At the University of Washington, lives a group of dedicated professionals that build the digital front doors to the institution: the UMAC Web Strategy Team. We don’t just make websites—we architect experiences, wrangle code, and translate institutional complexity into something that actually makes sense.
Our team is divided into four sub-teams:
- Infrastructure: The quiet backbone. They keep the lights on, the servers humming, and the systems secure. You don’t see them, but you’d notice if they weren’t there.
- Web Development: The builders and breakers. They write the code, test the limits, and make the impossible look easy.
- User Experience & Content Strategy: The empathizers. They ask the hard questions—“Why would anyone care?”—and then make sure someone does.
- Web Engagement: The connectors. They bring the message to the people, and the people to the message.
Between us, we’ve racked up over 200 years of combined professional experience, with more than 115 of those years spent right here at the UW. Every one of us holds at least a bachelor’s degree. Many of us have gone further—earning master’s degrees, certificates of advanced study, and the kind of hard-won wisdom that only comes from breaking a production site while fixing the most insignificant of bugs. We’ve studied everything from computer science to poetry, and we bring that diversity of thought to every project we touch.
But we’re more than our résumés. We are your friends and neighbors. We are volunteers in our communities. We are mentors to those rising in our profession. We are yoga teachers, linguistics lovers, and armchair psychologists. We care deeply about the work, about each other, and about the people who use the things we build. We come from all walks of life and all corners of the globe. We’ve seen the world, and we’ve chosen to build something meaningful right here at the University of Washington.
Our Mission
We build, support, and maintain an accessible, forward-thinking, and user-friendly web presence for the University of Washington community and beyond. We provide digital infrastructure, software, and training that enables UW website builders to tell the story of the profound impact the University of Washington has on the citizens of our state, our nation, and the world.
Our Vision
We create modern, accessible, and engaging digital environments that meet Title II standards, support strategic marketing goals, and foster a collaborative knowledge-sharing community.
Our Values
We embrace agility, adaptability, and continuous improvement, pivoting swiftly to meet challenges and opportunities. We lead with kindness, empathy, and respect while fostering honest conversations that push ourselves and others forward. Our generosity and clarity define our approach, ensuring our words and actions align.
As thought leaders, facilitators, and collaborators, we champion curiosity and innovation—always learning, iterating, and building for the future. We envision the future and strive toward progress. Cross-team collaboration is at the heart of our work, recognizing that strong partnerships drive success.
We maintain professionalism without losing sight of fun, keeping perspective while tackling business decisions objectively. We rise to meet the challenges of our work and learn from those challenges. Above all, we take pride in our craft and the meaningful impact we create together.
Integrated vision, values, and actions
- Vision: We continually develop and support accessible digital infrastructure and software that both meet and often exceed accessibility requirements for our organization and community.
- Value: We embrace continuous improvement; leading with kindness, empathy, and respect and the belief that everyone should have equitable experiences.
- Actions:
- Meet all Title II accessibility requirements.
- Ensure all maintained sites achieve a 95%+ DubBot accessibility score.
- Provide everyone an equitable experience when they use or interact with the things we produce.
- Vision: Create a dynamic digital presence that drives meaningful engagement, elevates user experience, and advances our digital marketing strategies. We are committed to connecting with users in profound, data-informed ways—ensuring every interaction is intuitive, impactful, and aligned with their needs.
- Value: As thought leaders, facilitators, and collaborators, we champion curiosity and innovation—always learning, iterating, and building for the future.
- Actions:
- Launch a new homepage and refine the Boundless website.
- Integrate new brand elements into the digital theme for a cohesive experience.
- Support the tagging initiative to improve content organization.
- Use analytics-driven insights to guide strategy.
- Enhance search engine optimization to improve visibility and reach.
- Implement A/B testing to optimize messaging and user engagement.
- Vision: We are dedicated to empowering users through knowledge, strengthening our community through collaboration, and building inclusive spaces for shared learning and meaningful impact.
- Value: Our commitment to curiosity, innovation, and continuous improvement as well as our emphasis on cross-team collaboration, empathy, and clarity.
- Actions:
- Expand documentation and build robust knowledge bases to empower users.
- Refine operational procedures for clarity and consistency.
- Foster collaborative spaces for learning, innovation, and shared expertise.
- Strengthen communities of practice as hubs of support and continuous growth.
Fast facts
- 10 full-time employees, 2 interns, 1 dotted-line employee on 4 sub-teams
- 200+ years of combined experience; 115+ years of experience at the UW
- 200+ hosted websites on AWS infrastructure
- 99.95% cumulative uptime (that is around 4 hours of total down time per year!)
- 25M+ total yearly pageviews across all hosted sites; ~6M yearly pageviews for the homepage
- ~500 helpdesk tickets resolved in the last year