CSUB receives $3 million grant to support Hispanic students

Funding will support dual enrollment efforts, create summer program for transfer students

By California State University, Bakersfield

February 9^th, 2023

California State University, Bakersfield has received a $3 million grant aimed at transforming the campus experience for Hispanic students.

The five-year grant — provided by the U.S. Department of Education’s Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program — will allow the university to provide new transfer pathways, expand dual enrollment offerings, create new internship opportunities as well as provide a summer program exclusively for transfer students.

The goals of the project — titled “Puedes! Caminos, Cariño y Carreras in a Post-Pandemic Era,” are to increase regular and dual enrollment as well as retention and graduation rates among Hispanic, or Latinx, students.

CSUB is federally designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), as Hispanic students make up more than 25% of full-time equivalent undergraduates. Currently, over 60% of undergraduates at the university identify as Hispanic or Latinx.

“I’m so excited to have some financial support for these programs,” said Dr. Debra Jackson, associate vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of academic programs. “We are interested in finding ways to attract students to the campus and support them through to degree completion. This project is all about elevating degree attainment in our region.”

Puedes! is centered around three strategies: expanding access and improving onboarding for students, providing better support and care to make sure all their needs are met, as well as driving a cultural shift on campus that embraces CSUB’s identity as an HSI.

“We want to provide some resources to think through our policies, our procedures, our practices — and, ultimately, our culture on our campus — to center Hispanic-servingness so it’s something that’s an intentional effort at our campus, not just an accident of demographics,” Dr. Jackson said.

The grant will allow CSUB to partner with more community colleges and high schools in the area on its dual enrollment and transfer pathway initiatives.

Over the past few years, the university has been able to offer college credit to high school students as part of a dual enrollment program. However, Dr. Jackson said it has been limited due to a lack of dedicated funding from the state.

“We serve about 1,000 students a year, and I know there’s greater demand,” she said. “Bakersfield College is serving 15 times the number of students that we are through their dual enrollment program, so there’s a much, much bigger market there.”

The grant, however, provides an opportunity for CSUB to partner with more feeder schools, especially those that don’t already have dual enrollment.

“For the past four years, I’ve been wondering how do we put CSU Bakersfield on the dual enrollment map in our community so that when high-school students are thinking about their next steps, they think about CSUB?” Dr. Jackson said.

Room to grow

Kris Grappendorf is one of the activity directors for the grant and is serving as the project’s pathways coordinator. Her role is to work with school districts and community colleges to expand dual enrollment and transfer pathways to CSUB.

“We’re doing some good things, but this grant gives us the funding to grow these programs,” she said. “We can look at the data and be more conscientious and targeted in developing these areas for students at the high schools and community colleges they are coming to CSUB from. We need to make sure we coordinate with area community colleges and are being strategic.”

Chemistry Professor Dr. Danielle Solano is also helping to implement the grant, with a focus on increasing internship and research opportunities on campus as well as providing student supports such as counseling and student success coaching.

“It seemed liked an interesting opportunity,” she said. “I really like the goals of the grant, so that’s why I wanted to get involved. I’ve never been part of a grant of this size, so I’m learning a lot.”

Dr. Solano said she particularly appreciates that the grant supports Hispanic students, having been one herself.

“Part of the reason I wanted to come to CSUB was because it’s an HSI. I really like working with this population of students,” she said.

Dr. Jackson said growing the university’s existing initiatives such as dual enrollment, transfer pathways and internships was one of the primary goals in seeking this grant.

“I saw this as an opportunity to bring in some resources to serve more students with the structures we have built already,” she said.

'We want them to be ready to go'

One new element of the grant is the transfer Summer Bridge program. This year will be the first time that a summer program will be offered to transfer students. Summer Bridge helps students transition to CSUB and prepare them for university-level coursework.

The 8-day program, called Puente, will be held in June and is open to all transfer students. The university can accept up to 100 participants for the program. The university will begin recruiting students next month.

Puente will provide participants with a crash course on everything the university has to offer. Students will have the opportunity to visit various areas on campus to familiarize themselves before coming to the university in the fall.

“Since they’re coming in as transfer students, they don’t have a lot of time to discover everything,” Dr. Jackson said. “We want them to be ready to go when they show up on campus on the first day.”

Besides helping them get used to the campus, Puente will also work with the incoming students to strengthen their writing skills and prepare for upper-division writing requirements. The goal is for students identify their academic strengths as well as areas of improvement.

“We want to do whatever we can to make them comfortable with CSUB before they come in the fall. We’re trying to give them all the tools they need,” Grappendorf said. “If we can make everything easier to navigate and do as much as we can to support them when they get here, hopefully that’s going to make an impact for the region.”

While CSUB has only had a few months to begin implementing the Puedes! program, they’ve already brought together an advisory board to oversee the project. One of the members of the board is Claudia Catota, chief diversity officer and special assistant to the president.

“I am thankful for Dr. Jackson’s leadership and excited to serve on the advisory board,” she said. “The vision of this grant is to support our Latinx students by increasing the university’s cultural competency, student’s sense of belonging and meeting students where they are. This grant is transformational and will support our desire to be a better-serving HSI.”

`Runners on the RISE

In addition to the Puedes! grant, CSUB also recently received $300,000 from the Chancellor’s Office’s Supportive Pathways Program that will allow the university to offer a new eight-week summer program for incoming freshmen.

Historically, the university’s Educational Opportunity Program has offered a Summer Bridge program but only for students from underserved populations, such as those from low-income households and first-generation students.

The new program, called the `Runner Institute for Student Enrichment (RISE), will be open to all freshmen regardless of income. Participating students can earn up to 13 units of college credit.

The university is aiming to enroll up to 250 students in the program and will begin accepting applications in March.

“The Chancellor’s Office recognizes that all students need the benefit of a summer bridge program,” Dr. Jackson said.

RISE will replace CSUB’s Early Start program but will not take the place of the existing EOP Summer Bridge program, which will continue this year. Dr. Jackson hopes the university will continue to receive funding to be able to offer RISE every summer moving forward.

Besides these two grants, CSUB has received others over the past year that also involve partnering with community colleges to create new transfer pathways.

The university received $17,500 from the ECMC Foundation that was used to work with Bakersfield College to revise 29 existing transfer pathways and create 26 new ones to help college students transition to the university.

CSUB also recently received $15,000 from the College Futures Foundation to do the same at Porterville College. The university is set to convene with faculty and staff from the college in March.