Friday Letter, 10-27-23

Winter Break Schedule

It seems like Summer just ended and here we are talking about Winter. Human Resources posted the details this morning of our winter break schedule change. In summary, we will once again embrace our 4-10 work weeks Dec 18-22 and Dec 25-29. This means that we work 10-hour days those weeks and the college is closed Friday 12-22, Monday 12-25 (holiday), Friday 12-29, and Monday January 1 (holiday). 

During this time, we encourage you to work remotely if it is suitable for your area. However, some departments will be open in person and/or some employees may need to come to campus for certain reasons. Be sure to discuss this with your team and supervisor before December 15.

Public Transportation

We’re all pretty happy that the buses have returned to the turn-around at North Campus. As the Beardslee transit area and Gateway building are developed over the next few years, we’ll continue to see traffic changes and try to keep you informed as best possible.

In the meanwhile, Community Transit is asking for some feedback. The Community Transit Swift network continues to grow and the Swift Green Line will extend through Bothell. The extension will add up to six additional stations between Canyon Park, downtown Bothell, and UW Bothell/Cascadia College. The project creates connections along Bothell Way NE and NE 185th St, connecting to Sound Transit’s Stride S3 line. You can visit the online open house to learn more details about the project, where the proposed stations are located, and how you can take a survey and give input on the interactive map.

Employee Gatherings

It was a great turnout for the online morning DIA on Wednesday. Thanks for participating and to the team who helped pull it all together. I appreciated the break out rooms and getting to connect with others. Ifrah Mohamed, Jason Rue, and I also appreciated the invitation to Classified Assembly to talk about all of our temporary and non-permanent positions, how we will conduct our search processes, and how to help employees be ready to apply for those permanent positions. The Human Resources team is ramping up and helping to improve our processes, transparency, and communication.

Additionally, thanks to all of the DIA presenters in the afternoon sessions. We used this quarter’s DIA to try out a conference-style program and would appreciate any feedback you have on the day.

Next quarter’s DIA is January 25. The Faculty have an independent track that day on Assessment and Program review. For staff, the VP’s will have their annual “Team Day” where they decide how best to help their teams to professional develop. You can find the DIA schedule here.

SHOUT OUTS and MORE

From the IN Box:

I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge Darla Hart in Enrollment Services for her exceptional work. She was the staff person working the front counter in Kodiak Corner during the start of Fall quarter when the office was short staffed. Her dedication to providing professional customer service, attention to detail, and consistent efforts did not go unnoticed. Darla also came into campus on days when she was scheduled to work remotely to ensure that the office was staffed and the students were served. I am grateful that she is dedicated to serving the students, staff and faculty. Keep up the great work – it’s making a real difference in our team’s success.

Sincerely,

A Grateful Colleague

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 10-20-23

If you were at the Board of Trustees meeting this week, you heard me say “It’s a Good News Week.” I’ll continue that theme into today’s letter. I was happy to see a full crowd at the Board meeting and appreciate the interest folks have with that part of college governance.

Good News #1:

I was impressed with Gordon Dutrisac’s presentation at the Board meeting on “intrusive advising.” It was a joy to hear how the advisors across all campus departments have begun to use EAB Navigate. This tool is essential to our Guided Pathways paradigm. It sounds like we are in a much better place this year to advise students.

Good News #2, 3 and 4:

The External Relations and Capital Planning division offered a multi-person presentation to the Board. It was another great job by Shawna Pitts (who talked about our new Gateway Building), Sara Gómez Taylor (who talked about our new website), and Yukari Zednick (who talked about our 40% growth in International Students).

The Gateway Building (CC5) will hopefully break ground in Summer 2025 and the web should launch in Winter Quarter 2024. Did you know we haven’t had a complete web redesign since 2012?

Good News #5:

Brittany Caldwell and Kelly Snyder presented on the 2022-23 success of the Cascadia College Foundation. Kelly was a former Associate Vice Chancellor at UWB and is now the Director of Public Works for Snohomish County. She is the chair of the Foundation Board. Their presentation included facts like…

• The Foundation contributed over $400,000 to the college and its students last year.
• 46 Cascadia employees gave to the Foundation from their weekly paycheck.
• More than 300 students received financial support from the Foundation.

We invite readers of the Friday Letter to participate in weekly giving as well as upcoming events sponsored by the Foundation. Contact bcaldwell@cascadia.edu for details.

