May 1, 2026

The Finish Line

It’s about that time of year, despite having six weeks left until Commencement. I can feel us heading towards the finish line. Graduation speeches are being prepared, budget planning for next year is wrapping up, we are nominating and selecting service award recipients, and we are preparing for the End of Year All-Employee Celebration.

Next week, on Wednesday May 6, there will be an open forum on the budget. I will present the status of our reductions and new expenditures, answer questions, and provide transparency into the decision-making for those who are interested.

• Location: Tjossem Board Room
• Time: 3:30 PM
• Zoom Link: Coming Soon

There were three special moments of the week.

First, I toured Representative Roger Goodman (45^th District, Kirkland) around campus. He had never properly visited Cascadia after 20 years in office and decided it was time. He was enthusiastic about our campus, programs, and purpose here on the Eastside. I was able to communicate our students’ success and he responded with continued support for us, as best possible in the current financial times.

Second, I leave shortly for a luncheon with 28 business leaders from 10 countries around the world. They are here visiting the greater Seattle area in the thoughts of expanding their businesses in the region. They have visited Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing as well as other businesses. Part of the program is to understand the social and educational fabric of the region, and I am thankful that the City of Kirkland thought to invite us.

Lastly today, I want to report on the priorities the Foundation intends to fund after they review their financials. The amount each priority is allocated will be available after the Foundation’s June 12 board meeting (Commencement Day!). The Board opted to support these programs for next year:

• Cascadia Scholars Scholarships
• College & Career Foundations (CCF)
• Cascadia Scholars Textbook Program
• Kodiak Cave Food Pantry
• International Programs Scholarships
• Emergency Grants
• A Faculty Grant Program for Professional Development
• Running Start Bookstore Vouchers
• Complete Your Dream & Momentum Scholarships
• Cascadia’s Student of Color Conferences

I hope we can all show appreciation to the Foundation board members and to Brittany Caldwell’s team for the continued dedication towards fundraising for the college. Coming to Foundation-sponsored events, contributing to the Employee Giving Fund, and connecting us with friends and supporters are all ways you can help us further this support.

Shoutouts

From the IN Box:

A great big THANKS goes out to Miles Alexander, Jack Zuniga, and Bee Bradbury with UW Facilities/Mail Services. Over the last several weeks, including Spring Break, the team worked on cleaning up the Penthouse storage area. While the term “penthouse” lends some illusion of grandeur and luxury, the space is not that. It is the claustrophobic attic storage space in CC1 that holds furniture that may need to be surplused or recycled. Over the last several years, so much “stuff” accumulated in the Penthouse that it needed a good spring cleaning. The team did a fantastic job removing outdated, unused, recyclable, and broken items. The surplus furniture is now nicely organized and inventoried. Their hours of hard work really produced tremendous results which in turn helps all campus employees when they are in need of replacement furniture. It‘s one of those “behind the scenes” things we don’t often think about. Nice work!

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu.