Dear Colleague,
I’m so grateful to all of you for making it through an academic year that has been rife with challenges, heartache, and difficult changes. I know spring quarter especially has been hard on many of you as we’ve not only had to quickly adapt to a remote working and teaching environment, but also keep ourselves healthy during a global pandemic, begin the difficult and painful work of permanent budget reductions with the loss of state revenue associated with the COVID-19 virus, and come face to face, once again, with the deep wounds of racial injustice in our country.
This was not the year any of us could have imagined; it definitely has not been an easy or gentle one. And yet, through it all, I have witnessed moments, time and time again, where you have risen to meet new challenges, persisted, adapted, grew, tried new things, built new skills, and showed your grace, kindness, and dedication to our students and our mission. You have embodied the very principles of a growth mindset that we talk so much about. Thanks to each and every one of you for the seen and unseen work you do each day to make Shoreline the college it is.
As we close out this year, I want to share some important information you need to know before the quarter ends.
COVID-19 Update
As many of you are aware, we are continuing remote operations through summer. We’ve received limited feedback from the Governor about the potential for moving into Phase 2 and Phase 3 related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, we converted the summer and fall instructional schedule to be online (arranged), with very limited socially distant in-person course offerings. The only in-person courses we are currently planning include professional-technical programs on the Governor’s essential programs list and courses that may be connected to a workforce pathway.
At this time, fall quarter has been reconfigured to online classes (arranged) and will be offered as asynchronous, with the potential for faculty to offer some optional synchronous sessions if they desire.
STRATEGIC PLAN GOAL 1: We attract students and community learners and ensure successful attainment of their goals through our programs, services, and teaching and learning environments.
Student Enrollment Update
Overall, our 2019-2020 enrollment (all funding sources, all FTE) is down -3.2% (-170 FTE). This breaks down as follows: International- 5%, (-51 annual FTE, with noted coding issues in spring); State-supported -3.4% (-126 FTE); Running Start +15.6% (+39 FTE); and CEO/LCN -9.3% (-26 FTE).
Looking ahead to summer quarter, our enrollment is currently looking up, as we are up 5.8% compared to the same day last year. International is +23.6% (+70 FTE) and State-supported is +4.5% (+51 FTE).
As of today, fall quarter enrollment is down 18.4% overall, although it is worth mentioning that registration opened two weeks later this year than last year. Hence, on June 15, we compared to June 5 last year. It is possible that the gap will narrow somewhat after spring grades become available, and marketing and recruitment efforts will continue through September. Here is the current summary of differences:
- International: – 24.9% (-93 FTE)
- State-supported: -11.5% (-86 FTE)
- Running Start: +35.4% (+22 FTE)
- New to Shoreline: -20.7% (-30 FTE)
Accreditation Work Continues
During the course of the year, the College, under the direction of Dr. Bayta Maring, formed an accreditation steering committee and began developing materials for each of the relevant sub-sections of the self-evaluation. Additionally, the following were completed:
- All five modules of the online training were developed and completed by committee members.
- The first draft of the self-evaluation is about 50% complete.
- The next step includes sending out sub-sections for review.
- Standard 2 for review by late June 2020.
- We will be conducting two more program-level assessments in the next-several in late June 2020 and will be gathering data on several others.
Over the summer, a small number of committee members will continue to finalize a full draft, send out the remaining sections for review, and ready the document for final review when the faculty return in fall 2020. Employees are encouraged to continue accessing the modules for continuous self-learning over the summer, as time allows.
Guided Pathways Update
This year marked our first “official” year of Guided Pathways, in which we emphasized campus engagement and learning. The Guided Pathways work team submitted a work plan to the State Board for Community & Technical Colleges (SBCTC) on March 2 and it was approved without the need for refinements, though we did receive some constructive suggestions that were used to inform recommendations to next year’s Guided Pathways team. A work plan “overview” and an annotated version were also created and published on the Guided Pathways Canvas site. The work team is now finalizing a comprehensive end-of-year report that includes sections by each project team that will also be published on the Canvas site. The project teams include:
- Engagement Team: Created a Canvas site to share information with employees, gave 18 presentations and hosted 3 “office hours” for various campus group, and hosted a panel discussion, featuring faculty from three other colleges sharing their “lessons learned.”
- Learning Outcomes Team: Worked with Faculty Senate to articulate a process for reviewing general education outcomes.
- Student Voices Team: Created and implemented an open-ended student survey (collecting 127 student responses). An analysis of the qualitative data will inform which students to reach out to, to invite for follow-up in-depth interviews.
- Research Team: Conducted preliminary analyses, including investigation into excess credits; Explored dashboards offered by SBCTC and the “Equity Index” and presented it to the GP team with examples using Shoreline data from the SBCTC dashboards.
As the team finished out the year, they also determined project teams for next year, recruited faculty applicants to serve as co-leads for those project teams, and recruited faculty applicants for role of “co-chair” for the whole project next year.
Join Us for Commencement 2020!
