Spring Break
Placer County officials to visit
Ali Qari
Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: News
Three officials from Placer County, Calif., where Drexel is considering building a satellite campus, will come to the University City campus Feb. 11 and Feb. 12.
The visit from County Supervisors Rocky Rockholm, Robert Weygandt and Jim Holmes will come following Placer County Chief Executive Officer Tom Miller's visit to Drexel in late January.
"We just want to see the campus and how things work. Everything I've seen so far has been very impressive," Rockholm said.
The visits reciprocate an earlier visit to Placer County from a delegation of 40 Drexel administrators and staff members, according to Niki Gianakaris, a University spokeswoman.
"They have obviously heard a lot about Drexel and are excited about what they have heard, so we intend to show them why Drexel's such an exciting place," Tobey Oxholm, executive vice president and chief of staff at Drexel, said.
According to Oxholm, the University hopes to showcase things like the culinary arts program by having dinner with the Placer County officials in the Academic Bistro. There are also tentative plans to tour the University's athletic facilities, review new building plans, and see the Center for Civic Engagement and Honors College, among other activities.
The California officials will make their stop in Philadelphia and Drexel en route to their annual trip to Washington D.C., having dinner in Philadelphia on Feb. 11 and spending the majority of Feb. 12 around Drexel's campus.
Drexel's urban location is a contrast to Placer County, which is roughly 15 miles from Sacramento, the nearest big city.
"It's a lot more rural," Rockholm said. "[The proposed site of the university] was farmland once."
Of the 1,100 acre site that was donated to bring a private university to Placer County, roughly 560 acres would be developed into a community surrounding the university.
"I see it more retail. There will probably be some commercial offices, there will be some housing and residential," Rockholm said. "It will kind of be a city into itself, so you'll have the economy self-sustaining. It will help support the University but it will also help support itself, in the fact that it will draw people in there."
According to multiple University officials, there is no timeline for when they will make a decision to open a Drexel campus in Placer County, but Vice President of University Relations Phil Terranova told the Auburn Journal that progress is being made to finish an "exhaustive" feasibility study.
The visit from County Supervisors Rocky Rockholm, Robert Weygandt and Jim Holmes will come following Placer County Chief Executive Officer Tom Miller's visit to Drexel in late January.
"We just want to see the campus and how things work. Everything I've seen so far has been very impressive," Rockholm said.
The visits reciprocate an earlier visit to Placer County from a delegation of 40 Drexel administrators and staff members, according to Niki Gianakaris, a University spokeswoman.
"They have obviously heard a lot about Drexel and are excited about what they have heard, so we intend to show them why Drexel's such an exciting place," Tobey Oxholm, executive vice president and chief of staff at Drexel, said.
According to Oxholm, the University hopes to showcase things like the culinary arts program by having dinner with the Placer County officials in the Academic Bistro. There are also tentative plans to tour the University's athletic facilities, review new building plans, and see the Center for Civic Engagement and Honors College, among other activities.
The California officials will make their stop in Philadelphia and Drexel en route to their annual trip to Washington D.C., having dinner in Philadelphia on Feb. 11 and spending the majority of Feb. 12 around Drexel's campus.
Drexel's urban location is a contrast to Placer County, which is roughly 15 miles from Sacramento, the nearest big city.
"It's a lot more rural," Rockholm said. "[The proposed site of the university] was farmland once."
Of the 1,100 acre site that was donated to bring a private university to Placer County, roughly 560 acres would be developed into a community surrounding the university.
"I see it more retail. There will probably be some commercial offices, there will be some housing and residential," Rockholm said. "It will kind of be a city into itself, so you'll have the economy self-sustaining. It will help support the University but it will also help support itself, in the fact that it will draw people in there."
According to multiple University officials, there is no timeline for when they will make a decision to open a Drexel campus in Placer County, but Vice President of University Relations Phil Terranova told the Auburn Journal that progress is being made to finish an "exhaustive" feasibility study.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Mike
posted 2/01/08 @ 9:35 AM EST
Read between the lines. The housing market in Sacramento is in the toilet.
What better way for a developer to create more business than "donate" land
to a university, then cash in by developing around it. (Continued…)
Andy
posted 2/03/08 @ 3:35 AM EST
I'm gonna have to agree with Mike on this one! How can you open another campus when the one you already have is less than perfect?!
I don't really see that campus being very profitable since it's in a very rural area. (Continued…)
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