Remembering Susan Dodd: A Gavilan Legend

Dear Gavilan Family,

As we embark on another exciting semester, I'm thrilled to share incredible news about our enrollment!

Gav is back! We've surpassed the 6,000-student mark in the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters, marking a significant step towards recovery since the pandemic. This is the highest enrollment we've seen since 2019, and it's a testament to the incredible efforts of our entire community. While we're not quite back to pre-pandemic levels, we're rapidly closing the gap.

This achievement wouldn't be possible without the stellar work of our entire Gavilan family. A big shoutout to our Dual Enrollment team, led by Dr. Craig-Marius! Thanks to their tireless work, we've established partnerships with Morgan Hill Unified, San Benito High School District, and Aromas-San Juan School District, resulting in 500 new high school students joining us this Spring.

But our journey doesn't stop there. We're also celebrating impressive growth percentages: 23% last Spring (2nd highest in the state!), 21% the previous Fall, and 7% this Spring (expected to grow with short-term courses). However, we recognize the potential for even more growth in our summer term. That's why Dr. Fayek, our Vice President of Academic Affairs, will propose changes to the summer schedule to offer students diverse and flexible enrollment options.

This achievement wouldn't be possible without every single one of you. From faculty and staff to administrators and support teams, your dedication to our students has fueled this success. We've recovered a significant portion of enrollment, but now it's time to double down on student retention.

We want to ensure our students feel welcome, supported, and empowered to succeed. That's where Guided Pathways and Gav Connect come in. These initiatives are crucial for nurturing a welcoming and supportive environment for our students, ultimately leading to higher success and completion rates. I urge you to participate in these programs – every interaction makes a difference!

Let's take a moment to celebrate our achievements, but remember, the journey continues. With ongoing collaboration and commitment, we can ensure Gavilan College remains a beacon of opportunity and success for our students and community.

The following are activities that supported our enrollment growth efforts. All of you were part of these efforts, either directly or indirectly. Thank you for being part of this incredible journey!

Fall 2022

Enrollment Management Academy (Pam and Carlos) at Gavilan College – Training provided to department chairs, deans, and administrators from all areas of the college on enrollment management best practices.
The college applied and received the Emergency Conditions Allowance (ECA), bringing additional revenue to the college to invest in enrollment recovery and hire new full-time faculty.
Created an Enrollment Recovery Plan that outlined efforts across the institution to increase enrollment. Many of those efforts have been successfully implemented.
The Undocu Taskforce organized the first annual “Encontrando El Camino” event to welcome our Spanish-speaking community to campus.
Strong social media presence from our Marketing department

Spring 2023

Class scheduling improvements made based on the Enrollment Management Academy best practices.
The counseling department made recommendations to IT and Admissions and Records on improvements to the student registration process.
El Centro increased the number of food vouchers to serve more students who were food insecure.
Hot food returns to Gavilan College helping bring more students onto campus and improve student engagement.
On-campus events return – Grease production, student film showcase, Bach to Blues, Simon Silva art exhibit, Little Mermaid.
The Board of Trustees approved “Gav 4 Free” and free parking and printing for all students.
Postcards were sent to every home in the district announcing Gav 4 Free and the return of our soccer program.
An agreement is made with Morgan Hill Unified to bring close to 300 seniors to the Gavilan Gilroy campus for the Ram-O-Rama recruitment event.
Strong outreach efforts by non-credit staff to promote ESL courses. ESL enrollments exceed pre-pandemic levels.
Recruited and hired eight new full-time faculty members through a cluster hire approach.
Improvements were made to the admissions application, allowing students to simultaneously apply for both summer and fall semesters.
The Board of Trustees approved restructuring student services and academic affairs to improve the college's ability to respond to students' needs.
The board approved removing the requirement for the COVID-19 vaccination, allowing more students to enroll in in-person classes.

Summer 2023

Groundbreaking of the San Benito Campus created excitement for our San Benito County community.
Gav 4 Free Commercial is released to create awareness of our free tuition program.
Postcards are sent to every home in our district announcing our free tuition “Gav 4 Free” and Super Saturday registration event.
The Super Saturday registration event successfully attracts many new students to register. Staff from all departments worked collaboratively to serve and register students.
The Board of Trustees approved agreements for Dual Enrollment with three school districts in our service area.
The Board of Trustees approved an agreement with Santa Clara County to begin offering classes at Elm Wood correctional facility.
Technology training was provided by SIG consultant to Admissions and Records, Financial Aid, Business Office, Human Resources, and IT to improve our systems and processes.
Restructuring of Student Services was implemented to improve our organizational structure to better serve students.
Our VPs of Administrative Services and Academic Affairs are hired. Providing the college with a fully staffed executive team with increased capacity to take on initiatives and support all areas of the college.
Our VP of Academic Affairs and a consultant provided staff training to correct scheduling issues, resulting in an additional 400 full-time equivalent students (FTES).
Hired a new Student Life Coordinator to improve student engagement, events, and support for Student Government, Clubs, and Organizations.

Fall 2023

Increased availability of food vouchers to all students and provided them with about 1,300 free weekly meals.
Enrolled over 300 high school students through our new dual enrollment agreements.
Enrollments increased at our Public Safety Training Center.
Admissions and Records, with support from the Academic Senate, piloted removing the registration "Add Code" requirement during the first week of classes, making it more convenient for students to enroll in open seats.
Women’s and Men’s soccer returns to Gavilan College.
Class scheduling offerings improved with the start of our eight new full-time faculty members.
The “Gav Connect” pilot began to help improve student retention.
Held a successful Super Saturday Event to assist new and returning students with registration.
Increased the number of students submitting financial aid applications by 1,000 (36%)

Spring 2024

High School Dual Enrollment increased to 500 students and will continue to increase.
Ram-O-Rama Event in April will bring local high school seniors from all high schools to our Gilroy Campus
Exploring improvements to the summer schedule.
Restructuring of Academic Affairs to improve resources and program alignment.
More to come…

Sincerely,
Dr. Pedro Avila
Superintendent/President