PVCC’s Agents of Social Change

PVCC’s tagline is “Opportunity. Access. Excellence.” To meet the college’s goal, the Student Success Office aims to assist PVCC students by working with them to figure out their needs and types of services required to help with their personal and academic goals. 

To reach a student’s definition of success, PVCC’s Director of Student Success Office, Dr. David Lerman, says that the office also works on personal stages of development by providing a strong supportive network of people who can help students and who also believe in them.

It is likely that you have received messages from Lerman and student success advisers; students are automatically enrolled for text messages from PVCC. Students are able to reach out to the advisers through text messages for quick questions. However, it is best to make an appointment to talk to an adviser. The appointment can be held in-person, through Zoom or by phone call, and you are able to talk about your concerns, whether it is something recent that is bothering you or from years ago.

Oftentimes, the Student Success Office receives alerts from professors, and the office’s advisers do their best to reach out to students to keep students on track with their program. For example, advisers reach out to students who are missing documents for financial aid to ensure that the students can continue attending classes, and the advisers also reach out to students who are consistently missing assignments so the students do not fail out of a program.

Roughly 8 million undergraduate students in the country go to community college, and half of them leave in a year, according to Lerman. He said, “That’s a tremendous cost to those students and their families. Not financial cost, but opportunity cost.” The advisers at the Student Success Office listen hard to students and are trusted to help students achieve a chance to get the degree or certificate that  will make a difference for themselves and their family.

Lerman said, “I like the idea that community colleges are, I guess the modern phrase would be, agents of social change. We are trying to help people from whatever walks of life, whatever race, whatever sexual orientation, change their lives, which then affects the lives of those who follow them.”

The Student Success Office is located in Room 136 of the Main Building. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Click here to visit their webpage to find out how to schedule an appointment with the advisers and more.