Charting Access for Hispanics Majoring in Needed Careers and Occupations in Healthcare (CAMINO)

California State University, Northridge (CSUN), one of 23 campuses in the California State University system with a Fall 2013 enrollment of 38,310 students, is among the largest single campus universities in the United States. CSUN is located in Los Angeles? San Fernando Valley, an ethnically diverse community of 1.8 million residents, 40% of whom are Hispanic. CSUN draws most of its student body from LA and nearby counties, and our undergraduates reflect this diversity. And yet only 21.6% of CSUN?s graduate students are Hispanic. Our proposed project, Charting Access for Hispanics Majoring in Needed Careers and Occupations in Healthcare (CAMINO), addresses the gap in success of our Hispanic graduate students, with a specific focus on our allied health disciplines, where employment opportunities are especially high but post-baccalaureate degrees and certificates are required for career entry. Health is now the nation?s fastest growing job sector, yet workforce shortages and lack of workforce diversity are persistent challenges at local, regional, and national levels. The overall purpose of our CAMINO project is to increase the capacity of CSUN to address specific needs of Hispanic postbaccalaureate students in health related disciplines and to improve their academic attainment in order to ultimately increase Hispanic participation in the allied health profession. Specifically, CAMINO will: 1. Increase enrollment and academic attainment (persistence and graduation rates) of Hispanic students in allied health graduate programs 2. Expand and enhance curriculum to address and strengthen skill gaps and improve Hispanic student engagement and career entry 3. Increase faculty capacity to plan and implement culturally appropriate instruction and advisement to Hispanic graduate students Our strategies to achieve these goals consist of the following: ? Providing support and engagement opportunities for our Hispanic graduate students through formalized academic, service, and social networks including a student learning community and peer mentoring; expanded academic support through a structured peer tutoring program; enhanced research opportunities through research assistantships; outreach activities to engage families in the academic program; and financial support ? Creating professional development activities in areas such as leadership and communication that will be essential in helping our Hispanic students prepare for career entry and management and leadership roles in the allied health field, and developing curriculum to address emerging workforce opportunities where demand for Hispanic practitioners is particularly high ?Engaging faculty in development activities through a faculty learning community to identify and apply pedagogical and mentoring strategies that foster Hispanic student success, including culturally competent mentoring and Holistic admissions processes By improving the success of our graduate students in allied health, we will positively impact social and economic outcomes not only for our campus, but also for our regional and state communities.