HIGHLINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT 9

MINUTES OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES’ MEETING

May 8, 2008

STUDY SESSION

Executive Session

Executive Session was called at 8:00 am to discuss the qualifications of applicants for Public Employment. Executive Session adjourned at 8:55 am.

The Study Session continued at 9:00 am and the following topics were discussed:

Third Quarter Financials

Student and Activities Budget

Tuition Increase

Projects in China

The Study Session adjourned at 9:40 am.

MEETING

Call to Order

Karen Vander Ark, Chair, called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m.

Roll Call

Members Present: Karen Vander Ark

Mike Regeimbal

Elizabeth Chen

Ed Davila

Attorney General Representative: Derek Edwards

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees on April 10, 2008 and the Special Meeting Minutes of April 16, 2008 were approved.

Change in Order of the Agenda

Karen Vander Ark announced that there would be a change in the order of the agenda to accommodate an action item regarding the presidential search.

Mike Regeimbal moved to appoint Dr. Jack Bermingham as President of Highline Community College at an annual salary of $170,000 effective immediately. The motion was unanimously approved.

Dr. Bermingham thanked the Board of Trustees and also thanked the faculty and staff of the campus for their support. He said he would do his best to deserve all the good wishes and the strong commitment shown by everyone over the years to make the college a distinguished and successful one. He added that as we move forward, we hopefully will continue to have lots of success that will translate on a day-to-day basis in having students experience success, and also in having a positive and influential impact on our community. He said that it is important for people to know about the college, and to know about what good things are happening at Highline and they will send their children to the college. He said they will also think of Highline as place for all ages to take classes; that the college is open for business and helping people to succeed. He closed his remarks in saying, “It is a privilege to be in a leadership role at an institution that has a strong tradition in making that happen. Thank you very much. And thank you all for your support.”

Dr. Elizabeth Chen then asked to take the opportunity to remember fellow Board member, Rita Creighton. She expressed that the Board really missed her leadership and remarked on the time and effort she had put into the process of the presidential search. As a member of the Presidential Advisory Search Committee and Co-Chair, Dr. Chen wished to thank all the members of the committee, the faculty, staff, and the community members who put so much time into all those meetings and who put a great deal of effort into this, as everyone was aware of how important this process was to the college. She also thanked everyone who attended the forums and who took the time to send in all their comments to the Board. She explained she had read all of them and expressed her thanks for their insightful comments. She assured everyone that these comments were read very carefully and that the concerns that people had were also noted. She said this was very important in helping to form future directions for the college. She assured Dr. Bermingham that the Board would totally support him and that she felt that the Board and the President would be working together for the same purpose, which would be for the betterment of Highline.

Dr. Davila offered his congratulations and said he felt confident in Dr. Bermingham’s potential and ability. He said he felt the last couple years have been tough on the college and wanted everyone to know how much he appreciated being a Board member. He expressed that he was very proud of the campus and very proud of the Trustees for doing the right thing. He felt that Dr. Bermingham’s long history with the college gives him the capacity for the presidency. Dr. Davila also thanked the Presidential Search Advisory Committee and especially Rita, and all the members who contributed to the committee. He said he honored them and respected them. He also wished to thank the students, faculty, and the classified and administrative staff. He said the process was necessary to be able to hear everyone’s opinion to have a fair and open process. He again offered his congratulations to Dr. Bermingham.

Correspondence

Dr. Bermingham recognized Dr. Mary Averett. Dr. Averett noted that the Board members had recently heard about the Small Business Development Center and she wished to recognize Brett Rogers, State Director, Small Business Development Centers, of the Washington State University System. Mr. Rogers offered a short background on the history of the Ron Battles Excellence Award. The Award was named in honor of Ron Battles who lost his struggle with cancer in 2005. He was passionate about the work of the Small Business Development Centers Network, and the award is now offered, in part, due to his philosophy and commitment to excellence. This award is funded through Small Business Development clients and comes with a cash award of $500.00. Mr. Rogers was pleased to be able to present this award to Zev Siegl, of the Highline Small Business Development Center. Mr. Siegl accepted the award and expressed his appreciation.

Dr. Bermingham then introduced Rich Bankhead, Highline faculty member in the Engineering Department who, in turn, offered a summary of the events of the Paper Vehicle competition this year. Mr. Bankhead said that eight students were involved this year in the competition, and two awards were won by the Highline teams; one for presentation and one for the most innovative design, which is the third year in a row that Highline has won this award. The "A-team" students creating the tricycle design were Jessherrie Turner, Nathaniel Eastland, James Masella, (the driver), and Mikhail Moskvich. The "Gears of War” team, winning Most Innovative Design, and Best Overall Presentation were Kien Kha, Boreth Long, Temitope Akinfolarin, and Glenda Kunkle.

