The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Connecticut State Conference named the president of Gateway Community College one of the 100 most influential black people in Connecticut for 2018.
Paul Broadie took the helm of Gateway in 2017 and has also served as the president of Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport since 2015. He is one of the first people to lead two community colleges, according to a Gateway press release.
“I am honored that the NAACP has included me in this prestigious distinction,” Broadie said in the release. “Recognizing that the most important qualities of leadership include the ability to listen and to respond with the necessary tools and resources to encourage individual and institutional success, I hope to draw attention to the importance of access to higher education for all who seek advancement and an enhanced quality of life.”
Broadie will be recognized at an awards reception, hosted by the Connecticut chapters of the NAACP, on Sept. 22 at Foxwoods Resort Casino.
In his 26 years of service in education, Broadie has overseen major campus expansions, including the 46,000-square-foot addition of Lafayette Hall at Housatonic Community College. And under his leadership, Housatonic Community College was selected by the Aspen Institute as one of the top 150 community colleges in the nation for excellence, high achievement and performance, according to the release.
As well as serving as the president of two community colleges in Connecticut, Broadie also serves on the boards of many nonprofits and organizations in the Elm City and beyond, including Central Connecticut Coast YMCA, the Bridgeport Higher Education Alliance and the Bridgeport Public Education Fund.
Patricia Melton, the executive director of New Haven Promise, a scholarship organization for New Haven students, said Broadie is vital to New Haven Promise and deserves all the recognition he has received.
“Broadie has been eager to innovate and partner with others for the betterment of New Haven’s students,” Melton said.
Melton said Broadie’s commitment to bettering education for all is evident in his vision to bring Gateway to College, an early college program for students at-risk of dropping out of high school, to Gateway Community College.
President and CEO of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council Mickey Herbert praised Broadie’s “extraordinary leadership” as both the president of Housatonic Community College and a supporter of the business community in the state’s largest city.
“He has raised the profile and increased the prestige of our very special community
college,” Herbert said. “It is doubly impressive, of course, that he is now providing his exemplary leadership to Gateway Community College in New Haven.”
Broadie holds a doctorate from Colorado State University and a master’s degree from Long Island University. As an undergraduate, he majored in business administration at Mercy College in New York.
Isabel Bysiewicz | isabel.bysiewicz@yale.edu