March 2, 2006
Educational Outreach: An Introduction
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to UW Educational Outreach, the programs we administer, the value we bring to students, departments and the UW, as well as the services our talented and professional staff offer to our campus partners.
Started in 1912, UW Educational Outreach offers a wide variety of self-sustaining educational programs. We help manage UW Extension, undergraduate and graduate degree programs, Summer Quarter, online learning and International Outreach and English Language Programs. Last year, programs administered through UW Educational Outreach helped nearly 50,000 students reach their educational, professional and personal goals.
UW Educational Outreach likes to multi-task. The wide variety of self-sustaining programs administered through UW Educational Outreach helps provide the general public with alternative access points to the University of Washington’s educational resources and also broadens the University’s reach further into the community.
UW Educational Outreach also helps enhance the financial resources of the University to ensure that future students have access to its educational riches by returning revenue to the University at the close of each academic year. In addition to returning net revenues to the UW departments and colleges, we provide more than $7 million for regular faculty salaries.
As an organization, UW Educational Outreach takes a supporting role in the self-sustaining programs it administers. As the primary supporter of these programs, UW Educational Outreach proudly celebrates the success of our academic partners.
UW Educational Outreach works closely with the University’s schools, colleges and departments to help transition state-funded programs to a self-sustaining basis and to launch new self-sustaining degree programs. The number of graduate degrees — evening, online and traditional day programs — administered through UW Educational Outreach has exploded from two in 2000 to nearly 30 in 2006. Last year, degrees managed by UW Educational Outreach for our academic partners served nearly 2,000 students.
Currently, UW Educational Outreach is working with the College of Education to launch the Master of Education in Intercollegiate Athletics Leadership which will begin this summer. We are also working with the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences to launch the Master of Science in Medical Speech-Language Pathology which will begin this fall.
With more than 16,000 students, UW Summer Quarter is the second-largest summer session in the nation. Each year, students have the opportunity to enjoy Seattle’s beautiful summer weather and take part in a broad selection of classes, some of which are not offered during the traditional academic year.
Each year, UW Extension helps thousands of students reach their goals with more than 100 classroom-based and online certificate programs. With such a diverse offering of programs, students can rest assured that UW Extension will have a certificate program for them. As with other programs offered through UWEO, every certificate program receives relevant UW departmental and college/school approval to ensure the highest-quality program possible.
The International Outreach and English Language Programs provide English language instruction to UW students, international visitors and special groups. Rebounding from a series of international obstacles, it has made a quick recovery and helped bring 2,104 students from more than 35 countries to study on the UW campus in Seattle last year.
I am proud of all that UW Educational Outreach has accomplished with our campus and community collaborators. I am also very privileged to work with 250 creative, talented professionals who provide our partners and students with a diverse array of services including program management, accounting and finance, registration and marketing. We look forward to building more domestic and international partnerships and increasing our collaborations within the UW community.
In 2007, our organization will finally have a permanent home where all our staff can work together under one roof. Construction on our new building, located across from Schmitz Hall, will begin this spring and conclude next year. The future looks bright for UW Educational Outreach, and we look forward to continuing to work with you.
For more information about UW Educational Outreach, please visit www.outreach.washington.edu.
David Szatmary is the Vice Provost, UW Educational Outreach
