Fresno State president Jiménez-Sandoval debuts new meet-and-greet booth

Fresno State students, faculty, and Victor E all came out for the unveiling of President Jimenez Sandavol’s new booth next to the free speech area. As the new sign went up, students lined up to shake Jimenez-Sandoval’s hand and say hello.

“There needs to be a moment in which we have space where the students and I meet face to face and not just through email and not just on social media and whatever else, and we just connect as humans,” said Jimenez-Sandoval about his inspiration for starting his new booth.

The booth was also designed and built by Fresno State students majoring in architectural design and construction management.

“In the real world, you are going to be working with construction management and as an architect,” said architectural design student Jaqueline Molina Berber. “I’ve never worked with them before so having that coordination and knowing how that’s going to work really helped show us what to expect on a real-world project.”

Jimenez-Sandoval handed out pins, stickers, and business cards as students spoke to him about some of their concerns. He hopes this booth helps build stronger relationships with the students and provides a safe place to voice problems.

“If there are issues, let’s battle those issues head-on to resolve them and see where we go from there so yeah absolutely it’s about transparency as well,” Jimenez-Sandoval said.

Students believe this is a positive resource for them.

“It’s something very beneficial for students to interact with the president and ask him any questions they might have,” Antonio said.

Jimenez-Sandoval plans to visit the booth twice a month. A schedule of his availability at the booth will be announced on the office of the president’s website. His next visit is at noon on Monday, March 27.