Reflections from this past week

Last
week I had the opportunity to meet with our Nursing faculty, Associate Dean of
Health Sciences, Dean of Business & Health Sciences, and Vice President of
Instruction to learn more about the Nursing Program and the Clark College building
at WSUV. Shortly after our meeting, we received confirmation of the Clark
College Nursing Program’s continued accreditation with Accreditation Commission
for Education in Nursing (ACEN). Congratulations to everyone in our Nursing
program for receiving the largest window of time regarding the next site visit
(2019-2027) and for being recognized by ACEN for “Achievement of Quality and
Excellence in Nursing Education.”

We
celebrated Clark College at Columbia Tech Center’s 10th anniversary last week,
and I was inspired by remarks made by Clark College Associated Student
President Evans Kaame. Thank you to the instructors, staff and
students at Columbia Tech Center who helped host a fun 10-year anniversary
party. Attendees
were able to tour the building and get a glimpse of the learning that happens
there in Mechatronics, Business, and Economic & Community Development
classes. We joined with the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce
to hold a ribbon cutting. Thanks to all who helped. Read more about the event
in this Columbian
article.

I
was honored receive gifts this week on behalf of Clark College from Vancouver’s
sister city of Joyo, Japan, presented by Nami Inoue, a faculty member in our
Japanese language program who grew up in Joyo. And, thanks to all who stopped
by for a cupcake to celebrate your birthday in October. I look forward to
celebrating the months ahead!

I
just returned from attending the 50th annual Association of Community College
Trustees (ACCT) Leadership Congress in San Francisco with Board Chair Jane
Jacobsen and Trustee Jada Rupley along with 1,850 trustees, presidents, staff,
and other community college stakeholders. Throughout the conference we promoted
the Clark College President Search.

I
was inspired by the words of ACCT Chair Connie Hornbeck: “All of higher
education and industry is changing at a breakneck pace. Community colleges lie
at the nexus of both. We in this room are charged with sustaining the community
college sector no matter what changes come… We can’t predict, but we can and
must be as prepared as possible, as nimble as possible, to keep our
institutions strong for our students.”

Keynote
speaker Barry Posner focused on the key leadership practices trustees and
others need to manage these complex times. Co-author of the book Leadership
in Higher Education, Posner focused on five key strategies based on
research involving 150,000 college and university leaders, ranging from
modeling and inspiring a shared vision to upending existing processes, leading
from the heart, and enabling others to act.

Leaders
of three state community college systems emphasized the importance of local
leadership in navigating a challenging landscape that includes declining state
support and growing student needs. I enjoyed learning along with our trustees
about best practices in presidential searches, recruiting, and onboarding from
other colleges.

All voices needed

Today is the last day to fill out the Clark College 2019
Climate Survey. The deadline is tonight at 5:00 p.m.

This is so important to our work at Clark
College. The Board of Trustees has identified improving the college climate and
employee morale as one of its priorities. Your input is critical to the
process. This year we have added incentive: Everyone who submits a survey has
the option sign up to win one of three $50 gift certificates to Amazon. Please
note that your responses on the Clark College Climate Survey will NOT be
connected to your name if you wish to enter the drawing.

ctcLink – one week away

Please take a minute to get your new your new ctcLink ID (open in Chrome) and get
a sneak peek into the ctcLink PeopleSoft testing
environment
using a Clark College computer at one of the campuses or using a VPN. To get
into the ctcLink PeopleSoft testing environment you will use your new ctcLink
ID and preset password. Your password is your last name – capitalize the first
letter only – and add the @ sign at the end, e.g., Fowlerhill@ is my password.

As
for training? Some people have inadvertently deleted or declined the invitation
for the SBCTC Canvas training. If you did that, please contact Jennifer Ward or call her extension at 2077 so she can reregister you. Thank
you!

We
are confident the result will be a positive for students and employees; far
more user friendly and efficient. But we recognize change presents challenges.

I
want to call out the sustained efforts of everyone on the ctcLink team led by
Project Manager Susan Maxwell and Associate Vice President of Planning and
Effectiveness Shanda Haluapo. Shanda’s next update for us is Wednesday this
week: Please watch for them as they contain vitally important information about
our process now underway!

ctcLink and our students

All student online systems are unavailable as
of October 17 through October 30 while the college upgrades to the state’s new
software system.

Our messaging to students? “Pease bear with
us as we work to improve your online experience. You’ll be signing into the new
improved My Clark on October 31. In the meantime, if you need assistance with
student services, we are here for you.”

• In person: Stop by the Information Desk in Gaiser Hall.
• By phone: Call 360-992-2107
• By email: Contact registration@clark.edu

What
do students need to know? On October 31, they need to go to myclark.edu. Once
they sign in, they will be given a new ctcLink ID. They need to write it
down. It will be needed to log in to access their information.

Here’s
the great news for students: The new and improved MyClark will offer a
simple, easy pathway for students to register for classes, apply for financial
aid, request unofficial transcripts, and use the schedule planner at Clark
College.

Clarks supports for students

The
Counseling and Health Center is continuing their support groups this fall term!
Please feel free to share the information below with any students you think
would benefit. 

