Meet Tenzing Gyatso, the new managing director of Evergreen Tacoma

The Evergreen Tacoma Campus recently welcomed its new managing director, Tenzing Gyatso, to the City of Destiny.

A first-generation college graduate, Gyatso says she sees her own story in many students at Evergreen Tacoma. “When my dad came to the U.S. he had 7 dollars in his pocket,” she says.  “When I was young, I would go with my mom to her community college classes. We always saw education as a way to better ourselves, and get ourselves out of poverty.”

Gyatso says that her family’s reverence for education, coupled with a desire serve and work with young people, led to her work in higher education. “It’s important to be able to give back in some way,” she explains. “Being first generation, I understand that it is really hard to navigate the higher education system and I enjoy helping students figure out the many steps they need to take in order to succeed and pay for college.”

Gyatso has a background in non-profit project management and higher education recruiting and student services. She previously worked at Arizona State University, Cascadia College, Clark College and World Pulse (a Portland-based non-profit dedicated to connecting women from all over the world).

“I’ve worked in admission for many years at different colleges and I really enjoy leveraging technology to create efficient processes and creative ways to outreach and communicate to students,” Gyatso says.

Gyatso moved to Tacoma from Portland to accept her position at Evergreen, and she says she already feels at home. “I really like Tacoma and people have been very welcoming here,” she says.

“Evergreen is very unique and is different from any place I’ve worked at. I’m really excited about the diversity of the students here, and the focus on community and involvement.”