Programs and Academic Support Committee
The purpose, vision, mission, and general charges of are as follows:
Purpose
Support the implementation of student success focused programs identified by the college that are evidenced based and aligned with established best practices.
Vision & Mission
Vision: Support the continual development of a campus culture that values and works toward the success of all students, giving them the tools they need to be successful in a manner that is accessible to all in sustainable and scalable ways.
Mission: Support OCC’s Mission and Strategic Plan by identifying and helping to launch and pilot promising strategies as well as provide leadership experience and knowledge as needed.
Current Charges of the Council
Charges for 2026-27:
- Co-chairs to provide a brief update to College Leadership Council in September, February, and May.
- Continually update the webpage for the Committee with agendas, minutes and other relevant information.
- If needed, update the Programs and Academic Support Committee Guiding Document.
- Review the back-end processes for complaints (i.e. routing to offices and people, tracking, resolution time and notification, etc.) and suggest ways to make it more efficient and responsive to student needs while ensuring tracking for easy trend analysis.
- Continue to analyze the qualitative and quantitative data gathered to come up with recommendations to lower the drop/withdrawal rates of students both generally and in specific programs. Analysis will include overall student body as well as be broken out demographically.
- Make recommendations about the Middle States Collegial Advice: The college community would benefit from employee training to ensure students’ rights to file grievances are consistently upheld. Students would also benefit from clear communication, outlining the available grievance processes and affirming their right to file a complaint without fear of retaliation.
- Standard III: Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience
An institution provides students with learning experiences that are characterized by rigor and coherence at all program, certificate, and degree levels, regardless of instructional modality. All learning experiences, regardless of modality, program pace/schedule, level, and setting are consistent with higher education expectations. Criteria 4. sufficient learning experiences and resources to support both the institution’s programs of study and the academic progress of all student populations. Standard IV: Support of the Student Experience
Across all educational experiences, settings, levels, and instructional modalities, the institution recruits and admits students whose interests, abilities, experiences, and goals are congruent with its mission and educational offerings. The institution commits to student retention, persistence, completion, and success through a coherent and effective support system sustained by qualified professionals, which enhances the quality of the learning environment, contributes to the educational experience, and fosters student success. Criteria 1. clearly stated, ethical policies, practices, and processes to recruit, admit, retain, and facilitate the success of students whose interests, abilities, experiences, and goals provide a reasonable expectation for success and are compatible with institutional mission.
- Direct Connection = Goal 1, Strategic Priority 3
Enhance academic support services and intervention systems to foster successful course completion and sufficient credit momentum Indirect Connection = Goal 3, Strategic Priority 2
Enhance and expand strategic communication interventions that support student success.
Foundations of Leadership (FoL)
- Developed by Diego Navarro at Cabrillo College in 2002, as part of the Academy for College Excellence (ACE), the Foundations of Leadership workshop (FoL) has helped students make “statistically-significant gains in academic self-efficacy, personal responsibility, college identity, mindfulness, and leadership and teamwork efficacy.”
- What is the FoL? – The Foundations of Leadership workshop is a one-week, intensive experience that guides students in developing professional, academic, and affective skills. It is not an academic course, but one that prepares students to handle the challenges of both their college experience and their eventual professional lives.
- What are these ‘skills’? – Employers consistently ask educators to help students develop “21st century skills” that go beyond just academic content knowledge. In the FoL students will focus on developing communication and problem-solving skills as well as understanding their own working styles and how those styles impact their collaboration with others. Exercises include activities that are designed to:
- Help students learn to have better and more productive conversations
- Develop a knowledge base and repertoire of collaborative and teamwork skills
- Provide hands-on experience in working as a team
- Create community and a network of support
- Guide students in learning their own strengths and how to combine those with the strengths of others
What do OCC students who have taken the FoL workshop think of it? – Don’t just take our word for it, here are some thoughts from OCC FoL participants:
"I learned about how different people perceive things in their own way. I've learned about the intricacies of conversation....I learned about the cycle of success."
"These things will help me succeed in my own life, academic, professional and personal, and will allow me to help others as well."
"I've become a better listener. I've become more able to communicate. I've developed skills to lead others."
Staff and Faculty at OCC can earn a Badge for completing the following workshops…
1) Five-Day Experiential Learning Institute (FELI)
This institute is about embodied interactions, teaching, and leadership. Graduates will learn and practice techniques and approaches that can help us positively change our practices when dealing with groups of students in classrooms and other settings, as well as campus culture generally, making OCC a more welcoming and inclusive place for all. Evidence suggests that the needs of marginalized students can be addressed effectively through these approaches. Participants leave this institute with a guidebook filled with activities and practices.
- Participants must successfully complete the 40-hour workshop delivered over the course of five, eight-hour days to earn the credential. The program is delivered in person.
2) Constructs for Creating a Culture of Dignity
This workshop series focuses on staff and faculty members’ responsibility to help all students, but especially underrepresented minority students, transition their innate strengths to our educational programs. We explore constructs that instill a culture of dignity and help create conditions of belonging and psychological safety. Evidence of academic, salary and psychological outcomes are presented.
- Participants must successfully complete the 12-hour workshop delivered over the course of three, four-hour days to earn the credential. The workshop is delivered synchronously, online.
3) Developing Gravity and Glue to Empower Students
This workshop series focuses on activities for staff and faculty that create gravity and glue in the classroom and other areas to counteract the centrifugal pull of our students’ complex lives. Faculty learn how to build community using evidence-based activities and to design experiences creating a rhythm of learning which undergirds a culture of dignity. Participants will leave this experiential workshop with curriculum, activities, strategies, and practices to create the gravity of belonging and community.
Participants must successfully complete the 12-hour workshop delivered over the course of three, four-hour days to earn the credential. The workshop is delivered synchronously, online.
Learn More about the workshops and the ideas and practices behind them at https://www.diegojamesnavarro.com/
At least 3 faculty and at least 3 administrators. Ideally, the members would represent a range of experiences and areas of expertise here at OCC.
One of the administrators should be connected to the Student Affairs, like a navigator, and at least one should be connected to the Learning Center, such as the Director of the Learning Center.
Membership Appointments
Ideally, the committee will have faculty and administrator co-chairs to be elected at the start of every academic year. Faculty members will be nominated by Faculty Senate. Members are approved and appointed at the start of every academic year by the President.
Meeting schedule
Meetings will take place 2x per month, but this can be amended depending on the amount of work the committee is doing.
Membership:
- Dr. Malkiel Choseed, co-chair
- Jessica Mitchell, co-chair
- Guy Linton
- Dean Michael O'Connor