A New Era

For Karim Ismaili, stepping into the role of president of Eastern Connecticut State University is an honor filled with excitement and promise.

Midway through his inaugural year, Ismaili is struck by the overwhelming positivity and support of the Eastern community. He is eager to channel this energy to not only advance the University’s public liberal arts mission, but also to assess and guide its evolution into a new era.

Ismaili became Eastern’s seventh president on July 31 after nearly three decades of leadership experience in higher education. For him, the presidency is not about personal achievement, but about what the role can do to serve students and assert the importance of public higher education in today’s world. He wakes up each day propelled by the opportunity to help shape the future of Eastern.

“What an incredible opportunity I have to be the president here,” he says. “Every morning I wake up and I pinch myself. I’m excited about the future and by the faith this community has shown me.” 

THE ROAD TO EASTERN

Last year, Ismaili began contemplating the next step in his career. After serving as executive vice president and provost at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, he felt ready and eager to take on the challenge of leading a university.

He was drawn to Eastern’s public mission to prepare students for the future through a liberal arts education. However, before fully committing to the application process, Ismaili did what many professionals do: he consulted his mentors.

Dana Mohler-Faria, president emeritus of Bridgewater State University, had hired Ismaili years earlier and remains a guiding figure in his career. When Ismaili reached out to ask for advice, Mohler-Faria’s response was immediate: “Karim, you must apply for that job. I can see you there.”

This advice carried extra weight for Mohler-Faria, who has his own deep connection to Eastern: his mentor was David G. Carter, Eastern’s fifth president.

“Now (Dana) is coming back to Eastern to mentor the president of the place where his mentor was president,” says Ismaili, amazed at the coincidence. “There’s something written in the stars about Eastern for me.”

There's something written in the stars about Eastern for me.

After a nationwide search by the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities and rounds of interviewing, the process culminated with a surreal moment when Ismaili received the call offering him the presidency. “I remember that moment so clearly,” he recalls. “It was surreal in the best possible way.”

FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO CANADA

Born to a Kenyan mother of Indian origin and a Pakistani father, Ismaili grew up in South London in the 1970s before moving to Canada at age 13 to escape domestic violence. He faced a challenging childhood, including his parents’ divorce, his mother’s struggles to support him and his younger brother, and experiences with racial intolerance.

As a “latchkey kid,” Ismaili took on significant responsibilities at a young age, caring for his brother while navigating the difficulties of his environment. Despite these hardships, his mother instilled in him two key values: respect for others and independence.

She believed that respecting others was essential for earning respect in return, and that higher education — something she never had the opportunity to experience — was the key to independence and success for her sons. “She saw higher education as the best pathway to help us along our journey,” he says.

These lessons deeply shaped Ismaili’s outlook on life, driving his commitment to hard work and empathy. Ismaili feels a kinship with the public college students he has served throughout his career, recognizing that many of them have faced similar challenges.

COLLEGE JOURNEY

A first-generation immigrant student, Ismaili’s college career began as an undergraduate at Simon Fraser University in Greater Vancouver, where he studied criminology in hopes of becoming a police officer. He admits that he wasn’t sure if college was the right fit for him, and his early grades reflected that doubt. However, he persevered, balancing his studies with working many part-time jobs, including the graveyard shift at a local 7-Eleven, to help support his family and pay for college.

One early morning in 1985, he fortuitously met the 7-Eleven district manager, who connected him to a life-changing opportunity: a company-sponsored scholarship that covered 80% of his tuition. “I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for 7-Eleven,” he reflects. “I’m convinced of that.”

Initially, his career goal was to become an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but a pivotal conversation with one of his professors, criminologist Ezzat Fattah, changed his direction.

Fattah encouraged Ismaili to consider graduate school, something he had never thought about before. “He encouraged me to dream, to broaden my horizons in ways I couldn’t have imagined.”

Ismaili applied to top institutions like the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics and the University of Edinburgh, gaining acceptance to all of them with the support of Fattah’s recommendation.

