To: Vice President, Student Affairs

Fr: Luz Medina

Re: Suggestions for student services

1

To complete this report, I interviewed twenty-five students, asking them the following questions: (1) Do you know about the student services that are available on this campus? (2) What service or organization would help your college experience and why? (3) Would you be willing to help set up this program? I have attached the complete responses to these questions, but here I will summarize what I found. The responses were both surprising and well worth considering in the future.

2

To my surprise, most of the students I interviewed were not aware of the many programs that are already available to them. For example, several of the students said that they did not know what to do if they were thinking about dropping out. I told them about our Succeeding Together program and gave them the Web site that lists the people and services that are designed just for these situations. I encouraged them to go to these sites for help, telling them that the college works hard to help keep students from dropping out.

3

Another area in which we have many services that students do not know about is in preparing for a job search. Most students knew that there is an office of career planning, but they thought it just posted job announcements. They did not know about great programs like the Virtual Job Fair or the many mini-seminars on interviewing, making a good first impression, or one-on-one counseling to match students with employers. They also did not know about the program that gives very specific career counseling that matches student interests with careers and then helps students plan what courses will best help them get started in the career.

4

There were many other services students did not know about. Although they are listed online and we offer an orientation, I think we, as a committee, should figure out how to more successfully let students know what resources they have on this campus.

5

The students offered some good suggestions for new services. One is that we devise an instant-messaging system for communication with advisers. Students said that often they have to wait to see their advisers when they have a question that would take only a minute to ask and answer. One student compared it to standing in a long line to buy a package of gum: It doesn’t seem worth the wait.

6

Two other good suggestions regard the problems students often have with transportation and child care. Students suggested that there be a college-sponsored online bulletin board that students can go to to find rides at various times. Students looking for transportation could find other students with cars who would be willing to give students rides for a small fee. The students also suggested a similar child-care bulletin board that might help parents connect to baby-sit for each other.

7

A final suggestion that two students made was to have professors record their lectures so that they could be downloaded for students who had to miss a class. Students said that they could already get the homework assignments for a missed class, but they had no way to get the lecture material.

8

Students were surprised that the college already has so many resources, and they gave serious and thoughtful suggestions for new and needed services. I am sorry to report that only five of the twenty-five students said that they would be willing to help set up a new service, but at least those few are willing. Interviewing other students was an interesting project for me, making me think about the importance of student-affairs programs and giving me experience gathering and analyzing information.

(More on “The Writing Process” in Chapter 2)