Area Report for Board of Trustees

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

• Accessibility Resources has partnered with CCIE, CLS, the d-center (new Disability Cultural and Identity Center) and Q-center during the month of October for Disability Justice and Disability Awareness Month. The events, all well-attended by students, have included Neurodivergent Relationships and Belonging workshops, a Student Networking and Speed-friending Event and Social, Your Voice, Your Vote, Your Power: Accessible Voting Unlocked, and a Relationships and Consent workshop entitled the #SexEd U Wish U Had. Community partners for these events have included Holistic Child and Family Practice, a local organization that centers BIPOC, queer, and disabled youth; Thred, a local tech startup that supports all humans to make meaningful connections in their lives at school, work, and in the community; Washington Secretary of State Elections Committee; Planned Parenthood, and Public Health of Seattle and King County.  Strategic Goals 1, 2, 3, and 4.
• In addition to student-facing workshops and events, Accessibility Resources has offered four workshops for faculty and staff focusing on moving beyond compliance toward human accommodation – fostering understanding and inclusive strategies that better support neurodivergent students, staff, and faculty. The department also hosted two workshops on creating accessible digital materials that benefit all learners. Strategic Goals 1 and 4.
• Also, within Accessibility Resources – Achieve and Community and Employment Services recently underwent a successful accreditation review by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) on September 29 and September 30. The accreditation visit, which covered the following key program areas, concluded with no findings, several commendations, and 3 minor recommendations:
  • Employment Planning Services
  • Employment Supports
  • Job Development
  • Transition – services and supports for students moving from K-12 to post-secondary education and career

The CARF surveyors provided high praise for several aspects of our programs and operations. They noted that our staff, services and procedures demonstrate a strong commitment to quality and excellence. Following are more specific areas celebrated by the survey team:

• Student-Centeredness: Surveyors were impressed that our services and practices are student-centered and student-driven.
• Community Partnerships: Surveyors were impressed with our partnerships with businesses, K-12 schools, and community and government agencies. They were particularly excited by our partnership with Microsoft that has shown significant impact in increasing global representation of individuals with intellectual disabilities in employment.
• Program Innovation: Surveyors commented on our work in Achieve; noting inclusion, student driven practice and successful employment outcomes
• Stakeholder Feedback: Surveyors mentioned positive feedback from all stakeholders interviewed regarding service provision and collaboration
• Diversity of Program Services, Students and Staff: Surveyors appreciated both the diversity of services we offer and the diversity of our students and staff. Our dedication to and success with hiring staff that match our students was noted.
• Professional Development: Surveyors remarked upon the professional development offered to staff, particular around equity.
• Employment Outcomes: Surveyors mentioned our excellent job placement rate.
• Employee Retention: Surveyors were amazed by the retention of our employees in our employment programs citing that most programs maintain employment consultants for 12-18 months, while we average closer to 10+ years.

The surveyors issued 3 minor recommendations to further enhance our conformance to the CARF standards:

1. The surveyors asked that we add and document yearly tabletop discussions/drills on medical emergencies and natural disasters to our other emergency drills.
2. The surveyors asked that we further expand our analysis and tracking of critical incidents beyond those required by state, county, and federal requirements to match the incident categories specified by CARF.
3. The surveyors asked that we add a section to our performance outcome report procedures that addresses data validity and reliability. Strategic Goals 1, 2, 3 and 4

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

• American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has a team representing Highline on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum. Participating teams develop and implement an AI-focused action plan tailored to their institution’s needs with the guidance of consultants who are experts in AI, organizational change, pedagogical practice, and curricular redesign.

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

• Allison Green (English Faculty) has been a reviewer of literary fiction for a project called “100 Notable Small Press Books.” After reading a number of books, she forwarded reviews of three of them to a committee that will choose the final one hundred. In November, a national literary publication will publish the list. https://miriamgershow.com/100smallpress

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

• The Teaching Innovation Development Lab (TIDL), a joint venture between EdTech and the Learning and Teaching Center, launched a full slate of professional development for instructors. In addition to workshops at Opening Week and Professional Development Day, TIDL staff and Faculty in Residence are delivering:
  • New Faculty Orientation for all new tenure-track faculty and lecturers, led by Stephanie Ojeda Ponce
  • A 10-week Accessibility workshop series led by Katie Fiorello
  • A Faculty Learning Community on AI literacy in the classroom led by Angel Steadman
  • The ever-popular Search for EdTech Intelligence (SETI) drop-in Canvas support labs, featuring Patrick Kwon, Laura Soracco, and Katie Fiorello

We also host and support other faculty-led programs, like a book club reading The New College Classroom, led by Aleya Dhanji.

• Josh Gidding (English Faculty) has a new book, Old White Man Writing (Mascot Books, April 2025), which just won a Silver Award from the Nonfiction Authors Association. It has gotten good reviews from Kirkus Reviews, BookLife (the independent publishers’ division of Publishers Weekly), US Review, and IndieReader, and has just received a rave review from The Bookish Elf.
• Aaron Ottinger (English Faculty) has a recent publication: “Impossible Roots: Mary Shelley’s Demonic Mathematical Ontology in Frankenstein.” Romanticism on the Net, vol. 84, 2025.

• Shon Meckfessel (English Faculty) received a Master of Science in Data Science from Eastern University this summer.
• Susan Rich’s (English Faculty) book BLUE ATLAS was a Finalist for the Washington State Book Awards. She gave a lecture, reading, and taught at Writers’ Week at the Idyllwild Arts Center for a week in May. Her poem titled, “Self Portrait at ______” was published in Molecule Magazine, Issue 12
• Sheena Pennell (AAIII) worked on writing a new knitting pattern, made progress on her 14^th novel, and completed a course in project management.

Report submitted by Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Rolita Ezeonu