As plans for the Ana Mari Cauce Welcome Center building and landscapes take shape, here’s a look at some milestones and what’s coming next in design and construction.
Aerial view of future Welcome Center site. (Conceptual illustration; Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; Studio Tsien Architects)
September 2026
Project planners at UW Facilities submitted information for required building permits and readied for site preparation and sub-surface work at the construction site.
Architects, exhibit designers and UW team members continued to collaborate on plans for immersive exhibits that will tell the University’s story within the Welcome Center’s interior.
October 2026
Activity at the future construction site will begin as arborists assess the health of the significant sycamore trees on site for careful and selective root pruning in the new year.
November 2026
Campus planners will continue to work closely with Welcome Center project leaders and partners at the adjacent Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture to communicate details about safety, transportation and visitor access in the shared area during construction.
December 2026-January 2027
The Burke Museum will remain open to visitors throughout construction.
Contractors are expected to begin installing temporary fencing around the perimeter of the construction site. Fences will border the shared service lot, Stevens Way, NE 45th Street and Memorial Way NE.
UW-branded signage around the fenced area will help build excitement about the future Welcome Center.
Places of gathering and belonging have been essential to communities for millennia, and the human need for connection, collaboration and fellowship is perhaps stronger than ever.
Conceptual illustration of pathway to Welcome Center (Studio Tsien Architects)
As the University of Washington envisions the new Ana Mari Cauce Welcome Center as a new “front door” to the University, partnerships are key to thoughtfully creating a space where belonging and community-building will thrive.
Drawing from the deep expertise of Washington state’s Native American communities in creating spaces of inclusion and belonging, a statewide Indigenous Advisory Work Group is contributing key insights and reflections to help shape this vision for the Welcome Center — how it will tell the story of UW’s history and future, and serve prospective UW students and families, alumni, and community members from all walks of life — while reinforcing a sense of belonging and inclusion.
Mike Tulee and Paul Rucker shared in a cultural celebration with tribal leaders at the 2026 Indian Days Powwow, hosted by the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation.
“We’ve put together a ‘think tank’ to bring the best thoughts on cultural approaches and appropriateness, to put our best foot forward in making this Welcome Center a very powerful component of our campus,” Tulee says.
Taking time to listen, learn and understand
The Ana Mari Cauce Welcome Center will be located adjacent to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, which is nationally recognized for its collaborative relations with tribal communities. As it becomes part of the neighborhood in the northwest corner of the UW Seattle campus, the Welcome Center has a special obligation when inviting and welcoming audiences to the land upon which the UW resides.
Paul Rucker and Mike Tulee
In partnership with Welcome Center designers and planners working to create a sense of place, belonging and sustainability while welcoming people to the land, Tulee and Paul Rucker, ’95, ’02, UW vice president for alumni and stakeholder engagement and lead administrator for the Welcome Center, continue to connect with tribal leaders throughout the state, taking time to listen, learn and better understand the intentional traditions and approaches of Indigenous peoples.
These insights are meaningfully reflected in the purpose and development of the programs, spaces and landscapes at the Welcome Center, where visitors will understand the connections to present-day communities and their long histories on this land.
“The Welcome Center will tell the story of what it means to join the University of Washington community, one that recognizes and celebrates the contributions of our first peoples,” Rucker says. “It is an important opportunity to elevate awareness of the deep history and cultural significance of the land on which we learn, work and gather.”
