Fresno State to open Visalia satellite campus

Fresno State is opening a new satellite campus at College of the Sequoias in Visalia that will one day allow South Valley residents to get a bachelor’s degree without going to Fresno.

Luz Gonzalez, a Fresno State alum with 30 years of experience in teaching and administration, has been named the dean of the campus.

It will occupy a remodeled 10,000-square-foot building with four classrooms at Shady Street and Meadow Avenue on the COS campus. The building was donated by College of the Sequoias.

A ribbon cutting will be held Oct. 26.

Beginning this fall, the new campus will offer non-credit professional development courses, but California State University, Fresno, will develop degree and certificate programs and gradually put them in place, said Provost Lynnette Zelezny.

“We’d like to develop full programs and allow students who live in the South Valley to take their entire baccalaureate at the South Valley location,” Zelezny said.

A student could graduate from College of the Sequoias and obtain a bachelor’s degree at the satellite campus, she said.

It’s undecided which program will be offered, but the top three areas of interest by COS grads are social and behavioral sciences, business and teacher eduction, she said.

Classes will likely be hybrid, meaning a combination of online and face-to-face interaction with professors, she said.

Currently, Fresno State occupies portable buildings at COS and offers some upper division classes via distance learning technology, and a Master in Public Administration degree program.

This story was originally published August 9, 2016 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Fresno State to open Visalia satellite campus."