Good News #6:

Our Fall quarter enrollment increased more than 10% over last year with huge gains in International, Running Start and College & Career Foundations. Cascadia has experienced several consecutive quarters of enrollment growth which inspires (and challenges) us.  We know that this increase is difficult with current staffing levels. Help is on the way!

Good News #7:

The resulting tuition revenue from this increase means that we are operating this year with no deficit. And, if our projections for Winter and Spring hold true, then we will also have some money to reinvest. The Board therefore approved us to make an investment in nine new positions and 4 promotions this calendar year. These new positions will be woven into the list of searches with all of our other vacancies. They include:

• 2 new IT Support Tech I’s
• Reinstating a second HR Generalist
• Reinstating our Project Manager for Finance, which includes Vendor & Contract compliance
• Adding a Finance Specialist 2 position to the Finance Office
• Adding a Contracts Coordinator to the Student Learning office
• Creating an Operations Manager for Student Success Services
• Hiring a Lab Supervisor as we prepare for Innovation Hall
• Hiring a Redmond Center Outreach Specialist

As well, we will bring back faculty sabbaticals for 2024-25 and begin talks with the faculty union on new and replacement faculty.

Finally, Good News #8:

We had multiple people offer to join the newly titled College Advisory Council. Thanks to the following folks who will now help represent campus:

• Gordan Dutrisac – At-Large Rep through June 2024
• Shandy Stomieroski– At-Large Rep through June 2025
• Brandy Long – Exempt Employee Rep through June 2025
• Rachel Druck – Classified Rep through June 2025

For a full list of CAC members, please click on the November Agenda of the group.

SHOUT OUTS and MORE

Over this last year, we have had an unprecedented number of people join (or continue with) Cascadia in temporary exempt positions and non-permanent classified positions. There are 19 folks who agreed to take on positions at a moment’s notice and will have to go through a formal search process before the end of their contract. You can view that list here. I wanted to take a moment to thank these individuals for coming to Cascadia. They are equally a part of this campus community and, without them, we would be in a more challenging place.

AND

A shout out to Professor Garth Neufeld. Garth has received the 2023 American Psychological Association International Humanitarian Award for his work as CEO of Shared Space for All, a non-profit educational organization operating in Thailand to prevent child prostitution through free education to children.  Here is his acceptance video that explains more about their work. This is a tremendous accolade and we are proud to have Garth as a member of our faculty.

AND

Thanks to Deann Holliday, Chris Byrne, Shyla Hansen and Martin Nunez for their time as Navigators, aka members of the College Advisory Council. They participated over the last 2 years and really helped hold things together.

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 10-13-23

Current Events:

Thanks to Chari and team for sending out the recent communication on Tuesday about global events and Cascadia’s commitment to the well-being of our community. Cascadia never condones violence or oppression, in any form, and we know that events are affecting employees and students alike.

Please remember that our Employee Assistance Program  is available to employees while the counseling center is available to students. Please refer to Erin Blakeney’s October 10 quarterly email about how to support students if the need arises.

Enrollment:

We passed our 10^th day enrollment count verification this week and, good news, we maintained about a 10% enrollment increase into the quarter. The Enrollment Team is working to figure out the exact growth across the various student categories and then will pass the numbers to the Finance Team to determine how this plays out in terms of our revenues. We intend to present that number at the Trustee meeting next week and will also repost our financial outlook in next week’s Friday Letter.

With a “break-even” year last year, reserves holding stable, and an enrollment/revenue increase, we should be able to hire staff as we’ve outlined to help distribute workload. Again, and it’s worth repeating: staff, technicians, managers, directors, deans, and executives have worked extraordinarily hard to keep the campus afloat. Your work is truly appreciated.

As we continue to bring new employees on board, we’ll regularly post updated org charts so that the campus can keep up with the changes and new folks.

Parking:

It came up at the College Advisory Council that our parking lots are once again very active. The good news…there ARE enough spaces to accommodate everyone with passes on any given day. The frustrating news…if you’re coming to campus between 8am-3pm, you need to build in time to find a space.

The Residence Hall has 107 registered “overnight” parkers. Since the West Garage has 600 spaces, we are not concerned at this point that they are removing availability for anyone else. As the residential village grows, we will continue to monitor that. Please know that the Joint Campus Commuter Services committee is watching this closely.

Also, we see a lot of construction workers entering the North Garage since they have to enter at the top and exit at the bottom to get to their designated gravel lot behind the structure. The impact is that the garage system counts those vehicles and signage registers the garage as being full when there are still 30+ reserved staff spaces at the bottom of the North Garage (Level 4). If you go all the way down and find nothing else, there should be a spot there for you.

