Dwayne Smith out as Interim President of SCSU. Claimed to be Fulbright Scholar and is not. Takes job at system office.

The troubles at Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) continue to buffet the 85,000 student system. The latest headache for the Board of Regents is the failure of its search for a permanent president of Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) and the discovery of a false claim to be a Fulbright Scholar.

Dwayne Smith, Ph. D., was the odds-on favorite to move from interim president to the permanent head of the New Haven school. Smith, who previously served as CEO of the Housatonic branch of the state’s community college system, was picked to helm SCSU in 2023. A search for a permanent president followed in November 2024.

It all went wrong when a sharp-eyed fact checker at CSCU tried to confirm Smith’s claim that he is a Fulbright Scholar, a prestigious and competitive academic award recognized around the world. The Fulbright Scholar directory does not include Smith, though his online biography on the state’s website states, “Dr. Smith is a Fulbright Scholar, and throughout his career has served on numerous boards, committees and task forces.”

When asked about the serious discrepancy between his claimed credentials and the truth, Smith said he is a Fulbright Specialist. That is nothing like being a storied Fulbright Scholar. And Smith is not a Fulbright Specialist, a short term academic exchange program, sponsored by the United States Department of State. No sentient person would confuse one for the other. In any event, Smith is neither Fulbright Scholar nor Fulbright Specialist.

Claiming credentials one does not possess is a particularly grievous offense in academia. At SCSU it is serious enough for outgoing CSCU Chancellor Terrence Cheng to announce that the search for a president has failed and will begin anew. In addition, Cheng told his colleagues that Smith will not continue as interim president and will instead become Executive Director of Systemwide Advancement.

Regents, who will be disappointed Daily Ructions is the first to report this dismaying story, will need to conduct a serious investigation to learn why the search firm it hired did not discover Smith’s biography is lacking in verisimilitude. They will also have to engage in the painful process of finding out how long Smith has been claiming to be a Fulbright Scholar.

Candor started the weekend early at CSCU. Adam Joseph, Vice Chancellor of External Affairs, wrote in a statement to Daily Ructions, “The search for a permanent president of Southern Connecticut State University concluded without a permanent appointment.  Details regarding the presidential search process are confidential. The CSCU System is honoring the rights in Dr. Smith’s contract that provide retreat rights to the System Office where Dr. Smith will utilize his skillset in an area where he has had significant success.”

Cheng sounded unaware of the circumstances that terminated the search for a president of SCSU and the damage it will do to the system’s reputation. He wrote, “I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Smith for his unwavering commitment to Southern’s mission as a social justice institution. His contributions to the university’s culture of academic excellence will have a lasting impact on the Southern community.” Lasting impact, indeed.  

 Dr. Sandra Minor Bulmer, Ph.D., will serve as interim president of Southern Connecticut State University. 

Published June 6, 2025.