The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

The Evergreen State College • Olympia, Washington

Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................2

About Evergreen ....................................................................3

A Progressive, Public College of Liberal Arts and Sciences ................................................3

Commitment to Diversity ....................................................3

Learning Environment .........................................................4

The Five Foci and Six Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate ...................................................4

The Evergreen Community ....................................................6

Faculty and Staff ..................................................................6

Students ..............................................................................7

Senior Staff ..........................................................................7

Finances ..............................................................................8

Facilities ..............................................................................8

Advancement ......................................................................8

Alumni .................................................................................9

Leadership Agenda for the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of The Evergreen State College .........10

Academic Visioning for The Evergreen State College ...........................................10

Academic Excellence Through Student-Centeredness ......................................................11

Strengthening Retention Through Student Success ..................................................11

Enrollment ........................................................................11

Academic Partnership and Campus Community ..........................................................12

External Relationships .......................................................13

Qualifications, Experience, and Leadership Attributes ......14

Application Procedures .......................................................16

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.

Introduction

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 SciencesSince 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 DiversityEvergreen values a student-centered teaching and learn-ing environment, the linkage of theory to practice, and a community of diverse students, faculty, and staff working together. Committed to incorporating diverse perspectives 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 community. Therefore, Evergreen is exceptionally committed to equal opportunity, including the recruitment and retention of a multicultural learning community that is diverse in race, color, religion, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, age, disability, and veteran status.

Student enrollment is approximately 4,000 (FTE). Students of color comprise 26 percent in Olympia, 65 percent in

Public service centers deepen the college’s commitment to learning that links theory and practice. They include:

• Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education

• Longhouse Education and Cultural Center

• Washington State Institute for Public Policy

• Center for Community-Based Learning and Action

• Center for Sustainable Infrastructure

Tacoma, and 97 percent in the reservation-based program. Thirty-eight percent of undergraduate students are aged 24 or older; 30 percent are first generation; 49 percent are low income; and 9 percent have reported disabilities.

4 The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College

The Five Foci and Six Expectations of an Evergreen GraduateEvergreen’s unique approach to the liberal arts is articulated in the Five Foci: interdisciplinary studies, collaborative learning, learning across significant differences, student engagement, and linking theory with practice. These foci are actualized in the Six Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate, which designate the capacity to: articulate and assume responsibility for one’s own work; participate collaboratively and responsibly in a diverse society; communicate creatively and effectively; demonstrate integrative, independent, critical thinking; apply qualitative, quantitative, and creative modes of inquiry appropriately to practical and theoretical problems across disciplines; and, as a culmination of the educational program, demonstrate depth, breadth, and synthesis of learning and showcase the ability to reflect on the personal and social significance of that learning.

The Five Foci and the Six Expectations, along with cam-pus-wide input from the college’s 2007 Strategic Plan Update, resulted in the development of principles that led in 2011 to an updated articulation of the Evergreen mission and the development of core themes, objectives, and indicators in alignment with the college’s accreditation process. The core themes are integrated, interdisciplinary learning; individuals engaged in community; environmental stew-ardship and social justice; and diversity and equity. These

About Evergreen

Ninety-six percent of the 157 full-time faculty members hold terminal degrees. People of color comprise 25 percent of the faculty and 22 percent of the staff. Fifty-six percent of faculty members are women. Thirty-eight percent of faculty members are in adjunct positions.

Learning EnvironmentEvergreen offers interdisciplinary bachelor of arts and bach-elor of science degrees without stipulation of subject majors. The Olympia campus offers an undergraduate curriculum, with full-time (16-credit) academic programs offered during the day and half-time academic programs and courses taught through the Evening and Weekend Studies curriculum. These offerings are complemented by an upper-division Tacoma Program, an upper-division Reservation-Based Community Determined program serving Native American communities, and an upper-division evening and weekend program in Grays Harbor County. In addition, Evergreen offers three graduate programs (Master of Environmental Studies; Master in Teaching; and Master of Public Administration, with Public & Nonprofit, Public Policy, and Tribal Governance concentra-tions), and five public service centers mentioned on page 3. Evergreen sustains a variety of partnerships with community organizations that serve the public and connect theory with practice, including Gateways for Incarcerated Youth and the Sustainability in Prisons Project.

