National Honors

Clark College has been named a 2020 Best for Vets college in the Career and Technical College category by Military Times—just one of 19 colleges across the nation to receive this designation. It’s the third year in a row Clark has earned Best for Vets status. Kudos to everyone in the Veterans Resource Center, as well as everyone across the college who helps support our student veterans!

New VP of DEI named

Please join me in congratulating Rashida Willard, who has accepted the appointment as the new Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Clark College. This is an important milestone for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and a positive leap forward for the college in supporting our staff, faculty and students.

Rashida stepped into the role as interim 17 months ago while still the Director of Operations and Risk Management in Administrative Services. She has taken on additional responsibilities in service to the college and she has earned the respect of her peers, our students, and the community as a strong and effective leader.

During this interim period, she has created and developed structures, spaces, and programs to help remove barriers for students and she’s leading the effort to create a culturally competent campus to help students succeed. She is deeply invested in this work and passionate about creating inclusive, safe, and welcoming environments where all students have maximum opportunities to succeed.

Rashida holds a master’s degree in Business Administration, a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, and an associate degree in Organizational Dynamics. She is currently attending Concordia University, pursuing a doctorate in Education with a concentration in Professional Leadership, Inquiry and Transformation.

Under Rashida’s leadership, the ODEI team has built good momentum, developing new initiatives and programs that will help our college move forward.

Please join me in congratulating and thanking Rashida for accepting this role.

Penguin Power!

We did it, Penguins! We won the Walktober challenge between Clark College, Lower Columbia College, and WSU Vancouver. Our 68 Walktober participants averaged 9,694 steps during the month of October, winning us a trophy and bragging rights. Special shout-outs to our top Penguin walkers:

• 1st place: Sydney Brahmavar (Environmental Science) – 843,756 steps
• 2nd place: Aaron McPherson (Facilities Services) – 826,264 steps
• 3rd place: Travis Kibota (Biology) – 720,732 steps
• Departmental winner: Environmental Science, with an average daily total of 27,218 steps

… And, of course, to Interim Director of Talent Acquisition and Development Vanessa Neal, who led our Walktober efforts. I invite all Walktober participants to join Vanessa, Oswald, and myself at noon on November 20 at the Japanese Friendship Garden (or inside O’Connell if it’s raining) for a group photo with our fabulous trophy.

Kudos to the STEM Team

Thanks to dozens of STEM Unit students, staff, and faculty volunteers who hosted the Elementary Science Olympiad on Saturday, in conjunction with the Southwest Washington Science Olympiad (WSO). Eighteen teams of third-through-fifth graders from throughout Southwest Washington participated, representing 14 schools from 8 school districts, with a total 270 students. The challenging and motivating events of WSO align with Washington State Learning Standards. The events throughout the day were designed to enhance and strengthen both science content and processing skills.

And, thanks to the Clark College Surveying and Geomatics Department, in conjunction with the United States Forest Service, for hosting Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day on Friday. GIS is a scientific framework for gathering, analyzing and visualizing geographic data to help us make better decisions. GIS Day included a number of speakers, displays, and interactive geospatial activities.

Also, congratulations to STEM Dean Peter Williams on his recent presentation with Dr. Carli Schiffner, SBCTC Deputy Executive Director of Education, and Dr. Gita Bangera, Dean of the RISE Learning Center at Bellevue College, on “Scaling Up Classroom Undergraduate Research Experiences Statewide” at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Transforming STEM Higher Education conference in Chicago, Illinois.

Time to nominate outstanding employees

There are three employee award programs now accepting nominations. I hope you will look around you and decide to make a nomination: the Lora Whitfield Social Equity Award, the quarterly Classified Excellence Award, and the Exceptional Administrative Exempt Award.

The Lora Whitfield Social Equity Award honors a member of the Clark College community that has demonstrated a sustained commitment to advancing equity. Award recipients will receive a plaque along with $1,000 funded by the Clark College Foundation. This award will be presented at Opening Day before the beginning of fall quarter each year. This 2020 inaugural year, the award will be announced during State of the College in winter quarter.

For 2020, nominations should be submitted by November 29 for the Executive Cabinet to review and select an award winner by State of the College in January.

Please nominate a Clark College Employee by visiting the Lora Whitfield Social Equity Award page and fill out the online submission form.

Do you know of an outstanding Classified employee at Clark? Have you been looking for a meaningful way to say “thank you” to that person who has gone above and beyond in their service to you, your department or the college community? Now is your chance to acknowledge that special person.

Also, nominations are being accepted for outstanding Classified employee at Clark for the 2019 Fall Quarter Award. Please continue reading for more information. Submissions can be made by filling out the online submission form. Please only submit a nomination for the current quarter. The deadline is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 22. For questions, contact Vanessa Neal, vneal@clark.edu in Human Resources.

