Area Report for Board of Trustees

Focus Areas:
Student Access, Retention, and Success

Advising, Career and Transfer, and Running Start

• Academic Standards/Keys to Highline: Keys to Highline workshop sessions for students impacted by Academic Standards (below 2.0) will be running 11/20, 11/22, and 11/30. These are strengths-based workshops designed to help students connect to resources across campus and help them feel more confident and less stressed. All students are welcome. A communication campaign is launching to help students needing academic support to get advising and register for Winter Quarter 2022. Academic Standards Policy review is underway, with a focus on equitable and non-punitive processes for students.
• Transfer: The Transfer Center participated in National Transfer Student week (10/18/10/22), with several host schools offering targeted Highline student events. The Transfer Center also partnered with Academic Success, TRIO, and Umoja to provide a Transfer Application Completion Workshop (11/4) to meet several upcoming transfer deadlines. Central Washington University (CWU) visited campus (11/17) and the The Transfer Center will send a save the date calendar announcement for the CWU Transfer Symposium scheduled for Friday, Feb. 4th. Navia Winderling, with University of Washington, Tacoma (UW-T) Admissions, and The Transfer Center will facilitate a campus visit to UW-T in winter. The Events Page continues to be updated as events are shared: https://transfercenter.highline.edu/events/.
• Career Services: The Career Services team is working with the HOST program participants to complete mock interviews and resume reviews. As of November 19th, there are over 20 students who have completed a mock interview.
• The first Advising Council meeting of the year was held November 13th. This group of 35 key stakeholders in Advising will convene twice quarterly to facilitate the flow of essential information in support of advisors across campus. The Advising Council is co-chaired by Maribel Jimenez and Jennifer Scanlon. Shawna Freeman serves as vice-chair.

Athletics 

• 2021 Men’s Soccer NWAC Champions (4-3 over Whatcom)
• Steve Mohn (Head Coach Men’s Soccer) NWAC Coach of the Year
• Alex Velasco NWAC Finals MVP
• Women’s Soccer West Region Champions/NWAC 3rd place
• Tom Moore (Western Region Coach of the Year Women’s Soccer)
• Winter Sports have begun (Women’s and Men’s Basketball)
• Meredith Udovich NWAC Baden Player of Year (Women’s Soccer)

Campus View 

• The programming model for the month intentionally incorporated a collaborative program focusing on study tips with Highline College’s Librarian, Monica Twork, and another event that focused on centering meditation and mindfulness.
• The Winter Quarter Housing Renewal process is underway in support of our occupancy goals.  Currently, there are quarter- to -quarter renewals in process and 16 new applications for housing for Winter Quarter.
• The Community Pantry has been a consistent and stable partner for Campus View Student Housing residents. This partnership has supported 23 residents for the weekly HC Community Pantry food deliveries that are set up in the residence hall lobby entrance.

Counseling

• Gloria Koepping was interviewed about the counseling center by Justin Taillon in the Business division and a brief video was made available to all of the Business Division faculty for inclusion in their Canvas courses.
• The Counseling Center held its annual Mental Health and Wellness Day on November 10th with a series of workshops including: Coping with Covid with Joshua Magallanes, Comforting the Eeyore Within with Daryllyn Harris, and Being Mindful of the Body-ody-ody with Charlie Stone.
• Counseling has continued its partnership with the Nursing dept. to provide a Nursing Faculty member to our Counselor rotation of the weekly Mindful Tuesdays meditation and mindfulness evening sessions.
• Joshua Magallanes presented the webinar Mental Health is Emotional Health on November 17th, 2021.
• Advising, Entry Services and Admissions departments welcome new Winter 2022 students through New Student Orientation which are offered November through January. The Winter orientations are incorporating more elements of the Degree Pathway framework to introduce new students to Pathway options. Students view the new Highline Pathway video and select a Pathway as an outcome of orientation.
• A revised version of the admissions letter launched in November which includes information on connecting with the Entry Advising team for support navigating initial enrollment steps. The Entry Advisors are now guiding new students through appointment and drop-in sessions in the new location – Building 6.
• New checklists have been added to student portals in ctcLink in order to guide students through essential steps in the enrollment or funding processes.

International Student Programs (ISP)

• Wellness checks to each of our new international students were done during the middle of October. Calls were placed to each new student to make sure they had the answers they needed, as well as connecting them to any resources that may be useful to transition well to college life.  We plan to also make wellness check calls to our new and existing students as well during spring quarter.

