Friday Letter, 5-17-24

There has been

SO

MUCH

going on around campus. And they’re all great things.

Every month at our Board of Trustees meeting, we try to feature a student success story. This week we heard from Srividhya Venkatraman and 5 of her students. Thanks to Srividhya’s teaching and additional mentoring from Linda Richard, the students presented to their peers at an annual math conference that highlights work by community college students. Cascadia students presented on topics ranging from chaos theory to the golden ratio. We are fortunate to have faculty members who take advantage of opportunities like this to further their students’ learning. “The students represented Cascadia extremely well and gave outstanding presentations,” a quote from Srividhya at the Board meeting.

The Board also got their first look at our 24-25 college budget. We hope for approval in June, and it seems like we’re on a good path. Although the numbers for this year are still not finalized, we are projecting to break even in revenues and expenses given our enrollment increase. If you’ll recall, we started 12 months ago with an approved “deficit budget” that was going to require $1.25M from reserves. We did not need to use that money. As planned however, we did draw down $1.1M for annual repair and replacements to campus infrastructure.

Next year, we are projecting to use roughly the same amount from reserves on repair and replacement, AND we have proposed a deficit budget requiring $1M from the reserves if needed. Our reserves are healthy, and the Board would like to continue with our staffing plan as an investment in our students’ success. We hope that enrollment will continue to skyrocket as it has in the last 5 quarters but, if it slows down, we’re prepared to use reserves. This budget reinstates the employee vacancies, professional development, travel, and programs we reduced over the last few years.

Thanks to the Budget Council for their guidance and coaching over the last four months.

If you haven’t noticed, we have more than 200 high school students from the Lake Washington School District enthusiastically on campus today. They are a part of the final Student of Color Conference. In total over the spring, around 600 students visited us and over 30 Cascadia staff and faculty volunteered to help with the various conferences. This program has become hugely popular, and we are reaching students in multiple districts outside of our own service area.

Last night was our Rose’ Revival Wine Event at the Woodmark Hotel sponsored by the Foundation. About 300 campus and community members attended to help raise money for our students. To be honest, the weather could have been better, but there’s something cool about drinking wine and fundraising under a tent while it rains. The event was a success, bringing in more money for student support than last year. Additionally, some long time supporters of the college decided to not only buy wine, but they also included some generous tips as a way of showing their appreciation for the college’s work. Thanks to the volunteers who helped make it a success, including some of our Cascadia Scholars. Pictured below with me and Brittany Caldwell are Lukwesa Kalima and Lachyn Shamuhammedova.

Next week, we celebrate this great school year with our All-Employee Celebration on Wednesday, in Mobius, at 3:30. Again, the Foundation is providing food and beverage for us as we celebrate Years of Service, Faculty and Staff awards, and retirements. Please join us!

Finally, please be sure to attend the Vice President of Administrative Services candidate forums on Wednesday and Thursday. I will be eagerly awaiting all of your feedback as we decide on who to hire for this position.

We’re on that final countdown to Commencement. Thanks for all you’re doing.

SHOUT OUTS

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 5-10-24

Thanks to everyone who has been attending the public forums for the new Student Learning Dean. In a couple of weeks, we’ll repeat this process as we hear from the three finalists for the Vice President of Administrative Services position.

Human Resources has been bustling to not only keep up with all of our searches, but to implement process improvement, stay on top of Title IX, manage required trainings, and handle day-to-day employee issues. Thanks to the team for hanging in there.

Currently…

• 19 searches have been completed since last October
• 11 searches are in progress
• 16 searches are in the queue
• And 16 folks remain on the non-perm/temporary list. Those folks will have to participate in a regular, formal search prior to the end of their contract.

In total, the above list includes 5 new faculty to start in 2025 plus the hiring of 57 new exempt and classified employees. 57! That’s more than half the workforce of our non-faculty positions. Thanks again to those who have helped with our search committees.

These numbers help remind us that, as new employees join our campus, new perspectives, new cultures, and new relationships are formed. We certainly want to retain the values and ethos of Cascadia, yet we must also appreciate what our new employees bring to us. I hope that one year from now we have managed to dwindle that list down to just a few searches as we reestablish a sense of place that puts students first and respects the various perspectives of all who have joined Cascadia.

Last week, I talked about respectful discourse and healthy engagement on difficult topics. That particular letter energized feedback in a number of ways. Some examples:

Commenter #1: “Can you offer examples of how to best provide feedback on difficult topics?”

