Herkimer College’s Connections magazine was published and distributed to alumni and friends of the College in late February. Features include the Alumni News, Alumni Marketplace, and special spotlights around campus such as ‘Herkimer Edge’ – a collaboration with the Community College Research Center that implements new best practices to help students prepare for life after graduation.

View Connections online at herkimer.edu/alumni/connections-magazine/.

Providing the ‘Herkimer Edge’

While Herkimer College has always been known for student support services, an acceptance into the Community College Research Center (CCRC)’s summer institute suggested it was time to rethink what that support looks like, and to implement new best practices to help students prepare for life after graduation.

The Institute

The CCRC is an independent research organization that operates out of Teachers College, Columbia University. The summer institute, titled “Guided Pathways at Rural Colleges: Using Data to Launch Large-Scale Reform,” was only offered to 22 community colleges nationwide, chosen after undergoing a rigorous application and interview process.

Committees from each participating institute took part in pre-work webinars and data exercises to craft the foundation for their programming. For two weeks last July, College representatives listened to expert speakers, received specialized instruction, and took part in work sessions to determine how they could better support students.

“The institute made us look at many things we do and ideas we’ve had to help our students, and put it into a formula we can now present to the campus at large,” said Provost Michael Oriolo.

Initial assessments were good. Herkimer College had already been rolling out new initiatives that aligned with what the CCRC research encouraged. But there was a large component that had been lost in the shuffle over the years: engaging students early about what they wanted to do after college.

The idea of using community college as merely a steppingstone to get general education courses out of the way is an outdated mindset, said Oriolo. Instead, community colleges should be working with students early to help them truly determine their career and educational interests. Oriolo said campus representatives previously spent long sessions with prospective students going over available programs before enrolling them in a major, but that the culture shifted as new guidance came out that younger generations preferred things to be quick and digital.

The new programming from the CCRC has been dubbed Herkimer Edge, and will be a long-term cultural shift for the College.

Ask, Connect, Inspire, and Plan

The CCRC Institute focused on best practices branded ACIP: Ask, Connect, Inspire, and Plan. At Herkimer, these methods can be put into place before a student even enrolls for their first year by targeting College Now students.

College Now students are those high school students taking Herkimer College credit courses concurrently with their high school courses. On average, about 900 high school students enroll in one or more courses through Herkimer’s College Now program each semester. CCRC committee members said they are increasing engagement with these students and their high schools in order to help them plan ahead and potentially earn their degree at Herkimer.

“They start with us, but they don’t always continue with us,” Oriolo said. “We need to show them how their high school credits can factor into a Herkimer College associate degree and beyond us — how we can help them achieve a bachelor’s or master’s degree.”

The College to Career Pipeline

Another aspect of Herkimer Edge is stressing the college to career pipeline. The percentage of students enrolled in the General Studies program has hovered around 20 percent for the past five years. Suzanne Paddock, director of Career Services, says data collected for the institute showed these students often change majors — sometimes multiple times — and are at a high risk for not completing their degrees.

Paddock said her office will offer students career counseling and access to FOCUS 2, a program that aids with career assessment, much earlier in their academic careers. “Until recently, higher education in general has viewed career services as something a student should access in their final year or semester for help getting a job,” Paddock said. “Herkimer Edge is focused on front loading services, and in particular, helping students make the connection between their college program of study and their ultimate career path with job obtainment after graduation.”

The College has also created a revised academic advisement model. While the new model debuted in 2020, its continued implementation and ongoing adjustments make it a core component of the Herkimer Edge initiative.

Under the new model, called the Total Intake Model, all incoming students have an assigned advisor within the Academic Advisement Center, to aid them with the transition to college, connect them to student resources, and help them navigate program requirements. After they’ve reached the 30-credit threshold, students will be assigned to a faculty advisor, deepening the connection to their degree program and allowing them to have more specialized career and transfer mentorship.

“It’s essential that every student make a career and educational plan early on,” said Katie Scanlon, director of the Advisement Center. “This helps them see the importance of the courses they’re taking and stay on track.”

Light the Fire

To stay on track, students need to be excited about their futures and what the road ahead of them could look like after college. A new First Year Experience (FYE) program was rolled out earlier this year with weekly themes that align with the “Ask, Connect, Inspire, and Plan” framework. The FYE brings the new advisement model and our student orientation programming — which includes a new career counseling component — under its umbrella, and also includes a revised First Year Student Seminar.

In the revised seminar, students are developing their career and educational plans as they navigate 18 core learning modules, covering assorted topics such as goal setting, self-care, and an online career assessment. The seminar aims to transform first-year students from passive to active in their educational process, and to help them become informed participants as they complete their associate degrees. New technology will ensure students have access to their own degree audits to check their pacing, and the improved advisement model promotes closer academic monitoring.

The need for academic enthusiasm does not fall solely on the students. “We know our faculty teach courses toward the end of a program sequence and think to themselves, ‘Boy, this would have been great to offer earlier on to really inspire these students,’” said Steven Boucher, assistant professor of business. Changes to program curricula will be made to ensure students are being exposed to the bread-and-butter of their academic programs earlier on — programs the CCRC has dubbed “light your fire courses.”

The College also plans to expand experiential learning by offering more guest speaker programs and presentations from area experts. The College hopes to become a conduit for early interaction between students and potential employers, not only to help students envision their degree programs in action, but to strengthen its presence in the community.

“The net result is a comprehensive and far-reaching framework for not just our campus, but for the communities in our area,” said Associate Dean Bill McDonald. “Having a formalized plan like Herkimer Edge helps us have our own pathway forward and hold ourselves accountable — it’s a cultural change.”

CCRC Institute Participants:

• Karen Ayouch, Director of Institutional Research
• Steven Boucher, Assistant Professor of Business
• Vicki Brown, Director of Student Activities
• Bill McDonald, Associate Dean-Business/Health/Science/Technology Division
• Michael Oriolo, Provost
• Suzanne Paddock, Director of Career Services
• Robin Riecker, Associate Dean-Humanities/Social Science Division
• Katie Scanlon, Director of the Advisement Center
• Denver Stickrod, Director of Admissions

View Connections online at herkimer.edu/alumni/connections-magazine/.