Friday Letter, 1-6-17

Welcome to a cold 2017. I hope the first week has gone well for you.  I also hope you enjoyed the holidays and took some time to rest.  For me, I took some time off; I’m not so sure I rested.  I took a 3000 mile road trip through 8 states, 70 degrees of temperature variation, with 4 drivers, 3 colds, 2 holidays and 1 truck.  The trip was fantastic and reminded me of how beautiful our country is.

I can’t say that my carbon footprint was excellent, but that leads me to share some of the good work Jodie has been doing with Meagan’s team. Take a look at this site:

http://www.cascadia.edu/discover/about/sustainability/default.aspx

It’s intended to pool information about careers, internships, and campus sustainability information in one spot. It’s comprehensive and well considered.  I appreciate now being able to easily share all of the great things we do to foster our value of sustainability.  Thanks to all those who helped.

Sustainability also means thinking about the long term. As you know, our master planning process is well under way in conjunction with UWB.  We are presenting opportunities for your feedback and the next one occurs on Tuesday, January 10, from 1:00-4:00 pm.  The president’s conference room has been reserved so that any employee or student can stop by to learn about the campus master plan and to give feedback on the three design approaches.  Thanks for your participation.

One of our other commitments this quarter is to hold space for Campus Conversations in the Center for Culture, Inclusion, and Community. These safe space opportunities for conversation happen on Mondays and Tuesdays from 12:00-1:00 pm.  If you are willing to host/facilitate one of the hours, please let me know. I am particularly interested in filling open slots later in the quarter.  These hours may or may not be well-attended, but they provide a time for students and employees to share concerns, suggestions, and encouragements about our changing world.

In that same vein, I am excited that over 80 employees have signed up for this year’s cultural competency learning opportunities. The Cavolines, skill builders, and TED talks have filled nicely.  If you are still interested in participating, please contact Samantha Brown.

Finally this week, I am happy to report that we are making progress on the campus Diversity and Equity Summary that I promised to deliver during Convocation. We hope to distribute this document in about two weeks.  It is a compilation of all the campus efforts currently underway and how they relate to the strategic plan.  We have approximately 15 (fifteen!!) initiatives being implemented through various parts of campus.  As I looked over the draft this week, I was happy to see all of these efforts reported in one place and happy to now fully believe that we are tackling issues of diversity, multi-culturalism, equity, and social justice on multiple fronts.  I look forward to sharing that with you after we fine-tune some of the details.

January is a busy month for my office. Legislative events in Olympia, a tour of JBLM, chamber events, and community events keep me off campus at least two days each week during January.  Let’s chat in the hall when you can and here’s to a great Winter Quarter.

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 12-9-16

We had a difficult time predicting weather patterns last night and this morning. Thanks for your patience as we make the decisions about campus closures.  On the one hand, we want to be proactive enough to ensure safety; on the other hand, it’s difficult to make a call when we don’t exactly know storm severity or timing.  And as we are in finals week, we want to do everything we can to also get the quarter finished.

Thanks also for joining us at the Presidents Coffee House yesterday. It was nice to meet some of the new folks and spend a few minutes away from the hectic of the season.  We had over 70 people stop by.

One of the features of the coffee house was our winter wishes program. We have been distributing the needs of our area community for those who want to help others have a better holiday season.  You can pick up a “leaf” with a need on it from the Employee Lounge in CC1, 3^rd Floor.  After picking up a leaf, you fill the need and return it to campus.  Our staff will then get the fulfilled needs back to our community member.  For details of the program or how you can help, you can also contact Marah (mselves) or Julia (jwilliams).  This is the last day to pick up a leaf, so act quick!

During this cold winter moment, I am a bit envious of Catherine Crain who is spending this quarter on Sabbatical in Cuba. If you would like to follow her work, she has started a blog, found here (http://www.mytb.org/catherine-crain).  Maybe reading it will help you stay warm??

If the snow and slush isn’t enough to deal with, there is always on-campus parking. But, we are hoping to make on-campus parking a bit less of a headache.  Based on concerns about the Reserved Parking allocations, we have begun brainstorming alternatives.  We will be hosting four open forms (2 in January and 2 in February) for feedback on the multiple ideas we’ve generated.  These changes could affect those holding reserved permits, and they might certainly affect all employees, even if you are a bicyclist, bus rider, or non-Reserved pass holder.  I hope you’ll attend one of the forums.  Vicki will have those out on Outlook.

Two other topics have been keeping me busy in the President’s Suite. The first is our on-going relationship with area legislators.  Since the election, we have gained a new Senator (Guy Palumbo) and a new Representative (Shelley Kloba) in Bothell.  I will be meeting with them and introducing them to Cascadia.  As well, we serve 5 other legislative districts for a total of 18 legislators.  I will be attempting to meet with each of them twice from January through April to discuss community college funding and the way we can help students complete.

The other topic I am attending to is our on-going campus climate. If you had the chance to read last week’s Friday Letter, you know that we are actively pursuing several opportunities for students and staff to share their voices.  Our website dedicated to these activities (Your Voice. Your Space. No Hate.  http://www.cascadia.edu/discover/about/diversity/yourvoice.aspx ) is active and has opportunities listed.  One of those opportunities is the Campus Conversations program happening in the Center on Mondays and Tuesdays each week in Winter Quarter.  We did a pilot of that this week and had great attendance and good conversation on Tuesday.  If you are interested in being the facilitator of a conversation…1, 2 maybe 3 times next quarter…could you please reach out to me for details?  I am looking to fill slots beginning January 9 and 10 (12:00-1:00pm) throughout the quarter.

Have a warm weekend!