Date: 04/03/2006

President Don W. Kassing was part of the delegation of California State University leaders who traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to meet with House education leaders on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The group also visited with Senator Dianne Feinstein to present her with an award for her support of the CSU's applied research programs. The CSU joined with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities to host a reception for congressional leaders on Capitol Hill.

In other outreach efforts, the CSU recently hosted a forum, "Facing the Educational Challenge of Tribal Communities," with Native American tribal leaders at Sacramento State. The focus of the half-day event was for CSU leaders to better understand the issues facing Native American students and to discuss how the CSU and tribal communities could work together to help students attend college. According to a recent CSU news release, for every 100 Native American students entering high school, 60 will graduate, 20 will go on to higher education, and of those 20, only three will get a degree. This outreach to Native Americans is part of an ongoing series of community meetings CSU leaders are holding to encourage college attendance. See http://www.calstate.edu/CSULeader/2006/060328.htm.