New leadership faces an old problem: How to bring more upper-division university courses to north Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties.
State lawmakers hope the campaign will be more effective with Everett Community College at the helm.
It replaces a board of college and university leaders and Western Washington University, which had been in charge of managing day-to-day operations of the North Snohomish, Island and Skagit County Higher Education Consortium.
EvCC will make recommendations to the Legislature by December.
The work is under way, said Christine Kerlin, EvCC’s associate dean of enrollment services, who was recently named interim director of the organization.
For now, there are more questions than answers and a need to talk to community leaders and the universities and community colleges involved, Kerlin said.
“In transforming the structure, we are not exactly sure what it will look like,” Kerlin said. “Our job right now is to assess and analyze and propose a plan.”
Options include keeping the program at the Everett Station or moving it to another site. EvCC already has a long-standing relationship with Western Washington University, which offers elementary education and human services degree programs in Everett.
EvCC hopes to build an undergraduate education center on its campus in the next few years. It received $7 million from the Legislature earlier this year for design work. The center would relieve overcrowding and provide space for satellite classes from WWU.
In the past few years, Central, Eastern and Western Washington universities, the University of Washington and Washington State University have offered classes at the Everett Station, where the North Snohomish, Island and Skagit County Higher Education Consortium is headquartered. Yet, as it stands, the NSIS offers certificate and master degree programs but no bachelor degrees there.
Kerlin will gauge interest and look for insight into the complex issues, particularly financial ones, facing universities that could bring classes to the area.
There is some interest. For instance, the University of Washington Bothell, a branch campus, has its eyes on offering classes in Everett.
Sen. Dave Schmidt, R-Bothell, believes putting EvCC in charge will get the program moving and ultimately bring more upper-division classes to the area.
“Nobody had ownership of it,” Schmidt said. “It continued to drop down the list of priorities of the schools who were there.”
4-year college study
A second effort to bring university classes to north Snohomish County is also close to getting under way.
The state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board expects in the next few weeks to name a committee from the three counties to study the possibility of a four-year university in Snohomish County.
“We are in the final stages of connecting with people we want to serve,” said Bruce Botka, the state board’s director of government and university relations.
By statute, Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon will be on the committee, which will spend the next year coming up with a report for the Legislature.
The regional and statewide need already exists, Reardon said.
“I don’t think we need to dust off an old report,” Reardon said.
He wants to see the group focus on developing an operations plan. He and others are pushing for a technical university.
“We don’t have an institution like that in this state,” he said.
Eric Stevick is a writer for The Herald in Everett.
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