Area Report for Board of Trustees

Welcome to June! We are officially in the final stretch of the 2021-22 academic year. I am looking forward to the many celebrations that are scheduled in the coming days. Our commencement leadership team is hard at work to ensure that this year’s virtual and in-person activities represent the level of pomp and circumstance our students have worked so hard to earn. Executive Cabinet has officially declared Jun 16, 2022 a celebration day for student success and achievement. All offices on campus will close at 11 a.m. to allow staff and faculty the opportunity to participate in the day’s activities. 

The equityfirst strategic planning core team continues to partner with our community members in the reimagining of Highline’s mission, vision and values and are on schedule to put a final draft before the Board of Trustees for adoption at the July 14, 2022 public meeting.

Last week, in partnership with the National Institute for Transformation and Equity, Highline launched its campus climate survey. The survey will be open from May 26 – Jun 16 and provides an opportunity for students, staff and faculty to provide anonymous honest feedback that will help Highline’s leaders understand how to improve their experiences here on campus. The feedback collected will be used to inform the writing of the strategic plan. I want to thank Danielle Slota, Emily Coates, Natalie Bjorge, Dra. Paulette Lopez and Rickitia Reid for their strong leadership and partnership in the oversight of this survey.

Finally, I want to thank the Highline College Foundation for the many activities being sponsored on campus in honor of Highline’s 60th anniversary. I personally have been able to participate in the ping pong tournament and the retiree reception and heard wonderful things about the rock painting event on campus. Thank you for your creative approach to this momentous year and the efforts given to bringing a wide array of opportunities of celebration to campus.

Have a wonderful week! 

Human Resources

There are currently 27 open recruitments at Highline for faculty (full-time and part-time), exempt, and classified positions. Nine new tenure-track and one-year faculty positions have been filled;  two recruitments remain in process.

Human Resources will conduct first round interviews for a new Talent Acquisition and Employee Development Manager position. This position is critical to the department’s efforts to conduct outreach. Advertising on recruitment websites has returned solid candidate pools in the past but the current job market is requiring more efforts to make direct connections to candidates. We are also hiring a Human Resources Consultant to provide support to the Recruitment team and create capacity for data tracking and analysis.

Information Technology Services

Customer Service is working to support students and faculty as they close out the academic year, while also beginning to focus attention on needs for the upcoming academic year. We are excited to welcome more students back to classrooms on campus, and are also working supporting faculty in more flexible teaching modes where needed.  Another priority is working on what the future of student equipment support looks like as emergency pandemic funding has come to a close. Summer quarter is a busy time of resets and preparations as we look forward.  

The Aviso Retention implementation project is nearing the end of the first phase of implementation as we prepare to support the early adopters in using the student success tool over the summer. ctcLink data feeds and additional configuration refinements continue daily as we get closer to rollout of functionality such as alerts and student text messaging.  

The recently approved ctcLink production governance structure is moving forward as Highline and our fellow colleges name their membership in the new College Collaboration Group and nominate members for the expanded Working Group.  These groups will be key in facilitating needed improvements in systems and processes for the benefit of the entire CTC system.

Report submitted June 3, 2022, by President Dr. John R. Mosby