Commenter #2: “Revolution and protest are meant to disturb. It’s meant to make a commotion amongst the public; not to necessarily hurt but rather invoke thinking and action about the particular subject.”

Commenter #3: “This message has a lot of personal meaning for me. Thank you for representing this topic.”

I’m not prepared to dive deeper into it this week, but will use the summer to help broaden these  perspectives and share how we move our world forward without hurting others and still calling out the issues that are hurdles for our society, our relationships, and our students.

SHOUT OUTS

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 5-3-24

BUDGET

The main focus of today’s letter is the next section, but because I heard some concerns about the budget in the last 24 hours, I decided to make a small note as to the state of the budget for 24-25. As of this last Tuesday, we have affirmed that our budget next year looks balanced with some reliance on the reserves. There will be no need to pause on new hires, pause on replacement hires, further reduce goods & services, or eliminate the planned investments in professional development, travel, or the transfer of funds to student government. The Budget Council will get fully updated next week, but please have a restful weekend knowing we’re in good shape.

RESPECTFUL DISCOURSE

Many of you know that Cascadia’s public board meetings run smoothly with the occasional public comment and a sense of comradery around our shared purpose. Our colleagues at City Council and local School Boards routinely face more challenging situations. Navigating those tough meetings is a part of their role as elected officials and our society embraces everyone’s right to be heard.

This week, we experienced some of that challenge in the 1^st Legislative District Town Hall. Cascadia and UWB have hosted this event in Mobius for more than a decade and I have been the moderator. The format is always the same: attendees come, hear opening remarks by the legislators, have the opportunity to submit written questions that are brought to me by the legislative staff, and listen as the questions are presented and addressed by the legislators. About 100 people attended on Tuesday and this process was explained at the beginning of the event.

This year, a handful of the attendees thought the Town Hall meant something different. They believed that they would have a chance to verbally address the legislators in front of an audience. They expected a dialogue. The legislators and I made multiple attempts to review the process and explain the difference between this event and a “public meeting” and stressed that we would pass along all written materials. This group of individuals still wanted to verbally engage throughout the forum. Engagement came in the form of interrupting the legislators, standing up and addressing the audience on their own, jeering and heckling, and other disruptive behaviors. The majority of the crowd even tried to help control the behavior, to no avail. At the halfway point of our event, I invited the leader of this group to leave Mobius. He complied and, from that point on, the event ran as intended. Afterwards, our city council and school board colleagues who attended came to us and said “that’s normal” for their meetings. They also understood that this was supposed to be different and commended our efforts to be patient yet follow the rules.

The thought for today’s Friday Letter echoes the sentiments I shared at the Town Hall. As an institution of higher education, we value multiple, diverse perspectives. People do have a right to be heard. Yet, we also follow a code. There is a time and place and format for everything. The legislators offered alternatives to hear their constituents (including over a Zoom meeting or at a coffee) but it seems these folks wanted to be seen in front of others making their points. No ground rules or expectation setting would have changed the belief that they had a right to be heard at that moment and in that forum.

I hope at Cascadia, both inside and outside the classroom, we create opportunities to listen to others’ perspectives and respect the format for that engagement. Whether it’s establishing and following the guidelines for a particular exchange (e.g. Town Hall, Debate, Poster Presentation, Protest, college council, etc.) or assuring that we do not attack a person in the process, we firmly believe that discourse should be respectful and uphold all individuals.

As an example of a way to use public comment effectively, Trustee Ponto reported to me this week:

“Quick note to say that I attended the NSD board meeting on Monday of this week.  Another packed house for public comments with parents, teachers, and students opposing the loss of deans and the 5^th grade music program due to budget cuts.  When a music teacher came to the mic during public comments and said, “music is a universal language” and then proceeded to play a stunning piece on her violin, I can’t imagine that there was a dry eye in the boardroom.”

The right forum, the right method, with respect. Respectful discourse must guide all of our interactions. This will certainly be valuable as we approach the upcoming election season. And, as tensions continue in the Middle East and protests abound throughout the nation, we want to reiterate that we support peaceful protest. We support sending messages to those in power for and against their actions so long as we maintain respect at the core to learning and expressive action. The Diversity and Equity Center is an available resource for those wishing to learn more about effective engagement. They are happy to help assure that all perspectives are heard.

