New Name Reflects Expanded Mission

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University Cooperative Extension now has a new name to go with its expanded mission. It now is Washington State University Extension.

Extension work has been part of the university’s mission since 1913. It operates non-credit educational programs for adults and youth in all 39 Washington counties.

Mike Tate, extension dean, said the word cooperative was dropped to reflect the university’s expanded commitment to outreach.

The word cooperative has long been part of extension’s name. “It signified the federal, state and county partnership that historically has provided the foundation of our public funding,” Tate said.

“While we continue to rely on these three partners for funding, over time we have expanded our partnership definition to include other educational institutions. At the University of Washington, for example, we share a commitment to fund an extension position in the College of Forest Resources. We also share funding for one and soon two extension faculty in the Washington Sea Grant Program, which is based at the UW.”

Tate said WSU’s 10 learning centers, which have helped increase access to higher education for place-bound adults, are a joint venture linking extension with several of the state’s community colleges.

“We also partner with four community colleges in the Partnership for Rural Improvement,” he said. PRI is a consortium of educational institutions, government agencies and citizens based at Washington State University that act as a catalyst for community development.

“The new name more accurately reflects extension’s evolving and expanding mission to serve life-long learning and economic development needs of Washington State,” Tate said.

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