Spring 2018 eNews

The Ruckelshaus Center is just about ready to announce the topic and speakers for its eighth annual Chairman’s Circle Luncheon. We are very excited about how this year’s event is shaping up, the guests who will be joining us, and the important dialogue it will foster around collaborative public policy and discourse. Watch your e-mail for a “Save the Date” soon.

In the interim, don’t hesitate to contact us and discuss how you can be involved, including sponsorships and table hosting. Development Officer Viv Ilo Veith can be reached via e-mail or at 206-219-2418.

At its May meeting, the Ruckelshaus Center’s Advisory Board welcomed several new members (from left to right)

1. Dave Herrera of the Skokomish Tribe
2. Incoming UW Provost Mark Richard (ex-officio)
3. Incoming UW Law School Dean Mario Barnes (ex-officio)
4. Incoming WSU College of Human and Natural Resource Sciences Dean André-Denis Girard Wright (ex-officio).

The Board also thanked outgoing UW Provost Gerald Baldasty and Interim UW Law Dean Anita Krug for their service.

The Center has welcomed several new staff members and interns to its team. Seasoned fundraising professional Viv Ilo Veith has joined us as Development Officer. UW Evans graduate students Amy Burkel, Valerie Cleland and Shelby Thomas, and University of Oregon graduate student Maggie Counihan, have come aboard as Project and Research Interns.

What new projects are those interns helping us conduct?

Spirit Lake: This project includes laying the groundwork for a collaborative task force on long-term sediment management options for the Spirit Lake/Toutle River system in southwest Washington (which is at risk of flooding from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens). We are partnering on this project with the Washington State Academy of Sciences (another joint UW-WSU effort).

The FY 2018-19 Supplemental Budget, approved in March by the Washington State Legislature, also included several projects for the Center:

1. a second phase of facilitation for state agencies and other parties involved in or affected by the regulation of career colleges;
2. the request to facilitate meetings and discussions around the future of residential habilitation centers for the developmentally disabled (as part of our health policy area of practice); and
3. facilitated meetings and discussions of the Legislative Records Task Force created at the end of the Legislative session.

The Current Projects section of our website has more information on these and other projects.

(Spirit Lake Photo Credit: Steven Pavlov / http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Senapa / CC BY-SA 3.0 )

In 2017, the Legislature provided funding and direction to the Center for a two-year effort to a “Road Map to Washington’s Future.” The purpose of the project is to envision Washington’s desired future and identify additions, revision, or clarifications to the State’s growth management framework of laws, institutions, and polices needed to reach that future.

Project elements include individual and group interviews, workshops with elected officials and leaders from multiple sectors in twenty-five (25) regions across the state, additional workshops for regional and statewide groups, applied research, involvement of young adults (the “next generation”) and underrepresented populations, potential group convenings to explore areas of agreement, and a final report in June 2019.

This spring, the Road Map project team is conducting the first of the regional workshops — in Snohomish, Kitsap, Skagit, Watcom, Island, San Juan, Clallam/Jefferson, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Cowlitz/Wahkiakum and Spokane counties.

To see how it all fits together, you can read the two-page overview document, pre-assessment report, or other information here or contact project leads Amanda Murphy and Joe Tovar.

Did you know that several of the Center’s senior personnel are WSU Extension faculty? For example, Center Director Michael Kern is an Associate Professor of Extension, as well as Affiliate Associate Professor at the UW Evans School.

An important element of that status is the opportunity to take sabbatical and focus on professional development. From mid-September 2018 to mid-March 2019, Michael will be on sabbatical as Visiting Faculty at the Center’s “sister” institution – the University of Wyoming’s Ruckelshaus Institute. He will focus on collaborative governance scholarship and curriculum development.

While he is gone, Michael’s responsibilities will be divided among Senior Project Lead Amanda Murphy (project development and oversight), Senior Project and Development Lead Chris Page (development and board engagement), and Senior Project Facilitator Phyllis Shulman (administration, planning and budgeting). WSU Extension Director Mike Gaffney will coordinate with Amanda, Chris and Phyllis, and provide directorial-level decision-making. The Center is fortunate to have experienced and talented senior staff to keep things running smoothly while Michael is gone.

As you can tell, we are very busy at the Ruckelshaus Center, helping diverse groups create common sense solutions to public policy challenges in Washington and the Pacific Northwest, rather than settling for the paralysis and polarization we see all too often on the national scene.

Private support is what allows us to innovate and create, to get involved early or stay late. We are in the final few weeks of the fiscal year, which ends on June 30. Please contribute to ensure that we remain a voice for collaboration in the coming year.

The easiest way to give is via the website, or you can contact via e-mail or call 206-428-3021. Your gift is eligible for donor credit at WSU and/or UW; let us know your preference when you make your gift.

Stay up-to-date with the Ruckelshaus Center’s project updates, events, and announcements. Subscribe to our eNews!

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