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News & Updates

News & Updates

Latest UW medical startups and innovations featured in local media

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The University of Washington’s Center for Commercialization (C4C) recently hosted an inter-active tour for journalists at its New Ventures Facility, where the media got a first-hand look at the latest technologies moving from lab to market.

KING 5 Healthlink’s Jean Enersen reports:

You could call it an adult science fair: University of Washington entrepreneurs and students displayed new ways to reboot damaged hearts, save lives in the E.R. and prevent severe reactions to gluten.

The Puget Sound Business Journal reports:

University of Washington is home to researchers investigating the latest technologies and drug candidates for a healthier world. The challenge is getting those big ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace.

UW’s Center for Commercialization is the incubator trying to make that happen. C4C was created to help the university’s researchers get their products on the market.

Learn more about how UW is propelling ideas from the lab to the marketplace at C4C’s website.

 

News Roundup: UW news you can use and share!

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Every month we will bring you a sampling of news clips about UW projects and programs impacting our state and region. Below are a few to kick us off for the month of April. Have an article you want to see featured in the roundup? Leave a link in the comments, or email us at: staterel “at” uw “dot” edu.

UW Center Helps Turn Big Ideas Into Reality – Puget Sound Business Journal

UW Launches Effort to Prepare Region for Major Quake – KING 5 News

Medical School Task Force Convenes – Spokesman-Review

UW Students Learn Rural Medicine in Grand Coulee – The Star

Looking to Complete That Degree? UW Adds Another Option – Seattle Times

Social News:

https://twitter.com/usatodaynews/status/457892603963248641

UW ranks among top for return on college investment

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via President Young’s blog (a great source of news & info, bookmark it!):

The University of Washington ranks fifth among all public and private universities in the country in a survey that estimates the financial return on degrees.

 

“While financial return on investment isn’t the only value in a college degree, being fifth in the nation among all public and private universities certainly validates the power of a UW education and the excellence of our graduates,” President Michael K. Young said.

 

The research was done by PayScale, which surveyed college graduates to estimate the annualized return on investment.

 

View an interactive chart of the rankings on The Economist’s website.

UW School of Medicine launches “Next Generation WWAMI” in Spokane

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via UW Today:

The University of Washington School of Medicine announced plans today to establish Spokane as the center of an effort called “Next Generation WWAMI.”

The UW, in partnership with the city’s health care professionals and other higher education institutions, will work to rapidly grow and continue to implement innovative approaches to medical education intended to prepare the next generation of family physicians and other doctors needed to serve both Spokane and rural and underserved urban areas in Washington.

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The Next Generation WWAMI plan includes three elements.

First, thanks to the generous support of the Spokane community, which raised private dollars to temporarily fund the second year of medical education in Spokane, the UW School of Medicine will seek state funding in the next legislative session to guarantee that Spokane will become the first permanent four-year medical education program outside Seattle in the five-state WWAMI region. This funding request will also support previously-announced plans by the UW, in partnership with Washington State University, to quadruple the number of students in Spokane’s classrooms from 20 to 80 per year.

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Second, the UW School of Medicine will adopt a new state-of-the art medical education curriculum in Spokane and expand clinical training opportunities in underserved areas across the state, including Yakima, Tri-Cities, Wenatchee, Bellingham and Vancouver. The new curriculum is characterized by greater integration in the program of basic science with clinical training, more active learning, and an emphasis on team-based, inter-professional medical education.  New and enhanced clinical training sites will ensure that students educated in Spokane will have the desperately-needed opportunities to put their education into required practice.

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Third, the WWAMI partnerships will enable the growth of biomedical research in Spokane. This is the most exciting time in history for medical research, and success with translating the research discoveries to improvements in healthcare depends on collaboration among multiple organizations. The Spokane medical community has a strong history of clinical innovation. Next Generation WWAMI will provide the stimulus for the connection of basic medical research to clinical innovation in Spokane.

Click here to read more at UW Today.

UW launches online bachelor’s degree completion program in social sciences

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Via UW Today:

Beginning in the fall 2014 people interested in social sciences, who have already earned roughly two years of college credit or an associate degree, will be able to finish their bachelor’s degree online through a new completion program offered by the University of Washington.

