Area Report for Board of Trustees

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

• The Counseling Center is in the process of completing initial contacts/ reach outs to identified academic departments and campus programs to increase outreach to and support of students.
• The Counseling Center has connected campus security and CARE team with Crisis Connections to expand collaborations on ways to increase safety and mental health access to students in crisis after hours.
• Entry Advising staff Kenton Westerfield joined the cross-divisional Running Start Task Force to help remove barriers to access for prospective Running Start students and to increase enrollment
• Entry Advising staff revamped data-collection practices (walk-in data and Entry Advising milestones in ctcLink) to better capture information about the students served. Further, the data was reviewed and aligned with core goals of the Title III grant.
• ISP is using innovative software, including ApplyBoard, ApplyWave, WeChat, and Study USA to help streamline global marketing and student recruitment. The combination of software, digital platforms and innovative process are crucial to the future growth and advancement of ISP department. These resources will help ISP staff to predict and track trends, identify emerging and declining markets, isolate outdated services, and changes in student requirements. It provides the department an opportunity to create and develop time-efficient and cost-efficient strategies to meet these known changes.

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

• Athletic Academic Advisors are currently supporting 81 freshmen student athletes in College 101 class.
• The Entry Advising Department is updating Explore Highline! Orientations to include more exploration of Degree Pathways. The updated format will incorporate new Degree Pathway videos.  Videos were shared with staff and faculty October 18th.
• Entry Advising staff collaborated with the Advising Center staff to bring more Registration Labs to Orientations to help students bridge the gap between learning how to enroll and actually taking the steps to enroll.

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

• CCIE in collaboration with the Q Center Group and LGBTQIA Task Force hosted 8 programs during the 12th Annual LGBTQIA+ Week. Each program had an average of 40-60 participants. Program organizers are grateful for the support received from campus partners to community organizations. From our guest speakers to resource fair and scavenger hunt, the week brought in many opportunities of reflection, community building and critical dialogue.
• There are currently over forty student athletes residing in Camps View housing. Providing the opportunity for athletics to garner housing, close to where they also attend classes and train/participate diverse athletic events, has been a collaborative effort between athletic staff, financial aid staff, and housing staff.
• WES and ELCAP are partnering to provide tuition with IBEST Funds that support IBEST Students. This supports department-to-department, division, and college transition and retention efforts.
• Entry Advising staff held a campus-wide snack and supply drive, which allowed the department to connect with folks around campus and in the community to collect donations that all go directly to supporting student belonging and success.

Division Honors and Achievements

• The workshop proposal submitted by the Student Conduct Manager Isabelle Wroblewski, Dean Saechao and Public Safety Director David Menke has been approved by the 2023 National Conference for the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA) committee.  The conference, scheduled for January 2023 brings thousands of higher education administrators and conduct professionals from around the country to share promising and innovative conduct practices, and review the latest higher ed. legal developments and compliance matters such as Title IX.  Our team’s presentation titled “Building Trust and Community through BIT Team Rebranding” covers how Highline College’s CARE team rebranded and increased capacity, knowledge and collaboration throughout campus to better serve our students who are experiencing mental health, personal or other crisis.  The team is proud to represent the college at the 2023 ASCA conference and will bring back what they learned to continue our work of community, excellence and care.
• Entry Advising staff participated in Title III External Evaluation process. The Entry Advising program met a core Title III Objective-By Sept. 2022, the number of newly enrolled students meeting with an entry advisor will increase to 60%.
• CLS welcomed new Program Manager, Peter Richards, on Oct. 17, 2022
• Jesse Knappenberger has accepted the offer for the Dean of Enrollment and Advising position. Jesse will join Highline on November 1, 2022. He currently serves as the Dean of Student Achievement & Registrar at South Seattle College. Jesse Knappenberger has served for more than twenty years in Washington’s public system of higher education. Having spent twelve years at the University of Washington Seattle and eleven years at South Seattle College. He has consistently focused on access and student support throughout his career.
• Financial Aid will be interviewing three candidates for Financial Aid Advisor positions on October 20th. The search committee will also look at another pool of advisor candidate October 26th.

Report submitted on October 27, 2022, by Interim Vice President of Student Services, Dr. Emily Lardner