Area Report for Board of Trustees
The Institutional Advancement division is made up of the following groups: Communications and Marketing (CM), Outreach and Recruitment (OR)*, Grants and Government Relations (GGR), Foundation and Alumni Relations (FAR). IA is involved in many different areas on and off Highline’s campus, ranging from promoting our College at local high schools, assisting with writing grants for key programs and raising money for student support and special projects, or skillfully crafting advertisements to placement on or in wide array of medium such as busses, billboards and movie theaters. Institutional Advancement is there to do just that: advance our institution. Our 2022-2023 reports to the board will focus on our goals and objectives identified in Institutional Effectiveness Reports (IE). The SBDC/Startzone and COE for Global Trade and Supply Chain Management also report through IA and updates on these programs and their goals will be shared periodically.
*By July 1, 2023, Outreach and Recruitment (OR) will be part of student services and their activities/achievements will be captured in VP-SS Board Report.
Core Theme 1: ACCESS, Reduce Barriers and close equity gaps to access for all community members
- HC Foundation launched 2023-2024 Scholarship Application through the AwardSpring platform, featuring new single sign on (SSO). The application closes on May 14, but as of this report writing, there is a significant increase in number of applications started and completed by students. This year’s scholarship cycle includes 3 brand new scholarships including $10,000 in funding from SPEEA ACE for Aerospace and $100,000 from the Connell Family for students with 45 credits or more and a defined career goal. The Connells donated an additional $50,000 to support emergency tuition scholarships for students who are close to earning their degrees/certificates.
- Web Team continues to work with Admissions, Registration and Financial Aid on their subdomains. In collaboration with ITS and Purchasing, contract signed with Modern Campus to begin work utilizing OMNI as new CMS system and beginning migration to centralizing web management.
- Outreach and Recruitment supported/participated in an orientation conducted en Espanol on Saturday, April 1 and led a visit with Para Los Ninos en Espanol on Friday 4/21.
Core Theme 2: STUDENT LEARNING, Increase educational success, collaborate to improve
- Communications and Marketing continues to share the ‘Highline Story’ and support student success through features such as recent profile on Dustin Cole, PTK All Washington honoree.
Core Theme 3: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS, Create a more inclusive working environment and a more valued, visible relationship with communities we serve
- The Foundation, in partnership with the College, has directly sponsored and sponsored individuals to attend events by the following organizations in April and May: Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Kent Rotary Escapades, Emergency Feeding Program, Northwest Educational Access & MultiService Center
- The Foundation also secured sponsorship support from the following corporate sponsors: Symetra and Port of Seattle for Native Success Summit on 5/11 ($6,500), Key Bank and GESA Credit Union for YELL ($11,500), BECU Foundation for Academic Gap Funding ($10,000)
- The College and Foundation sponsored the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce ‘NW Workforce Summit at accessoShoware Center on 4/27. Dr. Mosby served as a panelist and VP Gerstman delivered closing remarks.
Division Honors and Achievements
- Kudos to Tanisha Williams for facilitating the annual Distinguished Alumni Award Process, to Tatyana Andreychenko for providing supporting documentation that led to completion of annual audit of the Foundation and filing of 990, to Tony Johnson, Melodie Smith and Raechel Dawson for their time and effort to help select Omni by Modern Campus as new CMS web site platform, and to Kelly Wong on the Design team and Dave Weber in the Printshop for their outstanding work in support of the Highline Expo on 4/13. A special recognition for Dakne Blanco-Ramirez, student employee on Outreach/Recruitment for providing excellent service to a returning student that it inspired the student to send a detailed account of how Dakne’s willingness to help was a real lifesaver in her effort to get enrolled.
Report submitted by Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Joshua Gerstman/span>