NWACC president urges connections with students

BENTONVILLE -- Faculty and staff members can help students succeed by making stronger connections with them, the president of Northwest Arkansas Community College told employees Aug. 19.

"I'm asking that you pledge to be a connector," said Evelyn Jorgenson during the college's annual Fall Forum, a chance for faculty and staff members to get together before a new school year begins.

By emphasizing a student-friendly environment, the college hopes to boost its student recruitment and retention rates. That in turn could reverse a downward trend in enrollment that's lasted several years.

Connecting with students means "finding something in common and really cultivating that, whether it's a common interest or a common experience," said Ricky Tompkins, the college's vice president of learning. "It's just promoting the idea of not being alone. College is tough. Let's see what we can do together to get through this."

Tompkins recounted a story of how he encountered two young women playing Pokemon Go in front of the Student Center earlier this month. He approached the pair and engaged in the game with them.

"We caught the Pokemon. We fist-bumped," Tompkins said.

The women were thinking about enrolling at the college, but were apprehensive about the process. They didn't know anyone at the school.

Tompkins ushered them into the Student Center and helped them sign up for classes. Both women enrolled as full-time students, he said.

He challenged employees to make similar connections with at least four students this semester. He said he'd be asking them for the stories of how they made those connections.

"I want each of us to go home, look in the mirror and be able to say, 'I've done everything I can to make a difference today,'" Tompkins said.

The fall semester began Aug. 22. Todd Kitchen, vice president of student services, said the college so far had achieved 94 percent of its enrollment goal of 69,367 credit hours for the semester. Students took 65,183 credit hours at the college last fall.

"Overall I feel really good about enrollment," Kitchen said.

Jorgenson said she was a community college student once, so she knows "how important it is to feel important, to be told I have potential."

She showed the audience a brief video from the Community College Completion Corps, a national effort by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society to promote the benefits of finishing a degree.

The video shared several statistics, including the fact 25 percent of all community college students who enroll in the fall semester don't return the following semester. Of those who return in the spring, 20 percent don't return the following fall, according to the video.

Jorgenson asked all employees to fill out a card left on each seat in the auditorium, pledging themselves to promote practices and strategies that will produce 50 percent more students with degrees and certificates by 2020.

"Together, let's change those statistics we just saw," she said.

Administrators encouraged employees to share with students information on campus resources, such as professional counseling and a food pantry.

Employees were told thay should also help students by reminding them of important dates on the college's calendar, such as Aug. 29, the last day to drop a class and get a full refund, Jorgenson said.

Kitchen urged employees to take opportunities to mentor students.

"Find a way to hold them accountable. They're not afraid of accountability. They actually long for it," Kitchen said.

This year the college launched a Student Success and Retention Committee, which met for the first time in April. The committee's focus is on ways staff members can engage with students early on so they can meet students' needs and help them identify what they want for their lives, said committee co-leaders Tay Sha Carter and Megan Bolinder.

Also at the Fall Forum, Debi Buckley, vice president of finance and administration, gave employees an update on a renovation of the main library.

The library's carpeting -- most of which was 20 years old -- was replaced. Some book stacks were moved to make room for more furniture to increase the library's seating capacity.

The new furniture, expected to arrive by the end of this month, includes privacy seats with charging capabilities for students' electronic devices. There will be bean bag seats and other brightly colored chairs and couches that can be easily moved around for group study sessions.

Students wanted "versatile and comfortable furniture," Buckley said.

The nearby Information Commons room has been transformed too, with many computers being moved out to make room for new furniture and study space.

The college is spending $238,000 on the library's renovation. That money will come from the college's capital fund. One-third of the millage money that flows to the college is dedicated to that capital fund.

General News on 08/31/2016