Some 550 new students will be moving into The Village campus housing between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday, August 29. A series of activities planned for residents through Wednesday includes a Village Olympic Event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, September 1 that will team students from the Village by floor level in a variety of competitive events. Also on the schedule from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. that day is a visit by the American Cancer Society “Fight Back Express” bus which is on a six-month, 48-state tour rallying people to the cause of battling cancer.
Featuring a classic architectural design with an octagonal entry tower and basilican form, the 12,000-square-foot bookstore building next to the Student Union complex will be more than double the size of the old location in the Union. In addition to the books, supplies, and always popular CSU Stanislaus clothing and athletics items, the $5.6 million store includes a reading and lounge area.
Work continues on the $16.1 million Student Recreational Complex on the east side of the campus that will include a student fitness center and lighted 2,500-seat stadium featuring a soccer/football field and track and field facility. Scheduled to open in early 2009, the complex will also include adjoining practice and intramural competition fields.
All classrooms and laboratories on the CSU Stanislaus campus now feature “smart” technology status as part of a major upgrade to include modern data projectors and computer connections. Only eight rooms on the Turlock campus out of 82 remain to be upgraded by this fall and all buildings on campus now have wireless Internet access. A total of 228 new computers have also been installed in five of the University’s computer laboratories.
Also new to the campus is a Sustainable Agriculture Laboratory site next to Willow Lake featuring organic vegetable plants and fruit trees that will be used for field study by Ag Studies classes starting this fall. Construction has started on a new botany greenhouse that is scheduled to replace the existing facility next to Naraghi Hall of Science early next year.
The new Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership degree program will feature specializations in leadership for preschool to grade 12 schools and community college leadership. The 30 students in the first cohort will have an orientation session on Tuesday, September 2, and classes start the week of September 9. A Master’s Degree in Genetic Counseling program featuring classes at UC San Francisco through a partnership program started classes this week, and a Master’s Degree with concentrations in Nursing Education and Gerontology will begin in February.
Dr. Hamid Shirvani, starting his fourth year as President, is welcoming Ruth Fassinger, new Dean of the College of Education. Coming to CSU Stanislaus from the University of Maryland, Fassinger replaces Carl Brown who retired at the end of the 2007-08 academic year.