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Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Author: Ed Taylor

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Message from Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor

Written by Ed Taylor
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Dear Alumni and Friends of Undergraduate Academic Affairs,

Vice Provost and Dean Ed TaylorWe recently celebrated the University of Washington’s 138th Commencement Ceremony. Each year, graduation is an opportunity for me to reflect on the early accomplishments of our newest alumni and anticipate their future contributions to the world. University of Washington undergraduates are getting involved on campus and beyond in record numbers. Their deep dives into research questions, community-based service, leadership, and scholarship create legacies on campus and imprint the power of engagement on their hearts.

Spring 2013 e-Newsletter Contents

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They are evidence that how we do our work and how we live our lives matters. By choosing to bring their academic work beyond the classroom and into labs and the community, these new graduates took the kind of intellectual risks we asked of them several years ago at Freshman Convocation.

The students you’ll read about in this issue of Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ alumni e-newsletter are all risk-takers in the best sense. They’ve pursued their interests on campus, in the city, and across the world. They’ve realized an expanded worldview and see themselves as global citizens.

Learning to say “hello” in the language of their study abroad host country has meaning for these students. Compassion flows from their service to others. Undergraduates tutoring in preschool and elementary school settings know that their work involves more than reading to kids. It’s understanding the lives of these children, the context of their families, and the language they speak.

I’m inspired when I hear about the academic challenges our graduates have had—both the success and failures. It’s an absolute marvel to hear a student tell his story of failing his first class ever and then realize triumph when he’s come to a place of mastery born out of that very failure. What important experiences to have as undergraduates. When we do our work well, students discover their strengths and passions in a supportive but challenging environment.

Each year at commencement, I see the sea of caps and gowns. Unified in the academic regalia yet distinct in the way they adorn themselves. Individuals who came here with unique stories now exiting the University with a more solid foundation ready to make their own broader contribution to our world. I couldn’t be more proud of our students or our University at this time.

Sincerely,

Ed Taylor's Signature

Ed Taylor
Vice Provost & Dean
Undergraduate Academic Affairs

MLK and sacred songs that feed the soul

Written by Ed Taylor
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Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor
Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor Photo: Tony Grob

I crave the sound of a call and response—the verbal and non-verbal interaction between a speaker and listener—that is endemic to democratic participation in public matters; the kind of call that allows us to acknowledge misfortune, ruination, or loss, followed by a response proclaiming that freedom and justice are close at hand. It’s a reminder that we have reason to be hopeful.

Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a eulogy for Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Diane Wesley, and Carole Robertson, the four children killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing on Sunday, September 15, 1963. King’s message is time honored, foretelling, and tragically predictive that we would not see the last of violence, suffering, and sorrow.

In the tradition of so many spirituals, King called the faithful to bear witness to ineffable sadness and in doing so, reminds us of our ultimate calling:

These children—unoffending, innocent, and beautiful—were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. And yet they died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death….They have something to say to every politician who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream.

In the tradition of the spirituals that allow us to move from suffering to hope, King calls on our redemptive spirit:

And so my friends, they did not die in vain….The death of these little children may lead our whole Southland from the low road of man’s inhumanity to man to the high road of peace and brotherhood. These tragic deaths may lead our nation to substitute an aristocracy of character for an aristocracy of color. The spilled blood of these innocent girls may cause the whole citizenry of Birmingham to transform the negative extremes of a dark past into the positive extremes of a bright future. Indeed this tragic event may cause the white South to come to terms with its conscience.

The leader’s voice calls for a response that summons justice and human worth. And while we often want to hear King invoke the view from the mountaintop, he reminds us of the reality that the journey up there means that we have to walk through the darkness and through the shadows so that we come to see certain truths:

And so I stand here to say this afternoon to all assembled here, that in spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not despair. We must not become bitter, nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. No, we must not lose faith in our white brothers. Somehow we must believe that the most misguided among them can learn to respect the dignity and the worth of all human personality.

