The Santa Ana College (SAC) initiative, "Student Success: It’s Personal," is a college-wide effort to create an equity-centered campus culture through professional learning focused on the six student success factors. Since spring 2015, SAC has delivered a range of professional development to introduce to and engage faculty, staff, and students with the success factors, including the following.
Spring 2015:
Used the spring convocation (attended by all full-time faculty) to engage the campus community with research findings through a presentation by Student Support (Re)defined Project Director, Dr. Darla Cooper.
Fall 2015:
Integrated training on the success factors into a variety of professional development activities, including the new adjunct faculty FLEX session, student leadership retreat, staff leadership workshop, and financial aid office retreat.
Spring 2016:
Continued professional learning designed to promote the six success factors with a variety of campus stakeholders, including an adjunct faculty institute, new adjunct faculty FLEX session, and convocation co-facilitators training. The spring 2016 convocation agenda featured SAC President, Dr. Erlinda Martinez, delivering an address on student success and equity, a student focus group video, and participant breakout group discussions. These events resulted in specific commitments made by SAC faculty and staff to ensure all students experience the six success factors. View breakout discussion guide, featuring a student story, and sample commitment form for “connected.”
Additional Notes:
SAC analyzed all faculty and staff commitments to the six factors using Tableau software. The SAC Research web page will display this data, which can be viewed by division, allowing the institution to track its commitments and maximize its impact.
SAC also hosted special follow-up workshops on the six factors for all college managers as well as for classified staff and students to ensure that their voices were part of the overall student success movement.
Key leaders of this movement include the president, vice presidents, dean of student affairs, associate dean of student life, presidents of the Academic Senate and the Associated Student Body, and coordinators of Student Equity, SSSP, Professional Development, and the Basic Skills Initiative.
One college leader reported that this process highlights that engaging faculty, staff, and students in a dialog about the factors, affirming their identities, and valuing their contributions and commitments, can lead to a more positive campus climate.
For more information, contact Mary Huebsch, SAC Faculty Professional Development Coordinator.
For more information about Student Support (Re)defined, contact Dr. Darla Cooper.