Area Report for Board of Trustees

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

Global Programs – Create opportunities for students and employees to experience an internationalized education and understanding:

• Due to an unexpected scheduling conflict of our international student recruiter, I had the opportunity to fill in and travel to India for an international high school recruitment tour during the last half of November 2023. As one of the only U.S. community colleges participating on the tour, among the universities from the U.K. and Canada, I was pleasantly surprised to learn of the high interest in Highline College from Indian high school students and families, especially those who value an affordable education.
• On my return trip, with a transit stop in Vietnam, I also met with a prospective (Vietnamese) student to prep her for the U.S. visa interview. The student did indeed receive her study visa the following day and will be on her way to study at Highline College in another few weeks.

Facilities – Create accessible, fiscally & environmentally sustainable, and productive work & learning environment:

• We have formed two planning committees of appropriate stakeholders to begin the space planning process for the Welcome Center for Student Success and the vision development for a potential Student Activity Center, including an athletic sports field.
• The renovation project of the B-23 Third Floor (faculty offices) has been completed. We will be working with Academic Affairs for a move-in plan in the next several weeks.
• The Sound Transit construction for our Roundabout Entrance (East Parking Lot) and College Way is substantially completed. However, due to other continuing construction work on Pacific Highway South, College Way access will be delayed until at least mid-January.

Core Theme 2: STUDENT LEARNING, Increase educational success and close equity gaps; collaborate to improve

Global Programs – Create opportunities for student learning to develop a global community:

• Global Programs hosted another successful International Education Week between November 13^th and November 16^th. Among the workshops were “Global Perspectives Unveiled: Voices of Highline College International Students”, “Highline Students Study Abroad”, and “Henna Around the World.”  I also facilitated a discussion about the experiences of our faculty with “Faculty Experiential Learning to Vietnam.”

Public Safety – Serve as an educational partner by enhancing community awareness for crime prevention:

• On December 1st, Public Safety provided a verbal de-escalation workshop to MaST Center, Federal Way HUB and Continuing Education staff. This course provides employees with the tools to survive stressful, heated verbal encounters with tact, poise and professionalism. They are taught how to defuse potentially volatile verbal encounters with Aristotle’s “Rhetorical Perspective” and develop skills to deflect and redirect verbal abuse.
• Public Safety team utilized the ReGroup Emergency Communication System (our new multi-language emergency notification system) for the first time in late November in response to a traffic accident impacting traffic on campus.

Core Theme 3: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS, Create a more inclusive working environment and a more valued, visible relationship with communities we serve

Public Safety – Engage internal and external communities to support maintaining a safe and secure working and learning environment at Highline College:

• As a member of Des Moines Police Advisory Board, David Menke spent two days in November interviewing and evaluating police officer candidates for the Des Moines Police Department.
• Public Safety collaborated with a Des Moines Police Department officer to conduct a crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) assessment of the Campus View residence hall on October 18, 2023.

Core Theme 4: CULTURE & CAPACITY, Promote a campus culture which fosters equity and inclusivity supporting employee growth and development, and institutional capacity for transformation

Budget, Grant, & Procurement Services – Manage institutional budget effectively and efficiently:

• As part of the effort to improve business processes, Purchasing team provided the first purchasing training for the fiscal year on November 30th with 28 attendees.

Finance – Manage and safeguard institutional resources and assets:

• Finance team is continuing with cross training of all team members to enhance knowledge skills as well as to provide backup capacity as necessary.
• Finance team is in the process of evaluating outstanding debt records to develop a recommendation/plan for collection.
• As part of the annual audit process, Finance team has completed the campus risk assessment survey in November 2023. The results are being evaluated and will be submitted to the Board for review in January 2024.

Public Safety – Maintain and sustain departmental financial resources to support institutional mission fulfillment:

• While we have seen a slight increase in parking permit sales for Fall Quarter 2032, total year-to-date permit revenue of approximately $95K, however, accounted for only 57% of the department’s expenses (within this specific program). Since the pandemic, permit revenue has declined to the point of impacting services.  Public Safety is evaluating various fee options (to ensure sustainability) to make a recommendation to Executive Cabinet in the near future.

Policy Development Council – Ensuring a transparent and collaborative process for evaluating, assessing, and developing college policies:

• Policy Development Council began our 2023-24 term with several important proposals on the agenda. The Council for example is looking at a proposal to “restructure” the Council’s bylaws.  In addition, as part of the recent accreditation recommendations on “academic freedom policy”, the Council is recommending a change to align the policy with the existing language in the current CBA.  A formal recommendation will be provided to the Board in a future meeting.

Report submitted by Vice President of Administrative Services Dr. Michael Pham