• An ISP Google Hangout was done as part of a Thanksgiving theme. Students were invited to hangout and talk with ISP staff to ask questions focused on a variety of topics. This is designed to be more of a non-formal setting where students lead the conversations.

Student Support and Funding Services

• The inspirational story of Highline College TRiO student Fidelia Hernandez, was published on the Texas Advanced Computer Center (TACC) of  University of Texas website. Through her journey from Oaxaca, Mexico to the U.S., Fidelia shares her aspirations to pursue a degree and career in cybersecurity. She had her first internship at the TACC Cyber Infrastructure Research summer program and will be completing her Cybersecurity and Forensics BAS this summer 2022.
• TRiO celebrated the new academic year with the Annual TRiO Kick Off Event in November. Welcoming new and returning students, Dean Saechao and former TRiO Director shared a message of community and collective care, and the event keynote speaker, state representative Debra Entenman shared her story of hope and authenticity with the TRiO community. In addition, TRiO also led recognition of the National First-Generation College Student Day, Nov 8. Founded by the Council for Opportunity in Education and now co-leads with the Center for First-Generation Student Success initiative, the day encourages colleges, non-profits and K-12 institutions to celebrate the success of first-generation college students, faculty, staff and alumni.
• The COVID-19 Financial Relief Fund Team, recently acquired data that revealed underrepresentation of LatinX students who have applied for COVID-19 funding. Research from the Hope Center unfortunately aligns with this occurrence throughout educational institutions across the country. The team recently started implementing action plans to significantly increase the number of LatinX student applications. The team has also focused on building awareness and application support of COVID-19 and other campus emergency funding resources. Outreach efforts incorporate technological, culturally responsive and linguistic strategies.
• Women’s Programs/WorkFirst Services is hosting the 2021 Giving Tree Event. The program helps to provide low-income students and their children with gift and cheer in December. We need our community to make this year a success especially in light of the unique obstacles our parenting students have faced resulting from the pandemic. Women’s Programs/WorkFirst Services invite individuals, departments, classes, and clubs to sponsor the families of our students by partnering with the Giving Tree. If you want to sponsor a WorkFirst student family, complete the form. Click Here Questions? Contact Women’s Programs/WorkFirst Services at workfirst@highline.edu, 206-592-3340.
• The Student Assessment Information Team (SAIT) plans to transition to their new and more appropriate name Concern, Assistance, Resources, Empowerment (CARE) team in December. CARE more accurately represents the mission and purpose of the team that responds to student crisis, students of concern, and student hardships. Messaging to campus will be enacted in December moving forward. These include presentations with campus departments and areas (students, staff, faculty) about the role of the CARE team. The CARE Team consist of staff, faculty and administrators representing Public Safety, Student Conduct, Student Life, Access Services and Achieve, Student Support Center, Faculty, Counseling, and BIRT.
• Fall awards were delayed due to impacts of ctcLink. The new Director, Corinne Soltis, came in her first week and addressed the need to focus on completing fall awarding and provided the following plan: A weekly email to the student body each Monday, that will contain the following information, with a focus on priority files:
  • An acknowledgement that the financial aid office staff is sincerely sorry for the delays in student awards and explanation of the plan that has been enacted to speed up awarding
  • Provide an example or two of how financial aid is speeding up processing
    • How many files are remaining to complete
    • How many files financial aid is committing to completing that week
    • An accounting of how many files we completed the last week and if the department met or exceeded goals
    • A date when financial aid expects to complete all priority file
    • A list of available funding resources for students while they wait for their file to be processed
      • This list will include both CARES and emergency funding but also some community resources as well
• Student Success: Mariela Barriga has hired two full-time employees, Ciara White – UWKC Benefits Hub Campus Coordinator and Saido Alinur, SHORE Advisor & Support Specialist. Ciara’s role will lead in promoting and organizing UWKC Benefits Hub services, events and partnerships. Saido’s role will serve as the advisor for our WISH program, relieving Laquita and Michelle who was serving in that dual role until this hire. The Highline Community Pantry is in the process of renewing its food establishment permit so events can be held.
• WES: Building 1 staff (WES, Students Success, Transition Center) have been providing in person services in Building 2 because staff’s cubicle workstations do not meet the CDC Guideline recommendations. WES staff have done an exceptional job providing in-person and virtual services to students, all with one staff member returning from maternity leave. Staff recognized that a printer was needed in building 2 and have begun that process so that students and staff can now print instead of having to go back and forth between buildings.

