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• 11 Jul, 2022
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Cal-Bridge Program brings together the three levels of the California higher education system to diversify the California public university faculty and tech workforce.

The State of California has approved $5 million in funding for the Cal-Bridge program, which provides a pathway for underrepresented students in California Community Colleges and the California State University (CSU) system to pursue advanced PhD degrees through the University of California system and join the California science and technology workforce, including as public university faculty.

The Cal-Bridge program, launched in 2014, is a statewide partnership between 9 UC, 23 CSU, and 116 community colleges across California supporting CSU students majoring in physics, computer science, and mathematics to matriculate into PhD programs across the state and nation. The new California state budget allocation will enable Cal-Bridge to expand the subject areas covered and extend its impact, supporting Cal-Bridge scholars all the way from their CSU undergraduate studies through their UC PhDs.

“The new state funding will provide more young Californians from historically underrepresented communities with the opportunity to pursue a doctorate degree and access the support needed to successfully complete the degree and thrive in their chosen professions,” said Lori Kletzer, Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at UC Santa Cruz.

Bruce Schumm, a professor of physics at UC Santa Cruz who co-leads the Northern California Cal-Bridge program, said plans for the expansion include developing a comprehensive program of support and professional development through the years of graduate study. “This generous funding from the state will allow us to complete a unique, end-to-end pathway that can support students from our diverse community college and CSU campuses from the earliest steps of their college education through their entrance into careers in academia and industry,” he said.

The expanded program will build a pathway for thousands of California students from diverse backgrounds to achieve the expertise needed to fill university faculty and technology leadership positions in California and beyond.

“Diversifying the professoriate will lead to a growth in gender, racial, and ethnic representation in the technology workforce more broadly by increasing the number of students from historically underrepresented groups completing degrees in STEM fields because they see faculty that look like them,” said Cal-Bridge Executive Director Alexander Rudolph, professor of physics and astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona. “As countries around the world are increasing their investment in science and technology, making sure our nation uses all of the available talent in developing our expertise and capabilities in these fields is an issue of economic and national security.”

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