SHOUT OUTS

From the IN Box:

I am writing to express my deep appreciation for the exemplary actions of Anthony Gonzales. On Wednesday, April 24th, at approximately 11:30 AM, Anthony’s swift response played a pivotal role in ensuring the safety and security of our campus community.

At approximately 11:15 AM that day, two students were assaulted at the bus stop. Following the campus-wide alert detailing the assault, including the description of the suspect and their direction of travel, Anthony remained vigilant. Around 11:45 AM, Anthony observed an individual matching the description of the assault suspect and promptly activated the panic button to alert Campus Safety. This decisive action enabled Campus Safety to swiftly coordinate with Bothell Police to respond to CC2.

Upon arrival at the location, Bothell Police conducted a field show-up with the victims which did not yield positive identification of the assault suspect. However, through routine checks via WACIC and NCIC, it was discovered that the individual had an outstanding felony warrant issued by the US Marshal. The individual was subsequently arrested and taken into custody. The individual was not affiliated with the University or College.

On behalf of the Campus Safety team and Bothell Police, please extend our sincere gratitude to Anthony for his exceptional vigilance, quick response, and unwavering commitment to safety.

AND

A well-deserved shout-out to Samantha Martin and Ysi Ramos. Both played a big part in drafting a Basic Needs Strategic plan that was due to SBCTC this week. As students struggle with obtaining basic needs such as access to food, housing, transportation, etc., Cascadia is implementing different ways to connect students with resources. Samantha and Ysi’s dedication to supporting students is invaluable and their contributions are crucial as needs of students continue to increase. Thank you both!

AND

On behalf of the Equity & Inclusion and Outreach & Admissions teams, we want to send a huge thank you to all of the volunteers for participating in the NWESD My Dream My Journey Conference on 4/19 and the Riverview & Snoqualmie Valley School Districts Conference on 4/25! They all helped make these events possible and created a welcoming space for the hundreds of students who came to campus.

Thank you to the volunteers: Zuzana Regan, Mauli Patel, Vickie Ashe, Erika Miller, Emujin Agar, Michael Horn, Kareen Kanjo, Kelly Leahy, Stephan Classen, David Tinto, Rachel Druck, Robert Cole, Husanjot Kaur, Erin Blakeney, Bryan Martinez Escobar; Jaspreet Grewal, Miles Alexander and Shawna Pitts from Facilities; and Luke Bulosan and Fisher Brown from IT.

If you’re interested in joining the LWSD Students of Color Conference on  5/17, please sign up by 5/8!

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 4-26-24

We’ve got spirit, yes we do. We’ve got spirit, how ‘bout you?

Apparently, Kodiaks know how to have fun! Please join our student Events & Advocacy Board for a campus wide Spirit Week starting Monday as we count down the days to Kody the Kodiak’s Birthday Party!

Spirit week is April 29th through May 1st. Everyone is encouraged to dress up each day and show off their Kodiak spirit.

• Monday – Jerseys. Wear a jersey celebrating your favorite sports team, player, or spirit jersey of any kind!
• Tuesday – Favorite Hat. Got a hat that makes you happy or that you’ve always wanted to wear? Wear it. The time is now to wear your fun, wild, or random hat to class!
• Wednesday – Favorite Color. Brighten up campus by wearing your favorite color/s.
• Thursday – Current Obsession. What are you currently obsessing over? It could be a TV show, movie, band, artist, game, celebrity, or even a food! Wear an outfit showing off your current obsession. Maybe, you’ll even meet someone else with the same interests!
• Friday – Cascadia Blues. Show off your Cascadia school spirit by wearing your favorite Cascadia merch, or anything blue!

While we may not be chanting “We got spirit” at the college football game, I hope you’ll join our students in showing some Cascadia spirit.

After showing some fun spirit, we need to get more serious because on Monday, May 6 the UWB and Cascadia campus will conduct a 5-minute active threat drill. Our purpose for this drill is to…

• Prepare all employees and students for an active threat situation
• Test the Emergency Alert notification system
• Assess how various classrooms and teams respond to our preparations
• Identify training gaps and needs

On the day of the drill, please be prepared for the 10am start time. The UWB/Cascadia Crisis Communication Team will send out an announcement via UW Alert and utilize the PA system to signal the start of the drill.