• Running Start Support Group
  – Wednesdays 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., October 16 – November 20 at the
  Counseling and Health Center, HSC 124. This is a space to connect with
  other Running Start students navigating the complicated worlds of family,
  high school, and college.
• Parent Support Group
  – Wednesdays 1:00 – 2:00 p.m., October 16 – November 20 at the Counseling
  and Health Center, HSC 124. This is an ongoing support group for students
  balancing school, life, and parenting.

Both
groups are facilitated by CHC counselors Beth VanBuecken and Valentina
Pishchanskaya-Cayanan. Students can contact Valentina at vcayanan@clark.edu to sign up, or with any
questions. As always, the Counseling and Health Center provides free mental
health counseling and low-cost health services to Clark students. Appointments
can be made by calling 360-992-2614, or by email at chc@clark.edu.

Penguin Pantry turns two!

You
are all invited to the Penguin Pantry second anniversary open house on Wednesday,
October 24, from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. I want to encourage everyone to
bring a donation of canned or boxed food to the open house. As you probably
know, demand for food resources has increased significantly on campus. It may
be that word is getting out among students about this vital resource. Thank you
to everyone who supports it. The Penguin Pantry is in the Science Building
(SCI) in Room 101.

Expanding RAVE

For
years, our RAVE alert system has been sending Clark College employees and
students emergency text and email messages whenever the college experienced a
closure, lockdown, etc. I’m pleased to announce that this service has just been
expanded to include families, parents and visitors to Clark College.

Now
everyone can opt in. All they have to do is text the word “Penguins” to the
number 67283.

This
feature is for any Clark Community member (parent, visitor, etc.) who is not
automatically entered into the system.

There
will be a formal rollout for this feature, as well as a new app called RAVE
Guardian, coming soon. In the meantime, please feel free to share the keyword
and number. Thank you to our emergency management team for your work on this.

Presidential Advisory Committee

I’m excited to announce significant
progress in the search for your next college president.

The Presidential
Search Advisory Committee met for the first time Friday, October 11
for an all-day session that included implicit bias training. They worked
through the wording of the position profile and talked about the upcoming
resume screening process. As a result of their work, the Board of Trustees has
approved the position profile, and it’s up on the website as active recruitment
begins. Among the members of the committee are Clark College students,
employees, faculty and community representatives. Thank you for serving!

• Co-chairs: Paul Speer, Clark College Board of Trustees Presidential Search Lead
• and Jane Jacobson, Clark College Board of Trustees Chair
• Al Schauer, Founder PointNorth Consulting
• Brian Taylor, Industrial Sales Manager Siemens
• Catharine Keane, Associate Director of Career Services
• Christhian Canseco, Account Manager ESCO Corporation
• Danielle Plesser, Office Of Instruction – Program Support Supv 1
• Dannie Nordsiden, Automotive Technology – Instructor (WPTE)
• Donivee Randall-Jones, Nursing – Professor (BHS)
• Dr. Siri Wickramaratne, Geography – Instructor (SOFA)
• Eric Merrill, Clark College Foundation Board Chair
• Evans Kaame, ASCC President
• Heather Adams, Office Of VP Student Affairs – Administrative Services Manager A
• Justin Flint, ASCC Club Coordinator
• Rashida Willard, Interim AVP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Suzanne Southerland, Communication Studies – Professor (BEECH) (CCAHE President)
• Tanisha Harris, CASA Program Specialist YWCA Clark County
• Tanya Kerr, CtcLink Internal Controls and Business Analyst
• Vicki Sovold-Prendergast, Mount Pleasant School District Superintendent

Kudos to faculty

Congratulations to William Goforth, our newly
appointed adjunct instructor of Voice! He was one of three finalists chosen on
Sunday at the Oregon District Met auditions. On to Seattle for the Northwest
Regionals in January.

This
week I’m looking forward to attending the Penguin Pantry Open House, as well as
the Board of Trustees work session, where they will be hearing sabbatical
presentations from two faculty members (Jill Darley-Vanis and Erin Staples),
and interviewing four students for the Transforming Lives Award. I’m continuing
my Listening Tour with the Library Faculty and WPEA this week, and celebrating
our students and donors at the Foundation Scholarship Reception on Friday.

Keep
walking through this Walktober, Penguin Nation!

Reflections from this past week

I enjoyed meeting many of you this past week and learning more about the great things faculty are doing in your programs as I stopped in at the STEM, BEECH, and WPTE Unit Meetings and the Economics Department Brown Bag. Tuesday evening I welcomed Ridgefield community leaders and donors to the Foundation’s “Conversations: Boschma Farms” at Windy Hills Winery. Thanks to Kevin Witte, Sachi Horback, Armetta Burney and Lisa Gibert for sharing the exciting vision for Advanced Manufacturing in North Clark County. I also met with the Foundation staff at their regular monthly meeting and heard about the success of the Alumni Phone-athon and the Promising Pathways Campaign.

Kudos to Lora Jenkins of Workforce Education Services (WES) for coordinating a very successful Foster Care Partnership Event. In my opening remarks, I shared my excitement for the changes in our Passport to College program that expands eligibility to include more types of foster care. This summer, the state Legislature improved access for unaccompanied homeless youth. Since 2007, Clark has assisted 120 foster youth. Fifteen of them have graduated with degrees and/or certificates.

