For more than 25 years San Diego State University has been supported by many National
Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Education (Trio)
funded student training programs. The Center for the Advancement of Students in Academia
(CASA) infrastructure was developed in 1992 to coordinate and encourage collaboration among
the many programs serving minority and disadvantaged (academically and economically)
students. CASA promotes the academic development of the next generation of underrepresented
research scientists and health professionals. CASA has developed into a mature program in
which local and federally funded programs work cooperatively, sharing resources,
developmental activities and some infrastructure support. CASA member programs include the
Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC), the Initiative for Maximizing Student
Development (IMSD), Bridges to the Baccalaureate, McNair Scholars program, the Louis Stokes
Alliance for Minority Participation program (LSAMP), the Minority Health International
Research Training (MHIRT) program, the Native American Research Centers for Health
(NARCH), and with UCSD, the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development
Award (IRACDA) program. Since many of these programs share common goals of identifying
talented students, supporting their efforts to persist, be successful in post secondary education
and graduate, we find we can get this accomplished better by working together.