Area Report for Board of Trustees

Core Theme 1: ACCESS, Reduce Barriers and close equity gaps to access for all community members

The Transition Success Center has had, and continues to have, an eventful and transformative academic year.  They have welcomed three new Peer Advisors to their team.  In collaboration with campus partners, they have expanded support for our ELCAP and HSEAS students by participating in initiatives like WES’ DSHS Mobile Resource Fair, hosting Registration Labs with Retention and Completion Services, conducting Paying for College workshops with Undocumented Task Force, and planning Info Session Workshops with Workforce.  This quarter they continue to offer quarterly workshops and to build valuable partnerships to enhance resources and opportunities for our students.

Workforce Outreach and Recruitment Efforts:

Group initiatives:

• Hold Quarterly Prof Tech info Session Series with Transition Success Center.
• Currently planning a Career Fair, scheduled for May, with the Career and Transfer Services team.
• On the planning committee for ELCAP Night with the Transition Success Center team.
• Supporting the Outreach team with Partners Breakfast, scheduled for February 27.

ELCAP support:

• Supported ELCAP Focus groups led by Christie Knighton during fall and winter quarter. The purpose of this initiative is to connect with Spanish speaking ELCAP students and get their feedback on gaps, personal/ professional/ physical needs, and generally hearing their stories.
• Quarterly ELCAP classroom visits (Jumpstart and higher level ESOL).
• ELCAP Vocab sheets. Created, with the help of Shana Friend, an ESOL accessible College Terminology sheet with a quiz activity for ELCAP faculty to share with their students.
• 2 Minute Fast Fact videos: Working with the marketing team and Sherri Chun to create 2 minute fast fact videos for Prof Tech programs.

Marketing efforts

• Prof Tech rack cards: Working with Sherri Chun to update rack cards for prof tech programs as well as tracking updates for future edits.
• Highline College coloring book and pages- Working with Nicole Riso to develop coloring sheets designed by her students in the Illustrative Design class to be used at community outreach events.
• Currently working on a “funding opportunities” rack card that has information on funding opportunities for students in prof tech programs.

WES Engagement:

• Weekly DSHS WES Referral Phone calls: Supporting the WES department with the phone portion of the DSHS referral process. Call different referral folks on a weekly basis and confirm their interest in BFET and potentially pursuing their education.
• Auburn Worksource Presentations: Supporting the WES department with leading Zoom presentations on the WES grants and resources available.

Other activities:

• Attend resource fairs and community tabling events.
• Independent outreach efforts depending on the needs of specific workforce programs.

Core Theme 2: STUDENT LEARNING, Increase educational success, collaborate to improve

This quarter the Learning and Teaching Center is holding a number of workshops and a community of practice to support faculty with navigating and learning how to integrate AI into their work and the classroom.  Events include a panel discussion on Navigating the Ethical Landscape of AI: Bias and Justice as well as a student panel, Student Voices on AI: Perspectives on Current and Future Uses and Challenges.

Core Theme 3: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS: Create a more inclusive working environment and a more valued, visible relationship with communities we serve

On July 1, 2024, The Puget Sound Welcome Back Center received a 3-year grant worth a total of $238,621 from the Port of Seattle and officially began implementing it on July 22, 2024. This grant aims to assist internationally educated professionals in entering construction trades adjacent to the Port of Seattle through licensure, certification, and recertification. The grant is available to professionals in the fields of engineering, geology, and architecture.

Number of People on our caseload as of 02/18/2025

Engineers = 98

Architect = 6

Geologists = 5

Grant Deliverables and Progress Made during the first 6 months

Core Theme 4: CULTURE & CAPACITY: Promote a campus culture which fosters equity and inclusivity supporting employee growth and development, and institutional capacity for transformation

Highline College received a $19,000 Climate Justice grant from the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges to advance climate justice initiatives on campus. This grant is based upon the climate justice work that Woody Moses (Biology faculty) and Darryl Brice (Sociology faculty) have been leading on campus for the past several years. The funding will provide faculty stipends to implement and assess existing climate justice curriculum – developed by previous cohorts across disciplines like History, Health, English, and Anatomy. The grant will also support expanded use of CO2 monitors for climate science education and fund new curriculum development centered on the Building 8 air quality monitor and Highline Forest. The college aims to partner with local tribes to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge of forest ecosystems into the program. Congratulations to Woody Moses for his leadership on applying for this grant and to Gayatri Sirohi, Jennifer Heckler and Colleen Sheridan who collaborated with Woody on the creation of this grant proposal.

Report submitted by Acting Vice President of Academic Affairs, Liz Word