WSU News Archive

By Doug Nadvornick, WSU Spokane

SPOKANE, Wash – The steering committee for the new Spokane STEM Network has hired John Winder as the organization’s first executive director.

 

Winder, who will start his duties May 21, will oversee the development of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Network education programs in Spokane County. The Spokane STEM Network recently received a $220,000 grant from Washington STEM to coordinate local K-12 and higher education programs and align them with economic development initiatives.

 

"The workforce of tomorrow will be increasingly dependent upon science, mathematics, engineering and technology,” said Winder.

 

For the past year, Winder has operated his own consulting business in Pullman. Before that, he worked in a variety of leadership roles for Washington State University Extension. He points to his work overseeing Extension’s 4-H Youth Development program – "arguably the largest STEM-focused program in the state.”

 

Winder has also worked for university extension systems in Oregon and Vermont and served as a professor of animal and range sciences at New Mexico State University.

 

"Today the U.S. is confronted with the greatest challenge to its technological superiority since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957,” Winder said. "Washington State is ranked number two nationally in the importance of the knowledge economy to the state. Only Massachusetts ranks higher. We have a great demand for workers with skills in science and engineering which greatly outstrips the current supply.”

 

"John has deep experience and success building community-based programs with complex partnerships,” said WSU Spokane Chancellor Brian Pitcher, a member of the steering committee that selected Winder. "In our judgment he has the vision and organization experience to launch and ramp up network planning to a high level.”

 

Winder’s  office will be located at Greater Spokane Incorporated.

 

Spokane STEM Network: www.spokanestem.org

 

Contact:
Brian Pitcher, WSU Spokane Chancellor, 509-358-7551, bpitcher@wsu.edu
Doug Nadvornick, WSU Health Sciences, 509-358-7540, doug.nadvornick@wsu.edu

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