News & Updates

Here are a number of stories and issues that have caught my eye this week that should be of some interest to the UW.

Massachusetts Upping the Life Sciences Ante

Governor Deval Patrick has made regaining Massachusetts life sciences research prominence the cornerstone of his economic development agenda.  It appears at least one chamber of the General Assembly agress with him.  By a vote of 31-7, the Senate passed a $1 billion package of tax breaks and direct appropriations designed to push the state back into a national leadership position in life sciences.  One of the biggest winners is the UMass-Amherst, a UW Global Challenge competitor school who will get $95 million for a new life sciences research building.  Here’s the full story from the Boston Globe.

Colorado Businesses Opposed to Scholarship Plan

Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado wants to put a lot more money into higher education.  The problem for some is that he wants the money to go towards college scholarships rather than improving programs within the state’s universities.   According to the Denver Post, Ritter wants to repeal an existing tax credit for oil and gas industries and use the funds to dramatically expand financial aid for low and middle income students.  Business groups seem to be opposed and higher education leaders are disappointed at least some of the new funds are not going directly to their schools.

Rutgers Football Stadium Funding Back on Track?

Looks like Governor John Corzine is back to helping Rutgers University (another UW Global Challenge competitor institution) with their plans to raise funding for a $102 million expansion of their football stadium.  Last winter, Corzine pulled the plug on using state funding to pay for a portion of the stadium expansion due to the state’s budget crisis, but pledged to personally help raise money to replace the $30 million the university was seeking from the state.  Here’s the story from the Star-Ledger.

More on Western Washington’s Presidential Transition

Pretty lengthy and thoughtful article in Crosscut on the upcoming presedential transition at Western Washington and an assessment of President Karen Morse’s 15-year tenure written by former Western professor Floyd McKay.

Tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. in Olympia, the initial organizing meeting of the State Performance Agreement Committee will be held in Senate Hearing Room 3 of the John A. Cherberg Building.  The Committee was created by Engrossed House Bill 2641 (Jarrett) which was created to represent the state’s interests in developing and negotiating performance agreements with the six public baccalaureate institutions.

Members of the Committee include:

• Senator Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup) 
• Senator Jerome Delvin (R-Richland)
• Representative Fred Jarrett (D-Mercer Island)
• Representative Joe Schmick (R-Colfax)
• Ann Daley, Executive Director, Higher Education Coordinating Board
• Wolfgang Opitz, Deputy Director Office of Financial Management
• Chris Alejano, Governor’s Higher Education Policy Advisor
• Brian Jeffries, Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction

Staff support for the committee will be provided by the Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The UW Board of Regents has approved the formation of an internal committee chaired by Doug Wadden, Executive Vice Provost to develop the University’s draft agreement which will be presented to the Regents at their July meeting.

Lots and lots of national political news to read and digest, but not much political or higher education news to report in Washington State.  Candidate filings began this week, but no real surprises in any of the major contested races.

I’m proud to announce that Steve Juarez, one of my oldest friends and a former co-worker during my Sacramento days, has been named the new director of state relations for the University of California System.

Here’s the press release from the UC system office.  Congrats buddy!

I’ve had Western Washington University on my mind a lot this past week.

Spent the past weekend attending my son’s performance of Macbeth in the Miller Hall courtyard on the Western campus.  I guess you could call it a “post-apocalyptic” interpretation of the bard’s most violent play.  “Mad Max Beyond Inverness” would be a good alternative title.  Anyway, it was a splendid show and the students really did a great job putting the play on with a pretty tight budget.

You may have also read this week that Western settled its 16-month negotiation with the United Faculty of Western Washington on a new collective bargaining contract, the details of which are summarized in this story from the Bellingham Herald.

Up until this past weekend, tensions were running pretty high on the campus, with some faculty refusing to participate in student projects outside the classroom and threatening to picket at graduation.  The student newspaper, The Western Front, editorialized in favor of the faculty union last week after a recent negotiation session failed to produce an agreement.

I’m glad the issue has been resolved and I’m sure congratulations are in order for all sides of the table.  To quote from Macbeth, “what’s done is done” and a good time to focus on the future of a great university.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a pretty devoted reader of The Onion — for my money, the most consistently funny news parody site on the web.

