Message from President Roberts: The passing of Professor Pam Dusenberry

Dear Colleague,

It is with reverence and sadness that I share the news of the passing of Professor Pam Dusenberry, a recently retired faculty member. We mourn the loss of a dear and beloved member of our community, a mentor, and a colleague.  She was the longest-standing professor in the English Department, starting at the College in September 1988. She received tenure in 1992. She held an M.A. and M.Ed. from Columbia University and a B.A. from The Evergreen State College.

Pam was a champion for students and their learning. She was known for the profound kindness and love she showed her students. Pam loved helping students understand what college learning was all about; she helped them develop skills and tools for how to learn well.  She believed that all students could reach their goals in the College with the right support and instruction. Pam helped design Shoreline’s unique research-based, pre-college English program that integrates reading, writing, and study strategies using college-level materials and assignments. She, along with many other exemplary professors, also helped design curriculum for Cascadia College when it was first established.

She co-edited College Knowledge: Entries into Academic Culture, with fellow English Professors Dr. Dutch Henry and Sean Rody. She also co-authored Crossroads: Integrated Reading and Writing, with Julie Moore.

She contributed to the College in many ways, including helping write the General Education Outcomes and doing assessment work. She was important to the development and continued presence of interdisciplinary studies and team-teaching at Shoreline and taught Get in Gear (GIG) courses.

More information about memorial plans for Pam will be shared with the campus community in the coming days. In the meantime, any students needing emotional support are encouraged to reach out to our Counseling Center (206-546-4594), and employees may access emotional support services through EAP (877-313-4455).

Pam is survived by her son Spencer and her long-time partner, Becky Gibler, who is a former employee of the College. Please hold Pam’s family in your hearts at this difficult and most tender time.

With care,
Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.
President
Office of the President

Worried about a student’s well-being or academic concerns? Care Team and Shoreline Early Alert are here to help!

Care Team
At Shoreline, we care and are here to help. Are you worried about a student? Did you see or hear something concerning? Would you like to share appropriate resources with a student?

The Shoreline Care Team identifies, assesses, and monitors concerns about students and coordinates response using a comprehensive, equitable, and multidisciplinary approach.

Care Team Purpose

  • Identify, assess, and support students who may be in distress or display concerning behavior;
  • Initiate appropriate measures to support the student and campus community;
  • Coordinate activities with other initiatives/programs to support students;
  • Educate and empower the campus community to recognize, report, manage, and effectively address concerning, problematic, disruptive, threatening, and/or harmful behaviors;
  • Provide consultation, support, recommendations, and intervention assistance to campus members to help students and manage situations or behaviors, preferably before they repeat, escalate, or become threatening or acts of harm to self or others; and
  • Collect, assess, and track reports and information about student behaviors to identify and respond to patterns of behavior or trends, including gaps in service(s) and support for students.

When and What to Report

Report any behavior that causes you concern or may make others feel concerned using the online form.  Err on the side of caution when deciding to report, even if you are unsure about your concern and want to consult with a Care Team member, or just want the information to be documented.

When you report a concern, please be prepared to share:

  • Your contact information;
  • Name/any known information about the person you are referring, including SID number;
  • Summary of the observed behavior or concern, including when and where it occurred. Be specific, objective, and descriptive; omitting any assumptions or bias;
  • Any attempts to intervene, manage, or address the behavior; and
  • Other information you believe may be important.

You can make an anonymous report; however, the response may be limited.

The Care Team does not respond directly to emergencies. In an emergency, call 911 and Campus Safety & Security at 206-235-5860.

Questions? Contact Derek Levy, Dean Student Support & Success, at dlevy@shoreline.edu or Sheryl Copeland, Counselor, at scopeland@shoreline.edu.

Shoreline Early Alert

Shoreline Early Alert (SEA) is a referral program to serve all students (domestic and international) on our campus. SEA is designed to provide academic intervention to students encountering difficulty in the pursuit of their academic goals. We recognize that intervention is a process and may not produce immediate results. That is why it is our goal is to reach out to the student early in the quarter and connect them to the appropriate resources.

Examples of SEA referrals include: 

  • Difficulties with attendance, tardiness, or pacing with class
  • Low test or quiz scores
  • Excessive missing assignments
  • Lack of participation or communication
  • Connecting students to academic support and resources

How to Make a Referral

Use the SEA Referral Form rather than sending individual emails. A SEA team member will respond to the referral within 24 hours by reaching out to both you and the student.

Questions? Contact Lisa Malik, Acting Dean, Student Access & Advising, at lmalik@shoreline.edu.

We look forward to continuing to work with you and to support our students!

 

Interim staffing changes in the Division of Students, Equity & Success

Dear Colleague,

I wanted to share with you some interim staffing changes in the Division of Students, Equity & Success, beginning July 2020.

