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Thursday may have been the 60th first day of school at Stan State, but for 18-year-old Michelle Monroy of Atwater, it was unique.

The freshman, who plans to major in biology, was a bundle of nerves as she made her way to the campus for her first day of classes.

“I was driving here and I was super nervous,” Monroy said. “I was afraid big time. I was listening to music to calm down and also trying to pump myself up. Then I got to my first class and it was fine. It seemed normal.”

With a tip of the hat to the accomplishments of the last year and a firm grasp on what Stanislaus State needs to build for the future, University President Ellen Junn welcomed back the campus community on Monday, Aug. 19, during her annual Fall Welcome Address.

The ability of Stan State to impact our region, one graduate at a time, again has been recognized by a national publication as MONEY Magazine ranked the University No. 5 in the nation on its list of “Most Transformative Schools.”

Stan State is receiving $790,417 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund the University’s continuing efforts to design, deliver and test new practices for teaching in the STEM fields, specifically as they relate to recruiting and retaining students from underserved populations.

For the 14th consecutive year, Stanislaus State has been selected as one of the country’s top 385 colleges by The Princeton Review.

Stan State joins San Diego State and Sonoma State as the only members of the 23-campus California State University system on the list, which also includes nine University of California campuses. Stan State and UC Merced are the only universities located in the Central Valley to be honored by Princeton Review this year.

Stanislaus State has received $678,000 from the College Futures Foundation to support the University’s efforts to align and promote Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) pathways with Modesto Junior College, San Joaquin Delta College and Merced College.

This grant comes on the heels of a $186,000 grant from the College Futures Foundation last October. That initial grant helped fund Stan State’s Warriors on the Way (WOW) program, designed to align better with the needs of students at the University’s three largest feeder community colleges.

Nursing and social work students are benefitting from Stan State’s first collaborative simulation learning experience.