October 22, 2018

Greetings to the #EverCougs Community!

It is hard to believe but we are already halfway through the semester. Time flies at WSU Everett when we’re busy learning, teaching and engaging!

We’ve had a busy month capped by a visit from Washington State University President Kirk Schulz and Provost Dan Bernardo to host their annual Town Hall series. I was proud to see the crowd of Everett students, faculty, staff and community leaders. You came prepared with questions, suggestions and a strong commitment to the Coug community. Thank you for that!

For those who could not attend the Town Hall, below are a few key discussion points as they relate to the WSU six-campus system and to the Everett campus specifically:

• WSU has identified 11 key metrics determining our success in the Drive to 25, the university’s goal to become one of the nation’s top 25 public research universities by 2030. WSU Everett is actively working on three of those metrics which target increases in the following: 1) undergraduate research, scholarship and creative discovery; 2) employment rates of graduates; and 3) diverse faculty, staff and students. We will start with these, but rest assured we will not stop there. As our campus grows we plan to contribute to other metrics including increasing university research, faculty awards,
  National Academy members, faculty citations and annual giving.
• We are pleased to announce the next array of industry-aligned programs offered in Everett. In the very near future we expect to launch degree programs from the Management, Information Systems and Entrepreneurship Department within the Carson College of Business. Over the next decade, we plan to add Criminal Justice (rooted in Psychology), Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematics. We heard strong commitment from President Schulz and Provost Bernardo to work with us and the college deans to accomplish this growth plan.
• We are confident that as we offer more world-class programming in Everett, more aspiring Cougs will come here. So where are all of those students going to go once our current building is full? We are working with local communities to identify potential land-acquisition or land-lease opportunities. Ours will not be an easy process for a few reasons. Unlike our sister campuses in Pullman or Vancouver, WSU Everett does not sit on a large tract of land amenable to development. In addition, land in an urban setting like ours comes at a greater premium and cost. Despite these challenges, we are excited to begin the work charting our future growth in Everett.
• Lastly, I have heard concerns about the need for more on-campus parking. Parking is very expensive and the funding sources to build it are limited. For those who can, please explore public transit or carpooling to our campus. If you must drive, try to arrive before or after peak parking times, generally from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.  Meanwhile, as the North Broadway corridor grows, WSU will partner with other local institutions, such as Everett Community College and Providence Hospital, for equitable solutions.

On Saturday, the eyes of the nation watched as the ESPN College GameDay crew shined their light on WSU. The celebration was incredible and continued with a triumphant display by our football team at Martin Stadium. I was proud to wear my crimson and gray in Pullman while a tremendous group from the WSU Alumni Association gathered in Snohomish County. The day exemplified how connected and proud our WSU family is, from Pullman and Everett to our Spokane, Vancouver, Tri-Cities and Global campuses, our statewide network of extension locations and alumni.

Go Cougs!

Paul Pitre, Chancellor
WSU Everett & Everett University Center

October 29, 2018

Dear Cougar Community:

Please join me in expressing heartfelt condolences and unshakable support for our Jewish brothers and sisters—across the nation and in our local communities—in the wake of the horrific shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

The violent hate that has torn apart the lives of countless Americans from Pennsylvania to California in recent years is a tragic aberration. It is not who we are in this country. For nearly 250 years, the United States has stood for tolerance, freedom, and compassion.

Terrorists can shatter our lives, but they cannot touch our core beliefs. Despite our imperfections, we are a people of humanity and goodness. The forces that attempt to split us apart are no match for those that unite us. We can and must stand in solidarity against hate.

Songwriter Paul Stanley, best known as a singer for the band Kiss, shared a powerful message on Twitter earlier today. Stanley, whose mother’s parents fled Europe to escape the Holocaust, wrote, in part:

“Say what you will, but now is a time for us all to put aside divisive, hate-filled rhetoric on all sides and realize that we will all reap what we sow. My heart goes out to all the innocent victims of not only this slaughter in Pittsburgh but of all hate-filled crimes against the innocent everywhere.

“We are now in a frightening and dangerous time for society. But there is always hope in realization. We all have power. We created this. We must end it. All of us.”

