The Imperial Valley campus of San Diego State University is seldom put into the spotlight but it is an essential part of that counties education structure. For one thing the campus is the only four-year public university in Imperial County. SDSU Imperial Valley is already working to help the county with the many challenges they face but there are those that leads it can do more and one of them joins us now. The newly appointed dean of the Imperial Valley count -- campus Gregorio Ponce. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. You have been interim Dean for some time. Can you give us some idea of what it is like. How does Imperial Valley comparative the San Diego state campus in San Diego. It is a small campus we have about 1000 students present and we are able to provide a very small fuel to the experience for our students and we also get a lot of chances for our faculty and staff and students to interact with each other. I was surprised to learn at your campus is the only public four-year university in Imperial Valley. Are there many two your colleges that feed into the University. Noticed Imperial Valley College which has in their for about the same time maybe a little longer. Do you start your programs with freshman. Did they go through all the four years there? We have four venues of San Diego state Imperial Valley. One is through a partnership or students start their and the college together for the first two years and then they finish the last two years with us. This is called the IV U.P. program. We also have transfer students to go to the community college directly and then come to our campus. We are also available to help people who have already received bachelor's degrees in want to do graduate work or conventional programs. We're looking to see how we can start full four-year experience for students in Imperial County. Let's talk about the challenges for students to serve. Imperial County is known for high rates of unemployment and lower incomes. Are in -- many of the students at the school the first minute, to go to college? Many of them are either there to help them transition to the university life because of the small size Is that how the school works to keep the students going for that degree? We provided another option for the student population whether graduating from high school or community college if they do not want to leave -- living in Imperial County want to make sure that we can continue their education. Parties see the role of the Imperial Valley campus. DC higher education the to the economic development of the County works It is crucial to the economic development of the Imperial County. We are trying to see how we can better work with our business sectors or public sector or alumni as we need to find a way to help them as a whole move forward and higher education is one way to do that. In an effort to match education with opportunities to you think your degree programs to the kinds of jobs that are most available? We have some programs that are directly matched to Imperial County. We have a nursing program which is a bachelors and we also have a Masters of social work available to the criminal justice that first-degree and we are trying to establish new programs like a general business major to find ways to better support the economic development I know you have some big plans for your campus in terms of trying to recruit students and expand the programs that you have to offer. Can you tell us about some of that. They have been there over 50 years and the size does not reflect the amount of time that we have been there so over the last year and a half we have started a marketing campaign and we want to be sure that residents know that we are an option for a four-year degree and we are also at this point shifting our focus to seeing how we can reconnect with San Diego state in Imperial Valley. We are looking to see how we can connect with our alumni. We have many alumni who are still in Imperial County and we are also seeing how we can develop different partnerships. What are some of the programs you are looking to add.'s We are looking at a general business major. We think that is a high priority in our conversations that the community in Imperial County of the last year and a half that has been one of the top majors requested. Trying to see how we can establish a program to we will be looking for financial support from Imperial County agencies as well so we can start the program and establish it which takes 3 to 5 years. Have you see the campus growing as Dean under your 10 year. We will be able to provide more horses and offerings to our students were looking to see how we can examine international programs that we have available so students who choose to stay in the Valley and finish the education have an option to travel abroad and study abroad with the professors and see what else is out there. Now you are a native of Imperial Valley. What affect do you think that has on the way you approach your job as Dean? Being born and raised in Imperial County I think people feel more comfortable sharing with me the aspirations and the issues that they are facing and the ideas that they have so we can better serve them and we are looking forward to be of service to Imperial County. I've been speaking with Gregorio Ponce the Dean of the San Diego state University's Imperial campus. Thank you very much. Coming up on a partyline vote the San Diego city Council defeats term limits for school board members. It is 12 back 20 and you are listening to KPBS midday edition.
Gregorio Ponce was named the dean of San Diego State University-Imperial Valley earlier this month.
Ponce served as the interim dean since Oct. 1, 2015. Previously, he taught at both the SDSU-IV campus and the county's community college, Imperial Valley College. He has his bachelor's and master's in applied mathematics and a doctoral degree in education leadership. He is originally from Calexico.
"Being born and raised in Imperial County, I think gives people an opportunity to feel a little more comfortable sharing with me their aspirations, the issues they're facing and the ideas that they have, so that we can better serve them," Ponce said.
San Diego State University-Imperial Valley is the only public four-year university in Imperial County. The campus has about 1,000 students.
Ponce said the campus has a large role in the economic development of Imperial County. The county has high unemployment and poverty rates.
Ponce joins Midday Edition on Tuesday to talk about the importance of the campus to the community and his plans for the campus.
