Hi folks,
I’m sorry for not being more active on this space . . . it’s something I am working to rectify as my new program direction duties become a little less chaotic and my attention starts to swing back towards research and writing. So instead of promising to write things and not doing it, I am writing things and hoping to release them in multiple posts later on. My first series should be ready soon. A lot of my writing is going to cover prison education, the humanities, and graduate education in general, but I do plan on doing some “grandparent” stuff as well. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, I wanted to let you all know about Toro Giving Day. My university, California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), is one of the highest-ranked schools in the United States for social mobility. One of the best (and possibly few remaining) values for a student’s tuition buck these days, CSUDH offers a wide range of programs, from business and STEM majors to theater and history. The school itself was founded during the aftermath of the devastating Watts Riots, and ever since the school and its community have been hard at work educating waves of first-generation college students and creating opportunities and wealth in one of the Los Angeles basin’s most historically neglected regions.
Although I no longer live anywhere near campus (I moved to Sacramento six years ago), I still visit often, and I try to keep abreast of all that is happening down there. It gives me great pride to be a part of this community and to share in the University’s important mission.
Unfortunately, while schools like CSUDH offer a better value (and an extremely comparable education) for students when compared to almost all of the more expensive private schools, it is also far more susceptible to variations in the state budget. One of the sad ironies facing state colleges over the past few decades is that they have survived despite declining state support and rising tuition costs, while more prestigious schools like Stanford and UCLA (which, admittedly, I attended for my PhD) raise hundreds of millions of dollars for capital investments and donor-specific causes. As a result, CSUDH’s endowment is woefully inadequate to the University’s – and its students’ – needs, and with the looming budget shortfall in the State of California is seems likely that the people most likely to suffer are the students, faculty, and staff whose hard work is critical to making CSUDH such an amazing place. You can learn more about what our Toro friends are doing here: https://www.csudh.edu/.
Toro Giving Day offers us an opportunity to balance the equation just a little bit by supporting this dynamic and vital academic community. I often hear from my former students there, and they are doing all sorts of incredible things: practicing law, teaching, starting businesses, and even serving in state and local government. CSUDH is one of the reasons for their success, just as I would be ill-equipped to do what I am doing today if not for my baccalaureate education at Southeast Missouri State University.
Here is the link to the Toro Giving Day fundraising site: https://fundraise.givesmart.com/e/gmh5Zg?vid=14hyx2&bbeml=tp-Gsq3bzpvZki81XX5qlVK3g.jHPwo2xbjykeGcfd0uThgtQ.rojgD_ZAtIE6miqy9YwXpPQ.lnDsV2vW350KQYfWUJclfPg
One last plug: if you feel the urge, you can ask that your money be donated directly to my program, HUX. In the “If you would like to specify your gift designation other than the Toro Fund, please list below” box, type “Humanities External (HUX) Program (8410).”
The HUX program has long been the only graduate program of its kind for helping incarcerated students build better lives for themselves and their families. To facilitate our mission of empowering system-impacted learners through a Master of Arts degree in the humanities, we have built partnerships with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and other private and public organizations in hopes of ensuring the program’s long-term success. After completing our program reboot last year, we began admitting students in Fall 2023, and we are preparing to admit our next cohort for the coming year.
Although our students are currently receiving support from other sources to cover their tuition, they (and we) still have many unmet needs. Specifically, any donations made to the program will go to support future student scholarships and grants, books and reference materials (such as college dictionaries) for prison libraries, digital resources and subscriptions, emergency grants for students, and other items. All donations are tax-deductible.
To learn more about our program, you can check out an article in the L.A. Times last year that explores who we are and what we’re all trying to accomplish: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-03/california-prisons-higher-education-masters-program-degrees-dominguez-hills
Anyway, thanks for reading, and for bearing with me all these years . . . talk soon!
Matt
