I’m very pleased to share an exciting announcement with you today. The University of Washington and Gonzaga University have signed an agreement to enhance and expand medical education and research in Spokane. Together with Gonzaga, we will educate the next generation of health professionals and enhance the health, well-being and prosperity of the entire region.
Read more details on the UW Today website.
Each of us came to the University of Washington for different reasons, but what unites us is a desire to contribute to our world. We do that by helping prepare the next generation of leaders and innovators, by serving our community and caring for our neighbors, and through our creation of new knowledge and ideas.
Research, scholarship and creative works define the UW’s mission as a research university. And collectively, you bring to the UW more federally sponsored research than any other public university, on top of the research supported by governments, nonprofits, philanthropists and businesses.
Yet what really sets us apart is the impact of that work — the direct benefits to the lives of innumerable people here in our community and around the world. The UW World Series, for example, brings art and performance to more than 10,000 children and adults each year — as well as to the side of Meany Hall this month — through concerts, workshops and residencies.
That kind of outreach, which is a hallmark of many UW programs, is enhanced by the many ways we shape public policy. Here in King County, research by the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) was instrumental to the Best Starts for Kids initiative. And the Road Map Project, which is working to improve student achievement in South King County, has involved UW faculty since its inception. I spoke last week at the project’s announcement of its 2015 Results Report and am thrilled with the number of UW connections that have been made with this effort, from faculty in the College of Educationto student mentors in the Dream Project.
UW scholarship also guides state policymakers. At a time when political polarization seems to be endemic, Jennifer Stuber, associate professor in the School of Social Workand co-founder of Forefront, has created a remarkable coalition to prevent suicide. Utilizing research into the leading means of suicide — firearms and medications — Forefront enlisted gun rights advocates and pharmacists to create a bill that establishes incentives for gun stores and pharmacies to provide suicide prevention training to employees. If it becomes law, this measure will undoubtedly save lives.
Of course, being a global university, the impact of our research and scholarship is truly worldwide. On February 2, Professor John Vidale from the College of the Environmentpresented at a White House summit on earthquake resilience, emphasizing the critical need for a West Coast earthquake early warning system. And on the other side of the globe, researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation are collaborating with Chinese colleagues, with the nation’s pollution standards being changed as a result of findings from IHME’s Global Burden of Disease project.
These are just a handful of examples from a handful of disciplines. I could easily have written dozens, even hundreds of versions of this message, with entirely different examples, never repeating one. That is a reflection of the incredible breadth of your work.
The tremendous impact we have on so many people’s lives is what sets our University apart. It’s why I’m proud to have spent the past 30 years on the faculty, and it’s among the reasons it’s such an honor to serve as president.
State policymakers are in the second week of their 60-day legislative session, and this week I traveled to Olympia to meet with them. While not my first trip to Olympia, this was a special visit, as it was my first as President. My goal was both to thank our elected leaders for the significant support they provided to the University of Washington and higher education last year, and to advocate for our 2016 legislative priorities.
Last year, for the first time in modern memory, the Legislature and Governor joined together to reduce tuition at the UW, as well as Washington’s public universities and community and technical colleges. And, just as important, we were able to advocate successfully to ensure that the reduction not jeopardize the quality of our students’ education. Lawmakers pledged to keep the universities and colleges whole by replacing the reduced revenue with substantial new public investment. Our efforts in this year’s session are focused on ensuring legislators keep that pledge.
While the 2016 session is not a primary budget-writing year, we are not letting up. I am making clear in my conversations with policymakers that in the next budget-writing session of the Legislature, we will be seeking an investment in excellence, with an emphasis on accelerating progress on improving faculty compensation. I will continue to emphasize that it is faculty that make us excellent through their teaching and their scholarship, and we need the Legislature to focus on both access and excellence. We can’t have one at the expense of the other.
The challenges confronting our leaders in Olympia are many, but I’m proud to say they are not alone in this tremendously important work. Faculty colleagues are working with the Governor and Legislature to find solutions to today’s major challenges. A sampling of issues they are working on includes gun violence and suicide prevention, impacts of climate change,remedying causes of wrongful conviction, marijuana research and clean energy, just to name a few. Our students across all three campuses benefit from involvement in these research experiences as well as internships in legislative offices and real-world experiences in public service.
All of these efforts help bring the UW’s multitude of contributions to life in tangible, meaningful ways, and I thank you for the time you take to share your expertise with policymakers. Together we can be more than just a resource — we can be a force for good in our community, our state and our world.
