October 2, 2026

Pacing

I am in Spokane this week for the first of my monthly WACTC meetings that happen during the academic year. WACTC is the association of community college presidents and we gather October through July to discuss system policy, budget, and legislative issues. I waited to send the Friday Letter today until after our morning session closed so that I could provide current updates. You’ll see those below.

But first, an anecdote from my summer vacation that I thought was important to our work at Cascadia.

Our family vacation to Germany this year involved spending 11 nights in the home of a friend whom I first met when I was living there as a high school exchange student. A significant part of German culture is spending time…a long time…around the dinner table. And, for 11 nights, our dinner conversations went long. As many of you might suspect, two hours or more around the dinner table each night was a stretch for me (and my partner 😉) enough so that my long-time friend called us out for being anxious to leave the table each night.

That led my partner and I to talk about our travel style and our “way of being”. Are we ones to linger? Are we always in a hurry? We didn’t think we were either, so what was our style?

Some internet advice suggested this…

“The middle ground between lingering and hurrying is pacing. This concept represents moving at a steady, deliberate, and sustainable speed that allows you to remain productive without rushing, and present without stalling.”

This analysis resonated with us. We are paced. We stay productive and both intuitively know when we have absorbed enough information. We stay present and engaged, but also like to keep moving. And, understanding and respecting the culture of our surroundings needed to stay front-of-mind. I felt this was also a description of my work style.

I like to have a well-developed plan with reasonable expectations that get implemented. I like to make sure to listen to constituents while helping move along a conversation to an outcome. I often summarize discussions mid-way through so that everyone is tracking in the same direction. And I like to assess whether a topic is tactical or strategic, with strategic discussions needing a bit more time to determine their impact on the people and the organization.

So, I hope to have set a tone of pacing ourselves at Cascadia. Not so fast that information bowls us over (like with A.I.), but not so slow that we stagnate and can’t continue to evolve in a way that supports our effectiveness. This pacing will help us meet the challenges ahead and not fall behind the curve of change that’s coming. It will also allow us time to consider the important steps we need to take to sustain the college.

That was my ‘ah-ha’ moment from vacation. Our longest dinner ended up being 4 hours…but we honored our host and made sure we had enough wine. 😊

Ok, thanks for staying at the table to read updates from yesterday and today’s Presidents’ meeting.

• Current speculation on the state budget is that there will be a 20% cut over the biennium, translating to a 10% reduction to state agencies for each year. This will be determined by the legislature in the spring.
• With regard to the Efficiency Study, the State Board has been leading a work group that is collecting data and information. They have two months to synthesize that information and create a report for the legislature. The State Board will review that report on December 18. We’ll know more then.

Reminders

If you are willing to bake a dozen of your finest morsels for the morning of our October 21 DIA, please let me know.

I need to know if you have a team captain for the Great Cascadia Game Show Spectacular. Next Friday is the deadline for registering that you will play. I have reattached the overview document to this email.

Shoutouts

Remember, shoutouts can be sent to FLShoutout@cascadia.edu.