Curious what’s happening in Congress this week? Our colleagues in Federal Relations have compiled a selection of committee meetings scheduled for this week. Several committees are slated to examine the opioid crisis from a variety of angles and there are markups and hearings on funding requests and budgets budgets. Read more here.
News and Updates
UW ranks No. 5 on Forbes’ Best Value Colleges 2018
The University of Washington this week ranked No. 5 on the Forbes list of Best Value Colleges 2018. The UW rose from 23rd place in the 2016 ranking. Read more from UW News.
From the VP: Dispatch from Denver
Each year the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce takes a delegation of political, business, education and non profit leaders to visit another U.S. city to learn how they are growing their economy and addressing challenges all big cities face from transportation to homelessness.
This year I’m proud to be joining the Chamber’s intercity study mission to Denver — like Seattle a fast growing and vibrant city that is also dealing with the same issues Seattle is struggling with as a result of their hot economy.
This morning we heard from a panel of business leaders about how they formed a regional economic development organization that works on behalf of nine counties in the Denver area — a true regional approach that the central Puget Sound cities and counties are just now working to create.
This afternoon we are visiting The Commons on Champa — a former police facility that now is an epicenter of Denver’s startup community.
Like Seattle too, Denver benefits from a strong higher education community anchored by the University of Colorado that has a strong presence in the city even though the main campus is located in nearby Boulder.
Our delegation wraps up our visit tomorrow afternoon.
UW celebrates groundbreaking of new Population Health Building
Yesterday, University of Washington marked the official groundbreaking of the university’s new 290,000-square-foot Population Health Building, a facility that will house the Population Health Initiative launched by the UW in 2016. The Population Health Initiative is a 25-year effort to create a world where all people can live healthier and more fulfilling lives. The UW defines population health as revolving around three major pillars — human health, environmental resilience, and social and economic equity.
As part of the initiative, the new building will create a space for interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation to better understand and improve all the factors that influence the health and well-being of populations here and across the globe. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Department of Global Health and portions of the School of Public Health all will be located in the building.Read more from UW News.
Redefining reality at CoMotion
At the UW’s CoMotion Labs Lacey Leavitt and Joe Jacobs of Electric Dream Factory, a virtual content studio, are helping shape an inclusive future for the virtual reality industry. COMotion Labs is part of CoMotion, the UW’s collaborative innovation hub and a place that is about technology and the people technology serves. Learn more about this Electric Dream Factory and about CoMotion Labs here.
