Board of Trustees Meeting: June 11th, 2026

Um, okay. I I believe that we will have everybody joining us virtually at some point, but um uh let the minutes reflect that uh currently we have Trusty Bowman and Trusty Extramm and myself, Trusty Swenson, as well as Trusty Johnson. And I believe that Laurian will be joining us shortly. So, we're going to go ahead and get started. Uh today is June 11th, 2026 and this is the Highline College Board of Trustees study session. Uh we have a number of items on the proposed action agenda today. So we're going to just briefly uh take a look at those and figure out um if there's anybody who's leaning towards wanting to um uh put the motions forward. Uh we also have tenure recommendations. So that would mean some reading of names. Um all of the information is online on the shared drive in terms of the motion language. So please take a look there or if you need something emailed, Daniel, could you email? So if you need something emailed, send Danielle a quick note. Um and then we're going to go into discussion around um two topics, tuition waiver and safety management and then presidential recruitment. um uh during which our guest Christopher Dr. Christopher Lee is going to come join us for the conversation. So um just getting to the action items, we have five action items on the agenda and the first is the revision of board chair and vicechair dur terms and duties. And if you'll recall, this was something that we discussed uh in during the last couple meetings um and during which we uh kind of talked at length during the May meeting about the need to update our policies to reflect the policies um uh to bring them in in alignment with the policies at the state level regarding the board chair and vice chair terms and duty. Um, is there anybody who would like to put that motion forward? >> Trusty Bowman, I will. >> Okay, great. Thank you so much. Appreciate that. Um, and is there any other are there any other questions about that piece of things for today? We had a lengthy discussion last time as as well. Okay. Um, so action item B, uh, we do need to talk through a little bit because it's around the board officers and committee assignments for the year. So, is that is that okay? Um, welcome, Lorraine. We're just talking through the action items for the meeting today. Um, so we uh we really need to talk about assignments for all of the different board spots and I'm trying to get on the drive right now to pull those up. Hold on just a second. >> Yeah, if you could, that'd be great. So, we have a number of different positions for the coming year. Um, first is chair and then vice chair, the act representative, the act legislative representative, Highline College Foundation representative, and the Highline College Finance Committee representative. Um, so is there is there anybody who is interested in serving as chair? I'll start with that. Um, in the coming year start that goes into effect July 1st. Okay. So, um I have said that I've indicated I I know that we have some changes in the board coming up and I think that that is disrupting the normal flow of who would be chair next um because of the because of you know decisions around reappoints. And so really because of that and because we're in the middle of a presidential search, I think I've shared with you that I am willing to serve as chair, but I don't want to volunteer that uns. So I'm not seeing anybody jumping out. But raise your hand if that is something that you want to do. Okay? Otherwise, I will say that I will serve another um year in the chair seat. Uh I do think we should be returning to our regular rotation after that. And um Lorraine, I'll I guess I'll put you on the spot for just a second because in the regular rotation, you would come up next. And this does happen fairly this has happened I think for all of us because of the way that appointments are made that you know pretty shortly after joining the board we do end up taking the the vice chair spot and then the chair spot. though if you're open to it, we would love to ask you if you're willing to s serve as vice chair. Um because otherwise I think again because of the reappoint decisions, it would have to rotate back to Jesse and Jesse just came Jesse just served before my term. Um so is that something that you would be open to? >> Yes, absolutely. And good morning everyone. I'm sorry I was a few minutes late. I was getting connected here at work. No problem. Just in time to be volunteered, huh? >> Thank you for that. I I know I I know that we have a lot of confidence in you and you you certainly um understand firsthand how these meetings uh are run, right, the process given your day job as well. So, we have a lot of confidence in you being able to step into the role of vice chair. And thank you. Thank you for that. >> Um >> thank you. was and I guess I'll just ask was there anybody else turning to be vice chair? I I don't think so from prior conversations but just checking. Okay. So, we have four other spots and um would like to ask uh between the others on the board um who would like to fill in these positions and serve in these spots in the coming year. Any preferences here? Okay. Is there an interest in continuing the positions that you have been in at this point? I think Travis, you've been doing finance. Joe, you've been doing ACT. Um, unfortunately, the I've been serving in the Highline Foundation spot, but those meetings unfortunately conflict with another meeting for me. And so, um, I am open to continuing to serve in that spot, but I cannot make all of the meetings. So, is there somebody else that is interested in particular? >> I'm interested. >> What are those meeting days and times? Maybe we can I can attend when you're not a available to or >> Josh are generally the last Wednesday, sorry, the fourth Wednesday of the month. 75% of the time virtual. >> I don't think his microphone is on. >> Sorry. Sorry about that. Um, the Highland College Foundation meetings are the fourth Wednesday of every month. 75% of the time they're virtual and four meetings a year, three to four meetings a year are hybrid where you can be virtual or in person from 8 to 9 or 8 to 9:30. >> That would work with my schedule >> in in the morning. Okay. >> So, are you interested in being the main rep? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Perfect. Jesse, are you able to do ACCT work? >> Yep. Count me in for that. >> Okay. Can we Can we have you serve as both of those? >> Okay. So, you're going to take >> Yes. Yes. You can have me serve. >> Thank you. So, he'll do both of those. I think that there's a lot that cross. Yeah. Cross over there. Oh, sorry. Lorine, did you have a question? >> Okay. And then um finance committee uh Joe or Travis, are either of you interested in serving on finance committee for the duration of your time? >> Let Dr. escape the torture from >> Go ahead, Trusty Bman. >> I I was just uh saying why would we let Dr. Fam escape your torture? >> Yeah. No, I'm happy to continue doing it for the duration of my term. Thanks, >> Joe. Would you like to serve on ACCT either of those committees and continue that at all for for your time? Which which one would you like? >> ACT. >> Okay. Uh Jesse, we'll have we'll have you do ACT legislative and then um we'll have Joe serve with as ACT rep and then there may be a time where we ask you to step into that position if that's okay. Jesse I think he'll be okay with it. >> It take silences. Yes. Okay. Is there anybody that would like to um offer this motion in particular? It will be on the board as well to be read during that time. Okay. Joe Joe's taking it. Taking it. Okay. So, next we have um action item C uh resolution 183-2,26 pertaining to authorization to expend funds. Were there any questions about this action item? language is up on the board and it's really designating um the uh the authority to our interim president is is the main focus there. Okay. Anyone able to do that one or interested in doing that one? >> I'm happy to do it. Chair Swinson, sorry if I missed it. Did we confirm who's doing action item A? >> Joe is doing action item A. Okay, great. Thank you. >> Yeah. Okay. And then we have tenure recommendations. So we have three um off cycle tenure candidates and uh so that will involve reading the names. There are included in the packet are the uh phonetic um spelling of the name for pronunciation. Uh is there anybody that's interested in putting those forward? I'm always happy to navigate through these. This is a lot easier this cycle with only three. So, >> great. >> That's helpful. >> And we should, you know, we should be getting I don't know how many people have signed up on public comment at this point. So, we should be getting through these right at the top of the meeting. I know that um Trustee Johnson and Trusty um Sasherie have to leave a little early today, but we should be getting through these for the vote right at the top of the meeting. And then the last item is action item E, which is the approval of the 202627 SNA budget. >> Is there anybody? >> Okay, be happy to move that forward. >> Thank you so much. All right. Okay, so that does it for our action items. That seemed like a a busy set of action items. um breath, but thank you. Thank you all for that. Um and now I'd like to move us into discussion. The first item on the agenda is employee tuition waiver and safety management fees. So I'll talk I'll pass it over to Dr. Palm for that update. >> Yeah. Oh, that might be too small to Yeah, good morning uh our trustees and and good morning uh everyone. Uh so what what we are projecting on screen right now is our Washington state community. This is our entire system uh tuition uh and fee rate. Well, I shouldn't say fee rate comparison, but but uh what you're seeing up there is basic. What I'm really trying to show is uh if you look at uh uh there's like uh our tuition fee or what we call operating uh fee will include uh the tuition portion of the uh of of of the rate. And then we have the building fee. And then we have the SNA fees. And those three items would make up what we call tuition for uh for for a typical community college student here in uh in in in in Washington. And uh within the confine of that uh the state of Washington also allows uh for uh employees employees state Washington state employeees who are at least have time or more to be able to sign up for um uh for a state funded course or or classes on a space available basis. And essentially that would allow for the institution to wave these three uh lines of fees that you are seeing right up on the screen right here. Obviously uh or maybe it's not that obvious but uh uh there are other fees that a typical student uh uh uh may may have to incur including technology including uh we here we have a comprehensive safety uh management fee here at Highline College. um uh where uh as a uh any credited student would need it to pay and then in in in return the college provides a uh a basically a free parking permit or uh if they are not parking or not driving then they would be eligible for a subsidy of our aapas. Uh uh so that is where we are with this particular uh um um issue or particular topic that was brought up a couple uh meetings ago by an employee here who um who who is an employee who uh let me just backtrack just one step. So uh differently from our students employees do have to pay for parking separately. There's no comprehensive uh safety management fee for for for employees. Uh if an employee e would like to drive and park on campus and then they have to sign up to pay for for parking. Uh it's not it it is not a requirement by the way. So uh employees uh uh may choose to not drive and not have to pay the parking fee. uh for this particular uh topic that we are talking about the employee sign up for uh a credited course and therefore um aside from from from those waiverss that you from those lines of of tuition and and fees up there uh uh the employee was charged the safety uh uh um management fee which in turn allows that employee to get a free parking. So, so I I believe that is where the the uh the the issue came in is that the employee was asking why would he uh I guess why would he need another parking uh uh but then I think that escalated beyond uh the the topic. We uh also looked at uh some of the I mean it was Tim who did the uh the the research for for most of this. We look at some of the other comprehensive fees uh um uh uh in our system uh peers for example uh that does not wave uh any kind of compreh comprehensive uh fees. Tacoma similarly uh Green River doesn't have uh doesn't seem to have a similar fee uh but they only wave uh the students uh the the the student service fee and metriculation fee on on employee waiver only. South Seattle uh does not wave uh the their their transportation fee and and also Renon uh uh does not do that. Um and also uh I mean this is not not to