West Valley College has been selected to participate in the Institute for Evidence-Based Change 2021 Caring Campus initiative for faculty. Last year, West Valley completed and implemented the staff Caring Campus initiative and are now adding the faculty component.
IEBC is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping campuses improve student outcomes. The objective of Caring Campus is to increase student retention, success, and completion in community colleges by creating and cultivating Caring Campus environments through intentional behaviors by faculty and staff to improve students’ sense of welcome, caring, and connectedness to the college.
Generous support from the Ascendium Education Group has made this possible. Ascendium Education Group is a nonprofit organization committed to helping people reach the education and career goals that matter to them.
The goal of the faculty Caring Campus initiative is to help identify simple behaviors that can increase student retention by helping faculty connect with students. Data shows students are more likely to continue with a course and their academic career when they feel a connection with their instructor and other classmates Through Caring Campus, West Valley hopes to make all students feel as though they belong on campus, especially students from underserved populations.
The IEBC team will be working with West Valley to identify behaviors that can be scaled up to all courses so that students feel a connection. Like the staff Caring Campus initiative that the college engaged in during the Spring and Fall 2020 semesters, the faculty Caring Campus initiative will begin this Spring and continue into the Fall. IEBC will be meeting with faculty across campus and will present their findings along with ideas for scaling up.
“West Valley College is known as a campus where instructors truly care about our students’ success. We welcome this opportunity to join our classified professionals and explicitly identify ways to better connect with our students and help them reach their education and career goals,” commented Gretchen Ehlers, President of the West Valley College Faculty Senate.