Washington — If you ask Julio Blanco, associate provost at CSU Bakersfield — what enabled his institution to boost Latino enrollment and graduation rates in STEM fields over the past few years, you get a plethora of answers: Federal grants; corporate support; aggressive recruiting.
The university’s School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering (NSME) — where Blanco serves as dean — also revamped its course offerings, set up transfer and articulation agreements with Bakersfield College and launched a student center where students are encouraged to meet regularly with an academic advisor.
Subsequently, figures show, CSU Bakersfield has seen enrollment in its NSME program grow from 670 students in 2006 to 1039 currently. Of those students, 420, or 40 percent, are Latino, which represents an 88 percent increase in Latino enrollment.
The six-year graduation rate for Latinos was 41 percent, modestly higher than their White counterparts at 38.5 percent. Latinos also surpassed other ethnicities in the five-year graduation rate in STEM fields, the figures show.
Blanco is reluctant to say his institution alone deserves credit for those results.
“This is something that is a combined effort,” Blanco said. “It’s not about one program or one person or one action, but it’s a combination of many programs, many actions and all working together to make it happen. That collaboration is the key to success.”
Blanco made those comments during an interview with Diverse at the 7th annual Celebración de Excelencia, an awards ceremony put on by Excelencia in Education, a D.C.-based policy and research organization that focuses on Latinos in higher education.
