At Skyline College the staff and faculty are very student-oriented. So many of our staff are stars in the area of customer service. They serve as models for the rest of the staff. It is their very commitment to students and their belief that an education is the best gift one can give to another human being, that education is a way out of poverty and a way to raise one’s socio-economic status. They are committed to diversity and thrive on empowering students who feel disenfranchised. These staff members light up when they see students who thought they couldn’t make it in school, graduate. A key to good customer service then is the attitude of the staff and faculty towards students and their skill in handling different situations. Without this element, no configuration, process or fancy building would have much effect on quality of service. However, a smiling face and caring heart can lose their shine when lines are long and processes are confusing.

In our old space, students had to wait in long lines and often were shuffled from one office to another and sometimes from one building to another. Complaints abounded. Finally, we were able to convert the old library to a One-Stop Student Services Center, where we have been working diligently to iron out our processes in order to facilitate the time it takes to serve students while maintaining quality service and access.

The Student Services One-Stop Center includes several programs and services that had been previously housed in separate buildings or in offices separated in various ways from each other. The One-Stop Center provides easy access to our students and helps student services be integrated both technologically and physically. Prior to our moving into the center in September of 2001, the staff and management spent many hours planning and defining our “student first” philosophy and planning the actual move (furniture, space allocation, etc.). This planning paid off and helped us make the transition. All programs in Student Services are in the One-Stop Center with the exception of Student Activities/Student Government, Security, and the Children’s Center. Students passed a fee increase for a new student union that is now in the planning stages.

When students first walk into the One-Stop Center, they see a large counter in the center, Financial Aid to the left and Career/Transfer to the right. We have installed six computer stations at the information center—all having banner access. Counseling appointments are made at the counter. Drop-in counseling is provided two weeks prior to the semester start and extends through late registration.

We have trained a team of rotating staff and students to answer first-line questions about every program in the center. This includes making counseling appointments, pulling transcripts for students, and helping them determine their financial aid status. The Dean of Counseling and the Dean of Admissions and Records have developed a resource binder for those who work at the Information Center.

Admissions and Records is located behind the information center on the right side of the One-Stop Center. All A&R staff, the Dean of Admissions, the Matriculation Coordinator, and cashiers have their offices in this area. Directly adjacent to the A&R area is a small high-tech conference room for small orientations, and meetings.

The offices of the Dean of Counseling and the Director, EOPS&S and Special Programs are to the left of the conference room. Counseling, EOP&S, CalWorks, Health Services, DSP&S are in the back right side of the One-Stop Center.

The Career/Transfer Center provides a wide variety of services for students. There are rows of computers in there for students to take interest inventories (in Spanish or English), conduct job searches, look for transfer institutions, etc. The center also hosts weekly recruiters from U.C. Davis and U.C. Santa Cruz.

We are now at the point where we need to work on processes that will help us integrate our services so students will indeed be “first,” as our philosophy indicates. One of the most critical avenues to student access is the process that a college uses for matriculation. In order to utilize the new integrated approach and the new technology, we have developed several options for online services. Students can log on to the Skyline Web page and get services online at:

http://www.smccd.net/accounts/skyline/web.html

Our new computerized assessment center is located across the hall from the entrance of the One-Stop Center. We have adopted ACCUPLACER and MDTP online, but we will still administer paper-pencil tests for students who for whatever reason don’t want to test on a computerized system. ACCUPLACER is a web-based, un-timed testing system published through ETS.

The DSP&S program and the EOP&S Programs are especially sensitive to customer service and go out of their way to make students feel “at home.” We often see their students hanging around or talking to counselors and staff. The Office Assistant II in the DSP&S office is friend and “mom” to some students. The Coordinator and her staff are truly ombudspersons for their students…and students know it.

Transforming ourselves from a group of separate entities to an integrated center is our current challenge. Physically and technologically we are integrated, but we are still working on integrating our processes. In Spring 2002, we formed a Vision Committee. The hope was that staff and faculty would look beyond their job descriptions and allow themselves to share their vision for the whole center not just their own departments.

The goals of the Vision Committee are as follows:

1. Facilitation of the campus’ move towards student, staff and faculty-centered services with an emphasis on productivity, effectiveness, accountability, satisfaction and improved access and quality.

2. The development of a holistic vision for integrated student services using technology as an infrastructure.

3. The integration of all student services but especially outreach, assessment, orientation, articulation, disability services, transfer and career exploration services with the instructional programs at the college.

4. Student access to Web for Students, a system designed with modules for services customized for students and integrated with the campus student information system.

5. The ongoing evaluation of satisfaction with services and the impact on student access and student success.

Evaluation is critical to improving services to students and helping ourselves to reach our goals. Student Services managers surveyed all staff and faculty in the One Stop Center soon after moving into the new space. The survey revealed that staff still felt that the center was working well and that students were happy with the layout and the services that they were receiving.

Students, as well as faculty, will be surveyed at the beginning of the fall 2002 and spring 2003 semesters. The Vision Committee will use these surveys to evaluate how well the committee met its goals. This evaluation will be completed by June 2003.

Our primary test for measuring our level of customer service to students is listening to what our students say about us. So far, their comments have been very positive.

Everyone is really friendly.

My perspective of Skyline has changed. What’s really important is the attitude of the faculty and staff towards the students. Thank you.

There is a welcome feeling, very helpful,

It doesn’t matter whether or not you are EOP&S or DSP&S people are very helpful

Service is very quick

Everybody is very friendly

People have the answers to your questions and they are willing to help you out.