Evergreen has a rich history of obtaining outstanding faculty for the MPA program. Below is a small feature of past faculty and a few of their academic accomplishments. Read further to get to know your current faculty members!
From the early years with Dan Evans, Russ Lindman and Guy Adams to current faculty, much valued research and published works have emerged from Evergreen faculty and alumni into the Public Administration field.
Camilla Stivers, Evergreen MPA Faculty 1987-1996
Current Board member of ASPA Publications, Public Administration Review Board
Camilla is the author of numerous peer reviewed articles as well as recognized book titles such as, Gender Images in Public Administration; Democracy, Bureaucracy and the Study of Administration; Bureau Men and Settlement Women; Governance in Dark Times as well as, Government is Us, with co- author and current MPA faculty, Cheryl Simrell King.
Camilla is recognized as a female pioneer in the field of Public Administration and has been known to make cameo appearances at the college.
Ken Dolbeare, Evergreen MPA Faculty 1981-1997
Currently writing and working alongside his wife in their business.
Ken authored over 13 books including the popular, American Political Thought, now in its 6th edition, with co-author, Michael S. Cummings. He recently co- authored, USA 2012: After the Middle Class Revolution, with his wife, Janette Kay Hubbell.
Ken is respected across the region and the nation as an influential political analyst.
Alan Parker, Evergreen MPA faculty 1997-2013
Co-creator of the Tribal Governance concentration
Currently co-chair of the committee on indigenous nation relationships of the National Congress of American Indians, he is coordinating treaty negotiations to establish a United League of Indigenous Nations.
Alan practiced law in Washington, DC. He directed research on tribal governments for the American Indian Policy Review Commission and was the first Native American to serve as Chief Counsel to the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
During his service in the US Senate he was instrumental in securing passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Tribal Self-governance Act, the American Indian Development Finance Corporation Act and numerous tribal land and water claims settlements. He also served as President of the American Indian National Bank from 1982 through 1987 and later organized the first “Native American think tank”, the National Indian Policy Center at George Washington University. On May 21, 2000 Washington State Governor Gary Locke appointed Professor Parker as the first Native American attorney to serve on the Washington State Gambling Commission.
Continuing MPA Faculty
2015-2016
MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
FACULTY BIOS
Continuing Faculty
Larry Geri has been a member of the faculty at Evergreen since 1994. Prior to switching to academia he was an analyst and manager with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, based in Washington, D.C. His primary role was to provide management advice for the Department’s plant and animal protection programs in Mexico, and Central and South America. He has regularly taught the first and second year core courses in the MPA program plus a wide variety of electives, including public policy, energy policy, nonprofit management, grantwriting, organizational development, and international organizations. His primary research interest over the last several years has been how public policy can hasten the adoption of renewable sources of energy. His other interests include nonprofit management, organizational development, and international organizations. He is the co-author (with David McNabb) of Energy Policy in the U.S: Politics, Challenges and Prospects for Change and has published journal articles on a variety of topics. Larry holds a doctorate in public administration from the University of Southern California, along with an MPA from the George Washington University and a BA in Economics from the UW. Between 2002 and 2006 he was Director of the MPA program. Larry was a Fulbright Scholar in Chile during fall 2013, where he taught a course on sustainability and comp, teed (a research project on the country’s electricity system). He is a past president of United Way of Thurston County and provides guidance to many local nonprofits on evaluation, performance measurement and strategic management. He tries to get outdoors as much as possible in his off hours, preferably with his wife Rachel.
Amy Gould is a full time continuing faculty member at Evergreen and has taught here since 2005. She earned her B.A. in Public Policy and Management from the University of Oregon as well as an M.S. in Public Affairs, and her Ph.D. in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. As a former Special Projects Manager in transportation, her research areas include management style and leadership, trust within public service, public policy, and gender studies. She is the author of Social Differences & Management Styles: A Study of Conformity and serves on the Board of Directors for the American Society for Public Administration, Evergreen Chapter.
