UW News

June 26, 2008

14 UW Medical Center departments move to UW Tower

PROV: Academic and Student Affairs

Working as a team will be much easier when 14 UWMC offices move to UW Tower on the northwest edge of campus. Having that many departments all in one place will foster collaboration and creativity, said Helen Shawcroft, senior associate administrator who oversees the medical center’s planning and facilities efforts.

“We’re very excited to be moving so many departments back to campus from office space at Northgate, Fairview and down-town,” Shawcroft said. “By working in the same building, we’re encouraging employees and departments to work collaboratively to improve the way we work and find creative solutions to problems.”

The UWMC departments moving to UW Tower include: Accounting, Compliance, Center for Clinical Excellence, Design & Construction Management, Finance, Organizational Development & Training, Patient & Family Centered Care, Patient Financial Services, Planning & Physician Liaison, Regulatory Affairs, UWMC Human Resources, Financial Counseling and UWPN Administration.

Once everyone moves into the UW Tower by the end of the summer, six floors — or about 20 percent of the rentable space in the building — will be filled with UWMC employees, Shawcroft said. Most of the UWMC employees moving to the tower have been working at offices located at Northgate.

“Occupying that much of the tower means that we have quite a bit of access to conference space at UW Tower,” she said. UW Tower has 24-hour security and visitors sign in and out. Employees based there will have a chip in their badges that allows them access to various areas of the building.

Getting from the tower to UWMC is convenient. The Health Sciences Express shuttle service has added UW Tower to its route, just before it stops at UWMC-Roosevelt. Shuttles run every 15 minutes.

You can see the shuttle schedule at: www.washington.edu/admin/shuttles/Health-SciencesExpress/routes.php.