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July 24, 2025: Meeting Minutes

Home/Meeting 07-24-25, Meeting Minutes/July 24, 2025: Meeting Minutes
2025-11-05T14:24:02+00:00 Print Page

July 24, 2025: Meeting Minutes

Board of Trustees Meeting

Location

Hybrid Meeting Format: offering both in-person and virtual meeting access

Minutes

Attendees

Board of Trustees: Chair Swenson, Vice Chair Bowman, Trustee Exstrom, Trustee Johnson

Executive Cabinet: John R. Mosby, Danielle Slota, Rolita Ezeonu, Jamilyn Penn, Josh Gerstman, Justin Dampeer for Maribel Jimenez, Melanie Lawson, Michael Pham, Tim Wrye

Assistant Attorney General: Michael Hemker for Bruce Marvin

Absent: None

Study Session call to order: 9:07  a.m.

Discussion Topics

  • Preliminary fiscal year budget review – Dr. Michael Pham – 30 minutes
  • Risk assessment – Dr. Michael Pham – 15 minutes
  • Presentation of President’s Reflections 2024-25 and 2025-26 Priorities – Dr. John Mosby – 30 minutes
  • Quarterly off-cycle tenure review in Executive Session* for proposed action in General Session

Executive session called to order at 10:20 a.m. for twenty minutes, extended to 10:55 a.m.

Meeting adjourned at 10:55 a.m.

 

Board of Trustees Meeting

Location

Hybrid Meeting Format: offering both in-person and virtual meeting access

General Session called to order at 11:01 a.m.

General Session Minutes

Board of Trustees: Chair Swenson, Vice Chair Bowman, Trustee Exstrom, Trustee Johnson

Executive Cabinet: John R. Mosby, Danielle Slota, Rolita Ezeonu, Jamilyn Penn, Josh Gerstman, Justin Dampeer for Maribel Jimenez, Melanie Lawson, Michael Pham, Tim Wrye

Assistant Attorney General: Michael Hemker for Bruce Marvin

Absent: None

General Session called to order: 11:01 a.m.

Opportunity for public comment

Karin Hirschfeld, ELCAP faculty – spoke to the concerns about federal cuts of funding. Gave testimony on behalf of her students.

Virginia Herrera-Páramo, ELCAP faculty – spoke to the benefits of the English language learner classes for individuals, parents, and their communities. Advocated for continued funding in spite of federal cuts

Laurie Stusser-McNeil, ELCAP faculty – spoke to the ELCAP program that prepares students to be contributing members of the community. Shared a student testimony from Mario Sanchez. Mario spoke about his experience with Highline College and the contributions of faculty and advisors.

Ramatullha Soltani, ELCAP faculty – spoke to federal funding cuts to english language classes and the impacts that will have on the community. Spoke to the experience of students at the Welcome Back Center. Spoke to the challenges for individuals working with employment case managers who are telling individuals that they need to learn or improve english language skills before they can gain employment.

Brenda Howald, ELCAP faculty – thanked the college for the funding fall quarter following federal cuts. Advocated for continued funding if more cuts should come at the federal level. Spoke to her student’s stories and the stories of students who are still to come.

Christopher Benam, ELCAP faculty – spoke to his experience needing to share with students that there are no more seats available in classes.

Zainab Khali, ELCAP student – came to the BoT to seek continued funding support in the absence of federal funding. Spoke to the benefits she has received.

Elizabeth Freeman, ELCAP faculty – read student testimonials about the benefits of learning english and the opportunities that speaking english opens for them

Lydia Nor, ELCAP faculty – entered student testimonials about the skills that learning English has brought them living in the United States. Advocated for continued funding.

Mohammed Akmosh, Iraqi Community Center of WA – spoke to the thriving partnership with Highline College and the space of hope that English classes bring to their community members. The partnership represents a successful journey

Ayat Murad, Iraqi Community Center of WA – shared comments about the program that Highline College funds at the community center. Far more than language. It is the first step in gaining employment, insurance, etc. Spoke to the negative impacts of not being able to speak the local language – anxiety, depression, isolation, and emotional distress. Federal cuts are and will impact the daily lives of individuals.

Approve minutes

Approve minutes the regularly scheduled meeting of June 18, 2025 and the special meetings of June 25, 2025, July 2, 2025, July 3, 2025, and July 10, 2025.

Trustee Johnson motioned to approve, Trustee Exstrom seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Standing Reports

  • Highline College Education Association – none
  • Washington Public Employees Association, Richard Cannefax – spoke as a WPEA Union Steward. Spoke to why he became a steward. Spoke to previous testimonies through monthly reports and open public comment. Shared that WPEA members feel silenced and unseen. Spoke to unfairness about wage increases
  • Faculty Senate – none
  • Highline College Foundation – spoke to the leadership of the Highline College Foundation and the annual fundraiser in October, 2025.

Recommendations for Action

  • Action item a. Tenure Recommendations

Having given due consideration to the recommendations of the Tenure Review Committee, the Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Rolita Ezeonu, and the recommendation of President, Dr. John R. Mosby, Trustee Exstrom moved

THAT Probation be continued for the following second-year probationers:

  • Jacob Selander

and THAT Tenure be granted to the following third-year probationers:

  • Jennifer Ritchey

Motion seconded by Trustee Bowman. Motion carried forward.

Area reports

  • Academic Affairs: Interim VP Dr. Rolita Ezeonu – Recognized ELCAP for their comments in Public Comment today. Recognized Associate Dean Washburn for his leadership. Written report stands.
  • Administrative Services: VP Dr. Michael Pham – Written report stands.
  • Equity, Diversity and Transformation: Dean Dampeer for VP Dra. Maribel Jimenez. Written reports stands. Highlighted in a national study through the HOPE Center.
  • Human Resources: VP Melanie Lawson – written report stands
  • Institutional Advancement: VP Josh Gerstman – Written report stands. Entered an invitation to meet with Congressman Adam Smith to 1-2 trustees with EC at 10 a.m. on August 18th. Spoke to the recent Community Leaders Tour of SeaTac airport. Shout out to Rahmatullah for amazing grant work on engineering and instruction with the Port. Spoke to the city of Des Moines becoming the six gilled shark capital and the community participation in the recent parade.
  • Student Services: VP Dr. Jamilyn Penn – written report stands. Introduced Juli Hammond as the new Executive Assistant for VP of Student Services. Shared that the TRiO Student Support Services Program received a grant application renewal. This is significant because many of our neighboring colleges were not renewed. Recognized Dr. Tolu Taiwo, Ay Saechao, Dave O’Keefe, Skyler Roth, and Kylie Chick. We also received a grant score of 113/113 on the TRiO STEM Grant. We are awaiting word on whether or not we will be awarded this grant.

President’s Remarks

Unscheduled Business

Adjournment

General Session was adjourned: 11:54 a.m.

Minutes Signed and Approved

The meeting minutes from July 24, 2025, were approved and signed into record by Chair Swenson and President John R. Mosby on September 29, 2025.

Mission Statement: As a South King County college striving for social justice, Highline College partners with global students as they envision, plan and achieve their educational and professional goals.