Area Report for Board of Trustees
Access: Evidence of improved enrollment provided (Business Technology, Accounting); example of outreach and recruitment by the High School Engagement and Academic Success team provided.
Student Learning: Examples of efforts to increase educational success (Business, linked learning communities, Respiratory Care) are provided.
Community Partnerships: New coffee shop on campus led by HOST program; MaST continues with significant community outreach.
Culture & Capacity: Highline hosted a successful Midcycle visit from NWCCU that generated useful feedback; many staff and faculty made the event a successful one. Instructional Leaders group working on data literacy through the lens of belonging and inclusion. Faculty co-chairs for the Learning and Teaching Center publish first newsletter, tentatively identify faculty gathering space.
Core Theme 1: ACCESS, Reduce Barriers and close equity gaps to access for all community members
- In October, the High School Engagement and Academic Success team welcomed 70 HPS seniors interested in learning about life after high school. During their visit students explored campus and learned about HC academic programs.
- As a sign of improved enrollment, Business Technology did not have to cancel any classes Fall quarter for the first time in 4 years. Accounting is running at 94% of the department enrollment target.
Core Theme 2: STUDENT LEARNING, Increase educational success, collaborate to improve
- Four students from the Business Club are traveling with the club advisors to participate in the fall regional DECA competition in Walla Walla. All four students participated in the National competition last year. They plan to once again bring home honors and represent Highline with pride.
- Through the leadership of faculty member Wendy Swyt, with support from Dean Liz Word, we are planning to offer linked learning communities in Winter 2023. Each course pairing offers students the chance to meet different areas of the degree (humanities and social science, quantitative requirement and communications requirement), instead of pairing, for example, two social sciences. With feedback from advisors in Student Services, Wendy has created directions for students on how to register for these linked classes, plus an explanation of the benefits of these pairing.
- The Respiratory Care program hosted their accreditation visit on October 30-31. In the final meeting, the two peer evaluators shared a list of strengths they intend to write into their report:
- Outstanding lab facilities
- Key personnel deeply invested in student success
- Program graduates talked about faculty “going an extra mile” to support them
- Students are exposed to a great variety of patients through their clinicals
- Advisory board members speak highly of the program and look forward to hiring program graduates
The finalized report will be sent by CoARC, the accrediting body for respiratory care programs, to campus in March. There were no potential standard citations, and the RC team is to be commended for their excellent work!
Core Theme 3: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS: Create a more inclusive working environment and a more valued, visible relationship with communities we serve
Groundworks Coffee, a project led by Highline’s Hospitality and Tourism Program, opens in Building 29 on November 1st! Our hours of operation are 8:30am-1:00pm and 4:00pm-7:30pm, Monday-Thursday. Everyone who visits opening day will receive:
- $1 off every drink 16oz and above
- A raffle ticket with each purchase for a giveaway on Thursday, November 2nd that we will host in the space.
The giveaway will be at 11am on Thursday, November 2nd and will include raffling off hats, notebooks, mugs, and tote bags!
MaST Center Aquarium has continued to offer community programs in October. The majority of these are led by Aeriel Wauhob, our Community Engagement Coordinator.
- Educational programs:
- 6x Bonney Lake High School (Sumner-Bonney Lake School District) which served 146 students
- 1x Maritime High School (Highline School District) which served 41 students
- 1x virtual storytime with King County Public Library Systems with 20 participants, 1x Rooted Christian Coop which served 17 students
- 1x Bellevue College Oceanography class with 12 students
- Community Outreach
- Hosted City of Des Moines’ Coffee with a Cop with 45 participants
- Hosted Redondo Community Association meeting with 40 participants
- Saturday, 10/28 will also be our annual Fear on the Pier event. Exact number TBD but expecting around 350-400.
- Total visitors for October during our Discover Days is expected to reach 1,200 and 2023 is on track for 14,000 total visitors
- In memory of HC staff member Mark Wynne, the MaST was able to install an underwater camera that is streaming to our YouTube page. See the live stream at https://www.youtube.com/@highlinemastcenteraquarium/streams
Core Theme 4: CULTURE & CAPACITY: Promote a campus culture which fosters equity and inclusivity supporting employee growth and development, and institutional capacity for transformation.
