The 91探花 has again earned a prestigious recognition for the impact and importance of the connections faculty, students and staff have with local, regional and global communities.

All three 91探花campuses were recognized with the Carnegie Foundation Community Engagement reclassification, placing the university among nationwide. Officials with the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, who award the designation, noted that these universities are deepening partnerships, centering community assets and addressing urgent societal challenges with clarity and distinction.

鈥淭his Carnegie reclassification affirms what I鈥檝e long believed about the role of public universities: our work has to be rooted in partnership and focused on impact for all people,鈥� said 91探花President Robert J. Jones. 鈥淐ommunity engagement isn鈥檛 peripheral to our mission 鈥� it鈥檚 central to how we move the 91探花forward in service of the greater good. Being recognized again across all three campuses is a real point of pride and speaks to the shared commitment across the 91探花to working alongside our communities to drive meaningful change.鈥�

The UW鈥檚 three campuses were first recognized in 2020 by the Carnegie Foundation as community-engaged campuses. This reclassification is an external acknowledgement of the growing scale and quality of community-engaged work, built on a decades-long foundation. In recent years, the 91探花has strengthened relationships, expanded partnerships, and launched a tri-campus effort 鈥� funded in 2022 by a $3.8 million donation 鈥� to strengthen community engagement practices across campuses, develop shared definitions of community engagement, and build a digital clearinghouse to track and facilitate community work. Much of that work is documented on the Community Engagement Knowledge Hub, a website with resources for the 91探花and community partners.

The 91探花works with more than 700 different community organizations, including nonprofit providers of health care and other services, local and regional governments, school districts, tribal nations, and small businesses as well as large multinational companies.

The Carnegie Classification for the 91探花in Seattle recognizes the meaningful and sustained work of faculty, staff and students to engage with the community in genuine partnership, said Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

鈥淭hese relationships enable students to take up community-informed, academically rigorous work in our civic spaces, leading to a more sophisticated understanding of the complex problems facing society,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淲e are honored and humbled by this recognition of our work so far and inspired to continue to deepen our focus on addressing the most pressing needs of our campus and broader community. Sustaining these outcomes at scale requires dedicated infrastructure, student support, and long-term investment from partners.”

For example, via , the 91探花works with rural and tribal schools statewide. These programs are designed to enrich existing K-12 education, enhance STEM learning and provide opportunities for children in those schools to learn about higher education. 91探花undergraduates support curriculums, connect with students in communities, all while being guided by 91探花faculty and staff.

鈥淥ur programs work with all different grade levels at various tribal nations here in Washington state, which I think is cool and unique,鈥� said Richard Alejandro Parra, who runs the program and is assistant director of Rural and Tribal Partnerships in the UW.

The Center is a leading coordinator at the 91探花for community-engaged learning, partnership development and student civic leadership. Each year, it supports thousands of students and hundreds of collaborations with community-based organizations and faculty to strengthen community-driven solutions to complex societal challenges.

鈥淲e have students that we’ve worked with since they were fifth graders, and we engage with them throughout their entire K-12 journey,鈥� Parra said. 鈥淎fter graduating, some of those students have come to UW, and they return to their communities to mentor younger students through our programs.鈥�

When the in Snohomish County was looking to expand its capacity to serve recent immigrants, leaders of the small nonprofit reached out to 91探花Bothell. During more than a decade of collaboration, a symbiotic relationship between LETI and the 91探花has blossomed, providing critical resources to support LETI鈥檚 growth and giving 91探花students from Bothell and Seattle real-world experience.

This year, more than 40 91探花students are engaged in work-study and research at LETI, providing services in education, health and more.

鈥淭he community engagement effort that they have is one of the best that I have seen,鈥� said Rosario Reyes, LETI鈥檚 founder and president. 鈥淚 wish other schools would emulate it.鈥�

Employers, like LETI, view 91探花Bothell as a strong partner in regional workforce development, said 91探花Bothell Chancellor Kristin G. Esterberg.

91探花Bothell faculty and students collaborate with hundreds of community organizations locally and globally. Since first gaining the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, 91探花Bothell鈥檚 commitment to collaboration has deepened. It is underpinned by new policies such as the addition of an undergraduate learning goal focused on community engagement and faculty legislation supporting community-engaged scholarship.

