Fall Term Starts at San Bernardino Valley College

San Bernardino Valley College started its Fall 2014 semester on Tuesday, Aug. 19. While a final official count of students won’t be known for several weeks yet, over 12,000 students have enrolled for one or more classes so far, and late enrollments are expected to push that higher. This total compares with the official final tally of 11,752 for the fall term 2013. Students now have a total of 14 associate degrees for transfer from which to choose as majors. These degrees include a lineup of courses that have already been approved for transfer credit to the CSU system. Assuming that a student is admitted to the CSU, she will get credit for all her courses completed satisfactorily at SBVC. In a presentation to faculty and staff on monday, the day before classes started, Interim President Dr. Gloria Fisher pointed out that over 500 students successfully transferred to CSU universities from the class of 2013, a significant increase from the average of around 330 of the past several years. As has been the case for the past 13 years, students will need to cope with fenced-off areas of the campus where new construction is now underway. Work has begun on a multimillion-dollar athletics complex, along with improvements to the athletic fields and grandstands. The existing gyms remain open for use and will not be demolished until the new gyms are open, which is expected in 2016. After a year of being closed for renovations, the campus’s landmark Auditorium, which originally opened in 1937, has now reopened. The facility has been extensively renovated and brought up to code to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Auditorium will be the venue for an Aug. 28 early evening FREE jazz concert by renowned flautist Galen Abdur-Razzzaq.