The students spoke of their participation in the project and described what they had gained through the experience. One student commented that “This was the most interesting class I’ve ever been in,” and another added, “This class was about teamwork and how to make things run out of things you didn’t think could work.”

Dr. Elizabeth Chen congratulated all the students and commented, “We need more outstanding female engineers!”

Standing Reports

Associated Students of Highline Community College

Student Body President, Steven Simpkins reported.

• Steve said the International Leadership Summit was again active and would gather on May15^th.
• Steve wanted to recognize the members of the Leadership Council who were working on an opportunity to send a Highline student abroad and that they were currently trying to coordinate this with the conversation café.
• Steve said he was pleased that progress was being made on the recycling area.
• Unity through Diversity week was held in early May along with the first annual drag show which was very well attended.
• The annual Boat Cruise is scheduled for May 16^th and over 300 tickets were sold.
• Globalfest will be held next Saturday, and is already sold out, and Steve expressed his enthusiasm for all the work the students had done in getting this event together.
• The Pacific Islander Club will be holding their event on Pacific Islander Awareness Week that ends in a Friday evening Luau at 7:30 on May 9^th.

Dr. Bermingham again expressed his congratulations to Steve for his award on the All Washington Academic team, and Steve expressed that it was an honor to be part of that team.

Washington Public Employees Association

Lydia Bracco was unavailable for this meeting, and will update the Board at a later meeting.

Highline College Education Association

Ruth Windhover reported.

Ruth said that in speaking on behalf of the HCEA, she looked forward to being able to continue to work with this administration. She reiterated that, as Dr. Davila had said, the transition was difficult, and now the college can continue to look forward to the focus of its mission. She offered her congratulations to Dr. Bermingham, and said she looked forward to working with his leadership.

Ruth noted that the compensation task force had met and discussed administrative and faculty salaries. She hoped that the Trustees would be supportive in the attempt to increase these salary levels in their opportunities to discuss this situation with the State board and with others. She also congratulated the Board on their fair and open deliberations of the final process of the presidential search.

Faculty Senate

Ruth Frickle reported.

Ruth noted that on behalf of the Faculty Senate, she wished to offer her congratulations to Dr. Bermingham on his appointment as President, and to the Board for their decision.

Ruth noted that discussions in the Faculty Senate had centered on common course numbering, the request for granting an honorary degree, and committee nominations.

The Senate was not enthusiastic concerning common course numbering, but would agree to move forward on this process in order to comply with new regulations.

The Senate did agree to Dr. Bermingham’s request to grant an honorary degree during the commencement ceremonies to Gerald Robinson.

Ruth also commented that there was a lively discussion in the Faculty Senate meeting on the new registration process.

Action Item

Karen Vander Ark requested that Dr. Bermingham to offer some remarks concerning the resolution “Pertaining to Small Business Development Services for the City of Federal Way.” Dr. Bermingham explained that this authorization was similar to the one passed by the board members last year regarding block grant funding for Federal Way.

ACTION ITEM

a. Resolution 73-08 Pertaining to Small Business Development Services for the City of

Federal Way

HIGHLINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE, District 9

RESOLUTION 73-08

(Pertaining to Small Business Development Services

for the City of Federal Way)

WHEREAS, Highline Community College is fully committed to providing small business development services to its service area via the Southwest King County Small Business Development Center at Highline Community College; and,

WHEREAS, the City of Federal Way will provide $22,500 in funding toward the goal of funding the provision of such services; and,

WHEREAS, the $22,500 allocation must be matched at least dollar for dollar in order to be released; and,

WHEREAS, Federal Community Development Block Grant Funds are available for the purpose of providing such services, and

WHEREAS, the City of Federal Way has asked Highline Community College to apply for these funds in order that it may release its general fund allocation,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Trustees of Highline Community College supports development and submission of an application to receive 2009 Community Development Block Grant funds from the City of Federal Way in the amount of $22,500.

It was moved by Ed Davila and seconded by Elizabeth Chen to approve Resolution 73-08 Pertaining to Small Business Development Services for the City of Federal Way.

The motion carried.

A copy of Resolution 73-08 is filed with the official minutes in the President’s Office.