鈥淲e also engage with hundreds of nonprofit agencies, local governments and grassroots organizations year-round,鈥� Esterberg said. 鈥淭his reclassification by the Carnegie Foundation recognizes our community engagement and reinforces the value of this work.鈥�

91探花Tacoma is a vital part of building the future for the city of Tacoma, said Jacques Colon, the director of the city鈥檚 Equity, Strategy, and Human Rights office. In addition to bolstering the redevelopment of the city鈥檚 downtown by expanding and modernizing the university鈥檚 campus, 91探花Tacoma also contributes to economic development by training a desirable and highly skilled workforce. That, in turn, attracts more business to the area.

鈥淚f we can make that kind of synergy work, that’s exactly the kind of relationship that has the ability to set a trajectory for a city long term, over a decade,鈥� Colon said. 鈥淭o me, that’s incredibly exciting,鈥�

That kind of community engagement is at the heart of 91探花Tacoma’s mission and the key to a more prosperous future for the region, said 91探花Tacoma Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange.

91探花Tacoma has established itself as one of the region鈥檚 most community-engaged universities.

Over the past year, 91探花Tacoma faculty and students partnered with community organizations on a wide range of initiatives addressing pressing social, environmental and health challenges. These collaborations included restoring riparian forests to support salmon habitat, co-creating alternative and low-barrier pathways for youth to access evidence-based behavioral healthcare, co-designing food justice programming that connects labor, culture, and care, and developing mental health workshops for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth.

鈥淭hrough our community-driven initiatives, our students give back while engaging in career-connected learning, and our faculty and staff work alongside our partners to solve some of society’s toughest challenges,鈥� Lange said. 鈥淭ogether, with our hundreds of community partners, we’re making a lasting impact in the South Sound and beyond.鈥�

91探花 alumnus Daniel Guorui Chen, Class of 2022, has been named a, one of the highest honors available to college graduates in the U.S. Chen plans to attend the University of Cambridge.

鈥淚 was so surprised when I learned I was awarded. This is such an honor,鈥� Chen, 19, said. 鈥淭he Marshall Scholarship is a great example of taking U.S. and U.K. perspectives and putting them together to work and discover and push for better health, not just for these two countries, but for the world at large.鈥�

Founded by an act of the British Parliament in 1953, the awards pay all expenses for up to three years of study at a British university of the student鈥檚 choice. Marshall scholarships finance young Americans of high ability to study for a degree in the United Kingdom. This year, 40 scholars were selected to pursue graduate study in any field at a UK institution.

Chen, a Sammamish, Wash., native, graduated with majors in informatics (data science) and microbiology. He plans to pursue a Master of Philosophy degree at Cambridge, delving deeper into biological sciences and genomic medicine. Eventually, Chen hopes to earn an M.D. and a Ph.D., to become a physician-scientist and professor conducting research while practicing in clinic.

Chen is the first 91探花student to achieve this honor since Havana McElvaine was selected in 2018. Prior to that, UW鈥檚 Jeffrey Eaton was selected in 2008. This year, 951 students from across the United States applied for the scholarship. Only four candidates from the San Francisco region, which includes Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Northern California and most of Nevada, were selected.

鈥淒aniel鈥檚 rigorous undergraduate scholarship on topical and complex medical issues is exemplary,鈥� said Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. 鈥淭his recognition will provide a wonderful opportunity for Daniel, who is already dedicated to the medical sciences, to deepen and extend his scholarship.鈥�

Chen arrived at the 91探花when he was 14, through the Early Entrance Program. During his undergraduate career, he conducted research at 91探花and at some of the most prestigious research labs in the Puget Sound region, including聽 the, Institute for Systems Biology and the. Chen鈥檚 research examines how and why some people contract long COVID and what鈥檚 happening at the cellular level. He also conducted single-cell research on pancreatic cancer and COVID-19 patients, and gained experience in bacterial cloning and genetic engineering while working in a medical microbiology lab.

鈥淒aniel is an amazing young scientist,鈥� said James R. Heath, president of the ISB and one of Chen鈥檚 mentors. Chen was the second author out of more than 50 on a research paper, 鈥�,鈥� published in 2020 in Cell.

Greg Hay, an assistant teaching professor in the Information School, asked Chen to be a teaching assistant after he exceled during an introductory class. Later, Hay tapped Chen to lead a project supervising both undergraduate and graduate students.

