Recommendations for Daytime-EWS (Evening and Weekend Studies) Integration

Workgroup: Stephen Beck, Lori Blewett, and Kathleen Eamon, co-leads; Steve Blakeslee, Lin Crowley, Maria Isabel Morales, Paula Schofield, Suzanne Simons

Creating Flexible Pathways to Degree: Elements of the Provost’s Spring 2021 Charge

In spring 2021 the college moved forward with its enrollment recovery plans in the form of a broad initiative to create more flexible pathways to degree for schedule- and place-bound students, by means of both the Olympia undergraduate curriculum and a new School of Professional Studies. In partnership with the Faculty Agenda Committee, interim provost David McAvity charged our workgroup to make a recommendation for integrating offerings traditionally situated in the EWS program (Evening and Weekend Studies) into the college more broadly. The components of the “Creating Flexible Pathways to Degree” charge that guided our work are excerpted and paraphrased below. They apply primarily to part-time coordinated studies programs (8-12 cr.), as opposed to course offerings (typically 2-6 cr.), which are currently slated for reassignment to existing daytime paths.

1. The workgroup should identify structures to preserve a broad general liberal arts part-time pathway to degree for schedule-bound students, while also connecting this curriculum to existing (= full-time, daytime) Paths.
2. For example, part-time regular faculty hired to EWS could either affiliate with and support one or more of the existing Paths by means of part-time options in the evenings and weekends, or choose to affiliate with a newly designed Path.
3. The workgroup should recommend whether a part-time general liberal arts completion program should be situated in the School of Professional Studies and offered specifically to schedule-bound working students, or should be a new Path in the undergraduate curriculum.

Points to consider:
a. The possible costs and benefits of separate admission for these students and the support they might receive within a School of Professional Studies.
b. The need for a structure to coordinate offerings that support degree-seeking students—e.g., a system for online faculty coordination, a designated coordinator role, an advisory team, and/or a Flex Center).
c. Systems and policies to support the overall coherence of the undergraduate curriculum.
d. Faculty assignments to teach this element of the part-time curriculum in the mode and time that support the adult students for whom this program is designed.

Summary of the Workgroup’s Recommendations

After considerable discussion, as well as broader consultation with EWS faculty, the workgroup makes the following recommendations:
• In keeping with the current organization of the full-time, daytime curriculum, we believe that the best way to serve the college’s part-time students is to create a Flexible Studies Pathway that is responsive to their needs and interests.
• The curriculum for this pathway will continue to provide a broad liberal-arts education to our part-time students, as opposed to a more narrowly focused set of offerings. As such, it should remain an integral part of the Olympia campus’s undergraduate curriculum.
• To serve the maximum number of enrollees, including the many daytime students who sometimes enroll in EWS offerings, this curriculum should remain accessible to all students at the college. There should be no separate admission process.
• Given its reach across academic divisions, this pathway would ideally continue to be managed at the academic dean’s level. At a minimum it will require a CAT leader and the creation of clear lines of authority for final hiring and curricular decisions.
• We recommend that the new pathway plan three years of projected offerings, beginning in fall 2022 and ending in spring 2025. Toward the end of this period, faculty associated with the path will assess its effectiveness and placement within the college’s organizational structures.
• We also support the establishment of a Flex Center, as time and funding allow, to provide useful resources to the students, faculty, and staff associated with part-time studies at the college.

The full scope of the workgroup’s report can be viewed here: https://evergreen0.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/NewDirectionsProject-NADProjectLeads/EYtuWh7_6AFOrTwm0LJA4b8BSf5F9dd0vLkJzhf587l0Zg?e=yEKnc7

The workgroup welcomes your feedback on these recommendations. Please email comments and suggestions to Lori Blewett (blewettl@evergreen.edu).

Over the past two years, New Academic Directions research and outside consultants identified adult learners with some college but no degree as the most likely population for sustained enrollment growth at Evergreen. As part of the college’s enrollment growth plan, Provost David McAvity, in partnership with the faculty Agenda Committee, charged our workgroup to make recommendations outlining the foundational elements of a school of professional studies. The school, as envisioned in the charge, would offer certificated learning and degree-completion curriculum aimed at attracting career-oriented adult students who are looking for part-time, weekend, evening, or online learning opportunities. These students may be workers and/or parents who are unable to participate in Evergreen’s full-time daytime programs.  Some may have hit a career ceiling because they do not have a bachelor’s degree or lack a particular skill or credential.  Some may be unemployed or marginally employed and looking to expand their career options. Others may be transfer students who have completed an associate’s degree and are now looking for advanced, career-connected learning.  

A school of professional studies could help these career-oriented students earn a bachelor’s degree and develop careers that lead to financial security, while also providing them with critically engaged, collaborative, interdisciplinary, and applied learning opportunities in keeping with the commitments reflected in Evergreen’s mission. 

As an innovative public liberal arts college, Evergreen emphasizes collaborative, interdisciplinary learning across significant differences. Our academic community engages students in defining and thinking critically about their learning. Evergreen supports and benefits from local and global commitment to social justice, diversity, environmental stewardship and service in the public interest.

As part of its charge, the Professional Studies Workgroup was asked to draft a mission and vision for the emerging school.  We welcome feedback and suggestions on these draft mission statements: 

• The Evergreen State College School of Professional Studies is committed to providing transformative education to professionals in their desire to combine theory with practice as they continue to develop skills and competencies to advance in their careers and create a better world.
• The Evergreen State College School of Professional Studies supports working adults in their desire to develop professional skills and competencies that advance their careers and create a better world.  

The new school (if approved by the Board of Trustees) will need a new title.  We welcome comments on these title ideas and/or additional title suggestions:

• Evergreen School of Professional Studies (ESPS, SPS or SoPS)
• School of Interdisciplinary Professional Studies (SIPS)
• School of Integrated Professional Studies (SIPS)
• School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPCE or SPACE)

The workgroup was also asked to recommend five or six areas of emphasis to guide development of the school’s curriculum in its first few years. These growth areas will include credit-bearing and non-credit (continuing education) certificates as well as academic degree completion programs.  To complete its task, the workgroup developed criteria for evaluating possible areas of emphasis. These included:

• Strong evidence of unmet demand by intended student population
• Clear workforce demand and job opportunities regionally (or nationally if relevant)
• Aligned with school of professional studies mission and Evergreen mission
• Builds on current and sustainable assets/strengths and/or has strong potential to be supported with new revenue streams
• Compatible with instructional modes/times/durations especially attractive to adult working students
• Can be implemented during the next three to five years
• High likelihood of sustained positive revenue

Below are the general curricular areas that seem most promising at this point in the workgroup’s research (all titles are rough indicators of areas of emphasis). The business & entrepreneurship area and the psychology & health area have already been prioritized by the college. The other areas listed, and some additional ones, are still being critically evaluated by the workgroup:

• Business & Entrepreneurship
• Computer Science & IT
• Education
• Environmental Solutions
• Interdisciplinary Art & Design
• Psychology & Heath
• Public Administration & Non-Profit Management

The workgroup will provide more detailed recommendations about these areas of emphasis, and will facilitate conversation about building this curriculum, at the Fall Faculty Retreat.  During the school year, workgroups with subject-matter expertise will engage in more focused certificate and degree-completion curriculum planning and design, with the goal of launching a school of professional studies in fall 2022. 

The workgroup welcomes your feedback on this work-in-progress. Please email comments and suggestions to Lori Blewett (blewettl@evergreen.edu).