Academic Programs that leverage Diversity

Embracing our Identity as a Hispanic-Serving Institution

A Hispanic-serving institution

At Rutgers-Newark, we embrace our identity as a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution, which we earned in 2016. Latinx undergraduate enrollment has grown more than 50% in the last decade and today more than 34% of undergraduates identify as Latinx. The diversity of our Latinx student body and the strength of the connections maintained by our students with their families’ ancestral homes across the world strengthens our commitment as an anchor institution that works with many partners in our community on challenges and solutions locally that resonate globally.  

Rankings

1 of 21
#
8

in the Nation for Campus Ethnic Diversity (National Universities)

Demographics

For more than two decades, Rutgers-Newark has been among the most diverse universities in the U.S. Our current undergraduate enrollment reflects this continued leadership.

34.8
%
Latinx
17.4
%
Are First Generation college students
6.8
%

Newark residents

12.4
%
New Jersey Community College Transfer
Line Graphic - HSI

Distinction as an HSI Leader

Reflecting the high priority we place on not just having a diverse community, but leveraging that diversity to make a difference, Rutgers-Newark has earned the following distinctions.

HSI 4

Academic Programs that Leverage Diversity

At Rutgers-Newark, we encourage all members of our community not to check their identities at the door. Our inspirational Strategic Plan and Diversity Strategic Plan provide us frameworks for weaving perspectives and experiences into our high-impact scholarship and curriculum across the disciplines that deepen our appreciation of each other’s cultures while also demonstrating our interdependence. See our array of undergraduate and graduate programs, and examples below of special academic opportunities.

HSI Intro

Support for Student Success

At Rutgers-Newark, we are firm believers that access to higher education without the support required to be successful is not really access at all. This belief underlies our array of initiatives that aim to support Latinx student success financially, academically, and in personal and professional growth, including the following.

  • The Rutgers University – Newark Talent & Opportunity Pathway program (RU-N to the TOP) uses a sliding scale based on family income to reduce the cost of attendance to as little as $0 for tuition and mandatory fees. Thousands of students already have received that level of support.
  • Expansive pathways to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can be found at Rutgers-Newark in our Garden State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program (GSLSAMP), Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, Bridge to Doctorate Fellowship Program, which provide extensive supports from undergraduate through graduate study.
  • Latinx students—and students of all backgrounds and identities—find support for their personal, professional, and social development at the Intercultural Resource Center, which serves as a hub for cultural groups including Latinos United Networking America and Association of Latino Professionals for America.
  • As a very active member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Rutgers-Newark supports students to participate in HACU’s ¡Adelante! Leadership Institute, a student track at the annual conference that cultivates student leaders through a three-day workshop.
  • Rutgers-Newark student teams have been finalists in recent years of the HSI Battle of the Brains, an annual cross-disciplinary competition where students from Hispanic-Serving Institutions develop business solutions that incorporate design, policy, business, and STEM components.
  • Rutgers-Newark is one of a small number of institutions nationally selected to partner with Braven, a nonprofit organization that provides first-generation college students, students from low-income backgrounds, and students of color with coaching, mentoring, and internship opportunities to secure strong first jobs after graduation. Rutgers-Newark has had more than 1,200 Braven Fellows, with 38% of the class of 2022 being Latinx.
  • Black and Hispanic MBA Association - Their mission is to promote and encourage professional networking and social interaction among Black & Hispanic MBA students, Rutgers Business School, and the corporate sector.
Support for Student Success 1
HSI Intro
Support for Student Success 1

Contact Us

If you have questions about Rutgers-Newark’s role as a Hispanic-Serving Institution or any of the programs or initiatives mentioned here, please contact:
 
Jennifer M. Bucalo, Ph.D.  (she/her/ella)

Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives 

Office of the Chancellor
Center for Law & Justice Building

Email: HSI@newark.rutgers.edu