Santa Rosa Junior College will launch a Santa Rosa campus-focused app at the start of the 2019 spring semester while also adding new features to the existing Petaluma campus app.
The SRJC campus app will allow Santa Rosa students to access their student portal, schedule of classes, student resources and campus events, all of which are currently available in Petaluma’s version. Students can download the app from the Apple and Android app stores.
“The mobile app is a platform that allows us to provide an online space for the SRJC community,” said Toni Bacigalupa, Petaluma Student Resource Center coordinator. “Students can use it to meet other people, get connected to resources on campus and get involved in campus life.”
Dalya Amador, a 20-year-old child development major who takes most of her classes in Petaluma, enjoys the app and uses it daily for student resources.
“I mainly check it and use it to find out when there is an event on campus and also more when it comes time for the new semester checking out what books are being sold by people,” Amador said. “I’m excited for a new updated version and I hope that it becomes a little bit more user-friendly so that more people begin to use it.”
The app has an Instagram- and Facebook-like feed that shows posts from clubs, campus police and other students. Job postings are also available.
“Specific groups and clubs around campus each have their own page that students can join to keep up to date with what’s happening there and each campus service has its own page for students to access information about the service,” Bacigalupa said.
Dean of Student Services Matthew Long was crucial to the app’s development after having launched an app at his previous college. He worked with the winning bidder, Ready Education, to develop the app in January 2016. It first launched in Petaluma as a beta for the larger district community.
“The cost was several thousand dollars a year for Petaluma, and will now increase to a bit over $20,000 a year as we expand to the full District,” he said. “The expansion will now be supported by funds SRJC has been awarded for our Student Success Team program which recently won the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Award for Innovation, and by Career Education’s Strong Workforce Program.”
Both Long and Bacigalupa are proud of the app’s functionality and availability.
“We are eagerly meeting students where they’re at and leading in innovation and testing out new technologies,” she said. “The world of communication is changing rapidly as technology advances and we are doing our best as a university to stay current and create opportunities for connections within our community.”