News Update

CSU Northridge partners with Apple and state on equity-focused STEM hub

California State University Northridge announced Tuesday that it is launching a new Global Hispanice-serving Equity Innovation Hub thanks to a partnership with Apple and the State of California.

Gov.  Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature allocated $25 million in this year’s budget for the campus to build a technology and equity center to help underrepresented Black and Latino students to pursue science, technology, engineering and math, EdSource reported.

Apple is also donating $25 million to the new hub the campus announced Tuesday.  The tech company will also provide technology, design support and programming to the hub.

“We are focused on advancing enduring change, and our newest grant commitments will further that effort by supporting problem solvers and solution seekers in communities of color nationwide,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “Education, economic opportunity and environmental justice are fundamental pillars to ensuring racial equity, and everyone has a role to play in this critical mission.”

Twenty-one of the CSU’s 23 campuses, including CSUN, is defined as Hispanic-serving institutions — a federal designation where at least 25% of full-time undergraduate students identify as Latino and at least half of a campus’ degree-seeking students are low-income.

The Northridge campus has been recognized nationally for its research and mentoring programs that help women and Latino students excel in STEM programs.

“I’m proud to see this public-private partnership launch in California, home to more Hispanic Serving Institutions than any state in the nation,” U.S. Senator Alex Padilla. “And there’s no better location than CSUN—at the center of Southern California’s creative and tech economy. As the first Latino to represent California in the U.S. Senate and one of the few Senators with an engineering degree, I know firsthand the importance of increasing diversity in the institutions that shape our society. The Global HSI Equity Innovation Hub is a smart investment that will increase student success and equip Latinx and other diverse student groups with the skills necessary for high-demand careers in STEM.”


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