kick the >> I I wanted to ask just a quick question because I I'm trying to make sure I understand what the basis of it was. Did the question come when the employee was kind of moving in and out of taking classes themselves and they that's when the changes were occurring or >> Yeah. First of all, >> what was the impetus, you know, that they where they saw the change? >> Yeah. Um, so first of all, I want to give credit to one of my staff. I didn't do the research. Jill Hammet, my business analyst, did the research. She's an expert in in the system. Um, it came up when an employee was taking a class and used the employee waiver and then noticed they were getting charged and questioned what they perceived as a duplication of their employee parking charges and >> Okay. students. >> Yep. Um, and and I had Jill looking into this because if we are to do a waiver like this, it is a a request to the state board for a configuration change which requires board approval for waiverss, which is why we're talking about it here. >> Got it. Yep. So yeah, thank you Tim for for for it. So essentially speaking, aside from this particular waiver that is authorized by the state law, all of the other waiverss are actually uh at the board's uh uh authority here which which we uh uh doesn't have uh which we don't have uh uh at at which you know public safety doesn't have at that time. Um uh however we did allow for the employee to cancel his parking permit for that quarter and then then then just pay the uh the uh the safety management fee and in return getting a parking permit. Um uh I have to give the employee uh uh uh themselves a lot of credit here for actually digging a lot more into uh into the uh the request. And um uh at at at one point basically the employee was really trying to uh argue that why you know like that that such comprehensive fee is not a spatial fee therefore should qualify under the the state uh uh waiver. again but very specifically the language does not allow that because um not all of the colleges within our system has uh uh have uh a safety trans uh transfer safety management therefore it is not part of that what the uh state board uh is is authorizing. So again it just uh we that this this topic came up and we just really wanted to uh to make sure that we loop back so you have a full understanding of of how that came about. Um uh uh as I mentioned, we did allow for the employee to to cancel the parking permit for that that particular quarter and um uh uh we have hope that it would resolve the issue. uh uh but I think uh this is probably more I I believe from the employees perspective this is kind of like more the principle in in trying to think what what he or she thinks that should be a a part of the waiver and not what is this in practice. >> So so would we have a general policy on the staff side of things to wave when these situations arose and we were aware of it in that case? uh we we we don't have right now because because waiverss is uh all your authority which means that if we were to do this we would have to come to you uh during the event you're doing like uh our budget planning coming up but our final budget which we always include all of the waiverss that are we requesting in there and and you would have to authorize such a waiver. >> Are there other questions? Okay. Excuse me. So, um, no action planned at the moment, Dr. FOM, or is there something coming down? >> Uh, uh, I I don't have any, uh, uh, uh, um, action plan right now. I noticed that I believe the employee is on on the screen as well. Oh. Oh, a student. Okay. So um so so therefore we uh we are not able to uh to make any more comments at this time. >> Yeah, I am here if you can all hear me. I don't know. >> Okay, >> I am the employee that made that request initially. >> Okay. Well, we appreciate the update on that and um you know, we'll just ask to keep us, you know, in the loop as as continue to consider whether or not that's something we want to take a closer look at. Okay. Um I'm going to move us there's no other questions at this time. I'm going to move us on to the presidential recruitment conversation and welcome our guest, uh Dr. Christopher Lee. Please come join us. Good morning everyone. It's the chair's prerogative of how I uh proceed. Um we're just going to go over the agenda as we talked about. >> Great. >> Okay. So um my pleasure to be uh with you all. I think uh many of us will have some um additional meetings to get to know one another and that sort of thing. Uh so we'll just kind of jump right in. First I want to introduce my colleagues who are on with me. Uh Beth McCarthy uh and and Mark Alligan. Uh say you can say hello I guess. Good morning. >> Hi everybody. Greetings from Virginia. >> Hello. >> Greetings from Philadelphia. Nice to be with you all. >> All right. So great. So, we we also have another uh uh team member who's uh not on with us as well. We've been working with a team of your uh uh folks uh in the past few weeks kind of getting oriented. After this meeting this morning, we will be having a search committee meeting uh to get further uh kind of oriented uh to build the foundation for uh the search ahead. So, uh lots to do uh lots to accomplish, but I think we're off to a good start. You've seen the communications that have been shared with the campus. we're going to build a a presidential website that'll have information, you know, for the community uh as as things kind of go along. So, this morning, what I want to do was to share kind of a little bit about process, a little bit about timeline, and uh and a way of doing that is to share with you the agenda that we're going to use for the uh search committee later because that's exactly what it's about, right? the group will get together and we'll be talking about uh the process ahead and how we'll conduct things. So, I have two handouts here for you uh and it'll be the timeline and the uh committee's um uh agenda for the day. So, I'll just pass these out. Uh it's two pages and there'll be a few extra ones extra ones. We're going to start with the second page there. Proposed search timeline. Okay. Oh, start at the same end. Start at this end. Thank you. All right. Okay. Um, so as you see, we're here in June. Uh, Storbeck hosts listening sessions. We have maybe a dozen sessions scheduled. Uh, not exactly sure. Obviously, we had a few uh a few yesterday uh with uh uh folks and we have a few more today. Uh then on Monday, I think we have probably I think we have eight scheduled for uh for Monday. So, and then we'll have some individual meetings uh as necessary as well. Our you know part of the process is getting to know the candidate, learning what the community desires and that next leader uh looking at the challenges and opportunities before the college and then all this information will be distilled down to allow us to de develop a uh position profile which we will become one of our anchors for the process. uh we'll try to articulate as best as possible uh the the college kind of context uh its directions its aspirations and that sort of thing and then we'll go and try to find uh capable leaders who uh can meet those challenges and opportunities. So that's really uh the process of uh the listening sessions. Obviously this morning after my presentation we'll ask you for your kind of opinions as well as a board if you have any other thoughts to to offer. In addition to the listening sessions obviously we have the uh not the website but the survey uh which uh I think as of uh the time I jumped on a plane sometime on Tuesday uh you know 85 or so uh folks had responded. It was a very good response. uh Monday we had listening session the first listening session I think we had uh about 50 people on that call you know uh and then we also had members of your foundation board uh in a meeting on Monday so we're getting uh good feedback good information in the appropriate volume uh next week we hope to have a a draft profile that we'll share with our uh coordinating committee uh and soon after we will be jumping we're launching the process and jumping into the marketplace. We'll spend the summer, you know, uh, looking for candidates. We've already done some research to kind of get ourselves started. And then, you know, the committee will have a series of meetings today over the summer, late summer, uh, as we're recruiting and uh, and screening and that sort of thing. And then early fall, we'll start the decision- making process. That decision-m process will be multi-tered. Uh that process essentially looks something like uh obviously storebeck will recruit, screen and evaluate uh candidates based upon the standard will then offer uh to uh the committee folks who are worthy of your attention time and attention. Committee will then select from of those folks that uh people who want to talk to. We'll talk to some of those folks uh via via video. Then we'll decide who we want to see in person and then we'll come back to town and we'll have a group of folks that we'll meet uh in person because there's no such you know nothing better than you know you being in one's presence right there's no substitute for that. And then after that we will select an even smaller group and those folks will be introduced to the campus uh for a more fully a full vetting process from representatives from throughout uh the community. That should yield uh a great leader at the end of the process. So that's a quick overview and timeline of what we're working on and I'll stop there to see if you have any questions or thoughts. So, I'll I'll open it up for any questions about kind of the process to this point. Um, just as a reminder, the the search subcommittee kind of as we call it um is made up of myself, trusty Bowman, um Dr. uh Dr. Dr. Mennez, and Melanie, who's on the line. So, the four of us have been um meeting very regularly. We're becoming very good pals. Um we see we we meet once a week at least and uh you know through that process um you know went through a thorough uh vetting process for the consultants themselves I think that I mentioned that last month but um now we've been getting heavy into the planning of it and so we've laid out a pretty aggressive timeline I think we would say um and we uh really appreciate the the work of Chris and his team as well as Dr. and um and BP Lawson because they have really quickly gotten up and deployed the conversations and the invitations on campus. So, I just want to um take a moment to give my gratitude to all of them for making that happen very quickly because we we the way that it lined up. We really had to get information out the door and invitations to the listening sessions done before uh you know before people were gone for the summer and and you know with graduation and finals and everything else. um that that can be a very tight timeline, but we were able to do that and um much credit goes to those folks for for getting that all aligned in order to inform um the profile and get the the process moving quickly. So, thank you for that. Um and then I would just ask, yeah, are there questions about the process to this point from anybody? We'll take questions right uh the staff or the board. Okay, ask questions. >> Testy Bowman is gonna >> I don't I don't actually have a question, but just in keep in full transparency, just a comment um that that particular team went through a extensive vetting process to land at DSG and they have they're very successful. They have a track record that I feel worthy of our process. So I I just want you to know there's there was 12 or 13 others uh potentially that were uh available but through the process they were selected say that. Thank you. >> But uh we're here to answer your questions. So uh we want to make sure that as leaders you have a full kind of context and understanding. We have a couple more items to cover because I'm going to assume that we're stakeholders. your big stakeholders and you know uh your your confidence in the process is really important. Others may ask you questions and we'll talk about the guard rails on on discussion uh discussing the process uh in a moment but still for leaders we just want to make sure that you're comfortable and you're confident in what we're up to uh the timeline we're working on and things of that sort. So please take the opportunity of uh asking questions of of our team. >> Yes ma'am. It may be helpful just to share the executive cabinet has our own session scheduled for 3 pm this afternoon. So half of us you probably won't hear from right now. