The Institution

The Institution

The Institution’s Historical Context

Washington State University (WSU) is a major land-grant research university that serves over 27,000 students. It was founded in Pullman in 1890 as the Washington Agricultural College, Experiment Station, and School of Science, and became WSU in 1959. In 1989, the institution authorized urban campuses in Spokane (WSUS), Tri-Cities (WSUTC), and Vancouver (WSUV) and WSU modeled itself as “one university statewide.” That phrase encapsulates the institution’s philosophy that it operates as one faculty, one student body, and one set of degree programs, no matter where they are located or how they are delivered.

Initially, WSUS, WSUTC, and WSUV offered only upper division, graduate, and professional programs. In 2006 and 2007, in response to area needs, WSUV and WSUTC, respectively, also began offering lower-division undergraduate courses. Recently, in the summer of 2012, WSU recognized its fifth campus, the Global Campus, which uses technology to deliver WSU’s academic programs to learners around the world.  As it stands now, between these five campuses, Extension offices in each county in the state, five Agricultural Research and Extension Centers, and partnerships with several universities around the world, WSU offers a wide network of service to the state, nation, and the world.

As WSU has grown, the logistics of navigating institutional policies and procedures efficiently and effectively have also grown. The Office of the President recently called together two Task Forces to revisit the academic and administrative relationships among all campuses. Faculty and staff at all levels from all four campuses, including Dean Trevisan of the College of Education, Sport and Human Sciences, serve on the Task Forces in order to discover, discuss, and inventory academic and administrative issues that come from WSU’s “one university statewide” model, in order to continue operating as such.

WSU is home to 11 colleges, a Graduate School, 23,136 undergraduate students, 3714 graduate students, 830 professional students, 2128 faculty, 1642 administrative professionals, and 1834 staff members, all of whom engage in the teaching and learning of 95 majors, 86 minors, and more than 100 certificates and in-major specializations. Each campus offers its unique constellation of degree programs, students, faculty, and staff that reflects the community in which it is located. All campuses coordinate together to function as, “one university statewide”

The Institution’s Mission (2008-2019)

Washington State University is a public research university committed to its land-grant heritage and tradition of service to society. Its mission is threefold:

• To advance knowledge through creative research and scholarship across a wide range of academic disciplines.
• To extend knowledge through innovative educational programs in which emerging scholars are mentored to realize their highest potential and assume roles of leadership, responsibility, and service to society.
• To apply knowledge through local and global engagement that will improve quality of life and enhance the economy of the state, nation, and world.

Detailed information about WSU’s vision, mission, core values, strategic goals, and strategic planning process is available at System Strategic Plan.

The Institution’s Characteristics

WSU is governed by a Board of Regents whose responsibility is to supervise, coordinate, manage, and regulate the WSU system, as provided by state statute. The main campus is on 620 acres in Pullman in southeastern Washington. Other campuses are in Spokane, Tri-Cities, and Vancouver. WSU’s administrative structure is described in its organizational chart.

The Unit: College of Education, Sport and Human Sciences

The Unit’s Historical Context

The College of Education, Sport and Human Sciences (CESHS) dates back to 1907, when it was combined with Psychology into a single department. Ten years later, in 1917, it was organized into the School of Education; subsequently, it underwent institutional reorganizations until 1962 when it was first referred to as the CESHS. It took its present form in 2002 when its programs were organized under two departments, now called the Department of Teaching and Learning (T&L) and the Department of Educational Leadership, Sport Studies, and Educational/Counseling Psychology (ELSSECP). Residency Teacher programs (Undergraduate and Graduate) are housed in T&L, while Educational Leadership programs (Residency Administrator and Initial Superintendent) reside in ELSSECP.

Though there are two departments, there is much inter-departmental collaboration and teaching. Students enrolled in programs in either department take courses from faculty in the other department. Faculty serve on graduate-student committees in both departments. All this happens both in-person and via AMS (Academic Media Services) across campuses. As a result, students and faculty slowly gain familiarity with each other and the unit works to function as a “one college, statewide.”

