New Palmdale Campus. New Lancaster campus facilities, faculty, courses and programs.
My priorities if re-elected are to aggressively pursue State-matching funds and utilize our Bond money to improve the Lancaster campus and begin the Palmdale campus. We want to get the temporary Palmdale class site up to 500 students as soon as possible to get the State designation as a site, which frees up State funds for expansion to the permanent site. We need to identify and acquire the permanent site in Palmdale as soon as possible and we are currently working with the City of Palmdale and local landowners to make that decision by the end of the year. At the Lancaster campus the priorities are expansion of the nursing program, hiring more full time faculty and increasing core classes in English, Math and Science. We need to expand, improve and make more accessible our Student Services (financial aid, counseling, registration, etc) and will start with the Student Service Center remodel this fiscal year. I would like to see greater outreach to the community at large whether they are students or not. We have begun an aggressive outreach marketing campaign and the community is becoming more aware of the best-kept secret in the Antelope Valley! The on-going parking issue will be addressed this fiscal year with the addition of 1,000 new spaces, a nearly 40% increase in parking. We have some wonderful free educational activities available on campus as well as the most affordable and entertaining sports teams in the area. Our fine arts programs including the Campus Art Gallery, Symphony Orchestra and Master Chorale, Plays, jazz and modern bands, Dance and other activities are available to everyone in the community and with the State funding for a new 400-seat theatre on campus (scheduled to start in 2006-07), we can play host to all of the above. Finally, I want to continue to work with administration, faculty, staff and students to keep AVC the premier community college in the State. Open communications, cooperation and out-of-the-box ideas will all be encouraged.
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