Human Resources:

A lot of progress has been made getting our two new HR Directors up to speed. As a reminder, Ifrah Mohamed is generally responsible for new hire searches, professional development, and care of the exempt staff. Jason Rue is generally responsible for contracts, investigations and care of the faculty and classified staff. They are working well as a team and backing each other up, so either of them can help you. The Deans and Directors will be meeting with them on December 4 to review their portfolios and progress on searches. We’ll also schedule a time to talk with faculty leadership about “all things HR” this quarter.

SHOUT OUTS and MORE

From the IN Box:

I want to thank Anthony Gonzalez in IT for being so patient and helpful during our wireless outage yesterday. I always appreciate his calm and support when working through high pressure issues. Thank you! 

AND

A Reminder from Kathy Brown (Thank you Kathy for curating!):

Mobius Gallery is proud to exhibit artworks by Rose Anne Featherston during Fall quarter. From her artist statement:

I am using a camera, to capture what is in front of me. This “unbiased” tool is set on a slow shutter speed, and I am moving as I photograph…Some of the captured imagery is distorted and out of focus, while other parts record vivid details of frozen movement…The images are printed on canvas and then mounted on metal or wood. Most arch or project off the wall in various angles. They have become sculptures…

The exhibition opens Monday, October 9th and runs through December 7th, with an artist talk and reception on Thursday October 19th from 5 – 7 pm in the gallery. The Mobius Gallery is open M-Th, 9 am – 4 pm.

Please join us for the artist talk on 10/19–and let students know about this opportunity to meet an artist whose work bridges sculpture and photography, representation and painterly abstraction. 

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 10-6-23

For those of you unfamiliar with the history, the “Navigators” were originated in 2000 when the college opened. They were a group of folks from across the campus who came together to help steer the direction of the college and problem-solve issues. We were small back then and all employees were on board to help the new college get its roots.

Under a previous President, the Navigators went away for some reason. When hired in 2010, I was asked by many of the founding members of the college to bring the Navigators back. I did so with representation from Classified, Exempt, Faculty, the Library, our Students, and two at-large members. The Navigators have met once per month (during the academic year) since 2010.

In this new era, the Navigators have been responsible for advising me on campus climate (things they hear from their constituents), reviewing college policies, and suggesting solutions for issues that haven’t been resolved other places. The Navigators review our employee satisfaction and climate surveys, consult at certain points of our accreditation cycle, and are a sounding board for me. It is not a decision-making body, but one that provides advice and counsel.

Recently, with the effects of the pandemic, staff attrition, and a sense of overwhelm, finding staff who want to serve in this role has become increasingly more difficult. A big thanks to the faculty who have been able to keep their positions filled. In consultation with the remaining members of this year’s Navigators, we decided to make some slight changes.

First, we are now rebranding the Navigators as the College Advisory Council. Our hope is that the new name will paint a clearer picture of the responsibility of this Council.

Second, I am recruiting new staff members for this year directly from my office as opposed to going through the exempt and classified assemblies and/or the at-large nominating technique we have used in the past.

I am looking for one exempt employee, two classified employees, and two additional employees from any category to serve as all-campus, or at-large, representatives. If you are interested in one of these 5 roles, please send me your name. Staff who serve must have approval of their supervisor to become a part of the College Advisory Council. The only other requirement is that you need to have been employed at Cascadia for at least one year. Please submit your name by next Friday, October 13.

If selected, you will join the meetings at 3:30 on the first Monday of each month. They are all via Zoom and last up to 90 minutes. You will be responsible during each month to connect with your constituents and report back to the Council if there are things that need discussion. As well, the President will bring items to the group for their consideration. It is normally a very low-impact work load.

I hope that there are individuals who would like to serve in this role. It is one of the principles of higher education that we strive to maintain…a system whereby administration listens, consults, and acts in consideration of guidance from campus constituents. There have been times recently where this consultation lacked or was difficult to find. We would like to rectify that. Thank you for helping.

SHOUT OUTS and MORE

Two shout outs this week:

First, to John Boesenberg. John came out of retirement to help bridge a gap in Human Resources between our last Director (who left in early June) up until this week. He was a considerable asset to the stability we had in operations over the summer. Cascadia will be his last retirement gig and he will now focus on his garden, home renovation, spending time with his kids, and learning how to play pickleball more effectively so he can beat his wife. Many thanks to John.

