If your department paused DEI-related training efforts, please consider advancing the conversation on diversity, equity and inclusion in your department by working with POD on customized training or encouraging staff to explore POD’s affordable courses that explore the many dimensions associated with race, building a sense of belonging and creating inclusive workplaces and communities.Upcoming DEI-focused online offerings* Working across Generations<https://ucs.admin.uw.edu/pod/Course/Details/Q0730> (Feb 3): Learn about the characteristic values, behaviors and assumptions of the multiple and varied generations in today’s workforce, and how to work together for optimal performance and satisfaction.* Exploring Cultural Competence<https://ucs.admin.uw.edu/pod/Course/Details/Q1200> (Feb 24 & Feb 26): In a nonjudgmental setting, explore methods for addressing the interpersonal issues that can arise from differences in age, gender and ethnicity among people at the UW.* The Erosion of Empathy<https://ucs.admin.uw.edu/pod/Course/Details/Q1670> (March 2 & 4): Measure your own Empathy Quotient, and develop your ability to confront and redirect behavior, attitudes and actions that reflect an absence of empathy.* Exploration of Race in the Workplace: A Guide for Self-Study<https://ucs.admin.uw.edu/pod/Course/Details/QA002> (on demand): Through text, videos and interactive components, explore bias, empathy, inequity and workplace transformation.UWHR’s leadership team has been working through the Exploration of Race in the Workplace<https://ucs.admin.uw.edu/pod/Course/Details/QA002> course over the last few months, blending the engaging self-paced portions with reflective group conversations. While we are still on the journey of completing the course, it has brought fresh insights and deepened our internal conversation as HR leaders seeking to foster a workplace culture in which all understand policies and resources and contribute to an inclusive working environment.If you are interested in developing a cost-effective training plan for your team, please contact alliance@uw.edu<mailto:alliance@uw.edu>.
Category: Diversity and Equity
Nominate staff for the Together We Will Awards
The UW Staff Together We Will Awards were created to celebrate outstanding staff contributions made during the extraordinary challenges of 2020. The awards will serve as a temporary replacement for the Distinguished Staff Award program, which will be back in Oct. 2021. Please help recognize your amazing colleagues, by nominating them for this prestigious honor.
Consider:
- Essential staff and front-line workers who kept our patients as well as students living in campus housing safe.
- Staff who made the quick pivot to online learning and remote work possible.
- Staff in research and patient care roles who are rightfully called our healthcare heroes.
- Staff participating in anti-racism efforts to ensure the UW’s programs are inclusive and equitable.
- Staff who have gone above and beyond in ways big and small to support their colleagues and our greater community.
Nominate a UW staff member with a written statement or by submitting a video nomination between November 1 and December 31, 2020.
Nominees will be celebrated online and will receive a copy of their nomination materials. All nominations will be reviewed by a selection committee that will award up to 20 $1,500 awards. Learn more here.
Election stress: UWHR resources
Resources to Get Out The Vote
From our friends at UW Impact:
Get Out The Vote Resources
Huskies Vote
Find a collection of resources and events to help voters get registered, get informed, and get to the polls. Your voice matters — make sure you use it!
More on Huskies Vote
Candidate Survey
Prior to every Washington State legislative election, UW Impact conducts a short, non-partisan candidate survey to see how candidates would prioritize public higher education issues. Have your candidates responded? Find out!
Find Candidate Survey Here
Presidential Debate Previews
Hosted along with KUOW and the UW Alumni Association, join UW Impact for virtual conversations with local experts and journalists ahead of each presidential debate. RSVP today!
Sign Up for Debate Previews
Husky Caucus Directory
More than 30 UW alumni serve in the Washington State Legislature, and they help enact key legislation that affects the University community and beyond. Check out the Husky Caucus Directory to learn who they are, what they studied, where they serve, and more!
Husky Caucus Directory
Voting for American UW alums abroad
Voting abroad or know someone who is? Access non-partisan resources to help navigate voter registration, ballot requests, and the task of mailing ballots from abroad from UW alum, Elyse Hope ’16.
Voting Resources for Expats
What else can you do?
- Ensure you and your friends and loved ones are registered to vote with updated information.
- Look for updates from UW Impact on social media (find them on Facebook and Twitter).
- Join UW Impact!
