Area Report for Board of Trustees

The Institutional Advancement division is made up of the following groups: Communications and Marketing (CM), Outreach and Recruitment (OR), Grants and Government Relations (GGR), Foundation and Alumni Relations (FAR). IA is involved in many different areas on and off Highline’s campus, ranging from promoting our College at local high schools, assisting with writing grants for key programs and raising money for student support and special projects, or skillfully crafting advertisements to placement on or in wide array of medium such as busses, billboards and movie theaters. Institutional Advancement is there to do just that: advance our institution. Our 2022-2023 reports to the board will focus on our goals and objectives identified in Institutional Effectiveness Reports (IE). The SBDC/StartZone and COE for Global Trade and Supply Chain Management also report through IA and updates on these programs and their goals will be shared periodically.

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

Throughout February and early March, Outreach & Recruitment (OR), in collaboration with departments across campus, hosted over 400 students from 4^th grade to 9^th grade in a series of campus visits. Participating schools included Auburn Mountain View, Renton High School, Sacajawea Middle School, Mt. Baker Middle School and Evergreen Heights Elementary. These young scholars were provided with information about Highline College and the pathway from elementary school to college graduation. Their visits included classroom demonstrations by faculty, workshops with student services and campus tours.

The Communications and Marketing Team/Web Team continue to work on improving Highline College’s top-level website and most visited subdomains. The team has been working with key departments and a representative from Campus Works on the Website goals shared through the Student Success plan, including meeting with vendors to research and identify the new web platform for the launching of a Content Management System (CMS).

Tanisha Williams, program specialist 4, scholarships and alumni relations, has been working with ITS, Financial Aid and scholarship platform Awardspring to provide SSO and data integration for the Foundation Scholarship Application. This will provide students the ability to access the scholarship application with their Highline credentials and to pre-populate the application with information from CTC Link, which will create ease of access and completion for scholarships. Tanisha has also utilized 100% of budgeted funds from the foundation for short term emergency scholarships in fall and winter quarter and opened up the spring quarter application in early March.

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

Outreach and Recruitment team participated in several community events such as the Federal Way State of the City Resource Fair on 2/16 and the Equity in Education Summit at Federal Way Public Schools Admin Building on 2/22.

Sharon Vail, Director of Philanthropy, has been hard at work connecting with our local community members such as new foundation board members from St. Anne’s Hospital and Mercantile Marine, as well as employees on campus. Part of her efforts include the recently launched employee survey that was sent to all staff and faculty groups via email. The goal of this survey is to gather feedback from our campus community in what they would like to see in the Signature Event being held on October 7^th, as well as understanding what ways the Foundation team can be more effective in our outreach. With Sharon’s experience and fresh perspective, we’re striving to reach new goals and continue the great work of the Foundation.

Shakira Ericksen, Josh Gerstman and Dave O’Keeffe have submitted $1.5 million requests to Senator Murray’s Office and Congressman Adam Smith’s Office to support the future renovation of our soccer field/track into an all-weather turf multi-sports field. Here is an excerpt from our application:

A new synthetic turf field, with lights, seating, concessions and restroom facilities will benefit both the college and the entire community. Students, local soccer clubs, flag football teams, Unified Sports (which bring together students with and without disabilities), lacrosse teams, marching bands, regional tournaments, summer camps, community events, and other groups will have a safe place to play and gather. Local residents will be able to enjoy the walking track around the field which connects with local trails and roads. Everyone who uses the field will be exposed to other opportunities at Highline College.

Division Honors and Achievements

Sam Kaplan, Center of Excellence for Global Trade and Supply Chain Management, co-presented with Jennifer Jones at the Community College International Development Conference in Washington DC on Highline’s Short Term Study Abroad in Vietnam. Shakira Ericksen, Government Relations, was in attendance to support and provide key introductions to conference attendees from the State Department.

Foundation team members Ashley Smith, Sharon Vail, Tanisha Williams and Joshua Gerstman attended the Washington Association of Foundation Leaders (WAFL) meeting at Centralia College on February 23-24 to connect with college foundation colleagues from around the state, learn best practices around alumni engagement, employee giving and scholarship/emergency fund programs.

Report submitted by Vice President Joshua Gerstman.