Second, to Marion Heard. From the IN BOX:

Please recognize Marion Heard for being the most recent “face of the college”. Her warm attitude, kindness, and flexibility have brought a sense of stability to the front Welcome Desk. I see her engage with students and employees in such a way that she truly represents the college spirit of inclusion. Even behind a wall of plexiglass, she makes you feel welcome. Thanks Marion!

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

And a bonus:

If you drive on the upper road between the West Garage and Innovation Hall, you will notice that our newest campus art installation is being erected. The artist, Vokan Alkanoglu, was chosen by a work group including students, art faculty, and project team members from both Cascadia and UW Bothell. Funding for art is included in each capital project budget.

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 9-29-23

We start Day Three of Fall Quarter today and I can see that everyone has been busy. I know this because…

There are cars in all of our parking lots.

There are employees in all of our offices.

Classrooms and hallways are full of students.

And, students apparently found their way to our inaugural classes at the Redmond Center.

I hope all of this is a sign of our returning enrollment (which we will know on 10^th day).

We have evidence on another issue as well:

Native plants and landscaping are taking root around Innovation Hall.

Pedestrian, car, and bus traffic is being routed around the Campus Crossing construction as concrete is hurriedly being poured.

These are signs that two of our big capital projects will soon be wrapping up.

And finally some evidence of great work.:

We’re receiving a large dose of “Welcome to Fall Quarter” messages with important information. I want to direct you to two reports you may have missed this summer.

Recently, Dr. Sarah Tsai sent out this report on the Bock Learning Center. You can see that the Bock Center continues to be a valuable and well-used resource. It is a crucial retention tool for our students so please read the report and stop by in person sometime to learn about all of their offerings. One day you might have to refer a student there and it would be good to know what they are all about.

Last month, Dr. Chantal Carrancho published the Guided Pathways Summer report:   FAQs and Speaking Points. We are fully underway with this methodology of engaging students in their academic career. Please take a moment to read the report and help students find their pathway.

Thanks much. I hope Week One went well for you.

SHOUT OUTS

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 9-22-23

The warmup period is almost over and the race starts next Wednesday when students arrive for classes. Note that this year’s course has some obstacles built in:

• Buses will still be using Campus Way. Watch out for their comings and goings.
• The walkway to Summit and Terrace halls will still be torn up and 100s of students will be navigating the terrain to get across the road.
• Innovation Hall fences will still be up. We think they come down in mid-October.
• The coffee shop on the lower level of CC2 (formerly Stopwatch Espresso) is no longer. The Foundation is working on finding something alternative for the space. Coffee can be grabbed down at the UW2 coffee shop, the central Library convenience store, or Terrace Hall.
• Beardsley Blvd is torn up in construction, meaning entry at the north end of campus will be challenging also. Please try to use the south entrance and come early if you can.

Other than that, piece of cake!!

I appreciate all of our racers this year. With enrollment up (12% as of today), we are all working hard at keeping up our pace. We’ll have enrollment fluctuation all the way through the 10^th Day of the Quarter. That day will be crucial to the understanding of our fiscal health for this coming year. As it stands now, we look to be in good shape.

A lot of activities launched this week, including Jumpstart Orientation. Hundreds of students came for their preview of next week. Our Student Life staff, Enrollment Staff, and student leaders had their hands full. I learned his week that the majority of our student leaders this year are studying Computer Science. I’m not sure what Professors Bansenauer, Cuneo and Panitz taught those students about civic leadership, but it worked. Thanks to all of the Jumpstart helpers who cheered on our students.

Finally, thanks to all of you for the record-breaking turnout at Convocation. Your participation was appreciated and it was nice to gather for both the State of the College address as well as our celebration afterwards of Years of Service. Posted here is a picture of our employees who completed 5 years of service. I liked this picture because of “Hope” in the background. Indeed, there is hope among us.

SHOUT OUTS

From the IN Box:

A shout out to the Teaching and Learning Academy for bringing Dr. Jeremiah Sims to campus. The TLA’s efforts to help us embrace equity and inclusion in the classroom and through the curriculum is to be commended. Robyn Ferret with help from Kelly Leahy led the way and deserve a Shoutout for their efforts.

AND

A huge shout out to all those who played a role in standing up a terrific Opening Week for and with Faculty.  Some of these folks started working on the week last spring, many worked behind the scenes, and many worked to provide content. More than 35 people.  Here goes…

Teya Viola, Jacqueline Webb, Ana Benitez, Robyn Ferret, Kelly Lahey 

Shawna Pitts, Allan Flaa, Brandy Long, Bryan Fauth, Michael Horn 

Chantal Carrancho, Erik Tinglestad, Kristina Young, Erin Blakeney, Chari Davenport 

Laura Hedal, Tonio Shimono, Dianne Fruit, Jared Leising, Sara Gomez Taylor 

Lindsay Custer, Dave Shapiro, Tori Saneda, Myra Waddell, Heather Cyre 

Alyssa Berger, Dani Rowland, Kristen Buck, Leslie Hurst, Erin Richards 

Dave Bucci, Steve Yramategui, The TLA, The Table of Chairs  

Thank you.