The former Clark College Community Advisory Committee has been expanded and convened this week as the Equity Advisory Council at Bridgeview Resource Center. Twenty-one leaders in the community have accepted my invitation to meet monthly to build and maintain community connection; inform about what Clark College is doing around diversity efforts; and provide counsel as the college engages in purposeful, institutional-level change that fosters social equity and eliminates systemic disparities among students, faculty and staff.

I appreciate everyone who took time out of your busy schedule to meet with Dr. Preston Pulliums this past week to share your thoughts and ideas about the college and next president. You can follow the Presidential Search process on the Clark Presidential Search website.

Looking for your voice

We’ve sent out the 2019 Climate Survey this past week. I encourage everyone to participate. Here is the link: Clark College 2019 Climate Survey

This is so important to our work at Clark College. The Board of Trustees has identified improving the college climate and employee morale as one of its priorities. Your input is critical to the process. This year we have added incentive: Everyone who submits a survey has the option sign up to win one of three $50 gift certificates to Amazon. Please note that your responses on the Clark College Climate Survey will NOT be connected to your name if you wish to enter the drawing.

Shanda Haluapo is happy to answer any questions you may have about the survey or the process. Thank you for your help!

ctcLink – countdown 17 days!

I’m interested as to how your trainings are going for ctcLink. We all get to the take the employee self-service course to make sure we can submit our time and get paid. As a reminder, SBCTC Canvas sent all of us an email September 30. I clicked “get started” and it took me to the list of courses I need to complete prior to October 28, which is our GoLive date. If you have not received the email, please contact Jennifer Ward.

It’s vital that we know our part of using the new system so that we can turn our focus to the students to help them make the transition. Many of us have some contact with students and we can be that helpful resource for them.

What do students need to know? On October 31, they need to go to myclark.edu. Once they sign in, they will be given a new ctcLink ID. They need to write it down. It will needed to log in to access their information. Here’s the great news for students: The new and improved MyClark will offer a simple easy pathway for students to register for classes, apply for financial aid, request unofficial transcripts, and use the schedule planner at Clark College.

The October 31 date is important for students to sign in and get their newctcLink ID. If they have questions, you can give them the email ctcLink@clark.edu. We’ll also have teams set up at Gaiser to walk them through the changes. 

Faculty are a tremendous resource in getting the message to students. We appreciate everyone using all our communications tools to help our students navigate the change.

Exciting Alumni News

The New York Times published a story Thursday about ways that states and institutions are expanding access to college. They highlighted one of our own: Vita Blanco, who graduated from Clark College this spring. Here’s the link to the story:  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/education/learning/bulletin-board.html.  I recently had the honor of joining Vita at the same table at the WSUV Scholarship Reception. She is attending classes now at WSU Vancouver and continuing to be engaged as a student leader.

Enrollment News

For fall 2019, almost half of our students (48%) are enrolled in at least one eLearning class – which includes online and hybrid classes. And eLearning classes have a 7 percentage point higher fill rate (91%) compared to face-to-face and web-enhanced classes (84%). Here’s a question to consider: “Do our students prefer to take eLearning courses or is a function of convenience in fitting their busy schedules?” It’s part of the conversation in the Guided Pathways framework, creating program pathways that schedule courses to meet student needs.

Meet the candidates

This week you have a chance to meet the Director of Athletics finalists on campus. The forums have been set. Resumes and links to provide feedback will be provided on ClarkNet before each forum. Feedback will be gathered for a 48-hour period for each finalist.

Anthony Stone         

Tuesday, October 15, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. in SHL 214

Laura LeMasters

Thursday, October 17, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. in GHL 213

Our Great Clark College Staff

If you have three minutes, there is a great new video circulating out in the community that highlights one of our own: Jennifer Purinton in the Transitional Studies Department at Clark College. Clark County produced the video to encourage equitable hiring practices under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Jennifer is a great spokesperson for inclusion at Clark – both for what we are doing well and what we can do to improve our practices. Thank you, Jennifer!

Honors for our Alumni Program

Clark College Foundation’s Alumni relations program was acknowledged last week as one of the seven best in the country for the last five years. This is a new nationwide initiative by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The metrics consider fundraising, boards, alumni awards programs; quality and types of communications like the foundation’s magazine, electronic newsletter, podcasts; affinity programs like the athletics hall of fame and graduation, as well as student-alumni interactions such as career services involvement and mentoring. The foundation hit it out of the park for alumni fundraising—16%—that’s the average annual amount raised over the past five years. Compare that to the national average of about 4%. Congratulations!

Next Week

We have several events next week that I want to make sure you know about. You are all invited.

Ten year celebration at Columbia Tech

You’re invited to join us for a Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting at our Columbia Tech Campus today 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The Chamber is helping us celebrate our 10-year anniversary at Columbia Tech Center. The ribbon cutting will be outside (weather permitting) at 3:30 p.m. We’ll have light refreshments and we hope to see you there!

Ready for an emergency?

In the event of a major emergency, it is very possible that we will be our own first responders. On Thursday, October 17, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. in PUB 258C, the Emergency Management Planning Committee will hold an Emergency Preparedness Training.

Certified emergency workers will provide this training. We’ll learn the top five priorities for our families in case of an emergency, we’ll have a chance to make our own emergency kits. Thank you, Jeff Kaliner, for bringing this training to Clark College.

