With one-third of the local population turning over every few years as students move in and graduate, it takes careful planning and consistent communication to ensure every resident is satisfied with the arrangement.

Dissent can bloom in the cracks of the plan, where intent meets reality and finds it wanting. Students may feel unwelcome in the broader community, and locals may feel alienated by the pomp and circumstance of a college campus, leading to division right down the middle of what should, ideally, be one cohesive community.

CWU’s Interim Chief of Staff Dania Cochran has witnessed this divide in Ellensburg’s past, and she has taken an active role in mending it for the future.

“Up until a few years ago, I felt like there was a clear divide across town right at University Way,” the Ellensburg resident of 23 years said. “I think both sides of it were missing pieces about the other, so there’s been a really intentional effort to get to know each other in the years since.”

When CWU President Jim Wohlpart took over in the summer of 2021, he brought with him a deep commitment to stewardship of place, both for the university and for the communities it serves. He started conversations about how to better integrate the “town and gown” dynamic, bringing students into the community and the community onto campus, reasoning that both parties would benefit from having a seat at the table.

“We have an impact on our local community, especially as its largest employer,” Wohlpart said. “In my past, I have experienced very strong relationships between universities and their communities, so one of the things I’ve been very interested in here is elevating those relationships, and all the possibilities they present to our students, staff, and faculty.”

In 2022, the city and the university signed a memorandum of understanding, making CWU a partner in local economic development efforts and paving the way to the clear, even-footed communication critical to lasting success in such work.

Ellensburg City Manager Heidi Behrends Cerniwey has found CWU to be an engaged, respectful partner in these efforts, which she says came about partially as a result of pandemic-driven introspection.

“Following the pandemic, we saw an opportunity to further define what we wanted our community to be,” she said. “Having Central be a core part of our economic development planning team, among other efforts, really demonstrates their commitment to, and engagement with, that work. We’re brought to the same tables more often than not, so it’s good to know that we’re on the same page about doing what’s best for our city, our county, and the Central Washington region.”

In the years since, more crimson-and-black decór has appeared across Ellensburg’s historic downtown corridor, and more community-oriented programming has taken place on CWU’s campus, all in an effort to live into a shared vision of one community, united by resilience and creativity.

“The relationship between campus and community is reciprocal, ongoing, and mutually enhancing,” Wohlpart said. “There’s a sort of push and pull to it, with the decisions made in one place affecting every other part of the area. Thanks to the engagement of our students, staff, and faculty, and the intentionality of our outreach work, the cycle continues to spiral upwards, and we continue to find new ways to help each other be the best we can be.”

Crossover Appeal

As well-laid and collaborative as those plans may be, they amount to very little without buy-in from community members themselves. This buy-in often manifests through interpersonal relationships and dialogue across the perceived divide between the city and the university.

Cochran, both as a former administrative liaison and in her current role as chief of staff, has become deeply ingrained in local leadership, serving on the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors, and recently becoming president of the Ellensburg Downtown Association (EDA).

“I’m a natural relater, and building those kinds of relationships and trust is sort of a specialty of mine,” she said. “I love going out into the community and engaging with all sorts of organizations working to make it a better place as a CWU liaison.”

While serving in those capacities helps her connect with her fellow community leaders, Cochran knows that the most critical part of CWU’s community outreach happens outside the meeting rooms.

“We participate in the local trivia nights, our kids are on the local soccer teams, and all that good stuff,” she said. “Here is where we’re building our lives, and the opportunity to present all the valuable ways of doing that is a great one, for both sides of the equation.”

Inevitably, students, staff, and faculty tend to find their lives intertwining with the local culture simply by merit of living here.

One recent example came in October 2024, when one CWU student, three alumni, and two staff members were involved in a local production of The Vagina Monologues, a frequently adapted piece of fiercely feminist theater first staged in the 1990s. CWU Director of Choirs Gayla Blaisdell served as the show’s director, and she relished the opportunity to work alongside local partners on such an influential production.

“This is my community, too, and I have a lot of LGBTQ friends, so I’m thrilled to be able to help create an environment that is supportive of all experiences,” she said. “Getting to bring our students into the community and bridge that divide has been a big part of it, too.”

Vocal performance major Aidan Beerbower joined the cast of the production, and she found it to be a valuable opportunity to collaborate creatively with people outside the normal scope of her studies.

“It was very cool to work alongside such a diverse cast of actors,” she said. “I get to learn from all of them and take mental notes on how I want to shape my own approach to the art form.”

Elsewhere in town, the Ellensburg Big Band features CWU music alumni from several generations, letting the small-town group punch above its weight. Bruce Herman, the band’s manager, has seen the influx of talented jazz musicians make a real impact on the group’s performance.

