The Road is Never Straight - CSUSB Magazine - California State ...

COLLEGE NEWS
Palm Desert Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fred Jandt, interim dean
AN IMPORTANT
PROPOSITION
The public and private partnership that is building Cal
State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus came through
again March 2. California voters passed Proposition 55. Of
the $12.3 billion the state’s schools will receive for repair
and construction, CSUSB will receive $54 million, including
$1.3 million for Palm Desert. The money will go
toward equipment and furniture for its second building,
the Indian Wells Center for Educational Excellence, which
is now under construction and scheduled to open for fall
classes in September.
CSUSB President Albert Karnig said passage of the
bond measure reinforces California’s commitment to education
and the importance of repairing and building new
classrooms. “We’re very pleased that Proposition 55 was
passed. It will provide key support for California’s overall
educational system, from K-12 through higher education,”
Karnig said. “In the Coachella Valley the funding will provide
essential equipment and furniture for our Indian Wells
Center for Educational Excellence – and that, in turn, will help us
serve our students.” The Indian Wells Center was “topped off” with
placement of the final steel girder at the CSUSB Palm Desert
Campus on Jan. 20.
Palm Desert Campus Dean Fred Jandt said the narrowly
approved measure will definitely help the campus. “We created a
public-private partnership to build this campus, with cities, foundations
and individuals donating the money to build the buildings,” he
said. “The CSU system agreed to run it once the buildings were up.
However, there are always needs for additional enhancements as the
construction process continues, and Prop. 55 will definitely help. We
still need to raise about $10 million in non-state money to build our
HALFWAY POINT — Guests signed the final beam in indelible ink before it was hoisted in place atop the twostory
Indian Wells Center. Construction will be completed in time for the beginning of the academic year this
fall, when PDC will consolidate all of its classes and programs at the new campus. Some classes remain in temporary
buildings at College of the Desert.
third building to house nursing and health science programs.”
The bond measure also will provide $48.6 million for a new
College of Education building, $1,480,000 for equipment and furniture
for the university’s Physical Sciences building, and $2,556,000
for equipment for the university’s new Science Annex, which is now
under construction.
The $10-million structure is the second of three planned for the
initial phase of the campus on Cook Street. While public monies are
equipping the center, the building itself is being funded with nonstate
contributions, including $5 million from the City of Indian
Wells, $3 million from the Walter and Lenore Annenberg
Foundation, and gifts from Jean Hardy, the H.N. and Frances
Berger Foundation and the Palm Desert National Bank.
INAUGURAL TECHNOLOGY DAY
Cindi Pringle (right), director of CSUSB’s new Inland California
Television Network, hosted one of more than 40 informational booths
and exhibitors at the Palm Desert Campus’s inaugural Technology Day.
It took place March 24 and brought more than 400 people to the campus,
many for the first time. “We were very pleased with the community’s
response to this free event,” said Fred Jandt, dean. “The audience
spanned all age ranges and interests.”
ICTN presents a half-hour news program at 10 p.m. to 15 cities via
cable TV in the Inland Empire, as well as re-airing its weeknight newscast
at 10:30 p.m. and again over public TV station KVCR at 11 p.m.
Wireless Internet connections, data security, online databases, distance
learning and “smart” classrooms were among the demonstrations
presented. CSUSB Vice President William Aguilar presented “Internet
Safety Issues” in both English and Spanish. Jan Woerner, co-director of
the JASON Project, which brings 4,000 valley students on campus each
year for an interactive satellite experience with environmental scientist
Robert Ballard and his crew, recapped the JASON experience in the
Oliphant Auditorium. Visitors also got a look at assistive devices for the
disabled, e-books, digital imagery and information literacy.
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CSUSB
Spring/Summer 2004