Leaders from several area colleges and universities will join a roundtable discussion hosted by former Secretary of Labor and Cal Poly Pomona alumna Hilda Solis about providing greater support for students transferring from community colleges.
The “TRANSFERmation” roundtable grew out of Solis’ interest in transfer issues and her work with community colleges. Solis, a scholar-in-residence at Cal Poly Pomona, wanted to start a discussion about how the university could work with other institutions to help transfer students.
Budget cuts, enrollment reductions and higher admission standards over the past several years have made it difficult for community college students to transfer to four-year universities.
Cal Poly Pomona was recently awarded an $80,000 CSU grant last fall to develop the PolyTransfer Program, which seeks to increase the graduation rate of under-represented and first-generation transfer students.
The roundtable discussion will take place from 1:30 to 3 p.m., Tuesday, March 11, at the Kellogg West Conference Center. The speakers will include:
- Alfred Herrera, assistant vice provost for academic partnerships at UCLA and director of the UCLA Center for Community College Partnerships
- Michele Siqueiros, executive director for The Campaign for College Opportunity
- Dimpal Jain, assistant professor in educational leadership and policy studies at Cal State Northridge.
In addition, presidents or other leaders from Rio Hondo, East Los Angeles, Citrus and Mt. SAC colleges are expected to attend.
The roundtable is sponsored by The Hugh O. La Bounty Endowed Chair of Interdisciplinary Applied Studies; the PolyTransfer Program; the College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences; the College of Education & Integrative Studies; the departments of political science and ethnic & women’s studies.
For more information, contact Professor S. Terri Gomez, chair of the ethnic and women’s studies department and director of the PolyTransfer program.