Current Initiatives & Projects

Sonoma State University’s Arts Integration Program offers opportunities for students and faculty from any discipline to engage in a variety of artistic experiences that complement and integrate with academic programs. These activities aim to foster creativity, critical thinking, an exploration of diverse ideas, and inspire understanding through exposure to cultures outside of one's own. 

Guided by our core values, the Green Music Center, Academic Programs, and university performing and visual arts departments partner to provide our campus communities with access to resources and tools that support interdisciplinary collaborations and innovative programs.

The Career Pathways Integration Initiative embeds career readiness throughout the Sonoma State student experience by partnering with faculty to integrate career-connected learning into academic programs. Supported by Sonoma State Commitment legislative funding and aligned with the CSU Forward strategic plan, the initiative prepares students to connect their academic experiences with meaningful careers through curriculum innovation, community engagement, internships, alumni connections, and career-focused learning opportunities.

Project Highlights

• Support: Sonoma State Commitment legislative funding
• Focus: Embedding career readiness and workforce preparation across the curriculum
• Key Strategies: 
  • College Career Faculty Fellows leading career pathways integration within each academic college
  • Expanded partnerships with the Career Center, Center for Community Engagement, alumni, and employers
  • Development of career learning modules, internships, service-learning, and digital credentials
• Goals: 
  • Ensure every student has meaningful opportunities to connect academic learning with career preparation
  • Strengthen career readiness through curricular and co-curricular experiences
  • Increase collaboration across academic and student support units
  • Advance Sonoma State's implementation of the CSU Forward vision for career-connected education.

The Adult Learner Degree Pathways Initiative is a comprehensive effort to expand access and degree completion for adult learners with prior college experience. Through innovative online degree completion pathways, a centralized Adult Learner Hub, credit for prior learning, and career-connected programming, the initiative removes barriers to returning to college while creating flexible, workforce-aligned pathways that support student success and economic mobility. This work is supported through funding from the College Futures Foundation and Jobs for the Future.

Project Highlights

• Support: College Futures Foundation / Jobs for the Future
• Focus: Expanding flexible, workforce-aligned degree completion opportunities for adult learners
• Key Strategies: 
  • Establish an Adult Learner Hub with a Re-entry Concierge to streamline advising, admissions, and credit evaluation
  • Expand fully online Degree Completion Programs in Business and Liberal Studies
  • Increase opportunities for Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) to recognize workforce, military, and prior educational experience
  • Integrate career readiness, internships, and applied learning into academic pathways
• Goals:
  • Increase adult learner enrollment, persistence, and degree completion
  • Reduce time and cost to a degree through flexible scheduling and prior learning credit
  • Strengthen connections between academic programs and career advancement
  • Create a scalable institutional model that supports lifelong learning and workforce development across the North Bay

The Transfer Success Communities (TSC) Initiative is an equity-centered effort to redesign the first-semester experience for transfer students at Sonoma State University. Supported by a CSU Student Success Network Equity in Action Award and participation in the CSU Student Success Network Middle Leadership Academy, the initiative brings together faculty, staff, and students to develop and scale a sustainable model that connects transfer students with peer mentors, faculty, campus resources, and a transition curriculum designed to strengthen belonging, persistence, and timely degree completion.

Project Highlights: 

• Support: CSU Student Success Network Equity in Action Award and Middle Leadership Academy
• Focus: Creating an equity-centered, scalable model to improve transfer student success
• Key Strategies: 
  • Launch Transfer Success Communities that pair upper-division GE courses with a one-unit transition curriculum
  • Embed peer mentors and co-curricular experiences into the transfer student experience
  • Develop the program through cross-divisional collaboration among Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and students
  • Use transfer student feedback and institutional data to guide continuous improvement
• Goals: 
  • Increase students' sense of belonging, engagement, and academic success
  • Improve first-semester GPA, persistence, and timely graduation
  • Reduce equity gaps for first-generation, Pell-eligible, underrepresented, and adult learners
  • Create a sustainable, institution-wide model that strengthens Sonoma State's support for transfer students and can be expanded over time

The SSU Writing Retreat provides Sonoma State faculty and graduate students with dedicated time, space, and community to make meaningful progress on scholarly, creative, and professional writing projects. Sponsored by Academic Programs and the Office of Graduate Studies, the retreat fosters a supportive writing community through structured writing sessions, optional workshops, and opportunities to connect with colleagues across disciplines.

• Sponsors: Academic Programs and the Office of Graduate Studies
• Participants: SSU faculty and graduate students
• Focus: Advancing scholarly, creative, and professional writing
• Key Features: 
  • Five days during the summer of protected writing time with minimal distractions
  • Flexible participation on campus or remotely
  • Daily community lunches and networking opportunities
  • Goal-setting and accountability through opening and closing sessions
  • Thesis workshops for graduate students
• Goals:
  • Increase writing productivity and project completion
  • Foster an interdisciplinary community of writers
  • Support faculty scholarship and graduate student success
  • Promote a sustainable culture of writing and research at Sonoma State