About the Washington Center

Catch up on new updates and programing offered by the Washington Center!

Check out the newest issue of the Washington Center National Collaborative Newsletter for important updates about the National Summer Institute for Improving Undergraduate Education and other programming announcements. You can explore past issues of the newsletter here and subscribe to receive future editions in your inbox.
 

Have questions? Contact us now!

Guiding Purpose

We are for the academic success of all students. Ultimately, the measures of our success are improvements in students' persistence, achievement, and graduation rates—particularly students who are the first in their families to go to college and those from groups historically under‐served in higher education. As a high impact strategy, learning communities offer a powerful learning environment for students at key points in their educational pathways, and implementing successful learning community programs in an intentional way helps to build institutional capacity for transformation.

Our Work

With a sustained record of educational reform, the Washington Center, a public service center at The Evergreen State College, is a national resource to two‐ and four‐year higher education institutions intent on creating equitable learning opportunities for all students through the strategic use of learning communities and other evidence-based practices.

We support campuses in their work to achieve equitable outcomes for undergraduate students through a variety of activities and initiatives

  1. An intensive, high-touch summer institute where campus teams benefit from the support of higher education experts, campus-specific consulting, and professional development assistance.
  2. The Evergreen Learning and Teaching Commons - an institutional space where Evergreen faculty and staff can cultivate practices and develop tools that will give all students the opportunity to meet the Six Expectations of an Evergreen graduate. The Commons promotes a generative culture of interdisciplinary teaching and learning that is student-centered, equity-minded, inquiry-oriented, and committed to access and excellence.
  3. Collaborations with campuses to support reform efforts and student success initiatives through dedicated coaching and consulting.
  4. High-quality professional development workshops to improve teaching, learning, and assessment in undergraduate education.
  5. Building and sustaining professional learning networks and communities of practice - locally, regionally and nationally.
  6. Scholarly contributions through occasional papers and Learning Community Research and Practice - a biannual, open‐access, peer‐reviewed journal.

Contact us for more information about any of these opportunities.