Cultivamos Excelencia
Community college is the most common starting institution for Latiné students beginning their higher education journey. Transfer pathways allow students to re-engage with higher education if they left due to personal, family, or career needs. UCSC seeks to create systemic change that will improve and streamline these pathways and the lives of our local community college Latiné, first-generation, and low-income students, and address issues of inequities in transfer, graduation, and advancing to graduate studies rates.
| Grant goals | Anticipated impact |
|---|---|
| Goal 1: Improve the transfer pipeline with better programs and services to increase Latiné transfer rates | Increase the number of newly enrolled Latiné transfer students by 41%* |
| Goal 2: Increase the number of Latiné transfer students headed to graduate school | Increase Latiné transfer students’ intention to attend graduate school by 3% |
| Goal 3: Deepen the sense of belonging for Latiné transfer students | Increase Latiné transfer students’ sense of belonging by 5% while increasing our capacity as practitioners to serve our transfer students of color |
| Goal 4: Improve institutional capacity by increasing coordination and integration among campus supports, use of data systems, and visibility of UCSC HSI identity | Increase Latiné transfer enrollment, retention, and graduation rates |
*Denotes revised objective as of June 2024
Grant initiatives
The Cultivamos Excelencia Project aims to build a transfer-receptive culture for Hispanic/Latiné and low-income community college students to thrive in their transfer pathways to UCSC and beyond, opening opportunities to graduate studies through three grant initiatives.
Community college partnership program
Build and strengthen relationships early on with students via mentorship and programming, focusing before transfer, upon admissions, and through their transition to UCSC, that cultivate a sense of belonging and personal relationships with staff and faculty at UCSC. Programs will focus on students in our local community colleges, such as Cabrillo, Hartnell, and San Jose City College, in programs such as Puente.
Transfer coherence
Deepen our understanding as faculty and staff of our transfer pathways and Latiné transfer students’ lived experiences. Departments will take action to streamline transfer pathways by welcoming our transfer students and connecting them to the opportunities available at a research university.
Undergraduate research and graduate pathways
Expand the graduate pathway with research and graduate school pathway mentoring, support during the graduate and research internship application process, and connecting transfer students to paid research opportunities.
Meet the Cultivamos Excelencia team
The Cultivamos Excelencia Initiatives Team members work on the day-to-day implementation of our grant-funded programs and services.
- Project Director, Charis Herzon, charish@ucsc.edu
- Co-Principal Investigator, Saskias Casanova, scasanov@ucsc.edu
- Transfer Coherence Analyst, Valeria Alonso Blanco, valonsob@ucsc.edu
- Graduate Pathways Coordinator, Lydia Iyeczohua Zendejas, zendejas@ucsc.edu
- Community College Partnership Coordinator, Francia Cruz Silva, fcruzsil@ucsc.edu
- Associate Director Transfer Partnerships, David Gordon, dalegord@ucsc.edu