Dear Colleague,
As fresh blossoms and lush leaves begin to return to our campus landscape, so too does the rush of spring quarter classes, special celebrations and events, meetings, and end-of-year work. With the start of the final quarter of the year, we also face some significant enrollment and financial challenges, which present some additional work for us to do as a College. These challenges may bring up feelings of uncertainty, stress, or frustration.
With challenging times also comes new opportunities to collaborate, innovate, re-evaluate, and accelerate positive change to serve our diverse students and communities. My hope is that spring quarter represents for all of us a renewed spirit of opportunity as we dig into our important work. I know I’m ready to begin this work with you. Here are some important updates I want to share with you as the new quarter begins.
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
As of April 2, our state-supported enrollment is down 5.6% (2893 this year compared to 2983 on the same day last year), which is an encouraging change from our winter quarter enrollment, which was down over 9% compared to the previous year. International contract FTE is down 5.8% (769 compared to 816 on the same day last year). Communications & Marketing has worked collaboratively with Enrollment & Financial Aid Services and Advising to apply some additional recruitment strategies this quarter, including increased contact with students who had been enrolled in winter but had not yet enrolled in spring quarter classes. Looking ahead, Dean Team will continue to work collaboratively with faculty and other staff to identify potential schedule adjustments for summer and will be continue long-term planning of an annual course schedule.
Congratulations to Our Newest Tenured Faculty
On March 20, the Shoreline Board of Trustees unanimously granted tenure to four faculty members: Tom Genest (ESL), Trevor Pelletier (Math), Shelby Sleight (ABE), and Guy Ting (Chemistry). Congratulations to each of these employees!
Vice President for Student Learning Selected
Thank you to the screening committee for the Vice President for Student Learning position as well as the entire campus community for your involvement in selecting our new Vice President for Student Learning, Phillip King. There was a clear consensus across those who provided input that Mr. King was the candidate who could move our instructional division collectively forward.
Mr. King currently serves as Vice President of Academic and Student Services at Woodland Community College in Woodland, CA. With more than 20 years of service at community colleges, Mr. King has a background in both instruction and student services, and experience with guided pathways, enrollment management, student equity programs, participatory governance, accreditation, and assessment redesign. He holds a B.S. in psychology, an M.S. in communication studies, and is currently completing a doctorate in community college leadership. We look forward to welcoming Phillip on his first day on July 1. (As a reminder, Dr. Alison Stevens’ anticipated return date will be May 13. Until then, Dr. Bayta Maring will continue to serve as Acting VP for Student Learning.)
Student Learning Experience Coordinating Committee (SLECC)
SLECC will reconvene in spring quarter to continue cross-collaborative work on strategic enrollment management efforts. There will be four new work groups forming as part of SLECC. Please watch for opportunities to become involved in this work in the coming weeks.
Strategic Plan Goal 2: We continually strive for disciplined excellence and focused improvement in all that we do.
The College’s Financial Position
Under the leadership of Bill Saraceno, Interim Chief Financial Officer, we have accomplished considerable work on the College’s budget. Mr. Saraceno was on campus March 25-27 to meet and discuss key questions and concerns with various groups, including the Board of Trustees, Executive Team, Dean Team, leadership from Facilities, Capital construction, TSS, Budget, and Financial Services offices, as well as, the SCCFT leadership. While Mr. Saraceno serves as Interim Chief Financial Officer, he will focus on three major areas of work:
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Help the college build our 2019-20 budget with an eye toward developing an inclusive budget development process to ensure we have a balanced budget over the next 18 months
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Provide a clear picture of the College’s budget and finances including audited financial statements that show the College’s financial position
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Provide educational opportunities to managers and employees to understand more clearly the budget and budgeting process going forward
He is also providing helpful guidance on our capital construction, minor works projects, and implementation planning for ctcLink.
The College has also engaged Clifton Larsen Allen (CLA), a certified public accounting firm, to perform financial statements for the years 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18. We will put in place annual financial statements going forward. Additionally, when the financial statements are completed, we will be working to have the results audited with opinion.
