As interim president, I spoke to our university about racism, equity and the need for each of us to take personal responsibility for addressing our own biases and improving our University culture. We committed to deepen the work of more systematically combating racism and inequities, both individual and institutional, which persist here and throughout our society.
Presidential Blog
With Bob Santos’ passing, we’ve lost a giant
I had the opportunity to first get to know Bob Santos – known as “Uncle Bob” to so many he advocated for – when I chaired the UW’s Department of American Ethnic Studies. It was a tough time for the department, and our first meeting was marked by mutual skepticism. But it ended with mutual respect. Integrity and valor are the two words that first come to mind when I think of him. Through Bob’s leadership, advocacy and mentorship, the cause of civil rights and social justice has been advanced, and the lives of countless members of our community, especially Asian Pacific Islanders, have been improved.
We’ve truly lost a giant.
Seattle Times remembrance: ‘Uncle Bob’ Santos, legendary civil-rights activist, dies at 82
President Cauce speaks at Business Journal Live event on what’s next for the UW
This Wednesday, August 17, President Cauce sat down with Puget Sound Business Journal columnist Patti Payne for a wide-ranging discussion about the University, her experience thus far as president and what the future holds for the UW. Topics at the breakfast event, attended by dozens of Seattle business luminaries, ranged from the incoming freshman class to the Population Health initiative to the Husky Promise, the UW’s commitment to making education affordable to eligible Washington students. The Puget Sound Business Journal’s TechFlash blog followed up the event with a story, linked below, focused on the Global Innovation Exchange, the UW’s groundbreaking partnership with China’s Tsinghua University.
Puget Sound Business Journal: “UW president lays out vision for Global Innovation Exchange”
On free expression, universities must light the way
As we head into the home stretch of the election season there is heightened potential for visits to the UW by candidates or speakers invited by campus groups to speak on topics that may be quite controversial. That makes it a good time to remind ourselves of the fundamental importance of freedom of expression to our University and our nation.
Executive Council selected for the UW’s Population Health Initiative
University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Jerry Baldasty announced today the selection of the 30-member Executive Council for the University’s new Population Health Initiative. The council’s members will lead the development of a 25-year vision for population health at the UW, as was originally announced in President Cauce’s remarks on May 3, 2016.
“Population health is not just about treating diseases and afflictions,” said Cauce. “Significant contributions from a number of different disciplines are required to truly improve health and well-being. We have tremendous strengths in those disciplines at the UW and in our region, and that’s reflected in the team of collaborators from across the University who will lead our work on this initiative.”
Executive Council members will work closely with students, faculty, staff and key leaders to create a shared vision for the UW as the leading university for improving the health and well-being of populations here and around the world. The five key areas targeted for achievement in this vision are education and capacity building, diagnostics and critical assessment, developing and testing innovations, implementation sciences, and strategy and planning.
“Selecting the council is our first step toward engaging the entire University community in the development of this groundbreaking initiative,” shared Baldasty. “Together we are well positioned as a university to lead improvements in the health and well-being of people here and around the world.”
