CSUN in Top 10 Campuses for Latino Bachelor Degrees

Cal State Northridge was among the top 10 four-year campuses in the nation to grant bachelor’s degrees to Latino students in 1998, the chancellor’s office announced Thursday.

The university awarded bachelor’s degrees to 714 Latino students that year, officials said.

Three other Cal State campuses--San Diego, Los Angeles and Fullerton--also made the top 10, and 13 other Cal State campuses made the top 75.

The survey was published last month in the national magazine Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education.

“We’re the people’s university, and this is what the state looks like,” said Cal State spokesman Ken Swisher. “The state is one of the most diverse in the country, and the university is one of the most diverse in the country.”

Cal State Northridge and 11 other CSU campuses were also among the top 75 institutions to grant master’s degrees to Latinos.

San Diego State ranked 37th in the number of Latino doctorates.

“This is kind of a half-full, half-empty-glass situation,” said Jorge Garcia, dean of Humanities at Cal State Northridge. “When I look at the numbers and the rankings, I am happy, but when I look at the number of Latinos in K-12 schools, I think the number [receiving college degrees] should be twice what it is. I’m happy to see progress, but very aware of how far we have to go.”

At Northridge, disciplines such as communications, English, foreign languages, psychology and the social sciences produced the greatest number of Latino graduates.

More than half of all Cal State students are minorities, and at Cal State Northridge 63% of all students were minorities in 1999, according to officials.

Swisher said Cal State campuses have consistently made the top 10 list since at least 1996. This is the first time Northridge has been among them, he said, moving up from 14th place in 1997.

About 40% of all Cal State students come from homes in which English is a second language and one-third of CSU students identify themselves as multiracial, according to a recent survey by the university system.