The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College 5

themes reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the college itself and highlight and reinforce interdependence across fields of study, administrative divisions, and strategic priorities. The intended overall result of these commitments is an institution in which the faculty, staff, students, and the larger community of alumni and friends understand the interconnection of

Evergreen’s main campus is located on 1,000 forested acres at the southern tip of Puget Sound. Seattle, Portland, Mt. Rainier National Park, the Pacific Ocean, and the rain forests of Olympic National Park are all within a one- to two-hour drive.

Along with the main campus in Olympia, Evergreen has an upper-division learning community of about 200 students in Tacoma as well as an upper-division reservation-based program serving tribal communities throughout Western Washington. The Tacoma Program is housed in an urban setting that is strongly connected to the surrounding community.

About Evergreen

Evergreen’s academic activities and general operations with the college mission and, as a result, its service to the public interest. The college is completing final revisions to a new, five-year strategic plan for adoption in Fall 2016.

Evergreen remains committed to its defining identity as both a public institution—in the sense of broad access, a diverse academic community, and a focus on serving the public good—and a liberal arts and sciences college. Well aware that its chosen approach presents unique challenges, the college strives to sustain a productive tension between extraordinary student responsibility for determining per-sonal academic pathways and an institutional commitment to promote the breadth and depth of a liberal education. Evergreen determined at the outset that exercising the right to determine one’s aspirations, one’s work, should be part of the college experience. As such, the educational program supports a high level of student engagement that in turn leads to deep learning.

To increase the possibility that such utopian freedom will be exercised responsibly, it is the college’s duty to provide sub-stantial guidance in the form of effective advising, to require that students be able to reflect upon and communicate their choices, and to offer a curriculum that will make it possible to achieve the liberal arts capacities of thought and action as expressed in the Six Expectations.

The Evergreen State College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The College completed its “Year Three” review (in a seven-year cycle), which included a “virtual visit” in 2013. For more detailed information, please see the self-study at evergreen.edu/provost/accreditation.htm#Accreditation.

North Cascades National Park

Vancouver

Seattle

Portland

Olympia

Mt. St. Helens Volcanic Monument

Mt. Rainier National Park

Mt. Baker

Glacier PeakOlympic National Park

Mt. Olympus

Mt. Adams

Columbia RiverBasin

Spokane

Walla Walla

Yakima

6 The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College

The Evergreen Community

Faculty and StaffThe Evergreen State College is a singular place with an extraordinarily engaged faculty, student body, and staff. Faculty sustain a lively internal conversation about the meaning and value of a liberal arts and sciences education, are pas-sionate about its value in the public domain, and have a deep appreciation for the diverse experiences that students bring to their learning. Faculty are unranked, with a uniform pay scale across all disciplines, and team-teaching is the primary mode of instruction.

The curriculum is developed collaboratively and consultatively by the faculty as a whole, then divided into Planning Units and temporary Academic Program Teams. Budgets, space issues, and hiring are handled separately by the Planning Units, to reduce territorial and factional tendencies. The work of planning the curriculum is facilitated by the Academic Deans, who are members of the faculty and rotate through the Deanery for four-year terms. The college’s successful innovation is deeply linked to the faculty’s curricular freedom and responsibility. The college formalized its commitment to maintaining and supporting that freedom in its collective bargaining agreement, initiated in 2008 and administered by the Vice President/Provost.

