Retention Services

Meet Our Team

Chris Chavez, Program Coordinator

Chris is a Bay Area native, growing up in Saratoga, who has worked at Foothill College in the Office of Retention Services since June 2017.

After graduating from Saratoga High School, he earned a Bachelor's Degree in History from the University of Michigan. After college, Chris moved back to California to the Sacramento area.

Prior to Foothill, he worked at Sacramento State for six years in the athletic department, as both an academic coach for student-athletes and volunteer assistant for the Hornet Football team. During his time there, he had the fortune of working with a diverse group of students who inspired him to pursue a career in public education.

While in Sacramento, Chris earned a Master's Degree in Higher Education from Drexel University's Center for Graduate Studies, located down the street from the state capitol building. He completed his Master's thesis on the Academic Coaching program at Sac State.

As a Doctoral Student in Ed.D. Leadership program at San Jose State, his intended area of research is in Academic/Success Coaching as it is a relatively new field and there is not much dedicated research on it at this time. Success Coaching is about meeting students where they are at, and helping them develop the executive function and study skills needed to help them succeed in their academic career and beyond. Chris is passionate about this work as not all students come from the same backgrounds and may not have been able to develop these skills, Success Coaching serves an important purpose of making learning equitable by helping students not only develop important skills, but to build confidence and self-agency that will serve them well past their academic careers.

Now living in San Jose, Chris likes to spend his time working out, watching sports, and playing video games.

Kaitlyn Koo, Student Success Specialist

Kaitlyn was born in Southern California and raised in the Bay Area. After transferring from Ohlone College, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology at the University of California, Irvine. During this time, she helped build a mentorship program dedicated to helping transfer students succeed. As a part of her role in student government at UC, Irvine, she led classes, workshops, and events to support students’ academic, personal, and professional development and awareness of campus resources. As a Student Success Specialist, she is excited to connect with, learn from, and support students, instructors, and staff of all identities and backgrounds. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, rock climbing, golf, roller skating, relearning the Spanish she has forgotten from her high school courses, and hyping up others.