Dr. Lisa Malik, Acting Dean of Access and Advising started her role, supervising Enrollment Services, Advising & CEO/LCN.  Derek Levy, Dean of Student Support & Success, will supervise Financial Aid. This supervisory structure will remain in place through December 2020 until a permanent Director of Financial Aid and Enrollment Services is hired.

Tigist Stangohr, will serve as Acting Director of Financial Aid, following the retirement June 30th, 2020 of Chris Melton, Director of Enrollment Services and Financial Aid Services.

Stephanie Baker will begin working 50% in Enrollment Services as an Assistant Registrar and will work 50% on the implementation of ctcLink with Joe Chiappa.  She will report to Dr. Malik, with a dotted line report to Joe Chiappa. Mary Cheung and Kim Streitz continue to serve as leads in Enrollment Services and will report to Dr. Malik.

For ctcLink, Stephanie Baker will provide direction for the entire Campus Solutions (CS) Pillar in her work as Assistant Registrar. Our ctcLink implementation is made up of three main working systems or pillars: Campus Solutions also known as (CS), Financial Management (FIN) and Human Capital Management (HCM). She will work closely with Financial Aid and Dr. Malik, who will serve as her Co-Pillar Lead.

Ben Reindel will be reassigned to Enrollment Services from Athletics, working with Dr. Malik on Strategic Enrollment Management efforts for the college, as an Enrollment & Retention Specialist II.

Thank you for the support and flexibility as folks shift into new roles across our division.

Marisa Herrera, Ed.D.
Vice President
Division of Students, Equity & Success

2020-21 Catalog published Wednesday, July 8th

An updated version of Shoreline’s online catalog will be published on Wednesday, July 8th, using the same address: catalog.shoreline.edu

Many thanks to all of the reviewers on campus who took time to make changes using the online Acalog system, which provides a centralized, online tool for editing the catalog each year.

In addition to typical annual edits, a team of faculty, classified staff, and administrators used a consensus model to implement some significant changes to the catalog planning guides to reduce redundancies between the Planning Guides and the Program Options pages and to streamline the Planning Guides. These changes are reflected in the 2020-2021 Catalog, with additional changes to the Program Option web pages coming over the next several months:

Removed from the Planning Guides

  • What is <subject>? [exists on web page]
  • What can I do with a certificate/degree in <subject>? [exists on web page]
  • Learning outcomes [exists on web page]
  • Career planning
  • College address

Changed on the Planning Guides

  • The information on how to use the Planning Guide has been abbreviated
  • Contact information has been condensed

Changed on the Program Options pages

  • General Education Outcomes on pre-major program options pages has been condensed
  • Embedded Planning Guides in an accordion

Thank you,

The Catalog Mapping Team
Missy Anderson
Jenifer Aydelotte
Cody Brehm
Mary Cheung
Jenna Durney
Amy Kinsel
Pamela Kocaturk
Tiffany Meier
Audrey Reuter
Adam Staffa
Ginger Villanueva

 

Conversations with Union Leadership regarding COLAs

Dear Colleague,

I would like to thank Union leaders Chief Shop Steward Paul Fernandez and SCCFT President Eric Hamako for meeting with me twice last week. The first meeting was to inform them of our current situation, that Administrative Exempt employees will have their 3% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) paused for 2020-21. During this meeting I requested consideration and invited them to join me in future conversations to identify opportunities for savings equivalent to this year’s projected COLA costs for Classified staff and Faculty. Additionally, the topic of suspending COLAs for all staff was also raised during a regular bi-monthly meeting for discussions regarding the College’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan. It is my hope that these meetings are the first in a series of many that will collectively help us problem solve ways to address the budget shortfall in permanent state revenue loss associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

As mentioned in the campus message early last week, the College made the decision to pause COLAs for Administrative Exempt staff. This pause will result in approximately $240,000 in savings. Additionally, the ongoing cost for the COLAs distributed to Classified staff and Faculty beginning in 2020-21 totals approximately $900,000. We have scheduled a meeting with the Classified Union leadership on July 15 to begin the conversation, with a similar request sent to the Faculty union leadership to discuss these costs and other budget strategies. While other colleges are doing more temporary furloughs, we have contained furloughs while maintaining employee benefits. We are hoping to work cooperatively with Union leadership to find ways to alleviate the impact of COLA costs on our reduced budget by the end of July.

The Executive Team is committed to exploring every option available, along with the tremendous solutions shared in the employee budget survey, to identify sources of permanent budget reductions and to preserve as many positions as possible at the College.

I look forward to continuing to work with the Union leaders to develop creative solutions to address our COVID-19-related budget crisis.

With appreciation for your dedication to teach and serve our students,

Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.
President
Office of the President