Friday Letter, 10-22-21

Some of you may have heard my most recent analogy. Last week I said that we were a row boat in high seas trying to make our way through a storm. For you boating types, a row boat is a Class A vessel, under 16 feet. This week, I have upgraded our Class A vessel to a Class 1 vessel, 17-26 feet. We’re more stable and I think we’ve changed from oars to a small motor. We’re working our way back to an ocean-going luxury yacht. =)

Why the upgrade?

This week we finished interviews for our Finance Director position. I’m happy to report that our offer of employment was accepted by Brent Green. Brent works for a small private college in California. He spent 5 years as their Director of Financial Aid and the last 7 years as their Director of Finance. Brent has family in Washington and wants to relocate north. We will welcome Brent to the Cascadia family in mid-November.

We also welcomed Bill Saraceno as our interim Vice President of Administrative Services. Bill has more than 36 years of experience in our CTC system with the past few years dedicated to helping colleges as they search for new VPAs. He worked as an interim at Wenatchee Valley, Tacoma, Renton, and Shoreline. He knows our system inside and out, brings Finance resources, and is off to a good start.

Marty Logan and Ken McClean continue to provide support to Finance along with a great staff. Our new Director (Brent) will have their support along with Bill’s as we get him up to speed on our finances and ctcLink.

We also interviewed several candidates for interim Executive Assistants. As you recall, Raquel moved to a new position, Kari is on her way to a new position, and Lily is on maternity leave. Two of those candidates will begin with us next week.

Lelia Olsen agreed to chair the search committee for our new VPA and will bring great leadership to that group this quarter.

We had 100% of our active employees complete the vaccination requirement or exemption by the deadline this last Monday. No leaks in the boat on this front either.

These are all good reasons for the Class 1 upgrade. As we continue hiring across all areas, getting folks trained, and resolving day-to-day logistics, we’ll get to that yacht.

I look forward to connecting with everyone at the DIA (Day of Inquiry and Assembly) next week. The agenda revolves around Continuous Improvement, a timely topic.

SHOUTOUTS

The IN BOX:

From Shawna Pitts…

I want to give a shout out to Haley Green, Elizabeth Englund and Kari McGie for their amazing teamwork and upbeat spirit during a hectic week of vaccination verification.

The coordination and communication was very good among the team during a stressful time – all in an effort to get every employee accounted for and meet the State imposed deadline for vaccination verification. Way to go!!  

From Jessica Ketcham…

Sometimes the unpredictable nature of life means that staffing changes have to happen in the middle of the quarter. It’s never easy on the students or the faculty, so I’d like to send a huge shoutout of appreciation to Robyn Ferret for graciously and generously taking on the design, prep, and teaching of a new section of a class in week 3, and for creating a seamless learning experience for the students.

Also from Jessica…

We have been so lucky to have the humble security expertise of Cameron Carpenter on our campus. A big ole shoutout to Cameron for his above and beyond work to keep us educated, safe, and entertained (still laughing about the Princess Bride quotes in the passphrase email last year.) I’m looking forward to these new micro modules on digital security and really appreciate the proactive learning opportunities.

Future Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutouts@cascadia.edu.   

Have a great weekend.

Friday Letter, 9-18-20

Be Resilient. Those are the two words that come to mind as I think about the next devastating tragedy that hit our region this week. The wildfires have devastated the west coast and caused all of us to shelter in place this week.  With COVID…we had the outdoors as our respite. With the smoke, we’ve all probably looked inward to our homes.

Situation 1: As I wrote the cover letter for the Board of Trustees meeting this week, resilience was on my mind. Chronologically, this is what we have faced: ctcLink, COVID, racial and social injustice, protests, a severe economic downturn, and wildfires. I am sure that these widespread conditions have exacerbated individual ones as well. We are all learning to manage at home, with family, and indoors.