“Ellensburg is extremely fortunate in a number of ways to have CWU in our community, and the fact that they have an excellent music department has helped foster so much incredible talent here,” he said. “As a band, we’re lucky to have them. Over the years, we’ve really benefited from having players in town who’ve all gone through the same program and hold themselves to the same standard of excellence.”

The Ellensburg Big Band toured New Zealand in late 2024, accompanied by retired CWU Director of Jazz Studies Chris Bruya, who taught many of the group’s members while they were in school. He saw firsthand how community involvement helped his former students live into their identities as alumni.

“Even though many of these people didn’t play together as students, they’ve been able to get together and act on that same musical foundation,” he said. “Together, they’ve discovered what it means to be a CWU Jazz alum.”

Helping One Another

In this interconnected community, matters of education become a two-way street, too. Part of President Wohlpart’s vision for the Ellensburg-CWU partnership is students being able to pursue work experience locally while earning their degrees, giving them a leg up in the post-graduation job market.

“Something we’re very focused on is elevating the co-curricular learning happening between our school and the city,” he said. “If, for example, the EDA were looking for marketing support and brought on one of our marketing students as an intern, that student gets to put their experience on their résumé, while our partners downtown get the insight they need for their campaign.”

The CWU Reading Intervention Center, hosted by the Department of Psychology, has become one such community-led training ground for School Psychology graduate students looking for a way to build professional experience.

In September 2024, the program brought in CWU elementary education psychology alumna Dakota Williams (’23) to serve as outreach coordinator, working with local schools to identify and support students in need of reading acquisition assistance.

“I applied because it sounded like an interesting opportunity, and I really wanted to get my reading endorsement,” she said. “There has been a bit of a learning curve, but learning is what I’m here to do, so it has been right up my alley.”

Williams has noticed that her experience in the community as a student has supported her in her new position.

“Being familiar with Ellensburg has been a big help,” she said. “Going in, I knew how the local schools were laid out, and a lot of my old professors are still here, so I have people to turn to for guidance when I need it.”

The support goes the other way, too, as Behrends Cerniwey has found in meeting with sustainability classes on CWU campus to share her experiences with Ellensburg’s own efforts in the field.

“I’ve enjoyed the invitations to come and speak to sustainability classes on campus,” she said. “We have a great track record on taking care of the land that feeds us here, and being able to share that with students gives me hope for the future.”

On the economic development side, CWU is working to leverage our considerable on-campus talent to bring new opportunities to the communities we serve, partially through the Department of Business and Community Services (BCS), established in 2023.

BCS Executive Director Rob Ogburn sees the department as a way to start conversations that might very well spread to other university departments in search of the expertise a specific challenge demands.

“If the resources of an institution like CWU are properly aligned with the needs of the surrounding communities, it can really help those communities develop a vision for their future, and not feel like they’re limited by circumstance,” he said. “The business-related disciplines have to be combined with other fields from across our university to make that happen, but when it works, it results in some incredible ideas.”

Ogburn has been working closely with city leaders to bring that alignment to CWU’s partnership with the City of Ellensburg. Behrends Cerniwey believes the future is looking bright for the initiative.

“I think Central is just getting started, and there are a lot of exciting places this work could go,” she said. “It’s so easy to see all the positives at the beginning of a journey like this, but we’re prepared for the challenges that may arise along the way and ready to collaborate in the face of adversity. That’s what
will make all the difference in changing the face of business in Central Washington.”

Showing Humility

At the core of this multi-pronged outreach effort lies the rock-solid belief that a rising tide lifts all ships. The City of Ellensburg provides community, recreation, and education to the Wildcats of CWU, while the university stands ready to lend our expertise and creativity to the challenges and opportunities facing the community.

“The importance of humility in this work cannot be overstated,” Wohlpart said. “We have a perspective, and so do the city and the county. We want to respect all of them as we chart a course forward. We must have the self-respect to question our own process and iterate upon it when it isn’t working, in order to meet the challenges set before us.”

Cochran, herself a CWU alumna (’04, ’12), has chosen to remain in Ellensburg just as much for the community as for the university.

“There are so many people here who care and want to see you succeed, which is maybe something I latched onto personally as one of those alumni who chose to stick around,” she said. “My senses weren’t overwhelmed here, and I’ve always known where to start if I’m looking for a specific service or resource. I know I’m not alone in that, either.”

As CWU and the Ellensburg community turn to face the future, the pace of the work has been deliberate, ensuring that future generations will continue to reap the benefits of a community that stands united. In Behrends Cerniwey’s eyes, the divide between town and gown is only as wide as we make it.

“Partnerships are all about people, and in this one, I don’t think there are two entities involved,” she said. “I think we’re all one big community, with a broad variety of smaller communities helping each other out to get there. Together, we have the resilience and the goodwill to tackle whatever tomorrow throws at us