The efforts of State Assemblymembers Chad Mayes, I-Rancho Mirage, and Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, to secure funds for a new building at the Cal State San Bernardino, Palm Desert Campus have proven successful.

A $79 million budget allocation has been approved by the California legislature to build Phase I of a new Student Center Building at the Palm Desert Campus.

Mayes, Garcia and members of the Coachella Valley community have worked tirelessly for years to secure funds to expand the campus to meet the demands of current and future students.

When complete, the new 23,700 square foot Student Center Building will include an advising/tutoring center, career center, expanded campus library, group study space, a cross cultural center, campus bookstore, food services, a student health center and a recreation and wellness center.

This new space will help vacate approximately 10,200 square feet of existing space in the campus’s Mary Stuart Rogers Gateway Building, Indian Wells Center for Educational Excellence and Palm Desert Health Sciences Building to be re-purposed for the expansion of academic programs on the campus, including additional faculty office and classroom space.

The new Student Center Building will be able to accommodate up to 4,000 students and is designed for maximal flexibility as the campus continues to grow.

It will provide enhanced student services and support for students, and better position the campus to continue serving underrepresented and first-generation students of the Coachella Valley.

“This is a big day for the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus and the Coachella Valley community!” said Tomás D. Morales, President of CSUSB. “The new Student Center Building will be life changing for students at the campus by providing increased access to critical services our students deserve. It will help expand higher education opportunities in the Coachella Valley and we are grateful to everyone who helped make this dream a reality.” 

With the campus seeing a significant increase in student enrollment, this investment of $79 million to fund a student center as part of the efforts to expand the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus is the next step in creating a more commutable and inviting campus for those in the region.

For more information about the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus, contact Mike Singer in the Office of Strategic Communication at msinger@csusb.edu or (760) 341-2883, ext. 78107, or visit the PDC website at www.csusb.edu/pdc.