Conversation About the Future
THEMES

By design, The UW Conversation About the Future provided opportunity for all members of the University community, internal and external, to contribute their thoughts about how the University of Washington can best serve them in the new century. Events, fora, casual meetings symposia and other gatherings invited students, staff, faculty and community members to join in lively, open discussions about the future of the University of Washington.

What follows is a compilation of the most common issues in thematic groups. By no means is this meant as an exhaustive list of the topics raised during the year of Conversation, but it is representative of the commonality of concerns and comments expressed by constituencies who participated. It is intended to represent both the similarities and the differences in perspective, often on identical subject matter, brought to the discussion.

CHILD CARE
CITIZENSHIP / PUBLIC SERVICE
COMMUNITY – GREATER
COMMUNITY – IMMEDIATE
DEMOCRACY / SOCIAL JUSTICE
DISTANCE LEARNING
DIVERSITY
EDUCATION VERSUS VOCATIONALIZATION
EXISTING GOOD MODELS / THINGS TO MIRROR
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
FUNDING
INTERDISCIPLINARY / INTERDEPARTMENTAL LEARNING
RESEARCH
SYSTEMS
TEACHING ASSISTANTS
TECHNOLOGY

 

CHILD CARE

Need this option available for students. Starting their own center is not an option and want the UW to help. The need exceeds their College walls.
~ Evans School

Address the issue of childcare and the school would immediately become more diverse.
~ School of Public Health

The Tacoma campus, generally attracting an older population of students re-entering the school environment, has a particularly pressing need for assistance with childcare.
~ UWT Students

The campus is not child friendly. It is very difficult to bring children on campus, and this creates a strain on single parents. Need to make the campus more kid friendly.
~ College of Arts & Sciences

CITIZENSHIP / PUBLIC SERVICE

The idea of the University as civic institution means it is possible to bring disciplined reflection to all aspects of human life with the intent to improve life. Recovery of the University's identity should be about recovery of its identity as a civic institution. Bring thought (practical reason) to bear upon life.
~ Rethinking the U - Sullivan

Should expand the CHID course on rethinking the university. That class should help organize and run the UW and have that be part of required civics training.
~ School of Arts & Sciences

The College should prepare teachers to instill a greater sense of the community and the responsibility of the student as a citizen.
~ College of Education

The issue of community heavily affects promotion of good citizenship. As one student expressed, "We feel our UW education should help us develop analytical reasoning, cultivate thinking, alternate ways of viewing things; help contribute to 'wholeness' and balance; help us to be open-minded; to learn to listen and to receive" as part of an integrated community.
~ Teaching Academy

We need to place substantially more emphasis on public service in the curriculum and mission statement.
~ School of Law

There are important roles for physicians outside and inside the clinic setting. We have an obligation to provide community service, which is NOT encouraged.
~ School of Medicine

University teachers must enrich through education the language and ideas that young people use to define their lives and their place in society.
~ GPSS - Giroux

Service learning could add much to the curriculum. It should be a focus.
~ College of Forest Resources

It is essential to reassert the academic community's role and responsibility in developing civic or democratic capital in our society.
~ Rethinking the U - Geary Schneider

Provide academic credit for service learning. It should be a requirement.
~ Regent Knaus Dinner

We need to add a policy/advocacy track and a community organizing track to the curriculum and de-emphasize clinical social work
~ School of Social Work

COMMUNITY – GREATER

We need to make sure that part of the research project is to empower the community from where we are getting the data. We use them to gather information and then walk away.
~ School of Public Health

There needs to be increased community involvement by residency programs, physician preceptors, students and other caregivers via career days, local mentoring, and sponsorship programs.
~ Regent Clack Dinner

We need to empower students and take back our communities. With a diverse university we can cultivate our own community, go back to the outside community, and continue a positive cycle for minority students.
~ Regent Proctor Dinner

Originally the University was involved with the community, but as it became more important to have a doctorate to become a professor, the role of academics began to push out the role community service played in a University education.
~ Regent Evans Dinner

Better relationships with community colleges would create easier transitions; particularly for the minority students we seek.
~ Alumni

Leadership (Regents) should be seen in the communities, particularly in K-12 schools, in demonstrating the awareness the UW has in understanding the educational pipeline.
~ Regent Knaus Dinner

