Bryan Stebbins, MPA, 2020, Public Affairs
Bryan Stebbins grew up in Vancouver, Wash., then left to attend college in Seattle. “I didn’t always feel like I could share my truth with others,” he said. “In Seattle, pride flags were everywhere and I felt like I could breathe.” He returned to Vancouver in 2015 for a job opportunity and began exploring graduate school programs. “After meeting with Paul Theirs at WSU Vancouver for an hour, I knew I had found the right program for me, so I quickly applied to the Master of Public Affairs program (may it rest in peace) and I was fortunate to get in,” he said. For helping him through his greatest academic challenge, he is especially grateful to his thesis committee members Thiers, Laurie Drapela and Susan Finley.
Throughout college, Stebbins held work-study jobs, was a barista at Starbucks and served as an outreach director for a member of Congress. After graduation, he found “the perfect match” in a job with PointNorth, a minority, woman-owned consulting firm based in Vancouver and doing business in Oregon, Washington and Colorado. The company provides strategic communication, community engagement, organizational development and marketing/creative services. As the public affairs manager, Stebbins works on one of the largest infrastructure projects in the nation—replacing the Interstate Bridge.
His boss, Lisa Keohokalole Schauer, encourages the staff to give back, and Stebbins serves on the Board of Trustees for the Clark County Historical Museum, the board of the Love and Justice Alliance (a political and lobbying sister organization of the Southwest Washington Equity Coalition) and the Equity Team for the City of Vancouver’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan update. He said “it has been really enjoyable to sit in community with likeminded individuals and rethink and imagine how to make Vancouver more equitable in how we plan and deliver infrastructure and services. The City’s planning staff are phenomenal, and I feel fortunate to live in a city that isn’t backing down from adhering to our values, especially when it may be politically expedient to do so.”
As for goals and aspirations, “I just want to be able to give back to my community and make life better for the next generation. I want our stories to be shared and I want queer youth, especially our trans siblings, to feel like they can live openly and authentically without fear for their physical and emotional safety. We have a long way to go.”
Stebbins has fond memories of life at WSU Vancouver. “You get the small, private university experience but the resources of a large, state land grant, Tier 1 research institution. It really is the best of both worlds,” he said. “Being a part of a small graduate program enabled me to quickly get to know the other students and the phenomenal professors. Choosing to complete my graduate studies at WSU Vancouver has paid dividends in too many ways to count because of all the experiences and connections the campus offers students and alumni. This place made my life as a student and as an alumni richer, and I’m grateful for it.”
Cougs seem to be everywhere, he said, “and while I’m not a fanatic, I do like to randomly shout out ‘Go Cougs’ at a passerby in WSU gear because it makes my husband roll his eyes. He knows I do it just to bother him, and I like finding opportunities to make him squirm.
“WSU Vancouver is a rare gem because it has beautiful spaces and trails,” he continued. “I have fond memories of walking around campus with family, friends and my dogs during the summertime where you can hear the buzz of insects and smell of berries baking in the sun.”
Stebbins enjoys giving of his time, talent and treasure. He is especially pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to a scholarship fund for LGBTQ+ students. His friend Michael Blankenship started the LGBTQ+ Empowerment Scholarship a few years ago. “It has been a dream of his to make it an endowed scholarship so that the opportunity exists in perpetuity to assist our queer siblings in affording college,” Stebbins said. “It gave me so much joy to help him realize his dream by playing a small part in helping it become the first-ever endowed scholarship for LGBTQ+ students throughout the WSU system. I’ll continue to advocate for this scholarship and give to it as I can so that eventually, someday, maybe it can provide a full-ride to someone who needs it most. Education has transformed my life and I want others to have the same opportunity and pathway open to them.”
And his advice for current and future Coug students? “College isn’t just about learning transferrable skills for some dream job,” Stebbins said. “It is also an experience to help you reflect and identify who you are and who you want to be. It is a journey. It will be hard. It will be challenging. Most of all, it will be rewarding. There may be times you might want to give up but I hope you choose to keep going because you are making an investment in yourself.”