Dear Colleagues,
As you know, some of my weeks are spent more off campus than on. This week I had a number of opportunities to engage with members of our community. I enjoy learning about the work going on in our community, and sharing what we all do here, and the successes of our students. I couldn’t be prouder. Thank you for all that you do to make our college the pride of our community.
Below is a brief recap of the latest news:
External Engagement
Leadership Eastside Civic Incubator
On Tuesday morning, I attended Leadership Eastside’s 2016 Innovation Summit for the Eastside Civic Incubator, as a new steering committee member. I’m looking forward to working with other presidents and CEO’s from private sector businesses, non-profits, public sector organizations, and community/resident representatives. Thank you to Kenneth Young and Shawn Sullivan for participating with me in this opening session. I will keep you posted on this one-of-a-kind process, that will result in community members coming together to engage and tackle some of our toughest challenges (transportation, education, housing, etc.). LWTech has been a proud supporter of Leadership Eastside for a number of years.
Kirkland Business Roundtable Presentation/3rd Annual Totem Lake Symposium
On Wednesday, I presented an update on the college at the Kirkland Business Roundtable. This meeting was combined with the 3rd annual Totem Lake Symposium that highlighted the following private sector changes in the Totem Lake area since 2012: Manufacturing, Gaming, Retailing, and Housing. Membership of the Roundtable is comprised of leaders from the following industries: Information Technology, Gaming, Engineering, Retail, Hospitality, Telecommunications, Health, Manufacturing, Education, Finance, Public Utility, Business, Arts, and Government. The community members present were very interested in our work, and excited about our new programs.
Health Innovation Leadership Network (HLN) Meeting
This morning, I participated in the quarterly Health Innovation Leadership Network meeting. As you know, HILN is part of the State of Washington Health Care Authority. I, along with representatives from 50 providers, businesses, health plans, consumers, community and government entities, and tribes, participated in an informative discussion on making health care more affordable.
American Association of Community Colleges Daily Story
There was a nice article that ran in the Community College Daily about the Gen-X panel I participated in last weekend at the AACC conference. I also wrote an article that will be published in an upcoming issue of the Community College Journal. I’ll be sure to share that with you as soon as it’s out. This is an important topic for me, as I am dedicated to ensuring that our community and technical colleges have great leadership for years to come. This challenge has become increasingly difficult, as leadership transitions have become more commonplace due to retirements. Case in point, by the end of this fiscal year, there will be 14 new presidents/chancellors (out of 37) that started their roles after I joined you here at LWTech just three years ago! Nationally, there have been more than 1,000 leadership transitions (out of 1100 colleges), last year alone.
College Community
Cabinet Connection
On Tuesday, the Executive Cabinet members (Cabinet) held our weekly meeting. Cabinet is composed of our senior leadership that represents each area of the college and includes: myself, Andrea Olson, Dr. Ruby Hayden, Dr. Elliot Stern, Bill Thomas, Meena Park (for Melissa Lamy), Terry Byington, and Elisabeth Sorensen. This week, we came to some understanding about where we need to make budget cuts for the 2016-17 fiscal year. Due to legislative budget cuts, as well as softened enrollment, we will be making cuts again in a way that minimizes impacts to instruction and student success. We will go more into the how and why of these cuts at next Tuesday’s all staff meeting (noon, W401).
Classified Staff Meeting
On Wednesday, I met with the Classified staff to continue our conversation from February where I walked through and clarified some concerns they raised in their December classified in-service day. As I mentioned in a previous Amy’s Update, the Classified staff created a list of questions for me to review that focused on work environment, communications and shared governance. I reviewed the questions with Executive Cabinet. I appreciate the opportunity to answer their questions that will hopefully open up additional dialog around longstanding concerns they have. I also appreciated our very detailed discussion about funding, and how we can raise more revenue for the colleges through public and private means. As you know, it’s very important for me to lead in a transparent way, so I always welcome the chance to answer questions and hear concerns that our employees may have.
