Sacramento State faces a number of changes and challenges this year, including the construction of new facilities, a change in campus leadership positions and revisions of how the university goes about enrollment and retention rates, President Alexander Gonzalez said Thursday at his annual fall address.

Parking challenges will be more difficult this semester, Gonzalez said. The challenges are a result of the continuing construction of Parking Structure III, slated to open in spring, and the new bookstore, scheduled to be done by summer, as well as updates on the campus’ pipelines.

In addition, the Spanos Sports and Recreation Complex project is underway. Phase one began on Aug. 24 with the groundbreaking of the campus’ new athletic facility ?” the Broad Athletic Facility, estimated to cost about $11 million.

On top of physical renovations, Sac State has filled four leadership positions on campus.

Joseph Sheley, who served as executive vice president for 2005-06, was named interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.

Otis Scott, after serving as the acting dean for the College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, has been appointed as the college’s dean.

Emir Jose Macari was named dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Macari joins the university from the University of Texas, Brownsville, where he served as the dean of the College of Science, Mathematics and Technology.

Vanessa Sheared has been chosen as dean of the College of Education. Sheared served as associate dean of the College of Education at San Francisco State.

Although Gonzalez discussed the changes happening on campus, his address focused more on the university’s challenges.

Gonzalez said Sac State’s biggest challenge is a declining public budget amid more demands for student services ?” particularly those dealing with technology.

The campus president said he discovered these student needs in a meeting he had with orientation leaders earlier this summer.

“Our students expect us to provide them with more information and more services. They want us to meet them where they are, including on the Web. They want and expect us to offer them the latest in technology.”

The biggest technological need for students is to have wireless access throughout campus, he said.

“They don’t understand why they can get something like wireless access at a coffeehouse but not on all parts of our campus,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said students also want to see more classes being offered and being offered in various ways due to their busy lives.

Students also want longer office hours and better advising.

The focus of providing these student needs came from studying the campus’ enrollment rates, Gonzalez said.

Enrollment, he said, seems to be “flat once again” ?” a trend that has been continuing for years.

Continuing student rates has also declined about 2 percent, with a number of those students being freshmen and sophomores.

“The largest number of students leaving the university is comprised of freshmen and sophomores. Clearly, this is an issue we must address and reverse,” Gonzalez said.

“Our campus’ student retention rate isn’t nearly as good as it should be.”

To fix this issue, Gonzalez is depending on the leadership of Sheley, and Vice President for Student Affairs Lori Varlotta and the support of the community.

Although there are many challenges ahead, Gonzalez ensures that he is keeping his head in the game to make Sac State a premier metropolitan campus and destination campus for the west ?” the main goal of the campus’ initiative “Destination 2010.”

“If we tackle these issues of enrollment, budget and planning, we can gain control over our own destiny,” Gonzalez said.

Nika Megino can be reached at [email protected]