Farewell and thank you to Leslie Kinkade

On this bittersweet occasion, I write to inform you of the departure of Leslie Kinkade as Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement and Interim Vice Chancellor for Advancement at UW Tacoma.  

While I am quite sad to see Leslie go, I am also delighted she will be doing something that she cares so deeply about. For over 20 years, Leslie has served as an avid volunteer and coach for the Special Olympics. As Leslie has shared, her sister Angela, a Special Olympian, has been the greatest gift to her work and her life. Leslie informed me that this is a decision of the heart, and with this I am happy to announce she will be joining Special Olympics Washington as their next Vice President of Development. Leslie’s last day in the office will be Sept. 8. 

A consummate professional, Leslie has, over the course of 11 years at UW, very capably served our Tacoma campus in several leadership positions, including Director of Development, Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement, and Interim Vice Chancellor for Advancement. 

Over the years, Leslie has been instrumental in securing numerous gifts from corporations, foundations, families, individuals and community members. A tireless advocate for Tacoma, she led the team in exceeding their campaign goal to secure over $56 million for the Tacoma campus as part of UW's Be Boundless Campaign. She has played a role in creating numerous funds supporting programs and research focused on social-emotional learning, neurodiversity, career development, financial wellness and social justice internships for first generation and military-connected students, and that is just a sample of the areas her work supported. 

She helped secure support to build Milgard Hall as a hub for innovation and an integrated effort between business, engineering, technology and the Global Innovation & Design Lab.  Leslie attributes much of her success to a wonderfully collaborative, engaged and talented team in Tacoma Advancement and on the Tacoma campus, with whom she has served with great pleasure. 

In addition to her UW Tacoma accomplishments, she has also served as a wonderful community partner and has served on numerous UW Advancement and Tacoma searches, committees and task forces, including search committees for the UW Tacoma Chancellor, the UW Vice President for Development and the new UW Tacoma Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration. Among her many UW accomplishments, Leslie supported the development of the Beyond Advancement Task Force to further the work of DEIB on campus in collaboration with the Office for Equity & Inclusion, an initiative of which she is most proud. 

A trusted and beloved colleague throughout advancement and UW Tacoma, Leslie has accomplished all this with great professionalism, tenacity, empathy, generosity and grace. We know we speak for many when we say that she will be greatly missed.  

I hope you will be able to join me in a community celebration in honor of Leslie, to thank her for all that she has done for our great UW Tacoma and wish her the very best in her new endeavors. Please mark your calendars for a farewell to honor Leslie, which will be at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Sept 5. The location is forthcoming. 

While we are currently near the end of the search process for our next Vice Chancellor for Advancement at UW Tacoma, we are pleased to announce that Kevin Dugan and Brian Anderson will serve as co-interim Vice Chancellors for Advancement until the search concludes.