Palm Desert Campus
Fred Jandt, interim dean

Spring 2004

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 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 non-state 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.