Area Report for Board of Trustees
We have just passed the mid-point of the third quarter of the year, the seventh quarter (not counting summers) of the pandemic. Our faculty and staff continue to show tenacity, resiliency, and a deep commitment to our students and our community.
Our Spring Faculty meeting on May 4 made visible some of the amazing work that has been underway this year at Highline College and in the Academic Affairs division. We heard a presentation from the CampusWorks consultants on the steps they are taking to help HC improve enrollment and retention. The tri-chairs of the Equity First Strategic Planning Core team—Diego Luna, Jen Ritchie, and Paulette Lopez—encouraged faculty to provide feedback on the draft mission, vision, and values statement, and reminded all of us of the critical important of this work. Danielle Slota polled faculty to get their perspectives on how best to celebrate our graduates in June. (Zoom chat suggestions included food trucks, music, and other means to make the day festive.) Shawna Freeman provided an update on the implementation of Aviso, the software system designed to support advising and retention across the college. Stephanie Ojeda Ponce, Faculty Senate President, and Senators Jack Harton and Christie Knighton, provided an update on the process for revising Senate’s constitution and encouraged faculty to consider serving on Senate next year. James Peyton provided a comprehensive overview from HCEA’s perspective, including the importance of educating our legislators on the critical importance of continuing to address the inequitable funding in our system. In addition, fourteen screening committees are working hard to identify highly qualified tenure-track faculty to fill open positions.
A hybrid celebration in honor of National Poetry month offered a moment to pause and appreciate the poetic gifts and talents of our students who read their poems to a group gathered in B8—the first such convening in two years. We had opportunities to hear colleagues read favorite poems. Susan Landgraf and Deb Moore served as MC’s, and poems were displayed on broadsides around the room.
HC-HCEA agree to open bargaining
Highline College and Highline College Education Association signed an agreement to engage in open bargaining while negotiating the current faculty contract. Members of HCEA, Instruction Cabinet, Executive Cabinet (with the exception of Dr. Mosby), and representatives from Associated Students of Highline College are able to observe the bargaining sessions which happen weekly, from 1-5pm on Tuesdays, alternating between in-person and virtual formats.
Strengthening institutional effectiveness/fiscal effectiveness
Institutional Effectiveness Annual Reports and Plans
The Institutional Effectiveness Committee has released a new intranet site dedicated to institutional effectiveness. The site includes a newly developed Institutional Effectiveness timeline which has been designed to align with the Board’s calendar and the approval of Dr. Mosby’s annual priorities in July.
Members of the IEC are hosting information sessions for staff who will be completing the end of year report. IEC developed a rubric to assist teams in completing the report.
The IEC has also released a revised version of the IE plan, and a related rubric. These plans are not due until August and need to aligned with the college annual priorities approved in July. However, many teams begin working on their plans for next year now, as they reflect on the work of this year. IEC members created a new resource to support teams in developing their plans for next year—a compilation of examples drawn from the IE plans submitted for 21-22. To create this resource, a subcommittee of IEC members reviewed all the IE reports submitted for this year and interviewed report writers to glean not only examples, but also tips and advice for engaging in this work.
Supporting student learning/increasing student completion
Academic Success Center Winter 2022 Student Overview
In winter quarter 2022, the Academic Success Center logged over 660 in-person student visits to the building 25, 6th floor physical space. Of the students utilizing the Academic Success Center space, 18% of students utilized the space to access their online classes from campus, 23% of students attended in-person tutoring sessions (Writing Center visits are not captured in this data due to having separate sign-in kiosk), and 61% of students utilized the ASC for a study space (percentage is >100% due to the ability for students to indicate multiple reasons for visits when they sign-in).
The Academic Success Center provided academic support to 254 students through a total of 830 online and in-person tutoring appointments. 127 students were in Direct Transfer (DTA) programs, 36 students were in Associate of Applied Science programs, 33 students were in Associate of Science programs, 17 students were in Bachelor of Applied Science program, 3 students were in Professional Technical Certificate programs, and 39 were Undecided or had no program of study listed. Additionally, 104 students were 1st Generation College Students, 43 students were in Running Start, 15 in Worker Retraining, 13 in the TRiO Program, and 3 in Veterans programs. 79% (175) of the students who utilized the Academic Success Center passed with 2.0 or above and had an average grade 3.04 in the class they received tutoring support.
MESA Program Updates
- 15 students from Highline and the MESA Program have been selected to participate in the Microsoft Mentorship Programs (Project Beacon) next cohort. It will be the largest cohort to date for Project Beacon and Microsoft is looking to come to the campus to do presentations for future cohorts.
- Highline MESA recently had 1 student selected for an internship with the DOE National Renewable Laboratories in California, another was selected for an internship with Nanostring Industries in Seattle.
