This is a really great time of year if you’re someone like me who lives their professional life by the rhythms of the state legislature. It’s mid-June, the weather is warm and the 2008 session seems like a distant memory. Better still, most elected officials are preoccupied with their respective campaigns and the 2009 session is still more than half a year away. State government? What’s that?
I’m only joking, of course. This is the time of year when we work really hard to get elected officials onto the campus to meet our faculty, staff and students and learn about our research and academic endeavors. We’ve had quite a few Olympia-types visit over the past couple of months and I thought I’d give you a quick summary of some of what’s been going on.
- Sen. Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup), Sen. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor) and several Senate committee staff came to the Seattle campus recently to learn more about UW research efforts. Kastama is the chair of the Senate Economic Development, Trade and Management Committee and a big proponent of higher education research as a critical driver of the state’s economy. Vice Provost for Research Mary Lidstrom assembled an impressive series of presentations which included Dr. Michael Hochberg who spoke about nanophotonics, Dr. Ed Lazowska who talked about the recently formed UW “eScience Initiative” and Dr. Paul Yager who discussed bioengineering and point-of-care diagnostics.
- Staffers from the Senate, House and Governor’s office paid a visit in April to the UW Tacoma campus to learn more about their campus and plans for the future. In addition, some of the same individuals participated in a tour in early May of the two leading sites for the potential UW campus in Snohomish County.
- Staffers from the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee visited campus in May to learn more about the School of Social Work’s “Partners for Our Children” program. This innovative partnership between the UW, the Department of Social and Health Services and the private sector to improve the state’s child welfare system. The visit was lead by Mark Courtney, Executive Director of the program.
- The House Early Learning and Children’s Services and Higher Education Committees held a joint work session at the Burke Museum last week which focused on the preparation of world class teachers and early learning professionals. UW College of Education Dean Pat Walsley and Cap Peck, Director of Teacher Education were presenters in the early afternoon session on partnerships and collaboration.
- Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Renton), chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee was on campus yesterday to visit the UW Autism Center. Sen. Prentice is the parent of an autistic son and has been very active in supporting programs and research in this area. In the 2007 session, she secured funding for the UW to produce a educational DVD to provide help to parents of autistic children. The DVD is now finished and on June 25, President Mark Emmert and Sen. Prentice will appear at a press conference with autism center staff to unveil the DVD and introduce some of the families who participated in the project.
- Rep. Larry Seaquist (D-Gig Harbor) paid a visit to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) yesterday to learn more about their work. Rep. Seaquist was a supporter of the UW’s 2008 supplemental budget request to provide additional resources to the IHME to facilitate more work on Washington State health care costs and outcomes. Institute director Chris Murray and Michael MaIntyre, director of strategy and special projects helped to organize the visit.
We have lots more visits planned for our state elected officials in the coming weeks and months. If I’ve missed a recent visit that you might have coordinated, please let me know so that we can share it with the group.