Student Life

• Preparations are underway to provide a Winter Quarter ThunderWeek 2022 of welcome to our students in January. There will be welcome tables on campus to connect with students as well as various other workshops and opportunities for student engagement. During the Fall Quarter ThunderWeek, A Map to Community, rain or shine, we welcomed students through a hybrid program, featuring a daily “Coffee with” tent outside the Highline Student Union and Zoom programs to introduce students to ways to get involved at Highline. Campus partners joined us each day at the coffee table as we handed out swag, reusable coffee mugs, and coupons to the reopened Fireside Bistro. Thank you to Achieve, Veterans Services, Women’s Programs and WorkFirst Services, the Library, Academic Success Centers, Public Speaking Center, Community Standards and Student Conduct, Counseling Center, Unified Sports, Advising and Transfer Center, and Running Start for joining us! We gave out 245 coffee coupons over the course of the week, and 118 students joined us at one of 6 Zoom events we held throughout the week.
• In preparation for welcoming students to winter quarter, the planning for CCIE’s Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King  Jr. Week (MLK Week) has begun. MLK Week will be held Tuesday, January 18- Friday, January 21, 2022. MLK Week is a programming week of educational events, programs, and activities geared toward examining and celebrating the life, legacy and timeless radical teachings of Rev. Dr. King, Jr.
• Global Student Ambassadors (GSA) are proud co-sponsors of International Education Week, leading two events: Good Health & Well-being throughout the World and How Music Connects the World. GSA will begin partnering with International Student Programs in providing campus tours to international students as they join the Thunderbird community in person.
• As students return to in person operation, The Clubs Program is experiencing growth. There are currently 11 officially recognized clubs by the Associated Students of Highline College. The clubs are: American Sign Language Club (ASL), Computer Science Club, Cyber Competition Club, Business Club, Disney+ Club, Highline Book Club, Highline Nursing Club, Karaoke Club, PHATT (Physicists of Highline – Association of Thinkers & Tinkerers), Spill Some Ink: A Creative Writing Club, and Women in Cyber Security Club. Students interested in starting or joining a club can visit The Center located in Highline Student Union, Room 310 to speak with a Community Leadership Consultant or email clubteam@highline.edu.
• The Services and Activities Fee (S&A) applications for student Budget Chair and Committee positions are open. S&A allocates funding for over 64 program lines to support student co/extra-curricular engagement. Large allocations go to support student leadership wages, travel, and campus-wide programming. S&A fees are the student fee assessed by the college and include an equivalency contribution from the college for international students and running start students who don’t directly contribute to the S&A fees. Unique to Highline’s S&A structure is that our institution is on a forward funding model, using revenue collected from two fiscal years prior to support approved program allocations, with any unused allocations transferred annually into the S&A fund balance.
• Center for Cultural and Inclusive Excellence (CCIE) curated the 2nd Annual Disability Justice Week entitled Disability Joy: A Mindset of Unapologetic Liberation, November 1-5, 2021. In partnership with Access Services, Disability Justice Week is a programming series that centralizes the intersectionality of the disability experience through the Disability Justice framework that addresses systemic oppression and amplifies the voices of historically marginalized communities for collective liberation. Five programs were hosted over the week including a panel featuring Highline Students and Alumni sharing their experiences navigating college and finding their joy. For recordings and more information regarding Disability Justice Week, please visit https://ccie.highline.edu/disability-justice-week/
• The Inter-Cultural Center (Highline Student Union, bldg. 8, room 204) launched its Fall 2021 facilitated dialogue programming series. The Inter-Cultural Center (ICC) engages the entire campus community. The center provides a space where people can share and celebrate their authentic selves through dialogue and activities, engage in social justice advocacy, build knowledge about global movements, and develop as change agents. Our staff is committed to working with the whole campus to promote campus diversity and multicultural understanding. The ICC is an extension of the Center for Cultural & Inclusive Excellence. All programs are led by our ICC Peer Facilitators and held virtually this quarter.
• The CCIE Peer-Mentorship Program launched its quarterly service programming. Hosted by our Service & Mentorship Engagement (SaME) Consultants, programs are designed to expose students to volunteering opportunities in the community such as the successful campus clean-up events occurring this Fall Quarter. Remaining events include:
  • Winter Clothing and Blanket Drive: Monday, December 6- Friday, December 10, 2021
  • The Power in Serving Community: Virtual Service Engagement Fair: Wednesday, December 8, 2021, 11am-12:30pm

