The Continuous Cultivation of Student Belonging at Community Colleges

Beyond textbooks and lecture halls, a reassuring sense of belonging helps drive student success at colleges across the country. Dr. Arlene Rodriguez knows this better than anyone and she is redefining what belonging means through intentional and relationship-driven interactions. Rodriguez has served in academic affairs leadership positions at three community colleges in Massachusetts, as well as a stint at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.

Dr. Rodriguez sat down with us to share how her teams work together to support students holistically, promote belonging, and encourage community engagement. She shared the key frameworks that she uses, how she leverages data, and how to turn even the most transactional experiences into relationship-building opportunities.

An Evermoving Target: Student Belonging

For most academic leaders, the concept of "belonging" is not a new one. However, Dr. Rodriguez believes institutions need to have a more nuanced understanding of what it means to foster student belonging. "Belonging restarts every semester, every class,” and it’s not one-and-done, she asserts. “If you don't understand a concept in your calculus class you're going to ask: ‘Can I do this? Do I belong?’...We have to recreate belonging all the time.”

To help faculty and staff become champions of student belonging, Dr. Rodriguez is a proponent of a pedagogical approach called “Real Talk,” based on the work of Dr. Paul Hernandez. This framework shifts interactions from a transactional approach — submit your transcript, sign here — to one of relationship-building. It encourages staff to connect with students on a deeper level. “How do you move away from checklist-transactional culture to a culture where the person who is serving you in the admissions office says ‘I also went to a community college’?” she asks. "The student should not be the only vulnerable one in the room. How do you share that vulnerable story: that I also went to community college, or was a single parent, or faced similar fears."

Dr. Rodriguez shares that this mindset shift has been transformative at the institutions she’s worked at, particularly for functions that traditionally have viewed themselves as transactional. She explains that historically, "you never admitted that you didn't know something — but now it’s a more organic way of learning and creating that sense of belonging at every given point."

Every interaction, no matter how brief, can impact a student's sense of belonging. "We intersect at different points of our days, and you don't know what went on in my day," Dr. Rodriguez reminds us. She recounts a powerful anecdote about a cafeteria worker at her previous institution who would package up the leftovers and hand them out to students when the cafeteria closed. She’d say, “Here — if you’re hungry now, or save it for dinner.” But more than that, she’d sit with them, ask what they were studying, and learn their names. “She made a difference in a positive way." Dr. Rodriguez recounted. If there were a retention chart with lines for these small acts of kindness, she said, there would be a line directly attributed to this staff member.

It’s also important to consider that no matter what type of support a student may or may not be receiving otherwise, these small interactions can still have an outsized impact. Even with initiatives like Massachusetts' free community college program, MassReconnect, not all students qualify and navigating financial aid can be daunting. This reality underscores the need for intentional hiring: Dr. Rodriguez sums up her hiring philosophy with the statement, "We need people with compassion.” This comes down to staff who understand that their job is to educate but also to support and care.

Bridging Academic and Student Affairs for an Integrated Approach

Some institutions aim to holistically support students through their integrated and collaborative leadership structure. At her former institution, Dr. Rodriguez oversaw both academic and student affairs, which is not always the case in higher ed. For her, the challenge becomes: "How do you bring the philosophies together? You have one group that is very much about learning content and pedagogy, and the other group is well-versed in student development. How can we bring them together so that they're not pointing fingers at each other?” she muses. Ultimately, it comes down to supporting the student to earn their credential. She emphasizes that students don't differentiate between departments: "A student doesn’t look at one of my deans and think, ‘That’s Academic Affairs.’ A student thinks ‘I need help and who can get me that help?’".

This integrated approach requires a strong leadership team committed to collaboration. She gave an example of a Dean of Students at her former institution engaging in curriculum conversations and weighing in on what support services were needed and the impact of tutoring on new programs. This collaborative spirit and creativity also allows for proactive problem-solving, often before issues escalate to committee discussions. Additionally, it serves as an opportunity for newer staff to learn “both sides of the house.”

Shaping Well-Rounded Students Through Community and Civic Engagement

Beyond helping students be successful academically and in the workforce, community colleges are often very involved in the community and promoting civic engagement. Dr. Rodriguez’s former institution runs an entire department dedicated to civic engagement and learning, and the department plays a critical role during elections. Their work helps inform students and the community and works with outside organizations, such as the League of Women Voters, to share information about issues on the ballot.  

Community involvement also extends to affinity-based student groups and city events. For example, her former institution engages in volunteer work for both students and staff. Working with organizations like the Boys and Girls Club helps to "engage with the community in really relevant, significant ways throughout the students' time here,” she explains, whether that is via workforce programs or project-based work. Workforce-related programs could look like a communications department chair connecting students with the Massachusetts film and TV industry for projects, providing real exposure to the industry.

Dr. Rodriguez underscores that while the workforce side is important, employers consistently seek "a well-rounded individual who can communicate, write, and work well with others." She acknowledges that "academic affairs people can take care of the content knowledge. It's these other opportunities that engage students and help them to really identify as that person."

Taking Action on Data to Promote Equity

To successfully serve all students, Dr. Rodriguez shared the importance of digging into data. For example, her former institution  worked on disaggregating data, identifying which characteristics are important to break down, and making sure everyone can understand the data. This includes developing dashboards for 15 key metrics that they know “move the needle," which are also shared across departments. The data analysis extended beyond first-year outcomes, such as math and English completion, to include second-year outcomes as well.

Achieving the Dream’s Community Vibrancy Framework can also help institutions dive deeper into their data. The framework helps them conduct "deep dives into every zip code, and  breaking it down to specific metrics such as bachelor's attainment and salaries within that zip code." This is crucial given for institutions serving regions with economic diversity that are home to both low-income and affluent communities. Dr. Rodriguez is a big believer in this framework as it helps institutions deepen their equity work by focusing on the surrounding community.

Aside from dashboards and frameworks, Dr. Rodriguez encourages her team to take the next step and chart out a course of action. "It's easy to do the deep dive, so it's always important that we pull back and ask, ‘Where's the application of this data? How do we use it?’ Data is meant to be used and to inform, not simply just to be read.” I tell folks: “Curiosity is nice, but for the next hour, I need you to be actionable," she emphasizes. To help encourage a culture of action, her former institution holds annual data summits, led by the Institutional Research team. Dr. Rodriguez shared that these summits led to faculty and staff further engaging with data and having better discussions.

“Our job is to serve a community. Our community remains a diverse community. We are going to do that work to make sure students have what they need—to make sure that we're providing an equity-minded curriculum and equity-minded services," Dr. Rodriguez concludes.