Academic Village to Open This Fall
Colorado State University wants to increase student success through the new Academic Village, a facility opening this fall that will combine living and learning into a single community. The $42 million facility, which includes new residence halls for the College of Engineering and the Honors Program and a Dining Commons (scheduled to open in fall 2008). The buildings have been designed with input from students about student life and "green" building techniques.
The Academic Village will house about 420 students - 240 students from engineering and 180 students from the Honors program. The rooms have private baths. Jim Dolak, Executive Director of Housing and Dining Services, hopes that bringing living and learning together will help students thrive academically. The university has a comprehensive retention plan that focuses on improving the quality of the undergraduate experience at Colorado State for all students so that they will remain in school and graduate.
The Engineering Living Learning Community also has a two-story faculty apartment. Students living in the Academic Village will pay about 6 percent more than a typical suite room for features such as the private bathroom and integrated classroom and seminar space in the residence halls. The Engineering Living Learning Community has a program fee to support its network, computer labs and other academic initiatives within the living learning community. Dolak hopes the entire Academic Village community will encourage more faculty and student interaction.
"I hope that many mentoring relationships will form," he said. "The Academic Village offers an opportunity for students to build relationships with faculty members that will continue to be beneficial to them even after they graduate."
For more information on the Academic Village or to view a slideshow of a model room, visit http://www.housing.colostate.edu/halls/academic_village.htm.
Colorado State University System Board of Governors Approves CSU Budget, Tuition for 2007-2008 School Year
The Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System has approved a $367.3 million 2007-08 educational and general budget for Colorado State University.
With substantial additional support for undergraduate programs, the budget will add 45 new faculty positions, and it will assist in retaining essential faculty with a 5 percent raise for faculty and staff. It will also further increase campus safety with improvements to security and the addition of three new police officers. The campus' $367.3 million education and general budget represents about 46 percent of the Colorado State University System's total budget of approximately $800 million.
The board also authorized the sale of a $175 million bond issue for capital construction and improvement projects largely on the Fort Collins campus. As states have decreased their funding of controlled maintenance and capital construction, universities nationwide have increasingly turned to issuing debt as a means to assure that students have quality facilities in which to learn.
Colorado State's current debt load per student - at approximately $4,800 - is substantially below other institutions, including Colorado institutions. The bond issue will enhance substantially the quality of the education environment at Colorado State University.
Approved as part of the educational and general budget were an additional $2 million of financial aid to increase access to Colorado State and $2 million to create two new Superclusters - innovative science-business alliances designed to rapidly move university research on global challenges into the commercial marketplace and more quickly into the hands of people who can benefit from the research.
Alamosa Resident Marguerite Salazar Named to Board of Governors
Marguerite Salazar, the president and chief executive officer of the largest rural Community Health Center in the country, has been named to the Colorado State University System Board of Governors. The nine-member board appointed Salazar to the position held by Chad McWhinney of Loveland, who resigned earlier this year.
"Marguerite's tremendous experience with community outreach will complement Colorado State's land-grant mission of serving all of Colorado," said Larry Edward Penley, Chancellor of the Colorado State University System. "We welcome her to the board."
Salazar has spent her career providing primary health care to indigent and underserved populations. Since 1989, she has served as president and CEO of Valley Wide Health Systems Inc., which consists of 19 primary care and dental clinics that serve more than 20 rural counties and 55,000 people. Board members are typically appointed by the governor, but the board can fill vacancies that occur mid-term.