Faculty does not create a community and this translates into students not feeling a part of a larger community that addresses similar issues. The College does a lot of work within communities (planning, design, building), but does not do as much as it could.
~ College of Architecture & Urban Planning

Focus outreach on community colleges and provide support for community college transfer students. Most support is geared towards traditional Freshman age and not returning students.
~ College of Arts & Sciences

The College wants and needs to step up its role in providing in-house resources and services and outreach to the University and State communities. The College of Education has a role in community education, which extends beyond the boundaries of content and moves toward a higher purpose.
~ College of Education

Community presence is not created by a recruiting trip, but rather by sustained conversation and work around community issues. Hosting community dinners and forums that provide expertise and assistance to neighborhoods and communities in need can start this.
~ Regent Knaus Dinner

We need to provide opportunities for students to get out into the communities-to integrate classes and programs with other departments that focus on community issues.
~ School of Business

In addition to UW's critical role in jobs and economic development, the UW's contribution to solving problems and building community is essential. UW's new commitment to K-12 is a good example.
~ Regent Grinstein Dinner

Create internships for outreach and pay students for their efforts.
~ College of Arts & Sciences

COMMUNITY–IMMEDIATE

The summary of the report was that members of the University community feel isolated and need to build community.
~ CHID class

Staff are second class citizens at UW. There is no sense of community or being part of a team. Little effort is made to include them in much of the UW's culture.
~ Professional Staff

The University community should demonstrate to us and to the world how different missions come together. The goal of a liberal arts education is education for the community, benefiting both the community and the individual.
~ Rethinking the U - Sciences vs. Humanities

We don't need to 'connect' to the community in Tacoma - we ARE the community. We live and work and own property. We'd just like to make UW Tacoma more of a community place for all of us.
~ UW Tacoma students

The issue of community heavily affects promotion of good citizenship. "We feel our UW education should help us develop analytical reasoning, cultivate thinking, alternate ways of viewing things; help contribute to 'wholeness' and balance; help us to be open-minded; to learn to listen and to receive" as part of an integrated community.
~ Teaching Academy

Many students do not understand where we fit into the big picture community of the University of Washington. We feel like a stepchild.
~ UW Bothell Students

Increased interaction among and between students and faculty would create a greater sense of community at the University, promote tolerance as diverse groups interact and improve learning as students take a more active role in their education.
~ Rethinking the U - A Forum

(Co-opting) patterns in the University that reflect the outside economy send the wrong message to our students. There is not much collective sense of community in the market driven internal University economy.
~ Rethinking the U - Sullivan

One of the strongest messages to arise from this conversation was the need for more opportunities for communication between grads from different departments. A social structure allowing more conversations like this one on mentoring, would help students compare experiences in different fields.
~ GPSS - Mentoring

DEMOCRACY / SOCIAL JUSTICE

Students are not prepared to know how to make what they do for a living matter. An entire arm of education is missing - social justice concerns in social work.
~ School of Social Work

Public education is a place where democracy is renewed; it is a place where students locate themselves in society and realize how to engage in social activities and social issues.
~ GPSS - Giroux

The University of Washington and higher education in general, need to do much more work to ensure citizens are adequately prepared for participation in a democratic society.
~ Regent Knaus Dinner

Conversational dinners are a great starting point to promote democracy and community. It's important to have small group interaction bridging communities, businesses, campuses, and policy-makers. A central problem in addressing democracy is understanding the social, educational, and institutional inequality that greatly favors white middle class students, families, and communities.
~ Regent Knaus Dinner

Offering more programs that relate to diversity could make a greater impact on social justice, and attract donors who want to give in the name of social justice.
~ Alumni

Students should be afforded the opportunity to spend time on democratic aspirations. Visions of voice, dignity, opportunity, and creating a tradition of social justice would create great options.
~ Rethinking the U - Geary Schneider

Liberal education aims to be more than a means to material gain, like learning to be a better citizen.
~ Rethinking the U - Leff

Our fundamental moral challenge is to create viable democratic societies throughout the globe that are seen as a resource and not as a threat. Is the University having the conversation it needs to have about what it means to take responsibility for the long-term viability of a diverse democracy?
~ Rethinking the U - Geary Schneider

Members would like to see a higher commitment to creating social justice within the University and in the greater Seattle community.
~ Alumni

Universities should prepare citizens through the teaching of critical thinking skills.
~ College of Arts and Sciences

