Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back! I hope you had a chance to rest, recharge, and spend time doing activities with the people you love. This fall, we’re welcoming one of the largest student surges in recent years. That’s worth celebrating — and it also means each of us has an important role in helping them feel at home from the moment they arrive.
Let’s Welcome Our Students
Many will be stepping onto an ACC campus for the first time. We get to be the ones who can show them they belong here. That’s why we introduced our new calendar blackout days, where we pause most internal meetings and trainings on the first two days of the semester to focus our time and energy where it belongs: on our students. If the work we’re doing on these two days doesn’t directly help our students get started, it can wait. We need to be fully present. I encourage you to sign up for a Welcome Riverbats shift –– get on campus, greet students with a smile, walk them to their classroom, answer a question, or connect them with resources. Those small moments create lasting first impressions, and they matter.
Let’s Connect Them With Our Resources
I am excited to share an update on the Students web page. It’s been refreshed to make it easier for students to find what they need and promote our support services front and center. This enhancement was built in collaboration with input from our students and support from employees across the College. I encourage you to explore the page, talk with students about it, and share any feedback you hear so we can continue refining it together.
We’ve also made great progress with our Theory of Change, especially in ways that help us meet basic needs. Below are some highlights:
- Riverbat Bites Food Pantries – Now available on all campuses, stocked to support students facing food insecurity.
- Wayfinding Improvements – Fresh signage and digital maps are now on campus. The goal is to make it easier to get around. This is just the first step in a long-term plan to help everyone feel at home on campus.
- New Community Partnerships – Rolling out new community partnerships like ConnectATX and Housing Connector to connect our students with resources for food, affordable housing, healthcare, child care, and more.
- Student Advocates – Send our students to the experts at sac-group@austincc.edu. These advocates are true case managers who can work one-on-one with students to identify root challenges and connect them with the right resources to keep them on track.
The full list is on our website at austincc.edu/studentsupport.
Let’s Take a Moment To Celebrate
I can’t say enough about how proud I am of this ACC community. The enrollment surge is proof that more students are choosing ACC as their pathway to a better future. That doesn’t happen if we’re not working together.
This summer, you created nearly 500 new course sections, hired and welcomed 330 new full-time and adjunct faculty members, and worked side-by-side to make sure we had the talent in place to meet student needs. Meeting this moment has taken incredible teamwork.
This is what it looks like when a college community comes together to put students first. I’m deeply grateful for the way you’ve shown up for our students — and for each other.
ACC is where our community turns for opportunity and growth. I’m deeply grateful for your commitment and care.
Much love,
russell
Russell Lowery-Hart, Ph.D.
Chancellor
Austin Community College District
Tags: Blackout Dates, Students, Welcome Back
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