Photo by Matt Hagen for Washington State Magazine.
EVERETT, Wash. This city has struggled for decades to increase access to four-year college degree programs for its residents. Last spring, state lawmakers asked Washington State University for help. WSU turned to Paul Pitre.
Pitre is an associate professor in educational leadership at WSU Vancouver. President Elson S. Floyd appointed him temporary special assistant to lead program development at the University Center of North Puget Sound.
Given the history of the University Center, as chronicled in Washington State Magazine, Pitre’s assignment requires vision, experience and diplomacy. Here, he shares his thoughts about the task.
What’s the end goal of the Everett initiative?
The legislation that created it calls for WSU to expand degree program offerings to meet student and employer needs in the North Puget Sound and throughout the state. The focus will be on high-demand jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – we’ll offer an engineering program at the center starting next fall – but we also want to offer more bachelor and graduate degrees in general.
What prepared you for the big job of establishing WSU in Everett?
I started my career recruiting students from racial and ethnic minority groups to college. In the early ’90s, I worked for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce as a manager in community relations and I was also the associate director of a small nonprofit called Partners in Public Education.
From there I went to Bremerton’s Olympic College, where I developed their first 4-year degree completion programs for underserved students on the Kitsap Peninsula, which is similar to what I’m doing on a larger scale in Everett.
Those experiences inspired me to become a university researcher and focus on access to higher education for racial and ethnic minority students and those from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. I’m passionate about it.
What’s the biggest challenge in Everett?
For one thing, we have to overcome history. Leaders in the North Puget Sound have been working for nearly three decades to solidify a 4-year university partnership. The community has had some success, especially at the community college level.
But there is a need for something solid and more comprehensive at the four-year level. Part of the challenge will be building a culture around university attendance and degree attainment. This initiative has lots of moving parts.
Can you name a couple of “moving parts?”
WSU’s primary partner is Everett Community College, because the University Center remains under its auspices. But we’re also working with the five other state institutions and two private universities that offer programs at the University Center. We have an advisory committee and a coordinating and planning council.
We are developing a strategic plan – due to be sent to the Legislature next December – that will include all of those partners plus other stakeholders. WSU also has drafted its own plan, which is sensitive to what programs are already in place and what our partners will want to add to the broader plan.
This initiative encompasses the North Puget Sound, so I am establishing relationships in Skagit and Island counties in addition to Snohomish County, where Everett is located. I’m also working with Edmonds Community College and Skagit Valley College because they will be our main sources of students.
What excites you most about this work?
Well, there’s the visionary leadership of President Floyd. And the enthusiasm the community has shown.
There are fantastic people in North Puget Sound and they are happy to be partnered with WSU. To name just a few: Mayor Ray Stephanson; WSU Regent Connie Niva; Bob Drewell, executive director of the Puget Sound Regional Council; Pat McClain, Everett’s executive director for governmental affairs; Larry Hanson, former publisher of the Everett Herald;
Ken Dahlstedt, Skagit County commissioner; John Bell, chair of the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce, Ken Kettler, president of the Tulalip Resort; David Beyer, president of Everett Community College; John Gardner, dean of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute; Troy McClelland and Sue Ambler of the Economic Alliance Snohomish County.
Plus, I can’t say enough about all the Cougar faithful I have met. I could go on