2012-2013 Budget - City of Saginaw MI

EDUCATIONSaginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is one of the mostprestigious colleges in the state of Michigan. After an extensivestudy, Dr. John Dale Russell (Chancellor and ExecutiveSecretary of the New Mexico Board of Education Finance)submitted the Russell Report to the Michigan State Legislature'sJoint Senate-House Committee. The report endorsed the conceptof a higher education based learning system in the Saginaw, BayCity and Midland communities, thus marks the beginning for the formative years of SVSU.In November of 1963, Saginaw Valley College was chartered as a private college. The first classeswere held in the basement of the current Delta College site. Here the students attended classes untilSaginaw Valley College was built. In December of 1963, the Saginaw Board of Director's introducedfour possible name choices: College of the North, Saginaw Valley College, John Fitzgerald KennedyCollege or University Center College.It was determined with a clear majority that SaginawValley College was the name of choice, thus by the endof 1963 Saginaw Valley College was born. In additionto establishing roots, Saginaw Valley College’sinsignia was also created. This is an example ofSaginaw Valley College’s first identity. Theexplanation of its symbol reflects the unique identity of the college.The 1980’s were a decade of great growth for the college. In November of 1987, Saginaw Valley StateCollege was reclassified as Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) with a student enrollment ofnearly 6,000. SVSU began the decade by crossing international borders and hosting the University’sfirst international students. In 1981, SVSU received enough votes from the Academic AffairsPresident’s Council to begin its Engineering Program. SVSU's academic excellence also wasrecognized through accreditations. In 1994, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schoolsrenewed SVSU's accreditation for 10 years, the longest renewal in the University's history and a sign425