While the 2010 U.S. Census found that Hispanic residents make up 48 percent of Los Angeles County, only 19 percent of the county’s Latino students complete college—a rate lower than half the national average—according to a College Board study published in 2011.

Having long served as a beacon for Hispanic students looking to succeed, California State University, Northridge is determined to improve those graduation rates. As a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), the university will receive about $12.6 million in federal grants over a period of five years to meet the needs of its diverse student population and local communities. The grants began in 2010.

In order to qualify as an HSI, at least a quarter of an institution’s student population must be Hispanic. At Cal State Northridge, nearly a third of the student population is Hispanic. The university is, in fact, home to a great number of students who are linguistically and culturally diverse, low-income, working and first-generation college students.

While some of the HSI grants are designed to open career opportunities for Hispanic students and to improve the health and prosperity of the surrounding community, others directly aim to improve the academic success of Hispanic students throughout their time at the university.

Raising graduation rates

One HSI grant, administered through the College of Business and Economics, is designed specifically to address graduation gaps for students across all the colleges. The $3.2 million grant will be used to increase the enrollment and retention rates of CSUN’s Hispanic students and improve graduation rates for all students as a whole. Nearly 21,600 university students and 4,200 high school students will be impacted by the end of the five-year grant.

The funds will support, among other things, a peer mentorship program that pairs first-generation college freshmen with senior students who guide them through their transition into college life. Seventeen-year-old Carolina Corea, a child and adolescent development major and the first member of her family to attend college, was anxious at times during her transition to CSUN, but her first semester turned out to be a successful one. She met weekly with her peer mentor, student Johanna Quintanilla ’12 (Child and Adolescent Development), and attended many events designed to help her understand CSUN’s resources and college life.

Corea appreciates Quintanilla’s friendship and guidance. “It helps a lot, since you don’t know much once you start school,” she said. “It helps people who aren’t prepared to take that much work onto their shoulders. It makes life easier.”

Promoting success in technology-related programs

Students in CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science are preparing to take on an enormous social responsibility. “When our students graduate, they are considered professionals,” said Karla Pelletier, director of the CECS Student Services Center. “They become the people who build your planes and design your cars.”

The CECS received a $5.5 million HSI grant to fund the CSUN AIMS² program, whose acronym stands for Attract, Inspire, Motivate and Support Students. The program—a collaboration among CSUN, College of the Canyons and Glendale Community College—is designed to help community college students from traditionally underserved backgrounds transfer to CSUN and earn their degrees in engineering and computer science.

Three hundred students transferring to CSUN from these colleges received invitations to apply for the grant, and 30 winners will be selected to receive up to $7,200 and a series of support programs throughout four years of their education. The goal of the five-year program is to raise the percentage of Hispanic transfer students who graduate from the CECS, a rate that currently stands around 24 percent.

S.K. Ramesh, dean of the CECS, is thankful that HSI funding is empowering his college to effect lasting change in traditionally underserved communities. “Our faculty and staff truly care about the success of our students,” he said. “We want to make a difference in the demographics of the college and the workforce.”

Launching health-related careers

These grant programs also empower CSUN to improve the quality of life for not only its students but also the surrounding community. The Marilyn Magaram Center for Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics (MMC), part of the College of Health and Human Development, is using a $500,000 grant to reach out to children at three Van Nuys schools—Cohasset Street Elementary, Anatola Avenue Elementary and Gault Street Elementary—about healthy eating behavior and physical fitness. The childhood obesity rate in Van Nuys is 29 percent, the highest in Los Angeles County. The program aims to reduce that number to nine percent.

Mary Jo Sariscsany, physical education professor at CSUN, works at these schools with her kinesiology students twice a week. “The teachers see a difference in their kids and their attention spans,” she said. “The kids are more awake, they are more focused and they can focus for a longer period of time on the days they have physical education.”

According to Sariscsany, the majority of schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District lack certified physical educators. She hopes the LAUSD will eventually hire credentialed P.E. teachers for all its campuses. The impact, she says, is noticeably positive—Cohasset principal Andrea Yahudian even set aside money for an extra weekly P.E. session after seeing the results of Sariscsany’s program.

“It really is a fantastic change in the students,” Sariscsany explained. “It’s very cool to see that they’re improving their strength and foundational movements, developing skills that they didn’t have before. Most of them have not had developmentally appropriate physical education in their pasts.”

Promoting cultural competency and diversity in health professions is a huge step forward for the wellbeing of the local Hispanic community. To accomplish this, the MMC is using an additional $285,000 grant to fund an experiential learning program for Hispanic nutrition students.

Through the initiative, students work with breastfeeding programs at various hospitals, boosting the students’ skills and providing them the hands-on experience they need to start their careers. The program aims to increase the recruitment and retention of Hispanic nutrition students by 10 percent.

Raising the academic bar

Changing demographics in California requires that educators develop competence in cultures and languages that students bring to the classroom. Yet only a small percentage of students being trained as teachers come from traditionally underserved backgrounds, and there is a particular lack of male Hispanic teachers. To address this, CSUN received a $2.87 million HSI grant to create a program called “Promoting Post Baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans,” which is designed to prepare 60 Hispanic teachers and 40 master’s candidates for teaching careers. The goal of the program is to boost the number of students who choose to pursue teaching credentials and a career in education.

The ethnic and area studies departments at CSUN offer some of the richest cultural education available to students. In addition to a Central American Studies Program, Spanish Language Media Program and Equal Educational Opportunity Program, CSUN boasts one of the largest Chicana/o studies departments in the nation.

Funding the future of HSI

With education budgets facing continued cutbacks, programs dedicated to assisting students are in jeopardy. A U.S. House of Representatives Fiscal Year 2013 Labor-HHS-Education bill, for instance, proposes slashing funding for education—which would include an 83 percent cut in funding to HSIs.

Scarce resources are only one of the challenges confronting public higher education. Jose Luis Vargas ’74 (Sociology), M.A. ’75 (Counseling and Guidance), director of the Educational Opportunity Program at CSUN, explained that universities must make adjustments to their traditional systems and processes in order to meet the needs of California’s demographic changes.

“Across many divisions and colleges, our university is responding in crucial ways to help prepare our diverse student body for their own careers and to meet the needs of a region where the near majority of the population is of Hispanic descent,” said Interim President Harry Hellenbrand. “We are grateful for the millions in funding to support our steadfast commitment to preparing the next generation of leaders who will reflect the diversity of the community.” —Natalie Berwick, Melissa Carr, Britteny Salvador and Aaron Sheldon

 

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