The council represents all three UW campuses as well as the undergraduate and graduate student populations. Its members are:
- Ana Mari Cauce, president; chair
- Jerry Baldasty, provost and executive vice president
- Ali Mokdad, professor of Global Health, Epidemiology, and Health Services (IHME); vice chair
- Thaisa Way, associate professor of landscape architecture; Faculty Senate liaison
- David Anderson, executive director, Health Sciences administration
- Norm Beauchamp, professor and chair, Department of Radiology
- Kendra Canton, undergraduate student representative
- Alison Cullen, professor, Evans School of Public Policy and Governance and adjunct professor, School of Public Health and College of the Environment
- Sara Curran, professor, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, and director, Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology
- Dave Eaton, dean and vice provost, Graduate School
- James Fogarty, associate professor, Computer Science and Engineering
- Ceci Giachelli, professor and W. Hunter and Dorothy Simpson Endowed Chair, Department of Bioengineering
- Eric King, graduate/professional student representative
- Vicky Lawson, professor of geography; director of University Honors
- Hedwig Lee, associate professor of sociology
- Joe Lott, associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies
- India Ornelas, assistant professor of health services, School of Public Health
- David Reyes, assistant professor of nursing & healthcare leadership, UW Tacoma
- Sallie Sanford, associate professor of law and adjunct associate professor of health services
- Jane Simoni, professor of psychology and adjunct professor of global health
- Clarence Spigner, professor of health services, School of Public Health
- Bruder Stapleton, professor and chair, Department of Pediatrics, Seattle
- Emiko Tajima, associate dean for academic affairs and associate professor, School of Social Work
- LuAnne Thompson, professor of oceanography
- Wadiya Udell, associate professor, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, UW Bothell
- Jurgen Unutzer, professor and chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
- Judy Wasserheit, professor and William H. Foege Endowed Chair, Department of Global Health
- Lee Heck, associate vice president of individual giving programs, University Advancement
- Mary Gresch, chief marketing & communications officer, University Marketing & Communications
- Derek Fulwiler, director of project strategy and communications, Office of the President and Provost; project director
Children’s Hospital and UW Medicine
The council will also work closely with the UW Faculty Senate to develop new financing sources to further the vision priorities as well as to incentivize collaborative teaching and research in support of the vision. It will collaborate with Faculty Senate committees to address student needs, facilitate faculty contributions and ensure alignment with the imperatives of diversity, equity and inclusivity. Additional work will occur between the council and with the UW Board of Regents and other stakeholders, partners and donors to advance the visibility and impact of the initiative.
To learn more about this initiative, please visit President Cauce’s website.
Standing together for justice
Dear faculty, staff and students:
We both love the University during its high-energy moments — crowded hallways and walkways, the chatter on Red Square so loud we have to close our windows to concentrate. Yet, as June rolls around, we look forward to the bittersweet joy of graduations, the warmer weather and quieter times that offer a chance to reflect, plan and relax.
Not this summer. Hours after graduates and their families proudly streamed out of Husky Stadium, we heard about the 49 people, mostly Latino gay men, slaughtered in Orlando. Yet again, hours after celebrating on the Fourth of July, there was devastating news of the death of Alton Sterling, followed almost immediately by Philando Castile, killed at the hands of police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota. There was no chance to take a breath or grieve appropriately before news came from Dallas of the five police officers fatally shot. And all this against a backdrop of international terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, attacks that affect our community as well. Promising lives cut short, families torn asunder, scenes of horrific violence seared into our consciousness, images of children and parents sobbing. We are heartbroken — for the dead and their families, for their friends and communities, for our country and world.
It is tempting to feel helpless and hopeless, to look for easy answers, draw a line in the sand and choose sides.
But we can’t. And we won’t.
The essence of our mission as a public university is to educate, shape and prepare generations of students not simply to exist in our world, but to create change for the betterment of all. We are driven to take up the biggest challenges we face, whether it’s improving the health of our communities, addressing climate change, healing a nation divided and in crisis, or forging a united path forward.
Our students give us hope every day that real change is possible — they challenge us to have difficult and uncomfortable conversations. They push us to reflect the world we wish to build. Our faculty, alumni and many in our community have shown us — both now and over many years — that education, self-reflection and determination can lead to structural, systemic progress. We have not done enough — these heartbreaking times show that clearly — but we cannot let up, even if the path forward is uncertain.
The burden of addressing racism and inequity in this country, as well as violence around the globe, falls to all of us. Too often, only those who are its direct victims carry the load. But the burden is collective, and we must, all of us, take responsibility for the environment we are creating. Our students are already getting together in groups to share their sadness and anger. We will work with them to create safe spaces for healing and analysis, and look forward to joint conversations about their, our and the University’s role in standing up to fear and hatred and violence. We are in this struggle together, and our work has never been more important.
