February 20, 2026

Values

There are a lot of things we value at the college. The College Founders, including a few remaining faculty and staff, were part of its creation and memorialization. These are behaviors and activities that we hold in high esteem and, when we can, further in all domains of our work.

• Equity and inclusion;
• collaboration;
• access (also found in our mission statement);
• success;
• innovation;
• environmental sustainability;
• global awareness;
• responsiveness;
• and creativity.

Each of us individually has certain values. These values can run parallel to the college’s…or sometimes be unique to you based on your own identity, spirituality, or moral compass. While most of the values above fall in line with my own way of being, I feel my contribution at work is to help foster an environment among our employees where these values can live and breathe. This means keeping them at the forefront of leadership conversations, allowing them to influence decisions we make, finding resources (if possible) for new ways to express these values, or helping others remember that our work should have our values at their core.

All of these values rely on us being a “learning college” as represented in Jerry O’Banion’s book A Learning College for the 21st Century (1997). At Convocation this coming September, I’ll share a little more about what it means to be a learning college. In short, we all must continue to grow and adapt so that our work is centered on the student. We believe our values help us do that.

In the meanwhile, I want to devote a few Friday Letters to how we embrace our values. Recently, I wrote about Sustainability. Today, Equity & Inclusion.

Almost 10 years ago, we were one of the first colleges in Washington to lay groundwork for what we experience today as “equity and inclusion”. This included required training for all employees…all of our DIAs that year were focused on this. It included small group work...I think it was Peg Harbol or Sadie Rosenthal or Midori Sakura who came up with the name “Cavoline” for our small groups (Sorry Peg/Midori/Sadie if it was not you…). The small groups were inspiring conversations and hard work on how to make our campus more equitable.

The next years included hiring our first Executive Director for E&I, John Eklof. It birthed the idea of our Cascadia Scholars Program and Social Justice Conferences. It led to more equitable hiring practices and Equity Advocates on search committees. It led us to including the required Equity & Inclusion essay in our job applications.

Equity & Inclusion took the next big step with Chari Davenport. Chari gave life to the Scholars program and the Conferences. Both Samantha Brown and Chari developed the Foundations of Equity & Inclusion course, which continues to grow with outside community partners asking for Chari and team to facilitate the course for their teams. This is not only positioning Cascadia as a leader in E&I, it also brings income to the office of IAC which helps further our work. As well, we built a team for Chari, including Dr. Ana Nina, Alia Mahdi, and Kayla Williams….and a redesigned Equity & Inclusion Center.

None of the work around this value would have been as robust had it not been for one of our Founding Faculty, Debra Pontillo. It was her legacy that helped inspire me in this work.

So what are we doing today?

• The Redmond Center thrives as it has become a central hub for our ESL and Adult Basic Ed classes. Larissa Tikhonova’s stewardship of this space has helped make it a home for many of our students.
• Our Strategic Plan initiatives for the last 10 years have always included an E&I section…giving rise to individual action items we can support each year.
• The E&I Newsletter each month highlights cultural traditions and events.
• Student Accessibility Services will be hiring a new Assistant Director as we continue to offer recognized support in this area.
• Our Title IX efforts are well-developed. Did you get a piece of Jasmin’s King Cake this week?
• We are working to find resources to expand support for our American Indian and Indigenous People’s Program.
• There are countless classroom projects on display at every Celebration of Learning that demonstrate how faculty weave equity and inclusion into their curriculum.

• We are getting more and more money into the hands of our students via the good work of the Foundation. As a reminder…

  The Cascadia College Foundation scholarship application deadline is approaching! These are awards for the 2026-27 academic year. Please help the Foundation spread the word. Information and a link to the online/mobile application can be found on the Scholarships Webpage and will be available until the application deadline, March 6. Students complete one application to be considered for more than $85,000 in scholarship money. Thank you for encouraging students to apply!

And what are the results of this work?

• Last year’s fall data showed no gaps in retention and completion demographics with regard to ethnicity. There are pervasive gaps between groups across the country.
• We now have a strong, diverse faculty group, which helps us in representing all of our students in the classroom.
• Pay scales among exempt staff are now tracked and kept equitable.
• Our sense of belonging among students continues to grow and is one of the strongest in the state.

As well, equity and inclusion at Cascadia helps ground us in how we handle the challenges of today. The Center is always available as a resource. We send information about immigration enforcement resources to students. We have an Administrator on Duty each night (Mon thru Thurs). We have agreements with campus security and law enforcement about how we proceed in the event of immigration enforcement activities. The list goes on.

Without the core of equity and inclusion as a value, none of this work would have been possible. And to see it in action…read the Shoutout below.

Shoutouts

I wanted to share an update regarding the VA Compliance Review. The Compliance Review Officer met with Aileen this morning, and I am pleased to report that there were no findings during the review. Great job, everyone!

I would like to thank the following individuals who brought this report together in such short order. The VA gave us only 10 days to compile the required student and financial information, and your teamwork made this possible. Thanks go to:

• Aileen Ibershof for serving as the point person for this review and coordinating services for our veterans and dependents of veterans who attend Cascadia College. This was Aileen’s third Compliance Review!
• Vishaan Jethra for compiling and formatting the required information. As our new School Certifying Officer, Vishaan will take the lead in the next Compliance Survey.
• Özge Demirci-Richardson and Brenda Thai for compiling student admissions and transcript evaluation documents.
• Shyla Hansen and Gergina Lazarova for providing financial ledgers.
• Brett Steiner for providing support with the cost of attendance shopping sheets.
• Jenny Piper for providing examples of Cascadia’s advertisements to ensure compliance with VA regulations.
• Vickie Ashe for coordinating logistics for the Compliance Review Officer’s visit and providing budget information regarding Annual Reporting Fees.
• Erin Blakeney for coordinating admissions and enrollment information.

Thank you for your part in supporting our veterans and their dependents at Cascadia, and for helping ensure that we remain in full compliance with VA regulations.

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu.