Area Report for Board of Trustees

In the last month of service as the Acting President, I have been actively engaged in advancing the college’s strategic priorities and fostering meaningful connections within and beyond our campus community. Over the past month, I have participated in discussions and events that support student success, community partnerships, and institutional planning. From collaborating with internal stakeholders on Guided Pathways initiatives, to representing the college at regional and state events, these activities reflect our shared commitment to Access, Learning, Community, and Culture & Capacity. Below is a summary of key events and actions undertaken in November that contribute to these goals:

• Dr. Lardner and I hosted an online conversation for Academic Affairs staff, Student Services Staff, and two Guided Pathways coaches to discuss the college’s plans for streamlining onboarding of students using the current four-phase model: Entry Advising, Pathway Advising, Faculty Advising, and Career & Transfer. The goal of the internal partnerships and the GP coaches is to identify gaps in the four-phase model that may negatively impact students in the process of onboarding and persisting to completion. The conversation was rich. College leaders identified gaps and have plans moving forward to mitigate those elements.
• Dr. Jimenez and I met with Jimmy Brown, Executive Director of Build 2 Lead. The organization promotes strategic collaborations with reciprocal partners who have a vested interest in establishing non-traditional pathways to college and career readiness for BIPOC youth and young adults ages 16-24. This includes community-based organizations, employers, and community-centric colleges like Highline College. We discussed future partnerships that may include participation of Build 2 Lead participants engaging in Highline events, like Black and Brown Male Summit and/or Y.E.L.L. We also discussed developing Bridge program opportunities for Build 2 Lead graduates who have identified Highline College as their college of choice. We anticipate having future meetings with Mr. Brown to identify core strategies to foster partnership with Build 2 Lead.
• With encouragement from Thomas McLeod, Mayor of Tukwila, and invitation from Representative Steve Bergquist and Dr. Concie Pedroza, Superintendent of Tukwila School District, I attended the November Tukwila City Council Meeting, where Representative Bergquist and Dr. Pedroza made a request to the Council to support a Tukwila Promise. More specifically, the request was to have the Council set aside funds (approximately $170K) towards this program. Students from Tukwila would receive funding from the Council funding AND support from the Opportunity grant at Highline College to round out a “scholarship,” much like Seattle Promise. Renton Technical College recently made the same request to its City Council, and that effort will help Renton High School graduates to attend RTC, fully funded. I attended the meeting to show Highline College’s support for a partnership with a future Tukwila Promise.
• Highline College’s Associated Students of Highline College (ASHC) hosted the 22^nd annual Legislative Breakfast on December 4, 2024. This community event offers our involved and civically engaged campus to speak directly to and with legislators and other elected officials who represent our service districts. Three student leaders shared short speeches about issues impact Highline’s diverse student population. Following the speeches, students and legislators participated in roundtable discussions.
• On December 4, 2024, the Rotary Club of Federal Way hosted a meeting at the Federal Performing Arts & Events Center. I attended. Dr. Dani Pfeiffer, Superintendent of Federal Way Public Schools, presented a State of Education Address entitled: Better Together.
• Advanced efforts to reorganize and enhance the new Strategic Planning Council (SPC). This body was formerly known as the Student Success Council (SSC). The new SPC is charged with the following:
  • The Strategic Planning Council is the primary body on campus charged with ensuring that Highline College is focused on meeting its mission as defined by the Mission Fulfillment Report in alignment with the accreditation standards outlined by NWCCU. This cross-divisional body serves as the leadership group responsible for shaping college strategies in response to results reported in the MFR. This body is also responsible for ensuring that all members of the Highline College community have opportunities to engage in discussion about how the college is deliberately prioritizing achieving its mission.