Employees and students will receive this alert/notification:

“Active Threat DRILL ONLY. Practice SECURE IN PLACE. We will send an ALL CLEAR at the end of the drill. More info: uwb.edu/emergency”

Employees and students should stay in their classrooms or offices and review the following:

• (Faculty) If this were a real situation, how would I secure my classroom and instruct students.
• If I am in an office, where would I go, how would I protect myself, how would I coordinate with colleagues in the same area.
• If I were outside, where would I go.
• If necessary, what could I use as a weapon if I needed to defend myself?

At 10:05 a.m. we will send an ALL CLEAR message.

Please link to Opt-in to receive UW Alerts for those who have not already to sign up for alerts. Here are some other resources:

UWB/Cascadia Campus Safety Tip Resources

UWB/Cascadia Emergency Procedure Poster

Evacuation Topics for Individuals with Disabilities

Faculty Preparedness in the Classroom

Thank you for participating both in Spirit Week and our Practice Drill.

As a reminder, we have our First District Legislative Town Hall on Tuesday, April 30. It starts at 6pm in Mobius. And on May 16 is the Foundation’s Rose’ Revival. You’ll need a ticket for the Revival.

SHOUT OUTS

A shout out to our two All-Washington Academic Team members who were honored for Academic Achievement in Olympia yesterday. If you get a chance, please congratulation Zuah Han and Aamena Ellithy.

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 4-19-24

We are only concluding Week 4 of the quarter yet it seems like Commencement is right-around-the-corner. The campus is humming right along.

Day of Inquiry and Assembly

I was following the staff track for DIA but I know the faculty spent the bulk of the day with a 4+hour Teaching & Learning Academy Institute, which was a conference with multiple tracks (options). The institute received more proposals than Faculty had slots for, which points to the rich and wide-ranging research and praxis work of our faculty. Those workshops included topics like exploring alternative grading systems, fostering classroom community, supporting English language learners, and supporting students’ executive function skills. As TLA Co-Chairs, Kelly Leahy and Robyn Ferret spent countless hours spearheading, arranging, and organizing this 2^nd Annual Institute and as a result, Innovation Hall was filled with hours of interdisciplinary faculty voices, questions, and passion about curriculum, instruction, and research.

In regards to staff, thanks to April Brinks, Shawna Pitts, Jason Rue, Ifrah Mohamed, Val Tovar, and Gordan Dutrisac for their presentations on emergency preparations and Title IX. Remember…

• Run, Hide, Fight!
• Full time employees are “Responsible Employees”.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check in with one of them for details.

The day was capped by a great Bothell Jazz Band performance. Thanks to the Foundation for bringing them to Cascadia for a mini-concert. I heard that 3 of the band were actually Cascadia Running Start students. How cool is that??

Fire Drill

We know it can be disruptive, but we also have to assure we’re prepared. Thanks to everyone for participating in and being patient with yesterday’s CC1/2 Fire Drill. Global Learning and Arts (CC3)…you’re on deck for next week. In May, we will have an Active Threat drill to rehearse all that we learned yesterday at the DIA.

Trustee Meeting

Sandwiched between two really heavy topics on Wednesday was a great presentation by Dr. Victor Begay on the progress that’s been made with our American Indian & Indigenous Studies program as well as with our tribal relations. His presentation was a lovely reminder of the importance of student culture, campus culture, and our respect for this land and institution.

The meeting also began a multi-month discussion of potential parking rate increases. Thanks to Martin Arroyo for presenting and fielding the tough questions. The Trustees will discuss and deliberate more on this next month and make a final vote in June.

The current status of the budget was also reviewed. This month was not filled with hard data (it’s still being churned) but leaned into discussing the process of what we’re currently doing, the risks we may have going forward, and how the executive team is currently considering all possibilities for producing a reasonable budget. The final First Draft of the budget will be presented on May 15 at the next meeting. In the meantime, Budget Council will be presented with the on-going data development on April 23 and May 7.

FINALLY today…ROSE’

Please find some time in your schedule to attend the Foundation’s Rose Revival event at Carillon Point. The second annual event should be as much fun as the first and, even if you don’t drink alcohol or buy wine, there are options for you to attend, have some fun, and mingle with colleagues at an event that supports student success.

The event is Thursday, May 16, 6-9pm (VIP arrival 5pm), at The Woodmark Hotel. You can click on this link for Event Tickets.

