CSU Campuses Earn Seal of Excelencia for Accelerating Latinx Student Success

​​​​​​​Three CSU campuses—Fresno State, Cal State Fullerton and San Diego State—were awarded the 2021 Seal of Excelencia from Excelencia in Education last week for outstanding commitment to serving Latinx students. CSU Channel Islands and Sacramento State earned the recognition in 2019 and 2020, respectively. 

“These seal-certified institutions have been able to articulate and demonstrate they are modeling the behavior we need to see to accelerate Latinx student success,” Excelencia co-founder and CEO Deborah Santiago stated in a press release​. “They are having measurable impact in changing the face of higher education.”

The institutions earned the Excelencia seal certification by demonstrating specific inclusive strategies, implementing programs with evidence of effectiveness, and registering results that showed they are intentionally serving Latinx students, according to the press release. 

Excelencia provided examples of noteworthy programs or practice​s at the seal-certified schools, including Fresno State’s South Valley Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP), Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Scholars (CFS) and San Diego State’s Building on Inclusive Excellence hiring program.

The group also highlighted programs at two CSU campuses, the Mathematics Intensive Summer Session (MISS) at CSUF and the PARC Supplemental Instruction​ (SI) Program at Sacramento State, in its list of 2021 Examples of Excelencia finalists.

The CSU serves more than 272,000 Hispanic/Latinx students—almost half of the CSU’s student body—and awarded more than 44,000 bachelor’s degrees to Hispanic/Latinx students in 2019-20. In fact, 62% of the total number of bachelor’s degrees earned by Hispanics in California are CSU degrees.

CSU campuses were recently recognized by Hispanic Outlook on Education​​ for being among the nation's top 100 universities enrolling and graduating the highest numbers of Hispanic/Latinx students. Among the top ten for awarding bachelor’s degrees to Hispanic/Latinx students are Northridge, Fullerton, Los Angeles and Long Beach.

As 21 of the CSU’s 23 campuses are designated Hispanic-Serving Institutions​​ (HSIs), the university is committed to being a leader in elevating the lives and experiences of Hispanic/Latinx individuals. This federal designation qualifies campuses for additional funding opportunities that can further boost Latinx/Hispanic student achievement and help close equity gaps, key goals of the university's Graduation Initiative 2025​. 

The CSU educates the most ethnically, economically and academically diverse student body in the nation. Learn more about diversity at the CSU.