Wendy has been a member of OUUC and contributed to the religious education program for over 10 years. She and her husband, Bill Livingston, who was born and raised in Olympia, have two children Will (15) and Phoebe (10), and one curious cat. Wendy was raised Presbyterian by parents who were very committed to their churches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. She worked for several years at a Mennonite college in northwest Ohio. Mennonites hold a strong belief in peace, justice, and reconciliation, and she came to deeply appreciate the intersection of the personal and political. Her journey to Unitarian Universalism occurred in parallel with her mother’s, albeit 3,000 miles apart. She first learned about UU through family friends in her hometown of Oneonta, NY and she began to attend First Unitarian Portland about 20 years ago. Wendy values religious pluralism, quest to deepen the understanding and practice of her faith and the principles and traditions which ground UU.
Wendy is the Chief Learning Officer with the Department of Enterprise Services leading a team that provides business-connected learning solutions for the State of Washington employees as well as other public employers. Prior to this appointment she served in senior administrative roles at The Evergreen State College and Portland State University and has held a breadth of student affairs roles at the University of Maryland, Bluffton University, Columbia University, and Semester at Sea.
She is a leader who promotes practices that support individual and collective success and her style is founded in keen observation and careful listening. She is inspired when members of a community engage with each other to have candid, courageous conversations. Wendy has worked with students and colleagues to improve support for underrepresented members of the college communities in which she has worked while fostering concrete changes that lead to a more inclusive and welcoming campus.
She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, a Master of Arts from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and a Bachelor of Arts from Union College in New York.
Wendy relies on her family, friends, and faith to renew her spirit and takes to heart the advice of a beloved mentor who instilled the philosophy, “it’s all about relationships.” She celebrates her running buddies; reading and crafting; a few favorite comedians; periodic road trips; and vacations — to sunny central Oregon, at the Pacific Northwest coast, and rare and special trips to a family fishing camp on the French River in Ontario, Canada.