Yet, reports from many Cascadia students and parents say that Cascadia is serving them well. At a Chamber of Commerce (virtual) luncheon this week, one parent singled out Cascadia and how well her children are thriving with us. Yes, thriving. The younger one has decided to come full-time as a Running Start student because he feels Cascadia will best serve his needs at this time. In the midst of our smoke and pandemic, there are still bright spots.

I’d like to encourage you to be on a path of finding those bright spots for you at home. Take care of your mental health. Reach out to people who care, whether those be people you know or people who are to trained to provide quality care, for example through the Employee Assistance Program (for employees) or the Counseling Center (for students). You might also consider these Racism and Mental Health Resources. In this time of change, we hope you do whatever you need to do to take a break and let your mental health and well-being come first.  Your supervisors have been asked to work with you to make sure that your home schedule allows for good mental health. Above are suggestions of actions you can take to be resilient.  We have more!

Resilient Actions 1:

• Read this article for sneaky ways COVID anxiety may be coming out.
• If people are coming across differently, ask if they are okay and tell them you care.
• Recognize the humanity of each other and seek to uplift and support each other.
• Supervisors, check in with your team and have open conversations about how people are doing. Ask for help from HR if you don’t know how to have those kinds of conversations.
• Contact this crisis hotline if the world seems out-of-control and managing it has become too much for you.

Situation 2: Operationally, we are getting ready for the return of about 200 students to campus and 4,000 students online.  Please continue to read the weekly Health Bulletin for the most current information.

As we start Pre-Fall week next Monday, we’ll show a video about what to expect if you are coming back to campus. Also know, we recently experienced some widespread technology issues due to downed cables in the Bothell area. Some of us were affected (I was down from 6pm until 10am the next day); others were not. The communication on that particular incident from Comcast was a little difficult to come by and we did not know how many employees were affected.

Resilient Action 2: For the future…please make sure to check our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter channels. The website alert banner will be activated when there are any pending campus shutdowns or alternatives. If it is an all-campus issue, we’ll get a bulletin out there. Alternatively, check in with your supervisor via phone to see if there is any additional information.

Situation 3: At our last e-team drop-in meeting, the question of ORCA cards and student eligibility came up. We reviewed that contract the next day and are back on track. Students wanting to buy ORCA cards will be eligible even if they are completely online.

Resilient Action 3: We are now trying to figure out how to distribute them since Kodiak Corner is physically closed for in-person transactions.  A solution is on the way.

Situation 4: Convocation kicks off on Monday at 9:30am. I’m actually very excited to introduce new employees, share the State of the College, work on the mission statement, and celebrate our employees.  9:30-12:00…we’ll have a couple small breaks. Unfortunately, folks have been too busy to put together Variety Show acts, so we have cancelled the 4pm Zoom President’s Variety Show.

Resilient Action 4: We’ll create another social opportunity for later in the quarter.

Life is all about resiliency. We will bounce back. I think Cascadia is well poised to see it through.

 

Congratulations to many of our faculty for their outstanding scholarly work.

 Erin Richards Receives the 2020 American Political Science Association Community College Faculty Award!

 Congratulations to Dr. Richards:  From the article, which you can find here:

 Erin Richards is simply an outstanding example of a dedicated community college professor and engaged member of APSA.  She is a tireless advocate for community college faculty, an empathetic mentor, an inspired teacher, and a skilled networker who has assisted countless colleagues in their professional development.

A big shout out goes to Robyn Ferret, Kathy Brown, Chris Gildow, Jessica Ketcham, Lindsay Custer, and Tasha Walston, who somehow made the time to collaborate with each other and their students to create the Museum of Pandemic Culture (MoPan). Not only was it launched during Spring crisis teaching, but it was updated over the summer, and will continue to be a source of integrative learning in Fall Quarter. Visit MoPan here.

Another shout out for powerful and engaged public pedagogy goes to Denise Michaels, Robyn Ferret, Louise Spiegler, Nomita Yadav, Jessica Ketcham, Lisa Citron, Tasha Walston, Natasa Kesler, Soraya Cardenas, Kathy Brown, and Natalie Serianni for continuing to hold the teach-ins from spring throughout the summer.  You’ll see this continue through fall quarter.

