Officials are interested in expanding Strahan Coliseum seating to accommodate increased attendance to commencement ceremonies.

A continually increasing growth of commencement ceremonies and lack of seating has called for a reassessment of Strahan Coliseum, which could be expanded in the near future.

The San Marcos Comprehensive Master Plan is being updated for the first time in nearly two decades to reflect the city’s population growth.

The master plan is up for final approval and adoption at the April 16 San Marcos City Council meeting. Mayor Daniel Guerrero said the plan has not been updated since 1996 because of frequent changes in city leadership. The master plan is divided into six sections and aims to improve San Marcos’ economic development, environment and resource protection, land use, neighborhoods and housing, parks, public spaces and facilities and transportation.

Guerrero said land use, infrastructure codes and public safety guidelines will be reassessed to fit the master plan and prepare for the city’s growth. Code changes will allow for other phases of the master plan to begin, and the process will take anywhere from six months to a year to complete, Guerrero said.

Although city council seats aren’t up for grabs until November, San Marcos’ only female councilmember has already announced she will not run for another term.

Councilwoman Kim Porterfield, Place 1, announced March 31 she will not campaign for re-election. Porterfield has served two terms on city council, during which she served as mayor pro tempore and deputy mayor pro tempore. Porterfield said she has chosen to focus on her career as director for community relations for Texas State and her family.

“My younger daughter was 10 when I started and now she’s 16, so I’m really sensitive to that,” Porterfield said. “I have a new boss, and we have been discussing some really exciting plans for my department (at Texas State). I’m really excited to implement some greater programming that will benefit the San Marcos community and students.”

A woman’s father comes to visit her at an undisclosed university campus in the latest Verizon Wireless commercial, but the school’s bookstore, lecture hall and archway may look familiar to Texas State students.

Austin-based Fueled Films shot the Verizon Wireless commercial on campus Tuesday. The Undergraduate Admissions Center and its archway set the scene for the commercial’s father/daughter reunion during the one-day shoot, and the duo shopped at the University Bookstore. The crew also filmed in the Centennial lecture hall.

“Texas State is very film friendly, as opposed to other universities that don’t really accommodate,” said Arie Guerrero, Fueled Films locations expert. “It’s structurally beautiful compared to some of the smaller universities.”

The new director of transportation services will begin work at Texas State in April among policy changes and contract negotiations.

Jane Wilcox was selected from three final candidates for the full-time position. Wilcox will be responsible for the Bobcat Tram and Parking Services starting April 15. She previously worked as director of parking and traffic at Stephen F. Austin State University, according to the university press release announcing her hire.

“(Wilcox) has been in the industry longer with regard to parking, and she came with high references and the people who evaluated her rated her higher,” said Nancy Nusbaum, assistant vice president for financial and planning services. “She rode the buses and was really informed about the university.”

Wilcox’s April start date was chosen to allow her current supervisor to find a replacement, Nusbaum said. However, Nusbaum said she has created a set of duties for Wilcox to immediately address.

The introduction of a third applicant has delayed the decision-making process in the search for the new director of transportation services.

Two applicants were invited to campus for a day of interviews with various campus officials, according to interim director of transportation services Nancy Nusbaum. The third applicant to come forward is Virginia Griffin, interim director of transportation services at the University of North Texas. Griffin visited Texas State March 6 for interviews.

Nusbaum said Griffin had the same interview process as the first two applicants. The same basic questions and feedback forms were used during the open interview session.

The position was posted last November, categorized as “open until filled.” Nusbaum said she was going to close the position after the second set of initial interviews on Feb 20. She decided against it, however, after seeing four more applicants.

The Texas State University System Board of Regents voted to require its four-year universities to offer a fixed-rate tuition program to students in order to provide more predictability when paying for college.

The program was unanimously approved during a the regents’ meeting Monday and will be available for freshmen enrolled starting in the fall 2014 semester, according to a press release from the system. The program will set a four-year, fixed-rate for student tuition. Fees and course charges that exist when a student applies for the program will stay in place for all four years.

“The goal isn’t to reduce cost,” said Mike Wintemute, spokesman for the system. “We want to create some predictability for students and parents and give students one more option and more flexibility.”

Wintemute said Gov. Rick Perry has expressed his desire for this kind of program, and the Board of Regents thought now would be a good time for its universities to be “proactive.”

Renovations are being made to buildings around campus to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and provide better accessibility to students.

The Facilities Department presented a master plan outlining improvements that will be made to bring different areas of campus up to ADA compliance during a recent Steering Committee on Disabilities meeting. The master plan includes a map detailing the different phases of improvements to be completed by fiscal year 2014. Improvements have been made to the middle of campus, and subsequent enhancements will encompass buildings expanding outward from The Quad.

Michael Petty, director of Facilities Planning, Design and Construction, said the idea was developed to create order while managing ADA projects. The Facilities Department funds the projects through an ADA account that is replenished each year through the Higher Education Assistance Fund.

Two candidates have interviewed to be the new leader of transportation services, a department involved in several changes that will affect the student body next fall.

Nancy Nusbaum, assistant vice president for Finance and Support Services, has served as interim director for the department since Joe Richmond, the former director, announced he would be on extended leave. Nusbaum said Richmond will not be returning, leaving the permanent position vacant. Interviews for the new director of transportation services began last week. A decision could be made quickly, but the candidate who is awarded the position will not be announced for a few weeks, Nusbaum said.

While officials say parking at Texas State will continue to be a hot-button issue, changes are being made in several lots across campus that could help ease the problem.

The Transportation Services Advisory Council members decided to reassign half of the lot next to the tennis courts to all-zone parking during a January meeting. Nearly 100 spaces were changed to all-zone after they had been converted to restricted parking months before, said Nancy Nusbaum, interim director of transportation services. Two to three rows of parking will remain restricted for staff members at the physical plant.

Nusbaum said 43 spaces remained empty daily when the lot was designated as faculty parking.

Stephen Prentice, assistant director of parking services, said watching and recording those empty spaces led to the reassignment of the spots.