鈥淒aniel has a superpower processor,鈥� Hay said. 鈥淗is mind is always active, engaged and blasting forward at double-speed. He is fearless, focused and curious.鈥�

While in Britain, Chen plans to study with of the to acquire an understanding of the computational biology toolkit. He said he鈥檚 looking forward to immersing himself in British culture and learning from people who are different from him. He believes that a diversity of thought is what 鈥渄rives knowledge forward.鈥�

鈥淲hen we come from different backgrounds and perspectives, we can work together to chip away at the truth,鈥� Chen said. 鈥淭ogether we can figure out rich solutions.鈥�

Chen was the recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship, Mary Gates Research Scholarship, Microbiology Undergraduate Research Award and Levinson Emerging Scholar Award. He received the Microbiology Erling J. Ordal Award for best senior thesis, a Washington Research Foundation Fellowship and a Microbiology Summer Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship. In 2022, he was named to the Husky 100. Chen, who identifies as LGBTQIA+, also co-founded , a student group that promotes visibility and acceptance of neurodiversity at the 91探花and beyond.

For more information, contact Jackson Holtz at jjholtz@uw.edu.

In the fall of 2020, amid the COVID pandemic, began her career as an assistant professor of accounting at the 91探花 Bothell鈥檚 business school.

鈥淭he entire first academic year I was here was completely remote,鈥� she said.

Wells moved to the Pacific Northwest from Texas, having visited Seattle only once before. When she arrived, restaurants were shuttered or takeout only. Communities were reeling from the lockdown. Being a tourist in her new home state wasn鈥檛 something Wells could fit in.

Until now.

As in-person activities resume, Wells is one of 34 faculty preparing to board a charter bus for a five-day, 1,000-mile tour of Washington showcasing the state鈥檚 beauty, economy and people. The bus, the same one used by Athletics, is wrapped with branded 91探花logos, and motorists often mistake the faculty for the Husky football team.

After a two-year, pandemic-driven hiatus, the Faculty Field Tour, a nearly 25-year tradition at UW, resumes Monday morning when participants gather at the Burke Museum. From there, the bus heads south and then stops throughout the state before returning Friday afternoon.

鈥淚 thought this would be the perfect opportunity to not only get to know other colleagues that are new to UW, but also good to explore this new state,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淲hat better way than to have a guided tour?鈥�

What began in the 1990s to help bridge the connection between 91探花faculty and communities around the state, evolved by 1998 to the multiday Faculty Field Tour. Just about every year since, with rare exceptions including the COVID pause, faculty members from all three campuses and across disciplines become a cohort, learning from one another and from the residents, businesspeople, students, farmers and policymakers they meet along the way.

By the time the week is over, the more than 600 participants over the years have developed a sense of belonging: knowing and respecting the breadth of work housed at the UW, and discovering the depths of Washington鈥檚 history and culture, said Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, who has been deeply involved in the program since the mid-2000s.

As a public institution, faculty at 91探花pursue their own fields but also have a larger obligation in their careers to shape and analyze events in the state.

鈥淲e are here to partner in telling the story of the state of Washington,鈥� Taylor said.

The bus tour, paid for by participating faculty鈥檚 department and central university funds, leaves Seattle and heads south to Olympia, where the group tours the Capitol and meets with elected officials and policymakers. From there, they stop at Mount St. Helens for a guided lecture from Seth Moran, a volcano seismologist with U.S. Geological Survey and an affiliate 91探花faculty member. Monday night is spent in Vancouver.

鈥淲e serve the entire state and we wanted to make sure from the outset that faculty had the opportunity to experience some of our regions that are more rural, or have different economic drivers, different cultures or different feelings and expectations about the purpose and experience of higher education,鈥� said 91探花President Ana Mari Cauce. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also a way of introducing citizens from across the state to the excellent faculty we have at the 91探花who might serve as teachers or mentors for their students if they were to attend the UW, or who might be good collaborators on community or research projects.鈥�

On Tuesday, the tour will stop at the in Toppenish. In collaboration with the UW, the clinic provides comprehensive medical, dental and social services to local agricultural workers. Pediatric residents from the 91探花School of Medicine also serve a rotation at the clinic to address the occupational and environmental health concerns of farmworkers and their families.

