Higher Education Commissioner Michael P. Meotti will be keeping his job, according to a Thursday press release from Gov.-elect Dan Malloy’s transition team.
Though outgoing Gov. M. Jodi Rell asked for letters of resignation from 156 of her appointed staff, the Malloy administration has suggested it may be retaining some. Meotti’s is the first such announcement.
“I’ve admired Mike Meotti’s work from afar, and I’m looking forward to working with him more closely,” Malloy said in a prepared statement. “We need to do more to reverse the ‘brain drain’ in the state to ensure that students who are from Connecticut or come here to attend a college or university, stay here to work and live after they earn their degree. We need graduates who are prepared to compete in world-class economy right here in the state.”
Meotti, who was appointed to the position in 2008, said he was honored to be asked to continue in the role and looked forward to working with Malloy.
“I know that we share the same commitment to increasing the educational attainment level of Connecticut’s adult population and I am eager to work with Governor-Elect Malloy and the Board of Governors of Higher Education to make that happen,” he said.
Meotti served eight years in the State Senate, where he was vice-chair of the Education Committee. He is also ex officio member of the Connecticut State Board of Education and a member of the New England Board of Higher Education.
