April 4, 2024 –Plans for a new conservation center at CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) – to be built in partnership with the Santa Barbara Zoo -- are progressing quickly with the conceptual design already complete.
Construction progress also continues for Gateway Hall, along with several other new initiatives, programs, and partnerships that CSUCI President Richard Yao will review on Friday, April 19 during the annual State of the University address, sponsored by the West Ventura County Business Alliance (WVCBA).
The public is invited to attend this address, which is part of the WVCBA’s CSUCI Connection Breakfast. It will be held from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at CSUCI’s Grand Salon. Tickets are $45 for WVCBA members and $50 for non-members and may be purchased online.
“This is my third year as president of CSU Channel Islands, and we’ve had challenges, to be sure. We’ve also had tremendous growth in cooperation with the surrounding community and our valuable business partners,” Yao said. “The State of the University event provides opportunity for us to share what our community partners have enabled us to accomplish on campus, not only with our academic and scholarship programs, but with the brick-and-mortar construction to give us the physical capacity to keep growing. The dedication, support, and level of collaboration we enjoy with the communities we serve has been extraordinary.”
The breakfast will begin with Yao’s presentation covering updates on current and future enrollment plans, programs with community partners, and more. Awards will also be part of the presentation, with the Parker Hannifin Corporation named Business Partner of the Year, Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV) named Non-Profit Partner of the Year, and CSUCI Professor of Biology Ruben Alarcón named Faculty Partner of the Year.
Other community sponsors in partnership with WVCBA for the event are Premier America Credit Union, Harrison Industries, Southern California Edison, Dignity Health, and UCLA Health.
Additionally, an update on the CSUCI conservation center from Professor of Anthropology and Executive Director of Regional Education Partnerships Jennifer Perry, and President and CEO of the Santa Barbara Zoo Rich Block, will also be provided.
The conservation center will be the first of its kind in the nation as a Zoo-accredited and managed facility at a public university. Designed to be welcoming to animals, students, and community members alike, it will be located behind Modoc Hall near the main entrance to campus.
The Zoo works with many government agencies to save threatened species. One urgent need is a place to house snowy plover eggs, which have been abandoned on California’s beaches north of Pismo because of human activity.
“The Zoo will take those eggs and incubate them and hatch the little birds,” Perry said. “The Zoo in Santa Barbara is completely out of room and having to turn these eggs away, which is part of the urgent need for CSUCI’s conservation center.”
The red-legged frog is another endangered animal significant to the region, appearing in Chumash rock art and still honored in the artistic and ceremonial traditions of the Chumash people.