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 Fall. Our Classified Professionals have been working on their caring campus behavioral commitments and plan to start rolling those out later in the fall. Caring Campus will help us improve our success and retention and make our college more welcoming for our students.
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.
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-Department 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 Videos
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
- Develop marketing
Nametags
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.
Warm Referrals
Making a warm referral ensures each student’s needs are being met and brings human relationships to what easily can be purely transactional. Call ahead so the recipient knows the student is coming and give the student the name of who is expecting them. Walk the student to the office they need to get to or provide them with a map. Follow up to ensure the student got there.
Activities
- Warm Referral Cards
- Warm Handoff Guide - Coming from Evolve 2024
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, Mele Makalo, Michelle LoGrande, Nichole Streicker, Nina Wong, Reina Diaz, Summer Kennedy, Toby Cho, Vivian Alvarado-Rodriguez, Vonetta Augustine
Faculty
Beginning Fall 2024.
Questions? Contact Us
ECC Evolve
Crystle Martin, Dean, Library & Learning Resources
Polly Parks, ECC Evolve Coordinator
Chris Page, ECC Evolve Coordinator