Office of Economic Development and Extension
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 a PDF).
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
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 fiancée.
Video News
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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.
In the News:
WSU Economic Development
Seattle biotech incubator launches Recodagen in a deal with WSU - The Seattle Times reports that local biotech incubator Accelerator is hatching its seventh firm Recodagen, which will research therapies to arrest the spread of cancerous tumors. Read more »
Short-term budget cut long-term ideas - State House budgeteers were so intent on padding the supplemental budget in what should be a stay-the-course session that they started digging into budget bedrock intended to help stimulate the economy. In an unfathomable move, the House Appropriations Committee cut $1.5 million out of money already appropriated last year for the innovative Research Stars program in the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. The program is an innovative collaboration between the agency, the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the state's two research universities to recruit top-flight researchers with a track record of commercializing their work. Read that: Creating jobs. Read more »
Gov. Gregoire Appoints Egils Milbergs Director of New Economic Development Commission - “Mr. Milberg’s national reputation and unique talents will be a tremendous asset to our state in implementing the state business plan, Next Washington,” said Governor Gregoire. “We can create even more family wage jobs in Washington by streamlining our state economic development initiatives.” Read more »
Research Universities and Engagement - "New Times Demand New Scholarship II: Research Universities and Civic Engagement - Opportunities and Challenges," outlines definitions and parameters for each of these four areas by Dr. Timothy K. Stanton of Stanford University. Download this new report from Campus Compact (opens PDF).
Washington Ranks Low in Economic Competitiveness -
Washington ranked 31st out of 50 in a recent State Economic Competitiveness Index report by the American Legislative Exchange Council. High tax burden is the main reason Washington ranked poorly. To read the complete report, visit www.alec.org.
Governor Gregoire Appoints Economic Development Commission - The Washington Economic Development Commission, of which WSU's John Gardner is a member, will provide planning, coordination, evaluation, monitoring and policy analysis and development for the state economic development system as a whole; and will advise the Governor and the Legislature on the state economic development system.
U.S.-Based Global Intellectual Property Creation: An Analysis - The increase in the number of applications for international patents testifies to the growing importance of this protection. This study identifies the geographical regions of the U.S. applying for international patent protection as well as the types of patents being applied for.
Clean technologies propel venture capital funding - The Seattle Times reports that "Shrugging off credit-related economic woes, venture capitalists bet heavily on new companies in the third quarter, driven by opportunities in clean technologies, software and biotechnology." Oct. 20, 2007
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