From our Courageous Conversations and in feedback from the March 8 budget gathering, I heard the ongoing need for the campus to be informed and to provide meaningful input into the process. I will continue to provide budget updates over the coming weeks. Our next campus budget conversation with be on Tuesday, April 23 (1:30-3:00 p.m.) in PUB Main Dining Room. Written answers to budget questions from the May 8 budget gathering were made available electronically. If you have additional budget questions or requests, please continue to use the online comment form or leave feedback in one of the physical comment boxes in these locations:
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FOSS 3rd Floor Break Room (Room 5325)
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PUB 2nd floor Break Room (Room 9212)
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2800 Building (Math & Science Main Office)
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2300 Building (Health Occupations Room 2340)
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Library Main Desk (4200 Floor)
Limited Innovation Fund Grant (IFG) Opportunities
For budget year 2019-20, we suspended our abbreviated Strategic Action Plans (aSAP) process so no additional ongoing expenses would be placed on our operating budget. We did, however provide limited Innovation Fund Grant (IFG) opportunities for projects with an immediate, demonstrated impact on enrollment, retention, and completion. Shoreline employees are invited to submit Innovation Fund proposals for fiscal year 2019-2020. Proposals are due April 15 and will be reviewed and approved by the Executive Team by late May.
Strategies to Reduce Expenditure, Grow Revenue, and Increase Enrollment, Retention, and Completion
The three-year history of budget expenditures and revenues was shared in the March 20 message. At this time, the ongoing budget shortfall continues to be around $3 million. Mr. Saraceno and the Budget Office continue to refine this number. This shortfall is a structural problem exacerbated by lower-than-anticipated enrollment, which contributes to less revenue generated to cover our compensation and benefit costs.
Members of the Executive Team have been engaged with Mr. Saraceno to develop scenarios for the campus community to consider that minimize the impact on current employees during the coming academic year. We plan to share these approaches and other budget information prior to the April 23 Spring Campus Budget Meeting.
What we know is the process we are entering with the College community will require us to look at not only ways to reduce expenditures, but also to grow our revenue by increasing enrollment and retention efforts, as well as, reviewing our programs and services. Over the next 18 months, this campus-wide self-evaluation and analysis will also require us to think differently about how we do our work so we can create a sustainable financial plan going forward. We also want to be mindful of what can be left undone, in order to create a more manageable work-life balance.
As we bring the 2018-19 academic year to a close, spring quarter will be a time for us to create a thoughtful and engaged process to understand our financial position and craft an ongoing budget that reflects our current enrollment and revenue realities. I look forward to working together to bring our expenditures and revenues into alignment, using a collaborative and engaged process that puts our vision, mission, and values at the heart of our discussions.
Housing Update
Construction continues to proceed on-time and within budget for our new student residence hall, Building 7000. Promotions for leasing have begun, and a new website with the application and a virtual reality tour has launched at 7000campusliving.com.
Residential life planning is actively underway with the development of campus housing policies, an assessment of food service needs for residents, formation of a workgroup including faculty recommendations for living-learning communities in SLECC, recruiting a full-time, live-in Assistant Director of Student Leadership & Residential Life, and recruiting four student resident assistants (RAs) who will provide support, programming, and leadership in the residence hall. You’ll hear more updates about these exciting plans in spring quarter.
Capital Construction Update
The Allied Health, Sciences & Advanced Manufacturing Classroom Complex is completing its design phase. This building will replace Buildings 2400, 2500, 2600, 2700, and 2800. Because of rising costs due to a hot construction market and infrastructure expenses, we were unable to construct the building as originally designed. We quickly pivoted and made design adjustments to allow us to get the best building for the funding amount that the legislature is set to appropriate in the 2019–21 biennium.
