October 8, 2015
UW announces plan for expanded campus child-care services
The University of Washington is shifting $3 million to expand child care facilities on campus as part of a major initiative to enhance the culture of service in UW’s central administration, interim Provost Jerry Baldasty announced this week.
The need for child care was one of several needs brought to light over the summer in a survey across all three UW campuses about what the administration does well and what it could do better. The UW will convert 12,000 square feet of what is presently the Transportation Services office for child care use. The new space will open in Fall 2016 and serve approximately 150 children. Faculty and staff will continue to pay for child-care services while the UW provides the space and engages an outside vendor to provide the child care.
“Faculty, staff and students have been eloquent in their advocacy for more child-care support. They are right. We have more to do, and this is a good start,” Baldasty said.
There are presently four child care centers, operated by outside vendors Haggard Nelson and Bright Horizons, on or near campus that serve 262 children. There is also a wait list of more than 1,000. In the longer term, the plan is to double the capacity of on- or near-campus child care within five to eight years, provide child care on all three campuses, and expand the range of child-care services. The plan has the support of the Faculty Senate, the Graduate and Professional Student Senate and the Professional Staff Organization.
The overall Transforming Administration Plan, or TAP, is a large-scale effort from the Provost’s Office to improve service and streamline policies and procedures while containing costs or redeploying funds.