DISTANCE LEARNING

In the near future, classes will be conducted via the Internet with students downloading everything from lecture notes to assignments.
~ Beyond 2020

Undergraduates are concerned that their degrees, earned from taking on-line courses, will not be as valuable as those obtained through in-class learning.
~ GPSS

Will increases in distance learning benefit the majority in the same manner that it will benefit minorities who do not have the same access to computers and therefore do not have equivalent knowledge of how to use technology?
~ GPSS

The Internet and innovations like UWTV should be expanded in the future to meet the needs of mid-career professionals and others who want to learn new skills or just keep up with the technology.
~ Wenatchee Business Leaders

DIVERSITY

Promote diversity at the University level through: educating others, recruitment, retention, admissions, leadership, focus on quality not quantity, and community support vs. outreach.         
~ Dr. Orlando Taylor

Members would like to see a continued focus on improving gender and racial equality.         
~ Alumni

Need to focus on K-12 preparation of underrepresented students. Need to promote environment that demonstrates UW’s commitment to diversity.         
~ College of Arts & Sciences

Campus diversity was shared as an area in need of immediate and long-term attention and planning, addressed as a moral concern, a staffing consideration and an issue for better serving the community.
~ Staff Conversations

Not only is this an issue in everyday class activity in Public Health, many parts of rural Washington have students with the perception that they cannot come into this program. Public Health is all about serving a diverse population. It is a real loss that we preclude attendance by minorities, largely our service population.          
~ School of Public Health

Recruitment of underrepresented students is only the first step.  Teaching assistants and professors need training in how to appreciate (and instruct to) students of diverse backgrounds.  They provide the encouragement for sticking with and even continuing higher education.           
~ GPSS

Concern with the impact of I-200 on diversity at the Law School: is the UW doing enough to attract students or faculty of color? 
~ School of Law

Recruitment of students of color is a surface-level approach to addressing democratic needs of educating all students. UW needs to get much more creative and think critically about how it addresses systemic issues.
~ Regent Knaus Dinner

WWAMI programs are excellent, but need to be more diverse. Often participants are discriminated against or isolated because they are in rural areas. Need diverse faculty to serve as role models as the minority populations in need of being served increase.         
~ School of Medicine

Getting the University involved at the preschool level may provide a long-term solution to diversity issues on campus; creating a more diverse pool of qualified local students.         
~ Regent Chin Dinner

The students’ school experience and effectiveness as social workers are both compromised by the current lack of diversity in faculty and student.          
~ School of Social Work

Bridges Program does not work as well as it could. The point is to bring underrepresented students into labs, but the problem is that many labs have no incentive or drive to include such students. Overall, the attitude is apathetic, so we need to promote an environment that demonstrates UW’s commitment to diversity by ensuring that labs (and faculty within them) are truly supportive.
~ College of Arts & Sciences

When minorities do come into an academic setting, they face challenges that whites do not. Whites remain largely unconscious of their inherent privilege and tend to downplay or remain unaware of the added pressures on minority students.  Strong motivators to maintain their privilege exist. Becoming aware of white privilege leads to questions that have no easy answers, perpetuating the problem.
~ Race in the 21st Century

The culture of engineering says to think outside of the box, yet most students think similarly because they come from similar backgrounds. We also need to rethink admissions criteria, which focus almost entirely on grades; this does not measure outside-the-box thinking.         
~ College of Engineering

There is a lack of minorities within the College (and the profession). We cannot address the profession without expanding the pipeline. There is, however, no active recruitment of minorities.
~ College of Architecture & Urban Planning

Students share disappointment at the noticeable lack of diversity and subtle racism on campus. Broad educational opportunities would arise from a more diverse student and faculty presence.
~ Teaching Academy

The challenge is to respond to inequity in society by redefining merit. The University needs to determine why it is difficult for minorities in this society to achieve.          
~ Ellis Cose

The College of Education should be a leader in this area as it affects the training of future teachers. At the core of the issue, teachers have great potential for making a difference for disenfranchised groups. Diversity and multiculturalism should be connected to teacher preparation program.
~ College of Education

Even well educated people don’t know very much about the different ethnic and religious traditions that constitute our society, even with our new consciousness of our growing diversity. How well are students being prepared to deal with cultural conflicts resulting from very different values, etc., generally resulting from unexamined beliefs of perceived rights and entitlements? The University’s goal is engaging diversity as a fundamental democratic commitment, not just acknowledging that it exists.
~ Rethinking the U-Geary Schneider

