Connecting Community College
Students to Completion:
Engagement, Commitment &
Institutional Planning
Presented in Partnership by:
Phi Theta Kappa & The New Jersey Council of
County Colleges Center for Student Success
Our Presentation Team
Lou Venturelli
Assistant Director
NJ Center for
Student Success
Jennifer L. Blalock
Chief Student
Support Officer
Phi Theta Kappa
Cassie Bryant
Special Initiatives
Coordinator
Phi Theta Kappa
Jake Farbman
Director of
Communications
New Jersey Council
of County Colleges
Our Leadership Vision
“To return our nation to economic prominence,
which will require producing 5 million more adults
with 21st Century workforce credentials —
certificates and associate degrees or higher — we
must completely transform how our colleges
operate, what and how they teach, how they are
funded and incented, how they work with other
education institutions, and how they engage with
industry.”
---Dr. Rod A. Risley, Executive Director & CEO of Phi Theta Kappa
A Call to Action:
Community College Completion as a National Initiative
• Democracy’s
Colleges Call to
Action
• The President’s
2020 Challenge
• The Completion
Challenge
Our Shared Challenges
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Student Success Rates
Employment & industry needs gap
Increase in underprepared college students
Rapidly changing enrollment demographics
Reduction in college funding
Declining enrollments
The Community College
Completion Corps
The Community College
Completion Corps is a:
• Student-Led Initiative
• Increase student awareness
• Promote benefits of
completion
• Engage campus &
community stakeholders
• Faculty
• Staff
• Administrators
Students Commit To Complete
• Planning for completion
• Career planning
• Advisement on course selection & degree
progress
• Role model in class participation &
preparation
• Each one help one
Faculty & Staff Commit To Complete
• Completion Champion Pledge
• Identify two specific, measurable action
items to promote completion
• Data and research driven initiatives &
programming
• Culture of completion
• Emphasis on student success
• Mentoring, coaching, & guiding
toward completion
NJ Council of County Colleges
Introduction
• State association for all 19 community
colleges
• Statewide Center for Student Success,
funded by Kresge Foundation
• Provides technical support to NJ’s
community college administrators
• Convenings, collaborations, coherence,
change, & communication
NJ Council of County Colleges
Establishing
Awareness: Hold
Statewide Conference
Calls with PTK Advisors
and Student Leaders
Inventory:
Distribute Chapter
Event Form
Roadmap: New Jersey Community College Completion Challenge
Interest: Digitally
Survey Chapters for
Statewide Interest
Commitment:
Distribute Chapter
Commitment Form
Launch: Visit colleges,
hire videographer and
promote program.
NJ Council of County Colleges
Tips for Success
1.
First thing’s first: partner with your PTK Regional Coordinator on the front end –
they have star power
2.
Identify a statewide C4 Advisory Board
3.
Hold numerous conference calls with chapter advisors and student presidents –
facilitate exchange of ideas
4.
Engage other student organizations in the program
1.
Communicate your plans with statewide leadership including deans of students,
chief academic officers and college presidents
2.
Engage distance education students through the online pledge
3.
Fundraise through state organizations for chapter programmatic support
4.
Capture and tell your story
NJ Council of County Colleges
Funding
• Partnership with New Jersey Education Association
• NJEA represents 90,000 K-12 stakeholders
• Includes faculty & staff at NJ Community Colleges
• Advocates for community colleges as the NJEA’s New Jersey County
Colleges Association
• Invested $15,000 in NJC4
• Funded local activities for all 19 chapters and statewide viral campaign
NJ Council of County Colleges
Promoting
• Created #NJC4 and asked all community colleges to use it on social media –
Facebook, Instagram & Twitter
• Created four viral news segments featuring campus events
• Publicized on NJCCC, Phi Theta Kappa & NJEA websites
• Media coverage in The Star-Ledger, Philadelphia Inquirer, Press of Atlantic
City, Inside Higher Education, and others
• 30-minute feature on Caucus: New Jersey (PBS)
Social Media
News Media Coverage
Campus Spotlights
Expanding
• Involve all levels of campus & community participation
• Athletics, Instruction, Staff, Student Organizations & leadership,
Student Activities, Orientation, Career Services, Alumni, Business &
Industry
• Introduce additional partnerships for sustainability including 4-years
• Promote the Completion Corps’ Online Pledge
• Measuring, comparing, and evaluating impact of student participation
• Establish a Spring Semester Completion Celebration Day
• Identify a Completion Challenge Theme
Expanding
“Each One, Help One.”
• Goal-setting
• Monitor progress
• Personal and
academic
milestones
• Next steps and
forward thinking
• Connect to twoyear and four-year
resources
Getting Started
• Survey of engagement & investment of campus
stakeholders
• Student leadership, ownership, and
implementation
• Collaboration
• Showcasing and integrating on-campus resources
• Showcasing and integrating off-campus resources
and partners
The Challenge Continues
o Federal national community college
agenda for funded two-year tuition
o Increased access & enrollment
o Impact on student demographics &
motivation
o State community college initiatives
o Department of Education College
scorecard and rating system
Q&A