Helena College

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Action Plan

Next Steps

Person Responsible

Implementation Date

Recommendation 1:
Establish goals for retention and completion.

Helena College has established 5% increase in retention and completion as the goal for the coming 25-26 academic year.

Review data from CCSSE survey and dashboard to determine what changes can be implemented to help with retention and completion of American Indian students.

Cabinet

 

Spring 2025

Recommendation 2:
Senior level point of contact.

N/A

The Executive Director of Enrollment will remain in this position.

Sarah Dellwo, Executive Director of Enrollment reporting directly to the Dean/CEO

Ongoing

Recommendation 3: Department points of contact.

Helena College departmental points of contact will provide focused areas of expertise and will coordinate with the College’s AIMA student representative.

Reconfirm points of contact on an annual basis to account for departmental changes.  

·         Financial Aid – Financial Aid Specialist/Work Study Coordinator – Dana Palen

·         Admissions/Registrar– Executive Director of Enrollment – Sarah Dellwo

·         Student Health and Counseling – Disabilities Resource Coordinator – Kasandra Reddington and Director of Wellbeing and Engagement – Katelynn Eberhardt

·         Human Resources – Executive Director of Operations -  Kelley Turner

·         Advising– Academic Advisor – Greg Thompson and Executive Director of Enrollment – Sarah Dellwo

Ongoing – Updated every August for the upcoming school year

Recommendation 4:
Data collection and dissemination.

Use the American Indian Student Success Dashboard to help the campus understand how American Indian students are being served.

Ensure Cabinet is reviewing the information on a semester basis to understand what progress is being made or areas where action needs to be taken.

Spring of 2025 we offered the Community College Survey of Student Engagement. A national survey with benchmarking at similar institutions. This data will be reviewed fall of 2025, which will include a review of American Indian student responses.

Director of Institutional Research – Jesse Pate

Executive Director of Enrollment – Sarah Dellwo

Ongoing and Fall 2025

Recommendation 5:
Include the American Indian voice for search process when hiring campus leaders and assess leadership candidate’s knowledge and cultural sensitivity and history of Montana’s First Peoples.

Update information provided to hiring committee chairs highlight and include ways the American Indian voice can be included and assessed through the hiring process. 

Human Resources and the Executive Director of Enrollment will work through the information provided to hiring chairs to make appropriate updates. We will also work with UM HR for some best practices in this area.

Director of Human Resources – Kelley Turner

Executive Director of Enrollment – Sarah Dellwo

Spring 2026

Recommendation 6:  
Provide annual professional development opportunities for all faculty and staff in the areas of Indian Education for All, American Indian Culture, and cultural sensitivity and the history of Montana’s first peoples.

Helena College highlights trainings centered around American Indians through the Monday Morning Memo. Trainings highlighted include the Centering Indigenous Knowledge Webinar series. A campus wide book club will be happening fall of 2025 of the Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

For the academic year 25-26 COLS 101 students will read the Serviceberry as part of their texts for the class. This will also be opened up for the entire campus to read the book and participate in a book club to discuss what we can learn. We will continue to highlight professional development opportunities in the Monday Morning memo staff and faculty.

COLS 101 Instructors

Deans Office

 

Ongoing and AY year 25-26

Recommendation 7: Incorporate American Indian Professional Development in all new employee orientations.

All new employees are required to take American Indian Education Course upon hire.

Continue offering of AIEA course to all new employees

Human Resources

Ongoing

Recommendation 8:
Develop a plan to use Apply Montana and FASFA completion efforts to support American Indian student access to the MUS.

A communication plan has been developed using email, texts, and calls, to reach out to students on a monthly (sometimes more frequent basis) to offer assistance on completing the steps of application, financial aid, and advising registration. This is done through the information gathered from Apply Montana and FASFA. There are also points where the steps for the tuition waiver are highlighted.

Follow communication plan for the 25-26 season and review response rate for additional modification of messaging.

Admissions Office

Financial Aid Office

AY 25-26