Area Report for Board of Trustees
As our fall quarter is winding to a close, faculty and staff in Academic Affairs continue to engage in meaningful work on behalf of our college to benefit our students and community. In addition to the items covered below, we will also be hosting a reception to celebrate the work of our various learning communities on December 13th at 3p in Mt. Constance.
Core Theme 1: ACCESS, Reduce Barriers and close equity gaps to access for all community members
In collaboration with MESA and Coll 101, the PAS division is introducing STEM 101: Pathway to STEM Success, a college success course for students interested in the STEM pathway. A big thank you to the course design team: Lydia Garas (LOGS), Aaron Moehlig (Chemistry), Nathan Means (LOGS), Terry Meerdink (Math), and Cindy Xie (LOGS). Aleya Dhanji (Physics), team lead, shared that ‘We want to shatter stereotypes of what it looks like to be someone who is capable of entering and succeeding in STEM. We want to have a pedagogy of cultural competence where students bring talent, and that talent gives them the confidence to thrive. We want to kick down doors and create a space for students who might not even see themselves as future scientists, engineers, or mathematicians. In short, we want to inspire students to change STEM rather than be changed by it.‘ The course begins in Winter with three sections and additional long-term goals to offer the course at the Federal Way Hub and as workshops in local high schools.
The STEM 101 Course Philosophy:
- Ignite a Passion for STEM: feel excited by the possibilities in STEM careers.
- Create a Sense of Belonging: build connections to each other and to the community.
- Introduce Teacher as a Partner: see the instructor as a partner in the learning process.
- Plan for the Future: have an idea of the degree requirements for STEM majors.
- Active Learning; Antiracist Pedagogy: develop a toolkit of effective learning strategies based on individual needs, experiences, identities, and cultural wealth.
Dusty Wilson (Mathematics) has been working with his students on test-preparation strategies. He and other faculty members have recognized that, due to the pandemic, many students are only accustomed to taking assessments with full access to resources, such as notes, books, and online resources. As some courses move back to in-class assessments, some students need to change how they prepare if they are to succeed. Using group work, multiple small-stakes checks, and individual and class coaching, Dusty Wilson is helping students be prepared to demonstrate their knowledge of the course material successfully.
Terry Meerdink (Mathematics) is using the movie Hidden Figures in her classes to point out how NASA used the math her students are learning. This movie shows how math at all levels of our curriculum gets used in the real world. Not many movies highlight topics from our upper-level math classes, but this movie has a scene on Euler’s Method that makes this otherwise tedious process in differential equations more interesting. It has a scene on Frenet Frames and the Gram-Schmidt method that we use in Linear Algebra. These are entertaining to the students, highlight the fact that mathematicians are not all white, European men, and answer the question, “When will I ever use this?” before students ask.
Thirty Students and two instructors (Dusty Wilson [Mathematics] and Cait Cramer [Engineering]) took the AMATYC (American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges) Math Competition on November 3rd. The top eight scorers received gift cards. At the end of the year, prizes and scholarships are awarded to the top teams and individuals in the nation. Terry Meerdink (Mathematics) coordinated the contest with support from many math and other Pure and Applied Science instructors on campus. It was a terrific turnout; three times the number of students as in the past few years. Many students did extraordinarily well. Congratulations!
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is joining the growing list of offerings at The Hub! Beginning winter quarter, The Hub will offer a mixed level ESOL class (levels 1-3) on Mondays and Wednesdays, 6-8:20pm, to support the Federal Way community. hese classes are designed for English language learning adults who want to improve their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Classes are interactive and cover many topics including everyday English, goal setting, school and jobs in the U.S., and study skills. Classes also include technology skills so students can practice navigating the internet, use email, and create documents and presentations.
Core Theme 2: STUDENT LEARNING, Increase educational success, collaborate to improve
Dean Dra. Maribel Jimenez worked with the Office of the Provost at Arizona State University to develop an articulation between ASU and Highline College. This agreement will gives students access to ASU’s transfer tools to help create a seamless transition and enable students to successfully complete a bachelor’s degree.
Aaron Moehlig (Chemistry) is using jigsaw quizzes this quarter. In a jigsaw, students work together on quiz questions and are asked to explain their process in words. Students then switch groups and teach their classmates how to solve their problem. This cooperative learning strategy emphasizes both individual accountability and achievement of group goals, both of which are critical for improved student learning (Springer et al., 1999.)
The GEM (General Education in Mathematics) committee of the Mathematics Department (George Lopez, Helen Burn, and Koi-Nguyen Nguyen) has found that changing Math& 107 – Math in Society to a project-based course has improved student success. As part of this curricular revision, they have replaced high-stakes timed exams and a final with quantitative projects as the primary assessments.
Sarah Adams and Patrick Kwon (Mathematics) are working together to fix errors and improve the OER textbook better for MATH 81 and 91 classes. This is critical work and often a significant problem for OER texts. Without a publisher, these OER texts often languish without review or revision. Patrick and Sarah’s work will ensure that their students continue to have access to low or no-cost high-quality resources.
More STEM student clubs are forming and having activities – the Computer Science Club is now meeting and has 70 members. Each club meeting sees 20-25 attendees. They meet every Friday from 3 pm – 5 pm in Building 30 Room 101 and work on coding challenges together and make programs. This club just participated in its 4th competition, including one each at UW-Tacoma and UW-Seattle. Two club members were recently hired to be a part of Girls Who Code. Syeda Nizami (Computer Science) is the club advisor. The picture at left is some of the members of the Club at one of their hackathons.
