20 Years of Impact
The CSU’s vast community engagement network comprised of faculty, staff, students, community partners and campus leadership, actively advances the CSU’s commitment to inclusivity, equity and student success through high-quality community programs and scholarship while preparing California State University graduates to be change makers across California’s rich and diverse communities.
Service learning is vital to improving student success as it applies classroom
knowledge to real world experiences.
In 1998, the CSU Center for Community Engagement was the first systemwide office to be established in the country. With broad support from AcademicSenateCSU, the Board of Trustees and the Governor's Office, $1M is dedicated to support community engagement and service learning systemwide.
As a result, we have...
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Impacted Graduation Rates
A recent CSU-wide study on service learning shows six-year graduation rates were generally higher for STEM students who participated in service learning than those who did not participate. Furthermore, service-learning experiences were found to increase students’ interest in STEM careers and statistically improve their attitudes toward civic engagement.
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Received Widespread Recognition
For social and economic impact on California, including the 13 CSU campuses who have received the Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Classification.
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Increased Courses and Opportunities
Every year, more than 67,000 students contribute 1.5 million hours of service through nearly 3,500 courses in collaboration with more than 5,800 community organization partnerships.
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Closed the Retention Equity Gap
CSU STEM VISTA is focused on eliminating race, class and gender disparities in STEM degree programs. Over the last seven years, CSU STEM VISTA has provided more than 691,500 hours of programming, activities and support services to nearly 74,545 students, faculty, staff, and other members of the community.
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Received Faculty Honors
The inaugural Faculty Innovation and Leadership Awards honored seven CSU service-learning faculty members for improving student learning and degree completion by imeir curriculum: Stephanie Bianco (Chico), Karina Garbesi and Erik Helgren (East Bay), Rajee Amarasinghe (Fresno), Julián Jefferies (Fullerton) plementing cutting-edge techniques in thHakan Ozcelik (Sacramento) and Margaret Stevenson (San José).
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Significantly Impacted Communities
Since 2000, on average, CSU campuses and CCE have raised $3.1 million annually to support community engagement, equating to a return on investment of $3 for every dollar invested by the state.