Among Evergreen’s strengths is the diversity of the faculty. A faculty that reflects the diversity of the students it serves is understood to be important to Evergreen’s success in recruit-ing and retaining students. Given recent trends in student body demographics, Evergreen’s faculty composition has not kept pace with student composition in terms of veteran status, disability status, Latino/Hispanic, African American, or multira-cial faculty. As faculty retire, thoughtful attention to recruiting a diverse pool of candidates for open faculty positions will be necessary to preserve this strength. With a significant number of faculty who are comparatively new to the college, and a curricular model dependent upon the creation of strong teaching teams, the college must emphasize orientation programs for new faculty and create substantial opportunities for faculty to work together to promote teaching across widely diverse academic disciplines and to continue strengthening Evergreen’s unique pedagogy.

Recruitment, retention, and development of staff and faculty continue to be key priorities for the institution. During the recent recession, most staff reductions were accomplished by eliminating vacant positions, largely protecting direct instruc-tion and continuing faculty. At the same time, salary increases for faculty and staff were minimal, staff support for many crucial academic and student support functions were weak-ened, and flexibility in staffing the curriculum was attenuated.

More recent budget reductions due to declining enrollment have required staff layoffs and reduced the number of adjunct faculty positions. The college is working to address unresolved issues of salary compression, job classification reviews, and other internal equity issues.

During this same period, the college entered into labor agree-ments with faculty and some exempt staff in addition to the longstanding agreement with classified staff. Going forward, the college will be accountable to its collective bargaining units for how it addresses issues of compensation and working conditions, as well as addressing those salary issues affecting staff categories not represented by the unions.

The college and the United Faculty of Evergreen have agreed that the student/faculty ratio will be at a maximum enrollment of 25 to 1, with some variation at both the graduate and undergraduate lower-division levels. The performance of faculty members is reviewed regularly, as outlined in the most recent collective bargaining agreement between the college and the United Faculty of Evergreen.

The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College 7

The Evergreen Community

StudentsNot surprisingly, given Evergreen’s uniqueness, the majority of enrolling students describe Evergreen as their first choice. For some, Evergreen is their only choice. Evergreen’s com-mitment to interdisciplinary academic programs accounts for one part of the attraction. Another appeal is the college’s location in the Pacific Northwest and the Olympia campus’ 1,000 acres. The institution uses these assets to strengthen academic programs. The college’s Organic Farm, as well as field studies on campus and in the region, support themes of sustainability and social justice in the curriculum.

Nearly 60 percent of new students transfer to the college from other institutions, primarily from the state’s community colleges, making this constituency the largest among the many and diverse cohorts that compose The Evergreen State College student body. Students at the Tacoma campus and in the reservation-based programs are also upper-division stu-dents, as are most students in the evening and weekend pro-gram, making the traditional four-year liberal arts students, many of whom hail from out of state, a minority of the total population. The Reservation-Based Community Determined (RBCD) program partners with Grays Harbor College to offer a bridge program for lower-division students. Sixty-nine percent of all degree-seeking students receive some sort of financial aid, including loans and grants. The discount rate in recent years is approximately 15 percent.

Senior StaffDr. George Bridges leads the college’s administration. He began his tenure at Evergreen on October 1, 2015, after 10 years as president of Whitman College. He previously served as Dean and Vice Provost of Undergraduate Educ- ation at the University of Washington, where he also served as Professor of Sociology. The Vice President/Provost serves as a member of the President’s senior executive team. Other members include:

• the Vice President for College Advancement and Executive Director of the Foundation;

• the Vice President for Finance and Administration; • the Vice President for Student Affairs; • the Chief Communications Officer; • the President’s Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board

Directly reporting to the Vice President/Provost are, along with the faculty, the academic deans, the Associate Vice President for Budget and Financial Planning, the directors of the graduate programs and of the Tacoma and RBCD pro-grams, the Director of Institutional Research and Assessment, the Provost/Vice President’s Executive Associate, the

8 The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College

Academic Grants and Sponsored Research Manager, and the directors of:

• Center for Community-Based Learning and Action, • Center for Sustainable Infrastructure, • Longhouse Education and Cultural Center, • Washington Center.

(See the college organization chart.)

