John Bassett will be inaugurated as president of Heritage University Nov. 13. He comes to Washington from Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

When Dr. John Bassett is formally installed as president of Heritage University in Toppenish on Nov. 13 it will wrap up a string of three presidential inaugurations at Independent Colleges of Washington member institutions in the last month. Beck Taylor was sworn in at Whitworth University Oct. 15 and Thayne McCulloh at Gonzaga University on the 22nd.

Presidential inaugurations are a little funny because they often come long after the president has assumed the duties of the post. In the case of McCulloh, it had been about a year and a half, as he’d already served as interim president for a year when the GU trustees handed him the permanent gig this summer. We started working with Bassett this summer, too, as he’s also the board chair of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and we met him at a workshop with folks from other state private higher education associations back in July.

The inauguration lends an official stamp of approval, though, as dignitaries from other colleges and community leaders all come together for some speechifying and other activities. It’s a great opportunity to reach out and talk about the partnerships that make higher education successful in the community.

Bassett has been making the rounds. There’s a nice story in this morning’s Tri-City Herald in which he talks about expanding Heritage’s partnership with Columbia Basin College. Heritage offers teaching, social work, and criminal justice courses at the Pasco campus, and may soon be offering science degrees as well. Heritage partners with a number of community colleges around the state, mostly offering education degree programs. It all fits in with their mission to provide quality, accessible higher education to multicultural populations which have been educationally isolated.

Welcome to all the new presidents. We look forward to working collaboratively with all of our member colleges to help bring opportunity, choice, and success to our students!

The U.S. News & World Report rankings of the nation’s best colleges are out today. The rankings are an item of constant debate. We wonder if they really mean anything, if they try to measure the right things, if it’s actually possible to quantify some of those things, and whether students really take the rankings much into account when they’re trying to decide where to go to college.

Love them or hate them, though, most of us can’t avoid looking.

So yes, we looked, and found three Independent Colleges of Washington member institutions among the top 10 regional colleges in the West, and five in the top 15. Two others were ranked within the top tier in that category.

Gonzaga University rates best in the state at number 4, Seattle University is sixth, and Whitworth University ninth. Both ICW members in the national liberal arts college category ranked well, with Whitman College at 38 and University of Puget Sound at 81. In addition, five of our 10 members made the top nine in best value among regional colleges in the West. (Did you guess that Harvard and Williams would top their respective lists… again?)

We’re not sure what it means that PLU (13) is one “notch” higher than Seattle Pacific University (14), but it is good to see so many of our colleges rated so well by this tool, for whatever it’s worth.

Many of our member colleges elect not to even acknowledge the rankings. Of those that do, here’s what they’re saying today:

• Gonzaga University
• Seattle University
• Walla Walla University
• Whitman College
• Whitworth University

Dr. Thayne McCulloh has been elected president of Gonzaga University by the board of trustees. GU photo by Jennifer Raudebaugh.

The Gonzaga University Board of Trustees today elected Dr. Thayne M. McCulloh as Gonzaga’s 26th president, succeeding Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J. McCulloh has served as interim president since Rev. Spitzer’s departure in July 2009.

“Over the past two years we have looked at a number of potential candidates,” said John Luger, chair of the Board of Trustees. “What we have in Thayne McCulloh is an exceptionally talented individual who has the background, the vision and the leadership skills to lead Gonzaga to a very bright future, and how fortunate we are to have this leader in our own community. His work in championing the mission of Gonzaga, and his work this past year as interim president, has given us every confidence that he will be Gonzaga’s next great leader.”

To read more about the decision, visit Gonzaga’s news site.

Coverage from the Spokesman-Review in Spokane.

The Board of Directors of Independent Colleges of Washington welcomes five new members as we kick off a new fiscal year. Two of our 10 member institutions have new presidents, who are ex officio members of the board, and three other new board members were elected.

Linneweh

We have written about the new presidents already. Beck Taylor was selected as president at Whitworth University in April and began his duties July 1. Dr. Taylor has already started his own blog! Heritage University selected Dr. John Bassett as its next president back in November, and he takes up his new duties next week. In addition to being at the helm at Heritage, Bassett is the board chair for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the unified national voice of independent higher education.

O'Halloran

Three elected directors join the board this month. Franz Lazarus is senior vice president for global operations at Costco Wholesale. Richard W. Linneweh, Jr., is president and CEO of Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. John O’Halloran is chairman and CEO of Rainier Funds at Rainier Investment Management.

