Facilities

• Facilities has continued to support safety programs for Fall Quarter across campus by enhanced sanitization efforts, distributing PPEs, and social distancing materials
• We have successfully moved several departments and offices into the Campus View first floor in early October.
• The Mailroom/Central Services continues to support the college remote learning operations by sending and mailing out record number of books and materials to students.
• Ongoing (minor) capital projects for this year include Building-1 sewer line repair, B-24 reroofing, Building-23 elevator repair, and renovation plans for Building-12 and a couple small areas in Building-25 (Library).

Finance & Budget

• Budget and Grants Office has met with departments and programs across campus, including TRiO, ABE/ESL and AANAPISI, to transition into the new fiscal year.
• Budget met with BFET staff to discuss the 2017-18 program review/audit.
• The Finance Director attended the annual CCBO conference in a virtual format during the week of October 19-22. Topics included preparing students for a post-Covid environment, lessons learned from a security breach, and GASB updates.
• Finance has moved into cycle 4 data validation and Round 1 of User Acceptance Testing for ctcLink.

Public Safety and Emergency Management 

• Public Safety staff attended an industry-standard and well-known verbal de-escalation training course.
• Public Safety staff, in partnership with Center for Leadership and Service, attended a multi-series bias training. At a time of heightened awareness around issues of racism, privilege and inequality on the national level, training on the impact of unconscious bias on behaviors and actions is critical.
• On October 15^th Highline College participated in the Great Washington Shakeout, a nation-wide earthquake drill.  Students, faculty, and staff were encouraged to practice the “drop-cover-hold” position even though most were working and learning remotely.

Auxiliary Services 

• Bookstore processed over 2,300 online orders for books and supplies during the first 3 weeks of fall quarter. The trend towards digital course materials accelerated through the summer.
• Bookstore started a limited drive-through pick-up option for students earlier this Fall Quarter. Over 1,000 students actually utilized the drive-through option to pick up textbooks as well as seeking assistance for other bookstore-related materials.
• The Conference and Event Services department, as a self-support program, continues to face significant fiscal challenges due to the pandemic and the campus closure.
• We have officially terminated our food service contract with Aladdin/Lancer Hospitality Services, due to the on-going uncertainty over the pandemic environment. Over $10K of remaining food inventory were donated to the Food Pantry for distribution to students.  We are in the process of assessing our options for on-campus food service in the future.

Report submitted Nov. 02, 2020 by Vice President Michael Pham