News & Events

$1.5 million Microsoft Philanthropies Accelerating Cybersecurity Excellence grant awarded to NCyTE

WCC President Kathi Hiyane-Brown and Director of Computer Sciences and Information Systems Corrinne Sande hosted Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President Brad Smith on campus for the announcement of the $1.5 million grant for “Accelerating Community College Cybersecurity Excellence.” The WCC Foundation serves as charitable fiscal agent for this College grant.
In this video, Smith speaks about the challenge of growing the cybersecurity workforce and Dr. Hiyane-Brown addresses how WWC is partnering with government, business and other higher education institutions to create a pipeline of students to meet this workforce challenge.

More cybersecurity news

Scholarship Spotlight: Adam Brendgard
2021-2022 NCyTE Scholarship Recipient

Adam Brendgard is one of 15 cybersecurity and computer information systems students who received scholarship awards from WCC’s National Cybersecurity Training and Education Center (NCyTE) this year. The scholarships, made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation and coordinated by WCC Foundation, total more than $77,000.

Brendgard is a Computer Information Systems Associate of Applied Science major at WCC. He came to Whatcom after serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, and he now serves as a reservist.

“After four years of experience in the U.S. Coast Guard, I was able to find my niche and future career path that I knew I would excel at. I was inspired to attend Whatcom because of their impressive cyber program,” Brendgard said.

While his service in the Coast Guard provided some tuition assistance via the G.I. Bill, receiving the NCyTE scholarship helps bridge the gap for outstanding education costs and rent, Brendgard says. "This is truly a great burden lifted off my shoulders.”

After graduation from Whatcom, Brendgard plans to attend Western Washington University to obtain a bachelor of science degree in cybersecurity and continue with a master’s degree.

“Whatcom opened the door to a career I'll excel at, and I know I'll enjoy it for the rest of my years.”

Challenge Gift Match supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion scholarships for students passionate about the arts

The Skipping Stone Foundation has again generously offered to match donations up to $20,000 for the creation of an endowed scholarship fund supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the arts. The Foundation Board-led Orca Pod Project committee for Arts and Humanities is working hard to recruit donors interested in contributing.

The Foundation has two months to raise matching charitable gifts to support this endowed fund in time to award students enrolling this fall. The fund will annually award two students with a $2,000 scholarship each. Please join us in reaching our goal to support students through an online donation to the Skipping Stone challenge match.

Donate Here

Food systems webinar series open to students, community members

The Orca Pod Project for Business, Law and Environment, co-chaired by board directors Bob Carmichael, Cheryl Thornton, and Ron Kleinknecht, partnered with business faculty member Jim Drinkwine to convene an informational webinar for students and community members titled, “Sustainability, Food, and You: Exploring local agriculture and food systems,” featuring Chris Benedict, professor and regional extension specialist with Washington State University, and Thornton, former owner of Cloud Mountain Farms. After the success and great insight from this first webinar on agricultural and food systems, more programming is in the works for spring quarter.

The webinar series on food systems is geared toward students and open to interested community members. Are you interested in upcoming presentations in the webinar series, including a business/restaurant perspective on food systems in mid-April or food access centers and their interface with food systems in early May? Sign up to be notified at foundation@whatcom.edu with “webinar series” in the subject line.

Awards recognize employee excellence

Fran Hudson Award for Excellence

The entire Custodial Services team was recognized with the Fran Huson Award honoring classified employees for their excellent work at WCC throughout the pandemic. Each member of the custodial staff will receive $500 from the WCC Foundation. Congratulations to: Anatoliy Shved, Brandon Krueger, Erick Nolasco, Eva Molina Giron, Joginder Sanghera, Justin Masterson, Kitty Yeung, Kyle Kordsmeier, Manfredo Rendon, Maria Aguilera Suarez, Michael Eisses, Nadezhda Podolyak, Sufang Liu, William Grimes, and Yasmin Aponte Albino.

The Classified Excellence Award was renamed in 2019 as The Fran Hudson Award for Excellence to honor the memory of former classified staff employee and IT Helpdesk Supervisor Fran Hudson. This award recognizes proven excellence in job-related duties, initiative in maintaining a positive atmosphere and providing support for colleagues, service to the College, creativity, and outstanding service to students.

Judy Hoover Award for Excellence

This year, two exempt staff members were recognized with the Judy Hoover award and received $1,000 each from the WCC Foundation. Congratulations to Executive Director for Human Resources Becky Rawlings and Director for Safety and Security Raquel Vernola for their exemplary service at WCC throughout the pandemic.

The Judy Hoover Award for Excellence was established in 2009 by the WCC Foundation in honor of the exceptional contributions of former exempt employee and Foundation Board Director Judy Hoover. This award was created to acknowledge the outstanding accomplishments and exceptional individual achievements of Whatcom’s exempt employees.

Orca Trivia

Local whale watchers are celebrating the first calf to be born into J Pod in more than two years. This is wonderful news for the Southern Resident orcas, whose three pods total only 74 orcas with the addition of the new calf.

DOWNLOADABLE PDF VERSION