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yes. I'm sure it's a it's a much more of a board opportunity now. Uh but you know >> if I could if I could leaders >> if I could just ask a clarification because if I'm understanding the session we have this afternoon would be you actually asking us questions to help build out the profile versus a discussion about process. >> Uh or is it both? >> Correct. But we can cover both. >> So if you have any process questions, you can certainly ask them here Josh. But yeah, that's my benefit as well. >> The session that you're having is the same that other stakeholders around. >> Right. That's why I was trying to ask that clarification because I think this is a good time to be able to ask process questions >> so that later you can get your full agenda >> going. So I do have a couple process questions. So uh the team that I work with manages our website. Yep. And I know that we were going to want to build out the there's a a presidential search page that we want again we're going to want to get built out as soon as possible. >> Um they have they have the ability to create the you know the framework um for that but they need to know who they're getting content from or where they're or where they need where they're in charge of the content or where they're getting content from. So >> yes. So uh Melan I haven't offered you already. Yeah, Marbel and I have been feeding the content so far. We've already got some stuff up there. >> Well, so those are two different pages. There's a So, right now there's a page in internally just about what what's happening, but that's not the actual search. That's not the public presidential search process that we've been requested to work on. So, I we can talk offline. I just I'm trying to bring that up that there's some u additional direction that will be needed for the team to work on. And we have some templates, you know, from others uh other organizations and what most people like to put on the web so that the public and the community can see what's going on. So, uh uh you know, uh we'll get that over to you this afternoon. >> Great. >> Other questions about process? Good question. >> I have a question. >> Yeah, please. >> Hi. Um good morning and I'm sorry if I'm asking this. I'm the newest trustee and I'm just kind of going through Thank you for um Beth for placing it uh the timeline in the chat uh for us that are joining remotely. Um I wondered what does it look like when you collect information from these focus sessions like how is that going to be collected and presented to the trustees? uh we had not anticipated uh uh presenting that to the trustees. We assumed that that would be presented to our kind of coordinating group uh a summary of that and then of course that's distilled down into a profile. So prerogative of the chair if it's uh uh shared wider. >> So the themes taken from that Lorraine are what they will use to inform the profile which will be certainly shared more broadly. uh Joe and I have been kind of deputized by the board to represent the board in that process. But if there are questions about themes, you know, happy, you know, I'm happy to have conversations and share that information with trustees that are interested about the theme, you know, around the themes that come out of those conversations. Yeah. So, I'm I'm happy to have any conversations that would be helpful for you to come understand that. Um but we would expect that that the things that do um rise as as um you know qualities and priorities are going to be um integrated into the job profile itself. >> Uh yeah and uh I'll say this later as we talk about uh more things but these processes you're always balancing uh transparency and confidentiality. Uh but I do want to say those themes uh there should be no secret about those because those are the exact things that we want to address uh and use as uh recruiting uh information uh to paint paint a realistic and optimistic view of the opportunities and challenges. >> I have another question. So um when prior to the interviews, what does the process look like for determining the questions that will be uh posed to the candidates? >> Um if we're well the committee will determine that uh but if we're following a classic model, we will be using all of the things we just talked about as guides. you know, we'll we will uh from the listening sessions, the charge from our chair uh and other information uh be really pretty linear in saying these are the top three to five priorities of the institution. Here's the culture, values, and ethos of the enterprise and these are the kind of things we want to see in our leader. We're going to track those things whether they're in the profile or not. And we're going to systematically use that to guide how we recruit, select, evaluate, uh, you know, candidates along the way. So, the questions will be, you know, not generic. They'll be hopefully tied to the things that your community thinks uh is important. >> Thank you. >> And if you have suggestions, you know, we'll, you know, we can certainly we'll take those as well. And there will be multiple opportunities for board members to, you know, have input into the process. So if you have uh something that you want to ensure uh uh is included, we will certainly incorporate that. >> Yeah. And and I would say again um Joe and I u serving as the reps to the to the um committee process. We are happy to take information from any of you that you want to send us as well to put forward in the conversation. Lorine um I I think that is important just to make sure that you know we're the kind of the open link to this whole process. So, if you've got questions or comments or anything that comes up, um, you can feel free to reach out to to Joe or I at any point to make sure that we're bringing that into the conversation. So, that that is what, you know, that's part of our job as as representing the board in the process both on this the subcommittee and the search committee. So, um, happy to to take all of that feedback and make sure that we um that we, you know, lift that up to the conversations. >> Great. And is that something that I would just email to you, chair, on? >> Yeah, you can you can email me. Yep. >> Thank you, >> madam. As well as uh if you have if you if you desire, especially as a board member, be happy to meet with you uh uh individually as well. Uh that's perfectly appropriate and you know, we we're used to uh ensuring that our trustees are fully engaged and have all their issues uh and questions addressed. >> Yeah. Part of our interest today though is is to be able to say to you all and and maybe uh Dr. Lee, I don't know if you have some prompt questions we're going to go through, but if there are things that you want, you know, if there are qualities that you want to raise today and talk about, we wanted to allow for that conversation to happen. You can certainly, you know, we certainly offer um Chris and the team for individual conversations, but if if there's anything that you do want to discuss in terms of the um qualities or skills that would involve the profile that you want to, you know, bring up today, we you know, this is this is absolutely a time that you are free to do it as well. Chair Swinson, could I ask one question on on kind of process and and capabilities of the firm. Um, it it's nice to meet you and thank you uh and the team for supporting this this critically important process. I think you know question I would have and obviously just getting introduced to you now is you know does your firm have any conflicts related to prior searches or ongoing relationships with placed candidates that create you know are there kind of offlimits institutions or candidates that you can't reach out to as part of this search process that that we should be aware of as a board basically areas uh the candidate pool we won't be able to evaluate uh every firm will have some of that but I I I am not aware of any that would be pertinent for this search. Okay. And uh even if that were the case uh you know we also do uh advertising and if candidates reach out to us you know then they're within limits but >> we we don't see any uh at present u that that that makes a difference for the what we're assuming with our research so far uh uh would be in scope for for for highlight. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Travis. I would also just add that we will work with our search committee to assist with anybody that we're not allowed to contact. For instance, if they're nominated, we can't go after them if they're off limits to us, but you all can. So, we will work closely with the committee on any issues like that that arise. >> Yeah, that's helpful. I I just, you know, imagine given the range of your work that that's a theoretical scenario we could encounter, right? We obviously want to get the best possible candidate regardless of any conflicts that may exist. So understanding mechanically how that would work is helpful. >> Thank you. >> Great questions. Keep them coming. >> Um, >> go ahead, Lorraine. >> Yes. Thank you. Um, so actually Trusty Bowman and I, we both attended the spring conference for the Washington State Association of College Trustees. Um and there was the president of the National Association of um co uh community college trustees. And something that I learned that um you know I took away from that with you know because they had a session focused on presidential searches is is that um traditionally the kind of longevity of um a president at a community college within the 7 to 8year range and that they have noticed a trend that it's actually shrinking down to three to four years um just due to kind of unprecedented challenges um and so forth. So, you know, I I say all of that because I I'm, you know, really kind of, you know, interested in learning kind of like what kind of strategies as far as kind of like the most longevity, but also support for whoever is the new president. And um something that someone in that meeting brought up that they offered to theirs was having it access to an executive coach. um as a benefit of just somebody externally that they could you know have as far as like um you know a source of you know confidence and just kind of navigating any challenges and feedback. And so Trusty Bowman and I, we both looked at each other at the same time, you know, when that came up. And so I just wanted to kind of throw that out there. Um that, you know, I think as you know, board were really interested in kind of, you know, as longevity and, you know, support whatever kind of structures in place um for the new president. >> Yes. Uh very astute question. Uh it has multiple layers. I'll try to make sure I cover it all and I'll ask my colleagues to jump in on anything I miss I'll miss miss. First I want to do just little braggadocio on our on our organization. Uh I think we as an organization in our proposal highlight some statistics that basically say that people we place tend to stay in place a little longer than the national average. So I want to note that. Uh second of all uh the a the American Council on Education does a study about every five to six years on the American College Presidency and they really have the best database on uh these kinds of matters. The national average is 5.9 that's gone down steadily over the past uh kind of 30 years 35 years. But community colleges or two-year institutions uh it's 5.4 four I think I think that's when I you know looked at that uh uh uh data uh uh uh last so we're very aware of what you're saying as important I'll note that you know prior to me uh doing uh executive search I was chief H officer for a number of institutions uh and the longest over my uh 30-year tenure was uh 13 years with the Virginia Community Cod system uh in that in that system I had the great fortune of doing about 30 to 35 presidential searches, you know, over that 10 years was a 23 college system and I had one client. That client was the chancellor. Uh and then as a chief HR officer, I had to live with that client. So unlike here, right? It's like if we're successful presidential search, then great. But if it's unsuccessful, we only had two that I would I would regard as unsuccessful or, you know, not as good as you would want to be. We still had to support that leader. So early on we figured out that hey it's in our best interest to do a better job. So what we developed was about four or five different things that we got better over time ensuring that we were getting our leaders off to a good start and providing them with support. So we have a few of those things in our hip pocket ma'am that we will do uh with with the uh with the college to ensure you're successful. So at the end of the process uh as we're starting to identify uh the finalists then I'll start working with the board and talk about an executive transition team. Very very important part of the process and that's usually to once a person is identified till about at least six months in we have a committee of folks who are designed to help orient that person to the college uh you know to the job as well as the community. So that's one element. Executive coach is another one of those elements. So, we'll certainly be recommending to the uh to the board to hire an