Community Initiatives
Our community partnerships are transformational and synergistic.
UW Tacoma was born of an engaged community, which informs our orientation today. The most successful UW Tacoma-community partnerships are transformational and result in each partner achieving more together than they can alone. Partnerships flourish when they are supported with infrastructure including organizational processes, communication channels, staffing and funding.
Community Engagement Inventory
By creating a digital library of all faculty members who are engaged with community initiatives, we will be able to connect future community engagement opportunities with the appropriate faculty members. This initiative is intended to deepen the connection of UW Tacoma faculty with our communities and allow our faculty members, across multiple academic units, to get to know each other.
Increase & Deepen International Institutional Partnerships
We will work with the UW Seattle Office of Global Affairs to create more efficient and campus-relevant processes, policies, and procedures designed to deepen our international institutional partnerships. We will support academic units in their development of partnership MOU’s and MOA’s.
Carnegie Application
We will pursue the elective classification of Carnegie Community Engagement. Carnegie defines Community Engagement as the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.
Infrastructure For Engagement
We are creating an office and infrastructure to provide regular support for faculty, staff and student-initiated community engagement projects. The Office of Community Engagement will serve as a “front door” for the UW Tacoma campus for community members and community based organizations.
Define Engagement Terms
This initiative is designed to adopt a common set of terms to describe what we mean by Community Engagement at UW Tacoma. This process will facilitate discussions around community engagement with faculty and other stakeholders inside and outside the academy.
Learn more about: Community Engagement or Community Engagement Terms Definitions
Pre PhD Program
We will build faculty-student partnerships designed to prepare students for a Ph.D. program, support their research, portfolio, and publication work, and provide the necessary guidance to ensure successful program applications. Funds will be raised to support the creation of a Ph.D.-going culture at UW Tacoma.
Partner With Tacoma Public Schools
As an Urban Serving University, we value our partnerships with Tacoma Public Schools (TPS). We will create an institution-level understanding of how to best leverage our resources to benefit TPS, our faculty and students, and the children and families of the greater Tacoma area.
JBLM
WWe partner with JBLM to provide resources for those transitioning out of the military into our local and regional economy. We strive to be a model for how higher education can support transition from a large base into the surrounding community and state.
South Sound Alliance
We support the South Sound Alliance, an organization focused on important policy issues in our region, through collaboration. As this organization develops, the Center for Applied Urban Research will support their data needs through a contractual relationship.
Legal Pathways
We will build and support law-related opportunities and curriculum on campus and to promote the success of students interested in pursuing law school, other graduate and professional studies related to law, and law-related careers.
Contact Community Initiatives Co-Champions
Director and Professor, Urban Studies
Research Administrator, Academic Affairs and Office of Research