Check out any CSU library and experience the different sights and sounds. Fewer stacks, more tables with students working and conversing over laptops or tablets, and robotic storage systems for those books that rarely are opened.

As part of the CSU's strategic direction to continually update and innovate, the LA Basin campuses have created the CSU LA Basin pilot project to develop cost-effective library services for student and faculty success.

As the group re-envisions libraries, they are concentrating on four areas:

(1) print collection management;

(2) transforming library facilities and services;

(3) systemwide library assessment of learning outcomes and Graduation Initiative priorities; and

(4) expanding shared services including technology.

As the project progresses, more information will be detailed.

LIBRARY RESOURCES »

The CSU Center for Community Engagement is celebrating 15 years of service learning. The center has established Fifteen for Fifteen, a campaign through the crowd-sourcing website Indiegogo to raise $15,000 to support CSU community engagement efforts. For ways to contribute visit Fifteen for Fifteen.

“Our students live and support their families in the communities in which they serve. They recognize that what they do today will impact the generations of tomorrow,” says Judy Botelho, CSU’s director of the Center for Community Engagement. “We are excited to help fund projects that will positively influence higher education, our state and our students.”

In other service news, 16 CSU campuses were recognized in the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for their commitment to community service. The Honor Roll commends institutions for encouraging students to make significant contributions to the community through volunteer work.

PRESS RELEASE »

All of the CSU campuses are continuing their efforts to increase graduation rates and close the achievement gap for underrepresented students. They are tackling the issue in various ways that complement their unique student bodies. Faculty, staff and administrators are collaborating to find what will work best to ensure student success.

Several programs fall under the Graduation Initiative umbrella. The first is the Early Assessment Program (EAP), with a goal of having California high school graduates enter the CSU fully prepared to begin college-level study. A presentation on the program was made at a recent Board of Trustees meeting.

Another is the Early Start program. The goal is to have students begin their remedial English and math classes in the summer before their fall term so they move quickly into their course of study. The latest presentation is here.

Also assisting students is the Associate Degree for Transfer program (SB 1440). Students who take a 60-unit prescribed course of classes at a community college obtain an associate’s degree, then transfer to a CSU campus where they take an additional 60 units and graduate with a bachelor’s degree.

Welcome to another edition of News and Reflections, which highlights programs and people from the campuses and Chancellor’s Office. This certainly is a year of change, with Timothy P. White becoming the new California State University chancellor, new presidents and provosts’ joining and others departing, and the CSU finally getting a slight boost in its budget for the first time in years.

The Academic Affairs division is concentrating on our major initiatives, some of which you can read about in this issue. We are working on how best to use and allocate the $10 million that Gov. Jerry Brown has budgeted for technology to reduce bottleneck courses. The Chancellor’s Office is developing an RFP that will ask campuses to find ways to redesign courses, scale-up best practices and improve student services. Additionally, the CSU’s proposed 2013-14 budget calls for $7.2 million for new, innovative or accelerated student success initiatives to reduce time to degree, close the achievement gap and move students closer to graduation and careers. The next few months will be a time of ramped-up activities across the system. In other news, I wanted to congratulate Cal State Fullerton President Millie Garcia for being elected chair of the board of the Association of American Colleges and Universities; San José State President Mohammad Qayoumi for his appointment to the Homeland Security Academic Advisory Council; Cal State Los Angeles President James M. Rosser for receiving the 2013 Golden Torch Award for Lifetime Achievement in Academia from the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE); and Cal State San Marcos President Karen S. Haynes Harrison for receiving the American Council on Education’s 2013 Donna Shavlik Award for her exemplary contributions to women in higher education. Finally, I want to wish CSU General Counsel Chris Helwick all good wishes on her well-deserved retirement.

WHAT'S UP AT CSU CAMPUSES

PHYSICAL CHANGES IN THE WORKS FOR MANY CAMPUSES

Many CSU campuses are making safety and efficiency a priority in 2013. Recently funded capital projects have been completed or are just beginning this month with lasting impact on both the campus and local community. The Channel Islands Entrance Road is a joint multimodal transportation project completed in coordination with Ventura County. The project involved the construction of a new roadway connecting the campus to Lewis Road, which the county has recently expanded to a 4-lane highway that includes a new 4-lane bridge to the campus across Calleguas Creek. The new entrance includes sidewalks, bike paths, a landscaped median, entry signage and kiosk and street lights. The project also includes two vehicular bridges and two pedestrian bridges crossing Long Grade Creek. The road was made possible by the acquisition in 2007 of agricultural land adjacent to CSUCI. The goal of this $25.2 million project was to meet the campus need for a safe and reliable primary access, promote multimodal commuting and enhance the campus visibility and university identity. The entrance road opened with a dedication ceremony in the spring of 2012 that was hosted by President Dick Rush and attended by county and local officials as well as representatives of Caltrans, the Chancellor's Office, the US Navy and the local Chumash Indian tribe.

The Cal Maritime Academy physical education replacement project began in March. Bonds will finance the estimated $34.7 million project, which will construct a new 38,601 square-foot building at the campus entrance that will include an outdoor aquatics survival training pool. In addition to the 50-meter pool for academics, survival training, athletics, and recreation, the two-level facility includes a variety of training, administrative and support areas. The building will be clad in white precast concrete panels interspersed with translucent glass and visually supported by brick walls which reference the historic building material and color of the main campus. Occupancy is expected in August 2014.

CSU Bakersfield will break ground on construction of the Bakersfield Art Center and Satellite Plant in August 2014. The new art center will replace facilities in the campus core with a new 16,181 square-foot building in the western section of the campus, accommodating 224 full-time equivalent students, and provide lecture, laboratory space and faculty offices. The center will be u-shaped with drawing and photo labs that frame a central courtyard and face the future humanities complex quad to the north. The building interior is designed to provide flexible and functional environments for five programmatic lab areas using indoor-outdoor studio areas, a large covered patio, and exhibit areas that flow into the adjoining courtyard.

THREE-YEAR DEGREE
CSU Monterey Bay and a local community college are offering a unique three-year computer science degree starting in fall 2013. FULL STORY »

CSULB BOOKSTORE
The University Bookstore at Cal State Long Beach has been chosen as the Collegiate Retailer of the Year by the National Association of College Stores (NACS). Awarded biennially, the honor is given to one college store that displays extraordinary leadership and excellence among the nation’s prominent collegiate retailers. PRESS RELEASE »

FRESNO FARM
Customers who line up for sweet corn, ice cream, olive oil and other goods produced by Fresno State students have a new place to shop for their favorite items. The university recently celebrated the grand opening of a new Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market on the campus.
FULL STORY »

ANNE FRANK TREE SAPLING
The courage and inspiration of Anne Frank will be honored in mid-April as Sonoma State University plans to plant the sapling taken from the mother chestnut tree that often gave Frank hope as she hid from the Nazis in World War II. FULL STORY »

SPOTLIGHT

EXTERNAL RELATIONS
For the latest information about what the CSU is doing to increase the number of underrepresented students at its campuses, read the latest newsletter here »

CALSTATE TEACH
CalStateTEACH has been named an Apple Distinguished Program for 2012-2013 for its innovative design and implementation of a one-to-one iPad mobile learning initiative. The program recognizes outstanding schools and programs that are centers of innovation, leadership, educational excellence and exemplary learning environments.