The Search for aVice President for Academic Affairs and Provost The Evergreen State College• Olympia, Washington Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................2 Leadership Agenda for the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of The Evergreen State College .........10 About Evergreen ....................................................................3 Academic Visioning for A Progressive, Public College The Evergreen State College ...........................................10 of Liberal Arts and Sciences ................................................3 Academic Excellence Through Commitment to Diversity ....................................................3 Student-Centeredness ......................................................11 Learning Environment .........................................................4 Strengthening Retention Through Student Success ..................................................11 The Five Foci and Six Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate ...................................................4 Enrollment ........................................................................11 The Evergreen Community ....................................................6 Academic Partnership and Campus Community ..........................................................12 Faculty and Staff ..................................................................6 External Relationships .......................................................13 Students ..............................................................................7 Qualifications, Experience, and Leadership Attributes ......14 Senior Staff ..........................................................................7 Application Procedures .......................................................16 Finances ..............................................................................8 Facilities ..............................................................................8 Advancement ......................................................................8 Alumni .................................................................................9 Introduction As an innovative public liberal arts college, Evergreen emphasizes collaborative, interdisciplinary learning across significant differences. Our academic community engages students in defining and thinking critically about their learning. Evergreen supports and benefits from local and global commitment to social justice, diversity, environmental stewardship and service in the public interest (Evergreen’s mission, 2011). The Evergreen State College and its Provost Search Committee invite nominations and expressions of interest for the position of Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. With its primary location in Olympia, Washington, Evergreen is an innovative public liberal arts and sciences college with a vibrant undergraduate program; three graduate programs; public service centers; an urban campus located in Tacoma, Washington; and reservation-based programs that, together, constitute a unique academic community. Designated as the liberal arts college within Washington’s public higher education system, Evergreen is a nontraditional institution and the smallest four-year public institution in the state. This position represents an exceptional opportunity to join the executive team of recently appointed President George Bridges and to provide academic leadership for a dynamic institution that holds a historically pivotal role in innovative higher education at the national level. The vice presidency will become available on or before July 1, 2017. The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College 3 About Evergreen A Progressive, Public College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Since opening its doors in 1971, Evergreen has established a national reputation for its leadership in developing interdisci- plinary, team-taught, thematic learning communities. Serving a population of striking diversity and complexity that belies its size, the college maintains many of the vital and distinc- tive practices that have been its hallmarks since its founding: • a dynamic curriculum characterized predominantly by full-time, team-taught, interdisciplinary, multi-quarter programs; • learning communities; • narrative evaluations of student work instead of grades; • unranked faculty with no disciplinary departments; • inclusive governance structures and academic deans who rotate from and return to the faculty; • and a teaching and learning culture where students engage with and take responsibility for their own work. Evergreen’s mission is to serve as an innovative public liberal arts and sciences college that emphasizes collaborative and interdisciplinary learning across significant differences. Evergreen’s academic community asks students to define and think critically about their learning. The college is committed to addressing local issues in a global context with an empha- sis on social justice, diversity, environmental stewardship, and service in the public interest. In its strategic planning, the college has particularly intensified its work around two longstanding global concerns—diversity and sustainability— endeavoring to reflect these preeminent interests in its curriculum, teaching practices, hiring, recruitment, and daily operations. Commitment to Diversity Evergreen values a student-centered teaching and learn- Tacoma, and 97 percent in the reservation-based program. ing environment, the linkage of theory to practice, and a Thirty-eight percent of undergraduate students are aged 24 community of diverse students, faculty, and staff working or older; 30 percent are first generation; 49 percent are low together. Committed to incorporating diverse perspectives income; and 9 percent have reported disabilities. into the educational program, the Evergreen community believes that significant differences among the faculty, staff, and the student body bring profound benefits to the learning Public service centers deepen the college’s commitment to learning that links theory and practice. They include: community. Therefore, Evergreen is exceptionally committed to equal opportunity, including the recruitment and retention • Washington Center for Improving of a multicultural learning community that is diverse in race, the Quality of Undergraduate Education color, religion, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, • Longhouse Education and Cultural Center gender identity, gender expression, marital status, age, • Washington State Institute for Public Policy disability, and veteran status. • Center for Community-Based Learning and Action Student enrollment is approximately 4,000 (FTE). Students • Center for Sustainable Infrastructure of color comprise 26 percent in Olympia, 65 percent in 4 The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College About Evergreen The Five Foci and Six Expectations Ninety-six percent of the 157 full-time faculty members hold of an Evergreen Graduate terminal degrees. People of color comprise 25 percent of the faculty and 22 percent of the staff. Fifty-six percent of Evergreen’s unique approach to the liberal arts is articulated faculty members are women. Thirty-eight percent of faculty in the Five Foci: interdisciplinary studies, collaborative members are in adjunct positions. learning, learning across significant differences, student engagement, and linking theory with practice. These foci are actualized in the Six Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate, Learning Environment which designate the capacity to: articulate and assume Evergreen offers interdisciplinary bachelor of arts and bach- responsibility for one’s own work; participate collaboratively elor of science degrees without stipulation of subject majors. and responsibly in a diverse society; communicate creatively The Olympia campus offers an undergraduate curriculum, and effectively; demonstrate integrative, independent, with full-time (16-credit) academic programs offered during critical thinking; apply qualitative, quantitative, and creative the day and half-time academic programs and courses taught modes of inquiry appropriately to practical and theoretical through the Evening and Weekend Studies curriculum. These problems across disciplines; and, as a culmination of the offerings are complemented by an upper-division Tacoma educational program, demonstrate depth, breadth, and Program, an upper-division Reservation-Based Community synthesis of learning and showcase the ability to reflect on Determined program serving Native American communities, the personal and social significance of that learning. and an upper-division evening and weekend program in Grays Harbor County. In addition, Evergreen offers three The Five Foci and the Six Expectations, along with cam- graduate programs (Master of Environmental Studies; Master pus-wide input from the college’s 2007 Strategic Plan in Teaching; and Master of Public Administration, with Public Update, resulted in the development of principles that led in & Nonprofit, Public Policy, and Tribal Governance concentra- 2011 to an updated articulation of the Evergreen mission and tions), and five public service centers mentioned on page 3. the development of core themes, objectives, and indicators Evergreen sustains a variety of partnerships with community in alignment with the college’s accreditation process. The organizations