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 9-15-23

The buzz is in the air.

Let’s start with last Saturday’s grand opening of the Redmond Together Center, where Cascadia College Redmond is located. The Together Center brings together 22 non-profits and human services organizations in one ground floor location with 5 stories of affordable housing built on top. This project has been years in the making and Cascadia is privileged to have the only classroom in this facility. In this classroom, we’ll teach a variety of first year courses as well as English as a second language. The Cascadia College Foundation raised all of the support needed for the first start-up year. As of today, English 101 is full and other courses are on their way to being full.

On Saturday, we had a massive ribbon cutting ceremony with all of the non-profits. Trustees Hinojos, Lee, and Seabrooks attended along with Erin Blakeney, Brittany Caldwell, Chari Davenport, Gordon Dutrisac and myself. You can check me out on the far left of the photo. Many dignitaries were present and the second photo is of Rep. Susan del Bene and me. She has been a friend to the college for over a decade.

This moment marks the official launch of Cascadia College Redmond and we hope that we pick up steam over the fall quarter as word gets around. We expect that enrollment this year will fund the costs in the coming years, about $50,000 for our lease and expenses. We also hope that in addition to providing access to college in Redmond, this site will be a gateway for students to attend the Bothell campus. Thanks to all of the departments that supported this launch: Enrollment Services, Marketing, Outreach, Information Services, Facilities, Equity & Inclusion, Finance, and Student Learning.

Don’t let Cascadia College Redmond steal the spotlight. The buzz is picking up on campus. CORE Orientation is overwhelmingly full, we are having to open up new sections of courses, student leader training is underway, advisors are swamped, and international students are being welcomed. Yesterday morning, Cascadia College (me) was the moderator for the Mayor’s Candidate Forum in Redmond and, later at lunch, we welcomed 250 participants of Leadership Eastside in Mobius to hear from 13 Mayors representing all of the major cities on the eastside. This week was packed and Cascadia was on full display.

Next week is also packed as we engage in final preparations for Fall quarter. On Monday, please plan to attend Convocation beginning at 3:00PM in Mobius. We will review the State of the College and then roll right into a President’s Pub where we will distribute Years of Service Awards. There will be no online viewing option for Convocation, although we will post any materials used during convocation after the event.

With all of this going on, we are still plugging away at hiring staff, taking care of finance and IT needs, preparing for our new HR Directors, and finding ways to respond to the needs of our employees. Thanks to those who attended the drop-in on Monday and offered questions and feedback. Also, please find linked our official 2023-2024 Committee List. This is a list of all active work groups and current Chairs as we know them. If you find an error, please let the Executive Sponsor of the work group know. As well, every chair should 1) let their Executive Sponsor know if there are vacancies on your committee and how we can help fill them, and 2) update their work group’s charter this fall.

SHOUT OUTS

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 9-8-23

Chapter 3

This month we have been outlining our plan for moving forward with the college’s staffing stability.

Chapter 1 was about hiring the two new co-Directors of Human Resources. As a reminder, Ifrah Mohamed and Jason Rue begin on September 18.

Chapter 2 was about designing leadership stability to support balanced workloads and an increase in staff. As you may recall, there were also a few staff hires included in Chapter 2 which were addressed in last week’s letter.  

Chapter 3 is about our goals to hire the right people for the right jobs to put us on track for more stability.

It has been said, but is worth repeating, that there are headwinds in this effort. We must:

• Confirm that we have the revenues to support these additions;
• Overcome the pay inequity between the community college system and the for-profit world by touting our benefits and workplace culture;
• Find staff willing to tolerate ctcLink;
• And compete with all other industries who are also struggling to find employees in this unusual job market.

The new positions we suggest are in addition to many already in the pipeline for hiring. Linked here, you will find our most current list of active searches and the order in which we are searching for them. These are positions already in the budget. As we ramp up our staff in HR, we hope to pick up speed in getting these folks hired. Each week, the executive team reviews the list of vacancies to assure that the most critical positions are prioritized. Some of these are “emergency hires”…employees who will be temporarily placed until we can get them through a search process. All positions that are being filled will need to eventually go through our normal internal or external process if they are hired in an emergency or temporary status.

