Elizabeth Castillo, director of Principles for Responsible Management Education and assistant professor of management at Cal State San Bernardino, has been named a 2025 CUMU Impact Fellow by the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU), alongside Roslyn Roberts, associate professor of accounting at Sacramento State.

As CUMU Impact Fellows, Castillo and Roberts will lead research focused on improving how universities measure and communicate their community impact. Their work centers on exploring global approaches to impact reporting, particularly how community engagement and impact metrics are incorporated into institutional reports.

While most universities publish annual reports highlighting statistics, rankings and success stories, Castillo and Roberts note that these reports often lack context — particularly how reported outcomes connect to local community needs or influence internal decisions around performance and resource allocation. Their research will spotlight emerging solutions, including the use of social accounting frameworks commonly adopted by global businesses.

“Elizabeth and Roslyn are accomplished scholars whose work advances the impact of our anchor institutions,” said Valerie Holton, executive director of CUMU. “Their research promises to provide guidance and tools that can help CUMU members and other anchor institutions adopt integrated impact reporting for their engagement efforts and make it more accessible and valuable to users.”

Both Castillo and Roberts are members of the U.S. Integrated Reporting Community steering committee, where they support national efforts to promote collaboration, knowledge-sharing and best practices around integrated reporting.

Castillo, formerly at Arizona State University, developed a resource allocation course grounded in integrated reporting that received the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Worth Teaching Award in 2020 for advancing business education. Roberts brings extensive expertise in sustainability and integrated reporting and holds the SASB FSA Credential in sustainability accounting. Her research examines value creation, pandemic risk disclosures, and the application of impact metrics in corporate and higher education settings.

Their partnership exemplifies the California State University system’s commitment to innovative, mission-driven work as a national leader in community-engaged anchor institutions.