Office of the President & Executive Vice President

President John Carmichael

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John Carmichael was appointed as Evergreen’s seventh president in July 2022, following a year as the college’s interim president. John has deep ties to the college. He earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Public Administration degrees from Evergreen. He joined college’s staff in 1998 as a secretary and served in a variety of roles over more than 20 years, including Chief of Staff & Secretary to the Board of Trustees and as Vice President for Finance and Operations. He earned a PhD in Education and Human Resource Studies from Colorado State University and attended Harvard’s Finance for Senior Executives program. John is a life-long resident of Washington state and lives in Olympia with his husband, Michael Partlow.

The President is responsible for engaging the campus, community, and key external groups, in the promotion of a liberal arts education and learning community models. He represents the college and helps develop and maintain a comprehensive vision, unique to Evergreen and the students we serve. The President works to build relationships, strengthen partnerships, and collaborate with other college leaders to develop creative solutions.

Executive Vice President Dexter Gordon

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Dexter began his role as Executive VP of The Evergreen State College in August 2021. He is directly responsible for Enrollment, Marketing and Communications, and Inclusive Excellence and Student Success. Dexter brings to Evergreen a national reputation for his work on equity and inclusion and his leadership on curriculum reform in higher education and a long record of grounded, transformational, community educational work in the Pacific Northwest. He is the founding director of the Race and Pedagogy Institute at the University of Puget Sound, where he also served as a distinguished professor, a Dolliver Endowed Chair, Professor, director of the African American Studies Program, and professor of communication studies. Colleagues describe him as “a grounded, sharp and impressive teacher, scholar and leader” whose teaching and scholarship are marked by an intrepid critical questioning and integration, care for the textures of peoples’ experiences of learning and other aspects of living, and a penchant for taking on sweeping and ranging social, political, and ethical questions. His scholarship, experience, and expertise are guided by his vision of comprehensive community development grounded in equity and justice for all.