Classes Resume at HSU with Record Enrollment
In addition, the University is virtually certain to achieve a record fall enrollment overall. The latest figures show a total head count of 7,998, easily eclipsing the former record of 7,850 set in the fall of 1992. Final figures are expected in September.
Construction of housing to accommodate the growing student population is ahead of schedule with the College Creek Apartments fronting on L.K. Wood Boulevard. Slated for occupancy in Fall 2010, the $38 million complex will be home to 434 students in four buildings centered on a regulation NCAA, all-weather synthetic turf soccer field made of recycled rubber. New locker rooms will sit just off L.K. Wood
A typical College Creek unit will house three bedrooms, double occupancy, with two baths and a living area. A 15,000 square-foot community center will be home to a full roster of campus activities and meeting places for many of the same uses as those in the existing Jolly Giant Commons. Funding derives from state bonds designated solely for construction.
Students, staff and faculty who visit the University Library will see a soon-to-be-opened, full-scale Library Café. It is the second phase of a multi-pronged project to furnish the campus with a 2lst century Learning Commons that bridges the print and digital worlds. “These changes will reestablish our Library as the center of the University for our students and faculty, and demonstrate to prospective students that HSU understands the significance of the digital revolution for access to information,” President Rollin Richmond said.
The Library Café will relocate the Food Friendly Area in the Library’s southeast corner to the back of the first floor main lobby, just west of the circulation desk. Eventually the remodeled space will provide Internet docking tables, data ports, a cluster of electrical outlets, suitable tables and chairs, diner-style booth seating, a coffee stand, food services and vending machines.
Concurrently, the Library’s Learning Commons of 24 computer workstations put into operation in March, 2008, will undergo a major expansion from its first floor site with plenty of space one floor below students study and collaboration.
The Library is a hub on a residential campus like Humboldt State’s, not only for resident students, but also for their out-of-state and international counterparts. The Commons and Café will comprise a facility considered by 21st century students to be a given, and it is designed to bolster student retention. Funded in part by $5,000 from the Parent and Family Fund, the expansion will encourage independent research and centralize academic support services. It provides near-instant access to the Computer Help Desk, Math Tutoring, Media Distribution and a full roster of HSU Centers: Learning, Advising, Testing, University Writing and the Student Disability Resource Center, which is making its new home in the Library basement quarters.
On another digital front, the Richmond Administration is readying a plan to augment online courses with incentives for faculty to adopt such technologies widely in their classrooms.
One of the main campus events shortly after fall classes start is the 16th Annual Day of Caring on Saturday, September 19, which will commence on the Art Quad at 8:00 a.m. More than 500 HSU students, staff, faculty, administrators and community members are expected to volunteer across Humboldt County in an array of projects. They include dune and native plant restoration, community gardening and emergency food box preparation, among others.
Day of Caring details are available from Jyl Barnett in the HSU Service Learning Center at 707/826-4963 or jmb137@humboldt.edu