Cal State Long Beach wants to know what you think the future of the university should look like.
That was the message from Cal State Long Beach leaders at the 2018-19 annual convocation on Friday, Aug. 24. As the university begins a new school year on Aug. 27 with new students and faculty, Cal State Long Beach President Jane Close Conoley formally launched “Beach 2030,” an initiative aimed to first, gather input on the university’s future curriculum and role in the community, and then create a plan to reach those goals.
“I want all of us to know more about each other’s dreams and aspirations for our university,” Conoley said. “I’m convinced such knowledge will add to our imagination and creativity going forward. I want us, as a whole community, to gain skills in maximizing all the opportunities that surround us and to build the fortitude to grapple with whatever changes our analyses suggest.”
Beach 2030 is a 2-year process of imagining, networking, data gathering, debating, curating, revising, discussing and prioritizing an image of a 2030 destination for Cal State Long Beach, Conoley said.
Conoley challenged the near-capacity audience at the university’s Carpenter Performing Arts Center to imagine if Cal State Long Beach will succeed, or fall, by 2030. She named several factors that could potentially negatively impact the university, including the declining birth rate in California, competition with online courses, community colleges that offer 4-year degrees and the sustainability of the CSU system as a whole.
Other nationwide issues that influence the future of Cal State Long Beach, Conoley said, are state support, income inequality, racism, climate change, nuclearization and divisiveness.
“The time is now to imagine how we survive and thrive,” she said. “To do so we’ll figure out what to preserve and what to forget, and embrace what we can create together.”
Provost Brian Jersky said the handful of events will lead up to a two-day online conversation from Nov. 14 to Nov. 15.
“The event is driven by you and everyone who participates,” Jersky said, “non-traditional ideas have the potential to come and surprise sources, and in this way, we will be demonstrating democracy in action.”
Jersky said he hopes people will become engaged and give a voice to people who may always have one in traditional settings.
“Each person participating has the potential to decide where ideas and opinions go, or don’t go,” he said. “Any voice or opinion that is shared by many can decide if a topic is timely and widespread, or not.”
Associated Students President Genesis Jara shared some of her goals for Beach 2030 during the convocation.
“With the students of greatest need in mind, I imagine a future at Long Beach State where students don’t worry about where to sleep at night because we have an overnight housing center,” Jara said.
“I imagine a future where students don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks,” she continued, “I imagine a future where we develop a sustainable funding law for our university so we no longer have to rely on inconsistent state funding. I imagine a future where no student has to go hungry or homeless while attending our university, and that they are able to afford an equitable degree.”
Want to get involved?
- “Beach 2030” will start with a series of events for discussion and engagement, with the first information session from 12 to 1 p.m. on Aug. 28 at the Anatol Center at Cal State Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd.
- Anyone can post ideas online Nov. 14 – Nov. 15 , via www.csulb.edu/imagine.
- For more events, go to www.csulb.edu/beach-2030/engage/events
