1993_09 Insight September 1993

              September 15,1993
Insight/California State University, Fresno
Page 3
Campus flies
on one wing
Old transformer
explodes, causing a
power outage in the
middle of summer.
By David Donnelly	
Staff Writer
After a month delay, the transformer that exploded during Ihe summer at California State University,
Fresno was finally replaced Friday,
Sept 3.
"We were hoping to have it fixed
before toe students arrived back from
vacation," said Bob Boyd, CSUF as-
dstant director of Plant Operations.
The transformer was delayed by
the trip from Korea and a trip through
According to Boyd, the transformer
was tested in front of a representative
from the Office of the Stale Architect
(OSA) Thursday.
"This means powering the transformer up and making sure it doesn't
explode," Boyd said. "It's like a safety
test"
Faculty and staff at CSUF were
asked to conserve energy for toe last
two months by Plant Operations after
the transformer blew June 17.
Director of Plant Operations David
Hernandez said the old transformer
could not handle the summer beat and
eventually exploded.
The power outage disrupted the
campus' power and computers, but
no university computer data was lost
"Wc have a UPS, uninterrupted
power system, that allows us about45
minutes so Ihat we can switch things,
or gear down in that period of time."
Hernandez said.
The transformer explosion had no
effect on the cam pus communications,
said Hernandez.
Electric Motor Shop installeda temporary transformer until toe new one
arrived.
However, that took lime, so CSUF
had to find another way of getting
power immediately.
"What we did originally to get back
on board was we switched,"
Hernandez said. "We have a iwo
feeder supply in all our buildings and
we were able topuiall Ihe feeders in to
the one remaining transformer."
Because of the load that was put on
the one transformer, faculty and staff
were asked to conserve as much energy as ihey could.
The North and South Gyms and Ihc
Speech Arts building had tolive without air conditioning in Ihe afternoons
because of overloading to CSUF's
temporary electrical distribution system. The overloading was caused by
the high summer temperatures.
This also came when the Dan
Gamel Invitational Volleyball tournament took place in the North Gym
Sept 3-4.
A transfomer is used to scale do wn
the amount of voltage that goes
through ihe powerlines at CSUF.
The transformer was a primary
voltage. "A primary voltage is a 12,
000 kv (kilo volts) and this (the transformer) is 400 watts and a 4160 secondary line," Hernandez said. "The
transformer comes off of the main
line which is 4160 and (hen it drops
down to 400 volts and then we split it
from there."
Hernandez said the transformer was
less than four years old and was still
under warranty when it exploded He
said Ihe price of the blown transformer was about $80,000.
Boyd said the warranty was for
four years and that it was rare to have
a warranty that long.
"Usually, Ihe warranty is only a
year," Boyd said.
Gold Star, a Korean company, is
handling the replacement but didn't
have to submit a bid, said Colleen
Bentlcy-Adlcr of the CSUF
Chancellor's Office.
"There was no bid because toe
transformer was still under warranty,"
Bentley-Adler said. "The Office of
the State Architect is handling toe
situation."
Gold Star is a company that makes
electronic products such as video-
cassette recorders (VCRs), radios,
televisions, cassette-recorders, electronic radios and compact-disc players. While Gold Star supplied toe
transformcr.aGoldStarsubcompany,
Continental Transformer, did the installation.
Although the replacement of ihe
old transformer and installation ofthe
new transformer didn't cost toe campus any money, the use and installation of Ihe temporary one will, Boyd
said.
The use of the temporary transformer cost thecampus approximately
$25,000.
"We're reviewing OSA's agreement to see if we can't get any money
back," Boyd said.
Hernandez said there was no way
to fix the blown transformer. "The
windings blew and it was defective."
The two CSUF transformers are
located behind the police building.
"We have our switch gear station
right behind the police department,
which is where all our high voltage
comes into our switch gear station,"
Hernandez said. "PG&E [Pacific Gas
and Electric] supplies us to that point
and from there it's all ours. Then we
distribute it from there." i
The noise of ihe explosion could
be heard through most of Plant Operations. " It sounded like a sonic boom
and, of course, the Lights went out so
1 wentoutand Isawacloudofsmoke,"
Hernandez said.
Students turned
away from classes
STAR registration
snafus frustrate
some students.
By Nancy Hormel	
Staff Writer
CSUF student Kim Diep frantically searched the schedule of courses
booklet to find open classes while she
sat on a bench outside Ihe Kennel
Bookstore.
Diep, a junior and business major,
was able to register for only one class
through STAR registration.
"All the classes I need to lake are
full," Diep said. "I still need to add
three more classes."
Teresa Juarez, a CSUF residence
clerk who has been working registration for over two years, agrees that
some students had problems with registration.
"We've had quite a few people
whose classes were closed. But Ihe
problems this semester are very light
compared to other semesters," Juarez
said.
A power outage occurred with the
STAR system during registration for
the spring 1993 semester, delaying
the process for some students.
According to Minerva Escobedo,
CSUF registrar, 16,262 students registered through STAR and another
941 students participated in late registration as of September 1.
