This week a number of groups traveled to Olympia to advocate for UW legislative priorities and public higher education.
On Tuesday, leaders from the UW Computer Science & Engineering Department made the rounds to talk with legislators about the importance of a new Computer Science & Engineering building. This expansion would allow CSE to double the number of degrees it produces annually. Read a letter that tech leaders recently sent legislators expressing strong support for the project.
Also on Tuesday, the Husky Crew Team (four-time national champs!) visited with Governor Jay Inslee, and visited the House and Senate floor for photos with UW alumni serving in the Legislature. The team’s visit came the same day as the state’s film industry hosted an advocacy day, where among many topics of discussion, was the possibility of the popular book Boys in the Boat being made into a motion picture.
On Wednesday, Regents & Trustees from the four-year public baccalaureate institutions and two-year community and technical colleges held their annual advocacy day in Olympia. The advocacy push comes at a key time, as legislative budget writers are in the midst of drafting spending proposals for the 2015-2017 biennium.
Also on Wednesday, leaders from the UW College of the Environment talked with legislators about opportunities for investing in critical research at the University, such as ocean acidification, climate impacts, and marine research in local waters. On the same day, UW leaders participated in the Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s annual executive day at the Capitol to talk about higher education’s important links to the state economy.
On Thursday, leaders from the UW College of Arts & Sciences met with capital budget leads to advocate for a new Life Sciences building. The project would allow one of UW’s most popular majors (Biology) to expand to meet student demand, and feed the growing Life Sciences sector in the state economy.
Also on Thursday, ASUW and GPSS hosted groups of pre-med and medical students for meetings with legislative leadership and alumni serving in the legislature, to advocate for the importance of preserving and expanding UW’s WWAMI medical education program. They had a special guest along for the day as well, who proved quite popular! View an album of the visits on our Facebook page.
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