And, Clark College is hosting the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration today on the main campus, starting at 1:00 p.m. in Gaiser Student Center – with a panel discussing Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

I’m also looking forward to seeing the Archer Gallery’s new exhibit of the Art Faculty Biennial Exhibition this week and celebrating October birthdays with you on Tuesday, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. in the President’s Conference Room. I will be traveling to San Francisco to attend the American Community College Trustees Leadership Convention Congress with Trustee Rupley and Chair Jacobsen on Wednesday. We plan to promote the search for the next president and learn more about national issues facing community colleges.

Keep walking, Penguin Nation! I got in 54,301 steps so far in October. Happy Walktober!

Clark College reached out for community and college input on the selection of the next college President this past week. The search firm, Gold Hill Associates, held an open house as one source of input on what the job profile should include. The profile will be used as the job description during the recruitment process, which begins formally later this month.

There is no formal presentation. “We want this to be a conversation around the priorities of the community and the college,” said Clark College Trustee Paul Speer. “Specifically, we have three questions. (1) What do people see as the biggest opportunities for Clark College over the next decade? (2) What do people see as the biggest challenges for Clark over the next decade? (3) What do people think are the most important qualifications for our new president?”

Clark College will soon announce the formation of it’s Presidential Search Advisory Committee comprised of college students, staff, faculty and community leaders who, with an equity lens, will assist in the search process. They attended equity training sessions Friday, October 11th as their first order of business. They will help formalize the job description to be released later this month.

The Board of Trustees are responsible for the hiring of the next college president. They anticipate a final decision by February 2020. For more information about the process please go to www.clark.edu/presidential-search.

All
interested candidates should contact Gold Hill Associates for questions
regarding the application process or inquiries.

Preston Pulliams, President and Owner, Gold Hill Associates
1065 Stigger Road
Jackson, Mississippi 39209
Email: preston@goldhillassociates.com
Web: http://collegepresidentsearch.com

For questions regarding community
involvement and the process itself, please email presidentialsearch@clark.edu

Opening Day –

Thank you all who participated in Opening Day for the new academic year!  I was honored to be a part of the Clark tradition. I think ASCC President Evans Kaame helped set such a positive uplifting tone, reminding us of our shared vision – supporting our students. Thank you to Chair Jacobsen and Trustee Speer for their welcome message and updates. Thank you to the Executive Cabinet (William Belden, Vice President of Student Affairs; Stefani Coverson, Vice President of Human Resources and Compliance; Shanda Haluapo, Associate Vice President of Planning and Effectiveness; Lisa Gibert, Clark College Foundation CEO; Dr. Sachi Horback, Vice President of Instruction; Kelly Love, Chief Communications Officer; Valerie Moreno, Chief Information Officer; Rashida Willard, Interim Associate Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Bob Williamson, Vice President of Administrative Services; and Kevin Witte, Vice President of Economic & Community Development). And, thank you to the Guided Pathways Team for an engaging Opening Day presentation, which included the following themes:

1. Our 3 year completion rate has increased, but opportunity gap has not changed, specifically for our students of color. As we begin to implement the framework and support systems of Guided Pathways we will eliminate our existing racial equity gap.
2. Our community is becoming more diverse. This means, we need to be intentional about creating a welcoming and supportive environment, meaningful connections with our communities of color, and strong partnerships with education and business entities so we can fully meet the needs of our community.
3. There has been significant progress strengthening our high school partnerships and we have improved our efforts in recruitment and application.

Lastly, as we move forward we encourage you to continue asking yourself, “Is the work I’m doing following the Equity Minded Framework?”

New Awards announced

I want to thank Rashida Willard and Debi Jenkins who created a special moment in honor of Lora Whitfield. Lora, a highly respected and beloved Early Childhood Education Professor at Clark College passed away in early July. To remember her work and her many acts of love, we decided to introduce a new employee award, the Lora Whitfield Social Equity Award. This award will honor Lora’s legacy and take an important step to recognize Clark College employees based on their exceptional work in removing systemic barriers for our students and employees. Some of you have asked about the poem Debi wrote and recited in Lora’s honor. I’m happy to tell you that it is available to you on Clark 24/7. Thank you, Debi, for finding the words to help mirror all our feelings of love and gratitude for Lora.

I announced a second new award, The Clark College Exceptional Administrative-Exempt Award. As with our Classified and Faculty awards, we want to honor employees who contribute in significant ways to building a positive and inclusive environment, and who exhibit traits of excellence in their role at Clark.

Both of these awards include a $1,000 award and a glass plaque, thanks to Clark College Foundation. We’ll have more details in the next few weeks on the submission process for both awards moving forward.

Honoring our own

One of my favorite moments at Opening Day is seeing the employee awards and acknowledgements. Our annual Exceptional Classified Staff Awards were presented. Congratulations to Amanda Brown in Libraries and Ian Beckett in Art for your exemplary and steadfast work in supporting the college and our students.

Our Exceptional Faculty Awards were first announced in June but presented at Opening Day. Congratulations and thank you to:

• Dr. Karl Bailey, Chemistry
• Nadine Fattaleh, Chemistry
• Deena Godwin, Communication Studies
• Zachary Grant, Libraries
• Malcolm McCay, Economics
• Erin Staples, Health & Physical Education

I’d like to also congratulate everyone who received service awards. I’ll highlight our 25- and 30-year employees.

