Leveraging our ability to discover, educate, and apply knowledge as an economic engine for Washington
We Build Human Capital for the Future: Careers are shifting towards rewarding innovation, realized through a sequence of jobs and multiple employers. We will track our success not only on the ability of our students and Washingtonians to obtain quality jobs, but also to create new jobs - a key criteria of success in an entrepreneurial economy.
We Consult and Assist Business: Long the domain of Extension faculty, today faculty and staff across the institution are called to service in helping address Washington’s needs and ambitions. We gauge our progress in the frequency and outcome of our consulting, education, and advising to Washington’s private sector.
We Support Better Government: Providing both the analytics, and often facilitating the process, the research and deliberative skills among faculty and staff are called upon at all levels of governance to improve public policy.
We Fuel the New Economy with Ideas: Creativity is the university’s stock-in-trade, and WSU is one of Washington’s universities with a research mission among a broad range of unique fields in agriculture, veterinary medicine, engineering, and environmental sciences among others. Our progress is measured among the many transactions necessary to move the best ideas to the marketplace.
We Are a Responsible Big Business: With expenditures of over ¾ of billion dollars annually, we leverage public funds through a combination of tuition, endowments, gifting, and grants/contracts earned by over 10,000 employees. We hold the public’s trust in this vast enterprise with nearly 100 locations across the state, and are accountable for optimizing our impact.
Meet John Gardner
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Washington State University President Elson Floyd created
the office of Economic Development and Extension in July
of 2007, appointing John Gardner as Vice President to
lead this new effort. Having worked in both universities
and business, Dr. Gardner leads the effort which links
private, public, and philanthropic partners to better
leverage all of WSU’s assets for economic growth
and vitality of the state.
Gardner is a native of the Kansas City area where he
earned degrees in agriculture and agronomy at Kansas
State University, and a PhD at the University of Nebraska
in plant physiology. His US-AID funded graduate
work focused on the sorghum/millet program INTSORMIL
directed at Africa and India. He then moved north
to Carrington, North Dakota, and spent much of his twenty
years there as Director of the NDSU Carrington Research
Extension Center. His work on the domestication of
new crops led to business interests throughout the
1990’s and he became one of the founders and chief
executive of AgGrow Oils, a 540-member LLC that
integrated the production, processing, and marketing of
both novel and designer oilseeds.
Just prior to WSU, Gardner spent six years at the University of Missouri as the Associate Dean/Director for Research and Outreach in the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources after which he became the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, a position similar to that he currently holds at WSU.
Download John Gardner's CV (opens PDF with links to articles)
Meet Marcia Garrett
Marcia Garrett presently serves as the Executive Director of WSU West, the westside office of Washington State University serving the greater Puget Sound basin. Prior to that she worked on the university’s main Pullman campus, serving as Chief of Staff to the Vice President for Extended University Affairs. Before moving to academia, Ms. Garrett worked for a number of years for Burlington Resources, a billion-dollar holding company headquartered in Seattle, where she worked as the Director of Corporate Affairs, and earlier as the Director of Federal Affairs and the Director of Policy Analysis. Before moving to BR, Ms. Garrett spent ten years working in government and politics. She holds an MBA from the University of Washington, and a BA from Washington State University.
Meet Alexis Tabor
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Alexis became a Cougar in January 2008 to serve as Vice President John Gardner’s Secretary Senior at WSU West. An alumnus of the University of Puget Sound, and a Washington resident for almost 8 years, it is extremely rewarding to know that she is part of an organization striving to better Washington’s economy and the overall quality of life for its residents. Outside of WSU, she serves as the production manager of Seattle’s theatre company Macha Monkey Productions which produces all new fearless, funny, female theatre. She currently lives in Seattle with her husband.
In the News:
WSU Economic Development
The Economic Impact of Technology-Based Industries in Washington State (June 2008) examines the impact of technology sector employment and R&D activity on the overall state economy and compares Washington's technology-based economy to that of other states. Download the report or visit the Technology Alliance for more information.
The Washington State Economic Development Commission is gauging the performance of the Washington economy not only against other states – but other nations as well. See the most recent data and how we compare in "Innovation Benchmarks for Washington State".
Forbes announces the Best States to do
Business. Washington comes in 3rd place,
compared to last year's ranking of 5th place.
Read Governor Gregoire's announcement here
Washington ranks fifth nation-wide in the Milkin “State Technology and Science Index,” a measure of the importance of “intangibles” that help create a vibrant economy. (PDF)
When it comes to new jobs, Seattle is the leading cybercity - The Seattle area added the greatest number of high-tech jobs in 2006, outpacing Boston, San Francisco and more than 50 other U.S. cities, according to the Cybercities report from the AeA. Read more »
Washington fifth best in U.S. in tech/science study - Washington scored fifth best in the U.S. in a survey of technology and science indicators, which is one spot better than a 2004 survey. Read more »
Educating a new generation of innovators and
entrepreneurs - Some resist thinking of
higher education and business together, assuming the two
shouldn't mix. Others question the competency — let
teachers teach, and doers do.
Read more »
Video News
Extension Engaged - a Sept. 14, 2007 discussion of the vision for the future for economic development at Washington State University and the role for WSU Extension; featuring John C. Gardner, Vice President for Economic Development & Extension and Linda Kirk Fox, Associate Vice President and Dean, WSU Extension. Click here to watch the program using Windows Media Player (47:35; click here to watch the same program using RealPlayer) or here to access the Extension Engaged archive.