Kirk Schulz
President

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Sept. 20, 2018 – Governor Inslee has appointed Seattle native Dr. Paul Pitre to the State Board of Education. Pitre has served in higher education administration roles for over thirty years.

Pitre’s appointed term begins immediately. He fills the appointed Position 6 on the 16-member State Board of Education and will serve through January 2023.

“Paul is passionate and dedicated to providing equitable outcomes for all students,” Gov. Jay Inslee said. “He has devoted a significant portion of his career to helping students transition from high school to college and careers. I am confident that he will be an outstanding addition to the State Board of Education.”

Currently, Pitre serves as Chancellor for Washington State University’s (WSU) Everett campus and as associate professor of Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology. Prior to becoming Chancellor, he served as the Dean of WSU Everett. Pitre has also held administrative positions in higher education institutions in three other states, and has worked in both local and national government agencies.

His research and teaching has focused on P-20 education policy, leadership and governance in higher education, and college access and choice. He serves in many public service roles, including as Co-Chair of the United Way Community Conversations, on the Board of Trustees of Snohomish County YMCA, and as the Rotary of Everett Committee Chair for the Vocational Training Teams.

On his appointment, Pitre said, “I have always had a passion for providing equitable outcomes for students from diverse communities. I look forward to using my experience at the intersection between K-12 and higher education policy to contribute to the work of the State Board of Education.”

Pitre received his doctorate in Education Policy and Leadership from the University of Maryland. He earned his master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from New York University and his bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Western Washington University. He lives in Seattle with his wife Charisse and their daughter Gabrielle.

For the third year in a row, Washington State University enrolled a record number of students, with Pullman freshmen leading the surge.

The university has a total of 31,478 students across its campuses and other locations for the fall semester, which began Aug. 20. That’s an overall increase of 864 students, or 2.8 percent, and well above last year’s increase of 1.6 percent.

The bulk of that increase is on the Pullman campus, which has 736 more new students compared to last year, for a 3.6 percent climb. Pullman’s freshman class alone increased by 604 students to 4,543, a 15.3 percent jump from 2017.

“Washington State University provides a top-quality education at an affordable price and students, increasingly, are recognizing that,” said Provost and Executive Vice President Daniel J. Bernardo. “Not only did we see the largest freshman class in the history of the Pullman campus, but enrollment in the Honors College increased 10 percent and the number of Regents Scholars, our most prestigious award for incoming students, more than doubled.”

Overall, fall enrollment has increased or stayed the same since 2013, when there were 37 fewer students among the various locations.

Here’s a look at each of the campuses:

• WSU PULLMAN

  Total enrollment of 21,022 graduate and undergraduate students, a 3.6 percent increase over 2017.

• WSU VANCOUVER

  Overall enrollment edged up 0.9 percent to 3,577 despite a slight drop in the number of first-year students, 375 compared to last year’s 384.

• WSU TRI-CITIES

  Total enrollment dropped 5 percent to 1,841.

• WSU SPOKANE

  Led by continued growth of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, total enrollment increased 3.8 percent to 1,677.

• WSU EVERETT

  The newest of the university’s campuses had the largest percentage increase, 23.9 percent, bringing total enrollment to 275.

• WSU GLOBAL CAMPUS

  Total enrollment climbed 2.6 percent to 3,086 students.

Systemwide, enrollment among ethnically diverse students hit 30 percent, up from 29.1 percent last fall. Tri-Cities has the most diverse campus, at 41.9 percent.

The number of first-generation students attending WSU also remains strong, holding steady at 33.8 percent of total enrollment systemwide and 37.4 percent among incoming freshmen, up from 37.3 percent last year.

Washington State University remains committed to serving the State’s residents with 82.1 percent of its undergraduate students coming from within the state.

The overall percentage of international students fell slightly, from 7.2 to 7.1 percent, while transfer students had a modest, 0.7 percent increase.

Fall 2018 Census Day Enrollment reports are available at the Office of Institutional Researchwebsite.

Contact:

• Phil Weiler, vice president for marketing and communications, 509-595-1708, phil.weiler@wsu.edu.

EVERETT, Wash. – July 11, 2018 – At Engage Everett on Wednesday evening, Washington State University (WSU) Everett announced that the institution’s building at 915 North Broadway has been certified LEED Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council for the sustainability features in construction and operation.

