What Community Impact Does SDSU's College of Health and Human Services Have?

SDSU's College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) describes its community impact through three main channels: community-based research, service learning, and workforce development. The college reports that its research and service "advance health equity and well-being" through community collaborations and translational practices and policies centered on the needs of individuals and communities regionally, nationally, and globally. If you're evaluating the college as a partner, employer pipeline, or place to study, the concrete signals below are the ones to weigh.

How CHHS frames its community role

The college states that its purpose is to advance health equity and well-being for all, and that it pursues this through nationally ranked academic programs, community-based research, and service learning. It also describes recruiting and preparing health and human services professionals through "strong relationships with community partners," with the stated goal of direct impact on the health and well-being of individuals and communities.

Two structural features support this work:

• Interprofessional and interdisciplinary training. CHHS says its academic programs and related research training programs prioritize interprofessional and interdisciplinary concepts so that the work of students, faculty, and staff has the greatest positive impact on health equity.
• Translational practice and policy. The college describes its research and service as advancing health equity through leadership in community collaborations and translational practices and policies.

Concrete impact figures CHHS publishes

The college highlights three specific measures on its site:

These figures are the clearest available evidence of the college's local footprint. The food donation total speaks to direct service activity; the HHSA workforce share points to the college's role as a pipeline into San Diego County's public health and human services workforce; and the 12 centers and institutes indicate the scale of its research and community-engagement infrastructure in the region.

Scale of the college behind the impact

The impact figures sit within a large institution. CHHS describes itself as SDSU's fourth-largest college, with:

• Six schools: Exercise and Nutritional Sciences; Nursing; Physical Therapy; Public Health; Social Work; and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
• 300 faculty and 55 staff
• Nearly 5,000 students
• 15 majors and minors, 25 master's programs, and 14 doctoral programs

The college also published a 2025–2028 strategic plan, which it says sets goals to grow resources through grants and philanthropy, extend research impact, and build community partnerships over the next three years.

What this means if you're evaluating CHHS

• As a community partner or funder: The published metrics (food donated, HHSA workforce share, 12 centers and institutes) give you starting points for due diligence, but they are the college's own reported figures. Ask for program-level detail if you need it for a specific decision.
• As a prospective student: The community-based research and service-learning emphasis is a stated part of the academic model, not an optional add-on. The six schools listed above define the disciplines where that model applies.
• As an employer: The 50%+ HHSA workforce figure is the most direct signal that CHHS graduates feed into San Diego's public health and human services agencies.

For current program details, strategic plan documents, and the CHHS degree chart, the college's own site is the authoritative source.