Evergreen State College

The Evergreen State College is an accredited public liberal arts college and is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. It was founded in 1967 in the state capital, Olympia, Washington. Begun as an experimental and non-traditional college, its academic offerings have become generally more traditional over time, but faculty still issue narrative evaluations of students' work rather than grades, and Evergreen still organizes most studies into largely interdisciplinary classes titled "Coordinated Studies Programs," which generally constitute a full-time course load. Evergreen's President is Thomas L. (Les) Purce and its Board Chair is Christopher Hedrick.

In late 2006, Evergreen's level of academic challenge among freshman and seniors was marked in the top ten percent of all baccalaureate colleges in the nation by the National Survey of Student Engagement, a study by Indiana University and the Pew Charitable Trusts. In years past, Evergreen consistently ranked highly in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings. However, Evergreen is currently ranked a tier 4 school, although the magazine's ranking system is the subject of criticism by some colleges and universities and other publications.[1]. Science programs at the college are noted for significant discoveries, particularly with Phage and E.Coli, and inclusion of undergraduate students in high level research. Author and former New York Times education editor Loren Pope cites Evergreen as one of two public colleges in the United States in his book "Colleges That Change Lives."...