The Weekly News: Week 34

Dr. Sandra Fowler-Hill in front of Chime Tower

This Week: Coronavirus Concerns

As a college, we are closely monitoring the outbreak of a respiratory disease known as COVID-19. We are in ongoing contact with Clark County Public Health. We will work with them to determine risk and exposure. We will act with abundant caution.

Our Number One priority is to safeguard the health of our students, staff, and faculty. We also want to do everything we can to help our students successfully complete their winter term studies.

Facilities Services staff are using COVID-19 sanitation guidelines from the CDC for routine cleaning, including common touch surfaces. Please understand that increased cleaning in high-use locations will result in service reductions or suspensions in low-traffic locations, such as private offices.

Our departments are building their operational plans should there be a temporary disruption to classes or college operations. We are taking into consideration all possible scenarios. That makes it hard for me to generalize our operational plan to you today because it’s dependent on so many variables. I want to thank the work of the Incident Response Team, which is meeting daily. We post updates to www.clark.edu under “Important Updates.”

As a reminder, we all have a role to play:

  1. Know our facts. The CDC government website is a reputable resource. 
  2. Wash our hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds each time. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
  3. Avoid touching our faces with unwashed hands.
  4. Don’t share food and drinks.
  5. Clean and disinfect shared surfaces and objects that are touched frequently.
  6. If possible, avoid close contact with anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms.
  7. We should stay home when we are sick. Stay home, rest, and stay hydrated.

This is a rapidly evolving situation. I will update over the weekend if conditions change.

Budget process

Thank you to all who have attended the budget forums this past week as coordinated by the Budget Committee.

I want to thank the Budget Committee—which includes faculty, staff, and students—for their work on this. To do their work, they need your help. They are asking you to submit ideas you have to help Clark College close a projected $5.4 million gap in the 2020-2021 budget. All budget proposals must be submitted via an online form by March 11.

The committee again acknowledges that this is a tight timeline, but hopes you will take advantage of this opportunity to share your thoughts on the important budget decisions that need to be made. We appreciate the many proposals (more than 200 to date) that have already been submitted. 

We’ve also heard that faculty and staff would like a place to share ideas for generating revenue. Feel free to use the existing online budget proposal form and simply note that you are submitting a recommendation to increase revenue and not a recommendation to cut the budget.

The committee has developed budget priorities to be used in reviewing the recommendations it receives. It is posted on ClarkNet under “Budget Process (2020-2021)”. If you need an alternate format or an accessible version of the Budget Priorities document, please contact Bob Williamson at bwilliamson@clark.edu or at 360-992-2123.

Who is your representative on the Budget Committee? Here is the linkto the budget committee members with their contact information. When you see them, please thank them for their work.

The committee will be submitting a prioritized list of budget proposals to Executive Cabinet on March 20.

Clark College Climate Improvement Task Force

I’m pleased to share updates from the Climate Improvement Task Force. In their first three meetings, they’ve had wide-ranging conversations about our college community and their approach to this work. The task force is committed to a grassroots approach to guide their recommendations in addressing themes identified in the Fall 2019 Climate Survey. They will invite conversation and solicit your feedback throughout the process. 

To date, they have:

  1. established group norms and agreements 
  2. determined how they will work together as a task force, with constituencies, and with the college as a whole 
  3. dedicated themselves to modeling shared governance and open communication as a task force 
  4. committed themselves to using feedback from our climate survey and other avenues to guide their recommendations 

Here are the Members of Climate Improvement Taskforce:

  • Justin Allen
  • Traneesa Frazier
  • Shanda Haluapo
  • Heather Leasure 
  • Dalila Paredes
  • Jenny Shadley
  • David Sims
  • Arwen Spicer
  • Erin Staples
  • Sarah Thorsen
  • Robert Weston
  • Rashida Willard
  • Bryton Williams
  • Melissa Williams
  • Feddie Young

We understand there is no simple fix to our college environment and that a task force cannot resolve all the challenges that employees face. However, I am grateful to the members of the task force who are rolling up their sleeves in this effort toward systemic change for a healthier and more inclusive college culture. I fully support their process and their work.