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The program is intended to provide a flexible, lower-cost option for individuals who want to finish their degrees online without coming to campus.

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“This is a way of expanding UW access to students who are time- and place-bound, whose family or work commitments make it impossible for them to come to campus,” said Michael K. Young, UW president. “It is a way for them to finish their degrees and move ahead in life.”

Increasing access to UW resources is central to the university’s mission, Young said. “By adding online degree completion programs at a lower cost, we’re offering more opportunities for students to earn and benefit from a UW degree.”

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“I applaud the university for developing and launching this second online degree completion program,” said Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle. ”If we are going to meet the educational needs of our state and grow our economy, it is critical that we offer innovative approaches to educate an increasingly diverse population of students. This degree offers an affordable, high-quality bachelor’s degree option for the nearly 1 million people with some college but no bachelor’s degree. I hope those who have dreamed of completing their college education will see this as an opportunity to take the next step in reaching their goals.”

The Atlantic: UW among best for dollar-for-dollar ROI

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Return on Investment
Photo: The Atlantic

According to PayScale data, the UW is #5 in the country in dollar-for-dollar return on investment (ROI) for a bachelor’s degree. And our computer science degree specifically is in the top 10 for ROI. Read more in The Atlantic.

Of course, long-term financial reward isn’t the only measure of the value of an education. Just surf through any issue of Columns magazine and you’ll find a treasure trove of inspiring ways UW alumni are using their degrees to make the world a better place.

Like the University of Washington on Facebook to get more news like this.

Supplemental budget passes House and Senate, Legislature adjourns

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Today (March 13), the House and Senate passed a supplemental budget that makes several small, but important investments in higher education. Notably, the compromise supplemental budget preserved funding provided last year to UW. Preserving this funding allows the University to freeze resident undergraduate tuition another year.

Read an overview brief from UW’s Office of Planning & Budgeting on the supplemental budget.

Specific highlights from the 2014 60-day session, during which the Legislature took action on UW’s top budget and policy priorities, include:

Budget

$1 million for the Institute for Protein Design (UW’s top budget priority)

$5 million for the REAL Hope/DREAM Act

$11 million in Life Science Discovery Fund (LSDF) active grants protected

$400,000 for UW Tacoma Law School planning

Policy

The House and Senate passed HB 2163, which concerns higher education efficiencies. The bill was UW’s top policy priority, and saves the University approximately $700,000 per year.

While $11 million in active grants from the Life Sciences Discovery Fund to the UW were protected, unfortunately, the compromise budget eliminates future funding for the LSDF.

Stay tuned for more news from Olympia, as the supplemental budget and bills that have passed the Legislature now head to the Governor for his consideration.

2014 regular session enters final stretch

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Last Friday (March 7) was the second to last cut-off deadline of the session (the last day to consider opposite house bills), with the other being Sine Die (the last day allowed for regular session under the state constitution).

The Friday cutoff doesn’t apply to bills considered necessary to implement the budget (“NTIB”), or already agreed to by both the Senate and the House.

While the House did not meet over the weekend, on Saturday the Senate began considering bills placed on the “concurrence” calendar. Essentially, that means considering bills passed by the other chamber, but that have been amended.

For a bill to go to the Governor’s desk, it has to pass with the same exact language in both chambers. In many cases, the chamber of origin agrees to the other’s changes. But it is also possible that the chamber of origin can insist on the original bill. If the latter happens, negotiations usually take place to iron out any differences.

Speaking of negotiations — the “four corners” (representatives from the House majority and minority, and Senate majority and minority) are reportedly inching closer to agreement on a supplemental budget. The process is marked by a sort of “shuttle diplomacy,” with budget negotiators seen crossing the Capitol rotunda, to meet with counterparts.

Stay tuned for more, as the end of the 60-day session quickly approaches!

President Young interviewed by TVW’s Inside Olympia

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An interview with President Michael Young for the show Inside Olympia aired on TVW Thursday evening. The interview, by Austin Jenkins, covers a range of subjects, including the direction of higher education in the state, how to fund it successfully and what recent developments in online education and commercial development of university research mean for the future.

Watch the interview:

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