January 30, 2026

It was a short on-campus week for me as I have been in Olympia since Wednesday morning. Our team (Dr. Rania Hussein, Trustee; Muskaan Grewal, Student Advocacy Chair; myself) met with a number of legislators to lobby for these things:

• The Gateway Building (CC5).I don’t know where we will land on this. We keep trying. If not now, then for sure one year from now as we are the #1 priority on the combined Community College list.
• Have the state fund COLAs 100%.Also unknown. This will cost us tuition dollars if not funded. The state is currently dealing with major cuts.
• Keeping the max credits available to Running Start students at current levels, not reduced as proposed.I think this is gaining traction. We are bringing awareness to the fact that both K-12 and the CTCs support the current cap.
• Not pulling back budget dollars as the Governor requests.I think we will see a cut, equating to $300-400K for us.

We will know answers at the end of March.

And to round out today’s letter, I asked each executive team member to contribute a nugget:

Office of Inclusion, Advocacy, and Community:

The Office of Inclusion, Advocacy, and Community is working on our ‘Next Big Idea!’ We plan to develop and host a conference that will focus on next steps for inclusion efforts, for example, equity in AI, health care, and accessibility. This conference will be open to our business and educational communities as a yearly event.

We will also start a podcast which will cover and review new ideas, concepts, and initiatives that revolve around inclusion. We will invite a variety of hosts / facilitators to bring in their expertise as we discuss various topics. We will also use the podcast to promote the conference as a capstone event. Many thanks to the folks who have agreed to be a part of the planning committee and we will keep everyone updated on the progress of this new and exciting initiative!

Administrative Services:

This week the much-awaited new furniture was installed in the CC2-lower level vending space and brought a lonely space back to life for students. Within a day, the area was full of students using it and enjoying the new furniture and seating.

It’s also “budget season.” Finance kicks off their work next week and Deans/Directors will start to receive their budget files. Same as last year, Deans/Directors/Budget managers will be invited to a budget meeting to review their FY27 budget and remaining year forecast. We are preparing for a potential need to have a spending freeze to get through the rest of this year. We’ll know more next week.

Finally, ITS will be sending out an invitation for employees to sign up for 1:1 H Drive to OneDrive migration support starting 2/2.

Student Success:

Student Success Services (SSS) took a brief pause from our daily work—outreach to prospective students, supporting COLL 101 education planning, supporting student events, awarding financial aid, and responding to student needs—to focus intentionally on our own professional development. Shaped by feedback from an SSS staff survey, our DIA day created space for team building, reflection, and skill-building around wellness, organization, communication, project management, creating a sense of belonging, careers in student affairs and practical tech tools.

This work is grounded in the belief that when our staff feel supported, connected, and prepared, it directly strengthens the student experience and our ability to serve students with care and consistency. Thank you to the colleagues making this afternoon possible: Yukari Zednick, Shandy Stomieroski, Jasmin Means, Madeline Edmonds, Rileigh Thompson, Holly Curry, Kareen Kanjo, Bryan Fauth, Becky Riopel, Gordon Dutrisac, Paul Lee, Kris Panton, Sam Sims, and Franco Herrera—we appreciate your leadership, expertise, and willingness to support the growth of our division.

Student Learning:

Student Learning and Cascadia continue to make progress on Guided Pathways implementation: Some highlights (by pillar) include:

• Enter the Path: A redesigned New Student Orientation is set to launch this fall (2026).
• Clarify the Path/Stay on the Path: Cascadia has just signed an agreement with Western Washington University for guaranteed transfer admissions. Closer to home, faculty and staff at Cascadia and UW Bothell are finalizing the first drafts for circulation of transfer agreements in Chemistry and Physics, with Biology in the works as well.
• Ensure that Students are Learning: All of our faculty deserve recognition for participating in the assessment process. In late fall, 77% of our faculty rated student work in our college-wide learning outcomes. At DIA this week, faculty met in four outcome groups to discuss the findings and/or refine the process of student learning outcome assessment (SLOs).

Advancement:

Join us for our annual Pay It Forward fundraising event on Wednesday, February 25, 2026!

Experience the stories, impact, and opportunities created when we invest in Cascadia students. Featured student speakers: Alexandra Martínez and Robert Cole.

Your attendance will help celebrate the incredible work happening at Cascadia, while also supporting programs that remove barriers, uplift students, and strengthen our institution. Register to attend.

Shoutouts

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu.