Board of Trustees Meeting

Location

Hybrid Meeting Format: offering both in-person and virtual meeting access

Minutes

Attendees

Board of Trustees: Chair Swenson, Vice Chair Bowman, Lorraine Chachere, Jesse Johnson

Executive Cabinet: Interim President Penn, Tony Johnson, Danielle Slota, Rolita Ezeonu, Josh Gerstman, Maribel Jimenez, Mary Nganga for Melanie Lawson, Marco Lopez for Michael Pham, Tim Wrye 

Assistant Attorney General: Michael Hemker

Absent: Trustee Travis Exstrom

Study Session call to order: 9:05 a.m.

Discussion Topics

Commencement update with Associate Dean Wroblewski (15 minutes)

• Thursday, June 18th at 5pm in ShoWare in Kent, WA-28 days away! 
  • Stage Crew Call: 12:00 PM 
    • Suite will be available to rest and stay throughout day 
    • Rehearsal at 12:30 PM (for stage party)
    • Reception starts at 3:30 PM 
  • Chair Swenson- 3-minute remarks due to Commencement Committee by June 5th 
• Moment of silence for Dr. Mosby led by Dr. Penn
• Grad Fair was a big success, with over 215 grads stopping by, led by ASHC  
• Current student sign-ups: 566 (19% increase) 
  • Students Arrive at 3:30 PM 
  • Students must RSVP by June 1st to have their name in the program 
  • House opens for guests at 4:00 PM 
• Staff and faculty tunnel sign-ups: 100
  • Tunnel arrive at 3:30 PM
  • No Alcohol at reception
• Commencement Crew sign ups: 45/52
• Due the Commencement being outside of Faculty contract, faculty will be stipend, overtime eligible staff will receive OT for any hours worked over their normal work schedule
• Budgetarily, we sit near where we were in 2024, with slight increases due to inflation
• ShoWare got a new sound system  
• We plan to continue to use Grad Roll 
• Name readers selected
• Student Speaker selected: Isabel Lash 
• Distinguished Alumni: to be announced soon 
• Language Welcome: Over 20 languages represented, to be recorded next week 

Presentation of Student & Activities Budget from Vongseyvitou Chhit (20 minutes)

Board Practice: Chair and Vice Chair terms, Chair Swenson (10 minutes)

Budget Planning Report by Dr. Pham (20 minutes)

Proposed Action Item A for vote in General Session: Delegation of Authority for Policy Development (15 min)

Executive Session (a): Off-cycle tenure file review 

Entered Executive Session at 10 a.m. for twenty-five minutes

Executive Session (b): Counsel consultation

Entered Executive Session at 10:25 a.m. for thirty minutes

*The Board, as and when deemed necessary, may call an Executive Session for appropriate purposes under the Open Meetings Act. 

Meeting adjourned at 10:58 a.m.

 

Board of Trustees Meeting

Location

Hybrid Meeting Format: offering both in-person and virtual meeting access

General Session called to order at 11 a.m.

General Session Minutes

Roll Call

Board of Trustees: Chair Swenson, Vice Chair Bowman, Lorraine Chachere, Jesse Johnson

Executive Cabinet: Interim President Penn, Tony Johnson, Danielle Slota, Rolita Ezeonu, Josh Gerstman, Maribel Jimenez, Mary Nganga for Melanie Lawson, Marco Lopez for Michael Pham, Tim Wrye 

Assistant Attorney General: Michael Hemker

Absent: Trustee Travis Exstrom

Approve minutes

Approve minutes of the regularly scheduled meeting of April 16, 2026

Trustee Chachere motioned to approve, Trustee Bowman seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Opportunity for public comment

Kara Stewart (faculty) – Thunderword readership increase! Evelyn (student) Thunderword Podcast launched. Audio and visual publication. Spoke to podcast content, staffing, use of Highline resources. NPR podcast competition finalist – only two year school represented!

April Kosakoff – invitation to ACHIEVE Capstone on June 8, 2026

Action Items

Action item a. Delegation of Authority for Policy Development

Trustee Chachere moved, Trustee Bowman seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

In accordance with RCW 28B.10.528 and 28B.50.140, and except for those specifically reserved by the Board of Trustees as stated in Policy 1050, the Board moves to delegate all powers and duties to carry out the administration and operation of Highline College to the president or interim president of Highline College.

Standing Reports

• Highline College Education Association: Douglas Avella-Castro, PhD

Preparing for commencement, committed to service and students. Faculty continue to struggle to manage the workload impact of AI and the normalization of its use by students. HCEA members are looking forward to commencement this year, an inspiration to do the kind of work that is worth celebrating.

• Washington Public Employees Association: Sheena Pennel, WPEA Shop Steward

Gearing up for local bargaining for the 2027contract. Looking forward to a productive bargaining season.

• Faculty Senate: Sangeeta Sangha

Senate passed changes to the business technology degree. Faculty have concerns about new AI recording audio. Continue to have concerns about the length of AP transfer credits to the college. Revised AADTA approved at the state level which will create work for Senate next year.

• Associated Students of Highline College: Jasmine Nyabigo

Amendments made to ASHC bylaws adding a section with requirements for office to include credit minimums to ensure that applicants have had enough time to engage with students and understand the needs of the students. S&A budget was presented to the Board of Trustees during today’s study session. Spoke to Grad Fair activities and the excitement and engagement it generated. 

• Highline College Foundation: Sharon Vail

676 scholarship applications received, busily working on completing reviews for fall term awards. Womens Programs was recognized by Soroptomist at their annual event. Busy month for Foundation activities that were sold at the annual Foundation fundraising event. 

Area reports

• Academic Affairs: Interim Dr. Rolita Ezeonu

Expressed gratitude to our faculty in building 18 as they undergo office moves. Written report stands as submitted. 

• Administrative Services: Marco Lopez for Dr. Michael Pham

Expressed gratitude to members of the ASHC Finance Committee. Recognized David Menke and Francesca Fender for their continued leadership. Provided an update on bookstore management moving forward. Currently meeting with departments across campus to prepare for fall term. Transition to new management will be completed in July with communication going to all of campus. Written report stands as submitted. 

• Equity, Diversity and Transformation: Dra. Maribel Jimenez

Thanked our outgoing student leaders for their advocacy at every level. Provided congratulations for the level of connection they provided with cabinet this year. HSI Symposium was extremely successful with over twenty colleges present – a strategic direction that Dr. Mosby envisioned. Written report stands as submitted. 

• Human Resources: Mary Ngaga for Melanie Lawson

No report submitted

• Information Technology Services: Tim Wrye

CANVAS incident – no specifics to share yet, however we have a promise rom CANVAS of an update on how Highline data was impacted to be provided by end of day today.Written report stands as submitted. 

• Institutional Advancement: Joshua Gerstman

Communication and Marketing is doing some great work. Encourages everyone to visit the different social media pages on a regular basis. Written report stands as submitted. 

• Student Services: Tony Garcia

Expressed gratitude to Associate Dean Wroblewski’s leadership in growing our ASHC leaders. Written report stands as submitted. 

Interim President’s Remarks

Spoke to upcoming WPEA collaborative bargaining. Expressed gratitude for ASHC leadership and the work they have done this past year. Acknowledged Juniper Blessing, student of University of Washington, whose safety and dignity was fatally attacked. Highline College stands against violence and hate. We stand together in compassion and support. 

Unscheduled Business

Work around presidential search continues. The Search subcommittee has completed the review and selection of the presidential search consultant team. They will be on site in June to collect feedback.

Adjournment

General Session was adjourned: 12:06 p.m.

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.