Sacramento State and the city of Roseville are in the process of bringing higher education and new career opportunities to students and alumni.

President Alexander Gonzalez on behalf of Sac State and the city of Roseville established a formal partnership with the signing of a memorandum of understanding.

The signing also included Roseville Mayor Pauline Roccucci and City Manager Ray Kerridge.

“For years we have been looking at a partnership with the city of Roseville where higher public education would be the focal point,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said approximately 2,000 students drive down from Roseville to go to school and it is the second largest population of Sac State students.

The memorandum of understanding creates steps to bringing higher education and more economic opportunities to the city of Roseville by matching programs and services with Sac State.

“The memorandum of understanding is a formal tool to establish communication between city and university,” said Mike Isom, senior planner for the city of Roseville.

Isom said through working with the university and providing higher education to students, curriculum can be created for certain talent pools for specific lines of work.

“We are in the business of producing the richest workforce … highly trained, ready to get to the jobs and do the things they need to do,” Gonzalez said.

Isom said with Roseville’s population growing, there is a need for more service and career opportunities through healthcare, education and financial services.

“We have an untapped market and the population has doubled over the past 15 years,” Isom said.

Isom said there are college campuses in Roseville such as William Jessup University and Sierra College but there are not any public universities in the city.

“There is a need here in South Placer County, Roseville and Sac State is stepping into fill that void and I applaud them for that,” Isom said.

Kerridge said by working with Sac State, the two can identify shared interests and opportunities within the two parties and communities.

“Sac State has its number of strengths; it has its academic strengths and the research strengths and Roseville has a reputation for getting things done,” Kerridge said.

Elisha Angrisani can be reached at [email protected].