School/College:
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Institutional Themes:
Enhance Educational Opportunities
Institutional Academic Initiatives:
Improve retention/graduation rates
Unit initiative Description:
Most Latino students in post-secondary education are concentrated in community colleges. Research shows that few Latino students manage to transfer to a four-year institution. To increase the representation of Latino students at PSU, the Chicano/Latino Studies (CLS) will develop a program called Caminos: Community College Transfer Program for Latino Students. The goal of Caminos will be two-fold: first, to provide services that facilitate the transfer of community students to PSU; secondly, to collect data and investigate best practices. As a starting point for this initiative, CLS will utilize an inventory of existing programs at PSU that target Latino students. This inventory is currently being compiled as part of a university-wide effort to improve Latino student outcomes at PSU. The goal of Caminos will be to complement what is presently being done on campus. To support Caminos, CLS will be seeking outside funding.
Desired outcomes:
The establishment of Caminos will increase the number of Latino students attending PSU; it will also help improve graduation rates of Latino students.
How initiative supports overall unit or school/college plans:
The program will document the number of successful student transfers from community college to PSU.