Amy’s Update

Dear Colleagues,

Congratulations on completing the 2022-2023 academic year! You, like our students, have put in the hard work to ensure they reached their educational goals. While we had a more traditional, pre-pandemic year, there were still some pandemic bumps we had to maneuver through. Thank you for all you do each day to ensure our students are successful at the college and beyond! I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at Commencement on Friday, which as you know, is one of my favorite days of the year!

As a reminder, the college will be closed on Monday in observance of the Juneteenth National Independence Day | Black Independence Day | Freedom Day Holiday. I hope you can relax over the long weekend and participate some of the many Juneteenth activities going on around the area. There is so much to celebrate this weekend, I hope you and yours have a safe and fun holiday weekend.

For those of you going on break for the summer, I hope you have a wonderful break. For those of you planning to be on campus next week, I’ll see you after the long weekend.

And now, on to the latest news from around the college:

College Community

Diversity and Social Justice (DSJ) Community Potluck: MFG: 2 and 3

Monday I was pleased to attend the DSJ Community Potluck. Thank you to all of you who have worked so hard throughout the year as part of the DSJ program.

Cabinet Connection: MFG: 1, 2, and 3

Executive Cabinet (Cabinet) met Tuesday where we talked about budget procedures, the Employee Satisfaction Survey, and Good Jobs Initiative through CareerConnect Washington. Additionally, Cabinet members provided updates from their departments.

Cabinet is comprised of our senior leadership that represents each area of the college, and in addition to me, includes: Robert Britten, Cathy Copeland, Tuấn Đặng, Elsa Gossett, Dr. Ruby Hayden, Chris McLain, Meena Park, Bruce Riveland, Dr. Aparna Sen, Leslie Shattuck, and Elisabeth Sorensen.

Early Learning Center Building Project Meeting: MFG 1, 2, and 3

Today, I’m meeting with Dr. Ruby Hayden and Bruce Riveland to discuss plans for the Early Learning Center.

Student Achievement

Digital Gaming Portfolio Presentations and Senior Showcase: MFG 1, 2, and 3

Monday afternoon and this evening I attended/will attend the Digital Gaming Program Portfolio Presentations and Senior Showcase. Congratulations to all of the graduates for producing incredibly creative work. Thank you to our amazing faculty for your unwavering support of our students!

Public Health, Occupational Therapy Assistant and Dental Hygiene Pinning Ceremonies: MFG 1, 2, and 3

Today and tomorrow, I will be attending Pinning ceremonies for our Public Health and Dental Hygiene programs. As I mentioned in last week’s Update, many of our Health Sciences programs celebrate the completion of their programs with Pinning ceremonies. Congratulations to our graduates and our program faculty and staff!

LWTech Technical Academy Graduation: MFG 1, 2, and 3

Congratulations to our LWTech Technical Academy graduates who are participating in their graduation ceremony tomorrow night. As An Chu said in her email last week, “Most of the students graduating this year joined us during the pandemic and succeeded in spite of its hardships. They would never have succeeded without your help and support.”

Thank you to our hard-working high school programs faculty and staff for another successful year!

Library Team Commits to 6-Month Antiracism Training: MFG 1

Greg Bem would like to share the following: “The LWTech Library team joined a cohort of other community and technical college (CTC) library teams (including Renton Technical College, Bellingham Technical College, and Spokane Community College) and underwent an extensive library-centered antiracism training program for six months (from early Winter 2023 through Spring 2023). The training program included four synchronous workshops, each lasting several hours, with many conversation group meetings between each workshop. The “Do Better” program was led by Sofia Leung and will lead to continue antiracist work locally and within the cohort throughout the 2023-2024 academic year and beyond. Greg Bem thanks Academic Dean Vicki Chew, as well as library student workers Gary Callanan and Dorian Lucas for keeping the library open and the library desk available while the library staff participated in the training.”

Ongoing and Upcoming Events

Application Cycle for Fall 2023 LWTech Foundation Scholarships is Open: MFG 1, 2, and 3

The application cycle for the Fall 2023 LWTech Foundation Scholarships is now open! The LWTech Foundation plans to distribute over $100,000 in scholarship aid during this cycle. The average scholarship award is $1,000. As always, all Foundation scholarships assist with tuition and fee costs and do not have to be repaid. The large majority of Foundation scholarships can also be used to purchase books, tools, supplies, and other program needs. Please encourage your students to apply. The application deadline is Thursday, July 13, 2023 at 11:59 p.m.

Good News to Share

Thank You Will Smith

Tracy Lambert would like to share the following: “I met Will Smith, our Outreach Recruitment Coordinator, one day while he was giving a tour through the college. He was standing right outside of the dental clinic, so I spoke with him and invited him and his group into the clinic. We were having a Restorative Lab, so the group and Will were able to see the students working on their dentiforms. I let him know that in the future, I would be happy to speak with any tour groups about dental hygiene.

