Remarks by Dr. Timothy P. White
Chancellor, California State University
CSUDH Transportation Roundtable
Carson, CA
July 30, 2017
Thank you, President Hagan, for hosting us all today.
Thank you, Senator Bradford, Pro-Tem De Leon and Assembly Member Burke for all of the hard work that you, your colleagues and staff have done to support the CSU… in the budget and elsewhere.
Thank you, Secretary Kelly, for the collaborations that you and your agency foster between CSU campuses and the communities we serve.
And thank you, Governor Brown, for your leadership and steadfast support for the CSU and its students, faculty and staff… and for furthering the still-revolutionary legacy of public higher education in California.
On the topic of legacies…
Willie, I’m so glad you brought up the history of Cal State Dominguez Hills… and the forward-thinking decision by Governor Pat Brown to place a public university here.
Pat Brown understood the historical, social, racial and economic threads that weave all Californians together… and he knew… six decades ago… that we are only truly successful when every community in this state has
equitable access to opportunity in education and enterprise… leading to
success.
Looking forward, out to the horizon… setting a vision for the future and then blazing a trail toward said vision is a trait that all Californians share.
The
American Dream is at its best when coupled with the
Californian Spirit… a spirit that embraces hard work and diversity, education and excellence… with a penchant for revolutionary and innovative ideas.
Indeed, the
Californian Spirit is what we need today to solve our transportation challenges.
There’s no doubt that the backlog for transportation infrastructure is massive… and it’s holding us back from even greater prosperity, equity and opportunity.
At the same time, we need to make sure that we’re not just repairing existing infrastructure… but also building for the economic and societal needs of the future.
And I believe that the CSU and its 23 campuses… perhaps the most diverse system of its kind in the world… is ready to devise, develop, test and build California’s next generation transit solutions.
From towns in the Central Valley like Chico and Bakersfield to metropolitan centers like Long Beach and San Jose… and all points in between… Our campuses are already serving as test beds for innovation.
And with their combined centuries-worth of experience and expertise in transportation infrastructure, all 23 are well positioned at the nexus of
affordability, accessibility and
sustainability to help lead our state into the future of mobility.
Affordability… keeping costs as low as possible for the university, the community and the individual.
Accessibility… ensuring that transportation options – from light rail to shuttles to bike share – are placed where students can utilize them easily, quickly and safely.
And I’m happy to say that every CSU campus is utilizing many transportation options, with many more planned…
Lastly,
sustainability… making sure that our project and partnership visions are consistent with our commitments as a state and as the CSU, like the
We Are Still In pact.
Certainly, innovation is our common thread that holds the nexus of affordability, accessibility and sustainability together for the CSU.
Cal State Los Angeles, for example, is tackling the problem of air pollution and traffic by being one of the first universities to partner with LA Metro to provide heavily discounted TAP cards for students, allowing them to utilize the county’s increasingly extensive light rail and bus systems...
And Cal State LA is also a global leader in hydrogen fuel cell research and deployment through its groundbreaking
H2 Station.
At our San Diego, East Bay, San Francisco and Sacramento campuses… light rail stations have been built at or adjacent to campus… leading a train that other universities, like USC and UCLA, are now boarding to increase mobility and decrease miles driven by car.
And right here at Dominguez Hills, six new EV charging stations have been installed... with infrastructure for 14 more in the future. This campus knows that electric vehicles – powered by California’s robust solar and wind energy production – will continue as part of our transportation and energy future.
At the CSU, we believe that our state’s greatest infrastructure and transportation challenges will be solved by the state’s greatest asset… an education population.
Governor Brown… the CSU is here to research, to innovate, to design and to help lead California’s transportation infrastructure into the future.
We are ready to go.
Thank you.