News Links | June 9, 2020
System News | Opinion
Pierce College a finalist for national Aspen Prize
Pierce College has been named one of 10 finalists for the 2021 Aspen Prize for Community College
Excellence, a national award that recognizes two-year schools that effectively identify,
develop and scale strategies that help students complete college and succeed after
graduation. It’s the only community college in the Pacific Northwest to appear on
the list this year.
The Seattle Times, June 9, 2020
Higher education leaders plots course for fall
... Walla Walla Community College President Chad Hickox also said he remains hopeful that classes will occur in person.
However, he stressed, WWCC will be ready if that isn’t possible. “Should the spread
of the coronavirus require a transition to virtual/remote instruction, as has been
the case in the spring quarter, that decision will be made as early as possible, will
be communicated widely, and will remain in effect for the entirety of the quarter,”
Hickox said.
Union-Bulletin, June 8, 2020
Derek Sheffield reads "Letter to a burning world" by Kevin Goodan
Derek Sheffield’s collection, Not for Luck, was chosen by Mark Doty for the Wheelbarrow
Books Poetry Prize and is forthcoming in 2021 from MSU Press. His first collection,
Through the Second Skin (Orchises, 2013), was a finalist for the Washington State
Book Award. ... He teaches ecological writing and poetry at Wenatchee Valley College.
Spokane Public Radio, June 8, 2020
Peninsula College to host visual arts festival
Peninsula College will celebrate student work in the arts during the Student Arts Festival this week,
beginning today. The annual event, sponsored by the college’s Humanities Division,
showcases student work. Today through Friday, the college will feature performances
by the college’s music and drama departments, a student art show in the PUB Gallery
of Art, a student film festival, a multimedia book-signing event, awards for outstanding
English essays and the ASC-sponsored sidewalk chalk art contest.
Peninsula Daily News, June 8, 2020
COVID-19 puts LCC, students in tough financial straits
Students and colleges alike are feeling the financial strain of the pandemic. Nearly
140 students have dropped at least some classes at Lower Columbia College because of COVID-19, and the college is also laying off 45 part-time employees as
it braces for a projected $3.2 million budget shortfall, school officials said. The
college is creating a longer-term plan to balance the budget to address increasing
dropout and significant state funding cuts, college spokeswoman Wendy Hall said this
week.
The Daily News, June 8, 2020
SCC graduate Douglas Carney found a path to rebuild his life
Douglas Carney says he’s lived three lives. His first life was marked by his time
spent in a juvenile detention center ; his second, by two terms spent in a prison
facility. And his third life – the one he’s in right now – is marked by hope. This
spring Carney graduated with an associate degree in business from Spokane Community College and is set to continue his studies in business at Eastern Washington University.
The Spokesman-Review, June 7, 2020
Longtime politician Gary Locke faces unprecedented challenges as new leader at Bellevue College
In his decades in politics, former Gov. Gary Locke has been the leader of King County,
the state of Washington and the U.S. Department of Commerce. After years at the top
at the local, state and federal level, he’ll soon be charged with leading a much smaller
entity: Bellevue College. It’s an unexpected position for the politician whose story of growing up in Seattle
public housing to rising to the top tiers of government, including as the first Chinese
American governor in U.S. history, is well known in Washington and beyond.
The Seattle Times, June 7, 2020
Commentary: New WWCC president looks to the future
Late last month I had the honor of being selected as Walla Walla Community College’s fifth president. I want to thank everyone who took the time to provide input to the
Board of Trustees about what WWCC needs in a leader and about the vital role the college
plays for our students and the communities it serves.
Union-Bulletin, June 7, 2020
SFCC grad Kevin Robinson pursues degree after travel experience changes him
... He wanted to light a spark at Spokane Falls Community College, so more people would become invested in saving the planet. Though his position in
student government prevented him from leading the Environmental Club outright, he
drew interest on the campus, and provided fellow students the tools they needed to
see the club become a reality.
The Spokesman-Review, June 7, 2020
Some community college students ineligible for federal COVID-19 relief
... [Spokane Community College] President Kevin Brockbank said he wishes that students studying for the GED at a
community college were eligible for the CARES Act funding. [Spokane Falls Community College] President Kimberlee Messina noted that the law prohibits colleges from giving any
of the money to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients or international
students even though many of them, like other students, need extra help due to the
effects of the pandemic.
The Spokesman-Review, June 6, 2020
As protests spread across the country, mobile video creates mosaic of violence and tool for change
... George Holliday happened to step out onto his balcony with a Sony Handycam in
time to capture footage of four Los Angeles Police officers beating Rodney King. ...
