Area Report for Board of Trustees

Vice President for Administration

• As 2019 is drawing to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff in the Administrative Services Division for their hard work this year to support student success. It is the mission of the Administrative Services to provide essential functions and services in support of Highline College, using collaborative means and sustainable practices.
• I am especially appreciative of Dr. Mosby for continuing to allow me the opportunity to work with the Global Programs and Initiatives. With the success of the Global Supply Chain Management study abroad this past summer, we are in the process of planning for next year’s program. We are also establishing a representative office in Vietnam to support international student recruitment efforts as well as other institutional partnerships.
• Our Administrative Services team had our annual Thanksgiving potluck on November 22nd with roasted turkey and other traditional serving of vegetable stuffing. I also had the opportunity to break bread with our evening custodial crew on November 25th. It was actually not bread but my secret-recipe Swedish, with a touch of Hawaiian flavored, meatballs and shrimp fried rice. Obviously, no Thanksgiving treat would be complete without the traditional American pizza. Highline College is indeed a very diverse and inclusive institution.

Facilities

• Our Life and Health Science Building (Building 26) project is finally completed. The Facilities Department has been busy planning the logistics of moving faculty offices and classrooms. The first phase will be moving faculty from Building 15 and 18 into the new offices in Building 26. The second phase will involve the clean-up and painting of Buildings 15 and 18 to relocate faculty from Building 5 and 11. We are planning for both phases to be completed by the time of the Board meeting on December 12th.
• During the winter break, Building 5 and 11 will be demolished. In order to ensure safety, access to the East Parking Lot and the surrounding areas of B-5 and 11 will be restricted.
• Facilities cleaned up a 600-gallon water leak that was created by a leak in a radiator in building 8. The water damaged the hard lid ceiling in the Café on the 1st floor. Repairs will be conducted over winter break.

Finance & Budget

• Francesca Fender and Ashley Minero attended a MOAB (Management of Aggressive Behavior) Train the Trainer course. This course teaches de-escalation skills to control aggressive behavior.
• In early November, the Emergency Response Team conducted a vehicle evacuation drill in preparation for sudden onset inclement weather.
• In a joint training and in compliance with OSHA standards, Public Safety and Facilities employees participated in a blood borne pathogens training.

Human Resources, as provided by Executive Director, Summer Korst

HR has seen a lot of change in 2019. Five of the eight position in HR are filled by new employees. Despite the changes in staffing within our office, we continue to provide critical services in payroll, benefits administration, and recruitment. In 2019 we hired 48 exempt staff and 33 classified staff. In 2020 we will continue to improve our recruitment and retention practices by developing implicit bias training for search committees, researching and implementing new recruitment strategies, and improving the process for annual performance evaluations.

Report submitted on Dec. 12, 2019 by Vice President Michael Pham.