Area Report for Board of Trustees

The Equity, Diversity, and Transformation (EDT) Division is charged with embedding equity in everything we do at Highline College. Below are updates of the ongoing work.

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

• Gates Horizon Grant: Highline College, in partnership with Federal Way Public Schools, Highline Public Schools, Tukwila School District, and PSCCN, were one of 4 state-wide finalists of the Gates Horizon Grant. 
• Moving Toward Servingness: A cross-divisional, campus-wide team has been identified to strategize and build institutional capacity. This team attended a 3 day retreat to better understand servingness and centering the experiences of Latinx/e students and what that looks like on our campus. This ongoing effort of moving Highline College to becoming an HSI is being uplifted by our community partners and feeder districts as well. 

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

• Student Advisory Group: Dr. Jimenez is assembling an advisory student group to advise the work of becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution. 
• The annual Students of Color Conference will be hosted by Green River College April 18-20, 2024. Highline College’s Edwina Fui is the co-chair of the planning committee and Highline will be bringing 12 students to participate in the conference.
• Dr. Jimenez and Krystal Welch attended the Limitless Learning Network Kickoff Convening at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Conference Center along with Highline Public School and Federal Way Public School leaders. 
• Dr. Jimenez hosted an EDI Thought Exchange with local EDI leaders at Highline to exchange best practices. Renton Technical College and Tacoma Community College participated. Thank you to Dr. Mosby for sponsoring the Exchange session.

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

• The Office of EDT partnered with Dr. Tanya Powers and Dr. Diego Luna to host a meet and greet with the leaders of the Muckleshoot Tribal College. We discussed opportunities to collaborate and improve educational success for Native students.

Core Theme 4: CULTURE & CAPACITY: Promote a campus culture which fosters equity and inclusivity supporting employee growth and development, and institutional capacity for transformation.

• The Office of EDT is working closely with the Equity Task Force to review and analyze the Campus Climate Survey results from Spring of 23. We are partnering with Institutional Research, and the Institutional Effectiveness Committee to plan the annual Equity Development Institute scheduled for May 2024.

Division Honors and Achievements

Krystal Welch, Director of the Cohort Learning Communities, was recognized at the National UMOJA Conference as the Coordinator of the Year.