executive coach for at least a year uh along that process. And then we have a couple other things that that we do as well. Uh that's some opportunities for psychometrics and other things of that sort to help uh you as a board understand that person's strengths, you know, and proclivities. That way you can work on the developmental items that's associated with um how leaders lead. So, lots of opportunity uh to support the new leader uh and we are wedded to that person's success as as much as you and we'll do everything we can to ensure ensure that. >> So, Beth or Mark, either of you uh have any other comments to add to that. >> It's music to my ears that you all are thinking about it. >> Yeah, I I do think it's a really important question for us to be asking, right? And especially as we get to the board round of interviews to to ask them, you know, uh what what are your expectations as an individual once you get to the college and what are your hopes for us supporting those kinds of needs? because it, you know, um it would be good to know if there's any trepidation or hesitation um at the lack of those types of resources if they perceive there to not be that resource available or whether or not it actually would put any candidates over the line, which it could very well be one of those things that when they feel supported coming into a brand new place, it feels it feels very um comfortable, right? >> Absolutely. and savvy candidates will ask the question Lorraine. They'll ask questions of us uh uh about the board. Tell me about the board. Tell me about board support etc etc. So very fact that you're asking that question as Beth said is a really good indicator for us. >> Yes ma'am. >> Thank you so much. Um, I have a question as far as the um nationwide um millu of presidential candidates. Um, what what's it like right now? >> Just curious. >> Uh, well um it's hard to uh state or overstate their the patterns today postco are just different. That's the way I like to describe it, right? You know, there's been patterns over time and postcoid it's a little different. today is a little more challenging to entice people into the marketplace. You know, you might have seen seen that in all your regular hires, right? People are more likely to stay their organizations longer, organizations, you know, below the presidential level. Uh, you know, they counter often more, you know, counter offer more often and things like that or whatever. Uh but uh I don't think that's something to necessarily be concerned about because that's why you've engaged us and you know we we're going to look for not a large number of candidates but the right candidates right I think the methodologies you know prior used to be we're going to you know volume was a a indicator of quality we don't necessarily subscribe to that view we subscribe to getting our aperture right at the beginning of the process and finding people who are highline We'll find candidates. That's easy, right? You know, uh, you know, as Dr. Penn knows, we're going to go to the Aspen folks, right? Aspen produces great leaders. There's a Lake Institute. There's a whole lot of places we know to find lead. Not going to be looking for just any leaders. We're going to be looking for leaders who speak specifically to the type of things that are important to you, right? And so, I think that is the uh uh, you know, probably the the greater uh uh standard to to be concerned. Great questions. So, in the interest of time, I want to make sure I want to cover one important thing on the search committee thing. It talks about confidentiality, but it's actually code of conduct and confidentiality kind of process and that includes folks in this room. So, our website will be our official repository for search information. uh and we ask that people refer uh uh questions to us, you know, the the email address that's at the bottom of that agenda or the board chair, you know, which the search committee chair, we shouldn't have anyone quote speaking for the college or speaking for the process because things kind of get out of hand. And I know as leaders people might be asking you questions and usually the best answer to those questions is everything's proceeding along you know accordingly and well right you know anything else probably should be referred because little things matter and big things matter as an example I'm going to assume you have colleagues throughout the state who might be candidates or you know someone who knows someone and if Danielle's having you know a conversation with a colleague at Peninsula college, you know, and she says, "Oh, yeah, interviews, I think they're next week, right? Someone who's a friend of somebody who didn't get information from us that they might be a candidate, mean you know, uh, you know, uh, you know, a semi- finalist or or get an interview would know that they weren't selected." So things like that, you know, and I can give you many other examples, but I just want to say as leaders, we want you to also help police the process. If you hear people saying things about the process that did not come from the website that we refocus folks, right? This is the official repository of information. We will be communicating with the comm community community often putting information there and you will help us to preserve the integrity of the process by ensuring everyone is singing from the same sheet of music. So I just want to make sure that that is important uh and that you know we all kind of play by those uh kind of rules. I think it it helps the integrity of the process. >> And just to note we we actually are okay on time. Our general session doesn't start till a little bit later today. So we can we don't have to rush through things. Um, but I would just note again if there are, you know, if there are questions that trustees get, you can be reaching out to Joe and I. We, everything is done by committee quite frankly. I mean, you know, we have a really great support team here. And so um even things like the notifications around the listening sessions, right? That comes out from the board of trustees and me as the chair of the search, but that is all of those communications are really being coordinated and vetted by the the whole subcommittee. So it it is very much a collaborative process and we're checking in with folks before we're putting out any public message. It's not even just, you know, me as the chair of the search, right? It is very much a collaboration on messaging that's sent out. But we're trying to be very thoughtful and intentional about that. >> Yes. And uh similar to that notion of knowing people, we assume that you all may know some people who might be great candidates. Uh someone who's a colleague, former colleague, someone you saw uh present at a conference or scholar who has you know uh great uh you know writing and uh publications and presentations. So our job is to follow up on those. So all you have to do is simply send an email to us at that email address and say you know uh you know Hector Gonzalez or Paul Smith or whomever someone that you ran into and you know may have known uh uh in your career u and then we will chase those folks up and try to have a conversation with them and to again entice them to consider this opportunity. So your nominations are important. So uh nominations of people, places as well as organizations. We you know we have a you know great network but we don't have a network of every individual on the planet. So it may be an association or an affinity group right? It could be an affinity group of Native American you know administrators in the Pacific Northwest. We may not know about that organization but you might. So you know if you introduce us to that organization we'll try to plug into that network to find candidates. So that's a part of the process and in this room more than any that really matters. So we hopeful that you'll take ush to heart on the idea of nominating uh great candidates. Beth Mark um other than getting the feedback from this group uh what else do we should we uh be covering here? I just put the search email in the chat. So, that's a great place to email questions and nominations or suggested organizations. Um, and we will follow up on that. >> Thanks. Thanks, Dr. Lee, Beth, and Mark for that. Um, I one other question. Um, you know, Dr. I think you mentioned some, you know, prior experience by DSG or perhaps storebeck specifically about failed presidential searches and um I guess I'd be curious, you know, doing some kind of due diligence in the background here. It looks like there have been prior searches where there was information about no confidence faculty votes against candidates who were put forth by DSG that led to failed search processes. I would just be curious kind of what you've learned from those experiences and how that might help guide uh the search that you would be performing for for Highline College. Again, we want this to be as effective and expedient as possible. Certainly don't want to find ourselves in a similar situation. >> Yeah, I think I I think I I I know the uh the case that you're speaking of and it it happened prior to my uh time with DSG. That was a rare thing and in a public meeting I wouldn't want to speak to that one. That has a whole lot of backstory that that would be worthy of conversation if you would like to talk about that uh you know kind of offline. >> And I I would just add too we have um pretty systematic way of starting to check into those things along the way. And a vote of no confidence is an opinion. um and we have a lot of differing opinions between administrators and faculty these days. So I think we do we can't hold that we we certainly bring it to the attention and investigate but um and obviously in in an instance or two that does surface real stuff that's an issue um but we will dig in deeply. So um you know that's that's part of it is to uncover those things. those aren't secrets that we won't find out along the way um that we'll we'll dig in on. >> Right. So, so that that was part A, you know, of of the answer of that particular thing. Um uh but part B is our vetting process. Uh and it's pretty substantial. We'll work with the uh you know executive committee to talk about the layers and the different types of uh kind of follow through and vetting processes that are available today. There are multitudinal things that can be done. We have a negative press and social media um u um service that that that we use. we can do uh checking people's uh intellectual uh you know uh output their dissertations and publications and uh things of that sort. So um the opportunities to be thorough are more as the internet age uh uh kind of evolves. So, uh, we'll definitely be thorough multi-dimensional and multi-tiered vetting process and more scrutiny as a process goes along. >> Great. Thank you. >> Reference calls are a big part of the services that we provide. So, we'll we'll be speaking to references for each of each of the of the finalists uh in the search. >> Yeah. And sometimes uh you know uh you know to to get to your issue Travis sometimes to increase confidence we often will have members of the search committee. So for example if you really want to say for example you have a great candidate uh members of the search committee you know particularly board members sometimes will say hey I I want to talk to that chancellor DSG can certainly you know do that reference check but I would like to be involved in that process. So we'll we'll we we have that option as well. But the point is that multi-dimensional multi-tered more scrutiny as the process goes along we will be doing an initial check before we ever present candidates to the college. Uh after the first kind of you know acknowledgement that we want to talk to this person uh uh further in person we'll do a process. Then we get down to the final you know one or two candidates. We're going to do a third, you know, sort uh uh level uh process to be as thorough as possible in vetting candidates. >> I have a question. Um in addition to the references um you know and and uh the work that's available you know that can be seen online is there ever any kind of collection of like information from actually speaking to the community members whether staff or students of the existing institution that they serve at to kind of gauge you know um the leadership style and Yes. Uh we normally do that in the in the reference checking process. Uh some universities have that protocol. We can do that on your behalf as well uh to kind of get off the reference list and go go wider. Uh again, we can go as deep as as as you as you desire, but um you know uh yeah, we can go as deep as you desire, but we all but we follow legal guidelines, right? We get their permission before we do that, right? one of the uh old school liability uh laden processes in higher ed. Uh I can recall when I worked at uh