Strengthening community partnerships/serving our community
Partnerships with Highline Public Schools/Federal Way Public Schools–YRSP
With the support of Vice Presidents Lardner and Gerstman, Youth Re-Engagement and Success Program(YRSP) and the Office of Outreach partnered in welcoming nearly 300 juniors from Tyee and Mt Rainier High Schools on April 14th. Students were welcomed by Vice President Lardner, President Mosby and Chair Swenson, and given an abbreviated Guided Pathways presentation. Next, students were broken into groups and attended two preselected workshops staffed by faculty and staff from various departments across campus. In total we offered 13 workshops per session and a fully staffed resource fair that showcased housing, student life and hands on interactions with Geology, Respiratory Care, the MaST Center and more. Student surveys indicated that they found our campus inviting, our faculty and staff friendly, and that the event made them reconsider options offered by our campus.
- Department Presentation List: Hospitality and Tourism, Legal and Criminal Justice, Health Care Professions, MESA, Umoja, Nursing, Respiratory Therapy, Drafting, Interior Design, Ethnic Studies, Music Production, Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, Nutrition, Engineering, Personal Fitness, Accounting, Economics, Anthropology, BAS Programs, Student Life, Geology and Library Systems.
- Resource Fair List: CWU, Umoja, Running Start, Access Services, Housing (Campus View), BAS Programs, Center for Cultural & Inclusive Excellence / Center for Leadership & Service, Geology, Counseling, Transfer & CASE, Respiratory Care, and MaST.
- Event Coordinators: Jennifer Joseph-Charles, Donna Enguerra-Simpson, Alyeda Cervantes
In an early push for Fall enrollment, YRSP is hosting a campus visit for 50 youth that are eligible for our re-engagement programs on May 18th. The visiting students are from Highline Public Schools.
In partnership with Rickitia Reid, Tammy Hauge, of the Federal Way HUB, and Federal Way Public Schools, YRSP is in discussions about offering students credit recovery options during the summer. YRSP will leverage their existing experiences in generating courses and staffing credit recovery to projects to support Rickitia and Tammy in creating a seamless first-time credit recovery experience for FWPS.
Dr. Mosby, Dr. Jennifer Jones, and Dr. Lardner met with FWPS Superintendent Dani Pfeiffer, Dr. Eric Hong, and Dr. Melissa Spencer to explore the development of systematic partnership intended to serve students and families in our communities. Based on that productive discussion, subsequent sessions are being scheduled. This partnership work with FWPS is informed by the partnership work HC has been engaged in with HPS for the past several years.
Highline College & DSHS Partnership: Healthcare Interpreter Afghan Cohorts
Highline College and DSHS have partnered to offer two Healthcare Interpreter cohorts that are focused on finding employment for Afghan refugees (particularly Afghan interpreters that assisted the U.S. Armed Forces in overseas operations). Each cohort consists of 25 students and includes 80 hours of instruction that qualifies students to register for the state/national interpreter certification exams. Tuition is being paid for by DSHS and includes the exam fees for the state certification. Out of the initial 20 students for cohort #1, 16 students are on track to complete the program. DSHS and Highline will assist students in identifying employment opportunities once they have completed the program. We are hopeful additional trainings can be offered, including training for Ukrainian refugees. (Continuing Education is lead on this.)
Highline College & Seattle Children’s Hospital Partnership: NAC/CNA Certification & Employment
Highline College has partnered with Seattle Children’s Hospital to offer 13 students a seat in our Summer Session 1# CNA training program. Seattle Children’s is paying for tuition, supplies, and both the WA State NAC application and testing fees. This pilot program was created due to the workforce demand for healthcare professionals. Each student has been pre-screened by Seattle Children’s and upon successful completion of the program, will be provided employment within their company.
(Continuing Education is lead on this.)
Fitness Program with Wesley Senior Living and Retirement Community
Highline’s Personal Fitness Trainer (PFT) program is setting up a relationship with Wesley (Senior living and retirement community) in Des Moines to help develop and implement their fitness programs.
Faculty Laureates
- Bob Baugher (Psychology) was invited to do three workshops at the Regional Conference of the Hawaii Chapter of The Compassionate Friends on March 18 & 19. In addition, Bob gave remote presentations at The Compassionate Friends chapters in Madison, Wisconsin and Irvine, California.
- Lucas Wildner (English) has a chapbook called Fluency being published by Ghost City Press this summer. The collection explores the unique linguistic experiences growing up bilingual and queer.
- Susan Rich’s (English) fifth book of poems Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected Poems (Salmon Poetry) was launched at Elliott Bay Books on April 9th. She was also interviewed by Harold Taw on Raven Talks produced by Raven Chronicles.
Report submitted May 4, 2022 by Vice President Dr. Emily Lardner