Sustainability is a core value of Washington State University and was a priority for legislators when state funds were authorized for construction of the campus building.

“It was critical to WSU, our design-build team, legislators and this community that WSU Everett be a sustainable building that meets the highest standards,” chancellor Paul Pitre said. “I’m thrilled with the work of SRG Architects, Hoffman Construction, OAC Services, McKinstry and our building management team at WSU Everett.”

WSU Everett is a 95,000 square foot building with engineering laboratories, general and active-learning classrooms, computer laboratories, a tiered lecture hall, a math and writing center, faculty and administrative offices, and a variety of study spaces for students. Design and construction cost nearly $65 million. Ground was broken in Sept. 2015 and classes started in late August 2017.

The building uses photovoltaic arrays, natural ventilation, natural lighting, rainwater harvesting, radiant flooring, rain gardens and advanced LED fixtures. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, WSU Everett is one of six LEED Gold buildings in Everett, Wash.

A team of WSU Everett engineering and communication students used the building for a student research project, determining that the building was meeting sustainability operating standards set by the design-build team. They presented their results to that team in Seattle and to legislators in Olympia, earning a Senate Resolution honoring their work.

The event also featured the official public welcoming of Paul Vexler’s Conic Sections sculpture. Conic Sections is made of wood and steel, and was commissioned by the Washington State Arts Commission in partnership with the Washington State University State Art Collection. It celebrates the beauty of the curves that are created when a cone is intersected by a plane. The circle, ellipse, parabola and hyperbola are shapes that have been admired for thousands of years. They are also essential in understanding the motion of objects here on earth and in our solar system.

# # #

Washington State University Everett is student- and community-centered, bringing industry-aligned undergraduate programs with an interdisciplinary focus to the North Puget Sound region. The campus brings WSU’s world-class academics to Everett in small class sizes with hands-on opportunities. WSU currently offers seven high-demand bachelor’s degrees, including software, mechanical and electrical engineering, data analytics, strategic communication, hospitality business management and organic and sustainable agriculture.

The building also houses the Everett University Center, with undergraduate and graduate degree programs from Western Washington University, UW Bothell, Eastern Washington University and Hope International University.

On July 11, WSU Everett will host Engage Everett, a monthly networking event for professionals and creatives of all types. WSU Everett staff will reflect on the first year in the new building at 915 North Broadway in Everett.

The event is free and open to anyone 21 years of age and above.

RSVP on Facebook.

EVERETT, Wash. – April 27, 2018 – Washington State University Everett will graduate 96 students at its 2018 Commencement ceremony at 2:00 p.m. on May 12 at the Walt Price Fitness Center at Everett Community College. The ceremony will be live streamed. Go to everett.wsu.edu/commencement to connect. Chancellor Paul Pitre will preside. Lindsey Major, president of the student body, will deliver the address and Laura Fierstein has been selected as the student speaker.

Prior to the ceremony, the Everett Police Department will shut down North Broadway at Tower Street for five minutes at 1:45 p.m. so WSU Everett graduates, faculty and staff may process across the street from WSU Everett to the Fitness Center.

During the ceremony, degrees will be conferred as follows:

• Carson College of Business, Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Business Management: 9
• Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Strategic Communication: 31
• WSU Global Campus: 4
• Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering: 20
• Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering: 35
• Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering: 1

Four are veterans, five will graduate Summa Cum Laude, 11 earned Magna Cum Laude honors and 19 will graduate Cum Laude. During the processional, the student from each college with the highest grade point average carries in the gonfalon, a tall banner. This year’s gonfaloniers are: Olivia Fredrickson, Carson College; Samantha Chapman, Murrow College; and Ryan Durkoop, Voiland College.

U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Crystalynn Aurora Kneen, who is on active duty in Florida, will participate in the ceremony through a livestream from a phone. She graduated from Everett Community College in 2016, transferred to WSU Everett for her junior year, and finished her degree in Integrated Strategic Communication through the WSU Global Campus when she returned to the fleet in Miami. Read more about Kneen here.

Students will gather at WSU Everett at 915 North Broadway prior to the ceremony. The Walt Price Fitness Center is located at 2206 Tower Street.

