CSUB receives $200K grant to support AANHPI students

University to hire coordinator, create new programs through CSU funding

By California State University, Bakersfield

April 2^nd, 2024

Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) students at California State University, Bakersfield will receive more targeted support and services thanks to a new grant from the CSU.

The university’s Division of Equity, Inclusion and Compliance has received $200,000 from the CSU’s AANHPI Student Achievement Program that will be used to hire a dedicated AANHPI coordinator as well as fund new summer bridge and peer mentoring programs.

“I’m super excited to receive this funding for CSUB and to support our Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students. I think it’s much needed,” said Claudia Catota, chief diversity officer and special assistant to the president. “We want these students to feel they belong on campus, and visibility is always the first step in developing that trust.”

AANHPI students made up around 7% of the overall student population at CSUB as of 2023, according to enrollment data, with Filipinos making up the largest part of the population.

Of the three groups, Asian American was the largest with 779 students during the 2022-23 school year. There were 19 students who identified as Pacific Islander that year. The university does not have a separate breakout for Native Hawaiian students.

“I think given the local history here in Kern County and the graduation data we’ve reviewed, that this was an important grant to go after,” Catota said.

Aaron Wan, co-chair of the Asian Faculty and Staff Network, believes the grant will help the university expand the support and resources it already provides to students.

“I have been at CSUB for the past eight years and have seen some efforts to increase support for the AANHPI groups. However, this grant could improve those existing efforts while providing the ability to generate new initiatives,” he said. “Overall, the AANHPI grant can strengthen CSUB’s capacity to reach and improve the AANHPI students’ overall academic experiences.”

Catota said the goal is to hire the coordinator sometime next fall. This person would assist with programming, recruitment efforts, hiring peer mentors and developing the new summer bridge program, which is expected to be offered in summer 2025.

The program will be modeled after the summer bridge that is offered by the Equal Opportunity Program, which brings in students before the start of their first year at CSUB to introduce them to the campus and give them a head start on the college experience.

“Those programs are extremely successful in term of retention and persistence rates, so we wanted to do something similar for our Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population,” Catota said.

The new summer bridge program will weave in cultural elements from the groups to help make the students feel more connected to the campus, similarly to what is being done for Latinx students as part of the existing summer programs.

Incoming students who are Pell recipients and are first-generation will be invited to participate in the program.

Catota hopes these new initiatives will lead to an increased enrollment of AANHPI students. The end goal is for CSUB to become eligible to receive a federal Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions designation, which would open up more grant opportunities to the university in serving these populations.

At least 10% of an institution’s student population must be AANHPI to receive the designation. With that population at CSUB currently at around 7%, the university hopes the new programming and services being offered through the grant will help close the enrollment gap during the 2024-25 academic year.

“Colleges have to show their support,” Catota said. “If you don’t have anything that’s culturally relevant or speaks to the students’ needs and experiences, it’s difficult to attract students.”

Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Dr. Dwayne Cantrell has been collaborating with Catota on the grant. He noted that there has been a slight decrease in enrollment over the past couple of years among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students.

While he hopes the grant initiatives will help reverse that trend, Dr. Cantrell said having more AANHPI students on campus — and students of all backgrounds — is more than just about enrollment.

“One of my personal desires for our campus is that we do have a rich, diverse student population and not just for numbers’ sake, but so we can enhance the campus culture,” he said. “Whatever those groups are, we want to do everything we can to provide the supports they need so we can provide a great experience to all of our students and so they can be successful.”