The college has both degree and certification programs. Degree programs prepare teachers for elementary school, secondary school, and college instruction; specialists and researchers in a variety of educational fields; administrators for schools, colleges, and universities; and sport-related specialists for private and community agencies. Certification programs provide intensive preparation for those who serve or aspire to serve in teaching, supervisory, special services, or administrative fields at all levels of education as well as in related areas of professional services. The college also provides professional training in movement studies, athletic training, sport management, counseling, and counseling psychology.  It offers a variety of educational services to local school systems.

CESHS undergraduate programs provide comprehensive instruction, preparing students to move directly into their chosen professional field. Initial teacher certification is available at all four campuses though not for undergraduates in Spokane or for MIT students in the Tri-Cities. Each program combines class work with field experience to build confidence and practical knowledge in a student’s area of specialization.

Graduate programs stress scholarship as a basis for all professional endeavors and offer advanced course work and field experience in education and human services. Graduate level certification programs include teaching and education administration. Master’s and Doctoral programs focus on preparation of administrative personnel for the schools, teacher educators, mental health counseling, counseling psychologists, and educational researchers.

The CESHS is a member of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and the University Council on Educational Administration (UCEA).  The program in Counseling Psychology is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), and the program in Athletic Training is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE).

The CESHS Mission

The CESHS is committed to WSU’s land-grant heritage and tradition of service to society. Its mission supports the larger WSU mission and is three-fold:

• Advance knowledge through scholarly and applied research.
• Develop globally-aware and culturally-competent students, leaders, educators, and scholars.
• Improve education thus contributing to quality of life for families and communities.

Further information about the CESHS’s vision, mission, values, and guiding principles is available [coming soon].

The CESHS Characteristics

The Leadership

The CESHS is led by Dean Karen Thomas-Brown, who focuses on maintaining and building upon its strengths and integrating its efforts with those of WSU. The Dean heads the Leadership Team which collectively supervises, coordinates, manages, and regulates the CESHS. A list of additional Dean’s office staff and administrators is available at Organizational Structure. Table 1 provides an overview of the college and its constituents.

Critical college-wide and programmatic decisions are made in concert with student, faculty, and staff voices. For example, students, both undergraduate and graduate, have voice in the hiring of faculty and administrators, as this sample feedback form[coming soon] from faculty candidates’ on-campus and AMS interviews demonstrates.  The term, “Democratic,” aptly captures the tenor of decision-making in the college and has been used by stakeholders, both within the college and outside in the larger WSU community, to describe how the CESHS implements its unique flavor of “one college, statewide.”

Table 1: CESHS Faculty, Students, and Staff (Fall 2013)

The Students, Faculty, and Staff

The number of college constituents – students, faculty, and staff – reported in Table 1 is based on all programs within the CESHS, including Residency Teacher, Residency Administrator, and Initial Superintendent.

Substantive Changes since the Last PESB Review

Since the last Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) Review in 2009, both WSU and the CESHS have undergone remarkable changes. While the University President has remained the same, the Provost’s office has changed hands. Provost Bayly stepped down to return to research and the President announced an open call for an Interim Provost as he conducted a national search. In summer 2013, Interim Provost Bernardo stepped in during the search, and formally accepted the position of Provost and Executive Vice President in spring of 2014.

