Features - Channel Magazine - CSU Channel Islands

Vision 2025 on the horizon

By Kim Lamb Gregory

This coming fall, the University will welcome about 2,000 new freshmen and transfer students. By 2025, that number is expected to be 4,600, with a total enrollment of 12,500. In order to keep pace with the increasing student enrollment, the CI campus must grow.

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“We need to expand academics, student life, student housing and other support facilities,” said John Gormley, CI’s Director of Planning, Design & Construction and Campus Architect. The steps required to realize CI’s future are outlined in the CI 2025 Vision Plan, a long-term strategy to meet this demand.

The plan includes more classrooms, dining commons, wellness/recreational facilities, child care, a conference center and student housing. “We’re currently housing 1,100 students in on- and off-campus housing,” Gormley said. “Most of the students in the Santa Cruz and Anacapa Villages are triple-bunked.”

Also in the pipeline are plans for new academic degree programs, both graduate and undergraduate, which will require financial backing. “New faculty must be hired to develop the curriculum,” said Associate Provost Daniel Wakelee. “Startup costs also include the acquisition of lab and other equipment used for research and instruction, as well as funding to support internships, students and faculty research activities.”

The environment of decreased public spending means CI Vision 2025 will have to be funded with private and public partnerships, donations and the development of the final phase of University Glen. University Glen is a community of affordable townhomes, single-family homes and apartments adjacent to the campus on property owned by the state.

The University Glen development is for CI faculty, staff and some other residents from outside the University. “University Glen was planned and developed to be a financial support mechanism for the University as well as an amenity to encourage the recruitment of faculty and staff to a region where many can’t normally afford housing,” Gormley said.

Preliminary plans for the undeveloped property on the east section of University Glen were originally intended to include 242 for-sale detached homes, but when the housing market collapsed in 2008, the plans had to be suspended and, ultimately, adjusted. Now that the economy is improving and demand for housing is intense in Ventura County, University leaders need to identify, through exploration, which option for the undeveloped phase of University Glen is most preferable.

In March, the CSU Board of Trustees approved CI’s concept for the expansion of University Glen. This summer, a working group will be assembled to provide input on what the appropriate mix is for the development. The group will include faculty, staff, University Glen residents and others from the community. CI plans to return to the CSU Board of Trustees in the fall of 2016 with its recommendation. It hopes for approval of the final plan and engagement of a yet-to-be-chosen private development partner shortly thereafter.

“The investment made in the University will reward the community for decades to come with well-educated, well-prepared graduates ready to fill the jobs that our region needs to thrive,” Gormley said. “We are an economic engine and one of the largest employers in the county and as we grow, that will just continue. More importantly, our graduates give back many times over to the economic health of our communities.”

For additional information about CI’s 2025 Vision Plan, visit: www.csuci.edu/ci-2025/