NORTHRIDGE — California State University will establish a Global Hispanic Serving Institution Equity Innovation Hub to be housed on the Cal State Northridge campus, officials announced Tuesday.
CSUN’s Global HSI Equity Innovation Hub will work in collaboration with other CSU campuses and HSIs across the nation to increase student success and equip Latinx and other historically underserved students with skills for high-demand careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, officials said.
The initiative is being facilitated in partnership with Apple Inc. and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“The CSU, the nation’s largest four-year higher education system, has long been a leader in serving Latinx students, with 21 of our 23 campuses receiving HSI designation,” CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro said.
“The CSU takes great pride in the work we have undertaken to provide pathways to STEM education that result in the careers that power the world’s fifth-largest economy. Through bold vision from our state’s leaders … this is an exciting opportunity to collaborate with an outstanding partner in Apple and to leverage their cutting-edge and creative technologies with the intellectual capacities of world-class faculty to combine that work to benefit thousands of talented students in California and beyond.”
The hub is the result of a public/private partnership, and the building was made possible through a $25 million allocation in the 2021-22 California budget and a donation from Apple.
“This exciting initiative showcases California’s commitment to create new pathways to success for all individuals, reinforcing the fact that our innovation economy continues to expand,” Newsom said. “Expanding equitable educational opportunities for the state’s largest population has been a goal of my administration, and this $25 million allocation — along with the donation from California-based Apple — will help accelerate that goal.”
Apple will also provide technology and design support as the project expands.
“By reframing serving through an equity and racial-justice lens, the Global HSI Equity Innovation Hub seeks to exponentially accelerate educational equity across the CSU system and nation,” CSUN President Erika Beck said. “The Equity Hub at CSUN is an ideal site to continue these ongoing, collaborative efforts, while also expanding the map across HSIs nationally, to capture proven strategies to the benefit of all. We aim to shift the conversation away from what students must do to be successful to what our institutions must do to successfully serve our Latinx and other diverse students.”
Hispanic-Serving Institutions are defined under the Higher Education Act as colleges or universities where at least 25% of the undergraduate, full-time enrollment is Latinx, and at least half of the institution’s degree-seeking students must be low-income.
At CSUN, more than 21,000 of the campus’ approximately 39,000 students enrolled in fall 2021 identified as Latinx.