college up in Maine, you know, 20 plus years ago, we had a search and a faculty member sent out a note to the campus entire campus and said, "Oh, you know, Jane Smith, she's, you know, she's applying for XYZ jobs. She's worked at these institutions. Does anybody know anybody at any of these places?" Because we want to call them. And then I as a chief H officer had to send an email afterwards said don't do that call me first. You know what I'm saying? Like you know so uh we know those patterns kind of exist but uh uh the point is that we are sensitive to the things that you're that you're uh describing and we'll be appropriately detailed uh to the degree u uh that you would like us to be knowing that there's no such thing as a zero margin of error dealing with human beings. Right? So we'll do as much as as as you would like us to do. >> Thank you. >> Other questions or comments? >> And again, just as a reminder, um every the trustees are all welcome to have uh some additional conversations here, especially leading up to the um profile building. So if there is input that you'd like to um share with uh with Dr. Lee and his team, we would ask that you do reach out to do that very soon because all of these meetings are happening now and they are going to be very quickly after the conclusion of those listening sessions crafting a profile and a draft. So that you know we're moving on a very quick time schedule um efficient time schedule I'll say. So if you're interested in in informing that piece of things, please do reach out uh you know this week and let us know that you want to have a conversation. >> Okay. >> Well, we look forward to working with you all. Thank you for allowing me to be with you. Please do not hesitate to reach out. That email uh on the uh agenda uh is best because it comes to me and the entire team. Uh so uh again, we look forward to working with you. Thank you. Thanks for for being here with us today and and uh to the team as well and appreciate you being here on campus as well for for our conversations. Uh so that is the end of our study session agenda. Um just a a note that we uh we have general session starting at 11 today. So there's a bit of a break here and then we have general session 11. Um, I understand uh that um Trustee Sasha, you'll be here for a portion of that. Is that still the case? >> That's correct. I have a hard stop at 11:30 due to a work event and >> Got it. >> media interview. >> Okay, thank you. And then I think that Trustee Johnson, you were not able to join us for general session today. Correct. I think that's right. He said earlier. So, um, we'll see you all at 11, but with that, we'll bring our study session to a close. Uh the meeting is a joke. I think we'll just give it one more minute uh to let our trustees join. Uh, I think we're expecting Trusty Sasher to join us here shortly. Okay, everybody. Uh, we're going to go ahead and get going. Um, welcome to our, uh, June, sorry, it's June, June 11th, 2026 general session of the Highline Board of Trustees. Um, I'm gonna Okay, everybody's on. So, let the minutes reflect that we have trustes Extramm, Trusty Sasher, Trusty Bowman, and myself, Trusty Swenson here present. Uh, Trusty Johnson was unable to make the general session today, but was at the study session. And at this time, I'd like to go ahead and call for the approval of the minutes. Is there a motion? >> So move. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed with nay, please? And no abstensions. Okay. The minutes are approved. We also uh would like to approve the minutes of the regularly scheduled meeting. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't say that at the top. That was for the regularly scheduled meeting of May 21st, 2026. And now we're going to open the floor for our public comment. I believe that we do have one person signed up. >> Yes, thank you, Chair Swinson. Um, do we have a Sonia Jennings? Okay, moving forward. >> Okay, we will then go ahead and get into recommended actions for our meeting. We have five action items and I'm going to start with action item A. Uh the revision of board chair and vice chair terms and duties. Is there a motion? >> Madam chair, I move that the board of trustees revise the roles of the chair and the vice chair as follows. Uh to aligning with the updated draft terms of service and current board practices. Revised role of chair. Bullet 12 to read as subject to board approval, the chair or the chair's designate shall serve as the board's primary representative in leading negotiations related to the president's contract review and renewal process in collaboration with the full board. Add new role of chair. Bullet 14 to read as the chair in partnership with the vice chair shall support the onboarding of newly appointed trustees and may serve as a mentor to new trustees for up to six months. Revised role of vice chair bullet two to read. The vice chair appointment shall serve a term of one year commencing in July. Each year vice chair may be reelected up to three success success successive do that 10 times fast. one-year terms and will be and will rotate consecutively through each sitting board member. Revised role of chair bullet three to read the vice chair in partnership with the chair shall support the onboarding of new newly appointed trustees and may serve as a mentor to new trustees for up to six months. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Trusty Extramm. Is there any discussion? Okay, I'll call the question. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Any oppose with nay? And there are no abstensions. Thank you so much. Action item B, the 2026 27 board officers and committee assignments. Is there a motion? Madam Chair, I move that the following Highline College Board of Trustees committee member assignments for the 2026 2027 academic year be approved effective July 1, 2026. Chairperson, Trustee Swinson, Vice Chairperson, Trustee Satchery, ACT Representative Trustee Bowman, ACT Legislative Representative, Trustee Johnson, Highline College Foundation Representative, Trustee Satchery, Highline College Finance Committee Representative Trustee Extra. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Okay, I will call the question. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. >> I >> I. >> Any opposed by saying nay. And there are no abstensions. Action item B is passed. Action item C, resolution 183-2026 pertaining to authorization to expend funds. Is there a motion? Yes, Madam Chair, and I'm just reopening it because I accidentally closed it. >> Okay. Whereas the new fiscal year will begin July 1st, 2026. And whereas a final determination of the budget may not be made prior to the date of October 1st, 2026. And whereas students have enrolled for summer session that will begin on June 22nd, 2026. And whereas the disruption of planned and scheduled activities could seriously hamper the college's operations for the 202627 college year. Therefore, be it resolved that the board of trustees authorizes the interim president of Highline College and design to expend funds beginning July 1st, 2026 to meet college needs at the same rate as in the 202526 approved budget or as additionally authorized by legislative action to take effect July 1st, 2026. This authorization expires October 1st, 2026 or upon the date the board passes the motion to adopt the final budget for FY2627 if the board's action on the budget precedes October 1st, 2026. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Okay, I'll call the question. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> I. Any oppose with nay? And there are no abstensions. Action item D, tenure recommendations. Is there a motion? >> Yes, Madam Chair. Uh, having given due consideration to the recommendations of the tenure review committee, the interim vice president of academic affairs and the recommendation of the interim president, I move that continuation of probation be granted to the following firstear probationers. Janine Hatfield. That continuation of probation be granted to the following secondyear probationer Katie Baker and that tenure be granted to the following third-year probationer Jacob Seander. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I second. >> Any any discussion? I'll call the question. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I I. >> Any oppose with nay? And there are no abstensions. Congratulations. Okay. And our final item is action item E, approval of the 202627 SNA budget. Is there a motion? >> Yes. Uh, Madam Chair, I move to approve the student and activities budget for academic year 2026 to 2027 in the amount of 2,536,16243. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Hey, I'll call the question. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. >> I. >> I. Any oppose with nay? And there are no abstensions. Thank you. Action item E is passed. Thank you so much for that. Uh and I just want to check did we have our uh public commenter arrive by chance? >> Do we have a Sonia Jennings? >> Okay. >> Okay. All right. I'd like to go ahead and move us into standing reports then and um we don't have HCA uh this week. I know that's a busy time. Um do we have our WPA representative today? Hi. Yes. Welcome. Let us get you a mic. Good morning. My name is Sheena Panel and I'm a faculty administrative assistant three and steward for the WPA. In the past month, we have restarted local bargaining at Highline, but are still in the infancy stages. At our first session, we hammered out some ground rules and firmed up our process for how the rest of the bargaining cycle will go. And I would just like to once again thank the Highline leadership for keeping bargaining local. It shows that members are wanted, heard, and valued on campus. I would also like to take a moment to recognize all of our new steward that we've gained this quarter. We went from eight, which was extremely respectable for a community the size of Highline. We then had an outstanding number of volunteers step up in the last several weeks, bringing our total to 13. That gives us one of the best steward member ratios in the region and a record number for Highline. The new stewards including myself are Gumlai Ross, Cynthia Vez Regalado, Rammute. I'm very sorry Rmute Barkascate and Alex Lawrence. Uh, thank you so much for stepping up and thank you to our veteran stewards for being visible, active, and doing so much to represent all of our members. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sheena. Appreciate the update. Uh, I believe that we do not have somebody from faculty senate today. Again, a busy busy time. Um, the associated students of Highline College, is Jasmine or representative here? >> I think due to finals, no report. >> Yeah. Okay. No, no problem. Then we'll uh go ahead and move to Highline College Foundation. Sharon, please join us. Yay. I don't have to follow the wonderful ASB present presentators because they're so entertaining. Scholarship applications from um a record number of students this year have all been through review now and Tanisha Williams is working really hard to follow up and get those awards handled and answer questions that the students might still have. So, it's an exciting time for everyone. Meanwhile, last week, the foundation hosted an event celebrating scholars and graduates who have been selected through the Janette Ranken Foundation, the WISH program, along with collaboration from King County Housing Authority, not to be confused with King County Regional Housing Authority. This program is specifically designed for those 35 and older pursuing their first associates or bachelor's degree. We heard from leaders focused on preventing homelessness and um our student population is having a challenge with homelessness more than we even know and they have been so helpful. And of course we heard from students who shared inspiring impacting stories of their educational journey. It was a very moving afternoon. And last night we watched two dozen students cross the stage of the nursing pinning ceremony here in the student union building where the extreme hard work of our nursing staff and faculty was most evident. The extra mile efforts of the leaders of our nursing program here at Highland College is amazing. It's unique and it can be seen as you watch these newly pinned nurses. Their interactions with their instructors, including a lot of bittersweet hugs and tears. The scholarships formed by families of nursing students and staff and faculty were also beautifully highlighted in the video presentation. We have ongoing plans and collaborations with partners where we're continuing to grow funding to support our nursing students specifically as they face that last big hurdle of preparing for and passing the often prohibitively expensive ENSLEX exam. And last Monday, I'll end with this one because this is like one of my favorite events. We watched some 