By Tyler Shultz
Staff Writer
In an effort to improve graduation rates, the California State University has launched the 2025 Graduation Initiative.
The initiative aims to increase the four- and six-year graduation rate for first time freshmen, while also increasing the two- and four-year graduation rates for transfer students, at all 23 CSU campuses.
James Minor, the recently appointed senior strategist for academic success and inclusive excellence, and Jeff Gold, the assistant vice chancellor for strategic initiatives, recently visited Cal State Dominguez Hills to discuss the initiative and what the campuses in the system can do to achieve the goals.
While new to the CSU system, Minor has experience in the field of education, having served as director of higher education programs at the Southern Education Foundation in Atlanta.
Minor most recently served as the deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education.
“Right now, the two fastest growing groups of young people are students of color and a good portion of them are poor,” Minor said. “When I look across the country, at the institutions or the groups of institutions doing the heavy lifting with those students, the CSU rises right to the top.”
Minor also has experience in addressing student-achievement gaps, one of the primary focuses of the initiative.
While eliminating the achievement gap is an important goal, Minor also mentioned that it is equally as important to eliminate the opportunity gap and ensure that all students are offered the same opportunities.
“This is not just about advancing graduation rates; this is also making sure that every student, regardless of their ZIP code, regardless of their family income, should have the same chance of being successful,” Minor said.
Gold mentioned that technology is a driving factor in making sure that the resource available are being used in the most-effective way possible for each campus.
“One of the resources we have to bring to bear strategically, and in a very concerted and organized way, is technology,” Gold said.
The 2025 Graduation Initiative hopes to build on the success of the first graduation initiative, launched in 2009, which reached the goal of increasing the graduation rate of first-time CSU freshmen.
