Remaining United on Student Success – Fall Updates from the Broward College Foundation and President Haile
When we first provided updates about how we would navigate the challenges of COVID-19 one would not have guessed we would enter the fall semester continuing to adapt to the ever-changing landscape the pandemic has brought on. Currently we are remaining in a mostly online and remote-learning environment wherever possible for the safety of our students, faculty, and staff.
Over the past several months, there has been great College-wide collaboration to provide the best possible experience for students and help us maintain a high level of operations for staff.
Key Highlights include:
- Transitioning mid-semester in the spring to 3,566 or 93% of our classes to remote learning
- Transitioning all student support services online, including academic advising, tutoring, financial aid and launched virtual recruitment efforts
- Improving financial stewardship through the approval of The Greater Impact Budget, which prioritizes equity and impact for our students and community. This budget has prioritized improving the student to advisor ratio, embedding tutoring in select courses with higher failure rates, addressing equity issues, and establishing food pantries to assist our most vulnerable students
- Providing staff and students with the tools to work and learn remotely, including specific educational tools for sharing best practices, as well as technical support, such as loaner laptops, webcams and headsets
- Establishing the SOS student support fund to provide financial assistance for students
Continued support of our students throughout the pandemic has helped us be flexible in responding to their most pressing needs. One recent example of collaboration to ensure successful outcomes for our students is the Broward College Foundation and the Associate of Science in Nursing program working together to provide nursing students who could no longer pursue clinicals due to hospital closures the opportunity to take a class with a paid scholarship through The Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation. Of the 90 nursing students whose graduation was delayed until December 2020, more than a third were able to take a baccalaureate course, putting them ahead of schedule to pursue the RN to BSN program and gaining a competitive edge in the workforce upon graduation.
Opportunities like this help keep students engaged and on a path to a successful future. Thank YOU for all you do to help us transform lives through education. We remain committed to securing and deploying philanthropic support for students in ways that will help us all rebuild our lives.
A Message from President Haile
I’m honored to share this message from Broward College President Gregory Adam Haile.
We remain steadfast in our promise to be a resource for our community and are committed to be a catalyst for new opportunities for educational attainment. Thank you for your support of Broward College as we continue meeting the changing needs of our students going into the fall. You can learn more about the College’s continued commitment to innovation and excellence in this year’s annual report.
As always, please let us know how you are doing, and feel free to reach out and connect with me on ways we can continue to support students at this challenging time.
Nancy O’Donnell-Wilson
Vice President for Advancement, Broward College
Executive Director, Broward College Foundation