“I’m not here because of me,” he assures. “I’m here because of people who have supported me, seen things in me, changed my life.”

I’m here because of people who have supported me, seen things in me, changed my life.

Ismaili went on to the University of Cambridge, where he earned a Master of Philosophy degree in criminology, and then to the University of Western Ontario where he earned a Ph.D. in political science.

He reflects on the luck of encountering mentors like Fattah, whose support helped him build a career he never could have imagined. Now, he wants to create similar opportunities for students at Eastern.

FROM CRIMINOLOGIST TO PRESIDENT

Ismaili has always been fascinated by the concept of crime: “... How it’s defined and who falls within or outside of that definition.” He found that marginalized groups from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are disproportionately criminalized, whereas white-collar crimes, or “crimes of the powerful,” often escape the label of “crime.”

He thinks of criminology as a “rendezvous discipline,” drawing on the intellectual traditions of sociology, psychology, political science, history, law and other fields. “These different disciplines often come together around the issue of crime,” he says, providing a nuanced view of power, privilege and the marginalization perpetuated by institutions of social control.

After receiving his terminal degree in 1997, Ismaili further delved into criminology as a researcher and professor for 16 years. However, in 2006, he discovered his passion for university administration while serving as chair of the newly established criminology department at Toronto Metropolitan University. He later served as associate dean at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, before taking on progressively larger roles at Bridgewater State.

Ismaili now applies his multidisciplinary training as a criminologist to his philosophy as a president. “Criminology makes connections from many different domains,” he explains. “In order to be successful as a president, you have to be able to make linkages across different domains and constituents.”

LISTENING AND LEARNING

As Ismaili continues to dive into his new role, he has embarked on a university-wide “listening and learning” tour. Through these small-group meetings with individuals from all corners of the University, alumni and external stakeholders, he aims to take stock of Eastern’s strengths and challenges.

Throughout his tour, he will engage in conversations about Eastern’s public mission, its designation as a liberal arts institution, and the obstacles and opportunities facing Eastern in today’s higher education landscape — one that is characterized by budgetary challenges, demographic shifts and changing workforce needs.

Early on in his tour, a couple of themes became resoundingly clear: Eastern is a place where deep affection and a strong sense of community are shared by everyone, from students and alumni to faculty, staff and local residents. Additionally, he notices a collective pride in Eastern’s unique identity as Connecticut’s public liberal arts university.

He sees these qualities — community and mission — as the pillars that make Eastern special and the primary reasons he was drawn to the University in the first place.

“At the end of the journey of listening and learning,” Ismaili says, “I’m going to report back to the campus about what I’ve learned. My hope is that this will be a springboard for the future.”

GOALS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Ismaili sees three areas as crucial to Eastern’s progression. He aims to strengthen donor support by clarifying the University’s value proposition; expand grant opportunities to fund campus needs; and increase connections with prospective students, alumni and external groups.

As nationwide demographics shift with fewer traditional college-aged students, Ismaili is looking for ways to serve diverse, underserved populations, aligning with Eastern’s public mission to meet varied educational needs.

“The question for me is, are we thinking about populations and prospective students that have not been served in the past?” he asks — whether that means exploring new graduate or certificate programs, or reaching out to adult learners, local senior citizens or prospective students from underrepresented regions or backgrounds.

This is not simply a place where you come to get a degree. It’s a place where you have an experience that will shape your life.

Whatever direction Eastern goes in, Ismaili is steadfast in its public liberal arts mission, stating that Eastern’s education develops graduates who “not only perform their roles exceptionally well, but also think critically — with sound ethical judgment — about their work and how to improve it. ... Eastern provides a foundation that is absolutely what all professions need.”

Ismaili is also committed to preserving Eastern’s sense of community. “It’s really important for me to continue to be a welcoming, inclusive university where people, no matter who they are, can feel comfortable being themselves.”

He concludes, “Eastern is a place where you have an opportunity to grow not only your knowledge, but also yourself as a human being. This is not simply a place where you come to get a degree. It’s a place where you have an experience that will shape your life.”