"Enrollment is less than fall 1992,
bull think it was expected," Escobedo
said.
She attributed the declining enrollment to tnc cost of registration and ihe
number of closed classes due to budget cuts.
But Escobedo is pleased with the
outcome of registration and believes
it went smoothly because of new improvements made in toe procedure.
To try and keep student traffic to a
minimum in the Joyal Administration
Building lobby, students seeking to
add or drop classes or get their ID
picture taken were able to do so at
oiher areas of ihe campus.
This semester marked ihe introduction of add/drop tents in front of
the Joyal Administration building.
In addition, student ID pictures,
which used to he taken in Joyal, are
now taken at toe University Student
Union.
But like previous semesters, late
registration took place in Joyal.
"We redirected transaction areas
so the lines will be shorter," Escobedo
said.
B y providing specific areas for different transactions, she said traffic
flows better.
Lorenzo Vega, a social work major, was pleased with the idea of redirecting add/drops to the new tents.
"It's a convenience,"she said. "Instead of waiting in lines for a long
time, it's been really easy."
Jennifer Bakula, a freshman who
participated in late registration, said
although she spent six hours on campus to enroll in four classes, she was
surprised how well the process went
Escobedo said she hoped the redirection of students from Joyal to
other areas of campus would help
lower students' frustration levels. She
«. said she would like to see these new
processes implemented again in the
spring semester.
Ed Building nearly done
Eleven classrooms, 142 computers, 24
teaching labs among new amenities.
By Yuji Terayama	
Staff Writer
The construction of the new $ 115 million Education Building on Shaw
Avenue, west of Maple Avenue, has made great progress over the
summer.
The five-story, 121,214-square-foot building will include 11 classrooms, 142 computers in five labs, 24 leaching labs, a graduate research
lab and 82 single faculty offices. The facility is formed by two connected
buildings.
The east wing, a four-story reddish-brown, concrete building, will be
mainly offices and graduate studies.
The west wing, a two-story white building of structural steel, will hold
classrooms on the second floor, a nursery lab in Ihe first floor, and a
playground outside.
All structural work has been completed and the workers from R.
Pedersen & Sons are working inside the building.
"We are on schedule and, hopefully, we will finish all work by early
January," said Brian Roberts, a field engineer. "Most of the west wing is
completed and we are setting windows on the east wing."
The winter rain delayed construction and the completion date has been
reset to early January 1994.
The entire School of Education and the Division of Extended Education will move into Ihe facility. Both are very excited about it
"It is going to be a high-tech modem facility and I think one of the best
in the country," said Robert Monke, associate dean of the School of
Education.
"The whole building is designed to help us work, I would say, more
cooperatively with the school districts and agencies in the area and
promoting quality education programs," Monke said.
With the new facility, toe students in the School of Education, currently
housed in the Education-Psychology Building, will be able to experience
how theories ihcy have learned in class will work in real life through
practices in new laboratories.
Monke said the school will establish several new programs for the
public as well as the students. It will have clinics and counseling offices
open to the local community.
The new facility will include the Early Learning Program in the first
floor of the west wing. The program focuses on how to work with preschool aged children through observations of the children.
The program will not be a child care center because the base of the
program will be toe demand of the classes, Monke said. However, it
wiU hold as many as 150 children every day and a good number of them
will be children of the students enrolled at CSUF, he said.
The Division of Extended Education will move into the first floor of
the east wing. It has been located in San Ramon 3.
"We and the Division of Extended Education are really quite excited
about the upcoming move to the building," said Audrey Springs
Anderson, dean of the Division of Extended Education.
"We clearly need more space and a better facility. I think it will help
us in terms of admissions in interacting with the community, working
wiih the public."
Also, the location of the facility will help the division, she said.
Because it is near major streets and parking spaces, the community will
have easy access to the division.
In these days, it takes time and complicated official work to build
permanent facilities like the new Education Building.
* mysicaiiy whai wc do is wc look at enroiimem ihruugituu; u»c
campus — who has the biggest gap between enrollment and capacity,"
said Susan Aldrich, director of facility planning. "And the School of
Education basically came top of the list"
The idea of a new Education Building had been around for many
years. The first funding for toe building was made in 1989. With toe
help of revenue bonds from the state, construction was started in April
1992.
Designing of the building took two years to complete.
According to Martin Dictz, vice president of Darden Edwin Associates, designers of toe project, the triangle shape of the east wing will
create open space in front of the building.
The diagonal lineof the building will create easy access to the Joyal
Building and keep a balance with ihe new Humanities Building, which
See Education, page 8
Faculty retirees receive free
campus parking permits
By Mohammad Baddar
Staff Writer
Two hundred and fifty free parking
permits valued at aboul $36,000 were
given away by CSUF this year.
Free parking stickers are a lifetime
benefit for CSUF retirees over 50
who have worked here at least five
years.
Free permits are also given to advisory board members in every one of
the eight schools, according to Ed
Mastropoalo, CSUF Administrative
Services supervisor.
