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. 

Dear colleagues and friends,

As we move through this challenging season in higher education, I find myself reflecting on what it means to stand in our values when those values are under direct attack. Many of you are experiencing the harsh realities of federal policy shifts, budget cuts, and the systematic dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion work on your campuses. Some are facing job insecurity, while others are finding ways to continue vital work by renaming it or moving it underground.

My hope lies with the power of principled persistence—the daily acts of showing up, creating inclusive learning environments, and honoring the full humanity of students despite external pressures to do otherwise.

At the Washington Center, we remain steadfast in our commitment to improve undergraduate education for all students. Our recent workshop illuminated how language itself can be a site of both exclusion and liberation. When we challenge academia's punitive approaches to grammar and instead create 'linguistically and culturally spacious' instruction, we honor the diverse ways knowledge is expressed. Similarly, our tradition of opening our gatherings with land and labor acknowledgments honors histories that have been systematically erased. Both practices create intentional space for what has been excluded. These practices help us imagine what a more just academy might look like.

This commitment continues with our upcoming workshop on April 22nd, " How Status Interferes with Learning in Groups and What Instructors Can Do About It." As educators, we know that group work offers tremendous benefits. By exploring status hierarchies and developing strategies to address them, we affirm that learning environments should be inclusive. I hope you'll join us for this important conversation.

I invite you to join our Slack community. Here, you'll find not only recordings and materials from our workshops, but also colleagues who stand with you in solidarity. In a moment when many of us feel alone in our commitment to equity work, this digital gathering space offers the warmth of community, the wisdom of shared experience, and the strength that comes from knowing you are not facing these challenges in isolation.

To each of you: your work matters, even when it feels invisible or undervalued. The thoughtful, intentional work of educators committed to students has always been the backbone of meaningful change in higher education. Together, we continue this tradition, knowing that the current climate, however challenging, is not permanent.

In community,
JuliA Metzker
Director
Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education

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.

April 22 | 1-2:30 PM ET | 10-11:30 AM PT

Facilitated by Sunshine Campbell, The Evergreen State College

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Group work offers numerous benefits for both academic learning and social-emotional development. However, teachers often abandon it as a teaching strategy due to a variety of challenges that hinder students’ learning. One major obstacle is status, or how students perceive themselves and others as competent, which can create barriers to effective and equitable group work. In this workshop, we will explore status hierarchies and discuss strategies teachers can use to make learning more accessible for all students.

Wednesday, May 28 | 12:30-2 PM ET | 9:30-11 AM PT

Facilitated by Magdalena Maczynska, Drexel University | Casey Hanna, SUNY Binghamton | Cassidy Joyce, Drexel Univeristy

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Meet the faculty-student team behind the Drexel University Climate Justice Pedagogy Incubator: a transdisciplinary learning community designed to foster relationships, resource-sharing, and collaborations around climate justice education. We empower faculty with the knowledge, connections, and cultural humility needed to develop responsive and reciprocal environmentally focused classrooms, courses, and curricula that contribute meaningfully to community- engaged climate justice education initiatives.

April 24-25

Looking for dedicated time and space to plan with your team? Join us for an Integrative Learning Curriculum Planning Retreat! Final registration deadline: April 4

The Washington Center is pleased to co-host the Integrative Learning Curriculum Planning Retreat with the Washington Learning Communities Consortium April 24-25 at the Rainbow Lodge Retreat Center in North Bend, Washington.