Campus News
Kabby Mitchell III Wins Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, Kabby Mitchell III, Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission Vivian Phillips, and Director of the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Randy Engstrom ’99, at the 2016 Mayor’s Arts Awards. Photo © Marcus Donner 2016.
Evergreen faculty member Kabby Mitchell III won the Mayor’s Arts Award in the Cultural Ambassador category. In presenting the award, Mayor Murray highlighted Mitchell’s commitment to social justice, saying “[Kabby] is someone who understands that when we talk about racism we also have to talk about the intersection of LGBTQ and racism.” Mitchell frequently contributes his time to help programs that support the development of young urban dancers, and is a supporter of local art and theatre companies that serve the underserved community through the arts.
Our Latest Awards, Honors, and Rankings
You already know that Evergreen offers an unparalleled educational experience. Leading college guides and publications are taking notice, too. Here’s a roundup of our latest accolades.
U.S. News & World Report
Regional Universities West:
#1 Most Innovative
#4 Best Undergraduate Teaching
#5 Best Public Colleges & Universities
#32 Best Colleges & Universities
#17 Best for Veterans
National Rankings for Evergreen:
Top 28 — First-year Experiences
Top 18 — Learning Communities
Princeton Review—Best 381 Colleges, Best Green Colleges
Washington Monthly (based on improving social mobility, producing research, and promoting public service): Evergreen ranked 8th among 634 master’s universities and was also touted as a “Best Bang for the Buck” institution.
The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2017 named Evergreen one of just 21 “Best Buy” public colleges in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Evergreen is the only public college or university included from the West Coast.
Steve Herman, top left, reunites with students from a 1973 environmental program. Photo by Steve Herman.
1973 Evergreen Environment Program Reunites at Malheur
“Evergreen Environment II was one of the early natural history programs,” explained faculty member emeritus Steve Herman. “I taught it with Al Wiedemann, and the final feature of it was a month-long field trip that took us to Arizona and a week at the field station of the American Museum of Natural History, close to the Mexico border. We left Olympia and headed south, into Oregon, the east side of the Sierras and on through the desert to Arizona. On the way back, we went north into Idaho before returning to Olympia. We camped out most of the way, botanizing and birding along the way, and getting into just a little bit of mischief.”
According to Steve, “Some 18 of the original program attended the reunion over the Labor Day weekend…Forty-three years had elapsed, but we had much to talk about, memories to hash over. The group includes some five Ph.D.s, two M.D.s, a couple of lawyers, all persons of high accomplishment. Several of the veterans are musicians, so there was much music.
“Al Wiedemann—gone now for six years—was much missed and the topic of many conversations. This was the second program I taught with Al, and the cementing of a teaching partnership that lasted a quarter century.”
Faculty Lisa Sweet (right) works on a printmaking project with her Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow.
SURF’s Up
At Evergreen, the term “SURFing” has an entirely different meaning. It’s academic, not athletic. Evergreen’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) provide students paid summer-long positions to work with faculty on research projects. The projects help students put theory into practice; expand academic, scientific, and cultural understanding; and gain experience to prepare them for graduate school and careers.
Thanks to funding from generous contributors to The Evergreen State College Foundation, the college’s 2016 SURF program expanded to include 18 student researchers. Here’s a sampling of summer 2016 SURF projects:
| Faculty | Project Title | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Sarah Eltantawi | Unravelling the Political Theology of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt | Joshua Pollock and Dakota Rakestraw |
| Carri LeRoy | Stream Surveys at Mount St. Helens, Elwha River, and Closer to Home | Megan Keating and Makenna Taylor |
| Naima Lowe |
Trouble the Water (short video works exploring African-American relationships to the natural world) |
Avida Jackson and Zero Shields |
| Lisa Sweet | Intaglio Printmaking: Print Production & Materials Research | Remy Barrows-O’Neal |
| Richard Weiss | Research in Cyber Security: Privacy-enhancing Apps on Mobile Devices | Charlie Fornaca and Lindsey Kramer |
Evergreen Hosts Groundbreaking National Institute to Improve Student Learning
Teams of faculty, administrators, and students from 30 two-year and four-year institutions from the U.S., Canada, and Colombia gathered July 31 to August 3 at Evergreen to develop comprehensive action plans to improve student learning on their campuses. The Teaching and Learning National Institute (TLNI) represents a partnership between Achieving the Dream Inc., the National Survey of Student Engagement, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and Evergreen’s Washington Center.
New Chief in Town
Stacy Brown ’06 is Evergreen’s new director of Police and Parking Services. She has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience in Lewis County, Wash., including a strong track record in community engagement. Brown replaces Chief Ed Sorger, who retired in September after 10 years at Evergreen.