|
While touring campus in the morning, White got some tips from music students on how to conduct an orchestra, took a few swings against the baseball team’s new virtual pitching machine, and visited with the women’s soccer team, which recently won its second conference championship in three years. He also sat down for impromptu talks with students in the university’s Writing Center and other spots on campus, and he said he came away from those conversations with a sense that the university truly understands the needs of its students.
“This is a campus that (recognizes that) students come here with all the ability in the world, but perhaps not all the experiences,” White said. “So this place is trying to help them be successful. It was a very strong feeling I had.”
When asked about what makes CSU Stanislaus unique within the system, White pointed to the Science Observatory in the new Naraghi Hall of Science and the university’s relationships with the agribusiness and educational communities in the region. He said the batting cage — along with other donor-funded athletic facility upgrades and the strong lineup of music and theatre performances on campus — illustrate the community’s commitment to its university.
“It’s an example of the relationship that this campus has built with the community,” White said. “It’s not an isolated campus, but one that is really integrated with the interests of the community. That’s very impressive and very important to me.”
The chancellor spoke about his top priorities for the CSU system, among them: better aligning the CSU with the K-12 and community college systems; improving students’ college readiness by better preparing the state’s next generation of teachers; and improving the system’s capacity to meet student demand, especially in inland growth areas such as the Central Valley.
He spoke of building upon the CSU’s already strong pillars of access, quality and affordability by also emphasizing degree completion and building stronger bridges to life after college. And he said he wants to find new ways to tell the story of the CSU system, in particular regarding the economic impact generated by a system that in June added 100,000 graduates to a total alumni that is nearing 3 million, the majority of whom are working in California.
“The power of this economic engine is an amazing story to be told,” White said. “When you glue it together in aggregate — this 1,000-mile-long campus from Arcata to San Diego and from the coast to (the Desert Studies Center in) Zzyzx — it’s a big, important enterprise.”