President's Update: September 3, 2024

Dear Shasta College community,

Hope you had a great, long weekend! I can't believe it's already Week 3 of the fall semester!

So Welcome Back Day was wonderful, and while I have not seen the group video yet, I hear the video/photos came out nicely.  Appreciation again to all those who got us organized for the photo/video and for Welcome Back Day.  If you enjoyed wearing your Shasta College green, don't forget you can wear it again this Thursday as part of Spirit Week. And it would be great to have you at the Tailgate Party this Saturday at 4:30 p.m., and at our home opening football game at 6:00 p.m.  

On Welcome Back Day we noted that day that enrollments were up 2% vs. Fall 2023. As of today, enrollments are now up 8.5% as vs. the same day in Fall 2023. Thank you to all of you who have taken on new sections or added students into your classes. Hopefully with initiatives like Caring Campus we will see greater retention and persistence as well. Also, kudos to those in Financial Aid and also Admissions and the Student Success Center for helping our students out with their FAFSA applications. As you know, the federal application for financial aid is experiencing some major problems, but Student Services has been extremely proactive in helping students get the resources to succeed in their classes.  

As a reminder, we'd love to hear your stories of Shasta College graduates who have gone on to do great and wonderful things, like the students I profiled. Again, to share with us, please go to this link: https://shasta.dev.fastspot.com/about/75th-anniversary-of-shasta-college/. Our Marketing Department is working with various outlets, including Enjoy Magazine, to profile some of these success stories.  

Chico State's convocation - it's their version of our President's Address - took place a few weeks ago, and I had the honor of attending. The president of Chico State noted that the number of transfers from community colleges has gone up 7.5% in the last year. I'm sure this is a testament to your good work on many fronts: the work of our wonderful Transfer Center, our strong Dual Enrollment offerings, but also work to create and maintain our AD-T degrees and other transferable programs.  

Last week Welcome Day was held outside of the 800/900 buildings, and the week before, the Tehama Campus held a similar event. Both were wonderful, and it was great to see so many tables out there. Student Life - thank you for organizing this. And for those of you who set up tables about your program or services or courses, thank you, too!

Finally, as part of our "curb appeal" campaign, the landscaping in front of the 100 building is being refreshed by Physical Plant.  Come by and take a look! This is in preparation for the accreditation focused site visit on Oct. 2-3 (with the open forum being on Oct. 2 @ 2:00 p.m. in the Theatre - please come!).  

Have a great rest of the week!

Frank