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MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1999

Welcome, take a look around CSULB!

Welcome to our annual Open House and Kaleidoscope festival!

President Robert Maxson

You are among approximately 25,000 visitors on campus today who will enjoy the festivities of Kaleidoscope. This is one of the special days in the life of Cal State Long Beach. It's a wonderful blend of academics and family celebrations taking place throughout our 320-acre campus.

We'd like to tell you a bit about our university. Our excellent and stimulating faculty offer 60 graduate and 72 undergraduate degree programs to nearly 30,000 students. CSULB's diverse and vibrant student body is reflective of the state and the Long Beach community. In fact, U.S. News & World Report has ranked CSULB as the third most ethnically diverse university in the West.

We are the university of choice for about 250 National Merit scholars and high school valedictorians from throughout California. As part of the President's Scholars Program, these students earn full four-year scholarships. Next semester, more than 300 President's Scholars will attend CSULB. These students were heavily recruited by universities across the nation, including Yale, Penn State, USC, Stanford, UC Berkeley and UCLA, yet they chose our campus for the quality of the educational programs combined with the traditional collegiate experience they find here.

This spring, we are also celebrating CSULB's 50th birthday. Though still considered a young institution, we are a strong community destined to become a premiere national university. Ninety-five percent of the incoming freshmen are enrolled as full-time students, and our residence halls are filled to capacity. Numerous academic programs have been judged by outside professional organizations as being in the top 10 in the nation, such as our Dance and Communication studies programs. CSULB's KLON (FM88) has an international audience and its more than 400,000 listeners make it the world's top jazz station.

After enjoying today's festivities, I hope you will come back again soon. CSULB has become a great community resource and a substantial asset to the region. Every week, there are plays, concerts, poetry readings, dances, lectures and sporting events on campus. As members of our community and as our neighbors, I hope you will visit often to take advantage of the many free events offered to the public.

Regardless of where you went to school, we are working every hard to be your university.

In closing, I want to send my warmest congratulations to the Daily Forty-Niner for this great Kaleidoscope tradition. Once again, the student paper has distinguished itself with the attention it pays to special university celebrations.

Go Beach!