25 years of service:

• Karen Hagen, Clark Foundation
• Kristine Barker, Faculty
• Kayoko Barnhill, Faculty
• Aaron Bingham, Faculty
• Don Gonser, Faculty
• Bob Hughes, Faculty
• Travis Kibota, Faculty
• Gail Robinson, Faculty
• Kimberly Bower, Student Affairs

30 years of service:
            Lisa Hasart, Administrative Services

            Lynn Boydston, Instruction

            Vicki Weese, Instruction

            Michael Arnold, Faculty

Welcome Week – do you have your t-shirt?

We gave away t-shirts at Opening Day (I have mine). We still have shirts available to you at Gaiser Hall Room 204.   The idea is that we want to welcome our students with a shared message during Welcome Week, “You belong here.”  This is a college wide effort to create that sense of belonging and inclusion for all our students.  I think the visual also can remind ourselves that we have ability and support to do collegiate work with a student centered approach. I’m so proud of the work you’re all doing.

What’s on your mind?

Several weeks ago I sent out a brief, anonymous survey to all of you in order for me to gather essential information about the college. It’s been a great resource for me to hear more about your concerns and your suggestions for me as your interim president at Clark. Because it was summer quarter, I want to re-open the link to give employees who were off-contract during the summer an opportunity to respond. Here is the link if you haven’t responded yet: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TellMeAboutClark. The survey will be open until September 22.

Ways to work on Goal #4

It’s one of our top ten goals in 2019-2020: “Institutionalize hiring and retention practices that are equitable and inclusive.” To support this effort, I wanted to pass along along a new upcoming training opportunity to help us reach our goals. Human Resources has partnered with the Office of Instruction and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to offer a four-part webinar series, “Hiring a Diverse Faculty.” The series is hosted by USC Rossier School of Education, Race and Equity Center. Though the title indicates faculty, the concepts apply to all recruitment types. Anyone who has been involved with hiring efforts in the past or in the future is encouraged to attend.

All webinars/gatherings will be held in Gaiser Hall (GHL) room 213 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the college’s main campus. We have reserved rooms on the following dates to gather as a group to watch together. Please click on the links below to sign up for sessions.

• September 24:  Innovative Recruitment Method
• September 26:  Job Announcements
• September 30:  Implicit & Explicit Bias
• October 2:       Job Interviews

Strategic Planning

I met with the Executive Cabinet this week for a daylong strategic planning session. At the heart of our work is the list of ten priorities for Clark College in 2019-2020 as approved by the Board of Trustees. Over the next several weeks, I’ll provide you with more detail as to how we’re going to achieve the goals we’ve set. For today, I’d like to list them out for you: 

1. Increase student engagement and outcomes by implementing Guided Pathways resulting in increased student completion and equity.
2. Improve the college climate and employee morale, including shared governance.
3. Develop and implement comprehensive professional development to improve employee intercultural and multicultural competencies.
4. Institutionalize hiring and retention practices that are equitable and inclusive.
5. Implement ctcLink technologies.
6. Respond to the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities’ accreditation recommendations.
7. Create a long-term budget forecasting, planning, and resource-allocation process.
8. Foster external partnerships with stakeholders to achieve our goals.
9. Finalize and implement a holistic plan for campus expansion at Boschma Farms
10. Hire and onboard the new president.

Most of these will not be a surprise to you. In many cases, these are things we’re already working on. I am very conscious of the fatigue many of you are feeling as you have been engaged in this work over the past year. I want to support you in whatever way I can this year and work together to meet these goals.

Birthday Celebrations

I hosted our first open house to celebrate and recognize faculty and staff birthdays for the months of August and September. Thank you to those who joined me for cupcakes, coffee, and conversation. If you were born in August or September and you missed it, please come to our next open house birthday celebration. Here are the dates for the year:

• Tuesday, October 15, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, November 12, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Thursday, December 5, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, January 15, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Thursday, February 6, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, March 11, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Thursday, April 9, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Thursday, May 7, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, June 9, 2:30-3:30 p.m. (June and July birthdays)

I look forward to seeing and celebrating you on one of these dates!

Welcome Week!

I hope you were able to enjoy the Welcome BBQ Friday on campus. It was fun to meet our student athletes, and I’m grateful to the Foundation for providing lunch to all alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends. I was sorry to miss it. I was at the Foundation Board Retreat and we also enjoyed a little BBQ.

There are activities all week for students. Do you get the Penguin Digest? Here’s the link so you can opt-in for updates about news and events for students.https://clarknet.clark.edu/forms/penguin-digest-opt-in/index.php

Also, help us commemorate 2019 Welcome Week by wearing your “Welcome Week” T-shirt for a massive group photo Friday, September 27 at noon at Gaiser Student Center. I love the start of the academic year and the return of our students. Each student is a powerful reminder of why we do what we do.

Here’s to a fantastic 2019-2020 academic year!

On September 16, Clark College employees gathered in the O’Connell Sports Center gymnasium for the traditional Opening Day ceremonies. While much of the program was familiar to longtime employees, this year’s event brought a few new elements.

The first and most noticeable was the college’s new leader: Interim President Dr. Sandra Fowler-Hill, who is serving a one-year term as interim president while the college seeks a permanent replacement for retired president Bob Knight. Fowler-Hill joked that, while she has attended many such celebrations during her decades-long career in higher education, here at Clark, “this is my first Opening Day–and my last Opening Day.”