There is a lot of pressure for African-American students.  Not only having to think about getting good grades but also being a "representative" of the African-American student body.  There is a struggle for minority students pursuing careers in academia because they need to make compromises to be successful.         
~ Regent Proctor Dinner

EDUCATION VERSUS VOCATIONALIZATION

UW is one of the top places to learn biostatistics in the world--great theory and critical thinking--but if you leave with just a Masters degree, you are not desirable and not prepared to do the job.
~ School of Public Health

Undergraduate education does not and should not be expected to prepare students for a job; it should prepare them for a life of learning.         
~ Rethinking the U – Leff

Not all students are graduating with the skills needed to excel at entry-level jobs; we need more internship opportunities. Students would like more policy courses, and more focus on critical-thinking and problem-solving skills needed in the workplace in our field.          
~ School of Forest Resources

Many times science is not attempting to produce technology, nor are the humanities attempting to produce judgment. The fruits may be technology or judgment, but the basic quest is for knowledge.
~ Rethinking the U – Sciences v. Humanities

The University as an institution should be used to educate rather than train individuals; it should be a place where pedagogy is a moral and political process of enlightenment.         
~ GPSS - Giroux

Encourage students to view education from a scholarly point of view, rather than as a consumer. Through promoting and modeling excellence we can inspire students to become scholars and to determine for themselves what it takes to make a good life (not just a good job).
~ Rethinking the U- A Forum

Americans equate university study with career preparation and gaining employable skills. This is the primary driver for society’s support of the university as an institution.
~ Rethinking the U – Geary Schneider

One of the most important contributions that the UW can make is in liberal education at the undergraduate level. This involves learning to solve problems, deal with ambiguity, establish relationships, develop a future-oriented attitude.  
~ Regent Grinstein Dinner

Ideally, mutually beneficial collaborations between academia and industry should be developed to ensure maximal public health and social (including economic) benefits from this tremendous investment.         
~ Public Health Science & Biotechnology

Much of higher education operates to research and disseminate information for two reasons: as a tool for economic development and for the upward mobility of individuals.         
~ Rethinking the U – Sullivan

Can providing liberal education make sense now in public institutions where both funding and public pressures seems to focus on students as consumers who want practical training?
~ Rethinking the U – Leff

EXISTING GOOD MODELS/THINGS TO MIRROR

Industrial Hygiene does expect students to go into the workplace, and provides sufficient internships and mentoring. These students feel they have good interaction with the community.
~ School of Public Health

Philosophy has a departmental community, but this is rare.  
~ College of Arts & Sciences

The exception (to lack of opportunity for interdisciplinary study) lies within the Community Environmental Planning Department (CEP), which is a model of interdisciplinary work.
~ College of Architecture & Urban Planning

CEP has an admissions process that is student run and tries to get at experience working with diverse populations. They also have a 5-credit diversity requirement to ensure that students are aware that the College affects multiple communities.         
~ College of Architecture and Urban Planning

The School of Medicine is the UW’s leader in community outreach.          
~ Regent Evans Dinner

We need to expand programs like SPARKS that convene students from across disciplines in collaboratory practice (bring in nursing, medicine, dentistry, social work, public health).
~ School of Pharmacy

School of Pharmacy faculty is a huge strength. They are the leaders in a state that leads the country. They genuinely care about students and show this in numerous ways. 
~ School of Pharmacy

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Students need to connect with dentists in the field to complete their clinical work and to learn advanced techniques. This provides extra-mural based education (like the medical model). Need to restructure coursework and program to provide for such opportunities.         
~ School of Dentistry

Community involvement as part of coursework would prepare better doctors, and not add to an already intimidating list of course requirements.         
~ School of Medicine

A concern exists that a student can graduate not knowing enough beyond theory to be of greatest benefit to clients.
~ School of Social Work

While critical thinking skills are being well developed, there is not enough real experience. Nurses need to be made ready to hit the floor running.         
~ School of Nursing

Placing students and faculty in partnerships with schools creates individual ownership while providing immense learning and mentoring opportunities for K-12 and UW students.    
~ Regent Knaus Dinner

