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CSUMB expands its presence in Salinas

CLASSES TO BE OFFERED AT NORTH MAIN STREET LOCATION

Cal State Monterey Bay has leased the main building vacated by last year’s closure of Heald College in Salinas and will begin offering classes in that facility later this year.

The lease, which went into effect Feb. 1, is for a 25,000-square-foot building located on North Main Street off Alvin Drive. The building includes 11 classrooms, several of which can serve as labs, and a number of offices. The facility will be known as CSUMB @ North Salinas.

“Leasing the building previously occupied by Heald College will allow us to increase our outreach and our course offerings to Salinas and the Salinas Valley,” said CSUMB President Eduardo Ochoa. “With the space crunch on our main campus, and the need to expand higher education opportunities in Salinas, this seemed to provide an ideal opportunity.” The building has been vacant since last April, when the for-profit college’s parent company Corinthian Colleges, Inc., announced it was closing its remaining campuses.

Last week, university officials, faculty and staff visited the building and began the discussion of what courses could be offered there.

CSUMB currently works with Hartnell College in Salinas on a number of academic programs, including nursing, the CS-in-3 computer science program, and agriculture technology. Some of those classes could be offered in this building.

As CSUMB has grown to its current enrollment of about 7,100, academic leaders have also discussed launching new programs. For example, courses toward a potential new criminal justice major could be housed in the new building.

Office space is available for enrollment, financial aid and other outreach programs as well. The university will announce more specific plans as their development moves forward.

The first CSUMB classes to be available at the facility will be through Extended Education, with other academic classes likely to be available for the fall semester, which begins in August. Extended Education offerings could include summer session courses, non-credit professional development workshops and certificate programs, and master’s degree completion programs.

Meanwhile, the university is also moving forward with its plans for the National Steinbeck Center’s building in downtown Salinas, which was purchased by the University Corporation last year. Renovations are continuing on the building, to be known as CSUMB @ Salinas City Center. (The National Steinbeck Center remains the name of the non-profit organization that manages the Steinbeck Museum and affiliated programs, which will continue to occupy about half of the downtown structure.) The university’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) will hold two programs in the Salinas City Center facility in early March. Other CSUMB plans for the building include:

Published Feb. 9, 2016