We are elated to share the news that Evans School Alum, retired Rear Admiral Bill Center (MPA ‘78), was selected as the recipient of the University of Washington 2020 Distinguished Alumni Veteran Award. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, Rear Admiral Center!
Learn more about Rear Admiral Center’s life-long commitment and service to his country, the US Navy, and to the University of Washington in the video below:
Ten years ago, the University of Washington launched the Be Boundless — For Washington, For the World campaign, with the powerful idea that what you care about can change the world. Over this decade-long campaign, the Evans School community — our alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and students — invested a combined $50,453,543 in our school through the Campaign for Evans. Your investment helped to profoundly amplify the impact of the Evans School.
Today, in this time of tremendous societal upheaval marked by racial injustice and a worldwide health crisis, the work of Evans School students, alumni, and faculty is more important than ever. As we pause to celebrate the campaign’s completion and reflect on the many ways you helped change the world for the better, we also know there is much work ahead, in the months and years to come.
4,095
Total Donors
3,070
First Time Donors
$50,453,543
Total Raised
19
New Endowments
More than 500 Evans alumni, faculty, staff, and public service champions, along with the UW and the State of Washington, came together to contribute $24 million to transform the interior of Parrington Hall. Together, we have created innovative and inspiring spaces for Evans School students and faculty, so that they can bring innovative solutions to the world’s most challenging public problems.
Evans School alumni are change-makers. Their impact is broad and deep – and has grown tremendously over the course of the campaign. In fact, 43% of ALL Evans Alumni graduated during the last ten years.
Moving forward, more students than ever before will have access to our school. Since 2010, donors have contributed nearly $6 million in student support funds. In addition to gifts that were put to use supporting students immediately, 17 new endowments have been established to provide fellowship funds for Evans students in perpetuity, including 4 new funds designated for Black, Indigenous, students of color or first-generation students. We are proud that today, nearly 40% of MPA students receive a fellowship award upon admission to the Evans School, enabling more students to pursue a degree and career in public service.
In addition to educating the next generation of public leaders, Evans School faculty are aiming their scholarly work towards some of society’s most pressing problems. Over the last ten years, Evans School faculty received more than $30 million in private grants to support their research. From the Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR), to the Minimum Wage Study, to a report on the Washington State Ferries’ Triangle Route, our faculty work collaboratively to apply evidence-based research with cutting-edge methods to solve problems.
In addition to research funding, individual donors provide an important source of support for the contributions of our faculty through endowed professorships and faculty fellowships. For example, in 2017, David Suárez became the inaugural recipient of the Colleen Willoughby Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Philanthropy & Civil Society. This fund has supported Dr. Suárez’s work, including his research on advocacy among community foundations in the U.S., and their ability to produce social change.
Since 2017, the Evans School’s International Program in Public Health Leadership (IPPHL) has trained 45 public health professionals across 18 African countries on how to craft policy solutions and identify and mobilize stakeholders to address public health challenges such as HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and infectious disease. Today, many program fellows and alumni are at the forefront of their country’s and region’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IPPHL continues to increase in both scale and impact, including doubling the cohort size, expanded alumni opportunities through ongoing development, and new partnership development on the African continent.
Thank you for the 50 million ways you’ve helped to broaden our school’s reach and deepen our impact over the last decade. It is because of the generosity of the Evans School community that we can and will take on the many challenges of today — and prepare for the challenges of tomorrow.
Will you join us?
Our Campaign leadership — Bill Clapp, Maria Denny, the Hon. Daniel J. Evans and Nancy B. Evans, and Tom Waldron (in memoriam); Campaign council members John Hoerster, Sri Remala Kamdar, Maggie Walker, Colleen Willoughby; Members of our Evans School Advisory Board and Honorary Advisory Board; and Dean Emerita Sandra Archibald and Interim Dean Alison Cullen for their tremendous leadership.
As the Executive Director for Children’s Alliance, what is one advocacy and policymaking issue for children and families you are most passionate in solving (and why)?
Immediately upon assuming my role this summer, many stakeholders across the state alerted me to the perilous condition of childcare and early learning providers as a result of COVID-19. Since then, I’ve spoken to many members of the Washington Congressional delegation, State Legislators, philanthropists and department heads, trying to inform them how inattention to this issue will have long term consequences for our efforts to improve academic outcomes for all Washington’s children and imperil efforts to restart the state’s economy.
What contributed to your decision to pursue a career in support of the public good? Was there a defining moment in particular?
In all of the papers that I wrote at the Evans School (as well as my subsequent doctoral studies), I was interested in understanding the root causes of the inequities that we see in society, and the most potent strategies that leaders can use to address them. There has been no defining moment for this pursuit, but I frequently think about the emotions I felt while freezing on the National Mall with my family in January 2009, watching the first Obama Inauguration. It motivated me to pursue elective office myself (serving on the Seattle School Board), and has fueled my subsequent work, culminating in this new role.
