Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez reinforced his commitment to Destination 2010, including a pledge to prepare more of California’s college students for teaching careers in mathematics and science, during his Aug. 25 fall address, .

“I am fully committed to a new initiative underway to increase our participation in so-called STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math),” Gonzalez said. “We’ve received $500,000 in federal funding for a planned Science and Space Center. We’re hoping Congress will provide an additional $1 million for fiscal year 2006.”

Destination 2010 includes various projects like the Recreation, Wellness and Events Center, on campus housing for as many as 5,000 students and a proposed STEM initiative. These projects are part of a goal to make Sac State “a destination campus for the West and a flagship of the California State University System,” Gonzalez said.

And part of Destination 2010 is to turn out top-notch educators in STEM areas, something Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is also pressing.

In May, the governor asked California’s two public university systems, CSU and University of California, to work together to prepare teachers in areas that the state’s K-12 students have fallen behind in. –

“If California is to be a leader in tomorrow’s economy, we need to put more emphasis on science and math instruction,” Schwarzenegger said. “The science and math initiative will expand the efforts of our UC and CSU systems, with the goal of graduating at least four times as many new science and math teachers by the year 2010.”-

Within the CSU system during the 2002-03 school year, 12,798 potential teachers graduated.-

Only 1,466 ?” less than 7 percent ?” went into math and science, according to the CSU system Web site.-

While the governor has allocated $1 million to assist California’s colleges and universities to excel in STEM areas, Gonzalez is optimistic about the future of those areas at Sac State.-

“Sacramento State is a place of opportunity, where students get the education they need to be leaders in their fields and leaders in their communities,” he said. “Planning efforts are underway to provide a clearer plan for campus technology, reaffirm our commitment to educational equity and enhance our sponsored research activity.” —

Tom Landerholm, assistant professor in the department of biological sciences, is leading the effort to create a strategic plan for the future of STEM on the capital campus.

Landerholm met with a small committee Aug. 31 and is expected to provide a full statement with specifics on the program this week, said Ric Brown, provost and vice president for academic affairs. –

The 2005-06 Sac State budget includes funding to help meet the state’s shortage in nurses and K-12 math and science teachers.-Senior Christine de Leon, a nursing major, said she is hopeful of what new funding could do in her program.-

“I think increasing the funds will be a great help to the nursing department,” de Leon said.-“They can definitely use the funding to hire more instructors, both for lecture and for clinical, and they could possibly accept more students each semester.”-

While nursing students are automatically signed up for their classes each semester, an increase in instructors could allow for the acceptance of more students where seats are currently limited, de Leon said. –

And while the STEM initiative is one facet of the proposed changes that are scheduled for completion by 2010, Gonzalez is focused on the project as a whole. –

“The year ahead promises to be a busy one,” he said. “The specific goals of our Destination 2010 initiative will remain our priorities.”

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Lora Simmons can be reached at [email protected]