DIVERSITY INITIATIVES AT PLNU THROUGH THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE

November 2005

For over 20 years PLNU has been involved in organizations that have worked with students from under represented populations to improve going to college rates.

            A.  Cal-SOAP, (California Student and Opportunity Access Program) celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, PLNU was a charter member.  This consortium is made up of colleges and universities that pool resources with in-kind contributions with large state grants.  The goal is to provide at risk students with tutoring, college financial aid advising, and other types of training.  The consortium serves over 30 high schools in San Diego County.  There are a number of Cal-SOAPS in the state.  The San Diego CAL-SOAP is considered the model.

              B. The PLNU Hispanic Task was created through Admissions in 1991.   Latino alums were invited to a Homecoming luncheon with around 30 attending.  After an enthusiastic discussion, it was decided to meet twice a year to help bring the needs of Latino students to the forefront.  The Hispanic Task Force met for eight years and helped establish CRUCEROS/CROSSROADS a bilingual community relations singing group, a book fund for Hispanic students, the creation of a position for minority student support in Student Development, a sizable increase in The Diversity Scholarship Fund, promoted the use of more diverse chapel speakers, and the established a Latino chapter for the Alumni Association.  The Hispanic Task Force stopped meeting in 2000 allowing the Latino Alumni Association to take the initiative.

            C.  PLNU Admissions is involved with the state program, “College Making It Happen” that targets junior high students and parents.  Admissions shares an information table with other independents colleges and is often called to do the presentation for the evening.  This program is in both English and Spanish, and serves 45 junior high schools in San Diego County every year.  This has been our fourth year to be involved. 

             D. Encuentro de Lideres, Since 1998, admissions has sponsored an annual conference in January on leadership training for youth and youth leaders from the Spanish speaking districts and divisions on the region.  The program has an emphasis on the importance of high education, and allows the students to spend the weekend on campus.  Attendance has been between 70-100 each year.  A high quality DVD was produced for the event that was sent to the 40 churches that attended.  It featured Latino PLNU students talking about their experiences here at Point Loma, both in English and Spanish.   

            E.  A Point Loma Admissions representative attends all Nazarene Youth International conventions and summer camps on the 2 Latino districts and the five subdivisions on the Anglo districts. (Los Angles, Anaheim, and Central California, Southern California, and Nothern California).  It makes an effort to send a bi-lingual counselor to these events.  While most of the prospective students speak fluent English, often times the parents do not.

            F.  For the past three years Admissions has been working on an outreach to Asian students in the San Francisco bay area.  The purpose has been to reach youth and families through existing church groups  

            G. San Diego County Ministerial Alliance, is a group of African American ministers, and an Admissions representative is a member of this organization that meets monthly.  For the past five years PLNU and the Alliance have sponsored the Community Youth Education Day, an event that promotes university education in the African-American community.  The Outreach Office chairs a committee of youth leaders from these churches.  Admission has been involved with the alliance since 1996.

            H.  Urban Youth Workers Network:  Admissions has established a relationship with “other than Nazarene churches” that work in the inner city of San Diego.  We encourage the groups to use our facilities for meetings, conferences, and day retreats.  This has resulted in a number of invitations for Admissions to visit the churches to present on Christian higher education.

            I.  A new position in admissions was created in 2003: Associate Director for Admissions Outreach, modeled after the California university system.  The Admissions Office created this position for outreach to underrepresented student populations, student who are the first in their family to attend college, and their families.

            J. Partnering with other departments: The summer of 2004 the Pastoral Center for Leadership training partnered with various other departments to sponsor three days of theology education, inviting Spanish-speaking pastors from the educational region.  40-60 were expected to register, over 120 registered.  After the event Admissions saw a spike in interest and applications coming from the Latino congregations. 

            K. Diversity Scholarships: PLNU has set aside $280,000 for two Diversity Scholarships Funds:

A) Diversity Leadership Scholarship
The leadership scholarship is based on leadership qualities.  Students are evaluated on their involvement with diversity and leadership in their high schools, communities, and churches.  The recipients are required to be involved in leadership on campus and be accountable to Student Development on a regular basis.  The amount of the Scholarship is $4,000, and can be renewed every year. 

B) Diversity Need Scholarship
This scholarship is given to students from under-represented populations: Latino and African American, Native American and certain Asian populations.   This is a need-based scholarship, and priority is given to students that are the first in their family to attend college.  This scholarship $3,000.00 and is renewable every year. 

There is data and anecdotal evidence that these scholarships help attract and retain students at PLNU.