CSU Stanislaus Fall Semester Starts With French Partnership

California State University, Stanislaus launched its 2004-05 academic year with a French connection as fall semester classes get under way on Thursday, September 2.

Ten French graduate students will join seven CSU Stanislaus students in the University's first Master's of Science in Business Administration, Finance with an emphasis on international finance program offered through the College of Extended Education. The partnership program with the University of Cergy-Pontoise in France starts with the fall semester at CSU Stanislaus followed by the spring semester at Cergy-Pontoise and then internship assignments at internationally oriented businesses in either the United States or France. Andrew Wagner of the CSU Stanislaus Accounting and Finance faculty is coordinating the instruction this fall.

The program developed over several meetings between administrators and faculty from both universities, in France and at CSU Stanislaus. Course work is designed to prepare highly motivated finance students for jobs in the growing global economy.

Preliminary projections indicate that CSU Stanislaus will enroll about 8,200 students in the fall, including about 1,100 at CSU Stanislaus-Stockton. Freshman enrollment will once again reach an all-time high more than 750, a projected 10 percent increase over last fall.

In an effort to help more freshmen students succeed in their opening year, CSU Stanislaus is launching a First Year Experience program. Participants join a learning community of 25 students who take classes together while joining in special programs and activities that prepare them for academic success.

Cutbacks as a result of the state's ongoing budget deficit have had a direct impact on CSU Stanislaus. Enrollment growth has been curtailed and 40 positions eliminated from the University's employee roster in the past year. CSU Stanislaus trimmed $5 million from its budget as part of more than $240 million in cuts absorbed by the CSU system in the 2004-05 state budget.

Students have also been affected by the budget deficit with fee increases for 2004-05 of 14 percent for undergraduate students, 20 percent for teacher credential students, and 25 percent for graduate students. Despite those increases that raised the annual full-time undergraduate fee to $2,807, statistics compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education indicate that CSU Stanislaus students still pay far less than the national average for four-year public universities of more than $4,000 a year.

CSU Stanislaus is welcoming 15 new full-time faculty for 2004-05 to fill openings created by a number of retirements as well as those who took jobs elsewhere in the past year.

More students will be living on the Turlock campus in 2004-05 with the opening of Village III in the Residential Life complex. The $16 million addition undergoing finishing touches this month includes 75 apartments for 300 additional residents and a dining and kitchen facility. That brings capacity at the complex to 650. The Village will welcome new students this Saturday, August 28, following a public dedication ceremony on Friday, August 27 at 3:30 p.m.

Construction will get under way in October on Science II, the University's largest-ever building project. Completion of the $55-million, 115,000-square-foot, three-story science facility that will include classrooms, laboratories, offices, and an observatory is scheduled for 2007.

Contact: Don Hansen (209) 667-3997