• I attended the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) with Dr. Lardner and members of the Institutional Effectiveness Committee (IEC). My attendance was essential to stay informed about regional accreditation standards and best practices, as Highline College is slated for a 7-year accreditation site visit in approximately two years.
• Attended WACTC meetings. Working with WACTC, SBCTC, and Highline College’s Institutional Advancement’s Marketing and Communication teams to prepare for the upcoming legislative session. Chancellors and Presidents are charged with doing two things:
  • Congratulate returning and newly elected legislators following the November general election
  • Schedule at least two in-person meetings with our legislators in Olympia during session and initiate the following:
    • Schedule the first meeting in January or February
    • Schedule the second meeting in Mary or early April
    • Plan to bring a trustee, student (if appropriate), and a faculty member
    • Once the meetings are scheduled, email the dates/times to Sam Herriot, SBCTC’s Government Relations Liaison.

Kind regards,

Dr. Jamilyn Penn

Information Technology Services

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

• Business & Data Analysis staff have been working with Institutional Research staff to assess additional sets of meaningful data and provide visibility in multiple ways to look at patterns and current trends of enrollments and waitlists. With a projected increase in enrollments, this will support decisions by leaders in Academic Affairs to provide more intentional course offerings and distribution of teaching resources to meet student needs. Some of the recent focus has been to give a more real-time view into waitlist data to highlight the courses where additional class sections may be viable, as well as to provide better analysis of enrollment patterns for Running Start and International Students who have unique requirements and preferences. Draft data dashboards to support these efforts were recently shared with both Student Services and Academic Affairs leaders for a preview of the work in progress. In addition to this, the data and reporting teams are also reviewing and auditing other areas of data to look for opportunities to improve the integrity and accuracy of the data, which will allow us to look for opportunities to gain efficiency and automation of processes where possible. 

Core Theme 4: CULTURE & CAPACITY, Create capacity for meaningful strategic planning and institutional transformation through intentional development of employees, facilities, and systems that support student success and close equity gaps

• As the Teams Phone migration project approaches completion, most actively assigned extensions from the legacy Avaya PBX system have now been ported over to the Teams environment. While the majority of future use will be software-based, physical campus phones which will remain, including classroom phones, are in the process of being replaced with new AudioCodes Teams Phone handsets between now and the end of Winter Break.

• Highline’s employee IT Security Awareness training campaign has moved into the phishing drill phase. A supplement to the weekly lessons, these email security drills are simulated phishing emails designed to help employees use what they have learned in the training and utilize the reporting function built into Outlook. These drills are delivered to individual employees on a randomized schedule over several weeks. Employees who report the drills using the Outlook reporting button will receive an automatic confirmation from the system. Users who click on a simulated phishing message will be asked to complete a short additional training lesson.

• Highline ITS staff have been actively involved in the “Student Success Software” RFP process being run at the state level. Deputy CIO Pat Daniels participated as a representative of the IT Commission in the task force that drafted the functional requirements for the RFP. Going into the review of vendor proposals, Pat proposed that Jill Hammitt, Highline’s Business Systems Analyst for Campus Solutions participate in her stead. Jill has vast experience not only with PeopleSoft (ctcLink) Campus Solutions, but also has a broad understanding of student facing processes and other tools Highline is using for student support, and has a good deal of experience with system integrations. Her extensive knowledge and experience is a huge benefit to this process not just for Highline, but the Washington CTC system as a whole.

Human Resources

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

• HR has provided the faculty Instruction Cabinet with anti-bias training for job description writing. The Cabinet is now reviewing JDs and looking for opportunities to edit JDs and eliminate unnecessary barriers to entry for diverse applicants.
• HR will be providing training to all Screening Committees on how to identify various types of bias in an effort to reduce bias while screening resumes.
• HR will also be providing training to all Screening Committees to identify and reduce bias during interviews including discussions regarding microaggressions.

Core Theme 4: CULTURE & CAPACITY, Create capacity for meaningful strategic planning and institutional transformation through intentional development of employees, facilities, and systems that support student success and close equity gaps

• The HR team has been working with Leadership and Faculty to improve diversity hires.
• We have updated our employment page and refreshed our job postings using inclusive language to attract more underrepresented groups.

Report submitted by Acting President Dr. Jamilyn Penn