Liberal Education and America's Promise

California State University Advocacy and Campus Action Initiatives

The California State University System joined the LEAP initiative as a partner state in 2008.

The California State University System is a part of AAC&U’s new project, Give Students a Compass: A Multi-State Partnership for College Learning, General Education, and Underserved Student Success. Funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Compass Project is a multi-state collaborative effort to re-map educational aims, educational practices and assessment strategies for general education in public higher education—two-year and four-year—within a set of participating state systems. Within the broad goals of the project, there will be a strong and sustained focus on the educational needs of students who, historically, have been underserved in higher education: first generation students, ethnic and racial minorities, and those from low-income families.

Resources and Activities to Promote Liberal Education in The California State Universities

• The Cal State University System Compass Web Site provides more information on how the Give Students a Compass initiative is taking shape on the campuses of CSU, Chico, San Jose State University and CSU, Sacramento.
• The CSU GE Affinity Group is an informal collection of faculty and administrators from the 23 campuses of the California State University. Membership includes past and current chairs of the different general education curriculum committees around the system, and most deans of undergraduate education. The GE Affinity Group hosts monthly webinars, a listserv, and occasional in-person meetings as funding allows.
• The California State University System announced on July 1, 2008, its decision to establish new general education requirements based on the LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes.

Press Releases and Coverage

• The chairman of the Cal State University Board of Trustees, Jeff Bleich, discussed his thoughts about the California education system in the Los Angeles Times (November 4, 2009).
• The California State University System announced (December 23, 2008) that campuses in Chico, Sacramento, and San José will receive funding from AAC&U's Compass Project.

Institutions in the California State University System

• Humboldt State University
• California State University, Chico
• Sonoma State University
• The California Maritime Academy
• San Francisco State University
• California State University, East Bay
• San José State University
• California State University, Monterey Bay
• California State University, Sacramento
• California State University, Stanislaus
• California State University, Fresno
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
• California State University, Bakersfield
• California State University, Channel Islands
• California State University, Northridge
• California State University, Los Angeles
• California State University, Dominguez Hills
• California State University, San Bernardino
• California State University, Long Beach
• California Polytechnic State University, Pomona
• California State University, Fullerton
• California State University, San Marcos
• San Diego State University

Additional LEAP Campus Action Network Institutions in California

• Mount St. Mary's College
• Occidental College
• Pomona College
• Santa Clara University
• The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
• University of Redlands
• University of Southern California
• University of the Pacific

For more information about The California State University LEAP program, please contact Ken O’Donnell, Associate Dean, Academic Program Planning, The California State University, kodonnell@calstate.edu or Susan Albertine, Senior Director for LEAP State Initiatives, albertine@aacu.org.