Negro spirituals are a stunning and beautiful expression of humanity. They can be anthems that transcend a given moment and feed the aspirations and desires of the human soul. King began his sermon by calling attention to the tragedy. He ends by invoking the promise of a new day. And as with so many spirituals, so many of King’s sermons—we, the congregation, have the opportunity to respond. In the words of King:

Now I say to you in conclusion, life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters.

You gave to this world wonderful children. They didn’t live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives. Their lives were distressingly small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality. And no greater tribute can be paid to you as parents, and no greater epitaph can come to them as children, than where they died and what they were doing when they died. They did not die in the dives and dens of Birmingham, they died between the sacred walls of the church of God, and they were discussing the eternal meaning of love. This stands out as a beautiful, beautiful thing for all generations. Shakespeare had Horatio to say some beautiful words as he stood over the dead body of Hamlet. And today, as I stand over the remains of these beautiful, darling girls, I paraphrase the words of Shakespeare: Good night, sweet princesses. Good night, those who symbolize a new day. And may the flight of angels take thee to thy eternal rest. God bless you.

Welcome from the Dean Autumn 2012

Written by Ed Taylor
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Dear Friends and Colleagues,

What do students from Mossy Rock, Washington have in common with students from Beijing, China? What does a student from White Fish, Montana, share with a student from Redondo Beach, California?  Or the students from Alabama and Seattle—what do they share in common with the student from Uganda or Vietnam? What they share is that they are all entering the University of Washington as part of the 2012 incoming class. As part of the UW experience they will have opportunities to learn together, serve together, lead together, and simply talk to one another. Continue reading “Welcome from the Dean Autumn 2012”

Welcome from the Dean August 2011

Written by Ed Taylor
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Dear Friends and Colleagues,

There are many ways of being a UW student. A central aim of Undergraduate Academic Affairs is to orient University of Washington undergraduates, to engage them deeply in the University, to create a rich and multi-layered learning environment and to connect students to campus, our community, and our world. The ways in which we do that highlight themes of leadership, research, teaching, and community—fundamental elements to the UW undergraduate academic experience.

Undergraduates learning the qualities of civic leadership shared their work and service to our local and global communities at the 19th Annual Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership. Students from across campus presented their leadership projects ranging from helping kids learn to read to furthering environmental sustainability to creating a micro-lending program in Ghana and building roads in Bolivia.

At the 13th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, students shared their faculty-mentored projects and how being involved in research that advances our knowledge, illuminates our understanding of our world, and serves the common good deepened their classroom experiences.

A meaningful learning environment begins in the classroom with inspired teaching. Each year, we charge a committee to undertake the herculean task of selecting just a few distinguished teachers from the many excellent educators here. This year we brought past and present Distinguished Teaching Awardees together for our second Distinguished Teaching Award Showcase.

Students are motivated to take intellectual risks and extend themselves academically when they identify with a community. UAA’s Dream Project, Honors Program, and Robinson Center celebrated their community members’ entrance to the University and graduation from the University and honored the tradition of leaving the University a different person than they were when entering it. They leave more confident, more knowledgeable, ready to make a difference be it through Teach for America, inspiring their own children to excel, going on to medical school, or becoming an engineer.

Many of these same students joined thousands others in Husky Stadium at Commencement. Their friends, families, and loved ones smiling and waving from the stands, celebrating their accomplishments and cheering on their future success.

The ebb and flow of the University is perhaps most present at this time of year. While the spring is clearly a hub of activity, the summer is more subtly active. As the class of 2010 left the stadium, took their pictures, and moved on to family brunches or maybe open houses, we are beginning to welcome the newest members of our Husky family with summer orientation.

Over the summer, more than 5,000 freshmen and 2,000 transfer students will come to the UW from Seattle, Yakima, Oakland, CA, Beaverton, OR, and as far away as China. They will renew the Washington way of educating students through leadership, research, teaching, and community so they graduate with a sense of purpose, an understanding of the contributions they are poised to make, and their own ideas of what it means to be a global citizen in the 21st century.

Beginning with Freshman Convocation, I look forward to getting to know as many of these students as possible. When it is their time to graduate, I’ll be at Commencement, celebrating their accomplishments and cheering on their future success.

Sincerely,
Ed Taylor
Vice Provost & Dean