Award Recognitions

Dr. Bermingham recognized Alice Madsen, Dean, Professional and Technical Education. Ms. Madsen expressed her pleasure in announcing the winners of the WAVE (Washington Award for Vocational Excellence) for the 2007-2008 academic year. Alice said this award is focused specifically on vocationally education. It began in 1984. Alice said she was pleased that Highline had two winners this year who are highly recommended in their areas. She noted that there are three times as many applicants as winners for these scholarships.

• The first WAVE scholarship winner to be presented was Kathryn Hutchison. It was noted that Kathryn’s father was also a graduate of the Respiratory Care Program as she would soon become. Kathryn is president of a student club known as the “Breath of Life” club. They raised over $5,000 in various events. Kathryn has also worked as an intern at Harborview Medical Center.
• Bob Bonner and Nicki Bly, of the Respiratory Care Program said of Kathryn, “She never said no when asked to participate in any of the special events for the program.”
• The second WAVE scholarship was presented to Rise Glaze. Michael Allen, faculty member in the Paralegal Program, expressed his pride in this announcement. He said that Rise’s ability to overcome obstacles and to excel in this program made the entire department proud of all her accomplishments.

Dr. Barbara Clinton added that Rise was one of the reasons that “gets me here every day!”

Report

“Student Services in Community and Technical Colleges: A Practitioner’s Guide”

Jonathan Brown

Dr. Bermingham introduced Jonathan Brown, Associate Dean, Student Programs/Center for Leadership and Service, whose work on the “Student Services in Community and Technical Colleges: A Practitioner’s Guide” became part of his doctoral thesis. Jonathan explained that he had become involved in this project through his own review of the old student services manual which had formerly been published every ten years. He said he felt that there were many areas of the manual which needed review and expansion, and he became involved in its revision which evolved into an exploratory proposal to his doctoral committee. He then attended a steering committee meeting in November of 2006 and was prepared to speak to the problems of the manual’s 3^rd Edition.

He explained the background of the manual:

• Uses

-Standards Guide for training new administrators

-Promotion of Student Services in Washington

-Procedures and standards for program development

-Assistance for creating revenue and building connections to higher education

• Critique of the 3^rd Edition

-Not a scholarly work, limited or no references

-Written to a lower level

-Manual missing sections

-Not written by practitioners

• Project Timeline

-timeline was developed in March, 2007

-Jonathan was asked to serve as Editor in June, 2007

-He became a statewide author in summer, 2007

-Due dates for training chapters, November, 2007

-Editing and Production, Winter, 2008

-Publication, April, 2008

• Jonathan’s Role

-Locate and train 34 authors

-Train on the writer’s guide

-Select and lead editorial Board

-Coordinate editorial process

-Editing and final proofing for publication

-partnered with project coordinator (Rich Halde, Everett CC)

Jonathan added that there were 4 new sections included in the new manual including Best Practices, Challenges, Future Directions, and a Bibliography and Resources section. Other areas include online services, the Trio Program, Veterans Services and information on the Gay and Lesbian Program. He wished to offer special thanks to Gwen Spencer, Laura Westergard, Natasha Burrowes, and a special thanks to Toni Castro. He also noted a number of the photographs in the manual were submitted by Toni Castro.

AREA REPORTS

Student Services

Toni Castro reported.

· Toni expressed her congratulations to Jonathan Brown for his work on the publication, citing that this work moved the campus onto a statewide level.

· Toni expressed her pleasure at the success of the All Student Services Conference held in Yakima, and noted the excellent work on the website, created by Dena Dillon.

· She also expressed her thanks to Dr. Bermingham for the opportunity to attend the presentation of the Dalai Lama at the University of Washington and said that 50 students from Highline were also able to attend the event.

· The 11^th Annual Unity Week was a successful event with workshops, panel discussions and presentations. Toni congratulated Marie Zimmermann who was nominated by Allan Walton for the Extraordinary Woman Award.

· Toni announced that the Early Childhood Learning Center has developed new initiatives under Shelly Flippen’s leadership. They will be extending the programs for 6 to 10 year olds and partnering with the nursing program for classes in parent education and early childhood learning. There will also be a monthly savings in the partnership with the nursing program for monitoring purposes.

· May 3^rd marked the Annual Student Voice Academy in which a number of important issues were discussed such as adding a student member to the Board of Trustees, the Running Start program, increasing childcare, adjunct faculty, and more access to technology services.

