May 8, 2026

The Glue

I read an article in April that I wanted to share with everyone. Click here for it. It’s about digital glue. What is “digital glue”? It’s the reason mobile apps, video games, and social media are so addictive and is based on the gaming and gambling industry. Researchers found that our phones (and its apps) are much like slot machines. They provide solitude, bottomlessness (you can be with it for hours), speed (constant, quick reinforcement), and “the tease” (never giving you exactly what you want, but always inching closer towards the goal). These four things draw people in and keep them there to help drive profit for the “owners”.

The psychologist in me was intrigued by this because it helped make clear why our world has moved towards the App Addiction.

The president in me began to think, “What is Cascadia’s glue?”

(cool transition…don’t you think?)

Our glue comes in multiple forms. It comes in the equitable and inclusive community we continually strive to build. It comes in our small size, where we can know and help each other. It comes in the common addiction of wanting to see our students succeed. And it comes in our values, which I have been writing about for a while.

One of the ingredients in this glue is our Strategic Plan. I wanted to take a moment to share our nine strategic initiatives for 2026-27, some of which are carry-overs from 2025-26. The executive team considered an immense amount of input over the last few months and has now finalized the list. Each of the nine initiatives has multiple tasks, an assigned executive sponsor, and “owners” who will carry on the work.

• Superior Learning
  • Obtain College in the High School National Accreditation
  • Improve English and Math completion rates as articulated in the Guided Pathways Plan
  • Expand UWB-Cascadia Faculty Relations
• Access
  • Remove barriers for transfer to UWB in STEM and Engineering
  • Re-imagine the student on-boarding experience
  • Meet 2027 accessibilities requirements and deadlines
• Equity
  • Implement a new retention program involving peer mentorship and internships
  • Increase the number of CCF students who transfer to college pathways
  • Research the idea of a Proctoring Center to improve access and equity

At Convocation in September, we will be publishing a comprehensive list of our strategic initiatives since 2020-21 along with the outcomes of where we’ve come. Our mission metrics (which include enrollment and student success data) show that our strategic initiatives have definitely moved Cascadia in the right direction.

Finally, speaking of glue, our DIA Schedule for May 14 is published in the Outlook Calendar invite. Experiencing these workshops together and ending the day with the All Employee Celebration help build community and are an essential component to the Cascadia Glue. Please check out the schedule. See you next Thursday!

Shoutouts

From the IN Box:

With his permission to share this information, a former student, Miguel Ochoa, contacted me last week out of the blue. It was a thank you email for helping him find his career path. After Cascadia, he earned his bachelor's from UW, did some post-bac work with a lab, got his master's in biological anthropology, and then his PhD at UW in evolutionary biomechanics and functional morphology. He currently has a post-doc at Duke School of Medicine, where he is teaching anatomy and osteology to med students.

(EM: And this success story is part of the glue that keeps us addicted to our work.)

AND

This weekend, I had the opportunity to take around 10 of our students to the Western Psychological Research Conference in Tacoma, WA. They joined more than 2,200 attendees—many of them undergraduates from four-year institutions. It was a great experience and, for some students, may become one of the most meaningful moments of their college journey. They were able to envision their futures, connect with faculty and peers from four-year colleges, and build skills like discussing research posters and engaging in conversations about psychological science.

(EM: Those students shared their experiences—particularly how this conference shaped their sense of self and their future paths—this last Wednesday, May 6. Just more glue.)

Shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu.