Ep. 111 - What Does the Palm Desert Campus Offer You?

In Ep. 111 of the CSUSB Advising Podcast, hosts Matt Markin and Olga Valdivia welcome Pedro Saltipar, Academic Advisor at the Palm Desert Campus (PDC) of Cal State San Bernardino. Tune in as Pedro paints a vivid picture of the close-knit PDC community, from its unique student support model and vibrant S3 Studio to standout academic programs. Learn how PDC blends personalized advising, easy access to resources, and small-class intimacy into an unforgettable college experience.

Whether you’re considering taking a class at PDC or just curious about what makes this campus so special, this episode provides insights for you as students!

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Transcript

Matt Markin  
Hey and welcome to another episode of the CSUSB Advising Podcast. This is Matt Markin from the ASUA academic advising office, and with me, as always is...

Olga Valdivia  
Olga Valdivia happy to be here. We'd like to welcome our guest, Pedro Saltipar, advisor at the Palm Desert campus. 

Pedro Saltipar  
Hello, hello. 

Olga Valdivia  
Nice to to see you, Pedro.

Pedro Saltipar  
Nice to see you both.

Olga Valdivia  
It's always nice to get to see you since you're at the other campus, but we're doing a lot of the same work. So why don't we start with you telling us a little bit about your educational journey and coming to CSUSB?

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, no, absolutely. So I grew up in the Coachella Valley, so I attended high school over here. Once I graduated high school, you know, it was time to either get a job or go to college. So I decided to, you know, try my hand at a university. I applied for Cal State San Bernardino. Originally, I wasn't going to San Bernardino campus until I found out there was a Palm Desert campus. So I found out, you know, towards the end, and I decided to make the switch. I felt like it was gonna be a lot better for me myself. You know, what's the transition from high school to college? So I ended up applying. I got admitted, and I came in in 2016 as a criminal justice major. I didn't know it then, but I pretty much fell in love with PDC right off the bat, I attended all four years, you know, freshman all the way to senior, and so I graduated here at Palm Desert campus. I enjoyed every minute of it. Yeah, I learned so much. I grew up. I grew as an individual, all the staff members were really welcome here. So when I graduated, you know, I right off the bat, I went to go work, you know, in my career that I chose, and then when I found out, you know, the positive campus was looking for an advisor, I said, why not? I loved it. As a student, I was really involved with the campus. I was an orientation leader. I was a peer mentor, peer advisor, and I worked in the tutoring center. So I was, I was pretty much everywhere. I lived on campus. So, you know, one of the best jobs I had was being a peer advisor. I loved working with students. I love the whole tedious route of choosing classes, movie schedules, around fit schedules. And I was, I was a peer advisor for about three years, so I love and I knew what, I knew what I was getting myself into. So when I saw application, I applied, and here I am two years later. I'm living every single day. I love seeing right now, it's orientation. So I love seeing the incoming freshmen. They were like me from the valley. So I'm very passionate about this job, and it's never a dull day, even though how busy it gets. I love it. I love it. I love it.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, and you kept busy as a student. I was like, Hey, you did everything, so that's awesome. But yeah, let's talk about Fast forward to now. So you're an academic advisor. So what is your role and responsibilities at PDC?

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, so I am one of two academic advisors currently here at the Palm Desert Campus. So right now, in the summer, right now, we're focusing on orientation, right? We're giving presentations out. We're helping students with their schedules. But you know, throughout the whole year, that's basically what it is I'm helping with, not only schedules, right? Because I can help making schedules, chasing classes, teaching policies. But I think what I would tell students is that even though I'm considered an academic advisor, that's not all I can do. Or I would tell them to see me as at least somebody who knows knowledge me being here probably 10 plus years, I know all the resources. So I by my title, is academic advisor by element, or I'm a buddy. I'm just a support system here in place in Palm Desert, the majority of our population is, you know, Hispanic first generation, and that's stuff that I identify with. So you know me being in first generation, I know how it was coming in. You don't really have somebody who went through this. So you don't really have a role model or a support system. So yes, academic advisor, but also your student support system. That's what I consider myself.

Olga Valdivia  
I love that response, because, yeah, we don't just do advising, we do a whole lot of other things. So can you talk to us about Palm Desert campus, and, like, specifically, a little bit about the history and what makes PDC, PDC, right?

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, absolutely. So how we came to be. So, you know, for those of you who don't know right now, we're located in Palm Desert. We have around like 100-180 acres, three buildings, but we actually became what we are now back in the 80s, 1986 for those of you guys and. About here in the valley. We were just in a parking lot at COD and the community college. As the years went by, we set up more little trailers out there. So that's how we started off. There was a need for a four year college out here in the Valley. And then, you know, CSUSB, at the time, they decided to try it out. Those are her survey that was done. And in '86 that's when that little parking lot university came up. And then 2002 that's when our first building actually came up, where we're located. So it's the building to my right over there, the Rogers Gateway. And from then, I mean, we have two other buildings that that came up, the Indian Wells building's where I'm at right now. The Health Science building that came up as well. And we have our fifth building coming up in 2027. The student success building, which is going to house pretty much all the services that the students need in one, you know, set location, advising, the library, career counseling. So any service that's where the they're gonna be in the new building that's coming up. So I'm excited for it hopefully allows Palm Desert to, you know, grow. Because the one thing I tell students coming orientation, like, the best thing about Palm Desert is our size, right? We're such a small campus with around, last time I checked around 2000 students. So what that means is everything's much smaller. The classrooms are smaller, right? That can mean the services are smaller too, right? Instead of having, you know, 2030 advisors that you may have in San Bernardino, it's just two of us for now, the good thing about that, we're gonna remember you if you see us enough time. So I'm pretty good at remembering faces and names and stories, and I feel like I can speak for the rest of us, every staff member too. We tend to build better bonds because we're so small. So that's what makes Palm Desert campus I special for me, right? I'm going to see you the four years a year, the five years in a year, where I'm gonna learn about you, learn about me, right? I'm gonna grow with you. So that's what I like about us. And no, it's, I guess it's a plus. But every resource is can't be more than 400 feet away, 300 feet away. The resource isn't the same building like if you found trade there across the hallway. You need to see career centers are right, next to me, right in front of me. So I guess the easy access to everything because we're so tight knit, yeah, that's what makes us special. 

Matt Markin  
Definitely easy access. So it's not like, Go 10 minutes this way. It's just no, it's the next building over, and then then you're there, and you're mentioning resources. You're talking about advising and career. You're mentioning that you know, a lot of the resources there, you're able to direct those students. So tell us more about the resources offered at the Palm Desert Campus.

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, so, because our students are paying the same tuition as San be no students, we try to give almost our students the same resources that are located out the San Bernardino campus, right? We have, obviously, the ones that everybody go, you know, mainly goes to the Career Center, the the Advising Center. We do have a Health Clinic here on campus, Financial Aid, right? We do have the same resources. But like I said, instead of being being manned by a lot of people, it's usually one person or two people manning it. We try, if we don't offer the service that you have, we try to do it over Zoom, if possible. Like, for example, I don't believe we have SAIL out here. EOP does not exist out here in the Palm Desert campus. So these are the resources that I find that are important, but sadly, we don't offer them just yet, hopefully, with the new building popping up, we get more of those resources. But we'd be surprised we have a lot of the same resources that samdino has, but just in a smaller scale.

Olga Valdivia  
Now, I believe there's a S3 lab. Can you tell us more about that?

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, S3 so I work with s3 back as a student. So S3 is a student success studio. In that studio, we house the Children Center, we house the Writing Center, we house the peer mentors, we house the peer advisors. So those are the big four resources that we have on one studio. So I mean, in talking about the S3 to our orientation, I tell them, this is pretty much your one stop shop for almost everything, like, no matter what your question is on, no matter what you're looking for it, you're going to find some form of it upstairs, because it is located on the second floor, so right above me. So if you go in looking for help on advising, hey, we have the peer advisors that can help you out with choosing classes, adding classes, dropping or, let's say you go up. You're like, I don't know who to talk to. You know, I need help on this. We our peer mentors. Can, you know, connect you with the services that you need. It's pretty much everything, like, I love. That space over so much. It's such a creative space. It's a welcoming space. So I see students up there, you know, after classes, they go up there and work on some homework. And while they're there, they can be talking about, you know, some of the issues they're having, and they're like, You know what? Just go next door. We have the peer resort that can help you out. So that studio, I love that studio. It's such a fantastic studio, and it houses so many resources on campus, and they do a lot of events. So if you're ever on campus and you know you don't really know where to go, like you feel a little awkward here on the open, go there. Go there to study, especially those, those of you who study and need some like, background noise, that's the place to be, because they're not quiet, where they can library, but they're like talking, they're chit chatting, they're doing their tutoring. So it's a nice space to be at. 

Olga Valdivia  
Thank you so much for that extra feedback. I remember when we went on your campus, it, you know, seeing the different, not different services, but just kind of seeing how it's all tied together is it's pretty cool. So can you tell us a little bit more about the majors offered at PDC. And if there's any majors that are offered out at PDC and not at the main campus?

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, I can go over that. So let's start off with what we have in San Marino doesn't have the biggest major that I have come across that is pretty much specialized for Palm Desert, is our Hospitality Concentration for Administration. So that one, because we have a lot of casinos, we have a lot of hotels we love, we have a lot of hospitality related careers out here. We that's how that major came to be. And director of Hospitality, Dr. Tormey, is amazing. He takes the students. They go to New York, they go to Italy, not only for fun, but also it helps them network and then gain more experience that are pretty much ultimately going to help them with their careers later on, starting this fall 2025 that major has now really split in half. It's a hospitality concentration under administration, but it's also its own, different major under the tourism and hospitality. So it's pretty much two different majors that we offer here that are offered at San Bernardino. But other than that, the majors that we do offer here. It's a it's not a lot like you guys, but it is, you know, we offer administration, accounting, psychology, social work, which I love, because we do offer the masters in social work out here too as well. So for our students who we know want to get get a Master's, it's right here in the valley as well. So I love that program, criminal justice, which is what I was, Liberal Studies, yeah, just to name a few. We do have other ones, Child Development, kinesiology, that's also growing. But those are names. Those are ones I can name off of my head. So if anybody hears this and I forgot your major, I'm sorry. 

