Learning Commons

To make an appointment or ask questions, call 509-963-1270, or email us.

Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission

The Learning Commons empowers students to pursue academic excellence.

Vision

The Learning Commons will be a trusted partner along the student journey, supporting learners as they grow and reach their academic potential.

Values

Curiosity

Our work centers on student engagement and success in the academic disciplines and requires creativity, critical thinking, and open inquiry. We demonstrate the sincere pursuit of new knowledge, and we strive to pass this curiosity on to students through eager interest in their own inquiry and success. Curiosity fuels our learning which broadens our understanding.

Equity

We demonstrate this value by recognizing the intersection between students’ individualized strengths and needs and systemic imbalances. We use that knowledge to offer resources that aim to support our diverse student body, empowering everyone to achieve their goals.

Respect

We demonstrate this value by approaching people and ideas with intellectual charity and open-mindedness, fostering respect for each person, with their unique identities, worldviews, languages, voices, and experiences. As such, we seek to meet difference and disagreement with empathy and wisdom. In doing so, we hope to learn from everyone and make experience our teacher.

Accountability

We demonstrate this value by recognizing that our conduct inevitably ripples out to our team’s effectiveness and the lives of our patrons. Therefore, we use our time wisely, do our best work, and answer for our choices as well as how we receive the choices of others.

Empathy for all

We demonstrate this value through active listening, kindness, and a friendly attitude toward patrons of all identities, backgrounds, and abilities. We see each team member and patron as a whole person first and seek to use this mindset to fuel each interaction with compassion.