· Toni announced that John Kireru was the student success story of the month. John came to the United States from Africa and told his story in a letter to the Roots of Education program. When he arrived he had some very difficult times with his wife and two children. But he has prevailed and completed his prerequisites in nursing and will receive his Bachelor of Science in nursing this spring from UW.

Instruction

Marie Zimmerman reported.

• Marie wished to spend a few moments talking about the visit of the Washington Supreme Court to Highline. She said she was pleased to hear the radio and television coverage of this event. She said the Justices started their day with a tour of the campus and were hosted by students who were taking the related class this quarter.
• Marie continued that there were a number of comments on the quality of the student questions and she also thanked Trustee Mike Regeimbal for the remarks he offered about the college at the reception. She added that this is only the second time that the Supreme Court has held sessions at a community college. She gave a special thank you to Joy Smucker and the entire Paralegal Program for their efforts in coordinating this very special opportunity.
• Others were invited to add their comments, and Michael Allen, faculty member, introduced one of his students, Cameron, who had posed a question to one of the Justices to challenge a teaching decision that Mr. Allen had made regarding a test question. Cameron explained that even though Mr. Allen’s decision was upheld by the Justice, that he valued the experience of being able to interact with the Justices during this event. Marie added that this opportunity was appreciated by the entire campus.

Institutional Advancement

Lisa Skari reported.

• Lisa remarked on the success of the Gala this year, and that a true highlight was the speech given by student, Anna Lee. Her enthusiasm could not be surpassed in her expressions of her student experiences at Highline.
• The Grand Opening ceremony for the MaST will be on June 16^th and Congressman Adam Smith will be attending. There will be a water splashing event in lieu of the traditional “ribbon cutting” and some photos of the original center will be on display. Lisa requested that everyone send in the names of persons they would like to have on the invitation listing.
• Lisa announced the Annual Portfolio Show on June 2-3 which will showcase work in interior design and print.
• There are three finalists for the Distinguished Alumni award which include a poet, a deputy for the EPA, and a local business person.

General Administration

Larry Yok reported.

• Larry announced that a couple weeks ago he noticed an article in the newspaper on Sound Transit which discussed a .4% sales tax for light rail and .1% targeted for Highline Community College. He said that there have been many discussions with Metro regarding a feasibility study and it appears that the scope of the proposal is on the increase. There could be four bays for bus loading and the overall intention is to centralize the transit areas into one location.
• Larry added that the transit earmark under discussion was now moving into a regional focus, and whether or not this goes forward, we could expect to see some media attention concerning this issue. This may result in some re-development on the eastern side of the campus which would be of low cost to the college.

President’s Remarks 

Dr. Bermingham wished to underscore the remarks made by all those who participated in the Washington Supreme Court visit and the Honors Class Colloquy. He felt that the underlying respect and civility shown by the Justices modeled their passion for the honor of their profession and their commitment to their positions. He added that this event will have a long impact at the college.

Dr. Bermingham also remarked that he agreed with Lisa that Anna Lee’s enthusiasm at the Gala was infectious. He added that she was articulate and a lot of fun. He also said that Rod Stephenson and colleagues provided a great service to the College through all their efforts of preparation for the Gala.

On a sad note, Dr. Bermingham wished to remark on the passing of former union representative, Duke Applegate, who will be sorely missed by many at the college. He wished to extend his condolences to Duke’s wife, Barbara. He said that Duke was a recognizable and much appreciated figure on campus for many years.

Congratulations and many thanks were extended to Jeff Wagnitz and all those participating in the accreditation visit. Dr. Bermingham expressed the tremendous effort that went into preparing for the visit and in the report documentation.

Dr. Bermingham also wished to thank Lisa Skari for the initiative she put forward with the PBS education report. This was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the campus, and everyone will be excited to see the final edit.

Again, Dr. Bermingham thanked everyone for all of their support.

Unscheduled business

Rashad Norris requested the opportunity to make a few announcements. He discussed the Annual Spring Festival on May 16 which has been orchestrated by Jason Prenovost, at which Highline will host 700 to 800 Junior and Senior High School students. About 30 colleges will be represented at the Pavilion.

Rashad added that on the 13^th of May, Highline will be hosting the Heritage Leadership Camp. More than 60 young men of color will be on campus for a number of events. This is a great mentoring opportunity for young people and he wished to thank Lisa for helping to make these arrangements on campus.

New Business

None.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m.

Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting of the Board of Trustees

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees will be on June 12, 2008.

Mike Regeimbal, Chair Jack Bermingham, Secretary