Dear HSU Colleagues,

With a focus on enhancing our commitment to student success, closing opportunity and access gaps addressed by the Graduation Initiative 2025 and our WSCUC (WASC) self-study, and in light of the budget challenges facing Academic Affairs, several organizational changes in the division will occur on August 01, 2017.

The Academic Career and Advising Center, the Center for Community Based Learning, the Learning Center, and the Retention through Academic Mentoring Program will be joining Academic Programs, which also houses Undergraduate Studies, Graduate Studies and the new Center for Teaching and Learning. The synergy of this larger group will have a positive impact by helping to coordinate new and existing student academic achievement efforts underway across campus and providing support to the colleges.

Further, the Indian Natural Resources Science and Engineering Program (INRSEP) will be joining the College of Natural Resources and Sciences (CNRS). The INRSEP-CNRS collaboration will provide targeted support for students’ development as future STEM professionals, critical partnership for opportunities to improve the inclusivity of CNRS courses, and increased participation of INRSEP students in STEM internships.  Also, this new alignment will increase connections with NSF-REU, HHMI and HSI-STEM faculty-funded projects.

Finally, the Cultural Centers for Academic Excellence and the Educational Opportunity Program will be joining the division of Student Affairs. This new alignment will enhance inclusive student success by leveraging the expertise and resources of our existing robust student support programming. Also, this will allow for elevated cross-talk among our three grant-funded TRiO programs (Student Support Services, Upward Bound and Talent Search) to ensure we are providing supportive success pathways in higher education for K-12 students and matriculating HSU students.

These new organizational changes not only enhance our student success efforts, they will create a conduit for collaboration, innovation and interaction between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs to ensure we keep HSU students our number one priority. These changes will further support our collective impact – defined as aligning diverse stakeholders around shared outcomes – and reinforce that we are all working together toward the important goals of maximizing student learning, removing racial inequalities and supporting successful degree attainment.

Sincerely,

Alex Enyedi