And, a new award for 2020 is the Clark College Administrator and Exempt Excellence Award honoring two Exempt staff members who contribute in significant ways toward building a positive climate, inclusive environment, and improving the quality of life at Clark has been created. Submissions can be made by filling out the online submission form by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 13. For questions, contact Lisa Wolfson, lwolfson@clark.edu in the Office of the President.

Selection will be based on the following criteria:

• Exemplary Work Performance
  • Excellence in work performance
  • Makes a significant impact on the College (give examples of involvement, attitude, helpfulness, etc.).
  • Contributes and demonstrates commitment to the College’s mission and core values.
• Initiative and Collaboration
  • Positive interaction and engagement with all community partners (faculty, staff, students and the public)
  • Exhibits respect for fellow workers and students
• Special Achievements or Contributions to the College Community
  • Initiates or actively participates in projects for the betterment of the college community
  • Serves in leadership roles with campus groups/committees and/or external college partners
  • Displays consistent interest in and active support of diversity; seeks and promotes interaction with and between groups with differing ideologies, cultures, socioeconomic status, etc.

Recipients of this award will receive a glass plaque and $1,000 funded through an anonymous donor’s contributions to the Clark College Foundation. These awards will typically be announced on Open Day before the beginning of fall quarter each year. This inaugural year (2019-2020), the awards will be presented at the State of the College address during winter quarter.

To be eligible, the nominees must be a current full-time Administrative employee who has been in their current position for more than twelve (12) months. Members of the President’s Executive Cabinet are not eligible to be nominated.

Congratulations, Dr. Donald Appert

The award-winning Clark College Orchestra will present its Fall concert as part of the 2019-20 season celebrating the 30th anniversary of Music Director/Conductor Donald Appert on Wednesday, December 4 at Skyview High School. 

This all-orchestral extravaganza will include La Valse by Maurice Ravel, Nuages and Fêtes from Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes,and Josef Suk’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor. The performance is at 7:30 p.m. and admission is free and open to the public. Donations to the Orchestra General Fund will be accepted at the door.

For complete information about all the Clark College Music Department concerts including the orchestra, concert band, jazz ensemble, and choirs, please see http://www.clark.edu/campus-life/arts-events/music/music-concerts.

We are fortunate to have such treasures at Clark College.

Student Enrollment

Clark College began registering students for Winter quarter this past week for priority registration. While Clark’s ctcLink Project Management team works to provide access to queries that will help manage enrollment, I ask for your patience. Planning and Effectiveness is working to redevelop our enrollment management tools in Tableau to be available to all during winter quarter.

Open Enrollment for employees

It’s that time – a chance to review and make changes to your public employee benefits. Open enrollment ends Saturday, November 30. To make changes go to My Account on the PEBB website. If you have questions about your benefits or account, please contact one of our benefits team members:

• Thao Schmidt, tschmidt@clark.edu, ext. 2628
• Amy Harrington, aharrington@clark.edu, ext. 2325
• Guisela Eberle, geberle@clark.edu, ext. 2119

Reflections from this past week and looking ahead

Once again, I want to share my appreciation for the Clark ctcLink team, who have done an amazing job throughout the goLive conversion. I am inspired by the dedication of all the staff that I’ve seen across the campus in Finance, HR, Student Services, Instruction, Planning and Effectiveness, and IT who have been problem-solving throughout the week. Change is hard, and this has been exhausting and frustrating work. This amazing team has risen to the challenge. The whole state community college system has been watching us to see how this is done. Congratulations again, Penguin Nation. You’ve got this!

This next week I look forward to my first quarterly meeting between the WSUV Executive Team and Clark College Executive Team. The following day the Clark College Executive Team is participating in a daylong retreat with Dr. Kathy Obear, continuing to work on improving ourselves as a team.

Congratulations to the Penguin Men and Women who are running the NWAC Cross Country Championship in Lacey today (Monday, November 18). Go Penguins!!

I will be in Seattle the remainder of the week with Shanda Haluapo, Associate Vice President of Planning and Effectiveness and Clark College Accreditation Liaison Officer, at the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Annual Conference on Student Success, where I look forward to learning more about the new Eligibility Requirements and Accreditation Standards for 2020. I plan to stay in Seattle for the weekend to have an early holiday with my family.

This coming weekend will be a busy one on campus, with performances of “A Bright New Boise” in the Decker Theatre in Frost Arts Center Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m.; Men’s and Women’s Basketball games in O’Connell Sports Complex; and the Clark College Jazz Band, under the direction of Dr. Doug Harris, presenting its “A Salute to the Big Bands” on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Gaiser Student Center.

And just because Walktober is over, that doesn’t mean we Penguins should stop being active: Get ready for the Fall Free Fun Run and Walk next Tuesday, November 26, at 1:15 p.m. in front of the Cannell Library. Registration is free and starts at 1:00 pm.