What do you think the state of your field/organization will be in 2030? What will be the same, and what will be different?
I suspect that because of this summer’s civil unrest, statewide childhood advocacy organizations will continue to shift their stance towards advocacy for children and families furthest from racial and social justice. For too long, these advocates and the institutions they targeted have pushed policies that did not take into consideration the historic neglect that many communities have faced, and have subsequently exacerbated gaps in outcomes. Hopefully, this is changing, and state legislatures are ready to listen to more racially equitable policy recommendations. I also hope that childhood advocacy organizations will adopt the stance taken by Children’s Alliance that we advocate “with children, families and communities and not for them.”
What is something you have been most proud of, professionally?
I’m probably most proud of my school board service – that I was elected with a record-setting margin of victory in a citywide race, and that I stayed true to my campaign pledge to think about and work on behalf of students who had been least well served by the school district. It meant that I was frequently ostracized by my colleagues and was on the losing end of too many 6-1 votes. But eventually, I was a part of some significant strides made by the district to focus on historically underserved students. It was the most difficult role I’ve ever held, but I feel that my sacrifice resulted in some positive progress.
What is the “GOAT” (greatest of all time) book you’ve read?
I am part of a BIPOC book group studying Ibram Kendi’s “How To Be An Antiracist” and trying to apply its principles to our respective positions of leadership. Given the tumultuous times that we are in, the book has been particularly instructive, challenging and revelatory, and I encourage all Evans School students and alumni to expose themselves and their practices to the concepts of anti-racist leadership in that book and other like it.
Who has been your strongest influence in life? Why?
The example set by my uncle, Staff Sergeant Clifford C. Sims, has been my biggest influence on my professional career. His story is almost unbelievable – after being orphaned and enduring a childhood of profound deprivation, he was drafted and served in Vietnam, where he made the ultimate sacrifice for others, throwing himself on an enemy grenade and saving the lives of many of his troops during a battle in Hue, Vietnam. He was given the highest award that a soldier could receive, the Congressional Medal of Honor, there is a large exhibit in his honor at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, and his example continues to inspire me to work on behalf of others.
If you could give Evans School students one piece of advice, what would it be?
The skills that you will acquire and the talents you can unleash as a result of enrollment in the Evans School are desperately needed in Washington State, the U.S. and the rest of the world. I hope that you never lose sight of the practical application of the theories that you’ve mastered, and how they can (and should be) brought to bear on some of society’s biggest problems.
We’d love to learn more about you and your tremendous contributions to the public good, so we can share your story as we connect, learn and reflect. Share your story!
The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) has announced this year’s award recipients for outstanding achievement in public service education. Congratulations to Associate Professor Steve Page, recipient of the Leslie A. Whittington Excellence in Teaching Award, and PhD Candidate Benjamin Glasner, who received both the Staats Emerging Scholars Award and Pi Alpha Alpha Doctoral Manuscript Award. The awards will be presented during NASPAA’s virtual annual conference October 14 – 16, 2020.
Initial findings from the study of the hotel intervention, authored by Rachel Fyall, Evans School Associate Professor, and Gregg Colburn, Kennedy Associates Endowed Professor in Real Estate Studies at UW’s College of Built Environments, showed that it achieved its primary goal: to slow the spread of COVID-19 among people experiencing homelessness. Researchers found fewer clusters and outbreaks of COVID-19 among individuals who stayed in hotels than among those who remained in traditional, large-group shelter settings.
As we continue getting settled into our beautiful new home, we can’t help but want to share it with our wider community who made this project possible! Here’s a quick video we put together to show our community what’s going on inside those beautiful exterior brick walls.
*Following public health guidelines, our staff and faculty are largely working and teaching from home at this time. What a joy it will be to celebrate the building together – in person – whenever we are able to safely to do so!
Evans School Ph.D. Candidate Sarah Charnes will serve as a Graduate Fellow of the Washington chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network — a nationwide group of university-based scholars dedicated to improving public policy and strengthening democracy by connecting schools and their research to policymakers, media, and civic organizations — during the 2020-21 academic year. In this position, Sarah will assist the chapter’s co-chairs, Megan Finn, Margaret O’Mara, and Sarah Quinn, through media and outreach, recruitment and membership support, and organizational support.
As reflected in RVC’s mission, in order to promote social justice, you must cultivate leaders of color, strengthen organizations led by communities of color, and foster collaboration between diverse communities. The key takeaway is by investing in Black, Indigenous, & People of Color, Disabled, Trans, and Non-Binary folks, we will dismantle and transform the systems that target and harm these communities.
The work I am doing with leadership development through the Green Pathways Fellowship Program at RVC is what every workplace should be doing for everyone, especially leaders of color. This includes adjusting living wages and benefits for all positions based on the area they’re living in, including identities who are typically left out of workplace policies, ensuring that professional development is counted as paid hours, having a sizeable professional development budget, onboarding that equips employees to succeed (should be longer than 2 weeks), and creating a workplan for the first 6 months so employees are prepared and know what to do.
