It will be a process. The heart and soul of our college is our faculty, and we've already found a quite a few faculty who say they are interested in coming here.

Substantial interest already has been expressed, both from Petaluma firms and some outside the area.

When we surveyed students about their interests and needs, they expressed a lot of support for the upcoming changes, but the educational climate we have is very important to them. We absolutely need to retain our commitment to providing a small-college experience. I don't pretend to say this won't be challenging, though.

Hit television show American Idol is the perfect example of this. Thousands of hopefuls sing their heart out (sometimes very badly) for a shot at the brass ring of fame. Now, it looks like all you have to do is log on to eBay and make a bid.

This is a monumental step for Santa Rosa Junior College, because it is a direct statement that it is changing from a one-campus to a two-campus college.

We are adding parking and a signal at the south entrance of the campus, but as we've seen with the new Kenilworth Junior High School, increased traffic will have an impact. Fortunately, unlike Kenilworth students, our students will not all be arriving and departing at the same time. And we'll be encouraging everyone to take mass transit and carpool.