Faculty and Staff Contacts
Looking to create more service learning/community engagement opportunities for students? Here is a list of people who have built courses or programming involving service learning/community engagement and who are ready to answer your questions and possibly collaborate.
Amanda Figueroa
Senior Director, Student Transition Programs
ambruner@uw.edu
I would welcome anyone who is interested in connecting their classes or research with K-12 youth, to reach out to Student Transition Programs. Through Pathways to Promise, we work with local schools and community-based organizations to host on-campus and off-campus educational experiences. We also manage the Math-Science-Leadership Program and the education portion of SoundCitizen, which directly connect youth to the research and expertise of our faculty. We also oversee Career Development, and are available to work with you on incorporating the College to Career Roadmap into your classes.
Andrew Fry, Assistant Director of Industry Partners, Lecturer
Institute of Technology
andfry@uw.edu
Each spring, the Information Technology and Systems program at the Institute of Technology offers a course called Managing Technical Teams. Though the curriculum emphasizes project management, diversity as a business strategy, and people skills within teams, it is at its core a community outreach program. The class is structured so that students form teams at the very beginning of the quarter with the purpose of working on a real world, often self-driven project. The projects are required to meet one overarching edict: they must make a contribution to the community utilizing technology.
Current student projects include translating a healthcare website into a Korean language portal to better serve that community and reworking the website for Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Fisher House, where families stay while military personnel are undergoing surgeries that require significant recovery time.
Community Organizations
The following is an evolving list of local and regional resources for students, faculty, and staff. Consider visiting, volunteering, or otherwise contributing to these organizations.
Center for Urban Waters: http://urbanwaters.org/
Habitat for Humanity: http://www.tpc-habitat.org/
Maker labs
The Fab Lab (http://www.fablabtacoma.com/) and Tinkertopia (http://tinkertopia.com/#) are maker spaces for children and adults located within easy walking distance of campus. The Fab Lab offers classes ranging from Welding to CNC Plasma Cutting and Tinkertopia carries a range of recycled materials; individual drop-in shopping and group workshops are available.
Metro Parks Tacoma volunteer page: http://www.metroparkstacoma.org/volunteer/
The Tacoma Art Museum offers free admission for UWT faculty, staff, and students: http://tacomaartmuseum.org/
Tacoma Historical Society offers free admission for all: http://www.tacomahistory.org/index.html
MultiCare Health System, hospital and special event opportunities:
http://waystohelp.multicare.org/volunteer-opportunities
Northwest Trek: http://www.nwtrek.org/
Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge: http://www.stateparks.com/nisqually.html
Rescue Mission, a nonprofit serving the homeless in Pierce County: https://www.rescue-mission.org/volunteer
Tacoma Film Festival: Every October, the Tacoma Film Festival, in partnership with Grand Cinema, showcases films from the Pacific Northwest and around the world:
http://www.tacomafilmfestival.com/
Tacoma Opera: The final dress rehearsal of each production is offered as a 'Student Night' concert with $5 tickets. Typically also offer student rush ticket pricing just before each show: http://www.tacomaopera.com/
Tacoma Wastewater Management: http://www.cityoftacoma.org/cms/one.aspx?objectId=19415
Theo’s Chocolates: https://www.theochocolate.com/
Write@253, a free community writing center with tutoring and other programs for children and youth:
http://write253.wordpress.com/
Wolf Haven International
A sanctuary in Tenino, WA, offering educational programming about wildlife and preservation: http://www.wolfhaven.org/
Want to add your name to the contacts list? Have a suggestion for a place that students could volunteer, visit, or partner with? Contact Nicole Blair at nblair@uw.edu.
