San Diego State University is closing the achievement gap among minority students. It is ranked No. 20 in the nation for most bachelor’s degrees awarded to ethnic minorities, according to the magazine "Diverse Issues in Higher Education."
SDSU ranked No.12 for Hispanics, No.21 for Asian Americans and No. 19 for American Indian bachelor’s degree recipients.
Dr. Aaron Bruce, chief diversity officer at SDSU, said the achievement is due to a campus-wide effort.
“We have a variety of different clubs and organizations that are speaking to students’ identities so that they can develop their leadership skills in a variety of different ways that speak to their own identity,” he said.
The university has one of the most diverse campuses in the nation, with more than half of its students coming from minority backgrounds.
“We have brilliant students that come from a variety of different identities and cultural backgrounds,” said Bruce. “We create an environment where they continue to be successful academically and have the support here.”
A racial gap in students who stay in school past their freshman years has almost vanished at SDSU, according to the university’s statistics. In 2010, 88.3 percent of all freshmen returned for their sophomore years in 2011. The minority students’ continuation rate was 87.4 percent.