"There is a number on each of the
restricted permits the retirees get"
said Mastropoalo, "and that guarantees only people granted those permits will be able to use them."
The CSUF faculty handbook lists
Ihe courtesy parking decals among
seven benefits available to faculty
and staff upon retirement
"People who resign or get fired
will not get this benefit" Ma-siropoalo
said. 'Tree parking is a special privilege for retirees only."
To monitor Ihe number of decals
given out, the university sends letters
to eligible dcodIc. whose names are
provided by the benefits office, and
ask that they come to campus and pick
up their permits, he said.
"We encourage faculty members
to come back and donate services to
the university," he said. "They have
years of experience."
There are no restrictions to what
the retired employees can do on campus, but the majority come back to
provide services for the university, he
said.
He also said people who complain
about this issue have no grounds because there are many parking lots on
campus, some of ihem hardly ever
used In addition, many of those permits are used at night
Many of the retired faculty come
back for meetings or to visit colleagues, Mastropoalo said, adding mat
advisory board members usually park
during meetings only.
If a guest speaker were to come to
campus, he or she will be granted a
limited permit which would specify
the length they are allowed to park
for, he said.
Mastropoalo said even though 250
perm its, which wouldcostS144 each,
were given out this year, we have to
ask ourselves how many are being
used at the same time. That does not
create a parking problem for teachers
or studcnLs.
"We get more out of them than
they get out of us," he said about
retired professors.
"We appreciate them coming back
here to offer services to the university," he said, "without getting paid
for them."
A retired technician who worked at
the instructional media center, Milton
Johnson, comes back during Vintage
Days every year to cook pancakes
from 6 am. to noon.
"I helped start this event in 1975
and have been out there ever since,"
Johnson said.
Johnson, who worked at CSUF for
10 years and has been retired for the
last 10 years, said employees should
receive such a privilege.
He uses his permit three times a
month to visit people on campus and
use the Agriculture Department
Werner Lywcn, a retired music
professor for 18 years, said he uses his
free permit occasionally. He picks it
up every year and likes it because it
allows him to attend meetings and
theater events and socialize with
friends.
Andrew Rippey, a retired education professor for the last 19 years,
said he misses spending time on campus. "I am warmly attached to the
institution," he said. He taught at
CSUF for 28 years.
"1 appreciate the parking permit"
Rippey said. He visits the campus
three times a month. He also visits the
library and the School of Education,
but docs no research
Rippey also attends toe quarterly
emeritus meetings. Those meetings
are held regularly for retirees.
He used to rehearse with his band
at CSUF. Since they built toe new
music building, he said, the band had
to rehearse elsewhere.
A former professor of agriculture,
Jesse Bell, still has office space on
campus after being retired for 10 years,
according to his wife.
He uses his permit once a month
and thinks it is a great convenience. It
allows him to attend theater production and other on-campus activities,
she said.
Dirk Van der Elst a retired profes
sor for two years from toe Anthropology Department said he only visits
the campus to pick up his mail. "I do
not use toe staff parking," he said, "I
just use the loading zone for 10 minutes."
Van der Elst who worked at CSUF
for 22 years, said he is donating 2,000
books to toe Anthropology Department He does not use toe library.
"Some people live in the library. For
them, it is necessary to have this permit," he said.
Many students did not know about
this privilege retired employees of
CSUF get
Johanna Callahan, an English student said the issue does not bother
her as long as retirees are restricted to
faculty parking. "They already have
toe best parking spots on campus."
she said.
"People who resign or get fired
will not get this
benefit. Free
parking is a special privilege for
retirees only."
-Ed Mastropoalo
"I think it is a great idea," said
Callahan. 'Those pcoplcdcscrvc benefits such as that I would like to park
for free if I were a retired professor."
Kirk Waldo said alumni should gei
if ihey went to
school for over five years. "They contributed 30 percentof their income for
tuition," he said.
"I think toe school treats its students badly and this is one more perk
faculty get from school," Waldo said.
He does not toink retirees should have
this privilege unless they offer beneficial services to the campus.
Samir Odch, an international business student, said, "As long as they
come back to serve the school, ihey
should be granted this privilege."
Aznivc Tchapadarian, a mechanical engineering student said there are
not enough parking spaces on this
campus as it is.
"Retirees who do not use this benefit to do something constructive for
school," she said, "should be required
to pay for their parking."
"They should not have free parking to come visit their friends and use
toe facilities for their own benefit,"
Tchapadarian said.
Aris Hadjipanayi, a sports and nutrition senior, had a unique view.
"Current faculty members should
be granted free parking also," he said.
He also said retired professors
should get free parking whether they
donate services to school or not
Scott Asmar agrees that retired
employees of CSUF should get free
parking.
Asmar, a graduate student in education and counseling, points out that
to get this privilege, faculty and staff
should work for 10 years rather than
five.
"I do not think it takes away from
my space," Asmar said. "If there was
a limit io how many stickers are sold,
then it would make a difference."
Asmar said since buying a permit
docs not guarantee him a space anyway, why should he care.
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