Sincerely,
Ana Mari Cauce
President
Professor of Psychology
President
Professor of Psychology
Jerry Baldasty
Provost & Executive Vice President
Professor, Department of Communication
Provost & Executive Vice President
Professor, Department of Communication
The University’s Role in the Innovation Ecosystem (Times Higher Education Asia Summit keynote)
Universities play a vital – and unique – role in the innovation ecosystem. Leading the University of Washington, I see every day the ways in which the environment and community of a university are not only conducive to creation and discovery, more often than not, they are the drivers of innovation. Universities both augment the innovation in companies and institutions around them and they compensate for the fact that some organizations are not as well-equipped to do so.
Letter to alumni: Welcome the Class of 2016 to the pack!
The University of Washington’s alumni family got a little bigger this week as we graduated the Class of 2016. Diplomas in hand, these newly minted graduates are leaving the Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses to join your global fellowship. I know you’ll welcome them with open arms as they share not just a love of the UW, but also the values and passions that unite us in our drive to create a world of good.
What a year this has been for your University! We inaugurated our first cohort of Husky 100 recipients — a new program recognizing outstanding students who are making the most of their Husky Experience — and held our first Parent and Family Weekend. We celebrated a wide range of scholarship, breakthroughs and innovations, from deploying an ocean robot to monitor algal blooms, to uncovering the positive effects of music on babies’ development, to the debut of a unique “vertical dance” performance on Meany Hall.
We launched a new vision for improving health and well-being around the world through efforts related to population health, expanded the degree offerings of the Global Innovation Exchange, and strengthened our long-standing medical education program in eastern Washington through a new partnership with Gonzaga University. And, of course, this was the year we all cheered as the UW women’s golf team won its first national championship and the women’s basketball team went to its first Final Four.
As alumni, you are an essential part of making all of these achievements possible. Your engagement in your communities and your support of the UW, including through membership in the UW Alumni Association, helps drive our University. I’m taking part in our 14th annual Faculty Field Tour of Washington this week, and I hope to see many of you along the way. But please also know we always welcome you at any of our campuses and facilities, such as the UW Spokane Center, and at any of the countless places UW alumni gather, here, and around the world.
Thank you for all that you do, and for the warm welcome you’ll give the Class of 2016!
UW to host Tent City 3 for 90 days in winter 2017
Earlier this year, I wrote to our community about the crisis facing thousands of our neighbors; a crisis that forces many individuals and families to live under bridges, or in cars and doorways.
Tent City 3 hosting
Preferred location: Parking lot W35
When: 90 days in 2017 winter quarter
- Community feedback 2-to-1 in favor
- Organizer must meet safety and operations plan requirements and a city permit must be obtained
- No taxpayer or tuition funds will be used
- Consistent with TC3 code of conduct, no weapons, alcohol, drugs or violence will be allowed, and security will be coordinated with UWPD
- Faculty encouraged, but not required, to incorporate service learning into courses
- Participation in related activities will be voluntary for students and residents
As part of our educational mission and existing work to address homelessness, I asked you whether the UW should host an organized tent city during the 2017 winter quarter. This would build on and respond to the work of students, alumni and residents from the Tent City Collective, and on the positive Tent City 3 hosting experiences of Seattle University and Seattle Pacific University.
Tent City 3 is also the community we’re considering. In fact, they have literally been across the street from us this spring at University Congregational United Church of Christ, NE 45th Street and 15th Avenue NE, providing safe, secure housing to individuals and families.
Nearly 1,000 of you e-mailed thoughts and dozens more attended the town hall meetings. By a 2-to-1 margin responses and attendees favored hosting. Faculty and departments have expressed eagerness to incorporate service learning into curricula, and local elected officials and community leaders also support the effort.
The UW will therefore proceed with plans to host, contingent on the safety and operations plan we establish being effectively implemented and on permit approval by the City of Seattle. We will not use any taxpayer or tuition funds to support this work.
