April 21, 2005
New UW Tacoma chancellor eager for challenges
Patricia Spakes believes it’s her destiny to be at UW Tacoma.
And since Tacoma is the City of Destiny, she ought to fit right in.
Spakes, the new chancellor of UW Tacoma, started work April 4 after moving thousands of miles from her old home in Pennsylvania. She takes the helm of UWT just as the future of the campus is about to be decided, a challenge she relishes.
“This job will take a tremendous amount of energy and stamina, and a sense of humor,” she said.
Spakes comes to UWT from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, where she was provost and vice president for academic affairs. She has also been vice president for academic affairs at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts and held the same position at Arizona State University West, where she helped develop a plan to transition that university from upper-division to four year. She believes the experience will serve her well as UWT plans to make the same move.
“I’ve been on both kinds of campuses, and I think the biggest difference is identity,” she said. “At an established, four-year campus, you have a clear sense of what the university is and who it serves. On a smaller campus, these things are still undecided. You can be much more entrepreneurial and creative.”
After she left ASU West, Spakes kept her eye on small campuses around the country, hoping for another opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new university. She was attracted to UWT early on, but knew family and job commitments might make the transition tough. She had promised the president at Shippensburg that she would stay on until he retired.
“I was watching this campus,” she said. “It seemed like a good match for my background and skills.”
Then last year, the chancellor’s job opened up just as the Shippensburg president decided to take early retirement. The timing, it seemed, was perfect.
Spakes approached her husband, Jerry Finn, about applying for the job, with some trepidation. Was he ready for one last great adventure before they retired?
“Where?” Finn asked.
“Tacoma,” Spakes replied.
“OK,” he said.
With that, the decision was made.
Spakes was hired after an extensive national search process that lasted nearly a year. UW President Mark Emmert appointed her to the position in January.
“This search did what such searches are supposed to do, scour the country for the best talent out there and find someone with fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to bring to this important leadership position,” Emmert said at the time. “Patricia Spakes has all of this and more. She is a wonderful academic leader and will be an asset to the University of Washington, Tacoma, the community it serves, and the higher education community in our state. She will make an impact, and I’m very excited about the future of our Tacoma campus under her stewardship.”
Two weeks into her new job, Spakes said she is forming an impression of UWT and preparing to begin addressing pressing issues at the University.
“UWT is a campus full of hard-working, dedicated people with a great vision,” she said. “The potential here is enormous.”
Her first acts as chancellor will likely focus on the expansion of UWT to a four-year campus. The bill allowing this change passed the State Legislature just this week; under its provisions, UWT could see its first freshmen in 2007. Before that happens, Spakes and the UWT leadership team must develop a new lower-division curriculum and address issues of campus life, student services and facilities to meet the needs of freshmen and sophomores.
“We have to decide what new services we need and whether our organizational structure is right to move forward,” she said.
Spakes will approach these issues by developing a plan for proceeding. She hopes to involve the entire UWT campus in this planning process.
Also at the top of Spakes’ agenda is addressing diversity issues at UWT.
Spakes holds a doctorate in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin, a master of social work from the University of South Carolina, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology/social work and English from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. She has been provost and vice president at Shippensburg since 2001. Her husband will be joining her at UW Tacoma as a professor of social work.
Working on the same campus will have “advantages and disadvantages,” Spakes said. “I know we will both become invested in our community through this campus.”
UWT Advisory Board member Ray Tennison, a member of the committee that recommended Spakes as a finalist for the position, said her appointment is great news for the South Puget Sound region.
“The community leaders involved in the process were very impressed with her and her community orientation. She not only has a visionary approach to higher education administration, she clearly articulates the possibilities and challenges faced by colleges and universities.”
Spakes said she looks forward to meeting these challenges at UWT.
“A new campus like this one is a huge unknown,” she said. “What will the future look like? How will we get there? We still don’t know. It’s very challenging, and for me, that makes it more fun.”
