VENTURA : CSUN President to Visit Local Campus

The new president of Cal State Northridge will pay her first official visit to the university’s satellite campus in Ventura on Wednesday, carrying good news for higher education in Ventura County.

Blenda J. Wilson, 51, the first black and first woman to lead the 29,000-student campus, has been “extremely supportive” of Ventura and its quest for a permanent campus, said Ventura campus Director Joyce M. Kennedy.

“She has a fresh and highly energized vision for Ventura County,” Kennedy said. “She sees an expanded role for the Ventura campus, more of a traditional university role than that of an off-campus center.”

The Ventura campus, which opened in 1974, now serves more than 1,200 students in rented space on the second floor of a west Ventura office building. The campus now offers only upper division and graduate level classes.

After an eight-year quest to buy suitable land in the county for a full, four-year campus, California State University officials are in negotiations to acquire 260 acres west of Camarillo.

But because one of the landowners is unwilling to sell, the university will probably have to condemn the property, a court process that could substantially extend the acquisition time, officials have said.

Wilson, who was appointed to head the 35-year-old Northridge campus in May, will speak at a reception in her honor at the Ventura campus at 2151 Alessandro Drive, Suite 140. Also expected to attend are Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria), Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), Sen.-elect Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura). The public is invited to the reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. For reservations, call 654-4575.