CSI in the News - CSI Today

A new era for the College of Staten Island with $257M plan
By Amy Padnani
May 10, 2010, 8:36AM
An artist's rendering of the Interdisciplinary High Performance Computational Center at
CSI, which will have lecture rooms, offices, computers and research labs.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Soon enough, students won't be elbowing each other for study space in the College
of Staten Island library.
Or waiting in a long line of cars on Victory Boulevard to get onto the campus during rush hour.
Or taking courses at 10:30 p.m. because there wasn't any classroom space to meet earlier.
School officials have developed a $257 million master plan to upgrade and revamp the campus after studies
showed the demographics of students is rapidly growing and changing.
The design includes 477,735 square feet in new buildings and additions. It is the first major redesign since
the college moved to the campus -- the home of the former Willowbrook State School -- in 1993, combining
its Sunnyside and St. George locations.
The campus serves about 14,000 people, but that number is likely to jump to more than 18,000 by 2019,
said Tomas Morales, president of College of Staten Island. The number of full-time students has increased
23 percent in the past 12 years, and is expected to grow another 38 percent by 2018. Yet the college has far
less classroom space than most of the other City University of New York schools.
Though there is plenty of room to grow, the sprawling 205-acre campus is frequently packed with students
in the existing buildings, Morales said. The design includes filling in some of the areas between buildings to
make it more walkable.
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