34 students give presentations in front of a standing room only room at the annual capstone achieve celebration led by wonderful Julie Pard with support of many other uh hands welldeserved applause. U other staff and faculty were all there participating and leading the effort mcing and and interacting with the students kind of giving them that positive nudge they needed to um face their fears of speaking in public. It was some of the um greatest moments of speaking with parents that shared with me their personal stories that as they've uh brought their student in they felt kind of hopeless and this was the first time this unique chief program through first time through this unique chief program they've watched their child flourish beyond what they said was beyond belief. We also are grateful for foundry 10 funds which have supported mentorship programs for students and we heard success stories of students already attempting and landing employment. Well, thank you so much for achieve and all the hard work you do. Proud of you. And that's the end of my report. >> Thank you so much. We appreciate that. And that is the close of our standing reports. And now I think we have a a presentation um to the board on the texture of sound tactile artwork for the Kent De Moines or the Highline Station as we like to call it. Uh but technically the teet mo station from um Jenny Sandler is it Charon Sachar and Sarah Cavage. Thank you for joining us. >> Good morning trustees and Highline College executive cabinet. My name is Jenny Sandler and I'm the associate dean for accessibility resources here at Highline. And Sharon got me crying and emotional already, so I hope I can get through this. Um, good thing I'm only speaking for a minute. Um, we are so happy to be here with you today on the final board of trustees meeting for the 2526 academic year. And I think it's so fitting that we're going to be presenting this information to you today. Um, between January 2025 and through currently, I have had the pleasure and privilege of working with such an amazing group of students that we have here today. Talented local artists and Sound Transit in the development of a tactile please touch art exhibit, permanent art exhibit for our Kent De Mo light rail station. Uh the station, as we all know, opened a while ago. The art is still in production. Um and you're going to hear all about the art today. The one thing I just want to say uh is that from a from a disability justice and an accessibility perspective, the value of this exhibit doesn't simply provide access to community art, but it centers the perspectives and experiences of our blind and low vision community members. Um, and I am so proud that Kent that Sound Transit has chosen our Kent De Moine light rail station for this permanent art installation. Uh, so without further ado, I'm going to introduce Ashley Long. She is a senior project manager from Sound Transit to get us started. Thank you. So, as u you just mentioned, my name is Ashley Long. I'm a senior project manager with the Sound Transit Art Program and I'm going to try to speak briefly um and allow Sarah and Sharon to do most of the talking today, but I wanted to um talk a little bit about how this project came to be. Um I have been working on the artwork associated with all of the stations in the Federal Way Link extension. Um so uh the Kent mo station, Starlake Station and Federal Way Link at or excuse me, Federal Way Downtown Station are the three stations that were part of that extension. Um the art program is often um or we are a very small part of the work that Sound Transit does bringing transit to this region, but at the end of the project, we are often the most visible and the most direct connection to community. Um so we I had been working from the planning phase of this project to develop different artworks that could be integrated into these facilities along with also temporary art programs. Um and a few years ago, Sound Transit has a community accessibility group that we work with that advise us on um just accessibility needs for the transit facilities themselves. And during one of those presentations, um, one of the, um, architects on the project talked a little bit about the public art that was going to be included in these stations. And one of the community members pointed out very specifically that there were no art projects for the blind or low vision community included in the Federal Way Link extension. And we took that very seriously and we um, decided to do our due diligence and create a project specifically for that community. Um, artist Sarah Cavage and I have been working together since the planning phase of the project. Sarah has u create completed a community research project um years ago before we even started working our projects to really get to know this region and the cultural values of the community and she's been our guide to and our true north to how we work with community from the beginning of this project. Um Teran Zakar uh was one of the artists that was considered for the Federal Way Link extension and um in the community selection process that they went that we went through all of the community members said we love this artist work and we would like to see them included in the Federal Way Link extension even though they weren't selected for one of the larger projects early on. So when we started looking at how we would accomplish this project, knowing Sarah's understanding of the community and her work with engaging with community members and Chiron's work in ceramics and how well received he was from the panel, we decided to task them with taking on this project. So I'll let them talk about that in a second, but I also want to acknowledge we have our intern Asa Mattering that's um spending the summer with us. And Asa is being tasked with helping us capture some of the information and the narratives around our projects. And we wanted her to work on this project in particular because what we found in our research is there are not a lot of visual art or excuse me art projects that are specifically designed for the blind and low vision community. and knowing the importance of everything, all the information that Shiron and Sarah have gathered from working with the the Highland College group, we really want to capture that information and allow us to do um more accessible projects in the future. So, Asa is here to help with that and she would like to talk with the students that have been contributing to these projects. So, please connect with Asa today. Um and with that, I'll hand it over to Sarah and Shiron to talk about the development of the project. >> Hi everyone. Uh, I'm Sarah Cavage. Um, I've served as artist and residence for the Federal Way Link Extension since 2017. Most of my work has been in the community and in public and I do a lot of work with uh kind of simple natural materials and this is actually my first um permanent commission. So, >> hi everyone. I'm Chan Sachar and um I have been working with ceramics for 25 plus years uh mostly engaging in uh functional and sculptural work but all revolving around texture um fabric-like textures essentially but this project has really brought about the importance of texture in my work has put me through challenges to make this project work for this So when we began this process, I I feel just so fortunate to have connected with Jenny because she's been such a critical point of access and just helping us form the group of students that we met with um who are here with us today. Thank you all so much for taking time out of your busy final schedules. And I thought um that you all could maybe introduce yourselves and and just say a couple words about where you're at in your academic journey because I think you're all off to some exciting places. Um and maybe So will start with you and and we can pass the mic. >> Hey, sorry. Um hi, I'm Soil. Um, this is my second year completing my associates degree at Highline. Um, I'm graduating in like a week, I think, with my associates degree and hopefully going to go and um do a career in social work at a school. >> Hi, my name is Sra Han. I'm pursuing my BAS degree in in human services and and I'm going to be graduating next year and um after I graduate I want to work with youth with this with disabilities and I started out I started my Highland College journey in the T program. Two years ago I graduate from an AES degree in community health awareness. Hi, my name is Lauren and I think I'm I started my second year this winter and I am going to graduate at the end of next winter quarter and I'm currently getting a general AA uh transferable. Um, the goal is to transfer to UDub Tacoma and get my bachelor's in special education and then hopefully go to law school for special education law. So, uh from uh we had some really wonderful meetings with the students and um the one thing which we really did focus on is what connections they made with the work, how they related to different textures, uh what meaning they brought to to them and how they wanted to see this project evolve. Um, we had several meetings and got really into the details of the design, what worked for them, what didn't work for them. We had certain visions as to, oh, you know, they would love a lot of texture, but that texture needed to mean something. So uh from the glazes, the color of the glazes, uh from the detail of the textures, whether it is too textured versus smooth, do they want different kinds of textures, everything made a big difference. Even from materials standpoint, glass, metal, uh we had ceramic pieces of course, but then we had uh seashells and sand and stones like everything had to have a meaning and we wanted to make sure that they could understand how the project was going to evolve and give us feedback with what worked and what they >> Next slide. Yeah. And I should we we can just start passing the samples around and then if you can just yeah pass those down and then you know this will all sort of become clear as we go through. Um, and just to to sort of summarize the things that we learned is number one that I Ashley tasked me at the very beginning of this project with doing just basic research on best practices and really there's so little out there for the visually impaired in the visual arts arena. Um, there are programs going on indoors in museums, but public art is not really designed to be touched. And like if you go through the stations and um, you know, other parts of the community and look at public art, it's, you know, usually placed in a way that you can't touch it. And so that was really that's been our main challenge all along is to create something that's really durable and also can withstand um being touched. Um, and of course, you know, these are all, you know, all of these really little details make a lot of difference, but I think the most important thing that we heard from the students was that they wanted a realistic depiction of something. I think Chiron and I both came in thinking that we would do sort of an abstract um tactile explosion sort of thing, you know, lots of patterns and and colors and textures. And we clearly heard that that was not going to work. And so we pivoted to this realistic beach scene. Um, folks wanted a, you know, just sort of a tactile journey so that you could maybe spend a little time with one part of the mural and then you get curious about the other parts of the mural. Um, something that has a little bit of a narrative to it. Um, so you could kind of come back again and again and it would still be interesting. Um, let's see. you want to you have okay I think uh thinking about uh one of the things that we learned that was such a surprise to me is that flowers are a really you know tricky thing for folks with low vision um to navigate just because they're so delicate and fragile and so you know and plants so thinking about you know how using more durable able materials can encourage um exploration of those kind of natural elements. So we've talked a lot about you know how do we make leaves, how do we make trees, how do we make flowers um that are you know part of this and realistic and sort of showing and teaching through touch. Um and then the the image on this slide is you know just about the importance of these little design details. And I think this is where we are at by our last meeting is that you know we were going through these you know we had sort of clay mockups of the two figures that you see on the slide and you know we're getting feedback like well that knee is a little close to that shoulder and so that's hard to interpret. So can you move her knee out or that hand and on the knee is a little confusing because then it reads as you know three knees there. So can you change the position of her hand? >> And so this is all just to say that we would have you know been lost without you guys. It just it and and so you