You can get updates from Olympia and find ways to get involved through the UW’s Faculty Legislative Representative JoAnn Taricani, associate professor of music history, and the UW’s Director of State Relations Genesee Adkins.
For my part, I invite your suggestions about how we can work together to make our case even stronger. I always welcome hearing from you, and thank you for your active engagement in our government and society.
President Ana Mari Cauce has named Jennifer Cohen, senior associate athletic director at the University of Washington, as interim athletic director. Cohen steps in for Scott Woodward, who announced earlier this month he would be taking a position at Texas A&M University. Cohen’s appointment is effective Feb. 1. Read more
When we commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I encourage each of us to recognize the power and responsibility we have individually — and collectively — to create an inclusive society where all can achieve their full potential.
Universities, and especially public universities like ours, serve as powerful drivers of social change. Education remains one of the greatest tools we have for addressing the inequities that challenge our society. One of my greatest rewards as a faculty member is seeing students of modest means grow into leaders and change-makers as a result of their education at the UW.
In addition to empowering our students and our region, universities serve as a crossroad where people of different backgrounds and experiences come together. We saw an example of that during our latest round of student conversations as part of the Race & Equity Initiative. It stretches us, and at times even makes us uncomfortable, to have our world views challenged — it’s easier to think we have all the answers! But it is only through the dynamic interplay of ideas that we find mutual understanding that can lead to the collective action needed to create stronger, more inclusive communities.
We seek diversity and equity not simply to ensure equal opportunity on an individual basis; not just because it’s the right and just thing to do — although it is. It is also the smart thing to do for our communities and nation. To address the complex and difficult problems that vex our society and world, we need to fully develop the talents and potential of all. From engineering to history, medicine to law, and physics, too, all of our academic disciplines are advanced through a diversity of voices and ideas.
It is likely not just coincidence that the world’s greatest physicist, Albert Einstein, lived much of his life as an outsider — a German Jewish immigrant who lived in Italy, Switzerland and the United States. He was tutored in science and philosophy as a child by a Polish medical student and he married his first wife, a physics student of Serbian descent, over the objections of his parents who did not approve of her ethnic background. Indeed, Einstein’s greatest contributions to science, his special and general theories of relativity, hinge on a deep understanding and appreciation of what is core to the value of diversity — the realization that our universe is relativistic and that even seemingly objective measurements of time and space depend upon on our movements relative to each other, that differences in perspectives matter.
We simply cannot afford to leave anybody, much less entire groups of people, behind. We do not know who might be a future Einstein or King, or who the next big idea will come from. But I do not hesitate to bet on the fact that it will come from someone who has been exposed to a broad array of people and who will truly engage and grapple with a diversity of perspectives and ideas. You demonstrate that to me daily.
We still have much work to do, and as Dr. King said, “The time is always right to do what is right.” I am continually inspired by your willingness to strive to do just that, by building inclusive and supportive communities of learners and change-makers. I am inspired by the courage our students showed last night, talking together across their differences, about difference, in order to find and build upon our commonalities.
We have assembled here, at the University of Washington, through our students, faculty and staff, a truly amazing constellation of voices. I hope we each have the wisdom to listen and learn from each other. We can only all be better off when we really are all better off.
A respectful, safe and productive environment for all students, faculty and staff is essential to our success as a University and to upholding our highest values as a community. It is what catalyzes the fullest potential in our students and the greatest excellence in our teaching, research and service.
In 2013, our University convened a Task Force on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response to review current policies and practices, examine best practices at other institutions, develop new methodologies where necessary, and propose a plan for their implementation. Thanks to the work of many, all 18 recommendations presented in 2013 have been initiated or completed and the December 2015 update is now available for your review.
One of the Task Force’s guiding principles was to Create Cultural Change. From acknowledging that the vast majority of sexual assaults are perpetrated by a person or persons known to the victim, to challenging the propensity for victim-blaming, to understanding the meaning and nature of consent, we must each take responsibility for ensuring this focus on change continues. To that end, I am establishing a Title IX Steering Committee to enhance the University’s ability to address the full range of behaviors that could adversely affect our community.
The scope of this committee will be broader than the Task Force’s charge, which focused exclusively on sexual assault of a student by a student. The Title IX Steering Committee will address relationship violence, domestic violence, harassment and stalking — in addition to sexual assault — involving or affecting employees, students and other members of the UW community.
