Their insight and comments have made me a better teacher and allowed me to enhance and perfect my lesson plans. It has been a very productive time with many beneficial conversations and reviews. I have worked hard to incorporate their great insight and advice into my instruction.
Tenure Committee letters have been transferred into Google Docs for ease of presentation. Hard copies available upon request.
To: Board of Trustees, Edmonds Community College
Dr. Amit Singh, President, Edmonds Community College
From: David Jacobson, Chair, Patrick Kolanda Tenure Appointment Committee
Subject: Tenure Status for Patrick Kolanda
The appointment Review Committee is in unanimous approval for granting tenure to Patrick Kolanda. The members are: Lisa Schubert; Brent Leithauser; Kevin Stewart, Administrator; Mungin Mungina, student, and David Jacobson, Chair.
All committee members have had the pleasure of observing Patrick’s teaching style both in person and in Canvas. All observations have consistently demonstrated excellent teaching.
Patrick has been an effective instructor in the Construction Management (CM) program for several years. This program is challenging for an instructor due to the wide range of knowledge expected of an instructor and the specialty construction skills that many students bring to the classroom. Unlike the traditional college student, CM students have extensive experience in the industry and expect their instructor to have even more. Patrick clearly has extensive knowledge and experience in the field of Construction Management and has successfully met this high standard.
Student evaluations have been constantly high throughout the probationary period. Students have strong appreciation of Patrick’s teaching, evident in their visible engagement in class and clearly stated in course evaluations. Patrick’s enthusiasm for the CM industry, teaching, and the EdCC community, is evident in everything that Patrick does. Patrick effortlessly inspires students with this enthusiasm resulting in higher student retention and success.
Patrick has vision for the Department. He has led the Department in augmenting its face-to-face pedagogy with extensive enhancement using the Canvas learning platform. This has allowed many courses to become either hybrid or on-line.
Patrick has been an active and dedicated contributor to the CM Department, including serving as a co-department head. At a time when student enrollments have been on a decline at EdCC, his hard work as an adviser for the department has been instrumental in the success and retention of students and the significant growth of the Department over the last three years.
The Appointment Review Committee recommends Patrick Kolanda as a tenured faculty member. The committee welcomes Patrick as a colleague who will continue to enrich the college; administrators, faculty, and students; for years to come.
Sincerely,
Dave Jacobson
Dave Jacobson, Department Chair
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March 11th, 2020
RE: Recommendation for Patrick Kolanda
To Whom It May Concern:
Professor Kolanda is dedicated to serving students, local industry, and the Edmonds Community College community at large. In my limited exposure, I've seen Professor Kolanda work tirelessly to ensure quality instruction and serve as a conduit for industry engagement. Specifically, after meeting various students one evening, my impression of his ability within the classroom was further reinforced by the candor and positive student reviews.
Without prompt, numerous students shared unfiltered feedback about our construction management program and the impact he has had on both their academic and professional career. He is respected by his peers, students, and industry colleagues. As someone who has served faculty for years, I cannot recommend anyone stronger - he is agile to student needs, cognizant of institutional goals, and receptive toward instructional feedback.
Construction is a unique industry; whereas, it is very cyclical and deeply tied to economic impacts thereof. Given the nature of the program, I vehemently recommend Professor Kolanda for tenure. He embodies all the pre-requisite qualities tenure is meant to secure.
If you need additional information, please contact me directly at kevin.stewart@email.edcc.edu.
Sincerely,
Kevin L. Stewart Jr.
Dean of Business
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March 4, 2020
Brent Leithauser, PharmD, RPh
To: David Jacobson, Chair of Appointment Review Committee for Patrick Kolanda
Re: Recommendation for Tenure
It is my pleasure as a member of this Appointment Review Committee to recommend Patrick Kolanda for tenure as full-time faculty in the Construction Management Department at Edmonds Community College.
Patrick and I met during the summer of 2014 while attending Boot Camp for Professional Technical Instructors at Green River College, a week-long workshop offered by the Washington State Center of Excellence for Careers in Education. At this workshop, industry professionals like Patrick and I received instructional training to facilitate our work in the classroom, ranging from syllabus content to course design, classroom management, and beyond. I remember Patrick’s confident, comfortable demeanor in that setting, something that I have witnessed carries over to his work in the classroom.
Following our shared experience at Boot Camp for Prof-Tech Instructors, Patrick and I got together occasionally to share a meal and compare notes as new faculty members. Through this I experienced and appreciated Patrick’s genuine interest in cultivating collegial friendships among coworkers, an attribute I know his division appreciates as well. When Patrick asked me to join his appointment review committee in early 2018, I was more than happy to serve.