This chance encounter allowed me an opportunity to reach out to Will. You see my son is an AVID middle school teacher in Sultan, who has been wanting very much to bring his students to our campus! He has been working with other colleges to arrange tours for his students, to open their eyes to the possibilities that are available to them. In the past, he was not able to secure a visit on our campus. He met with resistance and discouragement. But everything changed he and Will met via email!

I wanted to forward the messages so that you know about the Sultan Middle School visit, and the interest that was generated, and about the amazing advocate we have in Will Smith! 

LWTECH hosted 27 Sultan Middle School AVID students on Tuesday. The students were accompanied by their instructor, Quinn Lambert and an educational tutor. They were split into two groups and visited various programs on campus, including Automotive, Baking and others.

The response to our college was very positive! Mr. Lambert took a poll after their visit to LWTECH and 24 out of 27 students said that they would choose our campus to continue their education! Also, many were very interested in dental hygiene!

I believe that this was such a positive experience for students, and especially for those who may not have known about the opportunities we hold as LWTECH.

As you know, I absolutely love interacting with students and enjoy introducing them to the world of dental hygiene! I just wanted to share the positive comments with you.”

Congratulations Tish Evora

Kaytlyn Hoch would like to share the following note of appreciation: “Congratulations to Tish Evora who got two ctcLink Enhancement Requests approved unanimously by Working Group on 06/07/23! This is a big milestone! These are the first two ctcLink Enhancement Requests LWTech has submitted and got approved all on our first try. The whole process took less than three months, and both Enhancement Requests Tish got approved will save her CTC colleagues across the system a lot of time and effort once these two changes get moved into ctcLink production. Thank you to the entire HR and Payroll team for all your hard work and collaboration in making these great ideas become a ctcLink system improvement! If you want to learn about LionsLink Enhancement Requests, please check out our LionsLink 101 course for more information.

Student Services Appreciation

Dr. Ruby Hayden and her team would like to acknowledge the following team members:

• The Associated Student Government would like to thank Demetra Biros and Workforce Development for their willingness to designate funding to purchase end of year supplies for the Daily Eating Necessities (DEN). The Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness grant was approved by SBCTC to allocate funds for an expansive order to supply students experiencing food insecurity with immediate snacks while on campus. Also purchased were different hygiene supplies. Thank you for supplying the DEN with several months of supplies. If you’d like to make a donation to the DEN, you may bring in non-expired food that is available for a simple, on-the-go meal (like granola or Clif bars) to the DEN. You can also donate money through the Lake Washington Foundation, designating the DEN for your donation. Thank you!

If you have information that you would like me to share in Amy’s Update, please send your information to me by Monday mornings.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me, any time.

Until next week, stay well and take care of yourselves!

Amy

College Strategic Vision, Mission, Vision, Core Values and Core Themes

Strategic Vision

In partnership with the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), Lake Washington Institute of Technology (LWTech) is guided by SBCTC’s strategic vision:

Leading with racial equity, our colleges maximize student potential and transform lives within a culture of belonging that advances racial, social, and economic justice in service to our diverse communities.

Mission

Grounded in equity and the need for resilience, the mission guides our overall direction as a college:

To prepare students for today’s careers and tomorrow’s opportunities

Mission Fulfillment Goals

• MFG 1: Address and Dismantle Structural Racism
• MFG 2: Continue Implementation of Guided Pathways
• MFG 3: Position the College as a Leader in Workforce Training for the State’s Short-Term and Long-Term Economic Recovery

Vision

Grounded in equity and the need for resilience, the vision inspires how we see ourselves in the future: To be the college of choice for workforce education

Core Values

Grounded in equity and the need for resilience, the values give us the tools to implement our mission and vision:

• Inclusive: We intentionally create a welcoming environment where all feel a sense of belonging.
• Innovative: We are leaders in maximizing opportunities to create a thriving college community.
• Collaborative: We are open to change and work together to achieve success for all.
• Respectful: We engage others with acceptance, open-mindedness, courtesy, and care.

Core Themes

Grounded in equity and the need for resilience, the core themes are the pillars supporting the mission and provide long term objectives (7 years aligned with accreditation review cycles) for the college:

• Pathways: LWTech is accessible to the community by providing multiple entrance points and educational pathways. The college is a conduit for students to upgrade their skills, transition into new careers, or further their education and training.
• Student Achievement: At LWTech, students gain the skills and knowledge needed to achieve their educational goals and to participate in the workforce.
• External Engagement: LWTech forms partnerships with governmental and community organizations, educational institutions, business, and labor in order to effectively support the Institution’s mission.
• College Community: LWTech provides a safe, supported, and engaging learning environment for students and work environment for faculty and staff.