‘Success Realized: One Student at a Time’
As of July 1—the new fiscal year—the Office of Enrollment and Student Affairs will become the Office of Enrollment and Student Engagement. But that doesn’t mean change isn’t well underway now, says Frank Sanchez, associate vice chancellor for enrollment and student affairs. “The name reflects that we are in partnership with educational engagement and parallels the mission of the institution.”
Academic excellence is measured and defined by the ability to connect and serve our students, Sanchez says. The new name and tagline for student affairs conveys precisely that. “We aim to create a culture of programs, services and policies that are student centered,” he says.
“We are conducting aggressive grant outreach and are in the process of applying for about $6 million in grants,” he explains. The grants applications include $3.5 million from Title V, a Talent Grant of $1 million for educational outreach at Montbello and two feeder middle schools to create a pipeline, and $1.5 million for Gear UP, an Adams 14 federally funded grant.
More than words, their new slogan, “Success Realized: One Student at a Time,” supports the vision of the office and will soon become an identifier atop letterhead, in publications, on desktops, walls and lips across the downtown Denver campus. “We want to communicate to our students: ‘we are here to serve you.’ We also want to impress upon our staff that our success is measured one-on-one,” Sanchez stresses. “Every interaction with students is a moment of truth.”
Much more than the name, the unit is undergoing departmental changes. The responsibilities of unit directors are evolving with the needs of the university’s student population. The restructured unit includes:
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Barbara Edwards, associate vice chancellor for enrollment and management
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Larry Armenta, director of pre-collegiate and pipeline programs
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Lissa Gallagher, director of the Career Center
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Obe Hankins, director of student and community enrichment
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Chris Johnson, director of international education
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Peggy Lore, director of student success
Unit directors held a competition for the new slogan. Out of 130 submissions, Paul Worthman, assistant director of the career center, came up with the winner. “Actually,” Sanchez adds, “his submission was ‘Success: One Student at a Time,’ . . . we added a verb.”