Area Report for Board of Trustees

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

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

• It was such a pleasure to be a part of Highline College Commencement 2026. It was also emotional for me to congratulate and to wish farewell to several students that I had personally recruited from Vietnam.
• The College has finalized the bookstore contract with Follett. The College is working collaboratively with Follett to transition all bookstore services during the month of July. As part of the agreement, Follett has offered to retain both of our full-time (bookstore) employees, as well as several other part-time and student employees. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Jonanthan Louie (Bookstore Manager) and Naomi (Fiscal Technician) for their years of service to Highline College.
• As part of our voluntary compliance plan to the Office of Civil Rights audit, Facilities Department has completed various upgrades to address ADA compliance issues in Building 19 and Building 29, including installing adjustable work counters/desks and adjusting sinks in restrooms and labs.
• I had an opportunity to meet (virtually) with an Egyptian Education Ministry official and academic deans from New Cairo Technological University to discuss potential international partnerships. Sam Alkhalili, Highline College Business faculty, has been instrumental in connecting me with these contacts. Highline College used to have extensive collaborations with several Egyptian institutions in the past. We are looking forward to re-connecting with a plan to offer a faculty experiential learning program to Egypt next year.

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

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

• The months of June and July are peak times for most of our staff in Administrative Services, especially Finance and Budget. We are closing out on FY26 and at the same time preparing to open FY27 simultaneously, to ensure continuity of the college financial operations.
• Facilities Department, with the full implementation of MegaMation (work order) platform, is now able to track the status of submitted work order requests. In addition, the platform also allows for the generation of work order data, including job type. For example, during the month of June 2026, the Department received 173 requests, of which 33 were HVAC issues and 22 were plumbing related. We are looking forward to generating and utilizing data in more meaningful ways to support the working and learning environment at Highline College. 
• As part of our goals to improve infrastructure, Facilities has begun a minor renovation project to update approximately ten (10) classrooms in Building 10. The project scope includes carpet replacement, interior painting, lighting upgrade, and replacing classroom furniture with ADA compliance desks and chairs. Additionally, we are collaborating with ITS to upgrade A/V equipment in all classrooms as well.
• The FY25 annual state audit is in full swing. The State Auditors are reviewing our submitted financial statements. They are projected to complete the audit process toward the end of the summer.

FISCAL & BUDGET

• The Fiscal Year 2026-27 (Preliminary) Budget is being presented to the Board of Trustees for a review this month. The College is in a good financial position with adequate (projected) resources to meet our financial obligations. Unfortunately, the financial outlook for the State budget continues to be uncertain. We will be monitoring changes at the State level and adjusting accordingly.
• Compared to this time last year, the College was facing significant potential cuts and reductions to our several of grants and contracts (primarily due to various federal actions). For FY27, things appear to have returned to some normalcy. We have received almost all of our award letters as of June 30th.
• Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the state of our capital project funding. Based on the latest projection, our next major capital project (Welcome Center for Student Success) could be delayed for another six to eight years due to the lack of state funding. Such delays will have significant impact on our ability to continue providing adequate and effective physical infrastructure to support teaching and learning environment at Highline College. Several of our existing buildings (scheduled to be demolished as part of the projects) are approaching the end of their useful life.

Report submitted by Vice President of Administrative Services, Dr. Michael Pham