Professional development

Advising, Transfer and Career and Enrollment Services

• The Advising, Transfer and Career Services (ATC) and Enrollment Services staff lead professional development sessions for faculty advisors during week 1 of Advising Weeks (11/1 – 11/4).
• An MS Team channel was launched to support faculty advisors in addressing emergent advising questions during the enrollment period. Experts in Advising, Running Start, Veterans Services, Enrollment Services and Entry Advising monitor the chat line to support faculty advising efforts.
• Sarah Trimm and Linda Brethorst are collaborating with the LTC to develop Pre-Nursing Advising shadowing opportunities. The ATC team will pilot run Pre-Nursing Drop-In Advising only starting 11/23 – 12/3 and inviting faculty to shadow advisors.

Counseling

• Nicole Hoyes Wilson will give a training sponsored by the SBCTC on Positive Mental Health: Self-Care in a Collaborative Environment on December 3rd, 2021. 
• Nicole Hoyes Wilson received 6 CEUs in Ethics and 6 CEUS in Suicide Prevention in November in order to fulfill her Washington LMHC and LICSW licensure requirements.

International Student Programs

• Four staff had participated in the NAFSA (National association for Foreign Students abroad) Regional conference). Staff were able to attend any of the combined-region presentations. The conference gives professional development to all areas of international education including our main areas of admissions, recruitment, advising, programming.

Student Support and Funding Services

• Izzy Wroblewski, Student Conduct Manager and Chair of the SAIT Team attended in November the National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment Team Standards and Best Practices training in November. The training is a two-day certification course that provides instruction through 20 NABITA standards for Behavioral Intervention Teams. The Higlhine College behavioral intervention team is currently known as SAIT (name will be changed to CARE Team shortly).
• Georgia Pirie served on Disability Justice Week Committee
• Malaelupe Samifua is participating as a scholarship reader for APIA and APISF Scholarships
• Marta Reeves continues to serve on our Budget Advisory Committee
• Geomarc Panelo is currently serving on Highline College’s 12th Annual Black and Brown Male Summit Planning Committee
• Edwina Fui and Geomarc Panelo began their second year as graduate students in Seattle University’s Student Development Administration Program.
• Iesha Valencia began her third year in the Higher Education Leadership doctoral program at Colorado State University.

Counseling

• Nicole Hoyes Wilson, presented at the NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) Mid-Level Management Institute on the topic of Building Authentic Professional Relationships Across Divisions on November 8th 2021.
• Vince Sanchez, Counseling Program Coordinator, will be moving to Texas in January. He will be greatly missed. A screening committee has been established for the Program Coordinator position which closed on November 17th. The hope is to have someone hired by January.

Enrollment and Registration

• Enrollment Services welcomes Jack Oden as a newly hired Credentials Evaluator 3. Mr. Oden will perform transcript evaluations of coursework which includes evaluating incoming transcripts from other accredited institutions of higher education, or other documentation including military transcripts or tests. His professional experience includes four years at Green River Community College as an ESL instructor’s assistant, 15 years as a Credentials Evaluator at City University of Seattle and previous work as a data technician. His many years of experience with PeopleSoft will be a great asset as we acclimate to ctcLink and continue to refine business processes. Jack enjoys reading and learning new things, foreign languages, and hiking/walking.

Student Support and Funding Services

• New Financial Aid Director, Corinne Soltis, first day at Highline College was October 25, 2021.
• New UWKC Benefits Hub Campus Coordinator, Ciara White, first day was October 18, 2021; New SHORE Advisor & Support Specialist, Saido Alinur, first day was October 26, 2021. Both report to the Director of Student Success, Mariela Barriga.

Student Life

• Iesha Valencia will be leaving her role as the Associate Dean for Student Life to begin her new role as the Associate Vice President of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Clover Park Technical College. Iesha has worked at Highline for 9 years and has proudly served in many roles advocating for and advancing EDI, including her longstanding membership and contributions to the Faculty and Staff of Color Committee, Equity Task Force, Inaugural Equity Development Institute Day. Additionally, she has passionately contributed to the Inaugural Latinx Student Summit, Native Student Success Summit, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week Planning Committee, Unity through Diversity Week Planning Committee, LGBTQIA Planning Committee, and Accessible Technology efforts. She represented Highline College nationally, through the NASPA Community College Division, the 100th Annual Conference Planning Committee, and in a 4-year term as a At Large Board Member of the NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program.

Report submitted November 29, 2021, by Interim Vice President Jamilyn Penn, Ed.D.