Four projects were selected as the winners of the California State University's first-ever Regional Pitch Contest, which was announced at the final Graduation Initiative Symposium in October 2025. The contest invited campuses within the same region to partner on solutions to student-identified challenges, recognizing that the conditions shaping student success are not just campus-specific but regional.
The purpose of the Regional Pitch Contest is to accelerate collaboration across campuses in ways that are responsive to regional realities and align with the CSU's strategic plan CSU Forward, the Student Success Framework and the “CSU Promise" that every student will graduate with the opportunity for a first career job and/or a clear path to further study. The contest encouraged campuses to take advantage of the CSU as one system, rather than separate universities, requiring regional groups to come together to develop proposals that will have greater impact when executed with another CSU.
The four winning projects will receive $100,000 each. Read more about the projects.
Integrating Alumni and Employer Engagement in a Regional Recruitment Model for Southern California CSU Campuses (Channel Islands, Fullerton, Long Beach, Pomona, San Bernardino, San Marcos)
Six Southern California CSUs are partnering to pilot a regional recruitment model that connects students with alumni and employers across the region. The initiative will target more than 250,000 students across all 10 CSUs in the Southern California region and has four key components:
1) Virtual alumni engagement to prepare students for a virtual career fair.
2) Virtual career fair for students to interview with regional and national employers.
3) Post-program assessment of participant satisfaction and outcomes.
4) Development of a custom Al-powered ChatGPT tool to serve as a centralized information hub for CSU campuses in the southern region.
Anchored on the “CSU Promise," the project aims to expand career opportunities and help more students transition successfully into the workforce or graduate study.
"Regional collaboration within the CSU maximizes student success and removes barriers for employers seeking CSU talent and for students navigating regional opportunities," said Tiffany Bitting, director of the Cal State San Bernardino Career Center. “To address equity gaps in paid internships and careers, our proposal aims to connect employers in Southern California to CSU talent."
SoCal Inter-Campus Degree Partnerships (Channel Islands, Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Los Angeles, Pomona, San Marcos)
These Southern California campuses are proposing a new model of inter-campus degree partnerships that would allow students to access courses, faculty expertise and academic pathways across a regional network of campuses rather than being limited to the programs offered at their home institution. The initiative will help sustain programs facing enrollment challenges while creating new opportunities for students to pursue majors, certificates and 4+1 pathways that may not be available at their home campus.
"As CSU campuses continue to build distinctive academic strengths, we saw an opportunity to create pathways that extend those strengths beyond any single campus," said Cal State San Marcos Vice Provost of Planning and Academic Resources Mary Oling-Sisay. "This investment supports faculty collaboration to design innovative, cross-campus degree pathways that expand access to specialized coursework and expertise."
“By working regionally, we increase capacity without limiting growth, advance equitable access and strengthen innovation," she continued. “Now is the time to scale this collaboration and ensure more students benefit from the full breadth of CSU opportunities."
CSU-TX: CSU Talent Exchange (Bakersfield, Fresno, Monterey Bay, San Luis Obispo)
CSU campuses on the Central Coast and in the Central Valley are partnering to create a regional talent network that expands access to internships and early-career opportunities across participating campuses. Focusing initially on careers in agriculture, food systems, energy and clean technology, the initiative will streamline how employers connect with CSU students by creating a shared regional system where employers can connect with students from multiple campuses through a single process.
Career centers and regional partners will evaluate existing internship processes and design a unified regional model that increases access to paid, high-quality experiential learning opportunities.
"We were hearing a consistent message from both students and employers: the opportunities are there, but the pathways to reach them are too fragmented," said Andrew Lawson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Cal State Monterey Bay.
“Students often face uneven access to paid, career-relevant internships, while employers have to navigate separate systems, processes and contacts at each CSU campus. That friction limits participation on both sides," he said. “This proposal grew from recognizing that we could better serve students and regional employers by working as one coordinated CSU network."
California State University Course Exchange: One System, Many Opportunities (Chico, Humboldt, San Francisco, Sonoma)
This collaboration between northern CSU campuses seeks to reduce the administrative, housing and transportation barriers that can make it challenging for students to take courses at other CSU campuses that count towards their degree. Removing these barriers will help decrease time to graduation and increase access to specialized coursework.
“The idea for the project came from a group discussion at the Graduation Initiative 2025 Symposium," said Jackson Wilson, who serves as the chair of the Academic Senate at San Francisco State and a professor. “As we went around the circle, people shared how they or their students would gain value from being able to access services on other CSU campuses; for culminating experiences, multi-campus consortium programs and short-term visits."
Students expressed excitement for how this project would increase the breadth of available courses and provide travel and career opportunities. Grant funding will support in-person convenings that bring campus leaders together to build the trust and coordination needed to make the partnership successful. By creating space for campuses to learn from one another and develop solutions collaboratively, the initiative will strengthen the region's collective ability to support student success.
From expanding career pathways to increasing access to coursework and internships, these projects showcase the power of regional collaboration across the CSU. Explore CSU Forward to learn how systemwide efforts play a critical role in expanding opportunity and supporting student success.