Butte College Selected for CA Pathways Initiative
Media Contact:
Virginia Guleff
Butte College Vice President for Instruction
Butte College Selected for CA Pathways Initiative
Butte College was recently selected as one of 20 California Community Colleges to participate in the California Guided Pathways Initiative.
The concept behind guided pathways is to make it easier for students to progress through their programs to achieve their degree, certificate, and transfer goals. Community colleges are complex
because they are open access and support students to achieve a wide variety of goals. Because of their complexities community colleges have historically focused on the courses they provide rather than the programs students are attempting to complete. The objective of this project is to provide better clarity to students about the sequences of courses they will need to take to meet their degree, certificate, and transfer goals and to align programs and services with these pathways.
“We’re very pleased to be one of 20 community colleges in the state selected to participate in this project. This was a very competitive process and it was the great work being done by our faculty and staff that enabled us to be selected. Transitioning to a guided pathways model is big and being part of this project will ensure that the college does this deliberately and efficiently,” said Butte College President Dr. Samia Yaqub. “Community
college students face significant obstacles that often prevent them from achieving their goals. These can include family responsibilities, preparation for college English and Math, and financial difficulties. The single most important thing we can do to help students complete is to provide clarity about what students need to do to meet their goals and to ensure that they have the classes and support to help them get there. This project will help us to do these things.”
The program will include a series of six institutes that will occur over the next two years. At the institutes, Butte College faculty and administrators will work collaboratively with leaders in the national pathways movement and other colleges to help the college to transition to a guided pathways model. Additionally, the college will be assigned a coach to help facilitate its progress.
"I am excited to collaborate with faculty leadership on the implementation of this initiative for the college," said Virginia Guleff, Vice President of Instruction.
" It is because of their outstanding foundational efforts that we were accepted for this program and ultimately why we will be successful. The students and our communities will greatly benefit from this work. "
