Provost’s blog

This blog post was published April 11, 2024. Please see the Labor Relations website for details on bargaining sessions that have taken place since then and for other regular updates.

In February, academic student employees and the University of Washington entered into negotiations for their next collective bargaining agreement. I have tremendous respect for our graduate students and the bargaining process, and I have every confidence that through these conversations we will find the path that allows all of our students to pursue their education and degree attainment so they can engage in fulfilling careers, advance our knowledge, and have a positive impact on the world.

Because of the central role of graduate students in our mission, many members of our University are understandably invested in the negotiation process and its progress. Today, I am writing to provide an update and the framework for how the University is approaching these conversations.

The UW’s commitment to graduate students

At the core of its foundation, the University of Washington is committed to graduate students and their education. First and foremost, they are students earning graduate degrees to advance their careers, fields of studies and communities.

We also recognize graduate students’ valuable contributions as academic student employees to the research and academic mission and impact of our University. Salaried academic student employees (ASEs) hold part-time positions of no more than 20 hours per week in which they contribute to and gain experience in all aspects of our mission. In learning settings, academic student employees organize course material, assist with grading, mentor students, teach courses and lead study sessions. In research and discovery, they engage in textual and narrative analysis, conduct interviews and surveys, engage in field research, run experiments, analyze findings and communicate their results. In administrative units, they support activities such as outreach, advising and program planning.

In addition to being paid for their work and in recognition of their student status, most salaried academic student employees’ tuition is waived, meaning they pay no tuition. When wages, benefits and tuition waivers are considered, these part-time positions currently pay an average of approximately $70 an hour. There are also other benefits for academic student employees – some of which are available to all employees and others that are specific to ASEs – which are described in detail in the contract.

ASE positions are governed by a collective bargaining agreement, and the University is committed to negotiating this agreement in good faith. ASEs are represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 4121. You may read updates on the bargaining process, including the proposals from the union and those from the University that have been made during the eight bargaining sessions so far. As both sides agreed, all initial proposals were made by March 22.

Current proposal from UAW Local 4121

The UAW is currently proposing a 56% base salary increase beginning July 1, 2024. That raise would be followed by another 6% increase next year, and another 6% increase the following year.

The UAW has also proposed that the University waive student fees for all 50% or greater salaried ASEs and extend tuition waivers to graduate and undergraduate students in hourly ASE positions. Numerous other proposals include increases in health-care benefits, guaranteed year-long appointments for many ASE appointments, regardless of departmental research activities and coursework, and increased spending on programming. Those are detailed in the updates on the bargaining process mentioned above.

In total, the increases proposed by the UAW amount to $463,597,541 over the three years of the contract. This is in addition to the existing costs of pay, benefits and tuition waivers for the ASE population. For context, the University’s approximate budget for academic student employees—when factoring in wages, tuition and fee waivers, and health-care coverage—is $291 million per year.

The proposed increases by the union would result in an increase from the current minimum equivalent rate for salaried ASEs of $36 per hour to $57 per hour when considering compensation alone. When considering all of the union’s proposed increases, plus the current benefits and tuition waivers, ASEs will be paid an average of approximately $112 an hour.

The UW’s position

We recognize the impact of inflation on the cost of living in our region. It is clear that we must do more to compensate ASEs so that we continue to provide fair and appropriate compensation for these important part-time student employees. Reaching this shared goal will require us all to work together to balance the needs of all members of our University.

Why is this balance necessary? Because there are real constraints on the sources of funding – tuition, state funding, grants, etc. – for academic student employees. Grants have limits on what can be paid and are time limited; state funding varies by year; and tuition increases are capped by state law to maintain the affordability of a UW degree for students whose tuition isn’t waived.

While it may seem possible to consider the ASE contract in isolation, the comprehensiveness of our mission as a University requires a more holistic consideration of many factors including:

• the availability of assistantships
• the robustness of course offerings
• access to faculty mentors
• availability of support and services, both academic and non-academic

Together, these considerations determine access to education, success and time to degree for both graduate and undergraduate students, and the impact of our research, scholarship and creative activity.

By virtue of our contributions, we are all stewards of the mission of the University of Washington. We have a shared responsibility to be intentional about the impact of the decisions we make as the foundation of good faith in bargaining.

The way forward

As a faculty member, I have had the honor and privilege of working directly with ASEs in my teaching and research over the course of my career, and I have a deep appreciation for their important contributions to our academic mission. My own time as a teaching assistant and a research assistant provided my first window into what an academic career might entail. I am committed to reaching a fair and appropriate contract that enables graduate students to focus on their learning, teaching and research and to meet their financial needs. UW Labor Relations regularly shares updates on its website if you want to follow the negotiations.

Although I have confidence that we will ultimately reach an agreement that provides the best path forward, and we are working hard toward a positive outcome with a minimum of strife, past experience also shows us that we must unfortunately be prepared for strikes and other disruptions. So, we are actively engaged in those preparations.

I sincerely hope we can avoid that outcome, for the sake of all students and our shared enterprise of education, research, and service. We remain committed to reaching an agreement that meets the needs both of academic student employees and the University. 

Across the UW, faculty, staff and students are discovering and exploring the potential of artificial intelligence to improve lives around the world in nearly every field of study and area of research – computer science, health care, social sciences, humanities, law, public policy, and much more. AI is being leveraged countless ways, from diagnosing and delivering targeted treatment to cancer patients, to analyzing past weather patterns to predict future events.

AI also has the power to enhance the effectiveness of the University’s teaching and operations by personalizing and accelerating pathways to the institution’s goals.

Developing an institutional strategy for artificial intelligence is no longer a choice; it’s an imperative for the University. The UW has a responsibility to lead in the conversation around AI – not only in potential applications but in their ethical and equitable use. It is about catalyzing our mission to preserve, advance and disseminate knowledge and preparing students for a future where AI will be an integral part of their professional and personal lives.

