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Evans Faculty Crystal Hall Receives Prestigious Career Service Award

Evans Associate Professor Crystal Hall has received the Society for Judgment and Decision Making’s (SDJM) 2021-22 Castellan Service Award. This award recognizes Professor Hall’s many important leadership and professional contributions to SDJM.

Of particular importance is Professor Hall’s service for the past two years as chair of SDJM’s first-ever Diversity & Inclusion Committee. In that role, she has centered equity and inclusion within SDJM’s work to better support scholars from underrepresented and historically excluded backgrounds.

Upon receiving the Castellan Service Award, Professor Hall noted: “SJDM has been my primary academic community. And, despite its interdisciplinary nature, it has historically fallen short in the creation of a diverse community of scholars. I hope some of the deep structural changes we are pursuing as a professional association will result in an inclusive environment that will be reflected in both the nature of our research and the way that research is applied to a wide range of social challenges.”

Professor Hall’s leadership within SDJM echoes her field-leading research and many contributions to the Evans School. Associate Dean for Research and Engagement Scott W. Allard underscored, “Professor Crystal Hall is a singular scholarly voice challenging behavioral science to confront structural racism. Her work within the Evans School also has been integral to our school’s commitments to promote equity, address racial bias, and train the next generation of public service leaders to dismantle systems of oppression.”

Diversity and Talent in Tech: Njeri Thande, MPA ’19

Njeri Thande (MPA ’19) believes in asking the right questions, approaching problems with precision, and engaging in generative work, especially when working for people’s success and wellbeing. As Leap Business Program Manager at Microsoft, Njeri focuses on increasing non-traditional talent pathways and employment opportunities in tech.

What contributed to your decision to pursue a career in support of the public good? Was there a defining moment in particular?

I think I’ve always been interested in work related to the public good. However, I started my professional career in the private sector after college right after the 2008 financial crisis. At that time, I was more concerned with being gainfully employed, so I didn’t feel like I was in a solid position to scrutinize an organization’s mission. I think I began feeling motivated towards a public good-focused career when, while working at a tech company, I was also volunteering and taking on side projects related to community building and conversations on racial identity. I was feeling pulled to the latter work and, long story short, decided it was time to go back to school. I soon after applied to Evans MPA program.

Can you share a bit about the work you are currently doing and what a typical day in your work looks like?

I work for Microsoft Leap Apprenticeship Program as a Business Program Manager. The program was founded 5 years ago as a means of diversifying the talent pipeline into tech with what we call “unconventional talent.” Unconventional talent comprises self-taught learners and bootcamp grads, parents and caregivers returning to the workforce, and community college graduates. Individuals apply for the program and successful applicants are welcomed into a cohort for a 16-week apprenticeship.

Part of my typical day involves co-leading the operations of a cohort—that work looks different every day since our program operates in phases. My work includes training sponsoring teams to understand their roles and responsibilities, working with our learning and development team to develop a best-in-class virtual classroom experience, coaching our mentors and managers through the various program milestones, and providing support for our apprentices. We work with hundreds of stakeholders to run our program. The other part of my typical day is co-leading initiatives related to scaling and continuous improvement.

In what ways are Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion part of the work you have done and continue doing?

Before Evans, I had the pleasure of co-hosting community conversations on the intersections of race and parts of community life (race and sports; race and the workplace), which was something I really enjoyed. While a student at Evans I joined the Committee for Equity and Inclusion, where I had the pleasure of doing research on belonging with Professor Jurcevic, and supported peers organizing around inclusion and belonging. Later, I had the pleasure of leading a small conference called The Good Trouble Conference, which was a way of convening peers doing work across diversity, equity, and inclusion to share what they were up to and find like-minded community. The phrase “diversity, equity, and inclusion” can be challenging because so many of us hold different worldviews, are interested in different outcomes, and don’t always have a shared theory of change. The work in convening the “Good Trouble” space was valuable to see the range of people’s work and how they were thinking through and engaging in deep issues and concepts like liberation, institutional change, and worldbuilding.