“At least in my lifetime, I can trace back where we are now to that instance because
… the emergent personal video technology of that time, the handheld video camera,
was something that was very new,” said Daudi Abe, a Seattle Central College professor and writer who teaches the history of hip-hop, as well as a course on race
and policing for cadets.
Geek Wire, June 5, 2020
Centralia College East to offer COVID-19 monologue class
Those seeking an outlet for the mental hardships presented by the COVID-19 pandemic
now have a creative opportunity to do so. Centralia College East is offering a class in which anyone, students or not, can use a monologue to
express their various struggles. ... “You don’t have to have any acting experience
or any dramatic arts experience, it’s all about thinking about what you’ve been through,
what everybody’s been through the last couple of months and using a creative way to
process and express.”
The Daily Chronicle, June 5, 2020
Peninsula College cuts positions
Peninsula College has eliminated a half-dozen faculty and administrative positions and several part-time
jobs, including five in student services, as the school confronts an $870,000 deficit
for the upcoming school year, college President Luke Robins said Thursday. Those notified
of cuts at the end of May included three full-time positions, three part-time hourly
employees and one annualized associate faculty in a move that jeopardizes the future
of The Buccaneer, the student newspaper that dates back to the 1960s.
Peninsula Daily News, June 5, 2020
Karl Smith named VP of Student Affairs at TCC
Tacoma Community College is pleased to announce that Karl Smith is the new Vice President of Student Affairs.
Reporting to the TCC President, Smith will begin his new position July 1, 2020. This
position provides the vision and leadership for the college’s enrollment management
processes, student recruitment, admission, retention and success, in a collaborative
and equitable manner.
The Suburban Times, June 5, 2020
Alexis Madrigal shared his thoughts and experiences during Clark College Foundation webinar
Alexis Madrigal, who graduated from [Clark College] in 2000, is now one half of the leadership on The Atlantic magazine’s COVID Tracking
Project. He took the time via Zoom to speak with over 100 students, staff and community
members yesterday on that very subject. “I don’t see it going away this year,” Madrigal
said of COVID-19.
Clark County Today, June 4, 2020
SCC building is being expanded, renovated
Construction crews have started work on a $1.7 million expansion and renovation of
a building on the Spokane Community College campus, in East Spokane. John Gillette, the community college’s district director
of facilities, says the campus structure known as Building 19 is being expanded to
make room for the arrival of the fire sciences department.
Spokane Business Journal, June 4, 2020
Trends | Horizons | Education
With strategy, community colleges could win this fall
Community colleges must rise to the challenge of a possible enrollment surge, according
to a new report from Eduventures Research. The report points out that community colleges
did well with their enrollments in the Great Recession of 2008. But the enrollment
for this coming academic year will be a "cliff-hanger" as students hold off on making
decisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inside Higher Ed, June 9, 2020
The future of appreticeships
Virtual apprenticeships could be a boon to the future, some experts say. They would
open up opportunities for those with disabilities that make working in an office difficult,
or provide greater access to those in areas with a dearth of apprenticeship options.
But virtual options could lack the important pieces of apprenticeships that make them
successful, others say.
Inside Higher Ed, June 9, 2020
The importance of services for first-generation students
The Center for First-generation Student Success will soon release a landscape report
on support and services for first-generation students at community and technical colleges.
The report will show there is not a standard definition for first-generation student
populations, and that students do not always identify with the moniker and take advantage
of resources ...
Community College Daily, June 7, 2020
Attorneys General sue Devos, education department over Title IX rule
Eighteen attorneys general filed a lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy
DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education Thursday in an effort to block the department’s
final rule under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 from taking effect Aug.
14. ... The attorneys general claim that several aspects of the new regulations, such
as limiting Title IX to apply to sexual misconduct that occurs only within an “education
program or activity” and requiring complainants to be attempting to enroll or be enrolled
in a college’s program to pursue a report, are arbitrary and capricious.
Inside Higher Ed, June 5, 2020
Politics | Local, State, National
Insight into key CARES Act questions
Congress and the president quickly approved the CARES Act in March to provide $14
billion in emergency funding to colleges and students to help them with challenges
resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Education Department (ED) then issued
a series of guidance on how colleges can use the funds, but there have been plenty
of questions around those recommendations.
Community College Daily, June 8, 2020
Much to consider when reopening campuses
Community colleges weren’t represented at a Senate hearing Thursday on how colleges
and universities plan to safely reopen campuses, but many concerns of the two-year
college sector were addressed during the virtual meeting. The Senate Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions Committee discussed a wide range of issues related to opening campuses
during the coronavirus pandemic ...
Community College Daily, June 4, 2020