鈥淚t was as much about us getting an introduction to the state as it was the state getting to know how the university is showing up in different places,鈥� said , a 91探花Tacoma assistant professor who went on the Faculty Field Tour in 2019.

A secondary, but very valuable outcome that emerged from the tour was the cross-pollination among faculty of different departments and disciplines, Cauce said.

鈥淭he tour has fostered personal and professional relationships that might never have formed otherwise, and it鈥檚 one more way that the 91探花works to overcome the traditional silos that occur in academia,鈥� she said. 鈥淐reating time for newer faculty to get to know the leadership is critical in an organization like ours that relies on a shared governance model. I鈥檝e gone on many of the tours over the years, and each one is uniquely and incredibly valuable in terms of both helping faculty connect with the communities of the state that we serve and with each other.鈥�

As a result of connections made on the Faculty Field Tour, Casas has developed cross-campus relationships. Today he is on the Faculty Steering Committee for , he is the faculty lead for the , and he was inspired by leaders he met on the bus to serve in governance on the tri-campus Faculty Senate.

鈥淣ot only have I made new connections with colleagues,鈥� Casas said, 鈥渋t’s really sustained my work, and now I’m in a new role where I am helping to support other folks that are coming into the university.鈥�

, an assistant professor of bioengineering, also attended the 2019 tour. He considers the tour the 鈥渕ost consequential professional development thing I’ve done in my life.鈥� Today, Boyle is a program champion.

鈥淚t is something that is so unique and something so special and I tell every new faculty, 鈥楲isten, get on board for this. If you can go do it, it is so cool,鈥� Boyle said. Participating faculty must get approval from their department chairs.

It was on the bus that Boyle, who leads the , met , an assistant professor of epidemiology. Building from that connection, the pair recently co-authored a on the use of technology to predict adverse cardiovascular events by analyzing ECGs of COVID patients.

From Toppenish, the tour explores the fertile agriculture of the Yakima River valley, stopping at a cherry orchard and enjoying a wine tasting, some made by Husky alumni. They plan to visit , a private school founded to expand access to higher education. And during a fireside chat that evening in Tri-Cities, the group will hear from 91探花Provost Mark Richards.

Next, the group stops at the Hanford Site to tour the (LIGO), which was designed to open the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational waves as predicted by Einstein鈥檚 general theory of relativity. Run today by Caltech and MIT, 91探花professors have been instrumental in some of the key findings first detected by LIGO.

鈥淚 remember being so just happy, just looking around like a kid in a candy shop,鈥� Boyle recalled.

Traveling north and east, the team stops in Ritzville to visit the , then to Spokane, where the group meets with the city鈥檚 civic leaders, alumni and incoming students from Eastern Washington.

From there, they begin the drive back west, taking in the and spending time with the . The final night is spent in Mazama before returning to Seattle by way of Washington Pass.

鈥淚 want to explore, learn the history and do so very intentionally,鈥� said , an assistant professor in the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance who began at 91探花last fall.

Bishu moved the United States 14 years ago from Ethiopia. She鈥檚 travelled the country while getting her education, but didn鈥檛 explore much of Colorado, where she lived and taught at the University of Denver the past four years. Now at the UW, she鈥檚 immersing herself in the Pacific Northwest.

鈥淚’m reading books, I’m watching documentaries about the city of Seattle,鈥� Bishu said. 鈥淭his, to me, is a great opportunity to learn about the politics, the sociology of the community, you know, the people in this area.鈥�

There鈥檚 a mental health crisis on college campuses across the country.

Recent show that 53% of first-year students reported a substantial increase in mental and emotional exhaustion. Inside Higher Ed that 30% of students noted increased depression, 27% said they experienced greater loneliness and 20% felt more hopeless.

Traditionally, the intervention to help students was to send them to individual counseling. While that remains an important pillar of support, the 91探花 is broadening the way it provides help not just to students, but to faculty and staff as well. Using a broad toolbox of mindfulness, compassion and well-being centered programming, officials are trying to change campus culture, said , director of the and co-chair of the .

鈥淏y aligning and strengthening the work that we’re doing as a campus writ large, around supporting student mental health, we’re actually preventing some students from getting to a point where they need more serious intervention,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e can bolster the resilience of folks within the system at multiple levels and in doing so, support our entire community.鈥�

Research over the past several decades has shown that teaching social and emotional learning skills to K-12 students has promoted higher academic success and persistence to graduation. Extending that into higher education makes sense, officials say, catering to students鈥� emotional intelligence, better preparing them for a career and allowing them to be their whole selves.

