University President Leroy Morishita announced the possibility of a new staff and faculty housing building to be built on campus in a Faculty Senate meeting last month.
Based on his proposal, the residences would be constructed behind Pioneer Heights. The plan is not certain and there is no set date for when construction for this project would begin, or when it would be expected to finish.
In an interview with Vice President of University Advancement, Bill Johnson, he explained that exploring faculty and staff housing would attract higher quality professors for our campus.
Currently, many faculty and staff are commuting from places like Sacramento or Tracy because the cost of living in the Bay Area is so expensive. Not only would the prices be more ideal for faculty and staff, but the plan would create a higher sense of community because faculty and staff would live here, says Johnson.
“You’re more ingrained in the university life, you’re more ingrained in the university community, and the campus is better off like that,” he said.
Knowing that the cost of living will continue to escalate, Johnson and his team are trying to hire more professors from outside of the Bay Area.
“Many of the CSU campuses struggle with attracting good faculty and staff because of the housing situation, especially in the Bay Area,” said Vice President of Administration and Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Debbie Chaw. “So one of the ways that we can help attract faculty and staff is if we have our own campus housing.”