Area Report for Board of Trustees

The Equity, Diversity, and Transformation (EDT) Division is charged with embedding equity in everything we do at Highline College. Below are updates of the ongoing work.

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

• The Moving Towards Serving Team partnered with Lizeth Favela-Lopez who serves as the Office of EDT Student Ambassador to host a second event focused on Latinx-identifed students. The event, Loteria and Antojitos, brought in multi-generational students and families. Faculty, staff, students and their families came together to play Loteria and enjoy some Mexican snacks. The event brought in over 70 participants.
• A cross-divisional team including the Office of EDT, led by Aleyda Cervantes (Interim Director of Outreach), organized a student and family event featuring best selling author Reyna Grande.This event is scheduled for April 9.
• Dr. Jimenez was an invited guest to the Whites on Whites affinity group to discuss and better understand how we can work together to continue our journey of becoming an anti-racist institution. This affinity group is made up of faculty, staff, and administrators.

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

• The Cultural Learning Communities, in collaboration with Title III, is hiring a Latinx Advising and Retention Program Manager that will focus on serving the students that are Latinx identified, undocumented students, and students that will be part of the upcoming Latinx learning community (coming fall 24). The new hire will be announced next week and they will begin work on April 16. 
• Dr. Jimenez partnered with Dr. Diego Luna who serves as the Ethnic and Gender Studies Department Coordinator, Edwina Fui, who serves as the Director for the Center of Cultural and Inclusive Excellence and Geomarc Panelo, who serves as the Director of the Center for Leadership and Service to develop a Leadership course that will prepare student leaders to serve on committees for shared governance for the college. Students will be able to receive credit while at the same time fulfilling the Diversity and Globalism requirement for their degrees. 

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

• The Office of EDT, Institutional Research, and ITS are working collaboratively through the Limitless Network partnership with FWPS, HPS, Tukwila SD, and PSCCN to develop a data sharing agreement to better serve students and improve processes for matriculation. 

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

• The Office of EDT, in partnership with the Highline College LGBTQ+ Task Force, are excited to sponsor employees to the first annual Queer Trans People of Color Conference. This conference is open to all community and technical college employees. 
• The Equity Task Force, in partnership with the Office of EDT, is finalizing the details for the annual Equity Development Institute (EDI). This year’s theme is Building Culture and Capacity: Nurturing Sustainable Growth and Becoming a Transformational Institution. EDI day is scheduled for Friday May 3, 2024. Save the date and stay tuned for more details.
• Vice President of Student Services Dr. Penn, Chief Information Officer Tim Wrye and Dr. Jimenez attended the 17th Annual Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions Educators (AHSIE) Best Practices conference in an effort to continue to build institutional capacity for becoming a federally designated HSI. 

Division Highlights

• Dr. Jimenez was invited to be a panelist for a pre-conference session geared toward practitioners who aspire to become diversity officers as part of the Annual National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) conference that was held in Seattle, WA. 
• The Umoja Black Scholars and the Highline Promise Scholars attended the Opera for X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X as an enrichment event for the Cohort Learning Communities. 

Mission Statement: As a South King County college striving for social justice, Highline College partners with global students as they envision, plan and achieve their educational and professional goals.