FinancesThe college’s current annual operating budget is approximately $54 million. An additional $29 million is earned annually through auxiliary, grants, contracts, and related activities. Roughly half of the college’s operating budget ($28.3 million) is allocated to the Academics Division to be managed by the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. Summer School revenues provide an additional $1.2 million to the aca-demic base operating budget. Salary and benefits represents 94 percent of the academic budget (75 percent faculty, 25 percent staff).

Fifty-six percent of the College’s operating revenue derives from tuition and mandatory fee collections, with the balance provided by the state of Washington. This reflects a significant reinvestment of public dollars in higher education over the past four years. In the 2011–13 biennium, the state’s share of the college’s operating budget was 36 percent. This increased to 38 percent in the 2013–15 biennium, and currently stands at 44 percent. During this period of state reinvestment, the college’s primary budget challenges have stemmed from enrollment. In the 2014 fiscal year, the college cut its annual operating budget by 7.3 percent, reflecting a 10 percent reduction in tuition revenue due to declining enrollment.

FacilitiesCollege facilities planning is guided by the recently updated Campus Master Plan, which is grounded in principles of learning, community, and sustainability. In recent years the College completed renovations of the College Activities Building (including student activities and food service areas), many of the student housing facilities, the Communications Building, and a science laboratory; constructed a new carving studio, funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation, to support indigenous arts programs; and began design for a fiber arts studio with a subsequent Ford Foundation grant. The college has taken significant steps to improve energy efficiency, including the installation of LED parking lot and walkway lights, which save an estimated $35,000 per year. A major renovation of Purce Hall (formerly known as the Lecture Hall) will be completed before fall 2016. Renovations of the Seminar I building and construction of a new Health and Counseling Center are planned, contingent on state funding. A future renovation of the Costantino Recreation Center is planned, contingent on the support of students. The college recently acquired the Tacoma Campus property, enabling ter-mination of the long-term lease. The college is wrapping up the final phase of the Residential Master Plan and will begin design for the first phase of new first-year student housing in January 2017.

The College’s facilities program strives to provide flexible facilities to support the needs of the academic program. This is a challenge with an academic curriculum as fluid as Evergreen’s and public support for renovations and construc-tion of new facilities increasingly difficult to obtain. Strong advocacy and leadership skills in the future Provost will help the college provide facilities tailored to the specific needs of the academic program.

AdvancementAdvancement staff work in an integrated team of develop-ment, alumni, and advancement services professionals. Much of their work supports the activities of The Evergreen State College Foundation, a separate 501(c)3 organization that raises and stewards gifts to support the college. The Foundation is governed by a Board of Governors comprised of up to 26 voting board members and five non-voting ex-officio board members. Foundation board members are active, committed, and supportive of the institution with 100 percent participation in philanthropic giving to Evergreen.

Advancement’s activities have expanded considerably in the past five years. With the support of a capacity-building grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Evergreen has developed a comprehensive fundraising program including

The Evergreen Community

The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College 9

2015–16 academic year. The Foundation receives about $3 million in gifts each year.

AlumniWithin one year of graduation, 87 percent of undergraduate alumni who applied to graduate school were accepted, and 21 percent were enrolled in post-baccalaureate programs. By 15 years after graduation, the graduate school acceptance rate climbed to 95 percent, and 59 percent had completed or were enrolled in graduate or professional programs. Top occupa-tions for Evergreen graduates include education, community and social services, and management. Evergreen graduates are also quite entrepreneurial; while 9 percent of alumni are self-employed or run their own businesses within one year of graduation, that proportion climbs to 27 percent 15 years after completing an undergraduate degree at Evergreen.

Evergreen alumni have reached the highest levels of leader-ship. Alumni number just over 45,000, with more than 30,000 solicited last year; 4.2 percent of alumni participated in giving in the 2014-15 fiscal year. Alumni are involved through interac-tive communications including social media, online directories for entrepreneurs and authors, and a blog, The Evergreen Mind. The Evergreen Magazine celebrates the achievements of alumni and showcases campus activities. Events designed to build community and encourage involvement in the college engage alumni from the local region and further afield. The alumni reunion, Return to Evergreen, attracts alumni from around the state and the nation. Alumni also add value to the curriculum by visiting academic programs.

annual, major, and planned giving; donor relations; special initiatives; and events. A challenge match for a $4 million campaign to support endowed scholarships from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation inspired donors to stretch to new levels of giving.

