Our Guiding Purpose: We are guided by 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. 

Colleagues and friends,

It is hard to find time to plan for the future in the midst of reacting to changing conditions and emergent crises. The Washington Center wants to help.  This coming summer, we will host two summer institutes that offer the gift of time to dream and build in a serene wooded setting. 

I am excited to announce that this summer we will launch Learning that Matters - the Course Design Institute (Aug 4-7).  This institute invites faculty and departmental teams to design a courses that center students and incorporate inclusive pedagogies. Designed by the authors of Learning That Matters: A Field Guide to Course Design for Transformative Education, this institute promises to be joyful, fruitful, and renewing. Registration for this institute will be announced in January 2023. Click here to receive an email notification.

For campus teams engaged in important campus initiatives to support undergraduates, the 24th annual Summer Institute for Improving Undergraduate Education (July 10-14) offers skillful coaching, time away from campus, and thought-provoking opportunities to learn from well-known experts. At the institute, campus teams work collaboratively to build a two-year action plan. 

If you are interested in exploring either of these opportunities, click here to request a consultation with me..

If a visit to Washington state isn’t in the cards this summer, I hope you’ll consider joining our growing community of faculty, practitioners, advisors, student-affairs professionals, and all around undergraduate enthusiasts at a free virtual workshop, in our slack channel, or by subscribing to our monthly newsletter.

In Community,

JuliA Metzker
Director
Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education

Washington Center Summer Institute
for Improving Undergraduate Education

July 10-14, 2023
The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA

We are thrilled to invite campus teams to join us on the Evergreen State College's beautiful campus for the Washington Center's 24th annual Summer Institute for Improving Undergraduate Education.

The Washington Center Summer Institute offers your team the time and support you need to make a difference for students on your campus. learn more -> 

Call for Resource Faculty

If you are interested in coaching and guiding campus teams at the institute, we encourage you to nominate yourself!

The Washington Center Collaborative is a space for higher education faculty, scholars, practitioners, and administrators to come together and discuss emergent issues of importance to our collective work educating and supporting students. The Collaborative consists of free virtual workshops, a newsletter, and a slack space.

PLEASE SHARE THIS INVITATION WITH STUDENTS!

Wednesday, Feb 28, 2023 @ 9:00 - 10:30 am (Pacific) / 12:00 - 1:30 pm (Eastern)

Students bring a much-needed fresh perspective to learning outcomes assessment, breaking faculty out of familiar patterns that can sometimes enshrine assumptions and biases contrary to equitable assessment practice. Student engagement in assessment can be accomplished following many models and at any stage of the assessment process. In this workshop, faculty will explore the possibilities for forming partnerships with students within the context of their own course, program, and institution with the goal of gaining insights to improve transparency and equity in assessment.

Facilitated by Jaime O'Connor, Assistant Director for the Washington Center

* stay tuned for future workshops from our talented resource faculty*