We need an experiential-based service learning requirement or something that teaches democratic participation and responsibility.         
~ School of Arts & Sciences

It has been suggested that the School of Public Health work closely with a variety of biotechnology industries to provide ‘internship’ or ‘practicum’ experiences for graduate students interested in careers in the biotechnology industry. Their training could prove to be a ‘win-win-win’ situation for the School, the student, and the biotechnology companies that participate.
~ Public Health Science & Biotechnology

There is insufficient real experience, and lack of mentoring to give you an idea of how and where to apply the knowledge you have towards employment         
~ School of Public Health

Enhancing the utilization of practical research opportunities within the region through the expansion of programs like Friday Harbor Labs to provide more undergraduate experiences. Regional strengths, like rainforests and oceanography should be used to provide more opportunities for undergraduates.
~ College of Arts & Sciences

Students often travel abroad yet have very limited experiences in South Seattle. UW could provide more local experiences that raise local awareness and provide off-campus educational experiences outside the traditional.         
~ Regent Knaus Dinner

FUNDING

The nation’s priority can be seen in the funding differences between the National Science Foundation and National Humanities Foundation.          
~ Rethinking the U – Sciences vs. Humanities

Lay out a strategy to support those units with the potential for public-private partnerships. In light of future funding uncertainties and constraints within the state, examine the costs and potential for increased privatization of parts of UW.         
~ Board of Deans

UW research competitiveness at a national level is key, and must be preserved. There is a huge payoff to the state in terms of economic development.          
~ Regent Grinstein Dinner

The State of California has a program that provides matching funds for some joint academia-industry research projects.         
~ Public Health Science & Biotech

Three core issues drive financing challenges for UW: (1) Retention and improvement of faculty, (2) Facilities improvements, expansion and maintenance, and (3) National trends about public support for education         
~ Regent Yapp Dinner

As the class institution in the state, we should go ahead and leave the other institutions in the dust. Regents can improve things by letting intellectual property opportunities take off and return money to the school.         
~ Regent Yapp Dinner

A crucial issue is the increasing debt load that students have when they leave medical school. The overall increase in salaries for primary care is quickly outstripped by educational indebtedness, making it more difficult to fill the need for primary care physicians in rural areas, because typically, the wages are lower in underserved regions.         
~ Regent Clack Dinner

A pilot test should be done on a significant scale for a university-wide venture capitol fund to provide modest grants in support of faculty and staff who are putting together grant proposals for external funding of worthy projects.          
~ Board of Deans

It may be an interesting idea to consider having students pay part of their tuition after they graduate as an investment in the ongoing health of the University.  It would create a stream of income, but also make universities accountable for creating career-ready people who can afford to pay ongoing tuition.
~ Wenatchee Business Leaders

If the state looks to corporate sponsorship to supplement funding of higher education, students would be concerned.  They questioned the academic freedom and breadth of intellectual innovation that schools like the “Boeing school of Engineering” would have.         
~ GPSS

Concerns about financial and funding futures were raised in relation to research grants, disparities between individual colleges and their ability to access funds, private vs. government support, insufficient physical spaces and rising costs of living (particularly in Seattle) without comparable increases in staff salaries.          
~ Staff Conversations

The legislature stepped up funding of the UW in the ‘80s because of President Gerberding’s message to the outside community. He worked with other schools to take the message out and attack the future of education in the state. The legislature responded by increasing its funding to colleges.
~ Regent Evans Dinner

Pay differential between private practice and professorship is enormous. This results in clinicals not being available to all students because of reduced number of faculty who can teach clinicals.
~ School of Dentistry

INTERDISCIPLINARY/INTERDEPARTMENTAL STUDIES

Interdisciplinary studies are beneficial because they challenge students and educators to contemplate outside of the traditional boundaries of hierarchical thinking – the boundaries that are fiercely guarded by university intellectuals.  Giroux does not propose the breakdown of traditional disciplines but more investigation into the spaces that separate them.
~ GPSS – Giroux

Interdisciplinary Education is difficult to achieve. Obviously the real world is not broken up between departments but how can we make sense of this at UW? While general education requirements work for some, they do not for others. Perhaps general education requirements need to be re-evaluated.
~ CHID class

The end result (of unavailability of interdisciplinary study) is that engineering students are forced not to focus on liberal education, and as such, do not get a well-rounded educational experience.
~ College of Engineering

