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The College of Health and Human Services at Cal State Long Beach is proud to congratulate our own Dr. Rashida Crutchfield, Professor in the School of Social Work, for being named a recipient of the Wang Family Excellence Award for Outstanding Faculty Service. 

“I am honored to be recognized with the Wang Family Excellence Award for Outstanding Faculty Service,” Dr. Crutchfield said. “I am a product of the CSU, having received my BS and EdD degrees from ������, and am a proud Professor in our School of Social Work.” 

The recognizes four faculty members and one staff member in the CSU system who have shown extraordinary commitment and dedication to their respective universities. Their activities advance the system’s mission, contribute to student success, and enhance the CSU’s excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. Each recipient is given a $20,000 award. 

Dr. Crutchfield stated that her service activities are inextricably connected with her teaching and research as she is passionately committed to closing equity gaps and thereby enabling all students to achieve their full academic potential.

Prior to her start as a social work educator, Dr. Crutchfield was a practicing community-based social worker with experience leading justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion work --  supporting communities as they identified social challenges in their organizations and neighborhoods -- and supported strategies for solutions. When she left that practice for academia, she committed to drive her work for her institution, which would be in service of students who are, and would grow to be, the talented leaders in those same communities. 

“My focus on student basic needs like food, housing, and economic well-being has been my passion, and receipt of this award is an acknowledgment of the importance of basic need security and the wholistic well-being of our students,” Crutchfield said. “It spotlights the real strength and passion of our students who achieve despite incredible hardships and our responsibility as educators to invest our time, energy, and resources to retain them.” 

Dr. Crutchfield is also the Executive Director of the ������ Center for Equitable Higher Education (CEHE). CEHE is a research center that works to build evidence in partnership with students, faculty, and other leaders in higher education, supports practitioners, policy makers, and other decision makers in the field, and amplifies the voices of students and practitioners as the experts of their own experiences.

Congratulations, Dr. Crutchfield!