On October 15, 2021, California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) hosted four simultaneous ribbon cuttings, three of which were on major capital project buildings totaling more than $200 million. The grand openings marked the biggest transformation of the campus in more than a decade, and the first additions of brand-new academic facilities in more than 20 years.
Several hundred employees, students, alumni, and community leaders came out to celebrate the growth of campus and tour the new buildings. Prior to the simultaneous ribbon cuttings, which were streamed on monitors at the main speaker platform, tours of the new facilities highlighted the buildings’ cutting-edge technology and thoughtful architectural details, designed to maximize learning and engagement for CSUDH students and the surrounding community.
In the 91,000 square foot Science and Innovation Building ($67.85 million), which houses chemistry, biology, and physics programs, they saw the Toyota Center for Innovation in STEM Education (CISE) at work. The center, created thanks to a $4 million donation from the Toyota USA Foundation, includes a fabrication lab, SMART classrooms, and labs for K-12 teacher demonstrations. CISE students led 3D printing and design workshops for schoolchildren from Point Fermin Elementary and Fleming Middle School, while models by Toro students displayed the creative possibilities afforded by the technology.
Guests also visited the Innovation and Instruction Building ($83.5 million), a 107,600 square foot, four-story structure housing the College of Business Administration and Public Policy. Slated to open for classes in Spring 2022, the building includes a 250-seat auditorium for symposia, collaborative learning classrooms, distance learning spaces, event spaces, and offices.
The 506-bed Student Resident Housing ($55.87 million) complex was also on display. Adorned with eight 47-foot-high murals by L.A. artist iris yirei hu, the colorful site opened in Fall 2021.
Students in the CSUDH Esports Association showed off their skills at the fourth location, near the future site of the Esports Incubator Lab. As part of a strategic partnership with CSUDH, ViewSonic is providing furnishings and technology for the lab, which will be the first to be held in a university library and will include a broadcasting and shoutcasting booth, competition stage, and classroom.
Following the tours, guests heard remarks from university and government representatives, including the CSUDH president, the CSU chancellor, and CSUDH alumnus State Senator Steven Bradford, as well as prerecorded remarks by Congresswoman Nanette Barragan, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and Assemblymember Mike Gipson.
All emphasized CSUDH’s role as an academic powerhouse and a longtime bastion of upward mobility for Los Angeles’ underserved communities.
CSU Chancellor Joseph I. Castro said: “Rising from the ashes of the Watts Uprising, CSU Dominguez Hills was deliberately situated here to help make higher education more accessible to those who had historically been deprived of access, to bring the transformative power of higher education to communities that had long been denied power.
“CSU Dominguez Hills is a worthy and enduring testament to the vision and persistence of the dynamic South Bay community, whose untiring efforts brought this campus into being. I salute your energy and enthusiasm and ask for your continued support and partnership of the campus as it continues to build upon its already impressive legacy.
“These world-class facilities will enhance what is and has long been a vital and vibrant environment of inquiry, discovery and learning.”
CSUDH President Thomas A. Parham thanked the many community partners, sponsors, and university stakeholders who helped to make the massive campus transformation possible, adding:
“With these fantastic new buildings dotting our campus skyline, we do not have to take a back seat to any other school. These state-of-the-art facilities are the culmination of decades of work, but we aren’t done yet. CSUDH will continue to grow and prosper, blossoming into a model urban university that serves its students and its community.”
For more information about the new buildings, visit csudh.edu/transformation.