This initiative sets the stage for future success in securing private gifts in preparation for a potential comprehensive fundraising campaign at Evergreen in honor of the college’s 50th anniversary.

At the end of the 2014–15 academic year, the endowment total for the college and the Foundation was $13.7 million with over $1.5 million in additional endowment gifts received in the

The Evergreen Community

10 The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College

Academic Visioning for The Evergreen State College The college is nationally recognized for its progressive nature, alternative approach to liberal arts and sciences education, and innovative core undergraduate curriculum. Evergreen has been regarded as an inspired national educational experiment. As the landscape of higher education chang-es, the college has continued to evolve. How well is the experiment working? What can be learned? How might the college improve? How might the experiment further evolve to address future educational needs in a fresh and effective manner? The next Vice President/Provost has the opportunity

to listen carefully to students, faculty, and staff to learn the college’s history and culture, and to engage thoroughly with all parts of the college in order to articulate a revitalized educational vision embracing all of Evergreen, including the Tacoma campus, the reservation-based programs, the gradu-ate programs, and public service centers, as well as the four-year undergraduate program based in Olympia. The college will continue its aim to serve traditional, nontraditional, and underserved populations of students and to extend the reach of student-centered public education for social justice, but the manner of doing so warrants careful study, revitalization, and possible redevelopment.

Leadership Agenda for the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of The Evergreen State College

The Evergreen State College has flourished and persisted for 45 years as a distinctive, public alternative institution of higher education when many other higher education experiments have disappeared or lost their alternative character. The college has recently appointed a new president, Dr. George Bridges, and seeks a new Vice President/Provost to provide the academic leadership required to continue the college’s success in the midst of a rapidly changing environment for higher education. The institutional priorities outlined below were identified through a series of forums held with all major internal constituencies of the college. These challenges and opportunities should help nominators and prospective candidates understand the experi-ence and skills that the Provost Search Committee will seek in candidates.

The college’s students, faculty, and staff seek a Vice President/Provost who will embrace and advocate for Evergreen’s academic mission. In campus forums to prepare for the search, the Search Committee heard interest in a Vice President/Provost who will engage the campus community around issues of student-centered education, academic freedom, social justice, and community involvement.

The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College 11

Academic Excellence Through Student-CenterednessAny reconsideration of the effectiveness and relevance of the college’s curriculum and the mode of its delivery must acknowledge that while the academic strength of a college begins with the quality of its faculty, staff, and academic offerings, it must conclude by exhibiting excellence in student achievement. Evergreen’s reputation for interdisciplinary, team-taught, thematic learning communities is well-established, but part of the founding ethos of Evergreen is to challenge its own assumptions and ask if true excellence is being achieved. The new Vice President/Provost is expected to be committed to supporting Evergreen’s interdisciplinary teaching and learning, to engage with faculty, staff, and students in frank and open discussions of Evergreen’s successes and shortcomings, and to ask how the educational program and practice can lead to a greater achievement of excellence in student outcomes.

Strengthening Retention Through Student SuccessNationally, the efficiency of university degree programs is often measured as “time-to-degree.” By this measure, Evergreen is among the most efficient higher education institutions in the

country. More remarkably, this is true both for students earning BS degrees and for those earning BA degrees. Although many Evergreen students progress toward their degrees at a com-paratively rapid pace, others are at too great a risk of dropping out. Of the new first-time, first-year students who enrolled in fall 2014, just 66 percent were still enrolled in fall 2015.