And, we still need some volunteers to help check in guests as they arrive. There are a couple shifts still open… Volunteer Registration is available online. Volunteers are welcome to join the event before and after their shift. (Volunteer Shifts are at 6:15 to 8:15pm and 8:00 to 9:15pm.)

SHOUT OUTS

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Frida Letter, 4-12-24

Every other year the Legislature meets in “short session.” That means they only make slight modifications to the biennial budget, review fewer bills, and meet for substantially less time in these years. We have just come off a short session and will soon be ramping up for the “long session” next spring.

For as long as I can remember, Erin Richards has used this cycle as a real time opportunity to teach her students about government, civics, law, and state budgeting. This year, her students wrote mock bills that they presented to one of our state legislators, Rep. Shelley Kloba. Those proposed bills included:

• Banning single use plastic produce bags
• Requiring grocery stores to facilitate battery recycling
• Allowing owners and small repair shops access to data about cars so they can repair modern vehicles (right to repair and the circular economy)
• Making it easier for people to be able to engage in tactical urbanism (i.e. beautifying roads, fixing sidewalks etc.)

Representative Kloba gave great feedback to the students both on the content of their proposals and the elements of the legislative process the students were addressing.  She even asked for the rubric Erin used to assess the presentations as she thought it was a good reminder of the steps a legislator should go through when they are proposing a piece of legislation.  Kudos to the students and their instructor for the engagement. To that extent, Erin, Heather Fralick, Kerry Levett, and I are meeting next week to discuss if we can incorporate this learning process into real time lobbying in the coming “long session” to address parking fees and parking costs at community colleges!

Next week also brings around our next Day of Inquiry and Assembly. On April 17, the faculty will continue their year-long work on assessment while staff have several afternoon workshops. Please plan to attend in person on this day. After the sessions, the award-winning Bothell Jazz Band will set up and offer a 30-minute concert from 3:30-4:00. We’ll have refreshments available during that time. And, once you’re done, feel free to meander over to the Board of Trustees meeting which begins at 4:00pm. Our last DIA of the year will be on May 16 around the theme of equity & inclusion. Starting next year, we will only be having three DIA’s per year (one per quarter) as a change of practice.

Of final note today, we have been going through a SBCTC Civil Rights Audit over the last couple of months. This is an internal and official evaluation that happens every few years for the community college system. It was nice to receive initial feedback from the evaluator with this note:

“Based on the results of the interviews, Cascadia is probably the college with the best morale and least problems/issues.  If I had to work at a college – it would definitely be Cascadia because almost everyone I spoke to loved the college and felt supported.”

SHOUT OUTS

A giant shout out to Teya Viola, Ana Benitez, Breanna Evetts, Jacqueline Webb, Mike Fong, Miles Alexander, and Shawna Pitts for tackling a flood on the third floor of CC1 that took 6 classrooms out of commission. The UWB custodial crew and our team worked to clean up the mess, relocate classes, and deal with the crisis first thing yesterday morning. Thanks to everyone who pivoted at a moment’s notice to manage this situation.

From the IN Box:

A GIANT shout-out to Margee Will. Over the last two years, Margee has gone above and beyond too many times to count, but we especially need to recognize just how much work she put into getting all of our labs equipped to run in Innovation Hall.  During fall quarter and throughout the winter break, Margee spent so much time coordinating our move.  It’s absolutely not an exaggeration to say that Margee is the reason that Chemistry labs were able to be held in Innovation Hall during Winter Quarter at all. Margee has also done an enormous amount of work with ordering and inventory management.  She’s put an immense number of hours working with Finance, learning how to put in requisitions, and making complex purchases and replacements so that the other lab techs could spend their time on other projects, all on top of the job duties she was initially hired to do. Margee also took on the enormous task of reconciling our chemical inventory and transferring every chemical from CC1 to Innovation Hall.

We also want to recognize how much the students in her labs always love having her as a lab technician. She goes out of her way to engage thoughtfully and meaningfully with her students, and she always shows a truly inspiring amount of patience and kindness no matter what else might have been going on for her that day.  It’s so obvious that she really cares about our students and that she truly wants them to succeed. Thank you, Margee!  We absolutely could not have done everything we’ve done without you – you’re an absolute star!

