By Norman Williams | Special to The OBSERVER
Just one year after appointing its second Black president, Sacramento State University has been chosen to lead the California State University (CSU) system’s new Statewide Central Office for the Advancement of Black Excellence.
The Office will use an initial budget of $1.3 million to coordinate and support efforts by all CSU campuses to build and sustain Black students’ success. It’s a portion of the CSU’s Chancellor’s Office’s recent $10 million one-time allocation to Black student success initiatives at the campuses.
Sacramento State, which enrolls the CSU’s largest population of Black students, competed for the honor with the other CSU campuses.
“It was a very competitive process and we’re grateful that the system selected us,” said Dr. Luke Wood, president of the university.
He noted that Sacramento State already has the nation’s first Black honors college that isn’t housed at an Historically Black College or University (HBCU). “What we’ve been saying routinely, to everyone, is that while Sacramento State cannot be an HBCU, we can be everything but the historical part.”
The new office will oversee the system-wide implementation of key recommendations from CSU’s Black Student Success report, which was issued last June. It will also work with the CSU campuses on creating and supporting transformative practices at the campuses and in surrounding underserved communities.
Dr. Wood, pointing to the most recent student application data, said he sees Sacramento State’s progress in this area as a prime example of how universities can enhance the experience for Black students, and in turn attract more scholars.
“(Sacramento State’s) transfer applications for Black students are up 43 percent,” he said. “Our overall applications (transfers and new applicants) for Black students are up 20 percent. No other group has had that level of a jump. And so, while many institutions across the state are struggling to figure out, ‘how can we recruit Black students,’ I feel like Sacramento State helps to exemplify what that model means.”
Dr. Wood listed key parts of the success model, including, “be a Black serving institution; show your public commitment to serving the students; and create unique programs and services.” He added that Sacramento State enhanced the model on its campus with an extra step. “We went beyond just the programs to actually create an entire (honors) college.” Wood also stressed the importance of finding the right mix of people to operate such an effort effectively, including recruitment and hiring of faculty members, staff members, and administrators who are committed to serving Black students. “And, if you build it,” he said, “they will come.”
The impact of the program will also be felt by surrounding communities and secondary school districts in the campus’ areas. The changes will help build awareness of a welcoming place for Black students to thrive and learn with people who share their lived experiences.
Wood added that Sacramento State’s success has already helped expand opportunities beyond the Black educational community.
“There’s only one other statewide effort that’s coordinating success for specific minority communities, Asian and Pacific Islander students,” he said. “…Several months ago, we (Sacramento State) were selected as the site for that effort for the entire (CSU) system, too.”
As for extending improvements beyond the campuses and into secondary school communities, Wood said Sacramento State is in a singularly beneficial position to effect such change.
“We’re the one and only public university in the state Capital of the fifth largest economy in the world,” he noted. “So, the things that we do…truly have an impact,” he said. “Not just in the Sacramento region, but in the state and then the entire world.”
Lanaya Lewis, a member of the Sacramento State coordinating committee for the Black Honors College, said she also sees the university’s advancements in the area as tone-setters for other universities to follow.
“We have pretty much set the standard and an example of what it means to provide a community and a place where students, staff and faculty have a sense of belonging,” Lewis said. “That’s been a big conversation across the country and the world, really – what it means to be in a place where you can be your own authentic self. We are putting ourselves out there and showing other universities that it can be done.”
Support for this Sacramento OBSERVER article was provided to Word In Black (WIB) by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. WIB is a collaborative of 10 Black-owned media that includes print and digital partners.