Dean, Career and Technical Education

800 College Avenue

Weed, CA 96094

at the College of the Siskiyous (COS) through the development of a marketing campaign

specifically designed to highlight non-traditional populations and promote occupational

diversity The College of the Siskiyous maintains a Special Populations Advisory

Committee that oversees efforts for special population students. The committee which

meets monthly is comprised of staff from Career and Technical Education, Financial Aid,

DSP&S, MESA, Upward Bound, EOPS/SSS/ CARE Counseling, Learning Services and

Resource Development. This committee along with the Public Relations Office and

students were involved in the Learn More, Earn More project.

The project was funded through a mini grant from the North/Far North Regional consortium.

Grant funds were used to hire a graphic artist to design a poster and brochure and for the costs

associated with printing. The graphic artist photographed College of the Siskiyous students

enrolled in their occupational programs. Photographs depicting diversity and students in

nontraditional programs were selected for the brochure, poster and college website. The theme

“Learn More = Earn More” was selected from the 2002 Special Populations Conference and

modified by removing the = sign. The Advisory Review Team provided feedback to the

graphic artist for all phases of the project. A diverse student population was selected from the

MESA and Upward Bound programs to review the Spanish version of the brochure as well as

English Brochure and poster.

The Special Populations marketing materials are included in the general college recruitment

packets as well as in program specific marketing activities. Siskiyous’ goal is to realize an

overall increase of 5% for special population and nontraditional students in their occupational

programs. The core measures as well as institutional data will be reviewed over the next two

years.

This project could be easily replicated by other community colleges. It is recommend that prior

to the contracting of a graphic artist, that work is accomplished through the advisory committee

and college art or graphic art departments to establish a theme and design a draft. This can save

both time and money needed.