President’s Advisory Council Meeting
Yesterday morning, I hosted the President’s Advisory Council meeting on our Kirkland campus. I always enjoy meeting with the members of our advisory council who represent businesses such as: McKinstry, Tri-Tec Manufacturing, Apple, Inc., EKOS Corporation, Artitudes Design, Anthony’s Restaurant, Sea Mar Community Health Centers, EvergreenHealth, Astronics AES, Washington Clean Technology, Alliance, Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association, The Boeing Company, and Leadership Eastside. We engaged in an informative discussion about how we can partner with industry leaders to help tell our story, and break down any remaining misconceptions about technical training. I was also pleased to update them on the latest happenings on both of our campuses.
Leadership Team Meeting
Also yesterday, I met with the Leadership Team where I discussed many of the topics that I will cover at next week’s all-staff meeting including, legislative wrap-up (budget context), the AACC conference, and the League of Education Voters panel I participated last month. Dr. Hayden also led a group exercise on equity, diversity, and inclusion work, and Bill Thomas concluded the meeting with a budget update.
Perkins Innovation Grant
Congratulations to Dean Kenneth Young who recently pursued and secured a $15,000 Perkins Innovation Grant. Dean Young did this in just his first month on the job! Money from the grant will fund backfill for faculty member Michael Richmond, who will, this quarter, go out and create partnerships for our new cooperative learning model in our automotive programs—a model he designed. Dr. Elliot Stern commented, “We are not only developing innovative new program designs that meet the needs of the workforce in a full-employment economy; we have Deans and faculty who are even going out and procuring the funding for that new program development.”
2016 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE)
Starting the week of April 25th LWTech will begin administering the 2016 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). This survey, which looks at a student’s overall experience at LWTech, is coordinated through the University of Texas, and is an important tool for accreditation, strategic planning, and student success work. Faculty whose classes have been selected for this survey will receive email notification and a survey administrator will come to the classroom to administer the questions to students. This is the third administration of CCSSE at LWTech, and our Institutional Research team looks forward to sharing the results with the campus community!
Student Achievement
Western Regional American Culinary Federation Knowledge Bowl Competition
Congratulations to Janet Waters and her students who took home a silver medal from the Western Regional American Culinary Federation Knowledge Bowl competition. “They fought to the end and took second place in the region and first place in Washington State and they each received a silver medal,” said Janet. She adds, “The Knowledge bowl is a culinary and baking competition where students have to memorize six textbooks: Culinary, Baking, Food Safety, Costing, Nutrition, and Escoffier. They compete in a Jeopardy style competition where any question can come up from the textbooks. They study for countless hours learning everything from product identification to chemical reactions and more.” Great work and congratulations to all!
Pictured left-to-right: Lynnette Clemens, Alden Littlefield, Denise Carrell, Cassie Heaton – Captain, and Jason Goetrz
The Power of a Thank You
Katie Viola recently received a nice note from one of our Worker Retraining and Basic Food Employment and Training (BFET) graduates that I’d like to share with you, “I sure do miss you and LWTECH. I sure had the most amazing college experience and consider myself tremendously lucky and privileged to have attended college with such an amazing community, staff and students alike. The college and its people gave me so much… not only a trade skill set but most importantly just the support and kindness to succeed. Knowing you can do something that you put your mind to is freeing and empowering.” The work we do every day truly makes a difference in the lives of our students!
Staff Kudos
· Dean Kenneth Young and I would like to recognize Casey Melnrick on his outstanding recruitment efforts. He has worked hard to jump start the welding program for spring 2016. Casey has been and continues to be a powerful force for the good of the division.
· Dr. Ruby Hayden and I would like to recognize Irene Reynolds, Mony Loeum, Neera Mehta, and Michael Leary for all picking up extra duties in the absence of one of their team members. Thank you to all of you who continue to jump in to help in times of need. Thank you!
· Congratulations to Jason Sobottka on being nominated for the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation annual “Foundation of Art” award. Jason has been recognized as one of the leaders in the Pierce County art community.
Thank you for another great week!
Amy
Dr. Amy Morrison Goings | President
Office of the President | West Building W301
11605 132nd Avenue NE | Kirkland, WA 98034
T: 425.739.8200 | amy.goings@lwtech.edu | www.LWTech.edu
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