jump to contentsacramento state - leadership begins here  
sac state homeadmissionsabout sac statesite indexcontact us

Header Graphic

Destination 2010 Home

Students & Academics

Welcoming campus

Campus environment

Community support

 

 

 

PROGRESS

Recognizing diversity as vital to developing the “New California"

Goal: Strengthen multicultural programs and activities throughout the University.

Progress:

  • The University’s Strategic Plan envisions Sacramento State as a “partner in developing the ‘New California’” and aims “to build a creative and vibrant learning community derived from the strength and vitality of our diverse campus.”
  • In line with the campus’ Strategic Plan, President Alexander Gonzalez has made recognizing and valuing the diversity of the region and the University a major, ongoing agenda item of the President's Advisory Committee and has focused the attention of his cabinet on diversity-related planning.
  • The University Committee on Educational Equity and the Faculty Senate's Committee on Diversity and Equity continue to assist the University in developing its equity goals, policies and procedures and achieving success in student recruitment, retention and graduation.
  • The Women's Resource Center's PRIDE program has expanded the University's sense of diversity to include a broader range of issues, life situations and populations.
  • The Multi-Cultural Center is updating its mission and programs better to meet the needs of the diverse campus community and the development of the “New California.”
  • In Spring 2008, the Multi-Cultural Center piloted to a cohort of student leaders a social justice institute that creates awareness for social justice education and builds community across various student constituencies.
  • A number of instructors have added an "engagement" segment to their classes that will address aspects of diversity in a co-curricular setting.
  • In October 2007, many University and community groups came together to co-sponsor a full-day event that paid tribute to the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech at the Sacramento State campus 40 years ago. More than 2,000 members of the general campus and local community attended the event.


Goal: Improve strategies for recruitment, admission, advising, retention, and graduation outcomes for a student body reflecting the significant diversity of our region.

Progress:

  • The campus’ Strategic Plan designates “student success” as the responsibility of the entire campus community—faculty, staff, students and alumni.
  • To achieve the University's enrollment goals, the University has developed recruitment strategies that include promoting Sacramento State in essential media, utilizing Internet marketing, and instituting a Preview Day to allow prospective students and their parents to become familiar with our programs.
  • Conferences for community college and high school counselors have been developed to inform advisors about transfer procedures, requirements and opportunities for potential students.
  • Various Student Affairs offices have partnered with Educational Opportunity Programs to sponsor outreach efforts into the region.
  • President Alexander Gonzalez, in concert with the CSU Chancellor’s Office, participates frequently in “Super Sunday” activities that involve visits to area churches to enlist the community’s help in enrolling students at Sacramento State from every sector of the region’s diverse community.
  • Between 2005 and 2007, enrollment of first-time freshmen and new undergraduate transfer students of African American heritage increased by 20 percent and of Chicano/Mexican American students increased by 6 percent.
  • Our Learning Communities Program (within our Student Academic Success and Educational Equity Programs) was selected out of 500 learning community programs in the nation to take part in the acclaimed Assessment of Student Learning Project of the Washington Center for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education.
  • Through intensive support services, including links to alumni in the region, Sacramento State’s College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) has achieved a 90 percent first-year retention rate for migrant students participating in the program.
  • Our Cooper Woodson College Enhancement Program participants have achieved higher “good standing” rates than their peers who gained entry into the University with greater levels of academic preparation.
  • The Office of Services to Students with Disabilities has teamed with multiple campus units to implement our accessible electronic and information technology plan to make academic materials and resources more accessible to all students, including those with disabilities.
  • For the past several years, the McNair Scholars Program has successfully obtained federal funding to assist students from low-income, first-generation or underrepresented populations to pursue graduate studies.
  • The University’s Science Educational Equity (SEE), CSU-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) programs continue to provide academic support to students who face economic, social and educational barriers to careers in the health, science, mathematics, technology, and engineering professions.
  • Sacramento State consistently remains among the top 50 in the nation in number of degrees awarded to students from underrepresented ethnic populations.


Goal: Increase efforts to recruit and retain faculty and staff members from underrepresented populations.

Progress:

  • In line with the Strategic Plan, the Office of Human Resources continues to develop and present workshops on recruiting a diverse faculty and staff.
  • The Faculty Senate in Fall 2007 recommended to the President, and he in turn accepted, revised process options to ensure fuller attention to developing diverse faculty hiring pools.
  • Deans of the University's colleges and University administrators have been asked to provide increased attention to "ability to respond to the needs of a diverse student population" as a significant faculty and staff hiring criterion.


Goal: Increase curricular attention to the role of globalization and immigration in shaping definitions of diversity and developing the "New California."

Progress:

  • The new General Education Honors Program has a focus on global education and contains a requirement that all students travel abroad as part of their education.
  • The Office of Global Education and the College of Continuing Education continue to promote global education and international student exchange, serving approximately 600 international students, 200 American students studying abroad, and 60 international research scholars affiliated with the university each year.
  • We have doubled tuition waivers and have developed a dynamic recruiting plan to attract international students, including student athletes.
  • The Office of Global Education has increased its outreach efforts to community colleges and modified its admissions processing to streamline admissions for international community college transfer applicants.
  • Sacramento State has focused increased attention on placement of its students in Study Abroad programs, including: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
  • We have expanded the number of long-term study programs on our campus for students from Korea, Taiwan and China.
  • In 2007-08, the College of Continuing Education, in partnership with China’s provincial governments, provided long-term certificate programs to professional staff from the Guangdong Bureau of Labor and the Hubei Tax Bureau.
  • The Department of Ethnic Studies offers courses regarding multiracial identity, and many programs in the College of Education infuse multicultural content into each of their courses.
  • A growing number of our academic programs offer courses regarding regional links to trends in globalization.
  • Responding to the dramatic rise in the region's Latino population in recent years, the Serna Center has increased its social and cultural programming focused upon Latinos in the Sacramento Region.
  • In 2005, we established the Center for Iranian and Middle Eastern Studies, designed to examine the economic and cultural contributions of immigrants from the Middle East to the Sacramento Region.
  • Sacramento State will soon open a new Asian Pacific Islander American Research Center.