(The above shout out was submitted collectively by: Desiree Engel, Maiko Luckow, Ryan Higgins, Gina Moore, Azizeh Farajallah, Peg Harbol, Jeff Stephens, Savita Srinivasa, Fernanda Meer, Ponni Rajagopal, Damian Lee, Sadie Rosenthal, Khai Button, Stephan Classen, Natasa Kesler, Getachew Eshete)

AND

A huge thanks to Bryan Fauth, Luke Bulosan, and everyone in IS for doing an amazing job of getting some intricate tech set up to support our students in the busy opening weeks of the quarter!  They did an amazing job of quickly responding to showstopping technical issues, solving problems, and enabling multiple systems so that our students can be supported and successful!  Y’all rock!!

Thanks! –Mike Panitz

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Friday Letter, 4-5-24

OUR COMMUNITY

Yesterday, the Foundation hosted our quarterly community Advisory Committee. This group of community members all have a connection to Cascadia in some way and come together each quarter to talk about the broader community as well as the joys and challenges within their individual organizations.

Our roundtable yesterday focused largely on two themes: Transit and DEI.

A representative from Community Transit talked about last weekend’s grand opening of the Swift Orange Line (Everett to Edmonds Community College) which has been one of their mega-projects. That led to discussion about how transit affects us all, the new Swift Green Line expansion (Everett to Cascadia in 2027), and how our community organizations value the role transit plays in helping our community access vital needs.

We continue to be very engaged with our transit services as we develop the north transit station on Beardslee Way across from UW Bothell’s new student housing. Eventually, this new stop will replace our current stop in the loop. In addition to this change, our transit agencies are looking to locate a lay-over, turnaround, and charging station. Both Cascadia and UWB have been working with Community Transit, Metro, and Sound Transit to find an agreeable solution.

The second topic began with a representative from the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce mentioning that their Board is interested in how diversity, equity and inclusion affect their mission and business processes. That led to a robust discussion about how all of the organizations think about and support DEI. It also led me to reflect on how forward-thinking Cascadia has been. Unlike ever before, we are implementing numerous programs and initiatives to keep E&I (as we call it) at the forefront our decision making and culture.

That focus, when nurtured and embraced, allows us to improve on a culture where all people feel safe on this campus. A King County Library representative mentioned during the meeting how much push-back they received about their Rainbow story telling time, which focuses on LGBTQ themes in literature for younger people. I know that in my own life I might have felt more acceptance and inclusion if I were exposed to such programs earlier. We at Cascadia need to assure that all of our populations feel that embrace. Our community partners feel similarly.

The world struggles with hate across multiple nations and cultures. I encourage us to constantly think about how our institution, through education, can create citizens who turn to positive means of engaging in our society.

WEBSITE

We’ve launched! As of yesterday, our 12-year old website is history.

The new format and style are unique and will require some adaptation. While our website needs to serve all populations, it was designed to be more accessible and to spark interest in younger generations. The simplicity, visual design, and organization are all improvements over the last version. We’ll continue to refine and improve that format over the coming months and this will continue to be a major focus of our Marketing and Communications department. As with the launch of the last website, major and minor fixes will be on-going over the next year.

It is a work-in-progress and we encourage you, as you find needed fixes or missing information, to work with your Director or Dean to make those improvements. (They were given instructions Wednesday on how to do that.)

SHOUT OUTS

A huge shout out today to Scott Brown, Sara Gomez Taylor, Dr. Chantal Carrancho, Bong Mangaser, Sandy Nelson, and Beau Montano for their on the website. With guidance from Meagan Walker and our contractor Exemplifi, the Cascadia team invested more than 2,000 hours of combined time to launch the new website. As with all complex things, there were hurdles and struggles. We know that there are hundreds of hours still needed to get the website fully up-to-speed, but to launch something of this scale for a complex organization is a tremendous effort. Thanks to them and to the campus for their support of the process.

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 3-29-24

Spring quarter is underway and it’s time to get some important dates on your calendar. Please check to make sure you have these campus events penciled in!

April 4: Website Launch

April 17: Spring DIA #1 (with afternoon performance by the Bothell HS Jazz Band)

April 19: NWESD Student of Color Conference

April 25: RSD/Snoqualmie Student of Color Conference

April 30: Legislative District #1 Town Hall

May 15: First Draft of Budget Ready for BOT

May 16: Spring DIA #2

May 16: Foundation’s Rose Revival Wine Event

May 17: LWSD Student of Color Conference

May 22: All Employee End of Year Celebration

June 7: Commencement

June 10: Breathe

HIGHLIGHT of the Week

On March 22^nd, we welcomed over 220 high school students from the Northshore School District at the Student Justice Conference. The day was filled with music, slam poetry, and an amazing Land Acknowledgement experience. Many of the workshops were led by the students and it was great to see such leadership and activism. Workshops included topics on activism, gender representation in video games, and navigating misinformation in social media. We recognize that students are asking questions and actively discussing important topics that impact their daily lives. Many students discussed the welcoming environment that Cascadia offers and how nice it was to be in a place where so many students shared their ideas and experiences.

