History

What is the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions?

The Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI), housed in the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, serves as a repository for research, data, best practices, emerging innovations, and ideas on and within MSIs. With support from our sponsors, CMSI supports MSIs, researchers, policymakers, funders, and practitioners to promote the strengths and address challenges facing these institutions, and scholars to promote the strengths and address challenges facing these institutions.

History of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions

The Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI) began at the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 as the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions. Founded by Judy & Howard Berkowitz and Professor Marybeth Gasman, the CMSI was located at Penn for 5 years in a 5,000 sq. ft. facility on the edge of the Penn campus, in the historic St. Leonard’s Court Building. Within its first 5 years, the Center secured substantial funding, enabling the staff and research team to sponsor numerous national programs and conduct important research on the various types of Minority Serving Institutions. In the summer of 2019, the CMSI moved to Rutgers University, New Brunswick, to expand its scope and build upon its foundation of amplifying the contributions and fostering greater understanding of Minority Serving Institutions.