In her annual “Report to the Community,” President Karen Haynes highlighted the ability of California State San Marcos — at 25, the youngest university in the San Diego region — to be nimble and design degrees for the real and rapidly changing world.
Relevance
Haynes described how, working to meet the community’s needs, CSUSM now offers courses relevant to today’s challenges, like cyber security in business and water management.
“Our graduates get real jobs and they are the embodiment of our commitment to educate and elevate the wellspring of talent in our region," Haynes said.
A fire science certificate is in the works, Haynes said. And there is research with SDG&E into what motivates people to save energy.
The unique Institute for Palliative Care, which launched at CSUSM in 2012, has provided educational programs for nearly 2,000 people.
Diversity
The university’s goal is to reflect the demographics of the region, Haynes said.
“You have heard me speak of our seemingly impossible dreams to raise the educational attainment rate of our region, to diversity our student population and to create pathways for the most educationally at risk,” she said. “These are no longer dreams, they are our reality.”
Nearly 40 percent of the student population is Latino, 11 percent is veterans, and Haynes said the foster youth program serves more foster youth per capita than any other university in the nation.
The university‘s student population is now around 13,000 and growing, Haynes said. The number of students graduating has increased from 25 in the first year — when the campus opened in 1989 on what was a former chicken ranch — to 2,600 graduates this year.
