WHAT A YEAR! LOOKing BACK AT 2019​

FEBRUARY

​“We Met at the CSU”: Everyone who attends a CSU campus has
the opportunity to attain a high-quality education. But some lucky students walked away from their college experience with a bonus: true love. In honor of Valentine's Day, we sat down with four couples who met and fell in love at the CSU to hear their stories.

APRIL

Oceans 9-1-1: At the CSU, every day is Earth Day, as our ongoing commitment to sustainability shines through in myriad ways. Our three-part series on the threats to California's oceans explored how faculty and students are fighting to save our magnificent marine ecosystems.

Earlier in 2019, the CSU announced that all 23 campuses will eliminate the use and sale of single-use plastics, including straws, water bottles and bags by 2023.

JUNE

Portraits of Pride: In recognition of the 50^th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and to celebrate Pride month, LGBTQIA students, the faculty who work with them and a few of their allies at seven CSU campuses shared their stories of hardship, triumph and community.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed a budget that raises the CSU's general fund allocation by a combined $645.5 million in recurring and one-time funding, the largest increase in university history. “The CSU is the key to California's prosperity, and this is indeed a wise investment in the state's future. With funding in next year's budget to increase enrollment, more Californians will have an opportunity to pursue a high-quality degree,” Chancellor White said.

AUGUST

Big Business: As Californians headed to the beaches and mountains for summer vacation, we reported on the state's hospitality industry, which employs more than one million Californians. Six seasoned tourism professionals, all affiliated with the CSU, shared their thoughts on the hottest trends in travel and what they mean for students entering this rapidly changing field.

Chancellor White was named to the Governor's Council on Post-Secondary Education.

OCTOBER

The Enduring Legacy of Timothy P. White: On October 22, Chancellor White announced his retirement; he will end his tenure as the CSU's seventh chancellor in summer 2020. “Chancellor White built new pathways for historic numbers of students to walk across the stage at graduation,” Governor Newsom said. Dr. White's work on behalf of the CSU has led to an increase of $1.3 billion in annual state general fund appropriation.

The CSU's Graduation Initiative 2025 Symposium debuted the program's latest results: Four- and six-year graduation rates for first-time students and two- and four-year rates for community college transfer students have reached all-time highs.

We also celebrated Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Tens of thousands of good jobs in information security are going unfilled in California; we talked to faculty preparing students for this hot career path.

DECEMBER

In Good Company: Throughout 2019, CSU campuses were ranked among the top universities in the U.S. for return on investment, academic quality and financial outcomes​, among other categories. But no accolades meant as much as th​ose our campuses received for social mobility, which assesses how well universities and colleges do in graduating Pell Grant eligible students. Among regional western universities, Monterey Bay, San José, Long Beach, Stanislaus, Pomona, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Fullerton, San Francisco, Northridge and Channel Islands dominated the top 20 in 2019.