Departing the board are two retiring college presidents, Sister Kathleen Ross of Heritage and Dr. Bill Robinson of Whitworth; and five elected members who have completed two three-year terms, the limit under our by-laws: Paul Cantor of Whittier Trust, Rick Gross of Boeing, Chris Heman of U.S. Bank, Doug Schutt of Costco, and attorney Steve Seward.

Thanks to our departing board members for your service, and welcome to our new colleagues as we work to provide opportunity, choice, and success for students.

It’s commencement weekend at Walla Walla University, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University. When the last diploma is handed out on Sunday almost 9,000 students will have graduated from Independent Colleges of Washington member institutions. Our 10 colleges and universities confer about a quarter of the baccalaureate and higher degrees earned in the state each year! And, by the way, they do it on less than two percent of the state budget, brought in as financial aid given to students.

Seattle University is the biggest in our membership, and will graduate more than 2,000 students on Sunday at Key Arena. In the morning undergraduates will hear a keynote speech from Bob Craves, co-founder and CEO of the College Success Foundation. In the afternoon grad students will listen to a speech from Cheryl Crazy Bull, president of Northwest Indian College. Mr. Craves is no stranger to ICW; in 2007 he was the recipient of our Stanly O. McNaughton Leadership Award, our highest honor and recognition for people who do marvelous service in support of independent higher education.

Sunday at Safeco Field more than 1,100 grads from Seattle Pacific University will receive their diplomas, including 810 undergrads, 300 master’s degrees, and 21 doctoral. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary.

Walla Walla University holds commencement on the Centennial Green on its campus in College Place, Washington, where 376 students–247 undergraduates, and 129 master’s–will receive their sheepskins. Dr. Eric Anderson, president of Southwestern Adventist University, will give the commencement address.

Independent Colleges of Washington are committed to high-quality, academically rigorous learning. Students, regardless of major, graduate with a solid grounding in the liberal arts, an education that stresses critical thinking, lifelong learning, ethics, leadership, and community service. They’re ready to tackle what the world throws at them!

Good luck to all!

Pacific Lutheran University will become the seventh independent college of Washington to celebrate spring commencement when 875 graduates receive their degrees on Sunday at the Tacoma Dome. William C. Bell, president and CEO of Casey Family Programs, will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony.

The members of Independent Colleges of Washington are smaller colleges—PLU’s enrollment is just under 3,600—but together our 10 institutions enroll nearly 40,000 students and confer about a quarter of the baccalaureate and higher degrees earned in Washington each year. This year around 8,500 students will receive their degrees from one of these great colleges.

Our impact is felt even more strongly in some degree fields. For example, our colleges award about 36 percent of the education degrees and 39 percent of the baccalaureate and higher nursing degrees in the state. PLU has strong programs in both of these in-demand degree areas.

Congratulations, Lutes!

Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger

Commencement season is in full swing! This weekend about 375 seniors at Whitman College will receive their bachelor’s degrees. Author and journalist Juan Williams, currently a correspondent for National Public Radio, will be the keynote speaker at the commencement ceremony Sunday.

The Whitman community also will get a visit from a high-flying alumna. Astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, a 1997 Whitman grad who was on the crew of a shuttle mission to the International Space Station in April, will give a talk at Saturday’s Baccalaureate.

Whitman will be the sixth of the 10 Independent College of Washington to hold commencement ceremonies. By the time the last students receive their sheepskins on June 13, about 8,500 students will have received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from our top-notch, academically rigorous colleges and universities. That’s nearly one in four of the baccalaureate and higher degrees conferred in the state.

Juan Williams

While opportunities for part-time study abound, about eighty percent of those bachelor’s degree recipients will have finished their course work in four years. That’s one of the strengths of private colleges, where students of all economic, social, and ethnic backgrounds are as likely to earn degrees in four years as are students at public baccalaureate institutions in six years.

Congratulations and best wishes to the Whitties this weekend!

Happy grads! University of Puget Sound photo by Ross Mulhausen.

More happy graduates will take the walk this weekend when three Independent Colleges of Washington members hold commencement ceremonies: Gonzaga University Law School, Whitworth University, and University of Puget Sound.

