Success Stories
As the UW celebrates National Work & Family Month, presented below are success stories from faculty and staff that have used a variety of work-life programs and services to integrate their work and personal lives. If you would like to share your story, email worklife@u.washington.edu.
This pilot program was introduced last fall to provide UW faculty members instructional release to bond with their new child. This program is geared towards biological fathers, non-biological parents in a same-sex relationship, or adoptive/foster parents.
Professor Charles LaPorte (English) and Professor
Colette Moore (English) with Paul and Andrew
- "I am deeply grateful to the Parental Teaching Release program for a term of course release during the 2007-2008 school year. My second son, Andrew, was born late last October, and this program permitted me to spend a great deal of wonderful time with my baby that I would otherwise have missed. New babies can wreak havoc upon balance between work and family — their peculiar challenges are hard to explain to people who get reasonable amounts of shut-eye. And while the Parental Teaching Release could not actually add hours to my sleep schedule, it did help me to be a much bigger presence at home, and much more successful in maintaining my research agenda for the year. It was a great gift". — Professor Charles LaPorte, Department of English
Professor Crispin Thurlow (Communication) and
Professor Jürg Koch (Dance) with Joe and Jay
- "A couple of weeks before the start of the 2007 academic year, I had the good fortune of becoming the foster-to-adopt parent of two small boys. Thankfully, this was just when the UW was about to pilot its new teaching release program. I'm not sure how my partner (also a UW professor) and I would have coped if I'd been teaching my two courses in addition to managing the usual research/writing projects, graduate mentoring, and committee work, while also trying to integrate our lives with those of our boys. This new program is definitely a significant step by the State's leading research university towards recognizing and supporting the lives of children in foster care." — Professor Crispin Thurlow, Communication
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WorkLife offers programs and services that support the integration of work and personal lives. Resources are available for faculty, staff, and students.
- "WorkLife has been an outstanding partner to me at various stages in my UW Career. As an HR Consultant in UCHR, they provided excellent advice and resources for my clients in various situations. They were always a calm voice in during very stressful times and were able to provide clear counsel to me when I needed a great deal of information about local resources for my clients. Additionally, as a manager of a HR department, WorkLife has been a tremendous resource to our employees for local services that employees may need for emergent issues. I have been able to send requests to WorkLife and our employees have been able to receive the information that they needed, including one-on-one counseling regarding these services. If you have not utilized WorkLife services, I strongly recommend that you contact them, you will be surprised at what you can learn or discover!" — Chong Yi Lucas, Associate Director of Human Resources, Development and Alumni Relations
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There are nine lactation stations available for breastfeeding mothers either attending school or working at the UW.
- "Thank you for organizing this service [lactation room]. It made coming back to school/work as a new mom so much easier!! .... I'd also like to say that my favorite part of the lactation room was seeing pictures of other babies on the bulletin board, it reminded me that other moms at the university were facing the same challenges. Though I never met any of the other women using the lounge, I felt good knowing they were out there as new moms too!" - Alecia M. Spooner, PhD student, Earth and Space Sciences
- "Returning to work after having a baby was a hard thing for me to do, but knowing there were resources available for breastfeeding mothers meant one less thing to worry about. Having the lactation station available to me as a UW employee has been a great benefit. It was easy to get started and scheduling the room on-line gives you the flexibility to adjust your schedule if something comes up. I would encourage all new mothers to take advantage of the lactation stations." — Jessica
- "Whether or not one is ready physically and emotionally to return to work after having a baby, one thing is for sure: there are many challenges ahead. For me, one of the biggest challenges was the logistics surrounding nursing. How could I return to work, continue to nurse, AND ride my bicycle to work? While I did have a pump available for home use, carting it back and forth on my bicycle was NOT a possibility. That's where the Lactation Station in Hall Health came in so wonderfully handy. It has a hospital grade pump (you just buy your own attachments) and an on-line scheduling system, which allows for some scheduling flexibility. Or, you can bring your own pump and use it there--or at any of several Lactation Stations across Campus. The Lactation Station sure made a big difference for us!" — Katherine
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Medical attention in the heart of campus. Employee Health at Hall Health provides medical surveillance, work-related immunizations and work-related physical exams to employees and students at the University of Washington.
- "Thank you for offering free blood pressure screening every Thursday morning in the lobby of Hall Health Primary Care Center. I enjoy conversing with the Employee Health clinic nurse who does such a good job administering the test. Since I have somewhat high blood pressure, it's reassuring to me to get accurate readings. I can monitor my blood pressure every week which is a big help to me and my ongoing medical history." - Madeline
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Medical flexible spending accounts (FSA) let you save money, pre-tax, for eligible medical expenses.
- "This is one of the most important benefits UW offers me." - Christine Howard, Coordinator, Washington National Primate Research Center
- "Super fast reimbursements and easy-to-use form." - Barbara Parnell, Legal Services Manager, Attorney General's Office
- "Amazingly responsive. Tremendously helpful." - Patricia DiPalma, Director of Annual Giving Program, Arts and Sciences Dean's Office
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The University of Washington has partnered with Child Care Resources to provide free childcare referral services for faculty, staff, and students.
- "Thank you so much for the thorough list of child care providers around the Seattle area." - UW Client
- "Wow CCR Specialist, thank you so much for your timely response. It is so nice to have someone knowledgeable that can help me. If and when I find a good safe place for him, I will definitely let you know. I can't say thank you enough for your help and your timely response." - UW Client
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Students with children may be eligible to receive financial assistance to subsidize childcare.
- "Without the support of the childcare assistance program I would not have been able to complete school. I would not have had the financial means to attend school and pay for childcare costs." - Melanie Armstrong, Graduate - Juris Doctorate degree, UW School of Law.
- "I am a doctoral student working on my dissertation and teaching one course most quarters. Without childcare this would be nearly impossible. As it is, it is very challenging to find enough time to work on the dissertation. We would never be able to afford child care without the subsidy and are extremely thankful for it." - Tami Blumefield Kedar, Student- Doctoral degree in Anthropology.
- "Provide opportunities for connecting student lives with parenthood. Pursuing for advanced degrees is a kind of life investment. Women who are in graduate schools are in their fertile years. With the available funding from the assistance program, women are leveraged with pursuing their advanced degrees while NOT delaying having children. Also, because of their advanced degrees in hand, women are more able to provide quality family education to their kids. So, childcare-graduate degrees-childcare funding is a three-in-one unity that benefits young families, and especially women and kids." - Shu-Ling Huang, International Student- Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership.
- "Having childcare assistance through my professional school education has been enormously helpful by reducing the financial stress we are facing as a family. It helps to make medical school (and other graduate/professional school opportunities) more possible for parents." - Jennifer Gibson, fourth year medical student.
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National Work & Family Month