On June 20th at 10am, graduates, their families, and friends will gather from around the world to join in celebrating Shoreline’s first-ever online Commencement webcast. You are invited to participate in the ceremony by watching the webcast, hosting “watch parties,” and sharing your words and images of congratulations on social media (using the hashtags #ShorelineGrad2020 and #WeDidItShoreline2020). Please visit the Commencement web page to find the link to the ceremony webcast, or to download the program, printable signs, or fun social media graphics.
Employee Retirement Recognition
On Tuesday, June 9, we celebrated 16 of our colleagues who have retired or will retire from Shoreline this year. These colleagues served from three to 40 years and together represent 346 years of service! Given our remote operations, we held a virtual celebration that was anything but that. Each retiree had a video tribute, a toast, and Shoreline mementos, including notes of gratitude wishing them all the best as they write the next chapter of their story. Although the celebration was scheduled for one hour, retirees, colleagues, and their guests stayed much longer, sharing stories, and enjoying being in community. Join me in congratulating them on a career well done!
STRATEGIC PLAN GOAL 2: We continually strive for disciplined excellence and focused improvement in all that we do.
ctcLink Update
We are in the home stretch of business process mapping with nearly 95% of maps either completed or in progress and all required meetings scheduled! We are focusing now on other critical areas, such as data cleanup and reviewing our supplemental systems that work with HP. Our effort will culminate in a major milestone this July as we present our progress at the ctcLink Peer Review, allowing us to move into the implementation phase of the project beginning in November or December 2020. We expect to be live on ctcLink in late Winter 2022.
This work would not have been possible without the care and dedication of over 100 individuals from across the campus. Special thanks to Kim Streitz, Ulrike Lopez, Tigist Stangohr, Jennifer Fenske, Celine Pastore, Jenifer Aydelotte, and Delene Bryant for their contributions. Over the summer, we will continue to prepare for implementation by meeting with different groups and planning for change. During this time, we will also begin training in Canvas to learn about the PeopleSoft ctcLink System. Many of these trainings are open to all and you can learn more by visiting the Training and Resources Page on Shoreline’s ctcLink web pages.
Website Overhaul Continues
Steady work continues to make improvements to our website experience for prospective and current students. Communications & Marketing (C&M) initiated several major projects this spring and, despite COVID-19 slowing some of the work, they are nearly ready to launch a revised Apply & Aid section that will make it easier for students to navigate how to apply, register, and find funding. An updated Current Students page will also launch to help enrolled students find more tools and information they need all in one place.
Over the summer, you’ll see a few other significant transformations take place. Our Intranet will be updated with a new responsive and accessible style that complements the look of our main website. Finally, the home page and main menus of the College website will also change significantly, with new design features, fresh content, and more menu options that will help all users be welcomed into our site and find the content they need more easily. Thank you to those of you who participated in the website survey and online tree test this quarter. C&M is combining that feedback with input from students, data analytics, and user testing that will ensure we’re making improvements and efficiencies that address current student needs, showcase why prospective students should enroll at Shoreline, and meet our accessibility standards.
Summer Operating Hours
Between Monday, June 29 and Friday, September 4, the College’s public operating hours will be Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Supervisors are responsible for working with their staff to confirm remote operation summer schedules that meet the business needs of the College, as well as helping to inform the general public and the Shoreline community of the upcoming summer change to operating hours. Staff members need to discuss and confirm remote operation summer work schedules with their supervisors and ensure updated summer schedules are entered into the TLR system by the first week of July 2020. Questions regarding summer business hours and/or with summer staff schedules can be directed to Human Resources (206-546-4769) at any time.
Innovation Fund Grants
This academic year, the College funded nine innovation grants. While work on many of the projects slowed due to COVID-19, most of them still make significant progress on the respective work over the course of the year. Here are updates on six of the projects; more updates on the other three projects will be shared this fall.
- Accessibility Information Management (AIM) Software – This is an online application system that will be used to set up and manage student accommodations and assist with students and faculty interaction to ensure timely accommodations are made in a private environment. Customization of the platform is currently underway with a planned soft launch by end of summer.
- Arts & Equity – Created a Canvas account with more than 20 assignments, discussions posts, and videos; created a list of arts & equity resources for faculty to use in classrooms; and contracted with four artists who recorded standalone re-usable lectures focusing on their work and how it relates to equity, suitable for use in a variety of disciplines. Future efforts include getting faculty and students involved in the process of creating and actively engaging with more materials.
- ExamSoft: Implementation of an Electronic Test Production & Administration Application – The Nursing program procured a new product to assist in online testing and completed the implementation this year.
- Faculty Learning Community – The Faculty Learning Community (FLC) project had great interest, a solid number of participants, and excellent discussions. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the project was not able to be maintained beyond early March.
- Improving Retention & Completion through Strategic Success Coaching – Increased office hours in Advising in winter and spring; offered workshops; assisted with live chat staffing; served twice the number of coaching requests in group outreach efforts such as workshops and class presentations; and established success coaching self-help stations in FOSS and the student-athlete study hall.