Cheryl Simrell King has taught in MPA programs for over 25 years. She is trained as an experimental psychologist (M.A.), in public administration (Ph.D.), and worked as a regulatory/strategic marketing researcher before pursuing a full-time academic career. Like most Evergreen MPA faculty, she is a generalist and teaches across the MPA curriculum. Most of her scholarship and community-based work is in the area of citizen engagement and transformational practices to improve governance and government. This area has led her, of late, to sustainability and design thinking as portals to transforming governance. In particular she is interested in how we shape public spaces to build and sustain communities. She is co-author of one book (Transformational Public Service: Portraits of Theory in Practice) and editor of two (Government is Us: Public Administration in an Anti-Government Era and Government is Us, 2.0) as well as author and contributor to many articles published in academic and trade journals. She serves on editorial boards of journals, reviews manuscripts for journals and publishers, and served in leadership positions in professional organizations. Locally, she serves as a Board member of a foundation that supports regional parks, recreation, arts and culture programs and organizations and on the Board of her community’s Home Owners Association.
Michael Lane joins the MPA Program this year as a full time continuing faculty member and a lead faculty member in the Tribal Governance Concentration. He is from the Menominee Nation, and is married to Sharon Heta who is Tuhoe, Ngati Pukeko and Nga Puhi. They have three daughters aged 22, 16 and 16 and a 2 year old grandson.
Doreen Swetkis is a full-time member of the faculty in Evergreen’s MPA program. Previously, she was a visiting professor at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University (Ohio) and received her doctorate from the Levin College in 2009. Her dissertation topic examined the relationship between residential property tax abatement programs and change in Ohio’s urban neighborhoods. She has taught several courses in urban studies, public administration, and nonprofit administration. Doreen has several years of experience as a practitioner in the non-profit sector, including serving as the associate director of development & research for a Cleveland fair housing organization. Doreen is published in the Journal of Genetic Psychology, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Housing News Service, and the Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory. She is co-author of The 21st Century American City: Race, Ethnicity and Multicultural Urban Life, and author of an article in the text entitled, Policy Makers versus Citizens: Implications of Competing Values when Crafting Public Policy. She sits on the board for Nature Nurtures Farm, a local nonprofit organization.
Adjunct Faculty
Marc Baldwin is Assistant Director, Forecasting and Research for the Office of Financial management for the State of Washington. He was Governor Gregoire’s economic development policy advisor after being an Assistant Commissioner at the Employment Security Department. He was head of the division that included legislative affairs and the labor market information staff. He was an assistant director of the AFL-CIO Policy Department in Washington, DC before moving to Olympia. He has a BA from Oberlin College, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a PhD from MIT. He has taught in various capacities at Evergreen, primarily in the MPA core. He is the father of an unusually bright and creative daughter.
Stephen Buxbaum has more than thirty years of management experience in the non-profit and public sectors focusing on community and economic development programs and policy. His background includes extensive work on farmland preservation, sustainable agriculture and water conservation beginning in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. He has worked at local, state and federal levels of government both in Washington State and Washington, D.C. As an executive manager for the state of Washington, he oversaw financing of hundreds of affordable housing, community facilities and public works projects. During his career he has managed some of Washington State’s most successful grant and loan programs, including the Housing Trust Fund and the Community Development Block Grant program. In 2005, he received a fellowship to attend Harvard University’s program for senior executives in state and local government. In 2006, he was appointed to chair the Governor’s Interagency Council on Homelessness. Now, in addition to managing his consulting business, he teaches part-time for Evergreen’s Masters of Public Administration Program. In November 2009 he was elected to serve on Olympia, Washington’s City Council. He was elected by his peers to serve as Olympia’s Mayor Pro Tem (Deputy Mayor) from April 2010 to December 2011. He was elected Mayor of Olympia in the 2011 General Election and assumed office on January 3, 2012 (term ending December 31, 2015).