Matt Markin  
Yeah, blame Pedro.

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, blame me.

Matt Markin  
So you're talking about majors connected to that is classes. And I know Olga and I will have students that will look at the class schedule, and they might see Palm Desert listed and the class that's offered. So how do classes work at PDC? So it's like, if I'm a if I'm a PDC student versus not a PDC student. Is there a difference in terms of, can I register for classes? Can I not. How does all that work?

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, so there is a difference. So if you're considered a Palm Desert student, so you're obviously, you're allowed to take our in person classes and our online online classes. You're also able to take San Bernardino's in person classes and online classes. Now it doesn't work the same, you know, going the other way. If you're considered a San Bernardino student, you are not able to take our online classes right off the bat. You can take our online classes, but only during open enrollment, so as after all our students enroll, then you then you're able to take our online classes. Now, our in person classes will work differently those you are able to enroll during your registration time. So no matter if you're in San Benardino or Palm Desert, you're able to enroll in our in person ones, just not our online ones, those you have to weigh into open enrollment, which is usually after everybody you know finishes enrolling in their classes.

Matt Markin  
Is there some classes where it might be even longer before a student at San Bernardino could try to register for Palm Desert class that's online?

Pedro Saltipar  
Usually not. But if I mean, if you do come across any issues regarding registration, it could be that we might just be saving seats for orientation, right? Because I know another thing I want to mention. When I talk with the incoming students on orientation, I tell them what's so great about PDC, you know, our tight knit and everything, but there's also cons to it. It's because we're such a small campus, we really need to fill our classes when we do have them, so some of our classes are only. For once a year out here the Palm Desert campus. So because that is the case, we need to make sure we can save some of those seats for our incoming students during orientation. So if you have any issues with enrolling for a class that may be the case, we may be saving that specific class for our incoming students.

Olga Valdivia  
So you kind of answered part of my question, so, if I live in the area, but want to take classes at San Bernardino, it's basically, we're signing up for the in person classes. Yes, yes. Okay, wonderful. Well, Matty...

Matt Markin  
 Well, I guess, let's say a student find you know is they apply to Cal State San Bernardino, but they actually live in the area of Palm Desert, and they're like, oh, maybe I want to do the major there. Are they able to just change to that? Or is there a process for that?

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, so there is a process. Some of the eligibility to become a popular student is one, you have to live near the area, and well, there's three. So two, the major that you're in has to be offered at the Palm Desert Campus. So if you can meet the two eligibilities, you're good. The third one is you need to have enrolled in two Palm Desert campus classes the term prior. So let's say you're in spring 2026 weeks, and you want to become a part of the student, you need to make sure to you enroll in two classes in fall 2025 so that's, that's pretty much the eligibility, right? I always refer them, if they have any questions regarding that, they can always email pdcadvising@csusb.edu and we can, you know, discuss more about it. But that's, that's eligibility. So your major has to be here, and you got to live near the area. 

Matt Markin  
Is there anything else you want to talk about PDC, or any upcoming, anything upcoming at PDC that you want to share?

Pedro Saltipar  
I mean, little things coming into PDC, right? We're having events to any incoming students, no transfer or first time freshmen, I just want to say, I hope you enjoy PDC, I know I did, and I hope you have the same experience as I did, right? It's what you make of it. Everybody that's out here really wants you to succeed in what you're doing, no matter if it's me or the career counselor or financial aid. I just, I hope to, I hope you rely on us, right? For anybody who does want to take some classes here, I encourage you, right? It's a different atmosphere. I encourage you, especially if you're in the area, maybe in the summer, not, not so much, but in the fall, when it's cooling down. I encourage you to come out here. It's very beautiful, a small campus, but it is a beautiful campus.

Matt Markin  
As your colleague Ruth would say, That's what air conditioning is for.

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, 100%. I have mine on 24/7 in here.

Matt Markin  
Well, Pedro, thanks so much for joining us today. It's nice to always get to get to chat with you, and nice to learn more about the Palm Desert campus and sharing that with students. So thank you for joining Olga and I.

Speaker 1  
No, thank you for having me. I appreciate so much. I love seeing you too. The few times I see you a year, I'm glad I got to see you once more. 

Matt Markin  
We make it special. 

Pedro Saltipar  
Yeah, absolutely.

Olga Valdivia  
And if all the service is as wonderful as you are, these students are in the best hands. So thank you for everything you do for our students at PDC.

Pedro Saltipar  
No, thank you guys.