The Title IX Steering Committee will be a standing university committee, chaired by the University’s Title IX Coordinator, Amanda Paye, who has been providing leadership and expertise in coordinating the University’s institution-wide system of both preventing and responding to sexual violence, and ensuring the institution’s compliance with Title IX. Crucial sexual assault prevention and response work is provided by many dedicated university staff, students and advocates, including individuals such as Melissa Tumas, the education & training coordinator in Student Life’s Health & Wellness office; advocates Natalie Dolci and Dana Cuomo; and student conduct investigators like Matt Sullivan and Julie Draper Davis. Representatives of these offices and others from a long-standing Title IX Committee will continue their service as this group becomes the Title IX Working Committee, which will report ongoing progress and challenges to the steering committee.
As always, confidential advocates are available to provide support and resources to members of our University community who have experienced sexual assault or are experiencing unwanted sexual contact, relationship violence or stalking. You can find information here, along with other resources to help each of us of take care of ourselves, each other and our community.
Thank you for your commitment to this important work. Together we can create a safer and more caring environment, one that leaves each of us freer to pursue our hopes and aspirations.
Since 2008, leadership of the UW’s athletics program has been provided by Scott Woodward, with numerous achievements and improvements in the academic and on-field performance of our student-athletes taking place during his tenure. We’re now preparing for a transition, as Scott has accepted the athletic director position at Texas A&M University. He will continue his position with the UW until the end of this month.
Intercollegiate Athletics has marked numerous accomplishments under Scott’s watch, including significant increases in student-athletes’ average GPA across our 22 teams; national championships in softball, women’s cross country and men’s and women’s crew; and construction of the new Husky Stadium, among many others. Scott’s leadership will be missed, and we wish him well at Texas A&M.
I will select an interim athletic director in the coming days and a search committee will be established.
We hear all too often about the dysfunction in Washington, D.C., where political gamesmanship seems to rule how our nation’s policymakers deal with the big issues facing our country.
In spite of that, I am pleased to report some good news stemming from all of our federal advocacy efforts this year. Congress has provided the higher education community with a year-end gift in the form of a mostly positive omnibus spending bill for the current fiscal year.
Some of the most important highlights for the UW include:
The House and Senate passed the omnibus bill today, sending it to President Obama. Please visit the Office of Federal Relations website for more detailed information about the bill.
These increases in funding, along with the exclusion of provisions that were of concern to the UW and broader higher education community, are a result of a true team effort. And in the coming year I will continue to work with you and our Federal Relations Team to advocate for investments in students, research and innovation.
Thank you for helping develop and advance our federal agenda, and for the excellence of your work, which on a daily basis demonstrates the value of university teaching and research to our nation.
As we approach the end of 2015, there is much to be thankful for, starting with our many colleagues — be they faculty, students, staff, alumni or friends — working to make the world a better place. True, these are challenging times, here and around the world. There is so much sadness, hate and fear that threatens to divide us; so much hard work, individually and institutionally, that remains. But by taking a moment to breathe deeply and soak in what’s right, we do not turn our backs on the struggle — we renew ourselves for the challenges to come.
In thinking about the past year, I’m drawn not only to the big events and achievements, but also to the milestones that defined the year for each of us. Some of these accomplishments are public, such as walking across the Commencement stage at Husky Stadium, or having news of a hard-earned award or ranking shared around the world. Others took place away from the limelight and far from the crowds, and might have even been difficult or uncomfortable, but were just as meaningful.
Regardless of whether it came in a packed hall or a practice space, in the middle of one of our campuses or at a far-off research station, each of these achievements adds up to create a greater whole. It is those moments — your moments — that we celebrate as the #BestofUW.
As we look to the year ahead, the University of Washington will continue to promote access and excellence — the central pillars of our mission as a public university. We will continue to facilitate open dialogue and real progress on the issues that speak to our shared values — to strive to be a model for equity and diversity. All of our progress in these and so many other areas will happen thanks to you.
It is an honor to support your work and to celebrate your achievements. I wish you a healthy, peaceful and prosperous new year.
Bill Gates Sr. is a big man with an even bigger heart. On this, the occasion of his 90th birthday, we salute the immense contributions he’s made to our University.
Ever since he earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the UW, Gates has been the University of Washington’s biggest champion. He served for 15 years on the Board of Regents; earned the UW Alumni Association’s Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus Award; chaired Campaign UW: Creating Futures, which raised $2.7 billion; has been a longtime and active current member of the UW Foundation Board; and has been a vocal, lifelong Husky football fan — the list goes on and on from there.
His wisdom, courage and compassion have made our world and our community a vastly better place. I can think of no better example of Passion Never Rests!
Learn more about this remarkable man in this Columns article.