CSU Stanislaus Ready For Start Of 2002-03 Classes

California State University, Stanislaus will officially start the 2002-2003 academic year on Wednesday, Sept. 4 as new four-year nursing and agricultural studies programs make their debut with the beginning of fall semester classes.

University projections indicate that enrollment will once again increase over the previous year, although at a slower rate than the previous year due to budget restrictions, to nearly 8,000. At CSU Stanislaus-Stockton, enrollment is expected to be nearly 1,300 students.

To keep pace with those growing numbers and to fill openings from the previous year, CSU Stanislaus has hired 35 faculty over the summer months. One of those new faculty members, Dr. Mark Bender, will pioneer a new program as the first Rolland Starn Chair of Agricultural Studies.

Bender, who comes to CSU Stanislaus from Modesto Junior College where he was Dean of Agriculture, Environmental Sciences and Technical Education, is building the University’s newest program that provides a liberal arts focus for community college transfers interested in professions related to the agricultural industry. The first classes for the new program will get under way next spring as Bender organizes the final curriculum.

Starting this fall, CSU Stanislaus also will launch its part of an increased effort to help alleviate the region’s shortage of qualified nurses with expansion of its program to include a four-year pre-licensure Bachelor of Science Nursing major. New faculty have been added to the Nursing Department to teach the additional classes for the program that will open with a charter class of 30 freshman students.

Student residents of The Village, the on-campus residential facility that is again at capacity, will take part in the traditional “move-in day” on Saturday, August 31. CSU Stanislaus President, Dr. Marvalene Hughes, will welcome them personally that morning in what has become a traditional get-acquainted session with students and their families.

The University’s opening-week activities get under way that day, starting with the third annual Convocation welcoming ceremony for new students and their guests at 4 p.m. in the Main Dining Hall.

A free concert that evening features the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Amphitheatre. The special concert that caps the University’s Summer Arts Festival will conclude with a fireworks display.

The CSU Stanislaus campus is a bee-hive of construction activity at a number of sites. Landscaping and walkways are being completed around the new $27 million Mary Stuart Rogers Educational Services Gateway Building that was occupied in May. Work is continuing on the John Stuart Rogers Faculty Development Center and Bernell and Flora Snider Music Recital Hall, both scheduled for completion in December.

A $4.5 million telecommunication infrastructure project scheduled to get under way in September will upgrade data lines on the Turlock campus. The 18-month project will include replacement of campus telecommunications main terminals while providing connections to every classroom, faculty office, laboratory and conference room at CSU Stanislaus.