Every year ICW members confer about 25 percent of the baccalaureate and higher degrees earned in Washington; there will be about 8,500 graduates this year. Small class sizes and personal attention help students complete our rigorous academic programs “on time”; nearly 80 percent of our graduates earn their degrees in four years.

About 181 new graduates will participate in the law school ceremony at Gonzaga Saturday, where the undergraduate and graduate commencements were held last weekend. Law grads will hear a keynote address from Hon. Richard Jones, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

This weekend’s will be the last commencement ceremonies at Whitworth University for President Bill Robinson, who retires from his leadership post this summer. Robinson will shake the hands of 112 graduate degree recipients on Saturday and 480 undergraduate degree earners at Sunday’s ceremony. He’ll keynote both.

University of Puget Sound will hand diplomas to 727 graduates Sunday. Scott Jackson, a 1980 alumnus of Puget Sound and vice president of PATH, an international nonprofit that works on global health, will be the keynote speaker.

Congratulations to all of the graduates, and proud parents, too!

SMU graduates

The first wave of the class of 2010 will hit the streets as three members of Independent Colleges of Washington—Gonzaga University, Heritage University, and Saint Martin’s University—hold their commencement ceremonies this weekend. About 8,500 students will receive their diplomas.

Every year ICW members confer about 25 percent of the baccalaureate and higher degrees earned in Washington. Small class sizes and personal attention help students complete our rigorous academic programs “on time”; nearly 80 percent of our graduates earn their degrees in four years.

Gonzaga will graduate a record-size class for the eighth year in a row. GU will pass out diplomas to 2,092 students. The graduate school commencement is Saturday, undergraduates take the walk Sunday, and the Law School holds commencement May 15.  Rev. Charles Currie, S.J., will be the keynote speaker at both ceremonies this weekend, and also will receive the DeSmet Medal, Gonzaga’s highest honor.

At Heritage University 303 students earned degrees this year, and about half of them will participate in the ceremony on Saturday. Incoming Heritage President Dr. John Bassett will be the commencement speaker.

Rev. William R. Headley, CSSP, Ph.D., will be the commencement speaker Saturday at Saint Martin’s University. Saint Martin’s will confer 341 bachelor’s degrees and 80 master’s degrees at the ceremony.

Congratulations to all of the graduates!

Whitworth University President-elect Beck Taylor

The Whitworth University Board of Trustees has announced that Beck Taylor, Ph.D., has been appointed the university’s next president. He will assume his duties July 1, 2010, succeeding Bill Robinson, who is stepping down after 17 years as president. Dr. Taylor currently serves as dean of the Brock School of Business at Samford University, in Birmingham, Ala.

“The Whitworth University Board of Trustees is excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Beck Taylor as Whitworth’s 18th president,” said Board Chair Walt Oliver. “We are confident he brings the vision, experience and clear commitment to Whitworth’s mission that will move the university forward in exciting ways. This is a great day for the entire Whitworth community.”

Taylor also will join the board of directors of Independent Colleges of Washington. The ICW board consists of the presidents of the 10 member colleges and 27 business and community leaders from around the state.

There’s more information on the Whitworth website, including their news story about the announcement and other details of the presidential search. You can also start following Taylor; he has a Twitter account and is an active tweeter! We’ve embedded the news conference of the announcement below.

Welcome to Whitworth, Washington, and ICW, Dr. Taylor!

Prof. Bob Withycombe. Whitman College photo.

Bob Withycombe, a 29-year veteran Whitman College teacher and former debate coach, is the 2009 Washington Professor of the Year, award organizers announced today.

The U.S. Professors of the Year program, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), salutes extraordinary dedication to teaching as illustrated by involvement with students, scholarly approach to teaching and learning, contribution to education at the institution, and support from colleagues and current and former students. Only 38 such teachers were selected from across the country this year.

Withycombe is in Washington, D.C. today to receive his award and participate in an evening congressional reception sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society.

The Whitman news site has a full story about Withycombe and his work at the college.

Faculty members from Independent Colleges of Washington member institutions have won the last three Washington Professor of the Year Awards, and five of the last eight. We think that’s a result of the colleges’ emphasis on teaching. ICW member institutions share a commitment to high-quality, academically rigorous learning and to an education that emphasizes critical thinking, lifelong learning, ethics, leadership, and community service.

Congratulations to Withycombe, and thanks to all of the great professors who give great value to independent higher education.

Dr. John Bassett

The Heritage University board of directors has appointed Dr. John Bassett as the second president of Heritage University. Bassett currently serves as the president of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, a position he has held since 2000. He will begin his new duties at Heritage next summer.

Bassett will succeed Dr. Kathleen Ross, who has been president at Heritage since its founding in 1982. Ross announced her plans to retire from the presidency in March of this year.

In addition to his duties as president at Clark, Bassett has a high profile leadership position on national education policy, serving as the vice-chair of the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. NAICU is the unified national voice of independent higher education.

“I can think of no greater calling than to lead Heritage University,” said Bassett. “Higher education is the foundation for our future success as a society. Heritage was founded on the belief that no one should be denied access for reasons of poverty, culture or geography. My wife Kay and I are thrilled by the opportunity to live in the Pacific Northwest and build on the work of Dr. Ross.”

For more information, read the Heritage University news release on the announcement, Bassett’s letter to the Clark University community, and coverage from the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Halloween weekend wraps up Independent Colleges of Washington Service Month. I think the timing was just a coincidence, but a story out of Walla Walla University the other day made us chuckle.

Myers

WWU freshman Lucas Myers (at right) received an award from the Sacramento area Red Cross for donating 10 gallons of blood. Not all at once! That’s a lifetime total, and thought to be a record for a kid of 17. Three other students from the college also were honored by Red Cross for a miraculous bit of life saving.

Lt. Governor Brad Owen was in Spokane this week to present Gonzaga University with a $5,000 grant from Washington State Mentors. Owen is a co-chair of the organization, which is funded by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation and others. The grant recognizes and supports Gonzaga’s outstanding mentoring program.

University of Puget Sound athletes have their annual Trick-or-Can food drive this weekend. Seattle University students have their quarterly Labor of Love service day, which connects new students with the community through meaningful service projects, focused on the environment in recent years. Saint Martin’s University students will help the sisters of St. Placid Priory clean up ivy and with other projects on their grounds.

Students at ICW member colleges give more than a half million hours of volunteer service in their communities every year. Thanks for all you do to help Washington!

It’s the next-to-last weekend of Independent Colleges of Washington Service Month, as proclaimed by Gov. Gregoire. There’s a good line-up of projects on tap at member colleges this weekend. Among them:

Saint Martin’s University students will be at St. Benedict Episcopal Church in Lacey to help with their monthly community dinner and food bank. At Gonzaga University this is Fall Family Weekend, and the university’s Spokane alumni chapter has invited students, parents, faculty, staff, and friends to participate in a canned food drive. GU also will have a pancake breakfast and auction to raise funds for a local nonprofit organization. It is Parents Weekend at Whitworth University, which will have its Tour of Service, with volunteers visiting the various agencies and service organizations with which Whitworth partners for community engagement and service learning. It’s Family Weekend at Whitman College, too, and Saturday is Make a Difference Day. Visiting family members will join their Whitman students in volunteer service around Walla Walla, and students will host a wine auction to raise funds for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Walla Walla University had its service day a few weeks ago, and has posted a nice story about the activities.

Every year independent college campus communities give well in excess of half a million hours of volunteer service to their communities. Thanks for all that you do!

A week ago I was in sunny Spokane strolling around the campus at Gonzaga University. As if to remind me that Independent Colleges of Washington Service Month is under way, GU has hung banners like the one at right from many of the light standards around the campus. Most of ICW’s member colleges have some reference to service to community in their mission statements, and those are more than mere words. They live it, contributing upwards of half a million hours of volunteer time in their communities every year.

News came from Gonzaga this week that they’re about to celebrate 10 years of involvement with the Mary Stuart Rogers foundation, which funds Mary Stuart Rogers scholarships for students who are committed to serving others. Many GU students will be participating in a neighborhood cleanup project this weekend.

Some of the other projects coming up: Students at Saint Martin’s University will help out with a planting day with Lacey’s Woodland Trail Greenway Association. University of Puget Sound students will spend part of their “Alternative Fall Break” with “Aware Tacoma!” doing volunteer service for a number of nonprofits in the city. Monday kicks off a “mini” volunteer fair at PLU, where they’re trying doing a similar event each month, instead of one big fair at the start of the academic year, to keep the service opportunities in front of students all year round. Walla Walla University had its Day of Service Wednesday.

Thanks, students, for all you do in your communities!