Accessibility

I encourage all of us to check out Accessibility Made Easy, a Canvas resource to support staff in creating accessible content.  

The content is easy to follow, providing steps and resources for creating accessible documents. The topics cover tools commonly used at Clark College: Microsoft Outlook 2016, Microsoft Word 2016, Microsoft PPT 2016, and Adobe Acrobat DC for PDFs. This content was put together by Instructional Accessibility Specialist Tre Sandlin and Director of Disability Support Services Megan Jasurda. Thank you, Tre and Megan!

Upcoming ODEI Trainings

On a related note, I wanted to pass along to you the upcoming opportunity for Disability Justice 101 training.This course qualifies for both B.U.I.L.D. and PPI credit.

During this training, participants learn about the intricacies of the disability community, including affirming and non-affirming language, types of disabilities and learn about neurodiversity. Participants will also learn what these concepts mean and how to put the tools into practice in the Clark College community. This course will take place on March 18 from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. in GHL 213. Sign up here.

Preventing violence and harassment

Clark College received a three-year grant from the Office of Violence Against Women to reduce and prevent sexual assault, dating and domestic violence and stalking. One of the main goals of the grant was to embed training, information and supports into our existing structures. I’m pleased to report that since July 2018, more than 3,000 Clark students have received Bystander Intervention and Consent training in their College 101 classes. Kudos to Cath Busha, who helped write the grant; Tavish Bell, who served as the first project coordinator; Flyn Alexander, who is overseeing the grant until it ends this October; Heather Adams, who worked with Tavish to develop the training curriculum; and Kristin Sherwood, who included this important information in her College 101 curriculum. To learn more about resources available to help students and employees report and recover from sexual misconduct, visit www.clark.edu/cc/survivors.

Congratulations, Susan!

Please congratulate Susan Maxwell. Thankfully she’s not leaving Clark College but she is taking on new responsibilities with SBCTC to help our fellow colleges implement ctcLink. Starting March 16, she will become an SBCTC employee. She’ll maintain her office here four days a week and will spend 20 percent of her time working on ctcLink for Clark College.

Thank you, Susan, for your work and your leadership at Clark. You’ll be a great asset in helping other community colleges make the leap.

Congratulations, Andy!

Great news from our student led Indy Newspaper. Former Indy photo editor Andy Bao, who’s now at UCLA, just won Student Photographer of the Year from the National Press Photographers Association. Also, the Indy won third place out of 9 for best community-college newspaper at the Associated Collegiate Press’s mid-winter conference in San Francisco on Feb. 29. Kudos!

Upcoming events

I am looking forward to some fun upcoming events next week at Clark College – here are a few reminders:

  • Treble Ensemble Concert is Thursday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m. The location is 401 E 33rd Street at the Vancouver First United Methodist Church. Free admission for everyone.
  • The Winter Choral Concert is Saturday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m. The location is 401 E 33rd Street at the Vancouver First United Methodist Church. Free admission for everyone.
  • Clark College Automotive Open House is Wednesday, March 18 at 6:00 p.m. The location is the Auto Shop in AA1 on the main campus. This is open to students, their families, and anyone interested in our Dealer Ready Automotive Technology programs. Our partnerships with dealerships include Toyota, Honda, Dick Hannah, and Audi.

I am also looking forward to attending the Nursing Pinning Ceremony, Dr. Chris Hill’s visit with the Guided Pathways Team, a lecture at the Port of Vancouver on Doing Business with the World, Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance Springfest at Pearson Field Education Center, and the Vancouver School District Foundation Luncheon with the Clark Foundation staff.

Great things continue to happen every day here at Penguin Nation as we wrap up Winter Quarter. As I was waiting in the Decker Theatre Lobby last night for the doors to open for the musical Bare I overheard a community member say, “This theatre adds so much to the culture of our city. Thanks for being here.”

Thank you for all you do to make Clark College a great place to work and to learn.