Aaron Hayden of the Computer Science and CIS department has been revising the curriculum in our Cybersecurity BAS program, continuing to make sure this program is on the cutting edge. For instance, CIS 370: Network Security and Investigations will now be based on the use of network security tooling provided through the PISCES collaboration. Students will have access to network traffic events from the municipal networks across Washington. Then will build a similar monitoring system in a lab and hunt for malicious network traffic in the municipal data. The CIS 414 and 420 courses will now focus on cloud security, reflecting the changing nature of the treats to modern businesses. Aaron will implement these changes in Winter 2023.
The Fireside Bistro continues to be a successful model of integrated student learning. Here is a great article that highlights this collaborative model of student learning.
The BSTEC and ELCAP departments were awarded a state grant of Workforce Development Funds to develop a precollege digital literacy class to increase retention and completion for students who lack college-level technology skills. The grant also includes development of a Virtual Communication class to support industry needs that have changed with the pandemic. Three technology classrooms will be updated with state-of-the-art technology equipment that supports teaching and learning in a hyflex, hybrid model.
Global Programs had a very successful International Education Week November 13-18 with Zoom sessions on the recent trip to Vietnam that involved students, faculty and staff. Three students from the Study Abroad program presented on Tuesday and several faculty and staff presented on Thursday.
Core Theme 3: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS, Create a more inclusive working environment and a more valued, visible relationship with communities we serve
The “Bring Your Kids to College STEAM Workshops Team” of Stephaney Puchalski, Mariola Kulaweic, and the Physics Club had a Bring Your Kids to College STEAM workshop Saturday, November 19th from 11 am to 1 pm in the ThunderLab Makerspace (16-106). This month’s theme was “NUTRITION: WOWS & WHYS.” There were fun hands-on activities for kids of all ages. They would appreciate any help in letting others in the greater Highline Community know about these. All are welcome.
Thank you to Stephaney Puchalski and Carla Whittington (Geology) for hosting Seattle Christian School students in the geology lab. The students built buildings and tested them to see if they would survive an earthquake. There were some successes and some failures, but everyone learned and had a great time.
Justin Taillon, Hospitality and Tourism faculty, serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for Destination Des Moines, our city’s Destination Management Organization (DMO). He includes students in events in the community (i.e., Waterland, 4th of July fireworks, Halloween, Christmas tree lighting). Students are actively engaged with running these events. Justin also went to Dubai, met with the prince, conducted research the kingdom requested of him (market-based socio-cultural conservation in tourism research), and served as MC at a conference with more than 30,000 people (The Hotel Show – where he’s on the Board of Directors).
Jennifer Jones (Geography) has also continued to give presentations at the Wesley Homes and Judson Park retirement communities, both on Zoom and in person. At Judson Park she began a series on Russia, including history, culture, the revolution, the USSR and the Cold War, and recent geopolitical events. At Wesley Home, in November she had two discussions on race and discrimination in Germany, India and the US based on topics from the book Caste.
Bob Baugher (Psychology) gave two workshops in November. On the 12th, he provided training to 25 widowed individuals on “How to be a Support Group Facilitator.” On the 19th, he gave a zoom workshop to 20 parents who experienced the suicide death of a child entitled, “Suggestions for Coping with Suicide Loss.”
Karen Fernandez, Monica Twork, Allison Reibel, and Gerie Ventura (from the library) coordinated and hosted Highline Reads on 10/26 featuring faculty counselor Joshua Magallanes reading Chulito (A coming of age story about a gay Puerto Rican American). It was our first hybrid Highline Reads event.
Hara Brook (reference librarian) participated in the virtual 2022 Fall Guided Pathways Student Success Institute.
Deb Moore and Hara Brook (reference librarians) participated in “Beyond the Land Acknowledgement.”
Allison Reibel (reference librarian) attended CLAPS (Critical Librarianship & Pedagogy Symposium).
Monica Twork (reference librarian) attended LMCC (Library Marketing and Communication Conference).
Division Honors and Achievements
The Pure and Applied Sciences Division welcomed Michael St. John as a new lecturer in the Mathematics department. Michael has been active in IBEST, teaching at the Federal Way Hub, and teaching the EDUC 320 Math Methods course.
Helen Burn (Mathematics) was elected to chair the Special Interest Group on Statistics Ed of the Mathematical Association of America (SIGMAA on Stats Ed). It was a competitive national election.
Emma Kong (Cybersecurity) received an award of $1500 for Professional Development from the Center for Excellence in IT (at Bellevue College) to attend the International Conference on System Sciences conference in January 2023.
Aleya Dhanji (Physics) presented a workshop on ‘Beyond the Syllabus: Class Community and Engagement through In-Class Advising’ at the 47th Annual POD Network Conference, North America’s largest educational development community for educational and faculty developers. Workshop abstract: “Underserved students not only face challenges within the classroom but an entire educational ecosystem that has an inherent inequality of opportunity, or ‘education debt’. Systems are often difficult to navigate, and access to resources or building connections come with unique challenges, including overcoming stereotypes and imposter syndrome. I introduce in-class advising as a structured way to build class community, help students succeed academically and actualize degree and career goals. Participants will leave with ideas for in-class advising activities that leverage what we know about meeting students where they are, strengths-based advising and validation theory, and demystifying the college ‘hidden curriculum’.”
Gerie Ventura, Library Director, is one of over 300 writer/contributors to the first encyclopedia focused on Filipino American studies, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Filipina/x/o American Studies, published on November 3, 2022. It focuses on the Filipino diaspora in the United States and highlights issues facing immigrant groups in general.
Greg November (English) had a story “Welcome to the Spinning World” nominated for the Best of the Net anthology. We will find out in January if it made it into the journal.
Ben Thomas (music) did a week-long tour in the southwest US with the Atlas Tango Project.
Report submitted on Dec 01, 2022 by Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Emily Lardner