Stan State leaders share spring semester updates ahead of classes starting online
The day prior to classes at California State University, Stanislaus, beginning virtually, leaders welcomed the campus community to the spring semester and highlighted achievements reached during the pandemic.
The welcome address streamed over Zoom on Thursday afternoon. The university earlier moved the first two weeks of the spring semester online after consulting with local public health officials and “out of an abundance of caution,” university President Ellen Junn said in the address.
“It feels as if we’re experiencing a sense of deja vu,” she said.
When in-person instruction resumes mid-February, 71% of courses will be entirely or partly in person, Provost Rich Ogle said. The remainder will run completely online.
Junn noted that safety protocols and vaccination rates are “dramatically higher” for the Turlock and Stockton campuses compared to Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, in which they reside.
“Our campus is perhaps one of the safest places to be in our two counties,” Junn said.
People coming to campus must wear a surgical, N95 or KN95 mask indoors. The university has thousands of masks available for students and employees.
Among all students, 77% are vaccinated, and of those enrolled in face-to-face classes, 82% are vaccinated, Junn said. Students, staff and faculty will be required to show proof of receiving a booster shot by the end of February or once they’re eligible.
A first for freshmen
The university allowed new freshmen to start in the spring semester for the first time, said Gitanjali Kaul, vice president for strategic planning, enrollment management and innovation.
Fifty-two first-time freshmen will begin and 639 students transferred this semester, Kaul said. The overall student headcount dropped by 5% compared to last spring.
“Given our pandemic situation, that number is a lot better than it could have been,” she said.
First-time freshman applications from the fall were up 6% from the year before, though that number is muddled by overall declining enrollment during the pandemic. CSU campuses nearby show increases of 10-20% in undergraduate applications, Kaul said. “We have our work cut out for us,” she said.
This story was originally published January 28, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
