1. Building a Student Success Center 8-Keys to Achieve
From the Ground Up:
Building a Student Success Center
8-Keys to Achieve
Purpose-Driven Success
Jewel B. Cherry, Director
Student Success Center
Forsyth Technical Community College

2. Successfully implementing change on your campus
Implementing change on a college campus is like trying to move a cemetery. Clark Kerr

3. Advising
Financial Aid
Retention
Instruction
Learning Resources
Registration

4. What Are The Eight Keys To Success?
Establish a sense of urgency
Create the guiding coalition
Develop a vision and strategy
Communicate the change
Empower broad-based action
Generate short-term wins
Consolidate gains and produce more change
Anchor new approaches in the culture
Leading Change by John P. Kotter

5. KEY # 1 ~ Establish a Sense of Urgency
SACS reaffirmation self-study (August, 2000)
Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey (spring 2000)
Community College Survey of Student Engagement (spring 2003)
Internal ad-hoc committee ( )
Overall air of discontentment

6. Hacken’s Law
The belief that understanding alone will stir an organization to action is one of mankind’s greatest illusions.

7. KEY # 2~ Creating the guiding coalition
Grant writing committee
Awarded Title III Grant (spring 2005)
Appoint dedicated personnel

8. KEY # 3 ~ Developing a Vision and Strategy
Creating a vision to help direct the change effort
Increase student retention
Increase student graduation rates
Implement split model of academic advising
Developing strategies for achieving that vision
Develop new student orientation programs
Increase faculty training
Open a Student Success Center

9. KEY #4~ Communicating the change vision
Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk
Top Administrators
Deans
Faculty
Staff
Maintenance
Students

10. How???
“A sentence here, a paragraph there, two minutes in the middle of a meeting, five minutes at the end of a conversation, three quick references in a presentation – collectively, these brief mentions can add up to a massive amount of useful communication, which is generally what is needed to win over both hearts and minds”
Kotter, p. 95

11. KEY #5 ~ Empowering broad-based action
Committees with Campus-wide representation
Faculty advising needs survey
Faculty advisor training based on survey results
Courageous conversations

12. KEY #6 ~ Generating short-term wins
Student Success Center Open House
Annual update from the President
Secured a visible location
Hired staff
All full-time faculty attended initial training session
On-going training on hot topics
Online orientation option

13. KEY #7 ~ Consolidating gains and producing more change
Don’t lose momentum
The rubber band effect

14. KEY #8 ~Anchor New Approaches in the Culture
Share the good news
Create a newsletter
Keep records and publish Data
Retention
Persistence
Student satisfaction
Continuous improvement
100% participation

15. Sustainability – How to keep it going?
DISCUSSION