Task Force on Artificial Intelligence

Provost Tricia Serio and President Ana Mari Cauce have appointed a Task Force on Artificial Intelligence to address these issues and to suggest a UW-wide AI strategy. Chaired by Andreas Bohman, vice president of UW-IT and the University’s chief information officer, and Anind Dey, dean of the Information School, the task force will initially divide its work into five areas:

• Research and Knowledge Creation/Transfer
• Student Services
• Teaching and Learning
• Infrastructure
• Administration

Other task force members:

• Magda Balazinska, professor, Bill & Melinda Gates chair and director of the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
• Andrew Connolly, associate vice provost for data science and director of the UW eScience Institute
• Yoshi Kohno, professor, Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
• François Baneyx, vice provost for innovation and director of CoMotion
• Andy Harris, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, UW Tacoma
• Eric Neil, chief information officer, UW Medicine
• Anne-Marie Gloster, associate teaching professor, Department of Epidemiology, and member of Faculty Senate’s Council on Teaching and Learning
• Rickey Hall, University Diversity Officer

Ex-officio members:

• Mary Gresch, senior vice president for University Advancement
• Randy Hodgins, vice president, Office of External Affairs

Working groups for each area will provide awareness of current efforts across the University, identify and prioritize areas of opportunity, and suggest policy for emerging issues. Additional members will be added to each working group in the coming weeks.

Working group chairs:

• Research and Knowledge Creation/Transfer: Mari Ostendorf, vice provost for research, and Luke Zettlemoyer, professor, Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
• Student Services: Denzil Suite, vice president for Student Life, and Michaelann Jundt, senior associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs
• Teaching and Learning: Pen Moon, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, and Bill Howe, associate professor, Information School
• Infrastructure: Bin Guo, associate vice president for infrastructure and chief technology officer, and Xiaosong Li, associate vice provost for research cyberinfrastructure
• Administration: Mindy Kornberg, vice president for Human Resources, and Erin Guthrie, assistant vice provost for university analytics and institutional research

 

I was a full professor and a department chair before it occurred to me to tell anyone my own story. One day, several years ago, I met with a first-generation college student who was also a first-generation American citizen. She had just won our department’s top academic award and expressed her perception that she wasn’t “good enough” to continue on to graduate or medical school. During this conversation, she specifically pointed to me as an example of “what it took.” For the first time, I realized that the official version of me – my visible academic achievements – was presenting a limited view of who I actually am. When I told her about my own background, she was stunned.

I was the first in my family to attend – and graduate from – college, an achievement made possible by a Pell Grant, student loans, a campus job as an RA, and scholarships. When I started college, I had no frame of reference; my father didn’t graduate from high school, and my mother was a stay-at-home mom. I ultimately became a scientist, but when I entered college, I had no idea that becoming one was even a career path. In important ways, serendipity – and my approach of trying things to figure out what I should be doing – made all the difference. I found out about undergraduate research by accident when a friend, whose parents were both medical doctors, started working in a lab. I had no idea what research was, but it sounded interesting. I found a faculty member who was willing to have me join his group. Quite unexpectedly, I discovered a passion for experimental science that I didn’t even know that I had.

My path through college was anything but straightforward. When I decided to change my major from pre-dentistry to molecular biology, I suddenly had to fit four years of requirements into three. My parents were unconditionally supportive, but they were anxious about the unknown and as a result frequently asked me if I was doing the “right thing.”

But my college advisor met with me regularly to make sure that I was on track, one semester at a time. Bolstered by her constant support and mentorship, I decided to apply to graduate school, and went on to build an academic career as a biochemist, teacher, program director, department head, dean and provost.

I want to be clear that, other than a strong streak of stubbornness, there is nothing particularly remarkable about me. I ended up here today because I have benefitted immensely and consistently throughout my entire education and career, even to this day, by a whole team of mentors. They believed in me when I couldn’t see it myself and supported me when I didn’t know what I needed.

Along the way, my background and gender set me apart, and these differences were made apparent to me by my peers and colleagues – everything from a professor asking me why I was enrolled in his course to a department chair asking me if my pregnancies were planned.

As I relayed this story to the promising undergraduate student, I realized what a difference mentors can make. Over the next few years, I took an active role in mentoring her as she worked in a lab, took a few of my classes, applied to and was admitted to an M.D.-Ph.D. program, and was awarded an NIH fellowship for her dissertation work. She had all of the talent in the world to achieve these things; she just needed someone to help her to navigate her options and to cheer her on. She was also amazingly talented outside of science, and she painted a picture for me, which hangs in my office now as a reminder of what’s important.

November 8th is National First-Generation College Celebration when we celebrate the success and presence of first-generation students, faculty and staff on all of our campuses. More than 30 percent of UW undergraduates are first-generation students, and each of us contributes to their success, whether we teach introductory courses, provide student support services or maintain academic spaces. As my story shows, even the smallest of actions can have a significant impact by helping first-generation students to realize more quickly that a difference in experience is not an impediment to achieving their aspirations given their ability, talent, creativity, dedication, and passion.

The trajectory of my life was transformed by my opportunity to earn a college degree, and the key aspect of that transformation was finding a passion for science. For me, this work is about paying forward the gift that I have received. Through my own experience, I know that whenever we teach, mentor or guide a first-generation student, their lives and our world will be changed for the better.

When I’m asked who was my most influential role model, I never hesitate. It was my dad, who always supported me and grounded me in realistic expectations. Whenever I was struggling, he would ask if I was doing my best and would remind me that my best was all that could ever be asked of me. I’ve learned over the course of my life and career that the support of others expands what my best looks like and the great joy that comes with serving in that role for others.