Area Report for Board of Trustees
Dear Board of Trustees,
Happy November! Fall quarter is well-underway. Student Services staff have been fully engaged with supporting students and collaborating with staff and faculty across the college community on a host of projects that align with Highline College’s Strategic Goals: Access, Learning, Community, Culture & Capacity. Most notably is the intentional work that International Student Programs (ISP) is doing to increase access to and enrollment of international students, which is outlined in this board report.
Throughout the division, there has also been increased and focused collaboration with community-based partners and organizations. Developing and building rapport and trusting relationships of this nature is a benefit to our diverse student population and to the overall Highline College Community.
Student athletes are on a roll! Women’s volleyball and men’s soccer are contenders for first place in the league, as each team comes close to rounding out their seasons. Student leaders are also doing great work. As of this report, student leaders are actively preparing for the 2024 ASH Legislative Breakfast.
Winter registration is underway. Priority group registration commenced on October 31 for programs like ISP, TRiO, Veterans, WorkFirst, UMOJA, King County Promise, Juntos, Access, and Worker Retraining. Winter registration will continue for other students through November 12.
Finally, I want to thank the Board of Trustees for your support as I continue to serve as Acting President for the College, while we all provide time and grace for Dr. Mosby to heal. I also want to thank Ay Saecho for agreeing to temporarily serve as Acting Vice President of Student Services. With Ay’s outstanding leadership skills, I know that the Student Services Division and any related collaboration with internal or external partners will be in good hands.
Kind regards,
Dr. Jamilyn Penn
Core Theme 1: ACCESS, Reduce Barriers and close equity gaps to access for all community members
Workforce Education Services (WES) hosted a Fall Resource Fair on October 9th. More than 100 students attended and received information and resources from varied regional community partners, including Counseling and Referral Services, DSHS Mobile Office, King County Office of Emergency Management, Des Moines Emergency Management, and Auburn Worksource. Highline College campus partners were also present to share information with students. Public Safety, Career and Transfer Center, Outreach & Recruitment, Workforce Outreach & Recruitment, WorkFirst TANF Pre-Nursing Navigator, DND/Sword Club, and the Support Center were just some of the programs/services present. Brenna Turner, Workforce Funding Advisor-Opportunity Grant, led and organized this event. WES will continue to host resource fairs in 2025.
ISP staff are currently recruiting in Japan and working with partner schools and agencies affiliated with the country. The ISP Associate Director recently returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where they began developing future recruitment opportunities in partnership with the UAE Government.
The ISP Department hosted a University/College Transfer Fair: Over 70 institutions participated in the event which took place on October 28th. Highline College international and domestic students were invited to talk with recruiters and staff from colleges and universities located throughout the nation. ISP also sought to initiate development of transfer agreements with several visiting colleges and universities.
Core Theme 3: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS: Create a more inclusive working environment and a more valued, visible relationship with communities we serve
ISP:
International Student Programs (ISP) conducted in-person wellness visits for first-quarter international students starting throughout October, and staff will continue to reach out to students. During wellness visits, students were asked about their classes, email access, activities, and future enrollment plans. ISP staff also provided students with information about campus resources and activities organized by ISP and about general events both on campus in in the local Kent/Des Moines area. ISP staff also held a meet-and-greet session at Campus View, where they were able to answer questions and share information with international and domestic students.
ISP is collaborating with various campus departments, including IT and Highline Campus Outreach & Recruitment. The Information Technology (IT) team is providing support to ISP Admissions and the ISP Admissions Manager with Watermark Customer Relations Manager (CRM) system. Additionally, the Campus Outreach & Recruitment team is working with the new Associate Director of Recruiting to provide general ISP brochures at local high school fairs. Overall, the goal is to revise communication materials to better meet the needs of perspective students and international agents.
Student Life:
Associated Students of Highline College Attended the American Student Government Association National Student Government Summit October 9-12, 2024. Student Leaders Brought back fresh ideas, inspiration, and opportunities to further engage our student body.
Edwina Fui & Cindy Arias Attended Multicultural Student Services Director’s Council at Columbia Basin College October 16-18, 2024. Highline College hosted the quarter SBCTC Council of Unions and Student Programming (CUSP) 3-Day meeting October 23-25, 2024.
Athletics:
Womens Volleyball is in 1st place and has won 24 games in a row. Playoffs start the week of Nov. 16-17. Highline College will host the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Men’s Soccer is in a battle for first place in the Western Division with two games to play. Highline College will host a first-round playoff game. Women’s soccer is also doing very well and is battling for a playoff spot with two league games to play. Men’s and Women’s Basketball starts at the end of November. Practice for these teams is currently underway.
New Staff/New Roles:
Jose “Tony” Garcia is the new Dean of Advising and Enrollment Services. Tony’s first day at Highline was October 22, 2024. Formerly, Tony served as the Director of the Advising, Career, and Transfer (ACT) Center at South Puget Sound Community College. For the record, Tony is a “die hard” Dodger’s fan.
Isabelle “Izzy” Wroblewski has been promoted to Associate Dean of Student Life. Izzy formerly served as the Highline College Associate Director of Community Standards & Student Conduct.
Tony Au has been promoted to Director of TRiO. Prior to this promotion, Tony worked at Highline College and served as Completion Coach & Retention Manager.
Report submitted by Vice President of Student Services, Dr. Jamilyn Penn