Patrick’s gregarious demeanor and self-evident workplace experience inspire confidence among students. Having observed a number of Patrick’s classes, I look forward each time to the crisp dynamic of humor, plentiful images and examples, polished materials, and uniformly engaged students. Patrick’s courses are populated by a blend of new and experienced construction professionals, and it’s readily apparent that students respond to Patrick’s material. In addition to the comfortable atmosphere, I enjoy the content itself in these courses--a recent course detailed examples of LEED*-certified construction on our own campus. Even as an observer, I find myself raising my hand to ask questions and take part in the class, a testament to Patrick’s engaging instruction.
Beyond Patrick’s general comfort in the classroom and expertise, he also teaches with a level of sensitivity and nuance that is not to be overlooked. During one class session I observed, Patrick’s discussion touched on the existence of political disparities across our nation (at hand: the topic that “green” construction may be more sought-after in some states and administrations than others, depending on political climate). What struck me about this was the way that Patrick deftly visited the point, without introducing the sorts of value judgments that might alienate a student. I felt sure that students of varied political backgrounds shared this classroom, and at no point--even in today’s polarized society--did I sense that politics were a barrier to any participants in the discussion.
As a fellow professional-technical faculty member and friend, I respect and value Patrick’s contributions to our college, and I believe he is a strong asset to the Construction Management program and to the Business Division here at EdCC. I request that the Committee Chair and Board of Trustees give Patrick Kolanda their full consideration, and I wholeheartedly recommend conferral of tenure for this member of our instructional team.
Sincerely,
Brent Leithauser
Brent Leithauser, PharmD, RPh
Instructor and Department Co-Chair, Allied Health Education
Edmonds Community College
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March 3, 2020
Dear Board of Trustees:
I am pleased to recommend Patrick Kolanda for tenure. I think the college is fortunate to have found an experienced construction professional, with decades of experience, who is now equally dedicated to his profession as a college instructor.
As I observed Patrick’s classes the past three years, two consistent qualities about his teaching stood out:
Patrick engages students in real world applications. One of his courses I visited was Construction 141, Blueprint Reading. In this class, students don’t just learn theoretical concepts from a textbook. In groups of three or four, they are handed an actual blueprint of a building on campus or nearby and are asked to make sense of it. After they discuss a series of questions about the blueprint in their small group, the students have to present an overview of the construction project the blueprint represents.
As I observed this class one night, I realized that every student was engaged in the work. They were answering the questions given to them but also asking each other additional questions or discussing the pros and cons of some aspect of design. It was easy to imagine these same students huddled around a table in discussion at an architectural or construction company after graduating with construction management degrees.
One strategy Patrick used to engage students that I was particularly impressed with is the use of gender inclusive language. Construction is (currently) a male-dominated field. But Patrick goes out of his way to ensure any women in the class also feel welcome. One example of his gender-inclusive language is when he talks to his students about supervisors. On one occasion when I attended, he said, “When you are talking to your boss and she says to do something, you do it.” He works this gender-inclusive language into his examples so his students understand women can and do hold positions of authority in construction.
In addition to engaging students, Patrick challenges them. Another of his courses I observed was Construction 155, LEED Certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. I happened to observe an evening class when students were giving group presentations on a LEED project they researched. One group, for example, presented on Amazon’s green building practices. I remember being thoroughly impressed by the students’ presentation of an Eco-district that Amazon utilizes. In this Eco-district, one building in downtown Seattle has a data center that generates heat as it processes data. The heat warms water that is pumped underground to Amazon, where it heats the building. As the water pumped through Amazon's building cools off, it is pumped back to the data processing center where it acts as a coolant.
I wrote in my notes after observing this class, “Fabulous student presentations means fabulous instruction has taken place.”
Students clearly like Patrick and he likes them. Patrick has an easy rapport with students. His instructional demeanor is confident and friendly. Everyone appears comfortable, jokes are interspersed with instruction (one slide presentation included a Hall of Shame of construction mistakes), and student questions are welcome.
I am excited for Patrick Kolanda to join the tenured ranks of our faculty. He offers much to the college in his particular area of expertise as well as his overall willingness to collaborate and continue to learn.
Sincerely,
Lisa Schubert
Lisa Schubert, AFT Representative, Patrick Kolanda’s Appointment Review Committee
Faculty, English Prep, PreCollege Division Date: March 2, 2020
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February 10, 2020
To: Appointment Review Committee for Patrick Kolanda
From: Moni Mungin
Appointment Review Committee:
It is with pleasure that I write this letter of endorsement for Patrick Kolanda. I’ve had the opportunity to observe Patrick’s instruction and the progression of his tenure process.
As student representative, I’ve seen Patrick’s commitment to student success. He guides students through the curriculum and helps them navigate the rigors of the Construction Management Program.
Patrick’s classes are lively, thought-provoking, and well-paced. Patrick is instrumental in helping students emerge from the program with solid grounding to advance their careers. I believe that Patrick will be a valuable addition to the faculty and continue to grow this unique program.
Sincerely,
Moni Mungin
Moni Mungin
Student Rep., Tenure Review Committee