know just encouraging um you know when this happens in the future to really have these conversations and dig in deep um because it really has made a difference in how we approach things. >> Next slide. So uh among all the meetings you know we ca uh came across all the samples that we brought into the classroom and uh we got feedback on everything with what works for them what doesn't work for them uh things like you know having a smooth soft texture solid colors uh solid surfaces um surfaces like wood glass plastic everything had a certain positive response to it but then We also brought in things which you know we were like you know let's try everything out. Uh things that were very rough, wet, squishy, slimy got um very and uh and then some surfaces were just hard to read. And so there was a a very signific significant importance given to this where u it just doesn't have to be texture for the sake of texture. you know, it needs to read what it's supposed to convey. Uh then we got into even when I started working with the ceramic pieces, the glazes that worked, matte glazes, glossy glazes, semi matte glazes, uh the color contrast between them. Some work, some doesn't work. So we got a lot of that input from them and we are so grateful for all those meetings or and for them to take out the time to come to these meetings and every time we had these meetings we thought you know we'll have a little bit to discuss but we got more information than we even thought in every meeting. So that was really good. >> Okay, next slide. So this is the design that we came up with and this is sort of a multimedia mosaic. So um in the starting at the top of the design there's we're using glass mosaic to create the sky, the water, the land. Uh the mountains, the the Olympics that kind of pop up at the top right are made out of uh natural rocks. Uh we we have a mad drone tree that's coming in at the left that the tree part has been made by cast aluminum and then um the leaves are in ceramic. Chiron made the leaves. Chiron's also making the figures, the quilt that they're sitting on, the flowers that are in the foreground, the little boat in the background. Those are all made out of um handmade textured ceramic tile. Oh, and the title in braille um which is kind of at the bottom in the center. Chiron's also making that. Chiron is doing a lot. Uh and then we have a kind of you know this is a classic Puget Sound rocky beach. So, I've um collected a lot of rocks and sort of beach artifacts that are going into our rocky beach. We had all the students and Jenny and Ramen um bring in special rocks to incorporate in the beach. So, >> one thing which wasn't mentioned uh I don't think it was that the scale of this thing is 10 by 15 ft. So, it's pretty big. So the samples that you're seeing at least for the ceramic pieces were small samples that we created to get their input. Uh this was another challenge for me where you know my kil is not that big. So now the the pictures that you're seeing right now are things to scale. Um the the figure there I think is around 3 ft. Yeah. Yeah. They are life size. So uh this is the progress so far. Uh you can see the quilt pieces, each one being handmade, texture of the stitches was important, the color contrast in the tiles, the texture of the hair, uh the cable sweater this figure is wearing, the endless number of leaves that Sarah keep requesting me to make. At first, you know, I made 125 and she's like, "These will be more than enough." And I think I made close to 500 by um because it's like you start putting them on the mosaic and you realize that oh it needs more it needs more it needs more. So uh so yeah that's the progress so far. We can move to the next slide where you'll see some of the glazed pieces. Uh so the quilt section of the mosaic is completely done. Um you saw some of the samples that were passed around with the quilt as well. Uh the shoe, the legs, they have been completely glazed and fired. Uh creating that texture of denim cordroy uh was very essential for me. Uh from the samples, from the feedback we got from the students. Um had to create something which was dynamic and you know uh really spoke to the piece. Um so most of the ceramic work is uh closed. The second figure is still being worked on and uh the flowers, the braille, all of that is still being worked on, but most of the leaves are done hopefully. So, so I've been working on sort of all the surrounding parts that are not the figures um since January. And so if you look at the the two larger images, you can see um the natural rock mountains, the um all the glass mosaic work. Uh we're using some really beautiful sort of iridescent glass, which doesn't show up in this picture very well, but I think in the natural daylight under the the um transit station, it's going to really pop and sort of sparkle. Um the the images in the middle sort of top to bottom there's a there's some rocks different colored rocks that I've foraged um and then sliced up on a tile saw and those were what became the mountains um and then the two images below are just the the aluminum mad drone uh which we actually cast an actual branch of a mad drone and then um colored it to to look um you know like the like sort of the peeling bark. So lots of work to get that kind of bark texture and um and look and feel of that tree. Okay. So and then this is starting to look like the top row of the mural. Um, and you can see all those leaves that Turon slaved away on um coming in to the the top section of the panels. So, we're getting close. We are in the final stretch and we're hoping that installation is going to be around the last half of August, so into the summer. And then I think at some point Sound Transit's going to do some sort of dedication for all of the work, all of the artwork at these stations, right? So hopefully you all hear about that. Does anyone have any questions or comments? >> I have one question. How how tall is it? >> Yes. So this is that's actually a good question because this top row of panels we had we sort of designated a touch zone. The top row of the panels is kind of out of the touch zone. Okay. >> Um and then it's the lower panels that are really the focus for the tactile work. >> Thanks for the clarification because I was wondering about that. You know how >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Thoughts? Any questions? >> I was just curious, is there going to be highline written anywhere on here >> on the mural itself >> or anywhere near it saying who you know the artists are? >> I think you guys have been doing interpretive panels. Yeah, we typically include an interpretive panel or signage to accompany the artwork and we'd be happy to acknowledge especially with the given the unique collaboration that we did with the accessibility students to acknowledge them on that panel so that uh it's very clear to anyone who gets to experience the artwork, how it was created and what the collaboration looks like. >> Well, thank you so much. This was awesome to hear about and just uh very very inspiring. So, thank you for all the work and thank you to the students that have been engaged with this. We're we're proud to have your um thumbrints on this as well and and excited to go and visit it when it opens. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. Thanks for having us. >> Okay, we are going to move into our area reports. Um we'll start with academic affairs. Thank you board chair. Thank you achieve. Thank you everyone. That was beautiful. Um just wanted to say thank you to the board um for the um for Jacob newly tenured. Congratulations Katie and Janine moving forward. Um thank you faculty for all your hard work during finals week. Hopefully you can hear this in the ether. Um keep keep on I look forward to seeing folks on June 18. Um and then lastly um congratulations to our graduates of class of 2026. Um and then our retiree colleagues um from academic affairs, Bruce Lamb, Michael Gervin, Samad Shakur, and Clifton uh Cooper. Congratulations. >> Thank you. Uh we'll go on to equity, diversity, and transformation. Dr. Mennez. >> Uh thank you, Chair Swinson and board of trustees. I'm going just let my report uh be as it stands. >> Thank you. Uh, human resources. Melanie, you still there? Okay, there you >> Yep, I'm here. Hello. Um, I will let my report stand as is. Um, just one thing that uh I failed to put on here is that tomorrow will be the vote um for the potential of um an additional union at Highline. I'm happy to answer any questions if there are surrounding that. Um and that we are actively uh in our bargaining sessions with WPA as you heard earlier today. So, lots of stuff going on in human resources. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, administrative services, Dr. F. >> Yeah, good morning. And I'm actually going to be long today unlike my my colleagues since everybody's seating the time. So, thank you, Dr. Himenez. Um, it is hard to believe, but uh, you know, uh, it's we are wrapping up another academic there's some echo here. academic uh year and and soon another fiscal uh year as well. And I must have to uh I must admit that you know it has been quite the year. Um and I just really wanted to express my gratitude to the board uh trustees for your support of of our Highline College here, our employees, faculty, staff, our students and and of course you know like with us executive cabinet uh members here your support uh including the inquisitive and at times difficult questions especially from u have continued to um push for me to do better uh uh and then really try to improve my uh what I do here Highline College. Uh I am just so looking forward to Trusty Extramm's renewal on the finance committee again for next year. Thank you, Trustee uh Extramm. But all joking aside, um SV of finance, you know, I'm definitely trying my best uh to shoot straight and not to sugarcoat or or really trying to make anything sound more pessimistic pessimistic than than necessary. Uh unfortunately looking forward um to the future. Our state budget situations uh continue to look bleak especially when it comes to capital uh budget and um and uh which which you know like will have impact on on our operating uh uh budget as well. But that is for next month or for the following months uh after today. We are just really looking forward to uh celebrating celebrating the the achievements of our uh uh employees, our faculty and staff in wrapping up the 202526 and and office to next week in celebration of our student graduates. Uh lastly, I I just do want to take a minute to honor the memory of Dr. uh John Mosby. um his passing, you know, uh definitely has has left a deep impact on on on on on Highland College. Uh and I just really want to say I'm profoundly grateful to have been a part of his executive cabinet. And uh thank you. That's the rest of my report. >> Thank you. Uh let's go with institutional advancement. Josh Bzman. >> Yeah. Good morning everyone. Um, I have three things I want to highlight. The first is that, uh, earlier this week, we publicly announced the 2026 recipient of the distinguished alumni award, and that's Tim George. Uh, Tim was a Running Start student here at Highland College. He stayed in the region, went through his undergrad, his law school, and for several years has been working as a city attorney for the city of De Moines. and we're just really excited that he was nominated by city staff um and that we're able to celebrate one of our local residents in this way. So, we're very excited to share that. Um I also going to add on to Dr. F's report. Uh as you know, I had a chance to go uh to China in April with three amazing faculty and our associate director of international uh student programs uh Tiffany Wong. And Tiffany told us uh that next week 15 students from the Broward Educational Partnership are going to be arriving to study at Highland College for the summer. They're going to be living at Campus View uh student housing. And those were the program uh that we spent time with when we went over to China. And um we're just so excited that their visas got approved and that there's an possibility of a few more if uh we and we have capacity for a few more of those students if their visas get approved. But that is really good news. And then I want to close it on as you know in moments the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off. >> One of those places you can watch that is on Telmundo and the Spanish language broadcast. And Tim is going to help me with a technical. I know that trustee Shashere had to go probably to a work event related to the Burean welcoming the World Cup, but I wanted to share the ad that we um were part of that we'll be showing frequently. There's there's two ads. There's Highland College has its own 30 secondond ad that will be featured 96 times on Telmundo over the next month. And then this our city, our moment, and it