It's hard to believe how fast this year is moving. Between campus initiatives, budget uncertainty, and the AI-related challenges hitting higher education right now, there's been a lot to navigate. But the OUE team has kept its momentum, and I'm proud of what we've accomplished together.
We brought on a student worker who's been a great help with office support, and we officially went live with UW Connect — still finding our footing, but moving in the right direction. We're also working with advisors across schools and undergraduate academic advising to launch a majors and minors fair for our students, which we're really excited about. And through all of it, I keep being struck by the people I'm meeting. UW Tacoma has a remarkable community, and I'm grateful to be part of it.
We are deeply grateful to the core instructors teaching this year, as well as to the schools and programs that continue to champion our core courses. We had the pleasure of connecting with many of them at the Winter core faculty gathering and are looking forward to bringing the group together again this Spring.
Formation of the Ad Hoc Undergraduate Education Advisory Council
The Ad Hoc Undergraduate Education Advisory Council (UEAC) has been working on revising the current bylaws while developing a vision for a permanent UEAC. Dr. Christine Stevens and Dr. Lisa Hoffman have been elected as co-chairs. The council meets once a month and reviewed course applications for Autumn quarter to check for alignment with UW's general education areas of inquiry.
Technology & Infrastructure Upgrades
We've gone live with UW Connect, which is already making a difference in how we handle OUE requests. The system automates our intake forms and makes scheduling our services much more straightforward. Starting Spring Quarter, we'll be using the new intake forms exclusively.
We've also been working with the UW Records Management Office to move our storage and records into SharePoint — a big step toward a more organized and efficient operation. And after some long overdue upgrades, several office computers have been replaced.
Last but not least, our website has a fresh new look! Still a work in progress, but check it out at tacoma.uw.edu/ue
Majors / Minors Fair
We partnered with the Office of Undergraduate Advising and advisors from various schools and programs to host a Majors & Minors Fair this Spring quarter.
📅 April 13th · 12:00 – 2:00 PM
📍 William Phillip Hall
Hope to see you there!
Hiring & Upcoming Work in Spring Quarter
We have some exciting news on the staffing front — we are hiring a 10-month Program Assistant! This will be a step up from our current part-time support, and we expect our new hire to join us in September. We are forming a search committee soon, so that process is coming along.
As for Spring Quarter, it's going to be a busy one. We'll be rolling out the new UW Connect intake forms, continuing to build out the website, hosting the majors/minors fair, hosting the Spring core faculty gathering, supporting the Ad Hoc UEAC Council, and moving forward with testing services. Plenty to look forward to!
We'll be back with a full update at the end of Spring Quarter.
