Growing up in Old Town Goleta, Britt Ortiz used to ride his bicycle to UC Santa Barbara on warm summer afternoons to swim in the campus pool. Little did he know he’d play water polo in that same pool during high school and college, or that his professional career would land him at UCSB decades later…

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A new partnership with mobile app OOHLALA will help San Jose State University better assist its student population to get more involved in college life, particularly those who commute to the school, according to Sonja Daniels, the associate vice president for campus life…

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Enrollment of underrepresented race/ethnic groups (African American, American Indian and Chicano/Latino) in UC’s graduate academic programs has grown over the past decade. In 2012–13, UC awarded academic doctoral degrees to underrepresented racial/ethnic groups at greater percentage rates than did its peers…

The University of California, Irvine is among the latest to earn the “Hispanic-Serving Institution” designation, joining a fast-growing group of U.S. higher education institutions that educate a student body that is at least 25% Hispanic.
And while many colleges and universities become HSIs by accident — simply by virtue of changing demographics — UC-Irvine’s goal of becoming an HSI has been a clear part of its strategic plan. The number of Latino students on UCI’s campus has more than doubled in the last decade, thanks to targeted recruitment efforts and pipeline building…
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UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare has won a five-year $3.4 million grant to fund recruitment, scholarship and research efforts in the school’s new Latino Center of Excellence.
Awarded by the federal Health Resources & Services Administration, the grant will support efforts to boost Latino youth interest in behavioral and mental health and encourage them to pursue undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in social welfare…
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I recently retired from my position as a student affairs administrator and education studies lecturer after 28 years of service at UCSD. In 1991, along with UCSD alumni, faculty, students and staff, I helped found the UCSD Chicano/Latino Concilio to advocate for the access and success of Chicanos at the elite La Jolla campus. Creating an external organization was necessary as virtually no Chicano voices existed among the UCSD administration or academic senate to increase institutional diversity and equity…
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The Chicano Studies Program at the University of Texas at El Paso has recently launched a new online Bachelor of Arts in Chicano Studies option enabling students across the United States and around the globe to have access to one of the oldest and most respected Chicano Studies programs in the nation.In 1971, UTEP became the first university in Texas to introduce a Chicano Studies program…Link to article

For their scholastic achievement, their extraordinary service to the university and the community, and their personal courage and persistence, three graduating seniors at UC Santa Barbara have been named winners of the university’s top awards…
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If you are an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) student and a California resident entering SF State University in Fall 2017, you are invited to participate in the California Promise Program
If you are committed to graduating in 2 years, the CA Promise program can help you make that goal a reality. We encourage you to join the CA Promise Program and earn your degree in two years!
Benefits of SF State’s CA Promise Program
After Pledging to the program in your first semester, you will receive:
Priority registration every subsequent semester so that you can enroll in the courses you need to complete your degree program in two years (maximum of 60 units);
Guaranteed course availability with personalized academic plan;
Specialized advising each semester to ensure students stay on track…
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National graduation rates reached a record high of 81.4 percent in 2013, in part due to the increase of graduation rates among minority and low-income students.
Over the last decade, 1.8 million additional students have graduated from high school, according to a report released by America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises, Everyone Graduates Center, and the Alliance for Excellent Education.
GradNation, a campaign by America’s Promise Alliance, was launched in 2010 to focus individuals, organizations and communities on decreasing dropout rates. They adopted a goal of raising the national average on-time high school graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020…
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The number of Latinos in higher education is increasing. However, Latinos are the least educated ethnic group in terms of bachelor’s degree completion with only 16 percent attaining a bachelor’s degree or higher.
According to Dr. Linda Castillo’s research, part of the problem may stem from intragroup marginalization. In other words, being teased by family members for not being Latino enough can impact a student’s motivation to continue in college.
Dr. Castillo, professor of counseling psychology, and her research team knew the importance of addressing this because of their own experiences in the education pipeline. Dr. Castillo had many instances where she was treated differently by white students and faculty for being Latino, but it was not until she was in college that she noticed her family’s views start to change. They treated her differently because of the way she spoke and for not being Latino enough…
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In the midst of a controversial overhaul, a Latino community leader has been tapped to take the helm of the City Colleges of Chicago.
Juan Salgado will replace Cheryl Hyman, a former corporate executive, as the head of the state’s largest community college network
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised Hyman for improving the City Colleges’ graduation rate and consolidating programs with a focus on linking them to jobs under a plan called Reinvention. She also raised tuition and created a tuition structure that favored full-time students over those taking classes part time.
Those moves were sharply criticized by faculty and some community groups as a top-down initiative that they said limited student access…
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UCSB sociologist Victor Rios to discuss how emotional support from authority figures impacts the lives of marginalized students
UCSB sociology professor Victor Rios is among four presenters in PBS series of TED Talks on innovative approaches to education
Research on students who overcome adversity to successfully navigate higher education has shown that emotionally relevant educators often make the difference, by fostering the resilience that makes success possible. No one knows that better than Victor Rios, whose own life was forever altered by a high school teacher who saw his potential and became his mentor…
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