The Northshore Student Justice conference is the first of four this term. Cascadia will also host students from the Riverview and Snoqualmie School Districts as well as the Lake Washington School District as noted above. New to the conferences this year will be the Northwest Education Service District (NWESD). The NWESD Migrant Education team serves schools in all Western Washington from Blaine to Vancouver. The goal is to provide access for migrant students to visit the Cascadia campus and offer a new environment for students to be able to learn, dream, and plan and encourage them to discover post-high school opportunities. We are excited about the opportunity to support so many students and to share our welcoming Cascadia environment.

WEBSITE

Please click here to check out the COUNDOWN CLOCK and news this week related to our progress. April 4 is the launch date.

SHOUT OUTS

From the IN Box:

On behalf of the Equity & Inclusion and Outreach & Admissions teams, we want to send a huge thank you to all of the volunteers for participating in the Northshore School District Student Justice Conference on March 22nd! They all helped make this event possible and created a welcoming space for the hundreds of students who came to campus.

Thank you to the volunteers, Yukari Zednick, Kelly Leahy, Stephan Classen, Huda Sarhan, Monica Hong, Kristina Young, Erin Blakeney, Rachel Druck, Shyla Hansen, Naomi Short, Zuah Han, Emujin Agar, Kerry Levett; Jaspreet Grewal and Shawna Pitts from Facilities; and Luke Bulosan from IT.

If you’re interested in joining our other upcoming conferences, keep an eye out for those emails to sign up!

AND

Outreach & Admissions have a few large events coming up and needed help putting together informational folders to share with students. Together, this team built 300 folders! The Outreach & Admissions team would love to shout out and say a very special thank you to: Marion Heard, Darla Hart, Monica Hong, Sara Trejo, and Mauli Patel.

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 3-15-24

During the last few weeks, college leadership has taken time to assess how far Cascadia has come since last summer in regard to the stability of our staffing model. This includes time spent during the “listening tour” with campus constituents and evaluating our progress on critical functions.

There are some noteworthy achievements:

• Our newest Directors are gaining their footing
• The Finance team and budgeting are becoming more stable
• Human Resources is catching up with successfully filling vacancies and converting non-permanent positions. (There are 17 people still in non-perm positions as of this letter)
• We are gaining better proficiency with ctcLink
• And leadership is feeling capacity to address emerging issues, not just retroactively responding to issues.

During the listening tour, employee constituents shared with us that they want to keep the number of our executive leaders as minimal as possible while still providing responsive and communicative leadership. This was also noted as something for us to consider moving forward into next year.

Last week, we outlined the major responsibilities for the new Vice President of Administrative Services. As a reminder, we are bundling Human Resources, Finance, and Payroll into one unit. Additionally, we will assign either Facilities or Information Services to this portfolio upon hiring the successful candidate.

Jashoda’s departure created the space for the executive team to begin re-thinking and re-organizing our VP portfolios. Additionally, Meagan Walker indicated in the last few weeks that she would like to step back from her broad-based VP role and narrow her focus. This step comes as she herself begins an eventual journey toward retirement. These two consecutive decisions by sitting executive team members allowed us to rethink the model on an even broader scale.

After much discussion and taking into consideration the notes above, the executive team determined over the last few weeks to move forward with a revised 4-VP model. As of July 1, the executive team will consist of myself and…

• Erin Blakeney (Vice President of Student Success Services)
• Chari Davenport (Vice President of Equity and Inclusion)
• Dr. Kerry Levett (Vice President of Student Learning)
• The new VP of Administrative Services (as described above)

Also reporting directly to me are…

• Brittany Caldwell (Executive Director of the Foundation)
• Meagan Walker (Executive Director of Communications and Marketing)

This arrangement leads to two other departments also needing a new home. International Programs (formerly under Meagan) will be transitioning to Student Success Services. And, once decided whether I.S. or Facilities falls under the new VP, we will need to find a permanent home for the remaining department.