Linked here, you will find the suggested positions we hope to hire during the academic year pending 10^th day enrollment numbers and the final budget year-end report for 2022-23. These numbers are trending positive; as of today our fall numbers are up 13.8% compared to last year at this time. These positions are ctcLink support positions and operational support positions. As revenue becomes approved by the Trustees, we will migrate these positions into the hiring priority list.

With this third and final chapter, we hope to have set us on a path for staff recovery. The job doesn’t end in finding the successful candidate however. We must get them on board, train them, and support them. Thanks to everyone for pitching in on search committees, taking on extra duties in the interim, and helping with the training. As enrollment increases this fall, we hope for a new and more stable environment financially and with staffing.

SHOUT OUTS

As was announced to the campus community last academic year, the state of Washington’s restoration specialists at ArtsWA reported that the Ancestors sculpture that has been in storage during campus construction had deteriorated over many years to such a point that it could not be restored. For that reason, this work of art is not be able to be re-installed on campus near Innovation Hall as initially planned.

When he first created the art for the campus, artist Michael Dennis said “the viewer is free to see whomever they want, perhaps a beloved grandmother or an old uncle. They are just ancestors. Each can make up a story in what they see.”

The artist has now agreed to extend the impact of his creation by relocating the cedar figures to our campus wetlands where they will serve as nurse logs, helping new life to grow and thrive.

Today, we offer a Shout Out to all of our ancestors for bringing us to this place of life and community.

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 8-31-23

The Existential Challenge

The last six years have seen Cascadia face a number of difficult moments. It started with the implementation of ctcLink, then moved into responding to the pandemic, then moved into navigating post-pandemic adaptations. “Post-pandemic adaptations” is the over-arching phrase I am using to capture…

• How we respond to changing student needs and expectations;
• How we respond to remote vs. in-person schedules;
• How we meet the economic and salary needs/requirements of our workforce;
• How we deal with a state-wide failure in the effectiveness of ctcLink;
• How we deal with staff vacancies and constant turn-over;
• How we adapt to enrollment declines;
• How we manage the continual unfunded mandates of the State Board and Legislature;
• And, and, and.

Despite these challenges, Cascadia still exists and has a phenomenal success rate at moving students forward on their educational path. This is due to the dedication and effectiveness of our faculty and staff.

However, our ability to sustain the needed human resources to manage these adaptations has reached a critical point. We simply do not have the needed workforce and those who stick with us have reached the point of burnout.

Last spring, in order to reduce a $4M estimated deficit for 2023-24, we reduced budgets and staffing by $2.5M. Those decisions met the Trustees’ expectations and we entered this fiscal year with a $1.5M estimated deficit.

Over the last 3 months, we have come to realize that the positions we did not fill, those we eliminated, and the impact of ctcLink further deteriorated staff morale and our overall effectiveness. Compliance issues are coming up, work is not being completed, our dedicated workforce is burdened beyond acceptable levels, attrition is at an all-time high.

How do we move forward?

In the last few weeks, we have seen higher than expected enrollment for fall (about 10% as of today). This does not include International Students, Running Start, or College in the High School enrollments, which are also on the rise. If today’s numbers hold true, our October “10th Day Count” could see enough revenue to make up for the $1.5 estimated deficit we predicted last June.

The executive team therefore spent much of the summer designing a multi-phased approach to restoring stability given that we 1) may not have a deficit this coming year, and 2) we have enough reserves to leverage bringing back a more complete workforce with balanced workloads. There are 3 chapters to this story.

Chapter 1

Two weeks ago, we talked about Chapter 1: getting the Human Resources department staffed with two Directors to overcome the workload and demands of our staffing needs. The fiscal increase to the salaries will be taken from the college’s reserves this year.

Chapter 2

It is essential to design a model where we have leadership stability and can support growing the college’s staff given the adaptations needed above. As we add new staff across the college, we will need the support of an executive team that can focus on their needs. Knowing that we will hopefully not have to tap our reserves to cover the anticipated deficit in the coming year, I decided as President to use reserves to temporarily cover the costs of the Human Resources department as well as some of the changes below. The Trustees have routinely given me authority to spend from reserves up to a certain amount if needed. The changes outlined in this letter fall within that limit.

Beginning September 1, we will enact the following new leadership model. I have consulted with the Trustees and believe that this operational change will help us respond to the college’s on-going needs.

