Dear Colleague,

This week we launch into another great year at Shoreline Community College and I am eager to begin our work together. As a college, we have much to be proud of because each of us has a role in helping our students achieve their educational goals. Whether they are completing a course, certificate or degree, we are transforming their lives, one student at a time!

Last week during Fall Convocation, I introduced three important big ideas for this year:

1. The power of story, our individual story that speaks to our dedication to our work; our college story that is expressed through our Vision, Mission, Core Themes, Strategic Plan, Community Standard, and Values; and our students’ stories – their hopes and dreams supported by receiving a Shoreline education. We know that when we listen to our students’ stories, and they experience their story matters by how we listen to them, then each interaction becomes relevant and responsive to helping them achieve their goals. When our students feel our care, they stay to complete what they started.

2. The importance of developing a common understanding of our values, which tell us how we do our work, and the behaviors that demonstrate them. We spent time together identifying and discussing our values, and we will continue this discussion this fall.

3. Finally, we will spend the year understanding the importance of mindset and how our mindset at the start of any journey can influence the outcome. Mindset is the belief about ourselves, and our students that guides our thinking and actions. We started our conversation with Dr. Carol Dweck’s work on Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Over the next year, we will learn together to understand influences such as culture, gender, and family on our and our students’ mindsets so we can help our students accomplish what they set out to achieve.

We will revisit these big ideas all year through our meetings, Campus Updates, and professional learning. I am thrilled to be among a group of faculty and staff so committed to our students and their success. Thanks to each of you for your focused attention on building these relationships that matter to us and our students.

As we get our year underway, I want to share our work in progress, new opportunities ahead, and some requirements coming from external agencies. The information is organized around our three goals in our Strategic Plan. Below are highlights with links to further information.

Implementing Our 2016-21 Strategic Plan
We have developed three strategic goals and 15 strategies, as well as refreshed the college’s Vision and Mission. The next step is to develop actions and metrics associated with each strategy. This will be the work of the five new Steering Committees (as well as some existing committees and councils):

• Learning Outcomes Assessment Steering Committee
• Communication, Marketing, and Community Engagement Steering Committee
• Disciplined Excellence Steering Committee
• Inclusive Excellence Steering Committee
• Ecological Sustainability Steering Committee

Learn more and apply to be on a committee. The deadline to apply has been extended to Friday, September 30. If you have additional questions, please contact Stuart Trippel.

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.

Enrollment/Retention/Completion
The work of the former Student Success Coordinating Committee (now renamed as the Student Learning Experience Coordinating Committee) is focused on teaching and learning pedagogy, as well as the engaged service experience for our students—from their initial inquiry with the College through completion of their educational goals.

Construction Update
Many construction projects were underway this summer to improve our teaching and learning environments with some work continuing into the fall. Please read the construction update that was sent to all students for the latest information.

Strategic Plan Goal 2: We continually strive for disciplined excellence and focused improvement in all that we do.

Professional Learning Opportunities
Throughout the 2016-17 academic year, we will offer professional learning opportunities that focus on mindset with applications that make a difference in and outside the classroom. We will also explore ways to create a college environment that taps into the students’ aspirations and motivations to learn and succeed.

Our AVID for Higher Education (AHE) coach and mentor, Yvonne Ortiz, will return to campus several times this year to provide some of these opportunities. I look forward to your involvement in helping to design and present professional learning activities that achieve these ends.

Access to AHE materials
Username: shorelinecommunitycollege@washington
Password: Success2016

Learn more about mindset by watching this video or by reading this article. The book, Mindset, by Dr. Carol Dweck will be available for check out from our library’s reserve desk later this week.

College Identity Survey
The College Identity Survey will be emailed to you in early October to obtain feedback on your perspective regarding our reputation and identity. The survey will assess what our “promise” is to students regarding what they can expect to experience from us while attending Shoreline Community College. The Clarus Corporation conducted the survey in the community in late May and early June and have over 350 responses. Clarus will compile the employees’ and communities’ responses and make recommendations to our Executive Team and Communications and Marketing. Clarity around our college identity will help us deliver on the promise we make to the diverse students and communities we serve.

