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Los Angeles Pierce College strengthens its culture of belonging for both students and staff with their successful implementation of Caring Campus, a program that teaches principles, tactics, and habits to create a more welcoming, connected environment, thereby improving student retention and success.
Data from the Institute for Evidence-Based Change shows that students who feel more connected to their college are more likely to be retained, persist from semester to semester, and complete their academic goals. Caring Campus’s work to increase connectedness aims to help ensure students achieve all that they can from their college experience.
Pierce College focused first on implementing the Caring Campus program for staff in spring 2022, prioritizing training for those who are the college’s earliest point of contact for students. The school then expanded training to faculty, completing the Caring Campus program on Feb. 29, and ensuring that the entire Pierce College team was equipped to create and support an ongoing culture of care.
“Caring Campus has put a magnifying glass up to our college not only in terms of our behavior and how we interact with students, but also to help us identify the gaps that exist amongst our team,” Pierce College Interim President Aracely Aguiar said. “Participating in the Caring Campus programs for both staff and faculty has helped us successfully hand off students from one area to another – from our classified staff on the front lines who help our students with big-picture items, to the faculty that interact with the students in the classroom daily.”
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