Creating Equity in Education

The Office of Student Advocacy and Support (OSAS), part of the division of Student Affairs at UWT, works to provide these support services to students to address these barriers - sharing information on housing for homeless youth, rental assistance, Husky2Husky Homesharing as well as the numerous other available resources.

On Tuesday, May 18th, the Office of Community Partnerships presented the 2021 Distinguished Community Engagement Awards. The 9th annual award ceremony recognizing innovative community-engaged and community-based work done by staff and faculty at UW Tacoma. The work acknowledged by this award met the criterion of having been actively worked on within the past three years with focuses pertaining to teaching and learning, research, policy, citizenship building, creative work, and/or community building. 

This year, Senior Director of the Student Transition Program, Amanda Figueroa, was the recipient of the Community Engagement Award for Equity in Education. Amanda, who began her work with UWT back in 2013, vowed from the beginning to create access and provide opportunities for students. During her years at UW Tacoma, she has done just that AND more! "This award recognizes Amanda's deep commitment to improving equity and education access for youth and pre-college students, whether those who have traditionally been underrepresented in STEm or students who were not beneficiaries of a college-going culture within their own communities. Her leadership and work with many community partners and multiple programs or initiatives exemplify how partnerships with a keen focus on equity can improve student success in post-secondary education at UW Tacoma".

Congratulations Amanda on your hard work and commitment to helping students not only during their time at UW Tacoma but before and long after their years as a student. Your work has been immensely impactful and has helped numerous students receive degrees they may have once thought of as inconceivable that have now opened their lives to vast opportunities. 

To read more about the award ceremony and the other 2021 award recipients, be sure to click here.