Students at 91探花were arriving on campus with skills to succeed, but not to stumble and then rise, said Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

鈥�When they actually got here and encountered situations where they might trip up or even fail, students were underprepared for that,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淲hat students were saying 鈥� high on their list of things that concerned them 鈥� was their fear of failure and not being able to recover when they did encounter difficulties or challenges once they left home and came to college for the first time.鈥�

Facing uncertainty, let downs and even failure is part of the college experience.

鈥淭hey should be stepping into those challenges, especially here,鈥� Taylor said.

The Resilience Lab helps students 鈥� and now faculty and staff, too 鈥� do just that.

Founded by Anne Browning in 2015, the Resilience Lab originally was intended to help support and retain undergraduates by helping them cope with stressors, including failure. Then in 2019, Browning transitioned to become assistant dean for well-being at 91探花Medicine. That鈥檚 when now-director Kennedy came on board.

Officials decided to take a step back to view student well-being and mental health along a continuum, broadening the scope of the Resilience Lab to embrace faculty and staff as part of the mission.

Today, the Resilience Lab鈥檚 three-fold mission is to support 91探花students in becoming change-makers on campus and in their communities; provide students, staff and instructors with training and tools to build their self-awareness, respond to stress more effectively and cultivate compassion; and advocate for policies and systemic changes that promote a more resilient, compassionate and inclusive campus culture.

They do this through a growing variety of programs that includes research, community building, instruction and programming.

Resilience Lab programs focus on well-being

聽(Resilient Attitudes and Living) is an initiative that promotes mental health and well-being by equipping participants with cognitive behavioral skills to manage emotions and cope with stressful situations, mindfulness skills to strengthen self-awareness, and practices to encourage compassion for themselves and others.聽Be REAL was developed and evaluated by the UW鈥檚 Center for Child & Family Well-Being and, in partnership with the Resilience Lab, expanded to staff and students on all three 91探花campuses.

To date, most of the Be REAL skills groups and trainings have been open to the entire 91探花community, but moving forward the intention is to develop expertise within university units and departments. For example, several people in the College of Engineering went through the Be REAL program over the summer and the entire staff at the 91探花Alumni Association are scheduled for fall quarter, Kennedy said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really encouraging to see these teams wanting to learn together and dive into this work together,鈥� she said.

Tyneshia Valdez, who works as the assistant to the chair in the Department of Astronomy, said that participating in Be REAL has helped her through the pandemic, return to work and in interactions with others.

鈥淚f I’m more graceful and less burnt out and I do things to make myself happy, I know that that will really trickle downstream,鈥� she said. 鈥淏e REAL is surprising. It鈥檚 free. It鈥檚 easy to do. You don鈥檛 have to bring a lot with you, just yourself, your authentic self.鈥�

In 2020, the Resilience Lab published an 87-page combining research, best practices and personal testimony tailored to support the whole student. The guidebook was distributed to all instructors, deans and chancellors and advising staff across the UW. Leaders convened a tri-campus community of practice where more than 40 instructors and staff across nearly 20 academic departments still meet monthly to exchange ideas and teaching strategies. A new community of practice started within the School of Medicine this fall across their five-state region.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e doing is creating both a venue and a map 鈥� if you will 鈥� toward healing and compassion in our community,鈥� Dean Taylor said.

Partnering to 鈥榠nterrupt racism鈥�

In a new partnership, the聽, led by , and the Resilience Lab are developing a new training and speaker series, 鈥淩esistance through Resilience,鈥澛爐hat focuses on the application of mindfulness and compassion-based practices to interrupt racism.

Prior to COVID-19, many people wanted to come together in community to talk about racism and combat microaggressions, but the months of isolation 鈥� combined with a national dialogue sparked by the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis 鈥� left the BIPOC community and other anti-racism activists feeling exhausted, said Joseph, who also is a professor of communication in the College of Arts & Sciences and associate dean for equity & justice and student affairs in the Graduate School.

鈥淧eople also needed to attend to the health of themselves and to their communities while still continuing to do the vitally important daily work of protesting racism,鈥� Joseph said.

Bringing together the Resilience Lab and the Center for Communication, Diversity and Equity will help lead to systemic change, leaders say.

