Area Report for Board of Trustees
As the quarter draws to a close, I want to highlight and recognize the great work provided by our students, staff and faculty. Recently, our Associated Students of Highline College (ASHC) hosted its annual student legislative breakfast, bringing our local state representatives, senators and campus constituents together to dialogue and discuss issues within our community. Although the hope was to have more of our state representatives there, the breakfast was quite successful and well attended by our students, staff and faculty. Highlights of the breakfast were our excellent student speakers: Cindy Arias, Max Brown, Louis Ihrig, Melissa Martinez and Chalisa Thompson. Their speeches passionately discussed challenges that affect many of our students: textbook affordability, food insecurity and college affordability. Our student speakers, once again, represented Highline College with pride and concern for our community. In addition, many thanks to ASHC and Iesha Valencia for organizing a great event and Trustees Altmayer and Roegner for attending.
Another great event for our students held recently was our College Transfer Fair. As a former college admissions director and recruiter, I consider college fairs one of my favorite events. Our Student Union was busy, filled with college and university representatives speaking with our students about their plans after Highline College. It was fun to see staff and faculty wear their alma mater gear, which modeled a wonderful message to our students. Thank you to Siew Lai Lilley and the team for creating an informative and possibly life-changing opportunity for our students.
For events within our external community, I attended the YES! Foundation of White Center dinner where I met numerous people who had a direct connection to Highline. The speakers were outstanding and I enjoyed seeing the tremendous amount of respect our White Center community has for the college. I appreciated the spirit of collaboration in the air and their pride when community members spoke about White Center and their advocacy for their fellow neighbors. Thank you, Trustee Savusa, for the invitation to attend a powerful evening.
Last week, I was invited to sit on a panel sponsored by the CTC Leadership Development Academy on authentic leadership with two other presidents and a staff member from the State Board. There were approximately 30 participants throughout the state who attended, representing academic affairs, student services, administrative services and the institutional advancement areas. One of our faculty members participated in the academy. The morning session was enjoyable and panelists were able to share their experiences and lessons learned and answer questions from the academy participants. Regardless of the location or event, it’s always a pleasure and honor to represent the college and share the impactful work of our students, staff and faculty with our Washington colleagues. I look forward to more opportunities of this kind in the future.
As I conclude my update, I want to welcome two new individuals to the college. First, in the President’s Office, Danielle Slota has joined the college as the Special Assistant to the President. This position was previously called Chief of Staff. Ms. Slota will be working directly on all matters related to our Board of Trustees and, along with Amy Snydar, will support my office. I’m excited to have Ms. Slota on board. She will be getting to know the college very soon, walking around and meeting people. Of course, feel free to come by the President’s Office to say hello. Everyone is welcome. Second, our new Interim Vice President for Student Services, Dr. Sy Ear, started recently. I look forward to his leadership as he works with our Student Services team to continue to provide excellent service to our students and campus community.
As we approach final exams and the end of the calendar year, I want to express my thanks for the hard work and commitment to our campus and students. I have enjoyed these past 5 ½ months and look forward to our listening sessions and campus dialogue during winter quarter to discuss vision and priorities. Happy holidays and have a wonderful, safe and relaxing break.
Report submitted Dec. 4, 2018, by President John R. Mosby, Ph.D.