Board of Trustees chair Jane Jacobsen thanked Dr. Fowler-Hill for coming out of her retirement as the president of Portland Community College’s Rock Creek campus to step into the interim role.

Trustee Paul Speer outlined the process for hiring a new president, reiterating that the Board of Trustees was “transparent, equitable and inclusive.” The college has posted updated information about the presidential search on its website.

Opening Day was also the occasion to announce two new employee awards. The first was the Exceptional Administrative-Exempt Award, recognizing a class of employees that fall neither into Classified staff nor faculty categories. Administrative-exempt staff include many administrators, managers, directors, executive assistants, and other employees who are not eligible for overtime compensation.

“We realized there’s a group of employees who haven’t had an opportunity to have their excellence recognized,” said Dr. Fowler-Hill.

The second new award was announced by Associate Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Rashida Willard. The Lora Whitfield Social Equity Award will be awarded to a member of the Clark College community who has demonstrated a sustained commitment to advancing equity, Willard said. It is named in honor of early childhood education professor Lora Whitfield, who died in July. Dr. Debi Jenkins read a poem to honor Whitfield’s memory.

Social equity was a significant theme in a presentation on the college’s progress toward Guided Pathways from Willard, Vice President of Instruction Sachi Horback, and Vice President of Student Affairs Bill Belden.

“It is on us to make sure all our students complete and persist,” said Willard. “We can’t put it on our students to succeed in a broken system. We need to fix the system in order for everyone to succeed.”

Old traditions were also honored at Opening Day, including the recognition of employees for their years of service. Four employees–Mike Arnold, Lynn Boydston, Lisa Hasart, and Vicki Weese–were recognized for having worked at the college for 30 years. Vice President of Human Resources and Compliance Stefani Coverson also announced the recipients of the 2019 Exceptional Classified Award: Amanda Brown and Ian Beckett.

The recipients of the 2018-2019 Exceptional Faculty Award, who were announced at Commencement, were recognized again and provided with plaques honoring their achievement.

Dr. Fowler-Hill concluded the event by saying, “It’s an honor to be your interim President this year. You are dedicated, passionate and steadfast in your work to support our students. I have rolled up my sleeves to join you in this work and support you every way I can.”

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley
More photos can be found on Flickr.

As
I celebrate one month at Penguin Nation, I reflect on all that I am learning.
What a great week – immersed in Teaching and Learning Days. This was an
exceptional program and I hope you all had a chance to participate fully. I
enjoyed meeting many of you at the sessions and networking and hearing about
our shared work at Clark College. A shout out to the committee who worked so
hard this past year to organize this exceptional program for all us. We are
grateful for your whole-hearted dedication to Clark. Thank you!

• Judith Hernández Chapar and Vanessa Neal, Co-Chairs
• Nick Farron
• Laurel Tygart
• Degundrea Harris
• Michelle Golder
• Haley Tucker
• Wendé Fisher
• Rashida Willard
• Sue Ann McWatters
• Karen Foster
• Jennifer Ward
• Colleen Butcher
• Kate Ireland
• Michael Brown
• Laura See

I appreciated the variety within the program – a chance to dig into details about new programs and initiatives. Also a deeper dive into power and privilege conversations as we lean into the work of diversity, equity and inclusion. I loved the good advice of our happy-brain expert who reminded me why multi-tasking robs me of my personal energy and how important it is to take time to take care of myself. I choose happiness and hope you do, too. I also heard the knitting session ran out of seats and I’ve seen a few of you with your starter kits, perfecting the knit stitch.

What I think I enjoyed the most was watching everyone interact. It was great serving you at the Ice Cream Social and meeting more staff across the campus. Thank you to the other administrators who took time out to scoop. I look forward to more opportunities to create connections across the college and learn from you. I’m so honored to be a part of this team.

Count down: 72 days

This
is my new weekly countdown: 72 days until the launch of ctcLink. On October 28
Clark College will transfer from the legacy (HP3000) system to PeopleSoft. But
the transition will begin in late September. We need to have all our financial
books balanced before the actual switch. That will impact some of our
activities pertaining to business services and human resources. It will also
impacts class drops, payroll, purchasing and travel.

It
will impact all of us and so knowing the dates and deadlines are going to be
critically important. Here are a few dates for you to review – I think the
October 15 date is especially important for all of us.

MyClark
Dates & Deadlines

• September 27 – Last day to issue fall work-study referrals.
• September 30 – Last day for purchasing. No purchasing in October.
• October 4 – Last Day for submission of travel advance requests.
• October 15 – Time Sheets must be in on time. If you miss the deadline
  we will not be able to write a check. You will be paid with the Nov 10
  pay.
• October 15 – Last day for corrections to winter classes
• October 16 to 31 – No new employees processed. November 1 will be start date.
• October 17 – Last day for student enrollment transactions.
• October 22 – Business Services closes financial books

Thank
you to everyone on the myClark ctcLink team who are doing this important work.
You’ll hear more in the coming weeks about the training sessions so we can all
be ready.

