Source: Daily Breeze
Students living on campus at Cal State Dominguez Hills now have access to meals three times a day, seven days a week at the university’s first residential dining hall.
The new Dining Commons are part of a $231.5 million campus expansion, which the university celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 29.
Thursday’s event celebrated the opening of five new buildings and facilities, including a Health, Wellness and Recreation Center; a freshmen-only, low-income-designated Student Residence Hall; the Dining Commons; an Orthotics and Prosthetics Science and Technology Hub; and an electrical switchyard and more than 200 electric vehicle charging stations.
Those who attended Thursday’s celebration also toured the new spaces all afternoon during an open house, receiving goodie bags of toiletries, cold/hot compresses and other items related to the building they visited. The Dining Commons even served free food, giving guests a taste of what students can experience there.
Historically considered a commuter school, the new additions are intended to transform CSUDH into a more residential college life experience.
State Sen. Laura Richardson, whose district includes Carson, said Thursday that the college’s leaders have brought the campus from what some incoming students may have seen as an afterthought to now a first option.
“This campus was one that people said, ‘There’s no place to live, there’s not a lot of places to eat; that’s, like, my last choice,’” Richardson said. “You’ve taken this university to be a university of choice.”
Students, faculty and guests stepped into the Health, Wellness and Recreation Center for the first time on Thursday for that building’s grand opening. The 82,000 square-foot facility boasts courts for basketball and other indoor activities, a running track, fitness and training rooms, a pool, massage and light therapy stations, and other amenities. And, officials said, it was entirely student-driven, designed, named and funded.
“It reflects the needs and aspirations of our students,” said Tiffany Herbert, interim vice president for student affairs at CSUDH. “They weren’t building something for themselves, but those who come after them; that’s the true meaning of legacy.”
The HWRC also includes a satellite psychological services and mental health center, a satellite student health center, a healthy eating and nutritional counseling center, and a stress-reduction and relaxation room.
The courtyard outside of that center is named the Gil Smith Memorial Plaza, dedicated to the Carson’s first mayor, who helped create this Cal State University campus.
Smith’s widow, Shirley Smith, said Thursday that she is both joyful and comforted that her husband learned of the then-upcoming honor before his death in November 2024. The recognition meant a great deal to him, she said, especially that future generations of CSUDH students would enjoy the open air gathering space.
“His commitment to and love for this campus spanned more than six decades,” Smith, a community advocate and philanthropist, said at the ceremony. “In the 1960s, Gil was among the first to recognize the potential of what many saw as an abandoned (agricultural and industrial area).”
At the time, the Palos Verdes Peninsula was considered the ideal site for a new CSU campus, but Gil Smith led the effort to establish the campus in what would become the city of Carson.
“More than 60 years later, you can look around and appreciate just how right Gil was,” his widow said. “From the very first day he stepped foot on this unlikely landscape, he was committed to the institution.”
Officials also unveiled a statue of a Toro, the school’s mascot, in the center of the Gil Smith Memorial Plaza on Thursday.
“As the years pass, I believe in many ways, (Gil Smith’s) presence will remain here,” Shirley Smith said, “his voice will continue to be heard and his heart will continue to beat within this university for generations to come.”
The freshman-serving residence hall, meanwhile, is four stories, with a mix of single, double and triple rooms. The building can house up to 288 students, and includes a lounge, multipurpose room, living room, laundry room, communal bathrooms and a courtyard. In August, 200 students moved into the residence hall.
The Dining Commons, which opened in August, offers eight food stations, and has indoor and outdoor seating for more than 350 people. Before, there were on-campus food options like grab-and-go cafes, said residential life coordinator Daryl Robinson, but this is CSUDH’s first formal residential dining hall.
Those living in the new residence hall are required to have meal plans.
The Orthotics and Prosthetics Science and Technology Hub, which opened in the spring, brought CSUDH’s orthotics and prosthetics master’s degree program back to the main campus from a Los Alamitos location. The lab includes a student makerspace, plaster room, staging area, machine room and a CAD-Mechatronics room where students can 3D print prosthetics and other medical devices.
It’s also expected to be an equipment and repair space for the LA28 Paralympics games, according to the school’s website.
The Southern California Edison electrical switchyard, meanwhile, is made to conserve energy through electric heating and more. The 203 new EV chargers makes CSUDH the CSU campus with the most EV chargers to date, officials said.
Amid the celebration, however, members of the California Faculty Association protested on the sidelines as part of “Cost of Living is a Nightmare” rallies happening statewide as the CSU faculty union prepares to potentially vote to strike for higher pay.
The CFA is fighting for fair wages, as well as protections against artificial intelligence replacing counselors and other faculty, said Paul Fornelli, who is part of the communications faculty at CSUDH, as well as co-president and lecturers chair for the university’s CFA chapter. The union is currently in the middle of collective bargaining for a higher minimum base salary, among other proposals; the previous agreement expired in 2024, Fornelli said.
Professors are happy about students’ new facilities, Fornelli said, but the faculty members who teach them need support too.