• ONE: Jashoda Bothra’s new portfolio will consist of Information Services and Finance only. As reported two weeks ago, I will temporarily take over supervision of Human Resources. This will allow Jashoda capacity to bring stability and staffing to the Finance office.
• TWO: Kerry Levett’s new portfolio will consist of Student Learning only. We are promoting Erin Blakeney from Dean to Vice President of Student Success. Erin will now be a part of the executive team and report directly to me. This will allow Kerry the capacity to focus on faculty needs, strategic planning, Innovation Hall, the Redmond Center, and the new Kenmore Academy Grant.
• THREE: Meagan Walker’s External Relations portfolio will stay the same with the exception of Student Recruiting. This department is moving to Erin’s Student Success division as an increased responsibility of becoming a Vice President and as we attempt to consolidate all enrollment departments. Sara Gómez Taylor will stay with External Relations and design & implement an internal communications strategy as well as continue to manage all advertising/marketing/enrollment campaigns. This includes broader responsibility for our enhanced website (coming soon), analytics, and support of departments’ communication needs.
• FOUR: Chari Davenport’s title will change from Executive Director to Vice President. As our state requirements for equity & inclusion grow, so has Chari’s responsibility for compliance, training, and programs. Beyond signature programs like the Students of Color Conference and Cascadia Scholars, she is responsible for expanding development of the E&I Foundations course, faculty & staff of color support, the Redmond Center, the Kenmore Academy Grant, instructional support with College 101 and E&I related curriculum, and community relations with organizations like Leadership Eastside. Additionally, and this is not to be undervalued, Equity & Inclusion is as important as any other division on our campus. Our structure of the executive team has to demonstrate this. As such, this position will be a Vice President moving forward.

This diagram represents the new executive team structure.

In addition to the leadership restructure, the following staff decisions were decided over the last month:

• In Student Success (Erin’s area), 1) we are looking to hire a staff person with the express intent to be stationed at the Redmond Center (using existing funding), and 2) we will hire a grant-funded Basic Needs coordinator.
• In External Relations (Meagan’s area), we will change a part-time International Advisor to full-time to meet the growing enrollment of this population. This is funded through an (unexpected) increase in International Program revenue.
• In Administrative Services (Jashoda’s area), a non-permanent classified student support position in I.S. will be made permanent. This requires new funding and will be temporarily taken from reserves.
• In Student Learning (Kerry’s area), the Associate Dean position will be promoted to Dean to cover expanded responsibilities. This will be funded through our state Guided Pathways allocation.
• In Equity & Inclusion (Chari’s area), 1) the executive assistant will be promoted to Operations Manager and take on additional duties for the Foundation of E&I Course, and 2) we will hold on replacing the Diversity Center Program Lead and instead hire a Director of E&I Programs to be responsible for the Center and Cascadia Scholars. Both of these changes are funded through unanticipated grants received this summer.

Chapter 3

Next week, on September 8, the Friday Letter will review staffing changes we hope to implement in the 23-24 academic year. This is a list of 15 new classified and exempt positions to add to our existing workforce. Note that we have numerous other positions already in the queue that we hope to hire once Human Resources is more fully staffed.

The new positions support our ctcLink struggles and our operational expansion into Innovation Hall and the Redmond Center. The new positions equate to an almost $750,000 investment in new staff. The Trustees must approve this expense and will need to review three things in order to give approval to move forward: 1) our fall 10^th day enrollment numbers and expected 23-24 revenue, 2) our 22-23 fiscal year end close and how much this impacted our reserves, and 3) the overall state of our reserves as of October 1, 2023. We will outline these positions on September 8 and they will be included in the Board Packet that is published on September 13.

Closing Thoughts

From the roller coaster of staff and budget reductions last spring, to changing enrollment patterns and revenue over the summer, to a huge investment in new staff and leadership…it’s certainly a ride that no one predicted. However, it is part of the post-pandemic adaptation that seems to happen with more and more frequency across all industries.

The ultimate goal of these changes is no different than at any time before in our college history…to support the accessible, equitable, and superior learning experiences of our students. This is my 14^th year in the president’s role at Cascadia. The decisions we’ve made over these years positioned us well pre-pandemic, during the pandemic, and hopefully for the years to come. Unlike other colleges, we have not reduced high numbers of staff or faculty and now it is time to see how we can increase our human resources to meet current needs.

Through the Friday Letters, the Board Packet, Convocation, and upcoming Board meetings we will discuss and evaluate these changes to determine their impact on budget and workloads. We hope for positive outcomes. Please feel free to send questions to me or any executive team member. We will calendar a Zoom drop-in session for those who would like to attend and ask questions on September 11 from 2:00-2:45pm.

