Board of Trustees Meeting

Location and Time

Highline College
District 9
2400 South 240th Street
Des Moines, WA 98198

Study Session (Building 25, Room 411): 8 a.m.

General Session (Building 25, Boardroom): 10 a.m.

Call to order at 8:18 a.m.

Roll Call

Emily Lardner, Sy Ear, Michael Pham, James Peyton, John Mosby, Josh Gerstman, Summer Korst, Bruce Marvin, Bob Roegner, Sili Savusa, Fred Mendoza, Sharmila Swenson, Dan Altmayer, Danielle Slota

Discussion Topics

The Board, as and when deemed necessary, may call an Executive Session for appropriate
purposes under the Open Meetings Act.

Discussion

• Follow-up provided on public comments from 11/21/19 BoT meeting by John Mosby

Trustee Fred Mendoza
Thunderword article review: Report faults Highline for high turnover

• John Mosby commented that the data referenced in the article was from 2016-17 which should be taken into account.  
• Summer Korst commented that manager training and exist interviews will be key moving forward.  
• Comments shared by Trustee Roegner regarding generational expectations of new employees in today’s market place.  
• Trustee Altmayer suggested we alter the benchmark as the workforce changes.  Trustee Savusa commented that authentic and transparent conversations need to occur in order for employees to feel relevant to the changes that will continue to occur as our campus moves forward. 
• Trustee Swenson commented that generational changes should be expected as they are common across all workforces and while investing in employee and institutional goals can be expensive and time encompassing, they are beneficial.  She highly recommended skip level engagement to create opportunity for employees to speak with their manager’s manager from time to time to create an added layer of opportunity and increased engagement. 
• Trustee Roegner commented on the importance of retaining the culture at Highline
• VP Pham commented that the 29% of employees noted in the article represents a total of 8 new employees hired that year.
• John Mosby commented that the culture on campus is changing naturally as new employees and new structures on campus continue to change.  The creation of the VP EDI will have a major impact/shift on campus culture. 
• Trustee Mendoza requested a follow-up in the future as we move forward with new recruitment and retention practices.  He also provided comment that as a community college we have a responsibility to our employees to create a pipeline for upward mobility into larger institutions for those employees who wish to move in that direction.
• John Mosby commented on the level of responsibility we have to our employees around training, culture, listening, etc. 
• Trustee Savusa commented that support services for the ethnic Latino population on campus for both faculty/staff and students.  Requested a future follow-up in this area.  Trustee Swenson asked for running start breakdown at a future meeting.

Action item review, to be voted on in General Session

Action item a: 2020 Highline College Board of Trustees General Meeting Schedule
 

Roundtable

Academic affairs: faculty office moves are complete; Dean recruitment underway

Student Services: TRiO is exceeding benchmarks and are working to prepare on new grant submission; women’s soccer had an extremely successful year; winter athletics have kicked off

Administrative Services: Building 26 is complete; Campus View construction has begun for staff moves with the goal of June 2019 move-in ready date

Institutional Advancement: Building 26 dedication on Fri. Jan 31; welcomed new employees Blake Stagner and Dave O’Keefe to the team

College Foundation: community member Eva Gordon left $550k to Highline College which is the largest gift the Foundation has received; Giving Tuesday generated a positive amount of interactions and shared information, combined with the Black and Brown Banquet approximately $15k was raised; Waterstreet Café reception is scheduled for Tuesday, January 14th and Transforming Lives on Tuesday, February 17th 

Human Resources: recruitment is the focus of 2020 with added efforts on diversifying applicant pools through added efforts in advertising, interviews, etc.
 

Study session adjournment at 9:42 a.m.

General session call to order at 10:03 a.m.

Roll call

Josh Gerstman, Sy Ear, Emily Lardner, Michael Pham, Dan Altmayer, Sharmila Swenson, Fred Mendoza, Sili Savusa, Bob Roegner, John Mosby, Danielle Slota, AAG Bruce Marvin

Approve minutes

Approve minutes of the regularly scheduled meeting of November 21, 2019

Moved by Trustee Savusa, seconded by Trustee Altmayer, minutes are approved

Opportunity for public comment

Persons wishing to testify must sign up and limit testimony to three minutes

Correspondence

Standing reports

Associated Students of Highline College: Mohamed Jama

• Legislative breakfast – expressed gratitude to Trustees Altmayer, Roegner and Mendoza for attending.  15 legislators, 100+ students and 30+ faculty/staff attendees.  Raised awareness for mental health 
• Sound Transit – strong push for Highline Station 

Washington Public Employees Association: Tessa Bowen

• Working towards a resolution for ITS staff
• Office moves continue

Highline College Education Association: James Peyton

• Faculty are busy with grading; office moves; recently supporting ASHC legislative breakfast with student attendance and involvement; syllabi improvement; winter faculty searches; legislative session prep

Faculty Senate: Sam Alkhalili

• No report

Highline College Foundation: VP Josh Gerstman

• Expressed gratitude for attendance to the Circle of Honor
• Fundraising season for Foundation kicked off with the Black and Brown Summit Banquet and Giving Tuesday

Discussion

Presentation of championship trophy to Highline College Women’s Soccer

• NWAC Champions
• Recognized Coach Tom Moore, record is 86:10, NWAC Coach of the Year two years, former HC student athlete
• Recognized student Hannah Jenkins, NWAC Player of the Year and Region MVP

Action items

Action item a: 2020 Highline College Board of Trustees General Meeting Schedule

• Trustee Savusa motioned, Trustee Swenson seconded, 2020 schedule approved

Area reports

Administrative Services: VP Michael Pham

• Report stands as submitted

Academic Affairs: Interim VP Emily Lardner

• Report stands as submitted

Student Services: Interim VP Sy Ear

• Report stands as submitted
• Peak registration time

Institutional Advancement: VP Josh Gerstman

• Report stands as submitted

President’s remarks

• Acknowledged the Circle of Honor and Highline’s Got Talent events that occurred in November
• Recognized Interim VP Emily Lardner for her panel work on the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness (CAPR) in New York last month

Unscheduled business

New business

Adjournment at 10:38 a.m.

Minutes Signed and Approved

The meeting minutes from December 12, 2019, were approved and signed into record by Chair Fred Mendoza and President John R. Mosby on January 09, 2020.

Mission Statement: As a public institution of higher education serving a diverse community in a multicultural world and global economy, Highline College promotes student engagement, learning, and achievement, integrates diversity and globalism throughout the college, sustains relationships within its communitites, and practices sustainability in human resources, operations, and teaching and learning.