The opportunity exists for the new Vice President/Provost to work with faculty, staff, and students to address issues of reten-tion and student success together. A number of initiatives have already been put in place to improve student retention, such as smaller class sizes for first-year students, an increased pro-portion of first-year students enrolled in Core or lower-division academic programs, and the Academic Statement Initiative, which seeks to ensure that students have a clear framework and faculty support for reflecting on their educational goals, understanding the college’s expectations, and planning their academic pathways. Yet, more needs to be done, and the challenge facing the Vice President/Provost is to seek full understanding of the overall curricular environment and then to work with deans and faculty to increase its coherence and predictability for all students.

EnrollmentThe challenge of retention is not the only factor affecting enrollment at Evergreen. Many students enrolling at the college are highly motivated to attend this distinctive institu-tion, and we continue to experience challenges in attracting the desired number of qualified applicants, but in 2015 appli-cations were up for the second year in a row. The College admitted 98 percent of first-year applicants and 96 percent of transfer applicants. This relatively nonselective admissions practice has led to a range in student ability and prepared-ness within courses and programs. A retention study done

Leadership Agenda

12 The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College

two years ago suggested that while some students leave the college because they feel under-challenged, others report feeling they lack the skills to succeed. Therefore, a perennial concern among faculty is how to teach all students well. The next Vice President/Provost needs to have significant collabo-rative leadership experience with teaching/learning initiatives that resulted in improvements in student success.

Some of Evergreen’s enrollment challenges are typical of higher education in general, but others are specific to the college. Surveys of college-bound high school students across Washington State indicate that general awareness of the college remains low and favorable impressions are lower for Evergreen than for most other four-year institutions in the state. While not dissimilar to other non-flagship institutions, concerns about academic rigor and availability of desired majors were also expressed. Moreover, community colleges and branch campuses of other four-year public institutions are increasingly strong competitors for new students, and the challenge exists to lead Evergreen in such a way as to differentiate itself more clearly from these institutions.

Evergreen’s next Vice President/Provost will need a solid understanding of the changing demographics in higher education and of the challenges facing incoming students at Evergreen. At a time when applications and enrollments

have fallen short of state-mandated budget assumptions, it is important to build relationships with other state institutions as well as with high schools where Evergreen’s visibility is low and where understanding of Evergreen’s uniqueness is lacking. As Evergreen works to increase enrollment, the college will need to give attention to traditional students and keep in mind the distinctive, traditionally underrepresented communities that the college serves and strives to serve.

This year, the college is working on a major revamp of its messaging and promotional strategy, working toward one that is data-driven, broadly embraced, and consistently implemented; the Vice President/Provost will serve as one of many ambassadors of this updated and distinctive approach.

Academic Partnership and Campus CommunityThe Evergreen faculty form a remarkable group of regular full-time, part-time, and adjunct teacher-scholars who are devoted to the college’s distinctive mission, interdisciplinary curriculum, and system of shared governance. They very much value working with a Vice President/Provost who fully understands the range of their contributions, who desires to be a full partner with them in Evergreen’s academic life, who collaborates with the union, and who can work with them all with openness and accountability. The opportunity exists for

Leadership Agenda

The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College 13

the new Vice President/Provost to build a close partnership with the faculty, as well as with all members of the staff, recognizing their professional work and finding creative ways to encourage their professional growth.

External RelationshipsThe Vice President/Provost is expected to be a major spokes-person and advocate for Evergreen’s distinctive academic pro-grams, representing the college to many outside communities, including local, state, and national higher education communi-ties. The leadership extends to the Washington state legislature, the local community, K–12 schools, and regional community colleges. The new Vice President/Provost will need to advocate for the liberal arts and sciences in the state and nationally.

Evergreen students volunteer in credit- and noncredit-bearing ways with many local organizations, some of which are facili-tated through the Center for Community-Based Learning and Action. Still, the college needs to continue to strengthen rela-tionships with the Olympia community in a broader and more meaningful way. Continued and expanded relationships with communities in the region, including tribal governments and urban communities, is an important item on the Vice President/Provost’s agenda.

