Dr. Suarez brought Caring Campus to OCC in Fall 2022 after seeing its success at her previous institution, Southwestern Community College District. Since then, staff have developed numerous implementation strategies to capitalize on their caring culture, including personalized Coast Cares Cards and an internal directory of all employees to help with identification and warm referrals.
“I recently met with a student that only spoke Mandarin and needed help with an academic issue,” OCC Human Resources Director Rebecca Morgan said. “Our directory allowed me to quickly find a fellow employee who spoke Mandarin and was able to translate the student’s needs. We were then able to help the student resolve their issue together, and also learn about each other’s unique expertise!”
Division Coordinator of Student Success and Support Services Jeanette Grimm has served as a Classified Senate leader in the implementation of Caring Campus. Grimm said one of OCC’s goals for next year is to collect feedback from students on how they see a culture of care reflected on campus and how they have been impacted by OCC employees. Grimm also plans on hosting a Cares Conference at OCC to elevate the behavioral commitments that are part of Caring Campus.
“These implementation strategies will allow our incredible employees to be better recognized for their efforts, and also increase awareness of Caring Campus principles campus-wide,” Grimm said.
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