Welty optimistic about this year

By ELIZABETH LEFFALL

Fresno State faculty and staff gathered in the Satellite Student Union last Thursday to hear university president John Welty’s spring semester address.

Braced for more than $7 million in reduced operating costs, Welty announced that instead of cutting funding, the CSU system will see an increase of $63.7 million to serve an additional 10,000 students if the 2005-2006 state budget is adopted.

“Over the last three years we’ve been reducing the budget now we can go the other way,” Welty said.

Of the 10,000 students the budget proposes to accommodate, Welty said Fresno State would see an additional 600-800 students on campus.

With the completion of the Science II building and the Downing Planetarium Museum, Welty said the university has turned to the new $90 million library to be completed in 2008, the building of the “West Complex” of the Save Mart Center [Student Recreation Center], and the completion of the campuswide fiber optic network.

“Important changes are under way across this campus and there’s much more to come,” Welty said.

Along with the upcoming demolition of the San Ramon buildings, the university announced a search for over 74 faculty vacancies including an internal auditor and director of institutional research.

Welty said that money generated from the budget increase would be used for employee compensation.

“Staff members haven’t seen a raise in three years,” Welty said.

Citing the progress of the campus fundraising campaign and the success of the Smittcanp Family Honors College, Welty encouraged faculty to share his vision of building the university’s national and international reputation for academic excellence.