I appreciate the thoughtful nature of your feedback, including concerns that were raised, primarily about safety, parking and the connection to our educational mission. As we plan for hosting next winter, we are taking those concerns into account.
Tent City 3 is an organized community with a strict code of conduct that prohibits weapons, violence, drugs and alcohol. Many residents have jobs, and often families with small children stay there because it is a safe, secure place. It’s important to remember that people facing homelessness are more vulnerable to being victims of crime. For the safety of all members of our community – permanently housed or not – UWPD will closely coordinate with the 24/7 security already conducted by Tent City 3.
The working group I commissioned studied a wide range of sites, with consideration for safety; transit access; logistics; privacy for residents; the need for a hard, level surface; and access for students and faculty who choose to participate in hosting-related learning opportunities.
Based on these criteria, parking lot W35 is the preferred location. Sally Clark, director of regional and community relations, met with faculty, staff and students from adjacent units, and consulted with organizers of the expanded UW childcare center that will be two blocks east. No issues have arisen that would preclude a portion of W35 being used to host Tent City 3, and we will continue these meetings and work to minimize any logistical disruptions.
I recognize some of you may still have concerns and trepidation. That is fair and expected. I only ask that we approach hosting with open minds and take this opportunity to learn from the experiences of our neighbors.
Our educational mission and role as a public university call us to find innovative ways to teach, learn and serve. It is my firm belief as a teacher, a scholar who has studied these issues, and a citizen of our community that hosting Tent City 3 is wholly consistent with our mission. I look forward to continuing this process so that next winter we can join together in welcoming our neighbors to campus.
Congratulations on this year’s achievements!
The end of the academic year is always bittersweet; we say goodbye to this year’s graduates, yet we share their excitement as new degree-holders go forth, ready to become the leaders, innovators and change-makers that this world needs and that their UW education has prepared them to be.
I could not be more proud of the Class of 2016 or of the momentous accomplishments of our community this year. Were I to try to list them all here, this email would be too big for your inboxes, so please know that the incredible achievements across every campus, unit and department have made this year more special and rewarding than I can adequately put into words.
Later this week, the UW will award 15,770 degrees to our graduates in Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma. That includes 10,489 bachelor’s degrees, 3,990 master’s degrees, 530 professional and educational specialist degrees and 761 doctoral degrees. Congratulations, graduates! This University is a better place because you were here, and I can’t wait to see you unleash your abilities as you make our world a better place.
This has been a year of many firsts. We inaugurated our first cohort of Husky 100 recipients. A UW glaciologist helped drill the first deep ice core at the South Pole, and UW engineers received a grant to work on the first implantable device to reanimate paralyzed limbs. Burke Museum paleontologists discovered the first dinosaur fossil in Washington, while drama students are premiering plays based on the experiences of U-District residents and community groups. The women’s golf team won the national championship, while the women’s basketball team went to the Final Four. These and countless other superlatives demonstrate how, on every front, the UW is serving the public good with creativity and excellence.
This has been a year rich in innovation and discovery. We launched a new vision for improving population health and are preparing to break ground on the new Global Innovation Exchange facility in Bellevue. Our faculty continue to inspire and astound us with their ideas, discoveries and impact as teachers and scholars, with pioneering research achievements in every college and school. Professor of Medicine and Genome Sciences Mary-Claire King was awarded the 2015 National Medal of Science, while seven UW faculty members were honored by national academies this year.
This was also a challenging year. As a community we are working hard to bring about needed change to improve racial equity and diversity. Change is too slow, but it is happening. We’ve had difficult conversations, and those will continue. I pledge that I will continue to be present, engaged and transparent as we make our collective way toward change.
The end of any endeavor is a good time to look back — at our accomplishments, at what we learned, at that to which we are saying goodbye. But I hope we will also remember to keep looking forward, because all that we have done, together, will help create a world of good in the days and years to come.
Thank you, all, for the contributions you’ve made to our University and to our world — and congratulations to the Class of 2016!