The month of January marks the time for the President of the United States to publicly state a charted direction for the country through his State of the Union address. It is also a time for the Chancellor of the California State University system to communicate his vision and goals for the 23 universities that serve as a backbone of education in California.
Chancellor Timothy P. White outlined his priority investments in the CSU system in his speech to the CSU Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday surrounded by 200 faculty, staff, students and guests. White announced that the CSU will commit an additional $50 million to increase degree completion and advance student achievement, using this financial sum as a hallmark for change to come in the next year. The money will be used to ultimately support students by hiring more tenure-track faculty, enhance student advising, increase the number of online and concurrent enrollment classes and improve access and increase degree completion among community college transfer students among other goals.
“Our top priority must be to firm up our fiscal and policy commitments to access, persistence to degree and degree completion – to improve the educational experience and degree attainment for all students, and to enable students to earn a higher quality degree in a shorter amount of time,” said White in his speech.
Annually, the CSU system awards over half of California’s baccalaureate degrees and over 30 percent of the master's degrees, making the financial wellness of the system vital to its success. White also reiterated the important relationship the system has with its stakeholders and continues to prioritize harmony across the 23 campuses.
"Chancellor White's emphasis is exactly where it should be: We must do even more to provide access to and successful completion of a college education — for our students' sake and for the sake of regional and state development. The chancellor makes clear that this will not happen to the extent that we wish unless we set priorities and stay focused upon them. Investment in student success is an investment in California's future," said CSU Stanislaus President Joseph Sheley.
