Undergrads will study neurobiology, thanks to UIF
Panel to study faculty responsibilities, rewards
Faculty Lecture: Solving biological problems with math
First Robert G.Waldo Award to be given this month
Internet & trust in government
A 21-member panel was appointed by Gov. Gary Locke last week to "conduct a searching appraisal of how Washington can best create a world-class system of life-long learning by the year 2020."
The 2020 Commission on the Future of Higher Education was called on to examine issues of academic excellence, accountability, quality improvements, educational reforms, affordable access, life-long learning opportunities that use technology, and a competitive workforce that contributes to economic vitality. Its recommendations are expected by the end of September 1998.
"Washington's outstanding colleges and universities have served us well for the past 100 years," Locke said in announcing the commission. "To meet the challenges of the next 100 years, however, we must change and excel at a higher level. Our system of higher education must become more accountable, more competitive, more efficient, more flexible and more responsive to student and business needs."
Locke directed the commission to re-evaluate "in truly fundamental ways" how higher education is provided, and to think in very new and creative ways about possible changes. A key goal in this effort, he said, was to guarantee that people from all corners of the state will have the same access to top quality instruction, whether they live in Aberdeen or Zillah, Seattle or Spokane.
In his charge to the commission, the governor listed several areas the vision for higher education should encompass:
The commission will be co-chaired by John W. Creighton Jr. and Bob Craves. Creighton was chief executive officer for the Weyerhaeuser Company from 1991 until his retirement in December 1997. He is a trustee of the University of Puget Sound. Craves is senior vice president of membership and marketing for Costco. He is a trustee of Seattle University and Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Wallace D. Loh, director of the governor's Executive Policy Office and former dean of the UW law school, will provide staff support for the commission.
UW Regent Daniel J. Evans, former Governor and U.S. Senator, was named to the commission, as was Mary E. Pugh, chief investment officer of Pugh Capital Management, Inc. and former chair of the UW Medical Center Board.
Other commission members are Mary Kay Becker, member of the Washington State Court of Appeals and former chair of the Western Washington University Board of Trustees; Rick Bender, president, Washington State Labor Council; Phyllis J. Campbell, president of U.S. Bank, Washington and a WSU Regent; Charles T. Collins, retired president of the Colsper Corporation and chair of the Commission on Student Learning; John E. Corbally, chairman of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and former president of the University of Illinois; James B. Dagnon, senior vice president for people at The Boeing Company; Kelso Gillenwater, former president and publisher of Tacoma's The News Tribune and former member of the Higher Education Coordinating Board; and Toiya Gist, business student, Pierce College, Tacoma.
Also Jeannette C. Hayner, chair of the Board of Directors of TVW and former state legislator and Senate Majority Leader; Karen E. Lane, senior vice president for external relations, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; William J. Madia, director, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories; William H. Neukom, senior vice president for Law and Corporate Affairs, Microsoft, and a trustee of Dartmouth College and the University of Puget Sound; Carlos Olivares, executive director, Yakima Valley Farm Workers' Clinic and former trustee of Heritage College; Wendell J. Satre, former chairman and CEO, Washington Water Power and former trustee of Whitworth College; Jon A. Shroyer, retired chair, president and CEO of Sharp Microelectronics Technology, Inc., and chair of the Association of Washington Business; David K.Y. Tang, managing partner, Preston Gates & Ellis and former trustee of The Evergreen State College and the Higher Education Coordinating Board; and E. Anne Winchester, co-president, Laser Learning Technologies, Inc., and former chair of the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges. ¶
Nedra Floyd Pautler