Area Report for Board of Trustees

The Student Services Division has three (3) primary goals for the 2021-2022 academic year. The primary goals include the following: Strategic Enrollment, Service Delivery Excellence, and Development and Integration of EDI Framework

Development and Integration of EDI Framework

The Center for Cultural & Inclusive Excellence (CCIE) hosted Highline College’s Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Week (MLK Week), Tuesday, January 18 – Friday, January 21, 2022. MLK Week is a signature programming series of educational events, programs, and activities geared toward examining and celebrating the life, legacy and timeless radical teachings of Rev. Dr. King, Jr. This year’s MLK Week theme was, Reclaim & Reimagine: Grounded in an Era of Transformation.

The TRiO Upward Bound Grant writing team, lead by Dean Ay Saechao and Dave O’Keefe with input from faculty, staff, and administrators across the college community, wrote a TRiO grant application, with the intent to secure additional funding to serve historically excluded populations. The team received input and support from multiple community organizations, including the College Success Foundation. Highline Public School District also partnered with the College towards this effort. Approval of the grant could yield $1.4 million for Highline College. The grant funds could provide capacity for Highline College to develop a TRiO program for first-generation and low-income students at Mt. Rainier High School. The funding could also help enhance the educational pipeline from Mt. Rainier and Highline Public Schools with Highline College. The TRiO grant application is due at the end of January 2022. The College expects to hear about the grant award in summer 2022.

Counseling is hiring a new Faculty Counselor to replace a retiring Faculty Counselor position. The team wrote the job description with EDI at the center, specifically looking for candidates with a multiculturally competent and social justice counseling practice. Faculty Counselor, Daryllyn Harris, is partnering with the Library to present Highline Reads: Black Feminism and Womanism on Tuesday, February 22nd at 1pm, connecting Black Womanist thought and mental health. Faculty Counselor, Gloria Rose Koepping, attended the Multicultural Conference and Summit on January 5th and 6th. Faculty Counselor, Joshua Magallanes, received the prestigious MVP award for Passion and Play from the Compete Sports Diversity Awards.

Strategic Enrollment Management

Workforce Education Services will begin communicating with students via text with Signal Vine. Staff will work with Tim Wrye on implementation. With students using their cell phones to navigate Highline’s systems.

Faculty Counselor, Joshua Magallanes, partnered with Student Conduct Manager, Izzy Wroblewksi, to provide crisis intervention training to Campus View student and professional staff on January 4th and 5th.

Entry Advising has two new staff. Kareen Maloney, Highline alum, began as the new Program Manager of Entry Advising. She will focus on New Student Orientation for all students, developing tracking systems for entry services & outcomes. Angela Thao is a new Entry Advisor, providing direct, holistic navigation and pre-enrollment support to potential and incoming students. These positions are funded through Title III and Guided Pathways.

Service Delivery Excellence

Faculty Counselor, Nicole Hoyes Wilson, testified pro on HB 1840 before the House College and Workforce Committee on January 19th. The bill expands the mental health pilots passed in bill 5194 last year from 4 schools to 8 schools. Highline applied for the grant this year and was an alternate. The department plans to apply again, giving the college funding for an additional faculty counselor.

International Student Programs (ISP) will extend foreign university partnerships with the addition of Daekyeung University, located in Daegu, Korea. A proposal drafted this month looked at securing funding from the Papuan government to send students to Highline with the intent of enrolling in our BAS programs. The decision will likely come in May and the program slated for fall.

With the intent to develop, assess, and review business practice, advising and enrollment service’s transcript evaluation policies and procedures were updated resulting in reduced time for transcript evaluations. Enrollment Services reviewed 233 graduation applications and conferred 135 credentials for Fall 2021. The Advising and Enrollment Services Department has also focused on reimagining service alignment, which has resulted in the following:

Previously ELCAP students were referred from Building 6 to Building 19 to begin enrollment into ELCAP programs. With the opening of the new Entry Advising Department in Building 6, students are now welcomed to complete their applications and ELCAP orientation (eliminating the need for referral).

Fifty (50) new students have completed the Get Started Questionnaire which is included in admissions letters since launching in November. This survey is a way to assess students’ individual needs and interests and connect them with appropriate services and resources. There are 200 scheduled Entry Advising Appointments.

Report submitted January 26, 2022, by Interim Vice President Jamilyn Penn, Ed.D.