Kelly Croman has worked in Indian country for more than 18 years in the roles of Tribal Attorney, General Counsel, and CEO. As CEO, Kelly managed a diverse portfolio of tribal enterprises. As General Counsel, she was a member of the executive team overseeing a $100 million portfolio that included commercial and industrial real estate holdings, as well as a marina and several gas stations, including the largest Shell station in the United States. As a Tribal Attorney, Kelly has focused on governmental relations, tax, economic development, gaming, and employment issues. Kelly has served on numerous tribal and intertribal boards and commissions, and currently serves as the Chair of the National Intertribal Tax Alliance. She is a past Chair of the Washington State Bar Association Indian Law Section. Kelly has a Master’s in Public Administration (1994) from The Evergreen State College, and a Juris Doctor (1997) from the University of Washington School of Law, where she graduated with honors. In her free time, Kelly is an avid surfer, cyclist, and former national long-distance boomerang record holder.
Marla Beth Elliot received her M.F.A. in drama from the University of Washington in 1978. She has taught voice, both speech and singing, for more than thirty years. Marla teaches a Public Speaking elective that helps M.P.A. students become more confident and eloquent speakers. In addition to her continuing work as a singer and a teacher of performing arts, Marla also worked for twenty-five years organizing and running volunteer lawyer programs for the Washington State Access to Justice system.
Karen Fraser has a wealth of elected official experience in state and local government in Washington State. At present, she is serving her 21st year as a Washington State Senator, being elected from the 22nd District, the State Capital area. She chairs the Senate Democratic Caucus, has served 20 years on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, many years on the Senate Rules Committee, and in the past has chaired Senate committees relating to environment, energy, water, parks and recreation, pensions, and more. Prior to serving in the Senate, she served four years as a State Representative. Before becoming a state legislator, she held elective office in Thurston County for 15 years, including Thurston County Commissioner, and Lacey Mayor and City Council Member. She has been an active member of a variety of state, regional, and international legislative organizations. In addition to her own campaigns, she has worked on many local, state, and national candidate campaigns and multiple ballot issue campaigns. She has received many forms of recognition for her legislative work. She enjoys helping students broaden their knowledge about, and improve their ability to engage in, legislative and related policy-making processes. She has a Masters in Public Administration degree from the Graduate School of Public Affairs (renamed Evans School) at the University of Washington.
Paul Horton is a leadership and strategy coach and community development and organizational change professional with 23 years of leadership-level experience working with the public, private, tribal, and non-profit sectors. He is committed to harnessing diversity, building community, fostering shared responsibility, and working across boundaries to implement collaborative approaches to organizational change. Paul specializes in using participatory leadership practices to build social capital and improve community and organizational outcomes. Paul co-founded and was the managing director or executive director of the non-profit, Climate Solutions from 1998 to 2007. He was the director of sustainability for the engineering firm, David Evans & Associates and Principal of Paul Horton Consulting Group, LLC. He is currently a partner with the mission driven consulting firm The Athena Group. Paul received his undergraduate degree from The Evergreen State College. He received his Masters of Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability from Sweden’s Blekinge Institute of Technology and he holds a Certificate in Sustainable Business from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute.
Tina Kuckkahn-Miller works extensively in fund development, arts administration, Indigenous arts and cultures. She currently works with the Evergreen Longhouse and the arts. Tina will be teaching the Managing Cultural Organizations and Programs course. Tina expands her talents and interests to Federal Indian law and policy, non-profit management, and cultural centers.
Heather Moss provides day-to-day operational oversight for DEL as the Deputy Director. This includes direct leadership over human resources, fiscal services, information technology, and government relations and communications. Prior to joining DEL in 2014, Heather was Deputy Director at Child Care Aware of Washington for four years, where she helped lead the successful statewide roll-out of Early Achievers, Washington’s Quality Rating and Improvement System.
Heather has previous experience in Washington State government, serving nine years as a research analyst with the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee and another five years as both a budget and policy analyst for the state Office of Financial Management. Heather has a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington, Evans School of Public Affairs, and a BA from the University of Montana.