Highline College hosted a very helpful Midcycle Accreditation visit from four peer evaluators selected by NWCCU. The visiting team has shared their draft report with Dr. Mosby and Dr. Lardner. The team was appreciative of the opportunity to meet with campus stakeholders including:
- Executive Team
- President Mosby
- Institutional Effectiveness Committee
- Student Success Council
- Dean of Advising/Enrollment
- Dean of Student Support
- Funding Services
- Program Assessment
- Equity First Strategic Planning Core Team/Diversity & Equity
- Faculty Representatives of Assessment Committee
- Assessment of Institutional Effectiveness & Student Achievement
- Facilities
- Student Learning Assessment
- Finance
- Student Support & Advising
- Student Services
- Library Resources
- Academic Leadership Team
- Human Resources
- eLearning/Teaching & Learning Support
In general, the visiting team was impressed with Highline’s collaborative culture and feels we have made progress since our last visit. The team provided useful suggestions for the college to consider as we move forward, including working towards simplifying and streamlining processes.
HSEAS Director Jennifer Joseph-Charles and Continuing Education Director Crystal Kitterman are facilitating monthly meeting for deans, directors, associate directors, and program managers in Academic Affairs who are responsible for leading institutional effectiveness plans. This Instructional Leaders Group identified four pillars in our work for 23-24: Communication and Relationships; Trust; Belonging & Inclusion; and Project Management. The November meeting focuses on Belonging & Inclusion and project management. With coaching support from Nicole Coope, we will be learning practices for reviewing data, and looking at data through the lens of belonging and inclusion.
Learning and Teaching Center Co-Chairs Aleya Dhanji and Tarisa Matsumoto Maxfield published the first newsletter of this academic year, Teaching Voyages. The first issue covered:
- Feeding our Soul – Inspirational Quotes of the Month
- A Little Thing – Stories about Teaching
- Teacher Toolkit – Active Learning Library
- Teacher Toolkit – AI & Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Adventures in Advising, Leadership and Service: Creating Inclusive Meeting Spaces
- Spotlight on Teaching Journeys: Patrick Kwon, Math
Aleya and Tarsia are also working towards identifying a space where faculty can gather for formal and informal conversations with colleagues.
Division Honors and Achievements
Melinda Hurst Frye (Art) currently has work in Surge at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner (the cutest town in WA!) about climate change in our region, her work being about fire and regeneration in Cascadia. Surge paired scientists with artists and the result is an incredibly thoughtful exhibit. She has a few additional highlights from the last couple of months, and she soon will be exhibiting at BARN on Bainbridge as well as Hoffman Gallery on the Oregon coast. Here is a link to her recent newsletter with more info and links.
Zanetka Gawronski (Art) had a solo show at CORE gallery in Pioneer Square in August 2023. In September 2023 she had a solo retrospective of work, 64 pieces at VIYA Contemporary, a gallery in Pioneer Square. Zanetka is starting work on a painting commission for a private collector in the Seattle area.
Joshua Gidding (English) has a new memoir, Old White Man Writing, scheduled to be published in Fall 2024 by Mascot Books.
Greg November (English) has a public conversation with poet and writer E. J. Koh at Paper Boat Booksellers in Seattle on November 10th at 7pm.
T.M. Sell (Political Science) has a new book, Washington State Politics and Government is now out from the University of Nebraska Press. The book explores “the how and why of our state’s government from the governor to school districts to tribal governments. It advances the argument that government here works much better than you’ve been told, by sharing the stories of Republicans and Democrats in office from across the state, urban and rural, east and west.”
Laura Soracco (English) completed her Ed.D. The title of her dissertation is “Experiencing a Sense of Community in Asynchronous Online Classes: A Case Study” and can be found online now.
Justin Taillon (Hospitality & Tourism) was elected Vice President of one of the world’s largest hospitality associations (HFTP) on October 18th. Justin will be a leading “voice” for the next three years for tens of thousands of hospitality professionals who are in accounting and technology. HFTP has a couple hundred members in Greater Seattle, more than 25,000 dues paying members globally, and more than 100,000 global stakeholders. It will make it easier than ever to place students into the best career positions, gain recognition for Highline College and HOST globally, and ensure instructors in HOST are up to date with information about the industry so they can be the best instructors they can be.
Report submitted by Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Emily Lardner