Danielle McNamara (510) 987-0230
danielle.mcnamara@ucop.edu
Engineering and computer science students at San Diego State will benefit from increased services thanks to a grant from Sempra Energy Foundation.
The San Diego State Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) center will receive $6,000 to support students in retention and graduation.
MESA, an academic preparation and enrichment program, supports students so they can earn degrees in math-based fields. At San Diego State, more than 260 students are involved in MESA.
Four other MESA centers in Sempra’s service area will also receive $6,000 each: Cal State LA, UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Long Beach and CSU Fresno. MESA currently serves more than 1,000 students at those five campuses.
“Sempra has long been a supporter of MESA, but this is the largest grant MESA has received from the company,” said Oscar Porter, MESA Executive Director. “The money will help us increase services to nearly half of our centers serving university students.”
MESA, an academic preparation program that each year serves about 20,000 California pre-college, community college and university students who are educationally disadvantaged, is an awarding winning program with a model that works. Seventy percent of MESA high school graduates statewide went directly to college after graduation compared to 48 percent of all California graduates. Sixty percent of MESA students go on to math, science or engineering majors.
Sempra is a worldwide energy company whose California subsidiaries, Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas and Electric, serve 20 million customers in southern and central California.
For more information about MESA visit http://www.ucop.edu/mesa/
For more information about SEMPRA visit http://www.sempra.com/
For more information about Sempra Energy Foundation visit http://www.sempra.com/community/foundation/
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