The Hub at MHCC is a central location for Student Services offices, including Advising; Orientation Center; Financial Aid; Accessible Education Services; Admission, Records and Registration. The Hub brings these spaces together and makes it easier for students to access them.

While creating the new student onboarding experience, students, staff, faculty and administration were asked how the College could improve. They unanimously agreed that the Student Services offices spread across campus made navigating the College difficult. Students reported being bounced from office to office. The Hub concept was created to consolidate the departments into one area and also revise how we offer services to our students.

Students are at the center of this project. During research, planning and preparation for the Hub, all decision-making was focused on how we can best serve our students. This spring, MHCC Associated Student Government (ASG) took a lead role in finalizing decisions related to the overall design.

The Hub project was only realized with the tireless effort and support of colleagues across campus. Members of the New Student Experience Taskforce were instrumental in the development of the Hub project. Staff from Admission, Records and Registration; Financial Aid, the Career Planning and Counseling Center, AVID/Learning Support Center, TRiO, Transitions/Transiciones, the Academic Advising and Transfer Center, Accessible Education Services, Administrative Services, International Student Programs, Adult Basic Skills, IT, Human Relations, Student Life, District Communications, Facilities, and faculty from across the College, all played important roles in the development of the Hub project.

Initial funding for the Hub came from MHCC's Title III Retention Initiative. Once the scope of the project was identified, the MHCC Foundation donated the funds to ensure completion. No general fund dollars are being used for this project.

Support for this project involves the entire community. This includes the MHCC Board of Education, MHCC Foundation, MHCC President Skari, CFO Jennifer DeMent, Executive Dean of SDS John Hamblin and the entire MHCC administrative leadership team. The MHCC Classified Association, the FT Faculty Association, and the MHCC Title III team all helped to successfully complete this project too.

The planning and preparation phase is complete. Construction is now underway. The overall schedule is:

• Spring Term 2019 – Business Office moves to new location (Room AC 50)
• Late Spring/Early Summer (May/June) 2019 – Construction begins on north Hub area (current location of FA and Business Office)
• Summer (June) 2019 – Construction begins in main Hub area (current location of Enrollment Services)
• Summer (July) 2019 – Construction begins in South Hub area (current location of AATC, OC and AES)
• Later Summer/Early Fall – Grand opening BEFORE the start of Fall term 2019
• Fall 2019 through Spring 2020 – Assessment & Continuous Improvement (aka "working out the kinks.")

During construction, affected departments will be temporarily located to prevent disruption to student services. Room AC50 will be used, as well as the Student Union. Each department will have specific needs, so details will vary by department. Temporary space will be used to: lessen any disruption to service to students, keep staff safely away from dust and debris involved in construction, and ensure we only move staff once if possible.

The construction of the Hub alone will not solve all the issues that students have reported experiencing on our campus. It is the people that matter. The Hub is reflective of What Is Possible, even on a campus experiencing low enrollment and shrinking budgets. This project was made possible because the campus community believes we can serve our students in a more effective and efficient manner.

We will continue to evaluate our new student services model and refine as needed so that we can improve. There are opportunities to improve with every new project. As long as we learn from our missteps and maintain a commitment to improving services for students, the Hub will become the place it was intended to be and serve as a source of pride at MHCC.