If there was one thing you’d want everyone to know about your work, what would it be?

The program I work for was founded to diversify tech and capture a talent pool that has often been ignored. I have a lot of respect for our program. And I think it’s important to name that our impact is specifically centered on employment–and that is no small thing. While we create pathways to employment opportunities and train our company to understand the unconventional talent we’re developing and onboarding, we still need the support of other company entities to fulfill the mission of building equitable practices in other areas of the work experience. It’s important to think holistically about DEI in the workplace.

Looking back on your Evans School experience, what stands out as being particularly impactful while you were a student

The Good Trouble Conference was deeply important for me. There are so many interesting, creative, and impactful things that Evans students are doing and it was a pleasure to be able to collect a small snapshot of that work. This field can feel tough as we weather so many crises in our nation and world, but it was such an amazing reminder that good, generative work (even if challenging and uncomfortable) is also being done in our world—and by our peers, no less.

I think being in generative spaces like those also help me continue the practice of unlearning and revising so that as I learn, I can continue to show up with better tools and resources to approach issues of social change.

How does your Evans education inform how you approach your work today?

My Evans education has provided me with a lot of – particularly management and leadership skills. I’m better at asking the right questions and precise in approaching problems that have to do with the wellbeing and success of groups of people. No matter where I work, that’s my focus.

Is there a resource you can share that inspires you?

Podcast: “Two Acclaimed Writers on the Art of Revising Your Life”, The Ezra Klein Show. I think Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom and Kiese Laymon are great on every podcast they join. What is so excellent about this podcast episode is that they are in conversation together and they talk about the brave and necessary work of being critically self-reflexive and maintaining a practice of revising the way that you think and show up in your communities and your work.

Dean Jodi Sandfort elected to NASPAA’s Executive Council

The Evans School is pleased to announce that Dean Jodi Sandfort was elected today to NASPAA’s Executive Council to serve a three-year term, 2021-2024.

NASPAA’s Executive Council is the network’s national governing body and is responsible for overseeing the planning, organizing, and supervising all activities, including applications for membership, committees, and policies.

“I am honored to be joining NASPAA’s Executive Council this fall and hope that during my three-year term I am able to move the needle for Public Policy and Public Affairs Schools. NASPAA’s Diversity and Social Equity Committee has developed an ambitious and long overdue agenda for curricular transformation, and I look forward to supporting those efforts across our profession.

The Network is also engaged in serious conversations about doctoral and under-graduate education, so I look forward to bringing the Evans School’s expertise into those discussions as well.” – Dean Sandfort The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration is the international associate focused upon ensuring excellence in education and training for public service. It oversees the international accrediting body for master’s degrees in the field, provides advocacy with governments about the needs of public affairs education, encourages curriculum development and innovation, operates a student honor society, and oversees a data center that is the fields’ authoritative source.

NAPA Social Equity Leadership Conference

The 20th Annual National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) Social Equity Leadership Conference (SELC) was held June 9 – 11, 2021. The theme, “Fostering Social Equity: Innovation and Change,” emphasized developing and promoting concrete actions with lasting impact. The conference provided a space to discuss how public administrators can develop a broader understanding of social equity and recognize social equity’s implications within the administrative context.

Social equity—a key pillar of public administration alongside economy, efficiency, and effectiveness—addresses fairness, justice, and equity within a variety of public contexts. In its continuing fight for social equity in public administration, NAPA envisions transforming the public administration landscape and the public it serves by developing a framework that would enable public administrators, policy makers, legislators, and other like-minded organizations at all levels of government to assess the social equity impact of proposed legislation, regulations and policies and make necessary adjustments before they are implemented.

Q&A with Dean Jodi Sandfort and Gary Glickman, Standing Panel on Social Equity in Governance Chair, NAPA

Understanding Social and Economic Factors of Social Infrastructure

Given events of the last few years, many things are changing in our political, economic, and social lives. This panel provides cutting edge research to help us understand some of these changes, from the racial reckoning and social response that pulled down confederate statutes to changes in the workforce and contracting practices during COVID and in recent years.

