JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Community colleges were already reimagining student support even before the challenges brought on by Covid. But the pandemic, social unrest and other events that have exacerbated stress among students has many colleges examining their strategies to better serve students.
During a session at the American Association of Community Colleges’ annual Workforce Development Institute, community college presidents shared how their colleges are tackling these challenges. In Ohio, Clark State College uses the approach that every student is served with their own end goal in mind, said President Jo Alice Blondin.
“We really took a long look at how we welcome students from the moment they consider college, and everything is based upon their goals for completion and a career. We start with the end in mind to ensure that every program and service supports the desired outcome of the student,” Blondin said.
The college focused on communications, integrated career planning, and a lot of training for faculty and staff.
“We used Title III funding to hire staff to support campus-wide training efforts, counselors and mental health initiatives,” Blondin said.
She also noted that trauma-based training was a key part of the culture shift. “We love to hear from our students so that we can tell their story of success. Our processes used to require the student to retell that story – which is often embarrassing or worse, and we objectify them as someone in need of rescuing. We don’t do that anymore.”
Blondin is developing a new program that is a technology implementation that allows students to discreetly share their needs, and it is captured in a confidential, FERPA-compliant way. The process allows students to matriculate with dignity and to connect with services that can help them to succeed, she said.
Blondin emphasized that it is critical to have a guiding strategic plan.
“This is not revamping student life or replicating what the universities do,” she said. “This has to be about the students we have right now and how we can restructure everything in order to see them succeed.”
Using data
Hennepin Technical College in Minnesota used research to study the mindsets of faculty, staff and students, said President Merrill Irving.
“Seventy percent of students think they will be successful at our college,” Irving said. “Thirty percent of faculty and staff thought they could succeed. It was an interesting dynamic.”
The work to better understand mindsets began prior to the murder of George Floyd, which continues to impact the community in Hennepin Country.
“We were ground zero for the George Floyd murder, and we provide the region’s police officer training,” Irving said. “The racial and social inequities were playing out on our campus in the middle of a pandemic.”
Irving noted that it is important to understand what is being discussed when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion.
“It became clear that many people were talking about equality when were we talking about equity,” Irving said. “There is a difference. Clarification of the terms and what they mean in the context of your discussion is important.”
Context is key. “We keep talking about students of color, but the truth is we mean non-White students. It is important to understand the constructs that we are trying to change.”
Hennepin Tech partnered with Wallace State Community College in Alabama to create a virtual exhibit that explored racial constructs, civil and human rights, and gave students a safe place to express their feelings.
Lead with love
Expressing feelings at Amarillo College is easy; it is all about the love. And President Russell Lowry-Hart leads with love.
“Our sector is on the frontlines and is the most connected to students and communities. We have initiatives including food pantries, technology lending programs, and other student services but it is not enough,” Lowry-Hart said. “We were unified around the concern for our students but needed to focus on what we need to do about it to impact positive change.”
Several initiatives are in place to support student needs, but it goes beyond initiatives.
“We must love our students. Our students,” Lowry-Hart continued. “Not the ones we used to have, not the ones we think we have, the ones we have now.”
Dissecting the structures that are in place and studying college data were key points made by all three presidents.
“Our data on student success was embarrassing, and I really expected that there was an academic remedy that we could implement,” Lowry-Hart said. “I realized that was the wrong approach. It wasn’t the tutoring center that helped our students, it was the tutor. It wasn’t the course materials, it was the instructor. We had to empower and train every single college employee to love our students.”
