Allie Sullivan transferred to California State University, Channel Islands, hoping to complete her biology degree and land a job with a local biotechnology firm. Without the university, she doesn't believe she'd have that chance.

"This community has needed a school to really help the locals," the 34-year-old Camarillo resident said. "I feel like I came here at the right time."

When university planners began to plot the curriculum for the state's newest CSU campus, they quickly honed in on science and technology -- a fast-growing segment of the Ventura County economy that could provide high-paying jobs to new college graduates.

That commitment was evident Friday when the school officials formally opened the university's first new academic building, a $12 million, two-story science facility with eight laboratories, faculty offices and a 110-seat auditorium.

The building was constructed from the ground up because university officials decided they couldn't quickly or affordably remodel other facilities to accommodate the ventilation, technology and other special infrastructure needed in a science facility.

When the university opened last year, students had to take chemistry classes at Oxnard College, and biology classes in the former hospital building, which hasn't been remodeled yet and eventually will become part of the school's library.

"There's bathrooms in here. We don't have to go out to the Port-a-Potties," said 26-year-old biology major Rosemary Moran as she settled into her new classroom for Biology 420, Cell and Molecular Immunology. "This makes up for last year."

Among the estimated 300 people celebrating the building's opening were representatives from local science and technology firms who believe the university will be able to help meet their demands for an educated workforce.

"There is a common need for skilled scientific and technical help," said Kevin J. Reagan, vice president of research and development at BioSource International. "We are totally dependent on a strong education at the local level. We're really hopeful that in the near future we're going to have lots of interaction with students from the university."

It's not difficult to attract top-level scientists to high-paying jobs, but it can be a challenge to find qualified employees to fill midlevel jobs, said Wayne A. Davey, vice president and chief financial officer at Rockwell Scientific Co. in Newbury Park. People at that level are less willing to relocate to Ventura County because of the high cost of living, he said.

"Rockwell Scientific can bring in the people from MIT and UCLA," Davey said. "What we lack, though, are the people who run the labs, who do the quality assurance, who work in our accounting office. We have a real need for those kinds of people."

Davey has become a champion for partnerships between the university and the business community, serving as chairman of the Business and Technology Partnership, which advises and supports the university. The partnership awarded two $1,000 scholarships to CSUCI students Friday.

University President Richard Rush said such partnerships will help ensure that the university is supported by and benefits the Ventura County region.

"We want to contribute to the economic development, to the workforce. We want to develop internships," he said. "And we hope to offer them access to our labs, our students and our faculty."