In the fourth of its continuing series of research reports, the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University examined the role of strategies implemented by community college presidents in support of the Institute for Evidence-Based Change's (IEBC) Caring Campus program at their colleges to positively affect college culture and ground further efforts to improve student success.
The report, titled Implementing Caring Campus: Strategies College Presidents Use to Improve Culture and Support Reform by authors Elizabeth A. Barnett, Selena Cho & Andrea Lopez Salazar, identifies seven distinct strategies.
Drawing on interviews with the presidents of nine community colleges that are implementing Caring Campus and with four IEBC coaches, this report presents a set of seven strategies identified by the authors, employed by the presidents "to build a more positive college culture and support reform efforts." Key strategies include:
- Communicating the vision of Caring Campus
- Modeling the behavioral commitments central to Caring Campus
- Aligning new and existing work
- Establishing effective human resource practices
- Creating relevant structures
- Staying in touch with faculty, staff, and the college community
- Celebrating wins