The leadership within the college has seen several fluctuations. In summer 2009, Dean Mitchell and Interim Dean Foster, passed away unexpectedly within a week of each other; Foster had been the Associate Dean when Mitchell was the Dean and had accepted the Interim Dean position. Phyllis Erdman, who was chair of the department now known as ELSSECP, stepped in as Interim Dean. Cori Mantle-Bromley, who was the chair of T&L, stepped in as Interim Associate Dean. Professors Trevisan and Miller stepped in as Interim Chairs of ELSSECP and T&L, respectively. In fall 2010, the college had a successful search and named Anthony G. (A.G.) Rud as the Dean, while Mantle-Bromley was recruited by the University of Idaho as their Dean of Education. This led to another change in leadership, whereby Erdman and Trevisan were named Associate Deans of the college, Shinew became Interim Chair of T&L, and Kelly Ward became Interim Chair of ELSSECP. After remaining in interim positions for a year, in 2011 both Shinew and Ward agreed to serve as Chairs of their respective departments. Although it seemed leadership stability  had returned to the college, it was short lived.  In the spring of 2012, T&L Department Chair Shinew accepted a position at a university in Ohio.  In the fall of 2012, Dean Rud accepted an Endowed Professorship in T&L and the College once again needed additional leaders.  Mike Trevisan agreed to serve the college as Interim Dean, while Darcy Miller and Tariq Akmal stepped in as Co-Interim Chairs for T&L.

The Urban Campuses underwent similar changes as Vancouver’s June Canty elected to make spring of 2012 her last term as Academic Director.  Suzanne Smith, Academic Coordinator of Human Development, was named the Interim Academic Director of both units for the next two years while a search for a replacement began. A permanent director for education, Sharon Kruse, was hired and began in July 2014. In July of 2012, Mel Netzhammer joined WSU-Vancouver as their new Chancellor, following Hal Dengerink’s retirement in 2011.  WSU-Tri-Cities went through a similar change as H. Keith Moo-Young became their new chancellor in June of 2013.  This precipitated a reorganization of that campus’ leadership and the Academic Director for education position on that campus was eliminated in the late summer of 2013 returning Liza Nagel to her faculty position.  Michael Mays, Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, assumed oversight of education faculty as part of his responsibilities. Michele Aker-Hocevar, professor in ELSSP, and Judy Morrison, professor in T&L, took on coordination of the education unit on the Tri-Cities campus in the spring of 2014. The chancellor for WSU-Spokane, Brian Pitcher, transferred to the Pullman campus in the fall of 2012 as Vice Provost for Regional Programs, and Lisa Brown, assumed position of chancellor. Joan Kingrey, academic director of the education unit in Spokane returned to faculty in August 2011, and was replaced by interim director Gail Furman, who is currently remaining in that position.

In May 2013, the President visited with the college and sought stakeholder input about how to best proceed next. His office surveyed college faculty and staff to determine whether the majority preferred to launch a national search for a Dean or name Trevisan. The college overwhelmingly voted for the latter and in April 2013, the President announced the permanent appointment of Dean Trevisan. In spring of 2013, Trevisan decided to name a chair and assistant chair of T&L and appointed Miller and Akmal to those positions for two years to provide stability while long-range plans could be developed.

It is notable that even as the college reeled through these remarkable losses and shifts in leadership and the potential to be derailed, it steadied itself as everyone worked together as a team, placing the needs of the College first so that student preparation could go unaffected.  Faculty again stepped into leadership positions as one of Dean Trevisan’s first actions in office was to name Professor Gisela Ernst-Slavit as the Associate Dean for Diversity and International Programs. This is the first associate dean’s position of its kind at WSU and signals the value of diversity within the college.  He also began an immediate search for an Associate Dean for Research and External Funding, continuing his commitment to developing those aspects of the College profile. Professor Tim Church was appointed as Associate Dean in that position in January of 2014.

In 2012-2014, both the college and WSU engaged a wide group of stakeholders to refresh their Vision, Mission, Goals, and Strategic Plans; the links presented above provide the most updated copies. These critical organizational developments reflect WSU’s and CESHS’s zeal for providing a high-quality education, conducting cutting-edge research, and being responsive (and responsible) global citizens.

During the same time period, degree programs housed within the CESHS also revised their strategic priorities. This effort was grounded in a desire to remain aligned with WSU’s and the CESHS future growth. For Teacher Education and Educational Leadership program, this effort was also an opportunity to ensure compliance with PESB’s revised standards for teacher and administrator preparation, which have seen major changes recently, for example with the adoption of the edTPA as a consequential assessment for teacher candidates.