looks like Tim has it queued up. So, let's see if the sound works. deer Olympica alone momento. say in chairo7.comthecup. >> Yeah. So, uh once again they ca after the last trustee meeting um many of you came out to be part of the filming. They took a lot of different shots and ultimately uh the the winning shot was the one with uh trustee Shashray and our student leaders. Um, don't worry though, we're going to try to get access to that other footage and use it in creative ways. I just want to give a shout out to Sharon Vale for introducing us to our um, account rep from uh, Tairo and Telmundo and to our communications and marketing team for helping um, do such great work to get our name out there in new and creative spaces. So, thanks for allowing us to share. >> That was really cool. Uh, we'll be looking for that. I'll have to just watch it with um subtitles so I can see us our commercial as often as possible. Okay. Uh let's go with uh information technology services. Tim, >> thank you. I'm mostly going to let my uh report stand. I want to call out to the trustees who I'm sure read everything in detail. Um the strategic planning section where it calls out the priorities that have been identified for the next year. It's a little bit of a shift from the previous year, but focusing on student retention, on completions, on student funding, and on infrastructure and safety. Uh those feel like broad categories, but one of the things that strategic planning council will be working on going forward is making sure we're clearly documenting the work that is happening across the college to advance those strategies. >> Thank you. >> Excellent. Thank you. And last but not least, student services, Tony Garcia. >> All right, good morning. Um before I let my report stand, I do want to um add on and update some of these numbers. Uh enrollment is up um which is a good thing compared to many of our colleges across the state. We are one of the few that enrollment keeps growing. Um unfortunately, it creates another problem where our graduation and commencement numbers have increased as well. So now we're at 900 students that have signed up for commencement for next week. Um that's great. >> The unfortunate thing is that we're getting cut off at about 5,000 people at the showware center. So we're hoping we are probably going to hit capacity and a few of those families that roll in late will probably not be allowed into um the showware center because of capacity issues. something that we'll be working on in the future though. Um maybe doing two different um graduation ceremonies or something like that. But other than that, my reports um stands. Thank you. >> Thank you for that, Tony. Um it's it's challenging, I'm sure, but a good challenge to have. It's excellent. Are there any questions or comments from trustees on any of those reports? Okay. Nope. Just an eyeglass touch. Okay, I'm paying attention up there. >> I appreciate it. >> Okay, we'll move on to president's remarks. Please go ahead. >> Thank you, chairs Swinton and board of trustees. Uh, good afternoon. We we made it through this meeting for the most part. Um, it has been extremely busy as you can tell with all of the other reports from the executive cabinet members. Um, it's this is the most for me um the most exciting time of the year. The energy that we feel around the college community is uh palpable and exciting. I will say that over the last uh week and a half especially that executive cabinet members and I have I'm I know I'm I'm a member of executive cabinet. So executive cabinet has been um in all sorts of spaces and places celebrating already raising hands, lifting, smiling, some instance crying. Um this week alone there was the achieve uh graduation. It was amazing the capstone projects and um the students their families uh quite amazing. We have this week had um you guys will have to remind me um last night was the pinning ceremony. We had international student programs. Many of those graduates uh 108 of our international students will be graduating and quite a few of them will be crossing stage. And so it's just this is an exciting time of the year. It uh I will speak on behalf of us to say it helps to solidify our why. You know, why do we show up? Why are we engaged of the work that we do? And so what I would like to to say first of all and I know that this is the uh Friday is the last day that faculty uh Dr. Ozanu uh that faculty will be on contract but we will have quite a few faculty represented at commencement and participating. Um but I want to say uh on behalf of executive cabinet that we really applaud the work that our faculty have done this year. It is quite amazing uh to see all that they and students in partnership with one another have been able to accomplish. The students have spoken very highly last night at the UN ceremony and particularly at the achieve students time and time again talked about how impactful um being a student at Highline College has been for them and most importantly how um how meaningful and um impactful their their faculty members have been. So, um, we applaud the the work that the faculty have done. For those of us, those of you who will not be with us through the summer, we won't see you until the fall. Enjoy your time. Um, enjoy that break. We look forward to seeing you back here in the fall. Um, I do also want to extend staff have been pushed. See Victor in the back is on his phone, but he's uh often showing up in rooms and spaces and places and many others uh from uh our tech to our custodial staff security as well who have been very present and at the ready u throughout the day and late into the evening. And so I extend heartfelt thank you to you as well. Students of course are amazing. We see them across the college community. We are so excited to celebrate uh as we have been doing all along. But the commencement 900 is a lot. It's a lot of handshakes. I will be tapping out a lot to say come get some of this. Um but it it's going to be an amazing day. And um most of all, what I want to say is to uh my fellow executive cabinet members, I really applaud you. We have we've been in it. Um win lose or draw, agree to agree or agree to a disagree. It has been my honor to serve beside you for this academic year. still have a lot of work to accomplish. We'll be leaning in. No breaks, just some vacations, but we'll be in it. And I am proud to uh you know, be in this work with you. Thank you immensely for all that you do. And um I'm looking forward to uh rolling up our sleeves and getting some things done um throughout the summer into the early fall. Um I do want to say that I encourage um there's been a lot of effort and time put into uh working with our consulting firm with regard to um this process of identifying our next uh permanent president here at Highland College. Um and I encourage uh for people to voice and get that feedback that is they have the opportunity to provide. I think that it is vital. Um and again uh I know that uh our trustees and um u BP uh Lawson and Dr. Izzano really appreciate the work that you are doing to help collaborate and to shepherd that process along. Um this is a vital point um in our college's uh history if you will. We've had some significant transitions and um this is a great time for us to to stand and um provide some feedback. So please engage in those processes. Um, one of the things that I will say is that my report I'm going to let it stand as is. I do know that um, one of the requests that I've had um, indirectly, but it's good that I also uh, received this feedback is um, folks are wanting to know a little bit more about the the what the president is engaged in on a more day-to-day basis. And I am trying to use a different types of modality to provide that feedback. I do have a report that goes out to the board of trustees and I've been um trying to lift into providing feedback to the college community and weekly. The board knows this as well. Sometimes Friday doesn't do it. It has to come out on a Monday, but I'm trying to get that communication out. So, we're going to try a variety of things. I've been working with Josh's staff to also develop some uh videos. Um I don't like seeing myself on camera, but that's a whole another conversation. So, I'll continue to work on that and to partner with Josh and his team and others around the college community. Um, but in the interim, no, no, no pun intended, there I would encourage the community there are more extensive updates about my uh whereabouts as an interim president within the scope of the board report and that is posted. Danielle and U. Julie do a really great job of making sure that information is posted and um if you have any questions about what is presented there. I am more than open uh and willing to talk about it. Um I just have uh two other pieces that I would like to draw your attention to in the board report and that being that um I have recently been appointed to the board of the Greater Federal Way Chamber. Um and I bring that to light um understanding that and I recognize that um this interview process it might yield in a different way than um my being in this seat but I did ask the question as to whether I had to be directly affiliated with the college and they said that it was still okay for me to participate. Um and so I'm excited about this. That appointment presents a valuable opportunity to strengthen the college's connection within the regional business community and to further advance our mission. And I'm very excited about that. I'll round out by saying that I um Dr. Vom did bring up uh Dr. Mosby. Uh we will have uh at our upcoming commencement a moment of silence uh to recognize um Dr. Mosby's life and his legacy. And um I also indicated to his family and friends when I was in Sacramento and executive cabinet and I have uh uh had some conversations about this. members of executive cabinet have had conversations about um in the fall we will have a celebration of his life and legacy here on campus. There's been so much in between that we want to make sure that we take some dedicated time to sit to figure out what that looks like. But just know that I had uh a large number of people uh in Sacramento who said you tell us when and where and we want to be there. And I have also and I I know that others on um executive cabinet and in the community have had members in their spheres of influence who have said the same. So we want to make it uh John Mosby style, a little bougie, a little fun. Uh we'll get there. And so we'll have some conversations and some updates about that for for everyone a little bit later on. And with that, if there are no questions related to my board report, I will uh let that stand. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Penn. And I just uh want to share appreciation for you um uh for going, you know, for being able to be there in California at Dr. M's memorial. And uh I I was able to view it online, but it was um a great comfort to know that you were there in person to to not only represent and share your own memories, but to to represent on behalf of the college community and um and memorial memorialize him on our behalf as well. So really appreciated that. you you're did a beautiful job of sharing. Um, also just want to recognize Pride Month. Uh, you know, we recognize Pride Month as a time to celebrate the resilience contributions and diverse identities of the LGBTQ plus communities and allies. And it's also an opportunity for us to reaffirm our commitment to fostering inclusive, respectful, and equitable environments where everyone is valued and empowered to be their authentic self. So, happy Pride Month and just want to say congratulations to our graduates. I I think that we'll we're all looking forward to next week and what will be a welldeserved a lengthy ceremony to celebrate each and every one of them. We're excited about that. It's it's great to see that. Um but just wanted to say congratulations. Um graduation is certainly a powerful testament to the dedication, ambition, and and inspiration that our students are um providing to those around them and their families. Um, and as you, you know, as you take the next steps as a graduate, I hope that you always will see Highline as your home as well and know that we are just incredibly proud of you for this accomplishment. So, looking forward to celebrating all of that. Uh, and is there any Yeah, go ahead. >> I I apologize. It is Pride Month. Happy Pride Month. And I do want to say that several of us will be tonight joining our uh graduates uh LGBTQIA plus graduates with the lavender graduation and so I know I'm seeing some head nods. >> Very excited about that. Thank you. >> Yes. Yes. Lots of great celebration. >> Uh any additional unscheduled business from anyone? Okay. Well then we will go ahead and bring the meeting to a close. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you.