History

Established in 1983

In August 1983 Texas State established the Minority Affairs Program (MAP), charged with the following primary responsibilities:

To recruit achievement-oriented minority group students and decrease the disparity between the proportion of white and minority high school graduates entering the undergraduate study;
To initiate a total student development program for minority group students from recruitment through graduation;
To initiate and develop a viable retention program for minority students; In 1985, increasing interest in minority programming for Texas State promoted the need for additional responsibilities for the office of Minority Programs, to include the following:
To write proposals and to assist others in writing proposals to obtain grant and/or gift support for the university's minority interests;
To administer and direct grant-funded programs associated with providing educational opportunities for minority students and prospective students;
To serve as the coordinating office for all university programs dealing with minority students, prospective students, and the selected minority groups.

Name change

The name was changed from MAP to Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA). The MAP office was charged with competing for federally-funded programs while continuing to support the existing programs on campus. The MSA office assists low-income, first generation, underrepresented students and students with disabilities to complete college. Services offered under these programs are made available to currently enrolled underrepresented students meeting the participant criteria. Aside from direct benefit, underrepresented students benefit from funded programs indirectly as a result of work study employment, peer counseling and tutoring opportunities.

Establishing a track record of committment

Considerable benefits to the institution are implied as a direct result of bringing federal programs to campus. The university increases its visibility locally as well as nationally thus establishing a track record of commitment to equal educational opportunity. The university also accrues funds used to support (partially or totally) supplemental underrepresented recruitment/retention activities.