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
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 worked with the Foundation staff to confirm with donors about scholarship contributions and will be offering several new scholarships this cycle, including the Connell Family Scholarships for students who have earned more than 45 credits, the Markley Engineering Scholarship and SPEEA ACE Scholarship for aeronautics. The scholarship application will open on April 10 and close on May 14, 2023
Core Theme 2: STUDENT LEARNING, Increase educational success, collaborate to improve
The Foundation worked with the Highline Promise Partnership Team to support the distribution of equity grants as part of King County Promise plan. The Foundation is also collaborating with Global Programs and the Center of Excellence in Global Trade to raise funds for the Short-Term Study Abroad Trip to Vietnam. And the Foundation is the fiscal sponsor for a grant Foundry Ten in support of nursing and health care assistant students to prepare for their licensing exams and provides emergency funding for students who face financial challenges during leading up to their practicum (field work).
Core Theme 3: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS, Create a more inclusive working environment and a more valued, visible relationship with communities we serve
Nominations for the annual Highline College Distinguished Alumnus Award are now open. Eligible nominees are former students who attended Highline College prior to the 2018-2019 academic year, who are outstanding in their chosen fields and have made contributions benefiting their profession, community, or across the world. The person selected will be recognized at Highline’s commencement June 15, 2023. Nominations may be submitted through the online form .The nomination deadline is April 28, 2023. A list of all past recipients can be found on the alumni website.
IA worked with the Seattle Southside Chamber on campus on March 23rd for a business roundtable discussion in conjunction with Academic Affairs. The event was focused on large employers in the south sound region to bring employers and Highline College together to discuss ways to improve education programs that support our regional needs. Employers represented at this event included The Port of Seattle, St. Anne’s (VMFH), Homestreet Bank, Hilton Hotels and more. Highline was well represented at this meeting by administrators and faculty coordinators.
Sharon Vail, Director of Philanthropy, and Shakira Erickson, Government Relations Specialist, represented the college at a series of in person and virtual community events, including 30th District virtual Legislative Updates on March 17, 33rd District Legislative Roundtable on March 18, Soroptimist of Seattle Southside planning for their annual event on June 3, Kent Rotary annual Escapades Auction on April 1.
Division Honors and Achievements
Aleyda Cervantes, Interim Director of Outreach and Recruitment, recently attended the 15th Annual AHSIE (Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators) Best Practices Conference in mid-March in California. Aleyda reported that the conference “was by far one of the best conferences I’ve attended. I got to learn so much form folks around the nation”.
Dave Weber, Print Shop Manager, serves on the board of directors for the ACUP+ (Association of College and University Printers), and is currently attending their annual conference in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Report submitted by Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Joshua Gerstman