Dear Colleague,

Welcome to spring quarter! The pace of our work picks up quickly as we sail toward commencement and the many special celebrations that remind us of how important our connection to each other and to our students is in creating the Shoreline experience. I would like to share a few important updates with you as we enter the final stretch of this 2016-17 academic year and prepare for what’s before us in 2017-18.

STRATEGIC GOAL 1: STUDENT LEARNING EXPERIENCE

#YouAreWelcomeHere

As you return to campus this week you may notice some signs, t-shirts, and buttons around campus that display the hashtag message “#YouAreWelcomeHere.” The campus campaign emerged from a video we recently produced to reinforce we are a community of learners dedicated to equity, inclusiveness, and welcoming students from all walks of life and from all corners of the world. We also learned that faculty have planned some welcoming events to show their support of our students as they begin spring term. We believe these efforts complement each other and highlight our Community Standard in action. Please stop by the bookstore this week to purchase a t-shirt or button to show your support for building a campus where everyone is supported and valued.

Increased Enrollment

Our domestic student enrollment continues to be on an upward trend and international enrollment is stable, while most other colleges are experiencing declines. These successes provide a shining example of what we have accomplished together with focus, planning, and collaboration. We are hopeful our intentional, coordinated efforts will continue to yield positive results for summer and fall quarters. Throughout spring term, we will share clear steps that will set the stage for supporting our students as they begin and continue writing their educational story with us.

The Honors College at Shoreline

Although our relationship with American Honors concluded on March 8, Shoreline Community College seamlessly continues to offer a high-quality honors experience with the launch of The Honors College at Shoreline.

Building on the strong foundation of faculty-driven honors programming over the past 11 years, The Honors College at Shoreline will deliver academic rigor, advising support, and community-building experiences for highly engaged learners.

2017-18 Academic Calendar Changes

The 2017-18 academic year will see some changes that are important for you to be aware of:

• Summer quarter 2017 will begin on June 26
• Fall quarter 2017 will begin on September 27
• Winter quarter 2018 will begin on January 8
• Spring quarter 2018 will begin on April 4

I want to thank the Academic Calendar Committee for their hard work to design an academic calendar that meets the needs of our students to enter each term ready to learn while also providing time for all of us to be refreshed and prepared to teach and support them.

STRATEGIC GOAL 2: DISCIPLINED EXCELLENCE

Professional Learning Opportunities

In response to your requests for additional support and training around issues of free speech, academic freedom, and our Community Standard, I have asked a representative from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to come to campus to share knowledge and skill-building on the issue of First Amendment rights on college campuses. This will be the focus of our Spring Campus Update #1 on April 14.

On May 1, I have also asked Dr. Christopher Parker, professor of political science at the University Washington and Devin Burghart, vice president of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, to focus their conversation on the dynamics of race and racism from the Civil War through present day. Their discussion will reveal a consistent pattern in which racial progress is always followed by racial retrenchment. You won’t want to miss these conversations, along with the Margin to Center: Spring Quarter Programming Series.

AVID for Higher Education will also return to campus to offer a professional learning event on April 20-21. The focus will be on strategies to engage non-native speakers of English both inside and outside the classroom. Please watch for more details next week.

Summer Hours

The week of July 10, we’ll shift to summer hours, which means the College official hours of operation will be 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. – noon on Fridays. Our summer hours will conclude the week of August 28. As in previous years, supervisors will work with staff members to ensure a full work week.

College Identity Update

In March, we announced a new tagline for the College. “Engage. Achieve.” was the winning tagline from the two surveys sent out at the start of winter term. Thank you for your generous input to help the College craft a concise message that highlights what it is we do best.

Please watch for additional updates and guidance over spring quarter regarding the rollout of a new college identity platform (including print materials, advertising, website, etc.). Together, our new positioning statement, tagline, marketing messages, and refreshed graphic identity standards will become a unified and compelling platform that will allow the entire campus to align with a clear, fresh, and positive college identity that reflects our promise to students and our diverse communities.

Refreshed Values and Core Themes

As a campus community, we’ve had the opportunity to re-envision and craft three new stated values that reflect the behaviors we want to see on our campus. The College’s new values are:

• Student Engagement
• Respect
• Inclusion

We still have work to do on identifying the key behaviors associated with each value. We will take the comments shared at our most recent Campus Update on March 10 and provide another round of feedback through discussions at division and department meetings. We will also be offering an opportunity to discuss and provide feedback via a Canvas link that will be sent out to the campus community in April.

Now that we see the conclusion of our values work in sight, we will be embarking on a process to update our core themes during this quarter. Updated core themes are critical as we move through the seven-year evaluation cycle set by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, our regional accrediting body.

STRATEGIC GOAL 3: ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL EQUITY

Personnel Updates

On March 15, eleven Shoreline faculty were granted tenure. Please join me in extending congratulations to Karen Bretz, Gail Dalton, Jessica Gibson, Eric Hamako, Gwynith Hoffman-Robinson, Ailsa Kellam, Hanna Krupa, Adria Magrath, Tiffany Meier, Trena Redman, and Maya Smorodinsky.

I also want to share that two administrative positions are currently under revision. We are in the final stages of gathering feedback and refining the job descriptions for the VP for Student Engagement and Equity and the Executive Director of Employee Engagement and Organizational Learning. Recruitment for these positions will begin this term with anticipated start dates this summer.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Friday, April 14: Campus Update #1 – ACLU Discussion on First Amendment, Academic Freedom and Community Standard (1:30-3:30 p.m., PUB Main Dining Room)

• Thursday, April 20 & Friday, April 21: AVID for Higher Education Professional Learning – (Time and location will be announced)

• Monday, May 1: Conversation on the Dynamics of Race and Racism – with Dr. Christopher Parker and Devin Burghart (Time and location will be announced)

• Wednesday, May 10: Foundation Scholarship Awards Ceremony – (3-5 p.m., PUB Main Dining Room)

• Thursday, May 25: Service Awards & Retirement Celebration – (Time and location will be announced)

• Friday, May 26-Saturday, June 3: SIFF at Shoreline – (Various show times, Theater)

• Friday, June 2: Campus Update #2 – Provide feedback about the Strategic Planning process and learn about the progress of the five steering committees, council and coordinating committee that have been developing action plans and milestones for each year of the College’s Strategic Plan goals. (1:30-3:30 p.m., PUB Main Dining Room)

• Sunday, June 11: Commencement – (2:00 p.m., Gymnasium)

This spring quarter will prove to be buzzing with activity and growth and I look forward to diving in to all of it with you, continuing our work of helping students engage to achieve!

With heartfelt thanks for all that you do,­­

Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.

President