All eyes were on Quinnipiac University when the school’s men’s hockey team won the 2023 NCAA Division I national championship.
Judy Olian, president of the Hamden-based university, seized the opportunity to cast a positive spotlight on the small private college. Several large donations came from supporters and alumni following the victory, which will help the school with its ongoing growth plans.
Olian this year will oversee continued progress on three new campus buildings, part of a $300 million investment. The work includes construction of a new School of Business, general academic building and 417-bed residence hall.
These will be the first new stand-alone buildings on campus in 30 years.
Quinnipiac also partnered with Hartford HealthCare to expand hands-on learning opportunities for students in health care and other industries, Olian said.
As part of the partnership, Hartford HealthCare agreed to invest $5 million over five years into the university’s medical, nursing and health sciences programs.
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Olian became Quinnipiac’s ninth president in 2018. She oversees the college’s three campuses in Hamden and North Haven. The school enrolled just under 9,000 graduate and undergraduate students in the fall of 2022.
Olian previously served as dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She was also dean and professor of management at the Smeal College of Business Administration at Pennsylvania State University.
Her business background was part of the reason she was recently named co-chair of AdvanceCT, the state’s nonprofit business recruitment arm.
Born and raised in Australia, Olian earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and her master’s degree and Ph.D. in industrial relations from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.