Blueprint for a Just & Equitable Future: Washington State’s 10-Year Plan to Dismantle Poverty

Stubbornly high rates of poverty are the product of inherently unjust and unequal policies, programs, and practices that have underwritten our economy for decades. In response, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee created a Poverty Reduction Work Group (PRWG) in 2018, tasking the group with the creation of a comprehensive, 10-year plan to dismantle poverty. With sincerity and humor, PRWG members Jennifer Bereskin, Drayton Jackson, Lori Pfingst, and Shereese Rhodes will share the journey to create the plan – the trials and tribulations of overcoming institutional distrust of agencies, the implicit biases we hold about people experiencing poverty and those serving them, how we are all undermined by systems underwritten by white supremacy, and the power in recognizing each other’s humanity.

Racial Justice: Not a Zero Sum Game - Government’s Role in the Racial Justice Reckoning

Panelists from the Seattle Office for Civil Rights discuss about the growing polarization and entrenchment surrounding the racial justice reckoning the country is experiencing; how the Seattle Office for Civil Rights’ Race and Social Justice Initiative is structured and works; our journey to rebuild accountability to community; and how city departments make the work of antiracism their own.

Evans Welcomes New Faculty Members in Autumn 2021

The Evans School is proud to welcome two new faculty members to the Evans School community for the 2021-22 academic year. Dr. Sebawit G. Bishu and Isabelle M. Cohen are both highly accomplished scholars and educators who will significantly enhance the Evans School’s offerings and add great vibrancy to the Evans School community.

Sebawit G. Bishu, Ph.D.

Sebawit G. Bishu is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Denver, School of Public Affairs. She also holds a non-resident fellow appointment at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP).

Bishu’s research centers around making government effective and equitable through conscious and ethical public management practice. Her work aims at understanding and improving the circumstances under which government provides equitable opportunity to all its workforce and equitable service outcome to citizens. Bishu is passionate about improving women’s and racial minority group’s participation in decision-making roles in government in Africa and the United States.

Isabelle M. Cohen

Isabelle Cohen’s research focuses on understanding technological and organizational innovations in developing countries. She partners with governmental and non-governmental organizations to rigorously evaluate new programs, policies and procedures, using tools such as randomized evaluations, administrative data analysis, geocoding and machine learning techniques. Much of her current research is focused in Uganda, although she has worked and done research in many other countries, including India, Peru and Greece.

Cohen will receive her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in May 2021. She received her Master’s in Public Policy from the College of William & Mary in 2012, and her B.A. in International Relations from the same university in 2011.

Many thanks to the dedicated work of the Search Committee Chairs and all who served on the search committees for their careful reviews, engaged participation, and generous welcome toward the candidates.

Anti-Racism Action in 2020 and the Road Ahead

In June of 2020, I wrote to the Evans School community with a call to make anti-racism action our cornerstone for the year ahead. I am deeply appreciative of the many initiatives spearheaded, conceived, and supported in partnership between staff, faculty, students, and the administration over this time. While I realize and understand that – in many ways – we are just beginning, I also acknowledge the longer-term efforts of those in our community who have engaged in this work with passion and purpose for many years.

I am particularly grateful for the staff’s focus on identifying funds within all sub-budgets to dedicate to this work, as well as the identification of, development of, and engagement with internal and external training opportunities. Staff have inspired change in every team, as individuals and units identified actions and dove in. In particular, staff have thought deeply about every aspect of our engagement mission, including our approach to hosting internal and external events that embrace equity and inclusion.

Additionally, staff and faculty were pivotal in the autumn quarter launch of the Dean’s Forum on Race and Public Policy, which engaged more than 300 members of our wider community in conversations about race, voter rights and suppression, as well as policy, legal, and informational solutions. The election season was contentious and historic and called on us to lead in a special way given our platform as a top policy school. With the transition in Washington D.C. now underway, we will continue to use our voice and leverage our role in national conversations about racial justice, economic impact, community development, and public sector rebuilding.

