California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is one of the nation’s largest public universities and is the largest institution in the California State University (CSU) system. Identified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as a large Master’s College and University (Master’s L), CSULB enrolls approximately 38,000 students, making it one of the largest higher education institutions in California. Indeed, for fall 2008 admissions, CSULB received over 74,000 applications; only two other universities in the nation received more applications for fall 2008 admission—UCLA and the University of California, Berkeley.
CSULB’s 323-acre campus is located in southeast Long Beach, three miles from the Pacific Ocean and near the border of Orange County. Long Beach is an urban municipality of almost 500,000 people which USA Today, based on 2000 census data, identified as the most diverse city in the United States.
Reflecting the diversity of its city, CSULB enjoys a diverse student population (5.7% African-American, 16.3% Asian/Asian-American, 30.9% Caucasian, 18.6% Mexican-American, 0.6% Native American/Alaskan Native, 8% Other Latino/Hispanic, 7.1% Pacific Islander/Filipino, 12.8% Unknown/Other). The campus recently qualified as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education, receiving a five-year grant to support student success. The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education stated in 2007 that CSULB is the 7th in the nation in awarding bachelor’s degrees and the 14th in the nation in awarding master’s degrees to Hispanics. Further, Diverse Issues in Higher Education declared CSULB the 7th best university in the nation for conferring bachelor’s degrees to minority students and the 4th in the nation for awarding mathematics and statistics graduate degrees to minority students.
As promised in the Institutional Proposal, CSULB reviewed and revised its Mission Statement in 2005-2006. That statement now reads as follows:
California State University Long Beach is a diverse, student-centered, globally-engaged public university committed to providing highly-valued undergraduate and graduate educational opportunities through superior teaching, research, creative activity and service for the people of California and the world.
In 2005 the Division of Academic Affairs articulated three ideas in a Vision for Excellence–a core purpose, core values and an envisioned future, expressing CSULB’s identity and aspirations. That statement served as the stimulus for campus-wide discussions that resulted in a “Mission and Vision Statement” for the entire University, which may be found in Appendix A as well as at: http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/provost/vision/
In 2008, CSULB’s President Alexander played a national leadership role in establishing the “Voluntary System of Accountability” (VSA) in concert with the Association of State Colleges and Universities and the California State University Chancellor’s Office. As a result, CSULB is one of the first campuses in the nation to electronically publish its VSA portfolio or College Portrait, which can be viewed at
http://daf.csulb.edu/offices/univ_svcs/institutionalresearch/college_portrait/. CSULB’s leadership role reflects the University’s commitment to transparent accountability in the areas of student retention and graduation rates, learning outcomes, campus safety, costs of attendance and financial aid, graduates’ debt burden, and contributions to the public good. “Public good” was added to the national VSA dialogue specifically through the leadership of CSULB and the CSU System.
In 2005 the Academic Senate recommended, and the President approved, the establishment of a WASC Self-Study Steering Committee to oversee the preparation of the Proposal, as well as to review the reports for both the Capacity and Preparatory Review and the Educational Effectiveness Review. (Please see Appendix B.)
The Steering Committee conducted a variety of activities to choose research questions to be included in the campus WASC proposal, including a campus-wide survey. As a result, the Steering Committee identified three key areas that were critical to the continued progress of the campus toward excellence.
The first area is campus organization; WASC had previously noted that CSULB was very decentralized in much of its decision-making. Since that time, there have been major leadership changes at CSULB; examining the changes in organization and reflecting on optimal decision-making patterns is important at this time. The second area is faculty and staff hiring and workload; CSULB has been challenged by heavy faculty and staff workload and high Southern California housing costs in the same decade that there has been great turnover in faculty ranks. Examining and planning for these challenges is vital to our future. The third area is quality student success; over the past decade CSULB has invested effort in student learning outcomes and at the same time has increasingly realized that the University can do more to support the retention and graduation of its diverse students. These twin concerns for quality and graduation rates have merged into a concept of “quality student success” as the overarching strategic priority for the campus. These three key areas are presented in the Capacity and Preparatory Review (CPR) report as Core Commitments around which the self-study is organized.
Each of the three Core Commitments has research questions for the CPR as well as for the Educational Effectiveness Review.
The University’s WASC activities have required broad involvement across all sectors of the university. To manage the WASC activities, in September 2006 the Steering Committee established a Research Group for each of the three Core Commitments. The Steering Committee charged these groups with the supervision, management, and review of the research questions in their respective areas. Each Core Commitment Research Group identified teams for each of its research questions with the appropriate expertise. Each Core Commitment Research Group reviewed periodic progress reports teams, and approved each team’s final report. In particular, the Core Commitment Research Groups oversaw the teams’ activities to ensure that each research team sought the appropriate type and level of involvement by the campus community. Finally, each Core Commitment Research Group submitted a final report to the Self-Study Steering Committee.
The Self-Study Steering Committee also formed an Implementation Committee to manage the research activities as well as an Outreach Committee to raise campus awareness of the University's multiple research activities. The membership of all committees and research groups may be found in Appendix C.
To prepare for the CPR, the President of the University and the Chair of the Academic Senate issued campus-wide calls for participation via e-mail, written notices, meeting announcements, and speeches during major campus events. Participation was varied and inclusive. Faculty and students came forward to work on collecting data, conducting focus groups, and writing reports. Feedback on reports and documents was widespread, coming from faculty, students, administrators, and staff members. This process was coordinated by the Outreach Committee. Please see Appendix D for e-mail messages soliciting input.
The purpose of the Outreach Committee was not only to inform and educate the campus community about the Core Commitments, but also to invite broad participation in all aspects of the reaffirmation of accreditation process. This group produced a comprehensive outreach strategic plan and devised a communication campaign. A variety of communication methods were employed to inform and invite the campus community
to participate, including the use of interpersonal methods and direct, mass, and electronic media. A Lunchtime Symposium in the fall offered opportunities for faculty, students, and staff to become familiar with the WASC process. In the spring a Gourmet Coffee Break will raise campus awareness of our ongoing efforts. In addition, the Outreach Committee coordinated a series of presentations to the President’s Cabinet, to the Senior Management Council, to Academic Senate and its Senate Councils and Committees, to the Faculty Councils of the seven colleges, to the Staff Council, and to the Associated Students Senate, as well as to meetings of campus advisors and assessment coordinators. Other communication methods included a specially created WASC Web site, table tents, focus group invitations, handouts, BeachBoard announcements, and e-mail messages. A sampling of these materials may be found in the Outreach Binder in the Team Room.
CSULB’s response to previous concerns identified by the Commission in its action letter, and the major recommendations of the last visiting team, may be found in Appendix E.
In the past decade the University has grown exponentially in both recognition and size. CSULB was recently cited in CHANGE because, while we have grown by 10,000 students in the past decade, students eligible for Pell Grants have increased from 22 to 35 percent and our graduation rates have increased from 31 to 52 percent. CSULB’s Self-Study has already yielded dividends in terms of a revised program review policy, a new General Education policy, greater emphasis on both course-based and program-based learning objectives, and the institution of a number of student success initiatives referenced in the CHANGE article. While we are grateful for the increased national recognition of our efforts to increase student success, we are also mindful that we still have much to do, many changes to make, and new policies to devise. This Self-Study will stimulate institutional introspection and will ensure that our campus culture continues to eschew complacency and embrace change.
