Newswise — According to data recently compiled by the National Science Foundation (NSF), six CSU campuses are among the top in the nation for graduating Latino students who go on to earn a Ph.D. in the sciences.
Long Beach, Los Angeles, Northridge, Pomona, San Diego and San Francisco are among the nation's top 55 U.S. bachelor's and master's granting institutions for producing Latino doctorates in areas such as chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer sciences and biological sciences.
The findings were published in the NSF's Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2017. This biennial report provides statistics about the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering. The findings for this year's report cover 2010-14 and come from surveys conducted by the NSF, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
California is not producing enough graduates in the science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) fields to meet the state's growing demand for a highly-skilled workforce. A recent report by the Campaign for College Opportunity indicates that the state also falls far behind others when it comes to Latinos earning STEM degrees.
The CSU has been working to meet the state's workforce needs by strengthening efforts to increase completion rates and close the achievement gap for underserved students through Graduation Initiative 2025. Throu gh the initiative, campuses are developing innovative ways to support student success—many of them focus on STEM.
A number of CSU campuses also have programs aimed at increasing Latino student success in STEM that are funded by the U.S. Department of Education. These include the Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans Program and the STEM and Articulations Program,
To receive these grants, a campus must be designated by the Department of Education as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Currently, 21 of 23 CSUs are recognized as HSIs— colleges and universities with a Latino student enrollment of at least 25 percent.
In today's diverse California, the CSU is graduating more students than ever before. In 2015-16, the CSU granted nearly 35,000 degrees to Latinos, and now serves about 185,000 Latino students—39 percent of the total student body.
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