CALIFORNIA, USA — The California State University Board of Trustees approved the master plan for the Sacramento State Placer Center.
The Sacramento State Placer Center is a 301-acre satellite campus located within Placer One in unincorporated Placer County. It will be about 25 miles north of the main Sacramento State campus. Placer One is a 2,200-acre master-planned community near Roseville that used to be called Placer Ranch.
Sacramento State President Dr. Luke Wood spoke at a Jan. 31 meeting commending partners that have been collaborating for several years including Placer County, Sierra College, Placer One and others.
Wood said that at full build-out, the Placer Center will support 12,000 Full-Time Equivalent Students. He also said that among the goals for the center is a collaboration with Sierra College to create dual enrollment programs allowing students to seamlessly transition from one institution to another.
Sierra College is a community college with campuses and centers in Rocklin, Roseville, Grass Valley and Tahoe-Truckee.
"Sierra College has a long history of working with Sacramento State University. We transfer upwards of 600 to over 1,000 students a year to Sacramento State and I'm really proud of the way we have historically worked together," said Willy Duncan, the superintendent/president of Sierra College.
Duncan said it's estimated that between 3,000 to 5,000 students live in Placer County and commute daily to Sacramento State. He also said these numbers are expected to rise as Placer County is one of the few growing counties in California.
"We are talking about things like dual admission, concurrent enrollment, shared support services, breaking down all those barriers that students might find when they're trying to transfer from a community college to a CSU campus. I think a community college and a CSU campus working together this way really serves to leverage all of our assets so that we can create a better experience for all of our students," Duncan said.
Another part of the master plan is a potential Forensic Sciences Laboratory. It would include a forensic lab and Sacramento State classroom and office space, according to Placer County Board of Supervisor agenda documents.
The Board of Trustees approved the concept approval of a public-public partnership for the development of the Placer County Forensic Sciences Laboratory. It would be a 30,000-square-foot forensic lab that would support Criminal Justice, Criminalistics, and other related undergraduate and graduate programs. It would also be used to analyze samples and forensic DNA testing under a contract with the California Department of Justice.
Discussions about the laboratory are ongoing between the county staff and Sacramento State as the project moves forward.
A long time in the making, the CSU Board of Trustees originally approved the concept of an off-campus center in Placer County in November 2006, according to meeting documents.
Watch the full meeting where the Board of Trustees approved the master plan HERE.
Watch more on ABC10 | California Atmospheric Rivers | Water, snow & El Nino update after winter storms