We are currently working on design plans that will move the Dental Hygiene Clinic and Skills Lab to the site of the Bookstore and Low-Tide Lounge on the first floor of the Pagoda Union Building (PUB). We are now considering the best location for the Bookstore and the Lounge and will work with those departments who will be impacted by this move. For minimal disruption to instruction and to prepare for building demolition, these moves will commence in July 2019. However, all of these transitions are dependent on whether the state passes a capital budget that includes funding for the Allied Health, Sciences and Advanced Manufacturing complex.
Capital Campaign Update
While the design of the Allied Health, Sciences & Advanced Manufacturing complex has changed, the requirement for the College to provide the $3 million match in philanthropic dollars to receive the state funding of $37 million remains the same.
The Office of Advancement and the Foundation are in what is called the “Silent Phase” of the Capital Campaign, in which all preparations are completed to ensure success. Fundraising volunteers are being trained and the campaign is on track to begin solicitations of donors, industry, and businesses who have close relationships with the College and Foundation in June through mid-fall. The Campaign will enter the “Public Phase” in late fall when we will announce the campaign to the community and begin soliciting donations from the public. Foundation staff will be issuing a quarterly campaign update via DAAG and an e-newsletter starting this month. Please direct any questions about the campaign to Mary Brueggeman.
Website Update
Major progress on the program navigation work on the College website continues. In January and February, test pages for academic departments and programs were made available for instructional divisions to review and provide feedback. The last several weeks have been focused on addressing that feedback, meeting with various stakeholders, clarifying application processes, and finalizing other content changes. The new pages are scheduled to launch on Monday, May 6 and they represent an important step in helping prospective students understand what we offer and making it easier for them to enroll.
Summer 2019 Operating Hours
Between Monday, July 1 and Friday, August 30, 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 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 summer work schedule with their supervisors and ensure updated summer schedules are entered into the TLR system by the first week of July 2019. Questions regarding summer business hours and/or with summer staff schedules can be directed to Human Resources (206-546-4769) at any time.
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.
Day of Learning
Please mark your calendars for this year’s Day of Professional Learning on Friday, April 26. This year’s focus will be on Power and Privilege. This day will be an exciting opportunity for us to come together, learn together, have fun together, and build on our great legacy of creating an inclusive campus culture of support and care. Some sessions that will count toward faculty 10-hours training requirement. Please watch for more information in the next few weeks.
Dean of Student Support and Success
We are excited to share that Derek Levy has accepted the role of Dean for Student Support & Success, starting April 2019. In this newly created role, Derek will provide leadership and supervision to a portfolio of student support offices, including Counseling, Student Life, Multicultural Center, Gender Equity, Residential Life, Veterans & Military Services.
Gender Equity Position
A search will begin in spring to fill the position of Manager for the Gender Equity Center. The position description and job announcement will be shared in mid-April.
Upcoming Spring Events: Mark Your Calendars!
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Courageous Conversations with Admin Team – April 10 (2-3 p.m., Room 9208)
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Courageous Conversations with Faculty – April 17 (3-4 p.m., Room 2120)
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Courageous Conversations with Classified Staff – April 24 (1-2 p.m., Room 2120)
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Spring Campus Budget Meeting – April 23 (1:30-3 p.m., Main Dining Room)
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Day of Learning – April 26 (8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Main Dining Room)
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Community Building Lunch – May 3 (12:30-1:30 p.m., Quiet Dining Room)
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SIFF Opening Night Scholarship Benefit Party – May 24 (5:30-7 p.m., Theater)
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Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) at Shoreline – May 24 – June 2 (various times, Theater)
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Employee Retirement Recognition – June 4 (5-6:30 p.m., Quiet Dining Room)
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Foundation 2019-20 Scholarship Award Ceremony – June 5 (3:30-5 p.m., Main Dining Room)
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Commencement Ceremony – June 20 (6-8 p.m., Gymnasium)
Thank you for your continued commitment and support of each other, the College, and our students as we bring this academic year to a successful close. I look forward to continuing our collective work together. Welcome to spring quarter!
Gratefully,
Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.
President
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