History
Formerly known as the University of Washington Graduate School of Public Affairs, the Evans School was founded in 1962 as the nation’s first school of public affairs at a public university. The Evans School was renamed in 2000 to honor one of Washington State’s most revered politicians, Daniel J. Evans, who served both as a U.S. Senator and Washington State Governor.
In 2003, the Evans School welcomed its sixth dean, Sandra O. Archibald, who is working to take the school’s strong legacy of public service and academic achievement created by her predeccessors – Brewster Denny, Jared Hazelton, Hubert Locke, Margo Gordon, and Marc Lindenberg – into the next era.
In 1987, the University of Washington gifted Parrington Hall to the Evans School. After two years of extensive exterior renovations and upgrades of the 85-year-old building, the administrative and faculty offices of the Evans School were transferred to it from the basement of Smith Hall.
Parrington Hall is the second oldest building on the university’s main campus in Seattle. It was built in 1902 and originally served as the university’s science building. It was renamed in 1929 after the university’s popular English Professor Vernon L. Parrington, who is best known for his Pulitzer-Prize winning book Main Currents in American Thought. It is possible that Parrington might not have felt honored by having the building posthumously named after him, as he is said to have once remarked that the building was the ugliest he had ever seen.
Find out more about the history of the University of Washington, and people of inspiration behind the Evans School, including:
- Daniel J. Evans
- Brewster C. Denny
- Barry I. Hyman
- Hubert G. Locke
- Margaret T. Gordon
- Marc Lindenberg
- Betty Jane Narver
Daniel J. Evans
Daniel J. Evans ranks as one of the most distinguished leaders in the history of Washington State. Perhaps best known as governor of the State of Washington, from 1965 to 1977, he has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to public service. He has longstanding ties to the University of Washington, and exemplary experience in the fields of governance, education and the environment.
Before entering politics, Dan Evans was a civil engineer. After graduating from the University of Washington with degrees in civil engineering (BS, 1948, MS, 1949), he worked as a structural engineer for the City of Seattle, Associated General Contractors, and in private practice. In 1956, he entered politics as a member of the Washington State House of Representatives, where he served from 1956 to 1965.
He became governor of the State of Washington in 1965, serving an unprecedented three consecutive terms. He was recognized as "One of the Ten Outstanding Governors in the 20th Century" (University of Michigan study, 1981). After declining to run again, he assumed the presidency of The Evergreen State College in Olympia in 1977. From 1981 to 1983, he also served as chairman of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council. In 1983, after the death of Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, Evans was appointed and then elected to the US Senate. In 1989, he chose not to run again.
Mr. Evans is active with a large number of community and nonprofit organizations. He chaired the National Academy of Science's Commission on Policy Options for Global Warming, and co-chaired a delegation to monitor the elections in Nicaragua with former President Jimmy Carter. From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Evans also served as a political analyst for KIRO radio and TV. He also taught as a lecturer part-time at the Evans School from March 1989 to March 1990. Currently he heads his own consulting firm, Daniel J. Evans Associates.
In addition, he has served on numerous corporate and civic boards, including Costco, Puget Sound Energy, and the Nature Conservancy. In 1993, he was appointed by Governor Mike Lowry to the Board of Regents for the University of Washington, where he has served as both vice president (1995-96), president (1996-97), and chair of the Capitol Assets Committee. His term on the Board of Regents ended in 2005.
Dan Evans and his wife Nancy have three grown sons, Dan Jr., Mark, and Bruce, and nine grandchildren.
Nancy Bell Evans
Nancy Bell Evans' tireless work as a civic volunteer brings energy, grace, and passion to public and nonprofit service. A leader and innovator, she was a founder and chair of the Friends of Cancer Lifeline, national chair of the First Ladies’ Mental Health Month, founding trustee at Planned Parenthood of Olympia, and founder of the Governor’s Mansion Foundation.
Nancy's passion for music is reflected in her life-long commitment to the arts. Nancy was a co-founder and board member of the Governor's Festival of the Arts and has been a trustee for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra for nearly 30 years. In addition, Nancy was a trustee for the Washington State Capitol Museum and Patrons of South Sound Cultural Activities.
Nancy is actively engaged in the community and currently serves on the boards of the Benaroya Hall Music Center, Northwest Parkinson's Foundation, and KCTS Public Television. Her commitment to higher education and the University of Washington is also noteworthy. She is a former member of the visiting committee for the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, a current member of the visiting committee for the Evans School of Public Affairs.
A Spokane native, Nancy earned a BA in music from Whitman College, where she is now a trustee. Nancy and her husband Daniel J. Evans are recipients of the 2001 E. Donnall Thomas Medal of Achievement from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the 2003 First Citizen's Award from the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors and the Puget Sound Business Journal , and the 2004 Legacy Award from the Rainier Institute. They have three sons and nine grandchildren.
Marc Lindenberg
Marc Lindenberg (1945–2002) was Dean and Professor of the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. He divided his career between active public service in international development organizations and teaching and research at Harvard University, the University of Washington, and as Dean of the Harvard-affiliated Central American overseas business school, INCAE. As CARE USA’s Senior Vice President for Programs from 1992 to 1997, Lindenberg led global programs in more than 36 countries providing over $400 million in resources for humanitarian relief and development.
He was on the boards of Oxfam America, TVW, the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, the Washington Red Cross, and Npower, and on the fellows nomination committee for the Ashoka Foundation. He has facilitated strategic planning exercises for the Gates Foundation, the U.N. Foundation, the World Bank and many other organizations. He worked as an advisor to past presidents of Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala and Ecuador.
Dr. Lindenberg’s most recent book, Going Global: Transforming Relief and Development NGOs, has been nominated for the Ludwick Fleck and Rachel Carson Prizes, the ARNOVA Award for Outstanding Book in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research, and the Virginia A. Hodgkinson Research Prize.
Betty Jane Narver
Betty Jane Narver (1934-2001) was a senior research fellow at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. She was formerly the Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Management, a research unit within the Evans School. Narver's work covered education reform efforts within Washington and nationally as well as efforts to reform the welfare system. She conducted research on a number of national and state programs, particularly those dealing with social and health services, fiscal policy, and state growth management policy.
Much of Narver's work focused on workforce preparation, especially for traditionally underserved populations. She was appointed by three governors to serve as Chair of the Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board and was a member of the Governors' School to Work Task Force. Narver also served as Chair of the National Governor's Association's State Workforce Investment Board Chairs' Association. With support from the German Marshall Fund, she lead study teams from the Pacific Northwest to observe workforce preparation programs in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. She participated as a faculty member for the European Institute on Workforce Development.
Ms. Narver had a long involvement in city and regional issues. She was a past president of the Municipal League of King County, past chair of the Group Health Foundation Board, and a member of the Education Working Committee of the Washington Roundtable. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Seattle Public Library and was a Board member of its Foundation. Ms. Narver received the University of Washington's 1991 Outstanding Public Service Award. On the national level, she served on the Boards of the Urban Libraries Council, The Cross-City Campaign for Urban School Reform and the National Civic League.
Narver held an M.A. degree in classical Chinese language and literature from the University of Washington.