Amy Leneker has held a number of leadership positions in state government. She currently works for the Department of Labor & Industries as the Assistant Director for the Government Affairs & Policy Division. Prior to working for L&I, Amy served as the Director of Government Relations at the Employment Security Department. She has held senior policy and legislative roles for a number of other state agencies and also spent six years as a legislative staffer in the Senate. Amy is a proud Geoduck, holding both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Evergreen. She and her husband Corey have two children (and one incredibly clever Labradoodle) and make their home in Olympia.
Doug Mah is the immediate past Mayor of the City of Olympia, Washington (2008-2011). During his total 10 years on the City Council (2001-2011) he served on numerous inter-jurisdictional governing boards such as the LOTT Clean Water Alliance and regional Transportation Policy Board. Doug also enjoyed a 23-year career in State Government (1989 -2012) with appointments in the Governor’s Office of Financial Management, Department of Corrections, Department of Information Services, and the Office of the Chief Information Officer as research analyst, policy analyst, budget manager, and technology program manager. Doug holds a B.A. in sociology/criminal justice and a M.A. in sociology/demography from Western Washington University. Doug is currently owner of Doug Mah & Associates, a management and public affairs consulting firm. Clients include public, private and non-profit organizations. Doug is active in the community and serves on the board of directors for the Thurston County Food Bank, Washington State Employees Credit Union, and Capital Medical Center. He is also a member of the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce and the Gateway Rotary Club of Thurston County.
Steve Marshall received his PhD at Gonzaga University and has more than 32 years of national and international business, government, and higher education experience grounded in a firm understanding of teaching methodology. He led worldwide training for Citibank and nationwide training for MetLife, and currently delivers multi-year leadership and professional development training to the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Education, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia. Steve is the author of Competent Leadership, wrote eighteen leadership and professional development courses, and taught employees in the U.S., Australia, England, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Poland, and Singapore. His domestic and foreign travel, multicultural experiences, and personal relationships with people of many nationalities have resulted in substantial experience and expertise in working across cultural differences.
Sen. John R. McCoy represents the 38th Legislative District, which includes the Everett, Marysville and Tulalip communities of Snohomish County. John served in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years, retiring in 1981 after accumulating a great deal of training in computer operations and programming. John worked as a computer technician in the White House from 1982 to 1985. In 1994 he returned to Tulalip to help bring the community into the digital world and build what is now the Quil Ceda Village Business. He is a state and national leader on diverse, important issues involving broadband, alternative energy and K-12 education. John and his wife, Jeannie, make their home in Tulalip. They have three daughters, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Sylvie McGee is a master grant writer. Over the past 22 years as a consulting grant writer, she has obtained over $72 million for capital, operations and special projects needs for clients, which include non-profit organizations, housing authorities, school districts, city and county departments, community coalitions, and health care providers. She is an active member of the Puget Sound Grantwriters’ Association, and both for PSGA and for public and private organizations, she provides professional development for both new and senior grant writers. Her desire to help communities with accessible and affordable housing, enough food for everyone, healthy families, schools that are vibrant places of learning, and neighborhoods where people feel connected and engaged with each other, is what drove her into social work in her 20s. It is still what motivates Sylvie today as a grant writer and consultant.
John McNamara is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, where he also earned a Masters in Management: Co-operatives and Credit Unions. He works as a cooperative development specialist at the Northwest Cooperative Development Center and teaches a summer course on worker cooperatives at The Evergreen State College. Previously, John spent 26 years with Union Cab of Madison Cooperative in Madison, WI serving on the board of directors in addition to terms as marketing manager, general manager and business manager. He is a past-president of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives and a founding member of the Democracy at Work Network of which he currently serves on the board of governors. John’s dissertation research focuses on the contemporary “union coop model” and how the blending of labor unions and worker owned businesses assists workers in their quest for the American Dream. He specializes in strategic planning, governance and accountability models, and personnel management. He enjoys the New York Times crossword, the Grateful Dead, and comic strips.
