A new Sacramento City College facility has opened at the UC Davis campus, making it the first community college located on a UC campus. The 20,000 square foot building features modern architecture with large windows and open spaces. It is located in the West Village area of the UC Davis campus, a zero-net-energy neighborhood. Officials believe being located on the UC Davis campus will expose the 2,000 Sacramento City College students to research and opportunities at a major university while still providing affordable tuition and small class sizes.

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New Sacramento City College
facility debuts at UC Davis
hsangree@sacbee.com
Published Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012
A Sacramento City College center in Davis that is the first community college on a University
of California campus is set to open its doors to students on Saturday.
College officials held an opening celebration Wednesday for the center's angular, modern
building, with its two-story walls of glass and 20,000 square feet of sleek, sunlit interiors.
The college moved from its former quarters – a low, dark office complex in south Davis less
than half the size – to a new area of the UC Davis campus called West Village, on the west
side of Highway 113.
The complex of student apartments and faculty housing surrounded by farmland is the
largest zero-net-energy neighborhood in the United States. Planners say it will use no more
energy than it produces through a combination of solar power and energy-saving design.
While community college officials are proud of their inclusion in the ultra-green
neighborhood, they say the bigger point is that the satellite campus is located in the midst of
a major research university.
The proximity will expose students to their peers and faculty at UC Davis and gives them
chances to observe and get involved, said Donald Palm, dean of the Davis Center of
Sacramento City College, part of the Los Rios Community College District.
"By being here on campus, in a world of people engaged in UC Davis activities, it will give
our students a better understanding of the array of hurdles and opportunities before them,"
Palm said.
The center's 2,000 students mainly grew up within driving distance of campus, he said. Their
hometowns include Davis, Dixon, Vacaville and West Sacramento.
Low cost – about $1,000 a year for full-time tuition – along with small classes and dedicated
teachers are among the benefits of the small college, he said.
The goal, the dean said, is to prepare students, many of whom are still struggling to find
their way in higher education, for transfer to a four-year institution.
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2. New Sacramento City College facility debuts at UC Davis - Sacramento News - Local an... Page 2 of 2
"One of our biggest roles is helping our students understand they can get ahead," Palm said.
The new facility should help.
It boasts large airy classrooms that can be reconfigured to hold an art history class in the
morning and a physical education class in the afternoon. There's a shop with an automotive
bay and an art classroom with two stories of glass facing a northern exposure, with its cool
even light.
A Los Rios Community College District bond approved by voters in 2002 paid for the center's
$7.4 million construction costs.
A free bus takes students to the nearby main campus. For a nominal fee, the community
college students can use the UC Davis gym and library. They can sit in on research
presentations, and a plan is being worked out to allow the students to work with the UC
Davis Energy Efficiency Center, which will be headquartered in West Village, the dean said.
"We've already immersed them in the atmosphere of UC Davis," Palm said. "Being in the
culture will ease their transition and tickle their imaginations."
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