When we speak of resiliency, we all can take credit. From the ctcLink folks, to the advising staff, to the COVID response team, to the dozens of faculty who taught all summer and developed new curriculum, adapted instructional techniques and materials, and have been working to ensure that their students have an incredible experience this fall.

We are a good team. Each unit takes seriously their dedication to our students.  Thanks to the dedication of the faculty and staff.

Shout Outs can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu.

Have a resilient weekend.

Friday Letter, 11-4-16

Friday Letter for November 4, 2016

Guest Editor – Meagan Walker

In a nod to the upcoming election…

We’re A Democracy
so weigh in on the Cascadia/UW Bothell Campus Master Plan

The 2017 Campus Master Plan is underway. The master plan process will ultimately guide the future development and growth of our campus. Cascadia and UWB have been engaging with the City of Bothell, neighbors, and business leaders to get their early input.

Now it’s your turn! Please stop by North Creek Events Center any time between 3:30-6:30 pm on Monday, November 14^th for the “Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Scoping Meeting”. That’s a fancy way of saying there will be exhibits and experts on hand to share information and collect feedback. We are very interested to hear from Cascadia students, faculty and staff. Drop in to learn about the planning process, the EIS, and transportation. We’ll also be sharing preliminary concepts that illustrate differing approaches to campus growth. It’s an open house format. Visit our website for more information about the campus master plan.

 

A Non-Partisan Platform
Community Resource Day

Cascadia will be co-hosting a series of five Community Resource Days with UW Bothell at Mobius Hall. This effort is being coordinated by local volunteers to connect people to organizations that provide essential human services such as housing, food, and healthcare. Cascadia was interested in helping to support this effort, knowing that there are many individuals on our campus and in our community who struggle to meet their basic needs. Community Resource Day is being managed by community volunteers. Paula Molina is doing the work of coordinating the venue (set-up, parking, load and unload zone, etc.). The series will be promoted widely on campus and in the greater community. This pilot program will run the fourth Friday from January through May. More information will follow as we get closer to the January date.

 

I Want You
to get excited about the trailer

Yes, this is a shameless trailer promotion. John VanLeer and Jessica Ketcham took the trailer, AKA Mo (short for Mobile Laboratory), on the road Tuesday for their Octopuses Are So Hipster learning community. The class was held at Brackett’s Landing in Edmonds. The students collected water samples in the rain then retreated to the trailer to perform dissolved oxygen tests in a dry, well-lit space.

“We had 22 students in the trailer clustered around 5 tray tables,” John reported. “It would have been so much harder for us to do what we did if we hadn’t had the trailer.”

Chris Gildow’s Two-Dimensional Design students are working on a design for the trailer exterior this quarter. Their work will be transferred to vinyl then professionally installed.

If you have an idea for how to use the trailer, please contact Sara Gómez Taylor or me.

 

Our Choice For
the newest member to our Foundation Board

We are happy to welcome Ravi Raghavan to the the Cascadia College Foundation board. Ravi has worked as a senior executive in technology and financial services for Bill Gates Investments, Goldman Sachs, and UBS. He has expertise in strategic planning, financial processing, internal controls, audits, and a dozen other areas of importance to the operation and future growth of our Foundation. The Foundation continues to operate in its slim mode. Ravi joins veteran board members Tom McAndrew and Alex Lee, plus newer members Lori Cadwell and Ron Wheadon. We feel very lucky to have such talented people devoting their time to the benefit of our students and our college.

 

Every Vote Counts
cast yours to rename the new My.Cascadia

We spent time reviewing the list of fabulous suggestions brainstormed at this year’s convocation and arrived at two conclusions: 1) it is preferable to use cascadia.edu in our domain name so that makes the super fun names a bit impractical 2) we cannot stick with my.cascadia.edu because of the way we are building out our new intranet. Given those conclusions, we have selected three finalists for your consideration. Vote now. This poll will close on Thursday, November 10.