The goal of the practice is to enhance the recruitment of special populations at the College of the Siskiyous (COS) through the development of a marketing campaign specifically designed to highlight non-traditional populations and promote occupational diversity The College of the Siskiyous maintains a Special Populations Advisory Committee that oversees efforts for special population students. The committee which meets monthly is comprised of staff from Career and Technical Education, Financial Aid, DSP&S;, MESA, Upward Bound, EOPS/SSS/ CARE Counseling, Learning Services and Resource Development. This committee along with the Public Relations Office and students were involved in the Learn More, Earn More project. The project was funded through a mini grant from the North/Far North Regional consortium. Grant funds were used to hire a graphic artist to design a poster and brochure and for the costs associated with printing. The graphic artist photographed College of the Siskiyous students enrolled in their occupational programs. Photographs depicting diversity and students in nontraditional programs were selected for the brochure, poster and college website. The theme “Learn More = Earn More” was selected from the 2002 Special Populations Conference and modified by removing the = sign. The Advisory Review Team provided feedback to the graphic artist for all phases of the project. A diverse student population was selected from the MESA and Upward Bound programs to review the Spanish version of the brochure as well as the English Brochure and poster. The Special Populations marketing materials are included in the general college recruitment packets as well as in program specific marketing activities. Siskiyous’ goal is to realize an overall increase of 5% for special population and nontraditional students in their occupational programs. The core measures as well as institutional data will be reviewed over the next two years. It is recommend that prior to the contracting of a graphic artist, that work is accomplished through the advisory committee and college art or graphic art departments to establish a theme and design a draft. This can save both time and money needed.
Contact:
Dennis DeRoss Dean, Career and Technical Education
800
College Avenue Weed, CA 96094
530-938-5512
derossd@siskiyous.edu