COD4COD Newsletter Volume 1

April 2015

Employee Giving Newsletter Scholarships Help Students Attend COD

What is COD4COD?

What is COD4COD? It is the College’s Employee Giving program, run through the COD Foundation, and it allows you to donate to any part of COD that you feel most passionate about, including faculty grants, the MAC and student scholarships to name a few.

It is the College’s Employee Giving program that allows you to give to the area of COD that you are most passionate about.

There are more than 200 different scholarship options and programs for you to choose from and if you cannot find one that suits you, there is a way to create your own!

Last year more than 100 employees supported scholarships, which made attending COD possible for students like Ivonne Hernandez.

“Whenever someone asks me what school I attend, I proudly say College of DuPage. And whenever I meet someone who is planning to attend college, I recommend COD.”

Employee donations can be made any time of year through COD4COD, but we encourage gifts during the campaign from April 15 to May 15, 2015.

View our COD4COD FAQs! Visit www.cod.edu/cod4cod

—Ivonne Hernandez

As a working adult, Ivonne knew it would not be easy returning to school.

She received financial help through the COD Foundation Scholarship program—made possible by donors like you! In 2014, Ivonne received the Jill Johnson Hall Memorial Scholarship.

She didn’t even live in DuPage County when she began researching colleges.

But after looking into College of DuPage, Ivonne decided it was a school worth moving for. She also discovered she could earn a bachelor’s degree through the 3+1 program.

For questions or to learn more contact the COD Foundation at (630) 942-2462 or foundation@cod.edu.

“This type of program fits my needs as a working adult going back to school, and I no longer need to worry about finding another school after COD,” she said. “After I first started looking into COD, all of the pieces fit into place like a puzzle. I needed a school that I could afford, that would also allow me to keep my current job and that would fit my schedule.”

Donate to scholarships today! Visit www.cod.edu/cod4cod

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Your Donation Makes a Difference!

Last year you raised almost $33,000 for student scholarships and programs! Remember, every donation makes an impact on the lives of students. Our goal is for every COD faculty and staff person to make a donation each year. Please print a form and make your gift today!

Visit www.cod.edu/cod4cod for details.

Scholarship Support: $18,106.51, 55%

For questions about COD4COD contact the COD Foundation at (630) 942-2462 or foundation@cod.edu.

Or contact a 2015 COD4COD Chair:

Program Support: $14,763.17, 45%

Mark Collins Associate Dean of Adjunct Faculty collinsm152@cod.edu Tracey Frye Student Affairs Administrative Assistant fryetr@cod.edu Robyn Johnson News Bureau Manager johnsnro@cod.edu

Program Support Scholarship Support

Diana Martinez McAninch Arts Center Director martinezd59@cod.edu

Last year, the top 10 funds employees supported included:

Lauren Morgan Speech Communication Professor morgan@cod.edu

· Resource for Excellence Fund · General Scholarship Fund · Catherine M. Brod Scholarship for Speech and Theater · Donald Carter Memorial Scholarship Fund · Healthcare Instructional Support · MAC General Fund · G.E.D. Scholarship Fund · Margarita Salazar Respiratory Therapy Scholarship · Dr. Joseph and Donna Collins Student Success Scholarship · College of DuPage Faculty Association Scholarship

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Resource for Excellence Spotlight: Jane Smith The work of Jane Smith, Director of Enrollment Services, is a wonderful example of the innovative, collaborative, interdepartmental efforts on campus to benefit students. Jane and a campus-wide team identified a way to streamline the student enrollment process through a series of seminars on campus. Funding for the project was secured through the College of DuPage Foundation Resource for Excellence Grant. As a grant recipient, Enrollment Services was awarded $17,480 by the Foundation to be used throughout the development and implementation phases of the program.

What are Resource for Excellence Grants?

Resource for Excellence is an internal grant program designed to foster innovation by providing seed money to test new ideas, pilot new programs or services, or conduct research. The Foundation recognizes that given the resources, all COD employees have the capacity to contribute to the improvement of instruction and support given to the students and community we serve.

Learn more at www.cod.edu/ foundation.

“Don’t be afraid of a big idea, think in terms of a pilot program upon which you can build,” —Jane Smith In summer of 2014, the program was implemented and 178 students attended the grant-funded New Student Enrollment Seminars, which gave them an opportunity to complete multiple enrollment tasks such as registering, academic advisement, time management and financial assistance. From the beginning to the end, “connection” opportunities with student leaders, staff and counselors were created to make the interaction easy and fun. A couple student comments from the experience: “I learned a lot today and feel better about attending in the fall” and “very helpful and highly recommended.”

The success and results can be seen in higher credit hour registration, higher GPAs and a higher overall percentage of student registrations.

The plan moving forward is to follow the students that participated and make a concerted effort to continue to interact. Research has proven that continuous engagement activities have a positive influence on student success, which also impact completion rates and provide a comprehensive student experience from the very start.

For questions or to learn more contact the COD Foundation at (630) 942-2462 or foundation@cod.edu.

What is Jane’s advice to other departments when starting a new program?

“Don’t be afraid of a big idea, think in terms of a pilot program upon which you can build,” she said. To learn more about the Resource for Excellence Grant program, go to: www.cod.edu/foundation.

Way to go Jane and to all that made this idea a reality!

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