GOAL 1 | PREPARE AND ATTRACT A BROAD PROFILE OF RISING SCHOLARS TO UC DAVIS
1.a. Maintain and grow UC Davis’s HSI status.
1.a.i. Increase our proportion of Chicanx/ Latinx undergraduate students to mirror the demographics of our state; match those efforts and ambitions in our graduate and professional programs.
1.a.ii. Advocate for and contribute to building the capacity to accommodate more of California’s Rising Scholars at the University of California through direct admission from high school.
1.a.iii. Grow the proportion of Chicanx/Latinx transfer students from California’s Community Colleges by simplifying the transfer path, strengthening guidance on transfer and creating a clearer and less complex set of transfer requirements.
1.a.iv. Implement a well-developed, resourced and sustainable Strategic Enrollment Management Plan for undergraduate, graduate and professional students around the HSI identity.
1.b. Commit to growing the K-12 pipeline.
1.b.i Place an emphasis on early, high-touch and culturally responsive education about opportunities at UC Davis for Rising Scholars and the counselors, families and community entities that surround them—integrating financial wellness, career exploration and awareness of a-g requirements and the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program.
1.b.ii Focus attention on under-resourced and rural communities with high concentrations of Rising Scholars (e.g., the Central Valley and Inland Empire).
1.b.iii. Expand culturally responsive pipeline initiatives targeting the 30-mile radius (e.g., Woodland, Sacramento and West Sacramento).
1.b.iv. Invest in the School of Education’s teaching certification programs to increase the number of multilingual and culturally skilled teachers.
1.b.v Provide Rising Scholars with opportunities to prepare for and transition to UC Davis, meeting them where they are with respect to their school of origin, years since high school and family commitments.
1.b.vi. Adopt the recommendations presented by the Working Group on Closing the Preparation Gap regarding pre-matriculation programs, particularly around enhancements to STEP. Explore further expansion of Summer Start initiatives both in terms of substance and the number of students such programs serve.
1.b.vii. Support and expand new transition programs for transfers that focus on jump-starting transfers into research, internships, early faculty mentoring, peer networks and career planning.
1.b.viii. Ensure proper placement of students into developmental courses and progress toward models, supported by best practice and research, that eliminate non-credit bearing remedial courses and replace them with other curricular supports.
1.c. Reimagine how financial aid is designed and delivered for rising scholars.
1.c.i. Conduct a culturally responsive assessment of the socio-economic circumstances of Rising Scholars to ensure that financial aid is sufficient for all costs of a UC Davis education, including living expenses, healthcare, books and technology.
1.c.ii. Increase campus work opportunities for Rising Scholars and pay generously for their work.
1.c.iii. Develop partnerships that generate private grants and scholarships for undergraduate undocumented students; for students with parents of mixed status; and for formerly incarcerated students.
1.c.iv. Significantly increase funding for multiyear fellowships for Rising Scholars that would be available to AB540 and undocumented students to attend graduate and professional schools.
1.c.v. Expand capacity for the institution to provide individualized financial wellness consultations to Rising Scholars.
1.c.vi. Increase economic opportunities for Rising Scholars to complete externships or travel abroad opportunities.
1.d. commit to increasing the number of rising scholars that enter graduate and professional programs.
1.d.i. Support the implementation of holistic admission practices across all graduate and professional programs and groups who desire to recalibrate their admissions practices.
1.d.ii. Create and resource a role in Graduate Studies charged with developing outreach and recruitment strategies for Rising Scholars into graduate programs.
1.d.iii. Collaborate with the UCOP to establish formalized efforts to outreach and recruit Rising Scholars across all ten campuses for graduate programs.
GOAL 2 | ENSURE THAT RISING SCHOLARS HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN, SUCEED, GRADUATE AND THRIVE