The system of incentives and structures that supports interdisciplinary and cross-college academic initiatives should be extended. How do we best inspire collaboration wherever it is needed?
~ Board of Deans

A system needs to be established to help any student from any School, College or Department to know their full breadth of opportunities for learning.         
~ College of Ocean & Fishery Sciences

Collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches are rare. A space needs to be created for collaborative work (since that’s what happens in the field). Collaboration needs to be infused into the curriculum instead of providing electives that ‘allow’ for it.         
~ School of Medicine

A key component to community responsibility is the cross-discipline support extended throughout the College, since many areas impact or influence other disciplines.         
~ College of Education

Public Health care delivery calls on so many other disciplines, we need to do a better job of communication and cross learning.         
~ School of Public Health

There is a perpetual dichotomy between humanities and sciences. The consequence of this dichotomy is to require some of each, but perhaps we should have more courses taught jointly.
~ Rethinking the U – Sciences vs. Humanities

Cross-departmental coursework and greater interdisciplinary freedom are necessary to both attract more students and prepare for work in the real world.         
~ School of Social Work

There is a need for interdisciplinary work, but no time or availability.    
~ College of Forest Resources

Students value their ability to take course outside of their school; it is an essential component. How can UW administration encourage other programs and schools to do the same?         
~ Evans School

Students would like more exposure to other schools and departments. There are limitations to enrolling in different programs’ courses because students often do not know which departmental hoops to jump through in time to take the class.         
~ College of Arts & Sciences

Interdisciplinary teaching and learning was mentioned frequently as a way to reduce the distance among disciplines and between faculty and students.         
~ Rethinking the U – A Forum

Members would like to see more focus on multiple disciplines, supported by interdisciplinary study so graduates may think in multiple layers in multiple areas.
~ Alumni

Interdisciplinary, stratified group research efforts need to be created. This can bring in undergraduates, doctoral students, and professors from various departments.         
~ College of Arts & Sciences

Architecture is an interdisciplinary career by definition. Restrictions keep us from crossing disciplines even within our own college. A main recruitment tool here is the strength of other UW programs (like civil engineering), but once students arrive on campus, there is little room for work with these other departments.  
~ College of Architecture & Urban Planning

A good mission for the UW would be to craft a vision of what an education system should look like. For example, Pediatrics and Adolescent medicine should have a part in teacher training at the College of Education. We should design, create and pilot a program to make education ‘work.
~ Regent Chin Dinner

Most medical students are unaware of how helpful Pharmacy can be to them, so the opportunity for creating collaboration should start in school and be fortified in the field based on pre-made relationships.            
~ School of Pharmacy

A nurse in practice is almost always part of a team with diverse skills. There is no interdisciplinary work to prepare us to be well integrated into those teams.         
~ School of Nursing

RESEARCH

The faculty is not supported for the time they devote to students. (They are granted tenure based on research and get paid for teaching, but this one-on-one is not considered class time).
~ College of Architecture & Urban Planning

“Recalibrate undergraduate majors.” Remove 20% of required courses from a typical major. Free faculty time for new educational activities.         
~ Board of Deans

Students felt well-funded, and that their teachers are committed and excellent, particularly if their research interests matched up. Space for student research, however, is limited.
~ School of Public Health

Some faculty interested primarily in research do not want to teach; and perhaps they shouldn’t have to, if they wouldn’t be great at it. Perhaps offer teacher training (in Ph.D. program at least)?
~ College of Forest Resources

Overall there is a lack of opportunity for undergraduates to engage in research.         
~ College of Forest Resources

Create more opportunities for students to do research with faculty members.         
~ Alumni

We need to bring research to liberal education for undergraduates.      
~ Rethinking the U – Leff

Faculty who are engaged in research and project work on sustainability are not given the same type of departmental support as are other faculty. If the College is to value work in this area, it needs to prioritize faculty work and offer more opportunities for students.
~ College of Architecture & Urban Planning

If research faculty do not wish to teach, perhaps they should not have to. Junior faculty must focus on research instead of teaching in order to secure tenure. Could this be addressed by having students take an active role in the tenure process?          
~ School of Business

Tenure system means professors work on research instead of teaching for their first five years. This means fewer opportunities to have fresh dentists teaching students. We need to maximize teaching, especially in light of the lack of clinical professors.         
~ School of Dentistry

