuring that students have access to the individual attention they need to excel.

In 2005, Goodwin College initiated a major project to construct a new campus along the Connecticut River in East Hartford. The college had purchased riverfront property that was home to a defunct oil terminal, and took steps to redevelop the site in partnership with state and federal environmental agencies and the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA). The site had been designated as a brown field, or contaminated area, by the Environmental Protection Agency, and the college removed 30 large oil storage tanks and conducted soil remediation with the help of state and federal funding.

The first building of the multi-year project will open in 2009. The 109,000-square-foot academic center contains classrooms, science labs, offices, and an auditorium.