Highline College

Explore Highline College

Connect with Highline College

Toggle Sliding Bar Area

Winter quarter starts January 6. View the class schedule and enroll today for the best selection of classes.

Highline College Logo
Apply Now

Jan. 12, 2023: Student Services

Home/Area Reports, Division: Student Services, Meeting 01-12-23/Jan. 12, 2023: Student Services
2023-01-06T15:30:27+00:00 Print Page

Jan. 12, 2023: Student Services

Area Report for Board of Trustees

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

  • ISP Advising has gone through its first AVISO (early alert system) training and will utilize these tools in the upcoming quarters to track ISP student success and needs through our office and Highline faculty
  •  ISP has simplified the admissions process by condensing application documents and eliminating non-necessary documents. This helps with overseas agencies and future applicants. ISP has also updated its English proficiency webpage to make the application process run more smoothly.
  • Dean Jesse Knappenberger and Assoc Director of Student Retention, Sarah Trimm have put a plan in place to implement a revised Academic Standards policy for winter quarter 2023 to better support student retention with the goal of reducing punitive measures and holistically support student retention and academic success.
  • Tony Au, the new Completion Coach & Retention Manager, is focused on helping students enroll in classes from quarter-to-quarter. To date, Tony helped nearly 100 students register for Winter 2023 through a combination of resource referral, course catalog support, academic advising, and financial troubleshooting.
  • The Athletic Department will launch an updated webpage in January 2023. The new site will help to promote athletic programs and student athletes, as well as promote Highline College’s overall commitment to students.

Core Theme 2: STUDENT LEARNING, Increase educational success, collaborate to improve

  • CCIE will host the annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week January 17-20, 2023. This year’s theme is Living MLK: Moving Beyond Surviving to Thriving, there are 6 programs scheduled to engage the community on various topics in relation to survival and imagining wellness. More info will be provided by CCIE via e-mail.
  • CLS is hosting a Clubs Fair January 12, 2023 beginning at 11:30am in Building 8-Mt. Constance/Olympus
  • ISP Advising in coordination with ISP Admissions has offered successful quarterly workshops for meet and greet sessions for overseas students. Questions are covered about the Highline processes, majors, living arrangements and other general question

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

  • The Women’s Programs hosted the Annual Giving Tree event this year, providing gifts to families. This year over 24 families received support from our Highline College staff and faculty, giving over 60 children holiday presents.
  • The Director of Financial Aid, Corinne Soltis, trained 42 staff members across the college community on assisting students with their financial aid checklist (to do list) items in CT clink and informing students of their financial aid status.
  • Nou Lee, Associate Director of Workforce Education Services, led the efforts in the acceptance of the Corrective Action Plan for Highline College’s FY21 fiscal review of the Worker Retraining grant.
  • Campus View student housing is currently full and alternate housing options (home-stays) are being provided for ISP students.
  • ISP Advising staff greeted incoming international students at SeaTac Airport on December 29th and 30th. They also greeted some international students at Campus View on the same dates. New welcome signs designed by the Highline print shop in coordination with the Director (Jesse Aspree) were used for the first time in the welcome/greeting process.
  • The ISP Marketing manager has successfully worked with the company WeChat representatives to identify Highline’s connection name and make it more successful.
  • ISP Marketing and Advisor (Nga Pham) in conjunction with Dr. Michael Pham, Vice President of Administrative Services are working on college/university MOU’s, and Highline College is in the process of being the first two-year College to be recognized by the Vietnam Ministry of Education.
  • TRiO Student Support Services (TRiO SSS) hosted a joint transfer field trip with MESA and Umoja to go to University of Washington’s Transfer Preview Day. Over 40 students were in attendance across the three different programs. Their collaborative effort was well received by the students who stated that the visit helped their transfer goals. In addition, the TRiO SSS program has aggressively and successfully recruited 35 new students this previous quarter.

Division Honors and Achievements

  • Student Life has successfully hired a new Associate Dean of Student Life that Started on December 28. Juliette Kern brings in 8 years of experience in Student Life and served as the Vice President of Multicultural Student Services Directors Council (MSSDC).
  • The Center for Cultural & Inclusive Excellence (CCIE) hired a new Program Assistant, Cindy Arias that began January 3rd. Cindy is a Highline Alumni and has previous experience as a student leader (clubs support) and teacher supporting BIPOC students in technology/coding.
  • ISP has successfully hired a new special population advisor that will be starting on January 19. She brings in a multitude of experience in international programs from the Seattle Colleges.
  • Enrollment Services recently hired a new Program Coordinator of Registration & Records, Maryam Al-Hindawii. Enrollment Services is currently fully staffed.
  • Entry Services recently hired a Customer Service Specialist who will start the 1st week of winter quarter. This position was previously located in Admissions and was shifted to better support Entry Advising which has become the first point of contact for most students seeking to enroll.
  • The TRiO Talent Search team have been all hired and are actively working to build and implement the program. Director, Nitasha Lewis, along with Advisors Mai Xee Vang and Ryan Tuon will lead the work to serve our first-generation and low-income students at Mount Rainier High School and Pacific Middle School. Ryan and Mai Xee are proud former TRiO Talent Search students and Nitasha was a former TRiO Upward Bound Director at Peninsula College.
  • Winter sports are in full motion, with league games beginning in January. Softball, golf, and tennis will commence in February. The tennis team will defend the NWAC Title

Report submitted on Jan. 4, 2023 by Interim Vice President of Student Services, Dr. Jamilyn Penn