Sacramento State reveals plan for first Black Honors College. Students can apply this week

Sacramento State’s president took his school to task in January. Home to the largest number of Black and African American students in California’s sprawling state university system, the campus had historically let them down.

“When you think of ground zero for serving Black students and also historically failing them, it has been Sacramento State,” Dr. Luke Wood said in Sacramento last month. “Because, while we have the highest population of Black and African American students, we are in the bottom quartile of success and have been for many years.”

The university’s first-in-the-nation Black Honors College opening this fall aims to change that, boosting Black student enrollment, graduation and success at the Sacramento State campus.

Applications open Tuesday for the groundbreaking college’s inaugural class. The program opens in the fall semester for incoming first-year students, and in Spring 2025 for transfer students and Sacramento State students who have completed their general education.

Students with a 3.5 GPA or higher are encouraged to apply by the June 1 deadline. Priority admission is March 1, standard admission is April 1 and student aid is available.

“There is no other place in the country that has an honors college that is specifically designed to serve Black and African American students,” Wood said in a promotional video for the new college on its website. “We think that makes us distinctive and we think that shows the community that when we see Black students, we see brilliance, we see dignity... the best that our community has to offer.”

Wood will present details of the new college at 5 p.m. on Monday in Library Room 11, the new college’s home on the Sacramento State campus. The announcement will also be streamed live. Prospective students can already get a sneak preview of what will be in store in September through the university’s website.

The new college is open to students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Monday’s announcement coincides with Black History Month and the annual CSU Super Sunday, Feb. 25, in which university leaders join with more than 100 predominately Black churches across California to amplify the importance of preparing for college. Sacramento State leaders will attend services and speak about higher education at Sacramento–area churches that day.

The Black Honors College is designed for students interested in Black life, history and culture, and will provide a curriculum that focuses on the Black and African American experience. College leaders say it will also provide a unique pathway for Black students’ success and expect its model to be emulated at other university campuses.

CSU leaders have worked to close equity gaps at CSU campuses that remain nearly a decade after its Graduation Initiative 2025, launched in 2015 to boost the numbers of students of color who graduate from state universities and remove historic barriers to degree completion. Broader, more readily available financial support, finding new ways to better prepare students academically and providing more effective support services from housing to food security to mental health are among the plan’s components.

“The Black Honors College is designed to create a pathway for our Black students at Sacramento State that has never existed, to uplift our scholars and to help them persist to graduation,” said Boatamo Mosupyoe, the college’s dean of students and chief academic officer in remarks to university officials last week.

Mentors will help incoming students adjust to the demands of college life and study; paid internships and co-curricular education will provide valuable experience and add to their university experience.

Specialized general education courses, smaller class sizes and scholarship opportunities are also focuses of the new college along with specialized coursework, research opportunities and seminars on economic empowerment, self-determination and courageous leadership — the foundation of the college’s mission.

“We can’t be a historically Black college or university,” Wood said in the promotional video, “but we can be everything but the historical part.”