UNH EMBA Student Finds Time for Feature in Family Circle
Life long learning becomes a family focus
Brigitte Cogswell graduates May 24
West Haven, Conn., May 16, 2008 - In between myriad family responsibilities and final projects, New Haven resident and University of New Haven EMBA student Brigitte Cogswell -who will graduate on May 24 - somehow found time this semester for an interview and photo session with Family Circle, a national magazine with a focus on family life. Cogswell's story, entitled "Live and Learn," is featured in the "Modern Life" section of the June issue, which hit newsstands on May 13.
Like many busy career women, wife and mother Cogswell once considered her education "done." A successful consultant for diversity, equal-employment-opportunity and affirmative-action training-whose clients include the towns of Greenwich and Hamden, Conn.-she'd done well with the bachelor's degree she earned in the 80's. A difficult statistics course had stalled her initial pursuit of a master's degree, but she'd dreamed of earning an advanced degree ever since. She mentioned it to her family, in passing, for years. Finally, in the summer of 2006, her family suggested she stop dreaming and "go for it."
Since then, Cogswell has scheduled six hours each Monday for class at UNH, an arrangement that works well with her career, numerous activities with her two daughters, Agape and Destiny, and a busy life with husband, Richard. She notes that it takes discipline to maintain such a tight schedule, but she and her family view the experience, and the financial commitment, as an investment in the future. "Knowing all the effort and a sacrifice would pay off in the long run, we agreed that we would forego luxuries like a new car or vacation trips and focus on education," she says.
Beyond the increased earning power that comes with her degree, Cogswell notes a more subtle, but equally transforming benefit. "My daughters now think of continued education as a natural and deeply fulfilling part of life - that's just what one does, so to speak," she says, adding that Richard was so inspired by Brigitte's experience that he is pursuing a bachelor's degree.
Cogswell, who also graduated from the challenging Graustein Memorial Fund Community Leadership Program on May 18, is the founder of Success by Design 3D Seminars, L.L.C., a human relations, training and consulting firm based in New Haven. Previously, she spent 14 years in corporate banking with Fleet Bank and Bank of Boston in Connecticut, and as the vice president of Non Profit Strategies, Inc., in New Haven.
As the principal of Success by Design, Brigitte's expertise goes well beyond managing diversity and equal-employment issues for municipalities. Her focus runs the gamut from "train-the-trainer" programs for the Anti Defamation League to providing training in leadership and conflict resolution for the Hospital of St. Raphael's H.O.P.E. Program. As lead trainer for the Connecticut Anti-Defamation League's A World of Difference Institute she designed and lead training for over 10,000 State of Connecticut employees. She has presented programs for numerous other state organizations, including the Connecticut Association of Affirmative Action Professionals, Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency, Connecticut Department of Multicultural Education, and the State Education Resource Center. In addition, she conducts academic lectures on the impact of the media on body-image development in women.
Brigitte has been awarded the Sojourner Truth Award by the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women and has acknowledged by the Connecticut Association of Affirmative Action Professionals for "excellence in diversity training." She is a certified trainer for the Child Welfare League of America's PRIDE program and Workplace Conflict Resolution and Parent/Teen Conflict through Community Mediation Inc. She has served on numerous boards including the United Way of Greater New Haven as co-chair of the Community Impact Cabinet.
Cogswell will receive her EMBA degree during the University of New Haven spring commencement exercises at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 24, 2008, in the Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium on the University of New Haven campus.
A leader in experiential education, the University of New Haven provides its students with a unique combination of solid liberal arts and real-world, hands-on professional training. A private University founded in 1920, UNH has a full-time undergraduate enrollment of more than 2,400 students-with 70 percent residing on its 80-acre main campus-and a graduate school enrollment that exceeds 1,700. The University offers more than 80 undergraduate degrees and more than 25 graduate degrees through its four colleges, in fields such as sports management, nutrition, forensic science, music and sound recording, engineering, computer science and criminal justice. University College at UNH develops programs and courses to meet the emerging educational and training needs of educators, businesses and public and social agencies, focusing on academic excellence, convenience and flexibility. University of New Haven students study abroad through a variety of distinctive programs.
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