Need to balance teaching with research (maybe not require teaching for the faculty who do not want to teach, and provide support for those who want to teach more and research less).  Faculty time is spent on grants more often than students, and not all faculty like this. Could use institutional support to help work on grants to free up time for students.          
~ School of Pharmacy

To help balance the attractiveness and value of teaching with the focus on research, develop rewards for excellence in teaching, and have tenured faculty teach core courses         
~ School of Arts & Sciences

Researchers are not clinicians. We need good teachers teaching clinics and a process evaluating the teaching. Teaching is often looked at as a burden versus the clear rewards for research efforts. Perhaps two different tenure tracks need to be established: one for clinicians and one for researchers.
~ School of Medicine

There are very few research opportunities available for undergraduates, and the opportunities that are available are not publicized.         
~ College of Engineering

SYSTEMS

Administrative systems are essential to performing jobs, and not suitably supported. Staff who work on these systems are hard to retain because they are in such demand and we provide non-competitive salaries.         
~ Professional Staff

Stronger/Better systems are needed to maximize opportunity within the greater system and guide students through the maze of what’s available throughout their campus careers.         
~ Alumni

There is a need to improve and expand student support services (registration and course selection issues, support for special populations, full-time-study requirements for financial aid, assistance accessing grants and loans, etc.)         
~ Staff

One of the negative influences on potential applicants to the UW is a lack of support for finding the way through an overwhelming system.          
~ Regent Yapp Dinner

Our student support services to deal with TA problems are inappropriate or insufficient: orientation and registration confusion, and advisor empowerment frustrations.         
~ Teaching Academy

Each department in the Medical School has a different way of doing things and it is seldom clear whom to contact with questions.         
~ Regent Clack Dinner

TEACHING ASSISTANTS

Provide safeguards for TA quality and benefits. TAs do the majority of teaching, yet are not provided adequate support or training. Training is on their own time.  
~ College of Arts & Sciences

One-on-one instructor time is limited. In order to decrease class sizes, increase the number of TA’s. This is especially problematic for Master’s level students, whose work is almost entirely one-on-one.
~ College of Architecture and Urban Planning

The only way graduate student instructors can have a voice among the powers that determine TA (and faculty) working conditions - and undergraduate students' learning conditions - is through union representation.        
~ GPSS

The majority of students are not happy with the quality of graduate teaching assistants. We can begin to address this by expanding TA training.         
~ School of Business

Tutor and TA training programs were mentioned as another resource the College could provide for the community.         
~ College of Education

Inappropriate or insufficient student support services cited by these students incorporated a myriad of TA problems, including incompetence.         
~ Teaching Academy

Negative influences on potential applicants to the UW are huge first year classes, a reputation for too much and variable quality teaching by TA’s (versus faculty) and lack of support for finding the way through the overwhelming system.          
~ Regent Yapp Dinner

TECHNOLOGY

Education of returning students is increasingly important. It probably will occur in box- and net-driven ways. These are adults who already know how to learn.          
~ Regent Grinstein Dinner

Students feel they are way behind in technological skills because the school does not provide access to current technologies as they should.           
~ School of Public Health

Students need to learn more computer skills during their time at UW. How will UW change to make this happen? Education needs to help students bridge the 'digital divide.'          
~ Evans School

Students could benefit from greatly increased training in relevant technology.
~ College of Forest Resources

UWired is an excellent support, but it is mainly used for outside the classroom support. Need more support for the classroom support services to maintain in-class technology. There is also a huge disparity in classroom support services between sciences and humanities.         
~ College of Arts & Sciences

More attention to the technology of education is a must. Technology impacts how teachers teach, what teachers teach, and which students education can reach.
~ College of Education

Organize meetings with sponsors (public, private and philanthropic) to brainstorm how to make UW the most advanced university in the use of technology.         
~ Board of Deans

Concerns over sufficient plans for advancement in administrative and educational technologies arose as a theme from multiple angles and staff members, including access, advancement, and program offerings, such as providing distance learning.          
~ Staff Conversations

The issue of technology limitations was raised regarding completing coursework efficiently, the future of class registration and scholarship application.          
~ Teaching Academy

Students are not taught the most updated technology or software. They then have to learn this once in the field which places them at a disadvantage. Serious technology updates are needed for the entire business school in order for them to compete for jobs.  
~ School of Business