Annual Letter to Professional Staff from the PSO Board
Hello, UW community of professional staff! On behalf of the PSO Board of Directors, we are excited to reach out to you as we begin our year together. In this moment it’s more important than ever to stay connected and be there for each other. The PSO is working to understand, amplify, and address the needs of professional staff–that’s *you*, and over 10,000 others on our Seattle, Tacoma, Bothell, and Harborview campuses.
The all-volunteer PSO Board works to highlight the essential role of, enriches the experience of, and serves as a resource for professional staff at the University of Washington–the mission of this 30-year-old 501c(5). Through our values of Advocacy, Communication, Education, Professional Development, and Representation, we develop events, programs, scholarships, partnerships, and other resources to ensure that professional staff are seen, heard and appreciated for the immense value you all bring to our campuses.
Last year, some of the ways in which we served this community included:
- 3rd annual Diversity Forum, featuring speakers on allyship and accomplice-ment
- Spring Celebration, with speaker President Ana Mari Cauce
- Professional Staff Awards, where peers nominate each other for their outstanding contributions to the UW
- Over $3,000 in scholarships to pro-staff for professional development
- Successful advocacy to avoid increases in the cost of U-PASSes
- Advocacy for professional staff of color and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Regular welcoming of new UW professional staff, in partnership with UW-HR, at orientation events
This wouldn’t be possible without the support of PSO members. Each year the majority of the contributions you give are funneled back into the professional staff community. Thank you for making our work possible!

During our annual board retreat, we discussed the primary ways we plan to support professional staff in the coming year, under the themes of Equity, Advocacy, and Engagement. We plan to reach out to adjacent communities and UW leaders to listen and share resources and ideas; we plan to increase the number of conversations we host about how to support BIPOC professional staff; and we plan to stabilize and grow our scholarships program so that the efforts of pro-staff to improve their professional skills are celebrated and rewarded. Importantly, the upcoming legislative session looks to be a difficult one for UW and higher education. The PSO Legislative Committee is working to make sure your voices are heard in Olympia. Legislators need to hear from UW staff that funding UW and higher education is vital for the economy and future of this State.
We want to hear from you! How can we advocate for your needs, to UW leadership, state legislature and beyond? We hope to hear more about your experiences during the pandemic and the uprisings due in response to continued injustices toward Black and brown bodies, and intend to reach out specifically later in the quarter.
Finally, if you’d like to get more involved with the PSO, we welcome you to volunteer at our events or join any of our committees. Or just reach out–we would be happy to hear from you.
Best wishes for a meaningful and productive start to our academic year,
Leyla Salmassi, President, and Jen Davison, Vice President, on behalf of the PSO Board
Upcoming Discussion – Disarming & defunding UW police: what does that look like?
DISARMING & DEFUNDING UW POLICE: WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE? A Conversation for the University of Washington Community
AUGUST 7, 2020, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM (PST)
Hosted by the Faculty Council on Multicultural Affairs
Please use the following link to join the webinar on Zoom: https://washington.zoom.us/j/95247426190.
Panelists: Gautham Reddy, Professor, Radiology; Brenda Williams, Senior Lecturer, School of Law; Thomas Locke, Graduate Student, Political Science; Angelica Chazaro, Assistant Professor, School of Law; Alexes Harris, Professor, Sociology; Leyla Salmassi, Professional Staff Organization; Edwin Lindo, Lecturer, School of Medicine
To contextualize the discussion, consider viewing the 2018 UW forum “COMMUNITY AND LEGAL STRATEGIES TO STOP POLICE VIOLENCE” hosted by the UW Department of Global Health, an event marking the one-year anniversary of the police killing of Charleena Lyles in her Sand Point apartment.
Sustainability Action 5-year Plan finalized
The UW has finalized its new Sustainability Action Plan, including five guiding principles and 10 measurable targets to ensure a sustainable, equitable and responsible future across all three campuses.
This Plan will guide the University’s efforts over the next five years.
A very brief subset of these targets include:
- Expanding virtual conferencing
- More Professional development opportunities for staff
- Promoting Commute Options Toward SOV Reduction. (12% SOV rate goal by 2028)
- Promote Car Shares and UW Shuttle Service
- Fleet electrification
- Greenhouse gas and waste reduction
At a glance/summary page here: https://green.uw.edu/sites/default/files/plan/sustainability-action-plan-at-a-glance-v070120.pdf
View full Plan details here: http://green.uw.edu/plan