Diversity Scorecard Project
Section IV. Excellence
As noted earlier, the CSUDH work-team identified two objectives in the area of excellence. They are:
- Objective One: Improve the data collection process so as to be able to measure the number of students who actively pursue both Masters level and Ph.D. graduate education opportunities.
- Objective Two: Increase the number of students who achieve summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude status to match yet to be determined system-wide rates.
One of the more striking findings the scorecard team had to cope with from the very beginning was the absence of systematically collected information related to excellence. No matter where our discussion led as we attempted to clarify our areas of concern, we encountered the reality (as did the WARC team preparing the October 2001 self-study), that quantifiable data regarding the extent to which CSUDH students achieved excellence was simply not available. Anecdotal information could be obtained in plentiful amounts and some departments were more able than others to have information that could be studied. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that the only way in which this issue can be studied at the moment is through the considerable expertise and experience of the senior administrators who served on the committee and who were familiar with the issues being considered. It is in this context that the following analysis is offered.
A. Number of Undergraduates Who Pursue Masters and Ph.D.-level Graduate Education Opportunities.
At present, CSUDH does not have a systematic tracking mechanism to collect and analyze data on:
- How many CSUDH undergraduates pursue graduate studies upon the completion of their bachelor’s degree;
- The graduate schools to which CSUDH graduates apply;
- The extent to which CSUDH graduates are admitted to graduate programs;
- The extent to which CSUDH graduates enroll in the programs to which they were admitted, and;
- The graduation rate of these alumni in their post-graduate educational endeavors.
In Sections V and VI the team presents recommendations to address this issue.
B. Number of Undergraduate Students Who Earned Special Recognition
Although data have not been collected systematically or comprehensively, some measures do exist:
- Honors Program: The University’s Honors Program currently enrolls 239 students. To qualify, students must have earned GPA of 3.4 or higher and take a designated number of Honors courses during their lower-division and upper-division studies.
- An annual Honors Convocation provides special recognition for students with Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Summa Cum Laude accomplishments, members of eleven national honor societies with CSUDH campus branches, scholarship recipients, recipients of departmental honors awards in their major departments (criteria for these awards vary by department but generally require 3.4 GPA or higher), and students named Outstanding Student by their major department.
- A Student Research Competition held annually attracts undergraduates as well as graduate presenters. In spring 2002, 7 undergraduates and 17 graduate students presented at the Student Research Conference. Nine of these students were selected for the CSU Statewide Student Research Competition in 2002, and one CSUDH student (Keith Weaver) was a winner in this statewide competition.
- An annual Graduate Honors Reception honors Graduate Equity Fellows, Pre-Doctoral Scholars, Forgivable Loan Recipients, Student Research Competition participants, and Outstanding Thesis and Project nominees. Additionally, the faculty mentors for these students are also acknowledged.