SHOUT OUTS

From the IN Box:

Accessibility and Student Support Services would like to send a huge shout out to Margee Will and Stephan Classen! Margee and Stephan did an amazing job this summer ensuring a lab class was accessible. We really appreciate all of their efforts and collaboration!

AND

This shoutout from International Programs is for our English Foundations faculty (Kristina Kellermann, Leah Schubert, Mark Hershey, Sofia Marshak, and Kevin Joyce) who worked very hard this summer quarter. They had classes from 8:00am to 2:20pm, Mondays to Thursdays, for 8 weeks. They are not only amazing instructors to our international and CCF students, but also exceptionally supportive colleagues to the IP and CCF staff. They are strong student advocates and vital members of the CCF program. With a joint effort, these EF graduates in the photo were recognized and celebrated on the last day of the summer quarter! Thank you EF faculty!

AND

International Programs would like to thank the entire Finance team for being available and assisting us, as International Programs team begins a total of 11 week, 11 countries recruitment trips in September and October. The recruitment trip preparations involved event registration payments by international wire transfer, very complex travel authorization and cash advance processes in ctcLink, and problem solving with our bank for our credit cards’ issues. Without their speedy assistance and communication, we would not have been able to commence our trips as we have originally planned. Thank you, Jashoda, Cliff, Steve, Amphi, Shyla, and Nara for your help!

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 8-24-23

Fall is coming.

Convocation

In just about three weeks, we will celebrate the return of fall quarter when we gather for Convocation on Monday, September 18. This year, we will again introduce our new employees and hear about the State of the College. Following Convocation, we will have a President’s Pub (social gathering) during which we will give away Years of Service Awards for those who have reached the 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-year marks. We are only two years away from having our first 25-year employees!

Election Season

You can also tell that fall is coming by the number of local campaign signs going up. Cascadia actually plays a pivotal role in our community during this time by hosting or facilitating “Candidate Forums”.

• On September 14, I will moderate the “Redmond Candidates Forum Breakfast” where the two candidates for Mayor will answer questions about their visions for Redmond. This event is created and hosted by OneRedmond. Check out this link for more information and registration.

• On October 11, Cascadia and UWB will co-host the Bothell City Council Candidates Forum in Mobius Hall. This evening event has been put together through the efforts of Brittany Caldwell (Cascadia College Foundation Executive Director) and Ryan McIrvin (Director of Government & Community Relations at UW Bothell). More information and details will be available in the coming weeks.

• And, not to be left behind, the Kenmore City Council Candidates Forum will also be co-facilitated by Cascadia and UWB. This forum occurs at Kenmore City Hall on October 12..

As a higher education campus, we believe that our community should be informed about their choices and learn more about the candidates who will represent us. Students and employees are invited to attend any of these events.

Innovation Hall

You know that fall is upon us because our long-awaited joint STEM building is nearing completion! Carpet has been laid in most areas, walls are painted, lab and classroom built-in furniture is in place, and the sleek new podiums have arrived. Information Services is busy getting the tech set-up and Facilities is working with Student Life to coordinate the lab and office moves while the project team (more than 100-people strong) tend to interior details and landscaping. The building will open for classes Winter Quarter 2024.

Board of Trustees

Finally this week, another sign that fall is almost here is that the Trustees gathered on Wednesday to start planning for the coming academic year. The Trustees got previews of multiple topics that will be presented at the September 20 on-campus meeting, including our current status on Campus Safety, anticipated college risks, and this year’s work on the Strategic Plan. They also discussed how they will provide guidance and support to the college as we think about enrollment and finances. Please come to the September 20 (4:00pm) meeting if you’re interested in hearing about these topics.

Schedules

Next week is the last of our 4-10 summer work weeks –also a sign that fall is coming. Enjoy the long weekends ahead. Please don’t confuse 4-10s for 3-2s. While we worked 4 days at 10 hours during the summer, staff will resume our 3 days-in-person and 2 days-remote regimen the week of September 11. Remember to work with your supervisor and team to assure coverage in your area or if you position qualifies for 3-2s.

SHOUT OUTS

From the IN Box:

We can often overlook those who are behind-the-scenes and devote so much time to helping the rest of us be successful. I want to take a moment to thank Cliff Frederickson for being one of those people. Without his knowledge, support, and dedication, the college would be dealing with even more significant financial challenges.

Nice work Cliff.

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu

Have a great weekend.