Faculty and staff have been charged with leading anti-racism action in their service roles, particularly in the standing and ad-hoc committees which support the school’s educational and research programs and carry out school business. Committees that impact admissions, curriculum, merit evaluation, promotion, and hiring all reflect this priority. The partnership of students on many of these committees has also been a tremendous asset.

Related to our teaching mission, faculty have undertaken training and practical exercises to increase their capacity to lead discussions on race and equity in the classroom, and more generally. As one example, this autumn the Evans School collaborated with the Foster School and the Information School to tackle inclusive teaching and learning in a faculty workshop supported by a UW Diversity and Inclusion Seed Grant. Faculty worked on syllabi and classroom techniques, and also brought key takeaways back to their peers, further increasing this program’s impact. To support this work during this pandemic era of remote instruction, assistance was provided to faculty by the Dean’s Office to help develop accessible and inclusive classrooms and course materials. In addition, the Center for Teaching and Learning provided a workshop for Evans School faculty, and we set aside time for targeted discussions during faculty meetings.

We acknowledge the disproportionate burden carried by our faculty and staff of color during this time of increased awareness of longstanding racial injustice, especially in supporting student needs and particularly BIPOC students, but also in educating their peers and providing critical insights and role modeling, and we have worked to target support that reflects these often-unseen contributions.

Students have been partners in numerous efforts related to our programs and teaching mission, bringing a race, equity, and public policy lens. Notably, last spring the MPA students on the Curriculum Advocacy Team completed an independent research study to help the school think deeply about incorporating race and equity content into our curriculum and classrooms. Over the summer, faculty reviewed the report and its recommendations, some of which have been actionable in the short term, while others reflect longer term initiatives. PhD students also engaged in their own dedicated training and brought forward suggestions for action to promote racial justice in their program. And the EMPA program is engaging in an equity audit of its curriculum, ably led by an outstanding EMPA alum.

As I end my term as interim dean, I celebrate incoming Dean Jodi Sandfort’s commitment to lead the Evans School to be anti-racist institution. In her tenure as dean, anti-racism action will continue to be a cornerstone of our work and will expand further as our school explores how to diversify the pipeline of public servants through partnerships with the Public Policy & International Affairs Program and re-define our curriculum. While we are early in this journey, it has been inspiring to witness the energy and intention demonstrated throughout our community. I look forward to the time ahead as the Evans School begins its next chapter, together!

Rear Admiral Bill Center, MPA ‘78 receives 2020 UW Distinguished Alumni Veteran Award

In honor of Veteran’s Day 2020, Retired Rear Admiral Bill Center, MPA ‘78, was selected as the recipient of the University of Washington’s 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 UW in the video below.

Celebrating the End of the Campaign for Evans

gif with purple You Did it and a gold background

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.

A Strengthened Community

4,095
Total Donors

3,070
First Time Donors

$50,453,543
Total Raised

19
New Endowments

A TRANSFORMED EVANS SCHOOL STUDENT EXPERIENCE

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.

Parrington now boasts five large classrooms (more than doubling our classroom space), all of which are outfitted with the technology needed to prepare public leaders for the challenges of 21st century.
While you may be familiar with the iconic red brick exterior, the remodeled Parrington has turned GREEN, having achieved LEED Gold standards thanks to the energy efficiency of all new electrical, ventilation, and climate control systems.
Throughout the project, we upheld Evans’ commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by exceeding UW Equity standards for contracting with women and minority-owned businesses.

AN EXPANDED EVANS SCHOOL IMPACT

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.

RESEARCH FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD

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.

A HEALTHIER WORLD

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.

a Purple Thank you with Mount Rainer Background

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.

Make a Gift

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO:

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.

Anti-Racism Work Will Be Our Cornerstone

It is impossible to adequately express the wrenching pain and outrage at the unconscionable killing of George Floyd, the latest of countless victims of systemic racism, racial hatred, violence, and police brutality.

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