Naomi Nightingale has been a longtime advocate for social change in the Los Angeles, California area having worked for a state senator handling district operations and public policy issues, served as director of a program assisting women with criminal backgrounds to transition, transform and become empowered in positive directions; created a personal and professional development assessment center for welfare and general relief recipients to assist them in becoming independent wage earners; worked as a community organizer and help found the first neighborhood council in the Venice, CA community and served as representative of the Oakwood Community and then as the Vice President of the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council. She currently serves on the Board of H.E.L.P.E.R Foundation which is a gang intervention, prevention program serving the greater Los Angeles area. She is also a Commissioner of the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission responsible for granting and adjudicating appeals received from county employees, including social workers, probation officers, sheriffs and fire workers, regarding discharges, suspensions, position reductions and other personnel actions. Her passion for restorative justice was the driver for her research and dissertation, African American Men Who Give Voice to the Personal Transition from Criminality to Desistance. Naomi has a long and rewarding career in public and government organizations. She recently transitioned from more than 30 years in public transportation in various high-level positions including Human Resource Management, Equal Employment and Compliance, Management/Labor Relations, etc. to operating, Nightingale & Associates, LLC, a management consultant business focusing on leadership and change. In appreciation for her service in public transportation, the City of Palm Desert, CA proclaimed her retirement date as Naomi Nightingale Day. Naomi earned her PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University, Yellow Springs, Ohio; her MPA from California State University at Long Beach and her BA in Liberal Arts from Antioch University, Los Angeles, CA.
Grace O’Connor is a nearly life-long Olympia resident. She is an assistant attorney general for the state of Washington, where she defends a variety of agencies against employment actions. Grace did her undergraduate work at Bates College in Lewiston, ME, where she created an interdisciplinary major across English Literature and Political Science, with a minor in Women’s Studies. She graduated magna cum laude from Gonzaga University School of Law in 2005, where she was a teaching assistant for a second-year Constitutional Law section, president of the Women’s Law Caucus, and authored the journal comment, Her Body is a Battlefield: The Applicability of the Alien Tort Statute to Corporate Human Rights Abuses in Juarez, Mexico, 40 Gonz. L. Rev. 503 (2005). Grace has worked as a law clerk for two state Supreme Court justices, the Honorable Bobbe J. Bridge (Ret.) and the Honorable Debra L. Stephens, assisting the judges in their decision-making process. As an assistant attorney general, she has also represented the Department of Social and Health Services and the Department of Early Learning, advocating for the state in numerous administrative hearings, as well as working with agency staff to draft agency rules, among other duties. Grace is active in Thurston County’s local civil legal aid organization, and enjoys spending time with her husband and two young sons, as well as reading fiction, in her spare time.
Michael (Dave) O’Leary was the 2014 recipient of the Washington City / County Management Association Program Excellence Award for Innovation. This award was given in acknowledgement of Dave’s many years of successful work resolving challenging financial problems – mainly related to our recent recession. In the Summer of 2015 Dave was selected to teach at the Beijing University of Political Science and Law. The subject of the class was community building. Dave taught Chinese students lessons in starting a new city from scratch. Dave has worked for 16 years in Washington as a chief executive or chief administrative officer at two different cities. He earned his Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Boise State University in 1998, and previously earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Boise State in Social Science – Education Option. Dave has been married to wife Sally since 1971. They have 3 grown children and 2 grandchildren. They live in Shelton.
Pam Peters Pam Peters has been a member of the faculty at Evergreen since 2007. She is currently the Director of Human Resources for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. Her background includes extensive work in Public Administration where she has worked for Federal, State, County, City and Tribal Governments giving her a unique perspective in policy development and management perspectives. Prior to her work in Human Resource Management Pam worked in the Environmental Sciences as a Water Quality Analyst where she worked to monitor businesses for industrial waste. She currently manages her own Human Resource consulting business providing human resources consulting and training services to Tribes and the Public Sector. Pam graduated with a Masters of Public Administration from Evergreen in 2006 and was a member of the second cohort to complete the Tribal Governance Program. Pam is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.
