Daria Willis has been Everett CC's president for a year last April. She is the 17th President of the Community College, and its first African American. Before coming to Everett she was the Provost and Senior V.P. of Academic Affairs at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York. She has a Ph.D. from Florida State University with a focus on 19th and 20th Century African Americans, Women and the South
Dr. Daria J Willis
The college started making contingency plans when the Coronavirus arose as an issue in January. In person classes were shut down in March and since then its been primarily remote learning. Because of the need for nurses, there has been limited face to face instruction. The Associated Students stepped up and has used some of the fees generated to purchase lap top computers for students.
Dr. Willis thanked our club for providing scholarships for some of their students, supporting the Foundation and for our community service. She also recognized a couple of previous members of our club and current member for their contributions. Gene Chase was a trustee as was John Garner, who was president of our club. When we split off and sponsored the Marysville Club, John was a charter member. Steve Robinson, deceased, was active instructor in Everett CC's criminal justice program. Steve was the police chief in Arlington.
John is on the top. Below him are Steve Robinson and Gene Chase
One change made since Dr. Willis has been president has been splitting duties of one of the Vice President positions so that there is now a VP of Instruction, Cathy Leaker, and a VP of Student Services, Dr. Robert Hill. Another new position is that of Assistant VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Phyllis Esposito.
Phase 2 will allow for more in person instruction. It will need to involve testing and contact tracing. Fortunately to date there have been only 3 reported cases. The only student became positive after in person classes ended. An employee and a volunteer were the other 2 cases and fortunately neither of them had direct contact with other staff. The Herald Business Journal had a story about Everett CC "in the year of Covid".
There are some capital projects in line for State funding. They include a new Learning Resource Center east of Broadway, a new library and renovating Baker Hall. Athletics are up in the air and a lot will depend on what is decided by the NW Athletic Conference. There are tentative plans to have at least cross country in September.
The residence halls are at about 50% capacity even when doing remote learning. Dr. Willis expressed a preference for keeping them at 50% for safety and because it will be easier to quarantine fewer student in the event their is a positive case.
Enrollment this summer is up 2.4% from last summer. Before the pandemic, numbers were up.There was a dip in the spring quarter--down .5%. Fall enrollment is ongoing and currently down about 8%, with the hope it will increase before classes start. Tuition will be increasing 2.5% and is set by the state.
Some students did participate in the protests in Everett and social justice is something that is being addressed at the college.
The faculty has done a good job at adjusting to online learning. Even science labs have been successful with the use of lab kits. Dr. Willis stated that we "don't want to waste a good crisis." It opens the door to hybrid classes in the future as well as expansion of on line degrees. Only 1 has been offered in the past. An example of the positive impact is a program that Dr. Willis initiated before the closure known as "Trojan Talks". It used to average about 150 when it was in person and the last talk which was on line had 360 participants.
The strategic planning that is being done will undoubtedly include changes reflecting what has been learned during the closure. One thing that won't change if Dr. Willis has her way, is dropping "community" from the name of the college. After all that is what the college is all about is supporting the community.
You can see all of Dr. Willis' presentation on our club's YouTube channel by clicking HERE.
