Interim President Ana Mari Cauce announced a wide-ranging initiative to combat racism and inequity during a campus dialogue with students. Cauce spoke from the heart about racism and what she thinks all of us, herself included, can do to combat it.
Presidential Blog
Medical Education in Washington: Do No Harm
Congratulations to Washington State University on the official signing of legislation to seek accreditation for an independent medical school. As they begin the process of seeking accreditation, we at the University of Washington offer our appreciation for more than 40 years of medical education partnership with our colleagues in Pullman and Spokane.
With the passage of WSU’s policy bill, significant decisions remain.
Budget proposals have been released in Olympia, and the prospects for the UW School of Medicine in Spokane are decidedly mixed. The House of Representatives budget provides us with sufficient funding — $4.7 million per year — to pursue the course we set together with Spokane: to continue and expand our four-year medical school. If this budget approach is adopted, the UW will begin to address our doctor shortage immediately and continue to serve Spokane students and the physician workforce needs of the state for years to come.
The Senate budget, unfortunately, defunds our current efforts in Spokane — likely eliminating operations and taking expansion off the table. Only $1.25 million in annual funding is provided to the UW for our Spokane medical school, well below the House funding level of $4.7 million per year. Put simply, if the Senate budget is adopted, our medical school in Spokane is in serious jeopardy. We will be forced to reduce our Washington student class size or transfer some students back to the Seattle campus for first and second year training. We would consider this a tremendous setback for our students, for the community of Spokane and the state of Washington.
We will be working hard over the next several weeks with our community supporters in Spokane and around the state to inform the legislature and the Governor about what is at stake in this year’s biennial budget proposal. We need doctors now, and the UW School of Medicine is ready to provide them.
On April 15, I will come to Spokane to join the community in celebrating the UW’s newest Spokane medical students. It’s imperative that we keep their education and success our highest priority.
Our momentum to expand medical research, education and access in eastern Washington is palpable, and we will accelerate our vision for the UW School of Medicine in Spokane with your continued support.
I invite you to keep up with our progress at uw.edu/spokanemedschool.
Sincerely,
Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies
National Institutions Coming Out Day
The University of Washington is driven by our public promise — a promise to our state and the next generation to do all that we can to make the world a better place. At the core of that promise is our deep commitment to access, equal opportunity and social justice.
We are proud to be a University that wholeheartedly welcomes and supports undocumented students on the first “National Institutions Coming Out Day,” launched by United We Dream Network’s Dream Education Empowerment Program. All three UW campuses have a variety of services for undocumented students and participate in the statewide coalition to train educators about how to best support students on their path to and through college.
We applaud our state’s elected leaders for their support of these students. In 2014, the REAL Hope Act was signed into law making Washington one of only five states that allow undocumented students to qualify for both in-state tuition and state financial aid, enhancing a 2003 law allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at state colleges and universities.
At the federal level, Senator Patty Murray is the lead advocate to expand access to higher education for low-income students, regardless of their immigration status. Last month, Senator Murray introduced the “Investing in States to Achieve Tuition Equality (IN-STATE) for Dreamers Act of 2015” to establish the American Dream Grant program, which would reward states that set equitable tuition and student aid policies, offer in-state tuition and state financial aid to Dreamer students regardless of immigration status and help reduce the cost of college for all students.
We have a responsibility to ensure that all qualified students who have the curiosity to learn and a desire to earn a college degree will have a seat in our classrooms, regardless of their backgrounds.
As we work toward addressing the world’s greatest challenges, let’s work together for the common good. For more information about supporting undocumented students, please visit www.unitedwedream.org.
Sincerely,
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Ana Mari Cauce |
Jerry Baldasty |
David Eaton |
Sheila Edwards Lange |
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Mark Pagano |
Denzil Suite |
Ed Taylor |
Bjong Wolf Yeigh |
Addressing affordable housing issues in our region
I am so pleased the University of Washington is partnering with the Seattle Times and Microsoft Corporation on the LiveWire series that addresses vital issues impacting our region and its residents.
Earlier this week, we hosted more than 800 people on campus for a lively discussion about affordability and housing. We heard a variety of viewpoints of how to balance our rapidly growing population and the need for more livable and affordable neighborhoods.
Affordability and housing go hand-in-hand and they impact virtually all of our students, faculty, staff and community members. One way we’re addressing this is to work with both businesses and community members to create a new University District Partnership. It will take close campus and community relationships to make sure that issues including public safety, social services and housing are addressed as the U-District is revitalized.
That’s why we are partnering with Children’s Hospital to build a new employee housing project in the heart of the neighborhood. This mixed-income project will include 36 units that are affordable to those making between 65% and 85% of area median income. It will include larger units that we hope will attract families to the neighborhood.
As a public university, we have a responsibility and a commitment to address income inequality, skyrocketing housing costs and other social issues with adverse impacts. And as a community it is simply the right thing to do, taking care of each other and our neighbors.
Together, we can work to ensure that the U-District remains and grows as an affordable and livable region for all of us.
Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies
Statement concerning the minimum wage and students
Today, a group of students came to Gerberding to express their disappointment that students were not included in the UW’s decision to bring all employees to Seattle’s $11-per-hour minimum wage that went into effect today. While I understand their disappointment, I want to clarify why we didn’t include students unilaterally in today’s action. Student fees pay for many of the student jobs on this campus. Before we commit to a policy that may increase expenses for all students or potentially eliminate some jobs in order to provide higher salaries for others, we need to consult with our students. That is our commitment to shared governance and important to our relationship with the students we serve over the long term. These consultations are under way and in a matter of weeks, not months, we’ll determine our path forward. We have a steadfast commitment on all of our campuses to providing flexible, meaningful work opportunities for students, a commitment we have demonstrated by adding hundreds of jobs over the past five years. Expect a final communication on this soon.
Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies
Statement on proposed Senate budget
While I am very pleased to see that the Senate budget not only provides most of the state funding needed to pay for its tuition reduction bill, and makes additional investments for the next biennium, there are some troubling aspects to the proposal. Rejection of our collective bargaining agreements means that thousands of our employees will not receive the wage increases they deserve. There are other troubling aspects to the proposal as well, including provisions dealing with health care benefits.
I am also disappointed in the Senate’s approach to funding our medical school in Spokane. The $2.5 million appropriation is insufficient to support our existing 40 students much less increasing enrollment by another 20 students as we hope to do this fall to address the physician shortage in our state.
Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies
Statement on proposed House budget
I am pleased to see that the Washington state House budget begins the critical work of reinvesting in higher education for the benefit of our students and our state. The new funding for faculty and staff compensation, computer science enrollment expansion and medical residencies is critically important. The proposed budget in its entirety, however, may not be sufficient to keep tuition affordable and to fulfill our public commitment to deliver the innovations, discoveries, products and talented young people that our region needs. We must be about both access and excellence, and we will continue to stress that a robust state investment is critical.
We are also extremely pleased that the House budget proposal recognizes the critical importance of keeping the UW’s No. 1–ranked primary-care program in Spokane and of increasing our enrollment from 40 to 60 students per year. The transfer of $4.7 million in dedicated funding for our medical school from Washington State University to the UW will ensure that we can maintain and grow our medical education program to meet the critical physician workforce needs of the state.
Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies
A historic day for the UW and Native Tribes of our region
As one of the world’s greatest public universities, the University of Washington is committed to cultivating our culture of diversity. The opening yesterday of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House (wash-LEB-alt) marked a historic day for both the University of Washington and the Native Tribes of our region.
This building is the culmination of a decades-long dream to create a gathering place in honor of our region’s First Nations. The Intellectual House — as well as much of the UW campus — rests on the sacred ground of the Duwamish Tribe’s first home and will serve as a meeting place for indigenous people from the Northwest, the U.S. and around the world. It will also be a campus home for academic offerings led by our American Indian Studies Department, strengthening our teaching, research and student recruitment.
I was deeply honored to meet the elected leaders of our region’s tribal governments and to see the outpouring of support and enthusiasm for this special place.
After the cedar ribbon-cutting, wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House hosted another important event — a Tribal Leadership Summit — at which I affirmed our commitment to honor this partnership, see through priorities such as the construction of phase two of this longhouse-style facility, and to holding annual meetings with the elected leaders of the tribes.
To deepen the University’s engagement with tribal governments in Washington state, I have also asked the Office of External Affairs to support the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity on three new initiatives in the upcoming year:
- Re-establish government to government training for senior leadership at the University as called for in the 1989 Centennial Accord.
- Work with our Vice Provost for Innovation to conduct a workshop on innovation and entrepreneurship for interested tribal members.
- Investigate the potential of partnering with tribal governments and the state Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) to pursue high-priority economic development projects for Washington tribes.
A strong connection with leaders from across the region is essential to the UW’s ability to effectively fulfill our public promise to educate, serve, and provide research and economic opportunities for all of Washington’s citizens. Please join me in supporting this essential work on behalf of all whom we serve.
We have so much opportunity to work toward these and other initiatives that will benefit the greater community and beyond. Together, the possibilities are limitless.
Sincerely,
Ana Mari
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Accelerating our momentum at the University of Washington
Dear UW family,
Today I am honored to begin the interim presidency of the University of Washington — an institution that’s been the fabric of my professional and personal life for nearly three decades.
I think of this time as a launch point: a time when we will hasten our pace and accelerate the great work we are doing together. We are at an incredible moment in time for the UW and the state we serve so well. Our University is thriving, and its contributions to the region and our world have never been greater. We truly have incredible, boundless momentum, thanks to you — the people who make the UW a preeminent, life-changing, public university.
I said in my Town Hall last week that I believe the UW is both boundless and boundary-less: We are not about teaching or research. Our conversations aren’t about access or excellence. We aren’t local or global. We don’t serve just eastern or western Washington. The University of Washington serves the entirety of our state, our country and our world because our DNA is fortified by the ideas and ideals that shape our public purpose. Our promise is to serve everyone — and we do so in truly limitless ways.
Our faculty seek solutions to society’s greatest challenges — and lead the world in doing so through their research and teaching. Our students — from all walks of life and circumstances — believe anything is possible, and whether they are in engineering or English, computer science or sociology, they are preparing for careers that will be reinvented time and again. Our staff makes all of this possible — from those who recruit students and serve patients to those who make our campus environment beautiful and keep our laboratories clean and safe. And our community of friends and supporters are our catalyst and our partners: They care deeply about our impact on the world and on the lives of our students.
Together with the University’s talented and committed leadership team, I will continue to move our vision forward, supporting our students, faculty and staff as we work to make the world better for all. Thank you for your support. Boundless opportunities are ahead for the UW and those we serve.
Sincerely,
Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies
Provost Ana Mari Cauce named interim president
The University of Washington Board of Regents on Feb. 12 named Provost Ana Mari Cauce interim president. Board Chairman Bill Ayer called her “an extraordinary leader of our University – a person who is known throughout our community for her straightforward and accessible leadership, extraordinary intellect, plain-spoken common sense, honesty, sense of justice and deep dedication to the University of Washington, its students, faculty, staff and those the University serves.”
Her appointment will be effective March 3. She succeeds President Michael K. Young, who is leaving the UW for Texas A&M University.
Continue reading “Provost Ana Mari Cauce named interim president”