Cybersecurity
– Keeping Clark College safe

Unfortunately one of the community colleges in our state system
has recently been a victim of a ransomware attack. Ransomware is a type of
malicious software that takes over your computer and prevents you from
accessing files until you pay a ransom. Here at Clark, IT Services maintain
controls to help protect and detect malicious activity. But we need your help,
too. Scammers are always trying new tricks to break into the network. Often
they’ll send malicious links or attachments in our emails that look harmless.
Please take a moment and review these safety tips provided by our IT Services:

1. Do not provide sensitive personal information (example: usernames/passwords) over email
2. Watch for senders that use suspicious or misleading domain names
   1. For faculty and staff we use a portion of your name with clark.edu
   2. For students we use students.clark.edu
   3. Be wary of internal emails that do not end with the above
   4. Look for To/From misspelled names and addresses
3. Once you open an email, keep looking for clues
   1. Unrealistic threats or claims of authority demanding you act quickly
   2. Too good to be true offers
   3. Urgency for immediate response or action
   4. Links that point to different locations (hover your mouse over the link to see where it will take you to)
4. If you cannot tell if an email is legitimate or not, you can forward the original email to our cyber security team at phishing@clark.edu
   1. If the email appears to be internal you can also call the sender directly using their phone number from the Clark College published directory
5. Be especially cautions when opening attachments or clicking links if you receive an email containing our banner indicating it originated from an EXTERNAL source
6. Do not click on links or attachments from senders that you do not recognize. Be especially wary of .zip or other compressed or executable file types

If
Something Seems Wrong, Notify IT

• Forward the original email to cyber security team for blocking
  and/or tracking
  • Email to: phishing@clark.edu
• Call the IT Help-Desk at 360-992-2425
• Walk into one of our help desk offices
  • Main campus in go to APH # 203 or library Tech Hub
  • CTC # 240
  • WSUV # 225C
• Create a help desk ticket

Thank you for helping to keep our computing environment safe from these cyber threats we appreciate your support! The risk is all too real, and we can all do our part in prevention. In my short time here, my name has already been phished and included in fake emails requesting my help.

Helping student athletes

I attended my first Clark’s Penguin Nation Golf Tournament this
week, hosted by the Clark College Athletic Department, and it was a success!
With over 100 registered golfers and multiple community sponsors, the
tournament is on track to be one of the most successful in recent years. We’re
still tallying the proceeds, but from what I saw people enjoyed themselves
while knowing they were helping Clark athletes reduce financial barriers.

The Women’s Soccer team held an alumni game on Sunday, August
11. I loved seeing one of the signs made by a young fan: CLARK: Collaborative,
Lightning Fast, Awesome, Rare, and Kick’n Butt. The
game included a large turnout of Penguin alumni and concluded in a 1-1 tie. The
women’s soccer team will be hosting Warner Pacific in a scrimmage Friday,
August 16 at 6:00 p.m. at Kim Christensen field on the main campus. Go
Penguins!

Your generosity

Well
done everyone making the Backpack Project a big success this year! Ninety-seven
children of our Clark College students will have new backpacks and all the
supplies they need for school, thanks to you.

Looking
for another way to help? We’re in the last two weeks of the Penguin Pantry
challenge. They’re looking for new packaged toiletries and school supplies to
benefit our Clark Students. There’s a tasty competition between departments.
The two departments with the largest amount of donated items per employee by
the end of summer quarter will receive a pizza party provided by Papa Johns.
For more information, please contact Estancia Cota at ext. 2100, email penguinpantry@clark.edu or click here.

Kudos
to the Clark College Foundation! Last week at the Foundation Board meeting I
learned they had a banner fundraising year. Donors contributed more than $8
million in gifts and pledges during the fiscal year 2018-2019 for Promising
Pathways: The Campaign for Clark College. The foundation is raising funds for a
variety of initiatives determined by the college including Guiding Pathways,
Advanced Manufacturing, scholarships, Cuisine and Professional Baking and
Pastry Arts, the Veterans Resource Center, and more. To date, Promising
Pathways has secured nearly $22 million of its $35 million goal. You can learn
more about the campaign by visiting www.clarkcollegefoundation.org/campaign. Thank you to our friends
at the foundation for all you do.

Next week

I am continuing my walking and listening tour of CTC, CCW, main
campus, and Boschma Farms to learn more about our Facilities Master Plan for
renovations, capital construction and plans for the future. I look forward to
learning more about our instructional programs and services to students with
several tours that are scheduled next week with the deans. I’ll also be meeting
some great colleagues with whom I have worked with before from the Center of Excellence
for Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing who are expanding to Southwest
Washington. Finally, I’ll be celebrating the one-year anniversary of Career
Launch apprentices at SEH and welcoming a new group of apprentices.

I hope you find time to enjoy this beautiful Northwest summer
and choose happiness!

Sandra

Sandra A. Fowler-Hill, Ed.D.
Interim President

This message was originally sent as an email to all college employees on August 16, 2019

We are moving closer to GoLive with the primary ctcLink technology solution – PeopleSoft – on October 28.

KUDOS

Thank you to the Credentials staff! In early August, they worked with a team from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) ctcLink project to build the rules that allow us to transfer in courses from other institutions into the PeopleSoft database.  When we GoLive, we expect to have over 7,000 transfer-in courses set up in the PeopleSoft databases. This work allows staff to accept electronic and paper transcripts from schools and process them quickly for students.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Teaching and Learning Days offered opportunities to learn more about myClark ctcLink training opportunities, including “ctcLink NEW Orientation Introducing ‘Fluid,'” “What to Expect in PeopleSoft – Student Focus,” and the August 14 keynote address, “What to Expect with MyClark ctcLink.”

