Facilitator: Dr. Adam Petersen, Director of Strategic Initiatives for Academic Success, CSU San Marcos

Join us as we come together as colleagues across the system to share ideas on how we can work towards equitable student engagement in the CSU. Because this is a Zoom session, capacity is limited to 150 participants.

Dr. Kevin Ferreira van Leer, Associate Professor, Sac State

Dr. Amber Gonzalez, Associate Professor, Sac State

Maria Razo-Soto, graduate student co-researcher, Sac State

Elias Ibarra Jr., undergraduate student co-researcher, Sac State

Mary Jimenez, undergraduate student co-researcher, Sac State

Carolina Ramirez Santos, undergraduate student co-researcher, Sac State

Celene Talavera, undergraduate student co-researcher, Sac State

Valeria Cortez Delgado, undergraduate student co-researcher, Sac State

Jaqueline Hernandez, undergraduate student co-researcher, Sac State

Jenifer Meza, undergraduate student co-researcher, Sac State

Jacqueline Villalobos, undergraduate student co-researcher, Sac State

This interactive panel will present findings from Latinx students and faculty engaged in a photovoice research project exploring Latinx student perceptions of the concept of “servingness” in a Hispanic Serving Institution and how it can be improved. Presenters will share themes identifying institutional elements related to their success generated from photo documentation and photo-elicited discussion. Additionally as 21 of the CSUs are designated as HSIs and serve over 180,000 Latinx students, the panel will engage attendees in sharing and reflecting on relevant initiatives on their campus. The session will utilize breakout room discussions facilitated by presenters to explore how research themes may apply to other campuses. Interactive technology will be used throughout the workshop to generate engagement. This panel is intended for students, faculty and staff who are engaged in, or interested in, the ways that campuses can foster greater belonging and success for Latinx students.

Dr. Maureen Scharberg, Dean of Academic Programs & Services, Cal State East Bay

Kathryn Palmieri, Executive Director of Academic Advising & Career Education, Cal State East Bay

Bill Irwin, Student Success Specialist, Cal State East Bay

This panel discussion will provide opportunities to learn and discuss Cal State East Bay’s approach to academic advising through the lens of equitable-minded advising for all students. Our campus uses cohort-based academic advising with 95% of our students assigned to primary academic advisors with supporting advising in our affinity groups. We also strategically use EAB Navigate as well as our Pioneer Chat chatbot. After an overview of our coordinated care academic advising approach, case studies will be presented in small break-out groups that allow participants to explore the various dimensions of our coordinated care approach. Case study topics will include our Freshmen & Sophomore Success Team (FASST model), Academic Advising Interns, Faculty Advising Fellows, Peer Academic Coaches, Pioneer Success Coaches, enrollment campaigns, care reports and progress campaigns.

Dr. Terri Gomez, Associate Provost, Student Success, Equity, and Innovation, Cal Poly Pomona

Dr. Cecilia Santiago-Gonzalez, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives for Student Success, Cal Poly Pomona

Ms. Jessica Wagoner, Senior Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Services, Cal Poly Pomona

Dr. Erin Lion DeRosa, Director of University Advising, Cal Poly Pomona

Ms. Zoe Lance, Communications Specialist, Cal Poly Pomona

In October 2021, CPP noted that the re-enrollment numbers for Spring 2022 were lower than expected. More importantly, 73% of the students who had not enrolled for spring were from the three most recent cohorts of students, all of whom were admitted during or shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure that these students were supported, the Office of Student Success, Equity and Innovation and Enrollment Management Services collaborated to develop and implement a coordinated re-enrollment strategy. In this session, participants will learn about these strategies, which included an analysis of student characteristics, an in-depth examination of institutional barriers to student enrollment, and a multi-pronged approach to providing outreach and support. Participants will learn about the university’s text messaging and phone campaigns, virtual and in-person registration events, special registration windows, and key campus partnerships that facilitated student success.

Adam Petersen, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies, CSU San Marcos

Cameron Stevenson, Director of Institutional Planning and Analysis, CSU San Marcos

This session provides an overview of a recent attempt to review and recommend changes to the overall structure of cross-divisional and cross-functional work for student success at CSU San Marcos. With an understanding that no one division or unit “owns” student success, much of this work on our campus is fragmented or isolated and cross-divisional committees exist mainly to provide updates on siloed work instead of offering real spaces for collaboration. Our team set out to create a map of the many student success committees on campus and develop a framework for a more aligned committee structure. In this session we will share our process and the resulting conceptual and structural frameworks, not as an ideal path toward a meaningful structure but as one way to reorganize and invigorate cross-divisional work on student equity and success.

Charlotte Rinaldi, Lead Retention Specialist, Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo

Katie McGuire, Retention Specialist, Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo

Tiffany Kwapnoski, Retention Specialist, Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo

Jacob Campbell, Retention Specialist, Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo

With a goal of closing graduation equity gaps, Cal Poly’s Retention team leads outreach efforts to active students who are not enrolled in classes — leveraging student data, campus partnerships, and policy expertise to prioritize proactive advising, reduce discontinuance, and engage students detaching from the institution. An iterative process bolstered by a “DIY” approach, Active/Not Enrolled (ANE) outreach ensures that complex information related to time off policies is shared in accessible and actionable ways – when it is most relevant for students. ANE affirms that the responsibility of support-seeking lies in both the individual and the institution by centering empathy to ensure students feel heard and that their voices continue to fuel efforts to reduce administrative and academic barriers to equitable outcomes. This session offers participants a model, a process, student feedback, and lessons learned around increasing unenrolled student support and retention through proactive, data-driven outreach and advising.

Deepali Bhandari, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, CSU Long Beach

Margaret Merryfield, Professor of Biochemistry, CSU Long

Beach Andrea Balbas, Assistant Professor of Geology, CSU Long Beach

Curtis Bennett, Dean College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, CSU Long Beach

Kelly Young, Professor of Biology, CSU Long Beach

Faculty are central to students developing a sense of belonging and making meaningful connections to their campus/program, which in turn is key to ensuring students’ retention and success. In this engaged conversation, we present a college-based strategy, developed in close partnership between college faculty and administration, to build an equity-minded, student-focused faculty by recruiting and hiring faculty who are deeply invested in equity, inclusion, and student success, and then providing a well-structured mentoring program for new faculty members so that they have the support, guidance, and feedback to be successful. In the hiring process, an embedded equity advocate ensures a focus on equity and inclusion at all stages, from the position description through the use of detailed screening rubrics to final interviews. In addition to traditional content-based mentoring, the new faculty mentoring program addresses faculty members as individuals who each bring strengths from their training and professional and personal experiences.

Dr. Larissa Mercado-López, Conference Director

Dr. Bianca Mothé, Network Director

Dr. Ioakim Boutakidis, Network Grants Development Specialist, CSU Fullerton

Dr. Larissa Mercado-López, Conference Director

Dr. Bianca Mothé, Network Director

Dr. Ioakim Boutakidis, Network Grants Development Specialist, CSU Fullerton