- Website Home Page and Mega Menu – About 65% of the work is completed, including stakeholder research and information gathering, user research and testing for site architecture and main navigation, a competitive analysis, content modeling, wireframe design, and some code development of key features. Remaining work includes refining the design, testing, and developing the remaining code for new designs and menus.
STRATEGIC PLAN GOAL 3: We ensure that a climate of intentional inclusion permeates our decisions and practices, which demonstrate principles of ecological integrity, social equity, and economic viability.
Budget Process for 2020-21
Prior to the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, the College was on track to achieve our budget goals. With the economic downturn, we are forecasting a $4.5 to $7.3 million negative financial impact. For 2020-21, we expect our financial challenges to be as great or even greater, including reduced housing revenue, fewer events and programs, and less clinical, international, and philanthropic income. At the same time, expenses in some areas, such as facility cleaning and safety measures, will increase.
Our approach to date has been to consider all survey suggestions to steady our financial situation, including applying reserves where available and taking a series of actions to reduce expenses. These include a hiring freeze, furloughs in paused programs such as the Parent-Child Center, a reduction of discretionary spending by departments, and a hold on approvals of all new capital and repair projects. We are using a phased-in approach to budget cuts as we wait to hear from the state about reductions to the allocation. The Office of Financial Management has all state agencies planning on a 15% budget reduction.
While waiting for a final state allocation, a “Continuing Resolution” will be presented to the Board of Trustees on Wednesday, June 24 for their consideration. The Resolution will allow us to continue to operate until we have a better handle on our revenue and state allocation. We will continue to work on the budget and will present it to the campus and Board this fall.
Capital Construction
This coming year will be a time for minor and major construction to be planned and completed. The College will be working on replacing and repairing roofs on selected buildings, replacing the air handling system in the theater, and replacing the air handlers in three buildings.
Capital Campaign
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a slight pause on the capital campaign for the Health, Science & Advanced Manufacturing Classroom Complex. Now that our business community is starting to reopen, we are marshalling our efforts to meet with our Capital Campaign Cabinet and re-energize our outreach plans. We have secured almost $1 million of the $3 million required match stipulated by the State Board of Community & Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to fund the construction of the building. The Foundation and Grants staff are working to secure funds for the Dental Hygiene program’s partnership with the University of Washington School of Dentistry (UWSOD). We will know the success of these efforts in fall quarter.
Residence Hall Update
7000 Campus Living has developed a comprehensive plan for recovery as we begin to approach a Phase 2 reopening, which would allow residents to safely interact with each other in limited ways. Blanton Turner, the property management company, published a Student Housing Guide to Reopening and our Residential Life team has been preparing for aspects of campus re-entry. Current occupancy is 47%, current leases are at 49.4%, and fall leasing stands at 36.9% at this time, with expected growth over the summer.
The residence hall is also figuring out ways to help residents learn, grow, and progress, starting with diversity training for all resident assistants in the fall. We are creating a safe space for people to offer ideas and share stories, and we are making ourselves accountable for the necessary progress. Blanton Turner has also formed a diversity, equity, and inclusion committee to develop an equality manifesto that will guide our strategies and positively impact the residents, and they are dedicating 1% of their profits to fighting social injustice and police brutality.
Emergency Aid for Students in Summer & Fall
While CARES Act emergency funding for students won’t resume until fall quarter, there is a limited amount of United Way emergency funds available to students in need for summer quarter. Recently, a cross-campus team has been working to make student-focused changes to our emergency aid application process. The group will be developing one intake application for all emergency assistance this summer. Another change is that we would like all employees to refer students to Financial Aid as their starting point for emergency aid to decrease confusion and streamline the intake process for students who are seeking funding in an emergency. Financial Aid staff can help assess a student’s needs and then refer them to the appropriate office on campus.
Recent US Supreme Court Rulings on DACA and LGBTQ Rights
In a landmark case, the US Supreme Court ruled this week that LGBTQ workers are protected from job discrimination. The decision declared that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate because of a person’s sex, also covers sexual orientation and transgender status.
The Supreme Court also ruled today against the current Administration and is allowing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to continue. This means about 650,000 “dreamers” who are our students, neighbors, family members, and colleagues are able to stay and work in the United States legally.
UPCOMING EVENTS: Mark Your Calendars
Please check the College Calendar and the Employee Calendar regularly, and watch for updates about potential Campus Zoom Hall Budget meetings that the Executive Team may call over the summer as we learn more about our 2020-21 state allocation.
- June 20 – Commencement Ceremony (10 a.m., see Commencement web page for link)
- June 24 – Board of Trustees Meeting (4:00 p.m.)
- June 29 – Summer Quarter Begins
- September 18 – Fall Convocation
- September 23 – Fall Quarter Begins
I hope that each of you, no matter your role, finds time this summer to reflect, rest, and renew so that we regain strength and courage to continue doing the hard but rewarding work ahead of us in the coming academic year.
Gratefully,
Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.
President
Office of the President
Day at a Glance 
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