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February
24,
2006
DH 06 RH12
Contact: Russ Hudson,
Media Relations Coordinator
(310) 243-2455/2001
rhudson@csudh.edu
President Lyons Goes to Church Sunday to Talk
about Education
Carson, CA— James E. Lyons, Sr., president of
California State University, Dominguez Hills, will address
the congregation at Grant AME Church at 8 a.m. Sunday, February
26. Lyons will be the first of two California State University
presidents to address the congregation that day. Cal Poly
Pomona President Michael Ortiz will speak at 11 a.m.
Although many programs are in place to provide information
on higher education to high school students in particular
and communities in general, the CSU presidents and the chancellor
chose to speak at the churches because they wanted to reach
as many parents and students as possible as soon as possible,
especially the African American students and their parents.
The numbers of African Americans enrolling in universities
is leveling or declining in many areas, and fewer and fewer
of those enrolling are men. African American women outnumber
men about two-to-one in the CSU system. Surveys have shown
that many African Americans don’t see higher education
as attainable for them. The CSU presidents and Chancellor
Charles Reed will be speaking at several churches in the
Los Angeles and South Bay area on Sunday about the necessity
of a higher education in today’s knowledge-driven economy
and how attainable it actually is. The difference between
the lifetime earnings of the average high-school graduate,
they will point out, and the average college graduate with
a bachelor’s degree is $1 million. Degrees beyond a
bachelor’s raise that figure even higher.
Reed points out that on the CSU’s 23 campuses, 54 percent
of the students are people of color and that nearly 20,000
African Americans are currently enrolled. But, that is still
disproportionate because there are more than 400,000 student
currently enrolled in the CSU system.
The CSU’s mentoring program to help students get into,
and succeed in, universities will be explained, as will financial
aid, what classes are needed to qualify for college and to
have a better chance to succeed, and how to gauge progress
and success on the way to college. Much of the information,
including the CSU Mentor program is available on the CSU
Website, http://www.calstate.edu.
Grant AME Church is located at 10435 S. Central Ave., Los
Angeles. Leading the Grant congregation is the Reverend Leslie
R. White.
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University Communications & Public Affairs
Welch Hall, B-363
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