Area Report for Board of Trustees

Vice President for Administration

• Based on the third quarter financial report (presented to the Board last month), we expect to end the fiscal year well within our projected expenditure budget. The FY2022-23 (next year) however will be of a challenge. Enrollments across all categories are likely to remain well below targets, resulting in revenue shortfalls.
• Budget planning for FY2022-23 is still on-going. A campus-wide budget forum is scheduled for June 8^th to present to the campus community of our preliminary budget planning goals and priorities.  A DRAFT FY2022-23 Operating Budget will be presented to the Board in the July meeting.
• With our two major capital projects (Welcome Center & Academic Pathways) coming up back-to-back, we are working with State Board Capitals to develop a plan to minimize pre-project costs, including relocation expenses.
• Administrative Services team has been working collaboratively with Vice President Josh Gerstman, Tom Park of Campus View, and ITS to improve and fine tune operational practices and processes for the student housing building. During this past year, for example, we have implemented additional safety protocols including cameras and public safety window for the Campus View lobby.
• On April 25^th, I along with Sam Kaplan and Jenn Ritchey facilitated a workshop for the students of the Study Abroad Follow the Supply Chain to Vietnam program. The Study Abroad program brought together 14 students from Highline College, North Seattle College, and Tacoma Community College.  We are currently planning for the actual trip to Vietnam from September 8^th through September 18, 2022.
• In addition, we also hosted a separate workshop for eight (8) Highline College faculty who had expressed interest in joining the Vietnam trip as part of their professional development. The faculty will also be participating in student recruitment activities while in Vietnam to support our international student recruitment efforts.

Facilities

• As part of the three-way agreement among Highline College, Sound Transit, and the City of Des Moines, Sound Transit will begin construction of the East Parking Lot expansion in early June. The construction project will require the closure of the East Parking Lot entrance (off of South 240^th Street) for the summer.
• Facilities is getting ready to do several energy-service contracting jobs across the summer. These projects include control upgrades, installing new hot water tanks in order to decouple from the plant domestic water supply, and HVAC unit replacements.
• The facilities team has loaded all college leased facilities into the state’s Facilities Properties Management system (FPMT) as per a new state requirement.

Finance & Budget

• The budget office is working on gathering budget requests, building the templates that are going to be uploaded for next year’s budget and distributing state allocations.
• The budget office will hold a grant training meeting the first week of June to prepare all Program managers for the next fiscal year.
• Due to the departure of Jack Hutchinson, we are in the process of searching for a new Director of Finance & Business Services. Cathy Cartwright, former Director of Finance, has agreed to take on additional finance duties at the end of spring quarter to assist during the transition.  Cathy is currently a first-year tenure-track faculty.
• Finance team is still in the process of working with the state auditors to complete the 2020-21 financial statement audit. We are expecting for the auditors to complete the audit around middle of June 2022.

Public Safety and Emergency Management

• Public Safety conducted a missing student & suicide tabletop drill in Campus View. The tabletop was attended by Des Moines Police Department, Student Services Vice President, ISP, and housing staff. The college’s missing student policy is in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Act Missing Student notification policy disclosure 34 CFR 668.46(b)(14).
• Public Safety Officers attended a defensive tactics training hosted by Raider Tactical LLC. The training provided hands on in defensive tactics, handcuffing, expandable baton and pepper spray procedures. The continued defensive tactics training gives the officers an array of tools to assist in maintaining a safe learning environment for students and employees.
• Public Safety would like to wish Ashley Smith, Administrative Assistant 3, the best as she has accepted a position at Highline College as the Institutional Advancement Executive Assistant. The college is lucky to maintain such great talent and she will be sorely missed within the department.

Auxiliary Services

• The Bookstore hosted a successful 2022 Grad Fair in which over 300 caps and gowns were sold. The Bookstore plans to be open during Commencement on June 16th so families and graduates can purchase Highline insignia to celebrate their accomplishments.
• In an effort to provide some variety to our food service, we have invited food trucks on-campus during the lunch hours.

Global Programs

• On Wednesday, May 18^th Global Programs and the Center for Excellence in Global Trade & Supply Chain Management worked with Foreign Trade University in Vietnam to host a “New Developments in Global Supply Chain” workshop. There were 225 participants and this included Highline College, University of Washington, and North Seattle College. Speakers from our region included the Honorary Sam Cho (Port of Seattle Commissioner) and Leela Nageswaran (Assistant Professor of Department of Information Systems and Operation Management, UW).
• The Highline College community voted in early May on the new global theme for the 2022-2023 academic year. Each year, as part of the Global Community Initiative, a new global theme is chosen from the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The community chose Goal #13, which is climate action.

Report submitted June 1, 2022, by Vice President Dr. Michael Pham