鈥淲e’re really committed to addressing the systems of oppression and racism that exist, and to think critically about why we have a system that promotes so much stress,鈥� Kennedy said.

Fueled by a $15,000 from , a Diversity and Inclusion Seed Grant and Communication Department funding, the groups will focus on bringing mindfulness and compassion-based practices together to address racial exhaustion, nourish each other and confront everyday oppression.

鈥淭he mindfulness and stress-reduction skills Megan has taught me provide me personally with other strategies, and give a whole other set of tools to my students, my community members, people that I know and love and am connected to. These are ways to make their lives healthier,鈥� Joseph said. 鈥淭he CCDE鈥檚 new partnership with the Resilience Lab just gives me hope in this moment, and I think that that’s what we need to make it through right now and to continue garnering the strength to fight.鈥�

Sowing resilience through seed grants

In partnership with the聽,聽the Resilience Lab awards聽聽to support projects that cultivate resilience, compassion and sustainability at the UW. To date, over $118,000 has been disbursed to fund projects led by students, faculty and staff across all three campuses.

For example, 91探花Bothell Assistant Professor received a grant to support BIPOC students in sharing their personal stories during the pandemic. Chen had facilitated similar story circles prior to COVID-19, but had yet to bring them online. Chen worked with graduate students and undergraduates, and they came together in a safe, empathetic community to share challenges they鈥檇 faced through a difficult year.

鈥淚t was something different than what they got in their day-to-day in their classes,鈥� said Chen. 鈥淚t was a space of support, a chance to build community in a different way.鈥�

Chen, who participates in the monthly Resilience Lab community-of-practice meetings, continues to work with BIPOC students in telling their own stories as part of the larger project, 鈥淏reathing in a Time of Disaster.鈥� And, they鈥檙e implementing techniques in the classroom, like playing music or doing a grounding exercise to start class.

A path forward

The UW鈥檚 Resilience Lab also is part of the Flourishing Academic Network, an emergent consortium of research and teaching centers throughout North America. Together, the institutions are collaborating to explore innovative pathways that integrate academics and student affairs, with the overall goal of supporting student mindfulness and well-being.

This work has taken on new meaning during the pandemic, as students, staff and faculty were forced into months of being apart. Now, everyone is facing the stress of returning to a new normal.

鈥淲e don’t want to go back to business as usual but rather develop consciousness about how we鈥檙e returning to campus,鈥� Kennedy said. 鈥淪taff and students are turning to the Resilience Lab to learn some strategies for managing stress effectively.鈥�

That approach has made a world of difference for , a lecturer in Landscape Architecture who works at 91探花Friday Harbor Laboratories and is part of the cohort of faculty engaged in the Resilience Lab鈥檚 work.

鈥淭his work has been transformational in my ability and desire to stay in academia,鈥� Sullivan said.

She鈥檚 using a Resilience Lab seed grant to bring the compassion work to the College of Built Environments. She is also helping support compassion and mindfulness at Friday Harbor Labs and is participating in the cross-campus community of practice.

鈥淔aculty are empowered and supported to reflect on and make needed change in higher education, and in turn, model resilience culture in our lives, disciplines and to our colleagues and students,鈥� she said.聽鈥淭he results have been substantial.鈥�

A strong culture of care and competence around these compassion issues is needed in all disciplines and is the backbone to a thriving聽and resilient聽university environment, she said.

鈥淭here is simply not enough vulnerability and compassion in higher education,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淲e are not robots. We can take the agency to change this culture聽鈥� one interaction at a time. In fact, we already are.鈥�

For more information about the Resilience Lab, contact Kennedy at meganken@uw.edu.

The 91探花 today announced an initiative to further the UW鈥檚 goals for diversity, equity and inclusion, including $5 million in funding for faculty hiring in the next two years. The initiative builds upon and supports efforts University wide and aims to accelerate and benchmark progress on an annual basis.

Efforts to recruit, welcome and retain a diverse faculty are central to the UW鈥檚 public mission to build a more equitable and just society for everyone, administrators said.

Students benefit from a university with faculty members whose knowledge and understanding represent the diversity of Washington state, as do the people and communities that benefit from the UW鈥檚 research and scholarship. Additionally, this signals to historically-marginalized students, especially underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities, that teaching and research careers are accessible, achievable and encouraged.