Connecting with Our Neighbors
The President’s Office held the second in a series of Neighborhood Community Meetings on June 23. Topics included housing, the “six-way” intersection, construction projects, and upcoming events. We are reaching out to our neighbors to establish a collaborative relationship and to engage them in our activities and events. The next Neighborhood Community Meeting is November 30. For any questions, please contact Mary Brueggeman, Vice President for Advancement.

Centralizing Financial Leadership
Shoreline Community College is centralizing the leadership of its financial areas. This change will provide for the consolidation of budget, finance, capital, and other operational functions under Executive Team member Stuart Trippel. Dawn Vinberg will remain as Executive Director for Budget and Capital. She now reports to Stuart Trippel, whose new title is Senior Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Read more.

The Foundation’s Annual Student Success Breakfast
The Foundation’s 19th Annual Student Success Campaign Community Breakfast will be held on Thursday, November 3 at 7 a.m. The event raises money for the Emergency Assistance fund and other scholarships. Back by popular demand is Jim Dever from KING5 TV as the emcee, with Funk & Groove for the entertainment. There will be three great student speakers sharing their stories. Please join me in supporting this very meaningful cause by buying a table or a ticket!

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.

Community Standard and Title IX Work Come Together
Since fall 2015, Shoreline Community College has had in place a Community Standard Statement. This statement is a strong affirmation that the campus is a place where all people can come to learn and work in a supportive environment. As the Title IX federal civil right law training is coming to educational institutions to ensure gender equity and non-discrimination on the basis of sex, we can be proud that we have and uphold a Community Standard Statement.

We will create and distribute communications and materials across campus that put the Community Standard Statement front and center along with Title IX information. The Community Standard statement is also an important element of the Title IX awareness and training campaign that launches this fall term.

Community Standard Statement
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly…”
—Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Shoreline Community College is a place for students, employees, and the community to pursue excellence in education in an environment dedicated to equity, inclusiveness, and self-reflection. We value respectful, dynamic interactions and lively discussion. We strive to create an environment where everyone is supported and valued. Shoreline Community College does not tolerate hateful, violent, or discriminatory actions that target any person or group based on their beliefs, customs, identity, or affiliations. When one of us is diminished, all of us are diminished.”

Title IX Training for Employees and Students
Title IX is the federal civil rights law that requires gender equity and non-discrimination on the basis of sex in all education institutions that receive federal funds. Understanding Title IX and your responsibilities is very important. Each of us are mandated reporters regarding any Title IX issues our employees or students encounter. We are required to report these Title IX issues to Stephen Smith, our Title IX Coordinator.

Beginning this fall, we will be increasing Title IX awareness and activity across campus, including printed information, online training for employees and students, and other resources to help increase awareness and respond to complaints and concerns about sexual harassment and sexual assault. Learn more about Title IX at Shoreline.

Title IX online training for all College employees via LawRoom became available on September 15. We ask employees to complete the 90-minute training by September 25, 2016. As mandated reporters, we want to be prepared to answer questions from students (who will be asked to complete their CampusClarity Title IX online training after September 26). All employees should have received an email from Shoreline Community College <admin@lawroom.com> with the subject line “LawRoom Title IX Training.” If you have not received this email or have related questions, please contact the Title IX Coordinator.

For any Title IX questions, please email Stephen Smith at titleixcoordinator@shoreline.edu.

Upcoming Events – Mark Your Calendar!

Party Like It’s 1975: Friday, September 23 (6:00 to 9:00 p.m.)
Celebrate the beginning of fall term by attending the Opening Week party for students, employees, your families, and the community we serve in the Main Dining Room of the Pagoda Union Building (PUB) on Friday, September 23. This year the theme is “Party Like It’s 1975,” playing on last year’s theme of our 50th anniversary: “Party Like It’s 1965.” The band, the Disco Ballz, will rock the evening with tunes from the 70s. The event is free and 70’s attire is encouraged.

Campus Update: Friday, November 18 (1:30 to 3:30 p.m., PUB Main Dining Room)
Our first Campus Update of the year is scheduled for Friday, November 18. At this gathering, we will provide timely updates happening at the college, as well as feedback from our Convocation Day discussion on behaviors and actions that demonstrate our values at Shoreline Community College.

I look forward with great enthusiasm to the work ahead and I thank you for the commitment you bring to our students each day. Welcome to fall term!

Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.
President