Caring Campus at Henry Ford College

Caring Campus is a nationally recognized initiative focused on creating a culture of care and connection across community colleges. The goal at HFC is to increase student success by ensuring that every student feels welcomed, supported, and valued.

Staff member and student smiling and holding a Henry Ford College banner flag

At Henry Ford College, our students achieve their greatest success when they feel a sense of belonging and connection to our campus community. Through Caring Campus, we are strengthening our commitment to student success by adopting intentional practices and behaviors that promote meaningful interactions and foster a supportive learning environment.

By working together across all departments and roles, we can create a campus culture in which students know they matter, barriers to success are reduced, and every individual is empowered to reach their educational and personal goals.

Join us as we continue to build a caring and connected Henry Ford College community. Together, we can make a lasting difference in the lives of our students and help them thrive inside and outside the classroom.

What is Caring Campus?

The Caring Campus concept was developed by the Institute for Evidence-Based Change (IEBC) as an effort to enhance students' experiences and sense of belonging, and their overall success.

HFC now joins more than 100 colleges across the United States that are implementing Caring Campus. There have been improvements in student satisfaction and success. Achievement gaps are being closed.

Caring Campus starts with behavioral commitments by college employees. Behavioral change among a large group of people leads to culture change. Caring Campus:

  • Encourages behavioral changes that improve and enhance student-focused efforts that are already being implemented. Behavioral change leads to culture change.
  • Is an intentional effort to make students feel welcome and create a sense of belonging.
  • Engages staff who are sometimes less visible in student success efforts, such as administrators and other non-faculty members.
  • Helps staff connect with one another and other employee groups to sustain a positive college environment.
  • Reexamines policy barriers to student success.

HFC’s Caring Campus Core Team

HFC’s Caring Campus Core Team comprises dedicated team members from across campus who create ideas, develop proposals, and implement a plan tailored to HFC’s approach to Caring Campus.

The Caring Campus Core Team is actively working to develop thoughtful, practical ideas for how the College will implement and strengthen the five Caring Campus Behavioral Commitments. This process involves reflecting on current practices, identifying areas where HFC can grow, and designing strategies that make these commitments visible and consistent across daily interactions.

Team members include:

1. Ten-foot rule

Being seen and acknowledged is important for students. The ten-foot rule supports welcoming and access.

Whenever a student is within about 10 feet of an employee, the employee should openly acknowledge them with a greeting, a smile, and friendly demeanor. If the student needs assistance, the employee should provide it or make a warm referral (see below).

In a virtual environment, efforts can include:

  • Reaching out to students via phone, email, and text.
  • Actively communicating important dates and details.
  • Letting students know we are available to answer questions, address their concerns, and generally help in whatever ways we can.

2. Wear name tags

Employees should name badges or lanyards with their names visible.

  • This is an invitation to, and indication of, friendliness.
  • It personalizes and humanizes people.
  • It reduces psychological distance.
  • Students know whom to approach if they have questions.

In a virtual environment, efforts can include:

  • Starting each contact with the employee’s name and department.
  • Making sure the employee has the student’s name and contact information in case they get disconnected.
  • Employees’ email messages should end in a standard, professional signature (name, title, phone number, email address, possibly small logo, and nothing more).

3. Cross-Departmental Awareness

When employees do not know what other departments on our campus do, it can be difficult to make the right referral for students when they are asking for help. One way to alleviate this is to learn more about student-facing departments and how they help students, including who the key people are in each area.

Employees will make a commitment to:

  • Learn about other departments and team members, so they know where to send students and how to connect them to a person.
  • Maintain accurate and updated directory information.
  • Implement a frequent review process to make sure their information is up to date.

4. Warm Referrals

If you are an employee and a student approaches you for help, it's OK if you do not know the answer. You can warmly refer them to someone who does.

  • Walk the student to wherever they need to go (if possible).
  • Call ahead to ensure someone is ready to assist the student.
  • Follow up to ensure the student’s question(s) were answered or their needs were met.

In a virtual environment, efforts can include:

  • Obtaining the student’s contact information, so you can provide it when you make a referral.
  • Making the connection on the student’s behalf by calling the receiving party.
  • Leveraging technology like Teams chat to see who is available to help.
  • Copying the student on the messages pertaining to their situation with the parties who are directly involved (being sure to respect privacy requirements).

Making these efforts will eliminate cold transfers (passing off the student without talking to the office whose help they need). It will also eliminate the student from repeating their story again and again.

5. Welcoming Students

Welcoming is about how someone feels when they meet you, and whether they see themselves as belonging at our College. We should look for any opportunity to welcome students.

Some efforts might include:

  • Setting up information tables the first week of the term.
  • Meeting students in parking lots or on campus walkways and guiding them where they need to go.
  • Being intentional about the student-facing behavioral commitments.
  • Welcoming students at all term start dates (15-week, 12-week, 8-week).
  • Sending a virtual greeting the first week to welcome students you work with.

For more information about Caring Campus, contact the HFC Caring Campus Liaison, Nikole Ford-Kondraciuk, nkford@hfcc.edu.