鈥淲e know that the 91探花must better reflect the communities we serve, which requires short- and long-term changes to make our University a place where faculty from diverse backgrounds feel they belong,鈥� said 91探花Provost Mark Richards. 鈥淭he University鈥檚 academic leadership, including the Board of Deans and Chancellors, are determined to change this status quo for this generation of students, and for those to come.鈥�

Since 2015, the UW鈥檚 Race and Equity Initiative has focused on transforming institutional policies and practices, and accelerating systemic change. A significant focus of this work 鈥� and one of the goals of the Diversity Blueprint developed in 2010 鈥� has been recruiting faculty who will advance diversity, equity and inclusion through their teaching, research and service.

鈥淢any academic units have made some progress, but we have a long way to go, including ensuring that the structural conditions that contribute to racial inequities are addressed at the unit and university-wide level so that BIPOC faculty can thrive and be successful,鈥� Richards said.

Based on an examination of best practices across the nation, in consultation with the members of the Race & Equity Steering Committee and Faculty Senate leadership, as well as deans and administrators, and consistent with Regent Policy 33, the 91探花will over the next two years:

• Designate $3 million in bridge funding in this fiscal year 2021, and another $2 million in fiscal year 2022, to support recruitment of faculty to the Seattle campus whose research, teaching, mentoring, service and outreach will enhance the UW鈥檚 diversity mission and goals for equity and inclusion.
• Redirect existing central funds for the recruitment and retention of faculty to focus specifically upon faculty who will advance the campus鈥� goals for diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Require that all faculty searches include statements from candidates describing their past and planned contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Request聽that deans of all schools and colleges examine whether聽hiring, reappointment and promotion criteria for faculty can be enhanced to support diversity, equity and inclusion within their units.
• Host a new national program, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the Washington Research Foundation, to identify outstanding Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows from underrepresented groups, and support them as they develop their ambitions and qualifications to become STEM faculty at research universities, including the UW.

鈥淩esearch is at its most creative and robust when researchers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives interact,鈥� said Mary Lidstrom, vice provost for research. 鈥淭his initiative will continue efforts to support diversity, equity and inclusion in research, enhancing the research enterprise for all.鈥�

Similar initiatives are in progress at 91探花Bothell and 91探花Tacoma. 91探花Tacoma will focus on hiring and supporting clusters of faculty who have expertise and focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice issues. 91探花Bothell leadership has designated bridge funding for the next two years to help departments recruit faculty who advance diversity.

鈥淔aculty Senate leadership prioritizes issues of racial justice and understands the importance of making a concerted effort to recruit and support faculty who advance diversity,鈥� said Robin Angotti, chair of the Faculty Senate and a professor of mathematics at 91探花Bothell. 鈥淲e look forward to working closely with administration to make measurable advances in these areas.鈥�

Additionally, the provost has tasked Ed Taylor, vice provost of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, to convene a sub-group of the Race & Equity Steering Committee, to take this work to the next level over the coming year. This group鈥檚 work will include, but will not be limited to, addressing several long-term goals:

• Improve the on-boarding process for new faculty, including welcoming, orientation, community building and mentoring that meets the needs of faculty from under-represented backgrounds.
• Enhance the depth and availability of and familiarity with data regarding faculty demographics.
• Develop a systematic faculty exit interview process to identify and address climate issues that have prompted some faculty to leave the UW.
• Increase fundraising efforts that support the University,聽schools and colleges聽as they聽create聽endowments to recruit and retain faculty who contribute to the UW鈥檚 diversity, equity and inclusion goals; recruit聽early career scholars who may be developed and聽retained聽to tenure-track faculty positions; and聽fund research and scholarship in support of campus diversity, equity and inclusion goals, among other efforts.

The UW鈥檚 Race & Equity Steering Committee will update President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Richards in November on the collective successes and failures of these initial efforts and address the following questions: How significantly have we moved the needle in 2021? How can we do better? And what more needs to be done?

鈥淚 have been impressed, during these most difficult pandemic times, with the determination and actions of our faculty and campus leaders to attract faculty who advance our diversity, equity and inclusion goals,鈥� Richards said. 鈥淭he pandemic itself has made the urgency of this mission all the more clear by exposing the stark inequities that continue to divide our nation and cause so much pain to so many in our communities.鈥