# # #

About WSU Everett

Washington State University Everett is student- and community-centered, bringing industry-aligned undergraduate programs with an interdisciplinary focus to the North Puget Sound region. The campus brings WSU’s world-class academics to Everett in small class sizes with hands-on opportunities. WSU currently offers seven high-demand bachelor’s degrees in Everett, Wash.

Contact: Randy Bolerjack, 206-313-8668

PULLMAN, Wash. – April 2018 – On Friday, WSU’s top student venture teams displayed their innovative products and services at the 16th Annual Business Plan Competition hosted by the Carson College of Business. TEST Robotics, an interdisciplinary Boeing Scholars team from Washington State University Everett won the grand prize of $15,000.

“When our name was called for the grand prize, it was a complete thrill,” said Samantha Chapman, a senior strategic communication major. “Two of us instantly burst into tears, and it felt like we were floating to the front of the room. We worked tremendously hard on this project, and that moment made it all worth it to us.”

The TEST Robotics team includes Chapman, Timothy Kaiser, a senior electrical engineering student, Troy Potensky, a senior mechanical engineering student, and Emily Ternes, a junior hospitality business management student.

The team’s product is a tool-cleaning robot that automates the process of cleaning composite tools used in aerospace manufacturing. When composite tools are used, they need to be cleaned and coated before they can be used again. The team’s robot deals with the coating of the tools. “Instead of a human doing this process, it allows for the human to set the robot on a tool and spend their time doing something less tedious,” Chapman said.

The team is one of several groups of Boeing Scholars at WSU Everett. Those groups are granted the opportunity to work directly with Boeing mentors who advise students and provide them with hands-on, industry experience. Boeing presented TEST Robotics with the challenge of reducing the time it takes to clean composite tools.

The interdisciplinary nature of the team is a hallmark of the WSU Everett campus, uniting students from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture and the Carson College of Business.

“Our team has learned that it is really helpful to have students from different majors working together,” Chapman said. “Because this competition involved both making a product and then creating a business plan for it, it was perfect to have engineers, a business major and a communication major all working together. We took advantage of each other’s strengths and learned a lot about each other’s fields of study.”

The team was able to travel to Pullman to participate in the competition thanks to a generous grant provided by Union Bank and Robert Williams.

The Business Plan Competition gives students the opportunity build skills in a real-world setting, network with industry professionals and prepare to succeed in a global business arena.

The students are the first class of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, named for the late WSU president who fought for the creation of the school.

Story by Chris Daniels, KING 5 News (Watch the story on KING 5 News here)

MONROE – March 27, 208 – The first students from Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine are making their way into local, rural clinics.

“We are just trying to immerse ourselves as much as possible,” says Meredith Morrow-Okon, pausing for a moment in between her shift at Providence Clinic in Monroe. “Trying to get a feel for what the medical needs of this community are.”

Morrow-Okon stands out for what she is wearing on the side of her lab coat: a WSU Logo. She is a pioneer, a part of a mission that started on the Pullman campus several years ago.

Then WSU-President Dr. Elson Floyd believed there was a shortage of rural doctors, and suggested the state back the creation of a new Spokane medical school.

There was heavy resistance. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle told Floyd there was little appetite for it, especially with the University of Washington already filling a need.

Floyd persevered, often flying to the west side of the state to meet with Olympia lawmakers. What few knew was that he was also fighting colorectal cancer. Floyd got the votes, and the bill was signed in April of 2015.

Dr. Floyd passed away less than three months later.

There was really no dispute over what to name the school.

“This is his legacy,” said Dr. Larry Schecter, Associate Dean for the Floyd College of Medicine.

The school welcomed the inaugural class this past fall. Morrow-Okon is one of the first 60 students.

“One of the reasons it was created and exists is to begin to create a workforce for rural and underserved areas,” he said. “It’s remarkable, a joy, a pleasure to watch the students. It’s a pleasure to watch the physicians that are teaching them.”

Schecter says the students are placed into local clinics and hospitals for week-long “intersessions.” This week, four students are inside Providence Monroe, meeting with patients across all ages with a variety of issues.

Monroe was picked because of geographic and demographic factors. The students will spend six weeks in the first year in the on-site, real-life scenario, learning from doctors like Deb Nalty.

