Area report for Board of Trustees

Happy beginning of February.  2022 is off to a fast start.  We welcomed back more students in winter quarter as the number of in-person classes has increased while still providing faculty the option for various instructional modalities.  Our offices are open throughout the week to meet with prospective and current students and their families.  So even through our continued efforts to address the effects of the pandemic on our community, Highline College keeps moving forward with safety always being our top priority.

As our state Legislative session begins, our system Presidents, Trustees, faculty, staff, and students are testifying and preparing remarks in legislative hearings.  This will continue for the next few months. Many thanks in advance for our community members who are participating in these efforts.  And a special thanks to Chair Swensen who will be attending the 2022 Community College National Legislative Summit in Washington D.C. in the next week.  We appreciate your advocacy and dedication to Highline in your meetings with our national legislators.

My report is unusually short this month and while I’m not one to discuss private affairs, I did want to share that I was diagnosed with COVID a few weeks back and while I’m doing much better, it was (and is still) quite a shock to the body, especially after my medical leave last spring.  I share this with the campus for a variety of reasons.  One is that when I was diagnosed the contact tracing team contacted me immediately and was exceptional, fast and professional.  I felt seen, heard and attended to appropriately.  Many thanks to Francesca Fender and the other members of the contact tracing team for the wonderful work.  My doctors were quite impressed with their work and efforts as well.  Second, regardless of the politicizing of vaccines, boosters, masks and the like, I strongly believe that our public health team at Highline has done a wonderful job at ensuring the safety and calmness of the institution.  While I don’t expect everyone to agree with all the decisions made, I’m confident that the best interests of the campus are a priority as we make decisions based on science, CDC guidance and thoughtful communication.  Lastly, for someone who got COVID and one time is enough for me – please be safe in your decision making and interactions.  I feel very thankful that my bout wasn’t worse as friends of mine were and are still hospitalized.

I wish all of you a wonderful and safe February!

– John R. Mosby, Ph.D., President

Updates from ITS:

ITS staff continue to work to provide consistent support to students and employees while continuing our hybrid operations, particularly responding to faculty needs as they have returned to on-campus classrooms and labs this quarter.  Customer Services is preparing to receive some long-awaited equipment orders that have just arrived and are anxious to get them into the hands of users.  Laurinda Bellinger, IT Project Manager, is co-leading the Aviso Retention implementation project, which for ITS is currently focusing on data mapping and process alignment with ctcLink.  ITS staff continue to provide data, processing, and communications support to ongoing ctcLink operations, enrollment support and public health efforts.

– Tim Wrye, Executive Director & CIO, ITS

Updates from Human Resources:

Human Resources has three vacant positions in the areas of payroll and recruitment. Everyone in the office is working hard to cover these staffing gaps. We have a plan to cover this essential work but we look forward to identifying new members of our team.

This quarter the college will begin recruitments for thirteen faculty positions and various staff positions. The size of our candidate pools has declined recently so the college made the decision to invest in new recruitment resources. The Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) connects college with jobseekers from historically excluded and marginalized communities and helps support dual career candidates. Inside Higher Ed provides outreach to over one dozen BIPOC professional associations and sources. The HERC is a new recruitment source for the college; last year, we utilized Inside Higher Ed and it connected us to candidates who identified as people of color. We hope these sites will provide the additional outreach that is necessary to attract qualified candidates to our college.

– Summer Korst, Executive Director, Human Resources

Report submitted January 28, 2022, by President John. R. Mosby, Ph.D.