Board names building, votes to replace amphitheater

  • A long-planned building has a new name and a new addition after action by the Fresno Pacific University Board of Trustees during regular meetings June 8-9.

    The dining and office building will be named Steinert Campus Center, in honor of Marvin and Nadene Steinert. Formerly known as university commons or the dining commons, the single-story structure will contain general dining for students, faculty and staff as well as separate space for special events. A student development leadership center and offices for the student life division are also part of the plan. Pacific Bookshop is slated to expand and move into the present food-service facilities in Alumni Hall. Groundbreaking for the $3.5 million center, to be located between Alumni Hall and Holman Park, could take place this fall.

    A new amphitheater will grace the southwest corner of the Steinert Center. The structure replaces one built in 1965 and being removed to make way for AIMS Hall of Science and Mathematics. The cost of the amphitheater, now estimated at $30,000-50,000, has been pledged.

    The board also set tuition for 2001-02 was set at $16,200, an increase of 8.72 percent over $14,900 for 2000-01. Room and board were raised 4.73 percent, and those fees now range from 1,00-1,205 for housing and $435-1,495 for food per semester, depending on the individual plan.

    A pair of undergraduate faculty positions were filled. Julia Kay Reimer will begin teaching drama in January and David A. Thompson joins the biology faculty this fall. Reimer is a third-year doctoral student at Southern Illinois State University, Carbondale. She earned her master's at Bowing Green (Ohio) Sate University and her bachelor's at Fresno Pacific College. Thompson earned a doctorate from Harvard University and did post-doctoral research at the University of California, Davis, where he received his bachelor's degree.

    The bulk of the meeting was devoted to presentations by Al Meyer, who worked with the board on being more effective in their role. Meyer is a former faculty member of Goshen (Ind.) College.

    In other action, the board:

    • Raised adjunct faculty salaries 4 percent.
    • Welcomed Dick Johanson for a two-year board term. The former CEO of Johanson Transportation has been a long-time Fresno business and community leader.
    • Elected trustee Bob Friesen to the presidential nominating committee.

Author

Wayne Steffen
Associate Director of Publications and Media Relations

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