“We are trying to open their eyes to the joy of practicing primary care,” said Nalty, acknowledging the need for more rural, family practice doctors. “It’s significantly more difficult for us to find people than our colleagues on the I-5 corridor.”

Students will spend their first two years of school primarily in Spokane and have the option in the last two years to spend the rest of their time at one of WSU’s regional campuses. Morrow-Okon, who originally hails from Bellingham, plans on finishing her studies on the WSU Everett campus.

She admits it is not what she planned years ago while working on her degree in International Studies at the University of Washington.

“I didn’t really take any science classes. My area of focus was human rights and, within that subtrack, I really focused on health and on health care access as a human right,” she said, noting she had an “ah-ha” moment. “I want to get my hands dirty and I want to get my boots on the ground. What can I do to help this situation?”

That led her to WSU and the new program in Floyd’s name. She now wears the lab coat with his name, handed out in a ceremony last year.

“There was not a dry eye in the house. I’m kinda getting choked up, even thinking about it,” she said, “’Make him proud,’ is something that motivates all 60 of us.”

by Eric Stevick, Everett Herald (read the story on Heraldnet.com)

EVERETT — March 26, 2018 — Gordon Taub wasn’t always an engineering professor contributing to research papers such as one entitled: “An examination of the high order statistics of developing jets, lazy and forced plumes at various axial distances from their source.”

Long before earning a bachelors degree in computational and mathematical science, a masters in applied mathematics and a doctorate in mechanical engineering, he was a drama major.

He worked for companies that made video post-production equipment, had a karaoke-hosting business and once helped edit a short-lived soap opera. He even did open mic stand-up comedy a few times.

All of which has come in handy as he searches for ways to best engage his mechanical engineering students at Washington State University Everett.

It is why he can be found some days lecturing alone in a classroom-turned-studio on the third floor of the campus off North Broadway. He is his own one-man production crew, and he takes advantage of new technology that makes it appear as if he is writing backwards on an invisible chalkboard.

“I’m trying to do what is called flipping a class,” he said.

Flipping a class is an instructional strategy that blends tradition with technology, a way that takes time to make time. He has recorded a series of short lectures his students watch online outside of the classroom. That allows him to give students more individual and small group attention when they’re trying to solve problems inside the classroom. In other words, he’s less the center of attention in the front of the room and more of a roving consultant around it. More class time is dedicated to applying skills than taking notes.

Taub uses the flipped format in what’s called a finite element analysis class. He hopes to do the same next year with a dynamic systems course.

He’s well aware that the subjects are densely technical and deep into mathematics. That’s why he makes short high-quality videos, in the neighborhood of five to 10 minutes. They’re intended to be bite-sized bits of knowledge that can be slowly digested. Students might have four or five videos to watch between twice-weekly classes.

Travis Norton, a junior mechanical engineering student, has come to appreciate the format. He wouldn’t want to try to learn the material solely online, but he likes the idea of being able to go back and review the lectures.

In most classes, “if you miss anything, you are kind of on your own,” he said. “With this you can watch it over and over and over again. You can watch it until you get it.

“I can watch it before class and apply it during class,” he said.

What makes Taub’s video lectures unusual is his students never see the back of his head. When he writes he is facing the camera. A transparent pane of glass suspended in a metal frame stands between him and the lens. On the edges are embedded LED lights that illuminate his notes and equations.

Early on, some students asked him if he was writing backwards. Some assume he is left-handed. Something called a video switcher is used to flip his writing so it doesn’t appear to be backwards.

When he has a big chunk of information to present, he can save the writing time by dropping in pre-prepared Power Point slides that seem to float in as illustrations and diagrams. He can write on them if need be. All the while, he can control colors, backgrounds and darkness.

“The idea is to make things more interesting and engaging for students,” he said.

Taub is using what’s known as a Lightboard, the brainchild of Northwestern University engineering professor Michael Peshkin who figured visually stimulating videos for his students would free up class time for more valuable interaction.

Taub estimates that he has spent eight hours in preparation and production for every hour of actual video. He said it has been worth it because it is allowing him to reach his goal of spending more time working with his students on the material they need to know.

The reward of that extra time has justified the work.

“My current position is I’m going to keep going forward,” he said. “For the classes I teach I will look at it on a case-by-case basis to determine if it is a good candidate.”