Here’s an Onion news item from last fall that’s sure to excite the nation’s education community.  Indisputable proof of the value of education.  Enjoy!

I’m off now for a long weekend in Bellingham to watch “number one son” in what he calls an alternative “outdoor” performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth on the Western Washington University campus.  This should be interesting.

Hope all of you have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.

Washington State University has selected a new Provost.

Steven Hoch, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky has been selected as the new Provost and Executive Vice President at WSU.  Hoch succeeds Bob Bates who is stepping down July 1 after six years in the position.

Hoch began his academic career as a lecturer in history at Trinity College in Connecticut.  He was an assistant and associate professor of history at Drew University in New Jersey and an associate and full professor of history at the University of Iowa.  He served as associate provost for academic programs at the University of Iowa before becoming dean of the college of arts and sciences at the University of Kentucky.  His research focuses on modern Russian history, European agrarian history and historical demography.

Here’s a link to the announcement from the WSU website.  Hoch’s official starting date will be August 1.

Here’s a story that popped up in a number of state newspapers this morning, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Since the arrival of President Elson Floyd last year, Washington State University (WSU) has been looking critically at its current academic structure with the notion of focusing limited resources on its highest academic priorities, particularly in those areas where WSU can play a leadership role.

Last week, retiring Provost Bob Bates issued a report which takes a comprehensive look at each of the university’s academic areas and making specific recommendations to curtail on increase activity.  By eliminating a lot of low demand majors and courses, the school hopes that core majors and courses can be improved.  Some of the recommendations include:

• Create an area focused on Environmental Sustainability by using resources currently invested in the School of Earth and Environmental Science, the Department of Natural Resource Sciences and the Department of Community and Rural Sociology.
• Dividing the College of Liberal  Arts into three divisions — social and behaviorial sciences; arts, culture and humanites; and interdisciplinary programs and area studies.
• Phasing out the undergraduate major in forestry.
• Reducing geology and focusing it on general education courses, basic science teaching and environmental research.

The next step is for each college to submit a preliminary plan to the Provost by June 15.  A final plan is due by September 26.

Don’t know if any of you have discovered the “Crosscut” website, but as a “Northwest-phile” I have really enjoyed dialing in once a day for a variety of stories gleaned from the major media outlets in the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia which is more economically part of us than Ontario or Quebec (but that’s a rant for another day).

Pretty good article today by Crosscut’s publisher David Brewster about the plan floated by the UW about a decade ago to “privatize” the University.  I was on staff in the state legislature at the time and while a number of individual legislators were intrigued with the idea, as a whole, the proposal had little chance of being taken seriously.  Still, it’s interesting to think about that idea in the context of where the UW is today in terms of its relationship with state government.

More affirmation in the national press about the UW’s efforts to be as environmentally friendly a university as possible.

Forbes Magazine recently did a feature story on America’s greenest colleges and universities and the University of Washington was rated in the top ten nationally for our active participation in the Seattle Climate Partnership, our commitment to carbon neutrality and to making 100% of our energy purchases from renewable sources.

Speaking of bein’ green, a number of media sources have written stories on the possible creation of a UW College of the Environment, including this piece in this morning’s Seattle Times.  I’m going to start hitting the road soon talk to state legislators and other officials about this idea and solicit their feedback at the same time the University continues it’s own internal discussions about the proposed structure and shape of the organization.

Just last week I wrote about Rep. Shirley Hankins (R-Richland) announcement that she would not run for re-election this November to her 8th district seat.  At the time, Hankins was the 10th member of the lower chamber to announce they were not coming back to Olympia.

Well, make that eleven.  In an announcement yesterday that stunned the local Yakima political establishment, Rep. Mary Skinner (R-Yakima) who has represented the 14th district (Yakima, Union Gap, Selah and Naches) since 1995 is calling it quits after this term.  According to the Yakima Herald, her departure, coming less than a month before the June 6 filing deadline has left both parties scrambling to find replacements.

Skinner was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006 but recently told supporters that her cancer was in remission and she was planning to run for re-election.  According to her written statement, health was not a factor in her decision not to seek re-election. The Yakima Herald also reports that Yakima mayor Dave Elder (a former member of the Seattle Mariners) is considering a run for Skinner’s seat.