This new structure means that staffing needs in certain areas are changing and some exempt positions that exist today will not continue as we move into the next academic year. Those exempt employees who are impacted were informed this week. We have decided it best to let those employees share their future plans as they are ready to do so.

We recognize that change is hard and saying goodbye to some of our colleagues can be equally hard. Going from 3-VPs to 5-VPs to 4-VPs in 12-months is a right-sizing exercise that has involved listening to campus constituents, thinking about what positions Cascadia needs for its next chapter, and allowing ourselves to be nimble to a changing landscape.

As we go through this transition, we want to assure you that we are dedicated to providing support to our campus community. If you need any additional support, please know that our Employee Assistance Program is available to you. (Benefits Flyer for Cascadia College)

Thank you for the good work you do and helping us to adapt to these changes. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have questions.

WEBSITE

Please click here to check out the COUNDOWN CLOCK and news this week related to our progress. April 4 is the launch date.

SHOUT OUTS

From the IN Box:

A big shout-out to all those who provided extracurricular opportunities to our students this quarter! From the record number of student clubs, to EAB events like Casino Night, to the bowling outing hosted by International Programs, to Professor Marc Hyman offering a financial workshop, to the Equity & Diversity Center for their many events, and even more than mentioned here, our campus feels alive and full of joyful opportunities for students to engage with each other and in our community! I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback from my students, and I feel proud of our college. Thank you for making all this happen!

AND

A shout out to the Assessment Team, chaired by Tori Saneda. Click to see an update of their  activities and other members of the committee. Their work is crucial to our next accreditation evaluation as well as our own desire to have good institutional effectiveness. The faculty are working on numerous projects “behind the scenes” and this update spotlights one of their great efforts.

AND

A shout out to Beginning Painting student Devika Ajith. Devika has work in the show “20 Under 20” at the Bellevue Arts Museum. The exhibit is chosen and curated by the Teen Arts Council and this year’s exhibition features the work of 20 standout local teen artists and explores the theme of movement. Congratulations to our art faculty and to this student for the recognition.

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 3-8-24

Today’s Friday Letter is dedicated to outlining our direction for the new Vice President of Administrative Services.

Thank you to the multiple groups and individuals who provided feedback. That feedback was instrumental in determining the final portfolio for this new hire.

Based on the feedback, we are bundling Finance, Payroll, and Human Resources under this VP. Additionally, we intend to add one more department, either Facilities or Information Services, depending on the skill sets presented by the candidates.

We’ll seek a candidate whose #1 strength is in finance, and hopefully ctcLink. Thereafter, I am asking the search committee to look for candidates who have the ability to manage a broad portfolio of administrative services which can include experience in all or some of the other domains. We will probably not find a candidate experienced in ALL areas, and that’s ok. We have strong Directors who can help the new Vice President succeed. So long as the candidates have the skills to be adaptable, learn, and manage complex systems, we should be fine.

We would like to have finalists present their community forums the first week of June so that faculty can participate if they desire. HR is working out a calendar backing up from that date and will help guide the committee towards important deadlines and meetings. I hope to receive community feedback, check references, and make an offer by the end of June.

Thoughts and inquiries about the search can be directed to the search committee, chaired by Becky Riopel. Also on the committee are Brett Eyer, Bryan Martinez Escobar, Ginny Jackson, Lisa Citron, and Yukari Zednick. An equity advocate will participate with the committee and be assigned next week.

Once we have secured a new VP, we’ll be looking at the rest of the college’s organizational structure and make adjustments to workloads and portfolios as needed.

Thanks for your participation over the last few weeks.

QUICK BYTES

WEBSITE: The countdown has begun…Cascadia’s new website is coming soon! Every week until launch, there will be a new installation to preview features and let you know what to expect. Please click here to check out the COUNDOWN CLOCK and news related to our progress.

PARKING: Parking fee changes are being suggested. Our Joint Campus Commuter Services Committee has created two opportunities for community feedback on March 14 (10am) and 15 (noon). Both of these forums happen in Discovery Hall 061.

During the sessions you can learn about how the financial obligations of our parking lots impact our operational model, explore strategies on how to support the debt service related to the West Parking Garage, and get the inside scoop on how revenue generated from Commuter Services helps support capital projects, transportation projects, staffing, the UPASS/ORCA program, and maintenance operations.

I hope you’ll be able to attend.

SHOUT OUTS

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.