The SBCTC is the process of finalizing the training plans and materials for end-user training in PeopleSoft.  (Many of the primary users are receiving training in User Acceptance Testing.)  Most of the end-user training will be available online and many will be offered as a self-paced course. As of today, listed below are the major training categories, schedule, and number of sessions for end-user training. I have included the number of unique training sessions, just to put into context the amount of training time required for some of our colleagues. More to come about this in the next few weeks!

Category of Training	Dates (excluding self-paced courses)	Approximate Number of Different Training Sessions (including self-paced courses)
Campus Solutions Core	September 5 – October 17, 2019	17
Financial Aid	September 3 – October 16, 2019	9
Student Financials	September 3 – October 7, 2019	7
Finance	September 4 – October 16, 2019	21
Human Capital Management	September 3 – October 22, 2019	10

The original version of this message was sent as an email from Associate Vice President of Planning and Effectiveness Shanda Haluapo to all college employees on August 7, 2019.

Many offices and student services at Clark College will be largely closed to the public for a collegewide staff training on Tuesday, August 13 and Wednesday, August 14. Classes will continue as normally scheduled. Additionally, Child & Family Studies (child care), the Clark College Bookstore, all libraries (including Cannell and the iCommons at CTC), and Tutoring Services will remain open. The McClaskey Culinary Institute will remain open with a limited menu. However, most other business offices (including Cashier’s Office, Human Resources, Facilities Services, etc.) and student services (including Advising, Financial Aid, Student Life, etc.) will be closed all day for both days.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee has appointed Jeanne Bennett to the Clark College Board of Trustees. Bennett is the retired CEO of Workforce Southwest Washington, a Vancouver resident, and a longtime community leader.

“I’m so pleased to serve Clark College and the community in this new role,” Bennett said. “I strongly believe in the college’s mission to be in service to the community and helping students achieve their educational and professional goals.”

Bennett will serve in the recently vacated
position left open in May when trustee Royce Pollard stepped down to spend more
time with his family. Bennett will join fellow trustees Jada Rupley, Paul
Speer, Vice Chair Rekah Strong, and Chair Jane Jacobsen.

“This is good news,” said Jacobsen. “We welcome
her to the board. We have important work to do in selecting a new president for
Clark College, and it will be helpful to have her expertise and experience.”

Current
President Bob Knight will retire July 15^th after serving 13 years as
President at Clark College.  Dr. Sandra A. Fowler-Hill has been selected
to serve as interim president for the 2019-2020 academic year. 
Fowler-Hill is a retired college president from Portland Community College. Her
first day is slated for July 15^th.  The interim appointment
provides ample time for the college to conduct a year-long robust search
process for the permanent president.

Clark College has a website detailing the
presidential search process at www.clark.edu/presidential-search.

Bennett’s biography and photo are available upon
request.

The Clark College Board of Trustees voted unanimously tonight to offer the interim college presidency to Dr. Sandra A. Fowler-Hill. 

She
has accepted, pending completion of contract negotiations.  The decision was made at a special board
meeting Tuesday June 25 following a two-month process led by the Board of
Trustees with support from a national search firm. 

The successful
candidate was selected after a series of interviews with faculty, staff,
students, and trustees, as well as a collegewide open forum. “We
received many comments through the process, which were all taken into
consideration as we made our deliberations,” said Trustee Paul Speer. “We had
three excellent candidates and we think Dr. Fowler-Hill will be a tremendous
asset to our college during this year of transition.”

Dr. Sandra A.
Fowler-Hill is an experienced leader in higher education, having served as
President of Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus from 2014 to 2018.
She has also served as Vice President of Instruction at Everett Community
College and Dean for Student Learning at Cascadia Community College. She began
her career at Olympic College, where she worked for 19 years, beginning as
program manager of Women’s Programs, then moving into a tenured faculty position
before being named to the position of Dean for Social Science and Humanities. Since
retiring from PCC Rock Creek, she has served as a consultant for the
Association of Community College Trustees. She earned her bachelor’s degree in
Applied Behavioral Science from George Williams College in Downers Grove,
Illinois; her master’s degree in Human Development Counseling from the
University of Illinois at Springfield; and her doctorate degree in Community
College Leadership from Oregon State University.

Retiring
President Bob Knight will meet with the incoming President to help with the
transition, both before and after his planned retirement date of July 15, 2019.

“We are grateful to Bob Knight for his leadership. This marks
a major milestone in Clark’s history. By appointing an interim president for
the year, the college and the community will have ample time to recruit,
screen, interview and interact with candidates for the permanent position,”
said Speer. “We want this to be a robust, inclusive and transparent process.”

To
read more about the presidential search process and next steps go to www.clark.edu/presidential-search.

About
Clark College

Located
in Vancouver’s Central Park and serving up to 12,000 students per quarter,
Clark College is Southwest Washington’s largest public institution of higher
education. The college currently offers classes at two satellite locations: one
on the Washington State University Vancouver campus and one in the Columbia
Tech Center in East Vancouver. Additionally, its Economic & Community
Development program is housed in the Columbia Bank building in downtown
Vancouver.