Georgia State University has announced an almost $5 million grant from the Atlanta-based Goizueta Foundation to recruit, retain, and graduate Latino students and prepare them to be future global leaders.

Building on the success of GSU's Latino Freshman Learning Communities initiative, the grant will be used to establish the Latino Leadership Pipeline, which will award annual scholarships of $10,000 to a hundred promising Latino high school students, along with academic support and access to internship opportunities. Scholarship recipients will give back to the community through service learning and by mentoring the next cohort of students.

The award is the third and largest grant the foundation has made to GSU focused on Latino student success, reflecting the university's commitment to educating an increasingly diverse population. According to the Education Trust, Latinos represent the fastest growing population at U.S. colleges, and GSU leads all Georgia universities in Latino enrollment.

"We value the longstanding relationship with the Goizueta Foundation and are extremely grateful for their continued support," said GSU president Mark Becker. "This award will help us accomplish our goal of establishing a national model for undergraduate education where students from all backgrounds achieve academic and career success at high rates."