Campus Buildings Closed February 13: Campus buildings will be closed on Thursday, February 13 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. as staff will be participating in professional development activities. Buildings will reopen at 3 p.m.

Caring Campus

We are Caring Campus! Caring Campus is the way we serve our students. It is a student-centered approach to helping students start their educational journey, stay on that journey, and meet their educational goals on their timeline by cleaning up processes, adopting student-centered service behaviors, and encouraging classroom practices that help students feel welcome and connected to the campus. 

Caring Campus will help us to elevate the great work done across campus by our amazing faculty and staff by encouraging the use of data backed practices. Our Faculty will be invited to start their Caring Campus journey this Spring. Our Classified Professionals have been working on their caring campus behavioral commitments and plan to start rolling those out on Spring PD Day 2025. Caring Campus will help us improve our success and retention and make our college more welcoming for our students. 

Caring Campus Logo
Caring Campus is a data-backed approach to serving students that El Camino College has implemented to make everyone feel welcomed and supported all across campus.

What is Caring Campus?

The Institute for Evidence-Based Change (IEBC) created Caring Campus based on research that shows students who feel more connected to their college are more likely to be retained, persist from semester to semester, and complete their academic goals.

  • An intentional effort to make students feel welcome and a sense of connectedness to your college
  • Helps us connect with one another and with other employee groups to create a positive college environment
  • Create behavior change that influence culture change across campus
  • Help the college to reexamine policy barriers to student success

Administration

All levels of administration have participated in training so they can support the efforts of Faculty and Classified Professionals on campus as Caring Campus is implemented. Vice President Jeff Stephenson and Dean Crystle Martin are the campus liaisons for Caring Campus. If you have questions, please reach out to them.  

Classified Professionals

The Caring Campus kickoff team has committed to the following behavioral commitments to best serve students. Now that the behavioral commitments have been selected, an implementation team will begin work defining activities for each commitment.  Check out and download the below handout with the list of behavioral committments and QR code to the Warm Handoff Guide:

Caring Campus Poster

If you are a Classified Staff who is interested in joining the Caring Campus Team, you are welcome to join our upcoming meetings listed below: 

SPRING 2025:

  • 10:00AM - 11:00AM March 04, 2025 [Location: Lib 202]
  • 10:00AM - 11:00AM March 18, 2025 [Location: Lib 202]
  • 10:00AM - 11:00AM April 01, 2025 [Location: Lib 202]
  • 10:00AM - 11:00AM April 15, 2025 [Location: Lib 202]
  • 10:00AM - 11:00AM April 29, 2025 [Location: Lib 202]
  • 10:00AM - 11:00AM May 13, 2025 [Location: Lib 202]
  • 10:00AM - 11:00AM May 27, 2025[Location: Lib 202]

Enrollment & Registration Outreach

Contact students shortly after they enroll to answer questions and connect with services. The goal is to help make sure they are prepared to enter college. Have the knowledge to answer questions or be able to make a warm referral. 

Cross-Departmental Awareness

Making staff aware of what other departments do, who in each department to whom they can reach out for different issues, and where those areas are located so a student can be walked or directed to the location, so that staff can better support students.

Activities

  • Directory - Completed September 2024!
  • Cross-Departmental Awareness Coffee and Conversations coming Spring 2025

Ten Foot Rule

Whenever a student or group of students is within ten feet of you and seems to need assistance take the initiative to approach them. Don’t wait for them to approach you. Say hello, give your name and role on campus, smile, and use a positive tone. Have the knowledge to answer questions or be able to make a warm referral. 

First Week Greetings

Developing a Welcome Week that brings energy and excitement to campus, as well as helps students find their way and get needed information. 

Activities

  • Expand welcome week activities
  • Coordinate activities across areas - Outreach and School Relations is coordinating Welcome Week starting Spring 2025
  • Develop marketing

Name Badges

Wear name badges or lanyards so that students will know who to approach with questions. Wearing a nametag is a small action that is an invitation for friendliness. It is a disarming gesture that personalizes and humanizes someone, reducing psychological distance. If you are interested in receiving your own Name Badge, please fill out the form below: 

 

Name Tag Request

 

Warm Handoff

Making a warm handoff ensures each student’s needs are being met and brings human relationships to what easily can be purely transactional. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this:

  1. Walk the student to the office they need to get to,
  2. Call ahead so the recipient knows the student is coming and give the student the name of who is expecting them. Provide them with a map and a Warm Handoff Card. Follow up to ensure the student got there.  

Activities

  • Warm Handoff Cards
  • Warm Handoff Guide - Coming Spring 2025

First Two Weeks: Contact Student to Check In

During the first two weeks of the term, students are the most vulnerable to being discouraged by challenges or setbacks, which may cause them to leave the college and not return. Reach out to students during this critical period. Find out how connected they feel to your college, what their experience has been like so far, and whether they need any support or resources. Be prepared to answer their questions or make warm referrals.  

Kickoff Team:

Andres Orozco, Angela Knecht, Anna Reynolds, Araceli Rodriguez, Blance Prado, Brandon Brazile, Carl Turano, Carla Camacho, Cecelia Mataalii, Christine Maekawa, Diora Hong, Eliana Rios, Erica Soohoo, Gema Perez, Guadalupe Capistran, Harriet Woo,  Ivan Gutierrez Navarro, Jackie Nolasco, Jasmine Ramirez-Barba, Jenelle Lizama, Johnross Gatlin, Jose Acevedo, Juan Bello, Juan Pulido, Julie Meredith, Katherine Umana, Kristen Gabourel, Mele Makalo, Michelle LoGrande, Nichole Streicker, Nina Wong, Reina Diaz, Summer Kennedy, Toby Cho, Vivian Alvarado-Rodriguez, Vonetta Augustine

Implementation Team:

Andres Orozco, Carl Turano, Erica Soohoo, Guadalupe Capistran, Jasmine Ramirez-Barba, Kristen Gabourel, Gema Perez

Faculty

Beginning Spring 2025

Questions? Contact Us

ECC Evolve

Crystle Martin, Dean, Library & Learning Resources

Polly Parks, ECC Evolve Coordinator

Chris Page, ECC Evolve Coordinator