June 12, 2026

Wrapping It Up

We are at that moment. The last day of academic year 2025-26. And, it’s been a year. Despite the roller coaster on the national scene and the ups and downs of our own institution’s challenges, today is the one day of the year where the joy of commencement helps us remember why we’re here.

There was a mini version of commencement earlier this week. Trustee Rania Hussein and I delivered remarks and diplomas to four students co-graduating from Innovation Lab High School and Cascadia College. These Running Start students have their high school graduation ceremony today at 4:00pm, just like ours, so we leaned into something special for them on their Senior Day. Pictured below are the four students, Dr. Hussein, myself, and students at ILHS. It was a fun and meaningful field trip.

This week also wrapped up four articulation agreements with UWB. Only once before have we had a guaranteed path for Cascadia students to enter UWB after successful completion of coursework at Cascadia. We now have four with more coming. Faculty and staff in the disciplines of Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Physics, and Biology worked tirelessly to produce these agreements with buy-in from all sides.

This work, funded by a STEM Transfer Partnership grant, has reduced barriers to transfer for low-income students across the state. A central emphasis was (and continues to be) strengthening collaboration between Cascadia and UWB, including regular faculty engagement, expanded articulation agreements, and increased participation in partnership activities. The grant work has made tangible progress by developing multiple transfer pathways across disciplines, hiring student team members, and broadening student organizations like the Engineering Club into a more inclusive STEM club. See more at STEM Transfer Partnerships.

This week also saw the beginning of (hopefully) another partnership. Over the last three years, Amazon funded our “Redmond Center” classroom in the Together Center. This coming year, we will bear that cost in our operating budget. This week, I spoke with the Mayor and CFO of Redmond to see if there is room in their city budget to provide support for the Redmond Center in 2027-28. They responded positively, but still have to go back and look at their budget. It’s not a done deal yet, but the pieces are in motion. As we potentially face another severe round of budget cuts next year, we’ll need to make sure we have support from every corner.

As we wrap up this school year, celebrate our students, and reset for 2026-27, I also encourage us to take a moment to recognize Juneteenth next week. Oppression, persecution based on identity, and a reduction of human rights in our country are all still prevalent, yet we say through this holiday that we believe differently. It is a confusing time in our country. But I would assert that we are not confused at Cascadia. The value of equity and inclusion, as represented by our Pride Flag, our native art, our Mobius crane display, our Peace Poles, and all other symbols around campus, is of utmost importance. I hope we all can remember that on this joyous day and as we move forward with the hard challenges of the coming year.

Shoutouts

To the IT Services frontline team—thank you.

The frontline team makes up half of the IT department. The Service Desk, Anthony and Joz, the Analysts, Luke and C.J., and two of our System Administrators, Daniel and Nick. They all play vital roles as the first point of contact for different technologies everyone interacts with around campus.

Their reach is vast, supporting everything from password resets, MFA assistance, and software troubleshooting to classroom and event support, device readiness, how you access systems like Microsoft and Canvas, printing across campus, and initial security investigations. This barely scratches the surface.

The team consistently goes above and beyond, balancing requests and priorities from all directions, while continuing to deliver exceptional customer service. This is demonstrated daily through their professionalism, care, responsiveness, and patience in every interaction.

IT Frontline team—while I thank you all almost daily—I want to extend this heartfelt thank you for always putting students, employees, and the college at the forefront of the phenomenal work you do.

Your impact does not go unnoticed, and I am truly grateful to have every one of you on my team.