Rhys Roth is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure at Evergreen State College. Rhys co-founded and helped lead for over 15 years the non-profit group Climate Solutions. He specialized in programs to bring together economic development and environmental benefit, including “Harvesting Clean Energy” working with the agriculture and rural development communities, and “Poised for Profit in Clean Energy” working with the technology and investor communities. In 2013 he was honoured as a “Sustainability Trailblazer” by the Sustainable Path Foundation. More recently, Rhys returned to his alma mater, The Evergreen State College, to lead the College’s new Center for Sustainable Infrastructure to help bring innovation, new tools, and sustainability excellence to infrastructure planning and investment in the Pacific Northwest. He authored the Center’s inaugural report, “Infrastructure Crisis, Sustainable Solutions,” in November 2014.
Jenny Serpa currently teaches in the MPA Program at The Evergreen State College and at Northwest Indian College – Nisqually Site. Jenny is interested in research, as well as policy and systems analysis, particularly related to education and health systems. She has focused on access issues and solutions in her education, career, and advocacy work. Jenny has a passion for community-based research and service. She is the founder and manager of Hawkheart Consulting LLC, a company which offers non-profit start up assistance, non-profit administrative services, and grant writing services. During her career, Jenny has worked at the Seattle Indian Health Board, one of the 34 Urban Indian Health Organizations, and it’s Urban Indian Health Institute, one of the 12 Indian Health Service Tribal Epidemiology Centers serving the Urban Indian population across the United States. Jenny’s keen knack and love of research has earned her a Mary Gates Research Scholarship & Best Honors Thesis at the University of Washington (BA) and the Sue Crystal Fellowship for capstone research (MPA – Tribal). Jenny has guest lectured at the University of Washington, The Evergreen State College, and Concordia University.
- (William) Webb Sprague is a data analyst working for the Washington State Department of Health and Social Services (DSHS), in the division of Research and Data and Analysis. He completed his Ph.D. in 2013, with a dissertation on age and sex specific demographic forecasting using advanced methods in from linear algebra. He is also a GIS technician and an open source software user, advocate, and programmer.
Eden Teachout is the Senior Lean Consultant with the WA State Dept. of Enterprise Services. As a Lean Practitioner, Eden provides training, consulting, coaching, and facilitation services to state agencies to help them adapt and apply Lean thinking, tools, and principles. She also has experience facilitating strategic planning, organizational development, and problem solving efforts. A graduate of The Evergreen State College, Eden has been a state employee since 2000.
Emeritus Faculty
Prior to his retirement, Alan Parker served as Director of the Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute at Evergreen and a Member of the Faculty in the MPA Program. Among other positions, he was President of the American Indian National Bank (1982-87) and Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (1977-81 and 1987-91).
Linda Moon Stumpff’ has served as a member of the faculty at TESC since 1997. Prior to her work in academia she served in management positions in the National Park Service and USDA Forest Service in the areas of ecosystem planning, park and wilderness management and tribal relations. The primary focus of her academic work is international administration and the exploration of local and indigenous knowledge and values as they are expressed through participatory governance institutions and policy. She completed undergraduate work in International Relations and Forestry at the University of California, Berkeley and furthered her studies mid-career earning a doctorate from USC’s School of Public Administration and Regional Planning in 1997. Her work at Evergreen included co-founding the Tribal Governance track while she served as MPA Director from 1998-2001 and development of the tribal curriculum and governance program. She continues to develop relevant curriculum on tribal policy, edit and write case studies and present workshops in the Enduring Legacies Project. She is currently working on a book on Native cases and one on indigenous knowledge applications. She completes research with the interagency Aldo Leopold Institute working on wildfire and watershed issues with agencies and tribal governments. Her work with the Institute takes her to India, South Africa, Alaska, Spain, Guatemala and the Yucatan. Her current journal publications focus on water issues, tribal curriculum, sacred sites, and tribal administrative and cultural strategies under conditions of climate change. She continues to teach in the program as an emeritus faculty. Hiking with her dogs, basket-weaving with natural dyes and promoting policies to protect indigenous lands and waters are favorite activities.