Leadership Agenda

14 The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College

The leadership agenda for Evergreen’s next Vice President/Provost calls for a combination of professional qualifications, experience, and personal attributes deemed necessary to lead an alternative educational institution in its commitment to academic excellence in the context of social justice, diversity, environmental stewardship, and service in the public interest. Evergreen’s next Vice President/Provost certainly must bring a distinguished record of scholarly, artistic, or professional achievement as well as successful, collaborative academic leadership experience. The appointee also is expected to possess the following:

Professional Qualifications and Experience

An earned doctoral degree.

A deep understanding of Evergreen’s academic mission and place in American higher education, an eagerness to embrace the college’s undergraduate and graduate programs and the communities that they serve, and substantive experience with alternative approaches to higher education.

An understanding of the increasingly broad range of complex issues and challenges now facing American higher education in general.

The ability to lead Evergreen wisely and diplomatically in the revitalization of its academic programs, including keeping Evergreen’s public liberal arts and sciences curriculum relevant and ahead of upcoming trends. This must be accomplished with a leadership style characterized by openness, innovation, collaboration, and optimism for the college’s future.

The ambition to be a positive change agent coupled with the ability to guide change within the context of well- established and distinctive educational practices.

A record of building and supporting all faculty, and a demonstrated interest in providing opportunities for professional development in both teaching and research within a culture characterized by intellectual curiosity and academic freedom.

Qualifications, Experience, and Leadership Attributes

The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College 15

Commitment to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty; experience with projects aimed at increasing equity and nurturing a rich, vibrant campus community.

Commitment to student-centeredness, demonstrated by experience with initiatives aimed not only at improving student success/completion, but also the quality of stu-dents’ learning, particularly with a diverse student body.

Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills that include the ability to generate constructive conversations around difficult issues and to promote an environment of consultation, trust, and transparency. A clear com-mitment to shared governance and a proven ability to build consensus.

Commitment to working within a collective bargain-ing environment, including commitment to joint labor-management problem-solving in relation to contract implementation.

Commitment to improving working conditions for all faculty, including regular full-time, part-time, and adjunct faculty.

Experience in a leadership role that includes budget challenges and fiscal prioritization.

Demonstrated understanding of the importance of the curriculum to the recruitment and retention of students. Successful experience partnering with enrollment man-agement, academic leadership, and faculty colleagues to identify and deliver new or refined curricular offerings that meet the enrollment and retention goals of the college.

Experience working productively with, and influencing, external stakeholders—including community and civic leaders; nonprofits; and local, state, tribal, and federal governments—with special emphasis on building and sustaining relationships with legislators and state government officials. Experience building national and international partnerships is valuable as well.

Qualifications and Attributes

16 The Search for a Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost • The Evergreen State College

Inquiries, nominations, and applications are invited. Applicants should address the Provost Search Committee and include (i) a reflective letter of interest discussing how their background meets the desired vice presidential characteristics and prepares them to address the challenges and opportunities identified above; (ii) a current resume; and (iii) the names and current contact information of at least five professional references. References will be called at a later stage in the search and will not be contacted without prior release from candidates. Letters of nomination are welcome but not required.

Required materials should be sent as an email attachment in Microsoft Word to EvergreenProvost@academic-search.com. Applications received by September 6, 2016, are ensured full consideration. The Provost Search Committee expects to conduct neutral-site interviews in mid-October, plans to invite finalists to campus in November, and hopes to conclude an appointment by the end of December. The successful candidate would assume office on or around July 1, 2017.

By Evergreen policy and Provost Search Committee affirmation, information from and about all candidates will be kept in strict confidence with the exception of finalists at the point when they are invited for on-campus interviews.

The search committee is assisted by Dr. R. Stanton Hales of Academic Search, Inc. For confidential inquiries, he can be reached at rsh@academic-search.com or by calling 707-545-2203. For more information about The Evergreen State College, please visit evergreen.edu.

The Evergreen State College is committed to prohibiting discrimination and to building a diverse faculty and staff. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, class, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.

Application Procedures