I believe that every person deserves to have their learning invested in, an environment that doesn’t scrutinize failure, paid a contribution that supports their livelihood, and a community to rely on.
BIPOC leaders know the solution to societal issues and the work I do is to support them to move issues in a way that honors the communities they are representing.
As an East Asian-American, I have found that the white standard of communications for someone with a female appearance has been difficult in my career. There is a false sense of how people are supposed to communicate. Often, people are too concentrated on how people are communicating versus what they are communicating.
For example, when BIPOC people are speaking “passionately,” white people might feel attacked by the way content is delivered versus deeply listening to the message. Because of my outward appearance, people have assumed and desired my communication style to be soft, polite, quiet, and non-threatening. And, that’s not how I show up in spaces especially when I’m with folks whose values aligned. So, when people’s perceptions of me (especially those in power) and who I actually am don’t align, I have gotten in trouble. For a period of time, I was deflated.
However, I’ve learned to navigate this by being honest, vulnerable and transparent about who I am. I’ll name dynamics, try and open spaces for feedback, and hold myself accountable to my impact. I have learned and am continuing to learn how to reach people more effectively and clearly. I’m honing a habit where I ask people to repeat back what they heard or confirm my reflections to ensure we are all on the same page.
Especially for BIPOC-led nonprofit organizations, there is a lack of capacity and resources. And, there’s a direct correlation between the two – the more resources a non-profit has, the more capacity it has. My hope is that organizations are not signing up for too many projects and overworking their staff, but that’s another conversation. Unrestricted Grants or Funds are super helpful and is one way to help non-profits provide resources to those in need. Now is not the time for Foundations to reduce sharing their resources in hopes of maintaining their own financial security for decades to come.
Our world is experiencing both a global health crisis and a resurgence of racial uprising and organizing against the carceral state. The time to fight is now. We need to continue to organize and build the infrastructures that BIPOC communities have been fighting for. Now is the time to invest, because we cannot go back to the way the world once was prior to the pandemic: people should not be experiencing hunger, lack of access to healthcare, be concerned about their safety through institutions like the police or ICE, and experiencing houselessness.
Equity is a core value reflected in my work and in my work environment – RVC consists of all staff members who are people of color. We are wrestling with how anti-blackness shows up in our organization at all levels. RVC has shown me over the years their willingness and commitment to learn, be accountable to our mistakes, and make an effort to do better based on our learnings. These types of changes are slow and can be frustrating. The phrase DEI isn’t necessarily used at RVC because it’s just the thing we do and are continuing to do so. In all that we do, we are thinking about who is at this table, who are we not connected to, how can we make sure we are accountable and building those relationships with Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities and how are we showing up (is it in a transactional way or in an authentic way?). This occurs across the board from our HR policies and our programming.
In my personal life, the way I work towards liberation is getting educated, grounded, and practiced in transformative justice. One effort towards that is through my time with the Healing Education for Accountability and Liberation (HEAL) program. HEAL works to provide healing and accountability circles for incarcerated people – the first of its kind in Washington State. Drawing on restorative justice practices, we explore topics such as trauma, shame, resilience, accountability, structural and generational violence, and their impacts. The participants engage in a rigorous accountability process, unpacking the dynamics that led to the harm, and finally, dialoguing with people in our community who have experienced profound harm. The plan was to enter the prison in March but plans have changed and we are adjusting as a collective of facilitators to move this work forward. I’m excited as to where I will grow alongside an incredible team.
We’d love to learn more about you and your tremendous contributions to the public good, so we can share your story as we connect, learn and reflect. Share your story!
Through a new project, the Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR) will partner with the Agricultural Development Team (AgDev) at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to increase the efficiency of, and maximize collective learning from AgDev’s evaluations of its investments.
The project entitled “Evaluating Inclusive Transformation in Agriculture” (EVITA), aims to develop a robust evaluation approach that will generate evidence of the impacts of AgDev’s investments. EPAR will provide technical assistance and tracking systems to systematically collect data from the evaluation process and evaluation findings. Specifically, evidence generated from these evaluations will provide new, primary information that can deepen knowledge on how and why impact may or may not be reached, where there are new opportunities or risks, what results are sustained over time, and where strategic shifts or intensifying existing efforts is required, thereby enhancing overall evidenced-based decision-making for agricultural development.
The pandemic hit those working in the food preparation and serving industry particularly hard. For the majority of the pandemic, dishwashers, cooks, bartenders, cafeteria workers and others in the industry have made up the largest percentage of Washington’s unemployed — even as Gov. Jay Inslee relaxed restrictions this summer, allowing dining rooms to reopen at reduced capacity. Associate Professor Crystal Hall, and Marissa Baker, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, are quoted.